Talking of Michelangelo

When I am feeling under the weather (which can be easy in the hometown's cold, gray, rainy June weather), I always read Prufrock. I've done it ever since high school. In a weird way, it inspires me, if only to not emulate J. Alfred's inertia.

... Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume? ...

I've already re-read it a couple times this week (especially the line that my caffeine-addict heart loves so much), before suddenly realizing that I had overdue books at the library, and it would probably be bad if my account got shut down yet again for accruing massive fines. So I got off my ass and read about people and places beyond my mental and physical realities.

Christopher Moore's Bloodsucking Fiends was hilarious. I was at first skeptical of a vampire story, but Moore's usual tongue-in-cheek plot and witty dialogue made me a fan. Hot redhead Jody is one day attacked, bitten, and turned into a vampire; in the process of learning her new instincts on the streets of San Francisco, she teams up with a wide-eyed midwestern newcomer who dreams of becoming a writer but has to work at the local Safeway instead. Meanwhile, a serial killer vampire frames them for murder. It might seem bizarre and potentially campy, but it's all really funny. And fun!

Next up was the Connie Willis novella Uncharted Territory. It reminded me of Firefly because it's essentially a western set in the frontier of space, but that might just be because I watched a few episodes of that excellent and (sadly) short-lived show with Ms. Tungsten the other day. Like every other Connie Willis book I've read, I loved Uncharted Territory! In the first few pages I did, however, catch the "twist" that doesn't show up until halfway through the book. The storyline follows two explorers, their guide, and an accompanying scientist as they chart sections of a planet uninhabited by humans -- but it