Dickens project update

Nicholas Nickleby: I'm on page 410. Ordinarily, by this time, I would have already finished a book of this size, but this one is pretty dense going. The language is more archaic than I remember (what the hell is a popolorum tibby or a half quartern loaf?!) and Dickens does tend to go on, and on, and on about what some of his characters are saying or doing (get to the point dammit!!!!!).

I also got distracted, perhaps on purpose, by the arrival of Jane Austen's Guide to Good Manners in my Amazon order. I did also finish a slim volume of Dickens Christmas stories (also from that Amazon order). See, I read other books, but they're still Literature! But I must 'fess up to that other good read: Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde (also in that Amazon order). Literature? Um, not so much, but a really good (and fun) read nonetheless!

I plan on discussing the Christmas stories (three short stories in one very slim volume) along with A Christmas Carol (just as soon as I finish reading it).

The project has expanded a little, as my projects tend to do, and I'm going to add a biography of Dickens onto the reading list. I did find a very nice one at a used bookstore but it is $20. Perhaps I'll take some books in to that store and see if they'll buy some of them and/or take some in trade.

Rules o' the Blog

I have read (and continue to read) many, many different blogs. The one thing that many do that I haven't yet done, is to tell everyone what to expect from this blog. Sure, I touched on it a bit in one of the earlier posts, but there are other things that should be mentioned.

I do want to emphasize that this truly is an eclectic collection of stuff. I don't plan on having any dependability. There definitely won't be daily posts, although I might put up stuff several days in a row. I can't even say that there will be weekly posts. I will say that the general plan is: blogging without obligation. Now, before going on any further, I MUST mention that this particular phrase has been seen on various blogs and is not my own particular invention. It has been making the internet rounds, and I'm borrowing it. I can't remember exactly where I've seen it, but I like it. Blogging without obligation means just that; there's no set schedule to producing posts. No use getting stressed out about the thing before I even get started!

Regarding comments: For now, I have to approve every single comment before it appears on the blog. Mainly this is because I'm new to blogging in a way that will actually be seen by more eyes than my own and one or two friends/family. I feel it is far easier to ease controls in the future as needed than to try and clamp down later. Of course, it is likely I will find that tedious and ease up sooner rather than later, but we'll see.

Which brings me to.....Nasty Comments. I do plan on removing comments from blatantly ignorant people. I don't plan on editing the text of comments themselves but people who say stuff like, "I think you're a shithead for saying that", will not get their comments posted. I'm looked for reasonable discourse and debate here, not name-slinging. It's hurtful and helps no one. I don't want any flame wars and obvious trolls will be given the boot.

It's my blog, dammit....and I can do what I want!

Reading Project

Here's the list of Dickens novels, in no particular order:
Little Dorrit
Great Expectations
Our Mutual Friend
Oliver Twist
Pickwick Papers
The Old Curiosity Shop
A Tale of Two Cities
David Copperfield
A Christmas Carol
Hard Times
Bleak House
Barnaby Rudge
Martin Chuzzlewit
Dombey and Son

I know, I know.....I said that A Christmas Carol didn't count as a novel because it's actually listed among Dickens' short stories. But, this is my project, and I can do whatever I want! Besides, the story is a favorite of mine. I might leave it til the end of the year and watch many of the movie versions. That way I can discuss the differences between the movies and the original story.

All but the last five books have been ordered from Amazon. Yesterday I started Nicholas Nickleby, and it's.....different. And really BIG. 781 pages big! In a paperback!

I'm only on page 58, so check back for updates.

It's a work in progress

Subject: Learning the ins and outs of Blogger

I typed my first post in Word because I knew it was going to be really, really long.

First of all, it was interesting to see how much html code was inserted by Word itself. Then, with this post, as I type this right in (because I now see that there's a "save-as-draft" option), it's interesting to see how much code is required to insert italics!

First post: gonna be a BIG one

Subject: A little bit about me, my recent past, and my goals for 2009.

So, here it is…..I finally started the blog that I told myself I was going to start at the beginning of the year. Obviously, the beginning of the year thing didn’t happen. I procrastinated and before I knew it, it was the end of January. Then I caught a cold, then I got a sinus infection, then I got bronchitis. Three weeks after recovering from all of that, it started all again when the spring winds started blowing. The second round of bronchitis required a heavy course of steroids to kick. I’m still coughing and my voice sounds like I’ve smoked for 30 years, but hey, I’m still kickin’, right? By the way, never smoked....ever!

Part of why I wanted to restart a blog. Restart, you say? Yep, I have one at another location (which shall remain undisclosed) but that has languished for years. Honestly, I’ve been dabbling ever since the term “blog” was first bandied about. Truly the early web tools were not all that conducive to regular blogging and I lost more than one website through my own folly. But hey, at least I was willing to experiment, right?

Another part is because I’ve been feeling rather directionless for a while. I finished school (after 12 years), I started up with an SF group (and kept busy with many adventures), and I met a great guy which started a whole lot of other adventures. I moved into his place but since he is deathly allergic to cats and dogs, and I had two of each, every item in my place required cleaning before it could find a home in his. I got rid of a lot of stuff too. Then started the repairs on my house to get it ready for the market. Hard work all around for about a year and a half.

I’ve not been happy in my job for a while now too. It’s a combination of low pay and the fact that I have been doing the same thing for more than 20 years now. The challenge is gone, and I know myself well enough to know that I need challenges to be happy, especially in my daily work. But….I’ve been looking for another job for about one and a half years now without poor results. I actually did get two interviews with one company but it was a tech company and it was right before the market crashed. I never heard from them again. All other applications and/or resume sendings have yet to yield results.

Throughout all this there has been the economic stresses of having two mortgages, no retirement (had to cash it in), my car died (and there’s no money for a monthly payment), my two cats died last year, and my fiance’s job has hit a downturn (his company helps other companies recruit employees and…..no one’s hiring).

So, that brings me to year’s end, a regular time of reflection for me. I have to do something before I totally crack from the stress. Two episodes of bronchitis within two months are a bad sign. Being tired all the time is a bad sign. Being sad all the time is a bad sign. Gaining 50+ pounds is a bad sign.

One of my goals, after reading an article in the local paper, was to go on a hike a month, some of them adventurous and labeled as “moderately difficult.” I recognized that I’m not in good enough shape to attempt much, so postponed that til 2010, figuring I would do physical conditioning this year and easy hikes, with my first to be in April 2009. Obviously, with being so ill, that hasn’t happened. And now I’ve lost even more conditioning. A rapid pace while walking from the parking lot to the office winds me terribly easy. I still want to do the hikes, but adjustments will have to be made.

The new plan: do walking exercise DVDs, start Virtual Walking Club on one of the online social networks I use regularly, and…..take walks in the park, a different park each time. There’s actually a lot of different little parks here in town that I’ve driven past but never been in. As a matter of fact, the area of town I now live in has a plethora of cute little parks with walking paths. Admittedly not big parks, but I’m not up for big yet anyway. Eventually, perhaps after the heat of summer is over, I can take some of the very easy walks in Red Rock Recreational Area.

Another goal is to do more counted cross stitch projects (I have a bunch of stuff kitted up and ready to go, but that’s for another post). Improving my health is obviously another big goal, but it also goes hand-in-hand with the hiking goal. Writing is something I miss a lot, but that’s another good reason for starting this blog. Reconnecting with my family is another biggie (I’ve been too depressed to think about much of anything than what’s immediately in front of me).

All worthy goals in and of themselves. But, in some ways, they feel too big. Yes, there will be lots of little steps I can plot out, but they are also never-ending. And feel like a lot more work. Even the stitching, which I love.

Which brings me to the next bit…..trust me, this is going somewhere!

I’ve been watching Masterpiece Classics, and they’re doing Charles Dickens right now: Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Little Dorrit (just finished), and The Old Curiosity Shop (starting on May 3rd). After watching Little Dorrit, I became inspired to read the books behind these miniseries. It’s been a looooong time since I read any Dickens. I read Oliver Twist when I was a kid but can’t remember reading any of his other novels. A Christmas Carol doesn’t count because it’s considered a short story.

Once I looked up the works of Charles Dickens, I realized that there were quite a lot of novels to read. It struck me that I could make reading them all a project. In fact, getting rather excited (and, I must say, rather happy too), it struck me that I could watch the movies too! Especially when I discovered that all but one of them has had a movie/mini series of some sort produced. Bleak House is the exception (no listing on Netflix or Amazon.com), but it is possible that there may be something available in a local library. Reading is my life blood and this project feels like a natural. Besides, my university training (English Lit. major) has prepared me for this too.

Then I thought that it would be a neat thing to write about this on my blog. So, there you go, the whole reason why I’m producing a blog again, and the project that stimulated me to do it NOW.

My blog is named The Eclectic Collection so it the plan is to post a little bit of this and a little bit of that. My plan is not to be too lengthy with any one post (with the obvious exception of this one), and I don’t want to stick to any particular theme. I don’t like doing (or reading) memes, so it is very unlikely I will be doing them. I won’t say that I’ll never do one, but it certainly isn’t likely to be a regular occurrence. I plan on writing something about the reading project, the stitching, and the hiking project, as well as the small, day-to-day things in my life too.

I will post when I have something to say, and when I have the energy to do so.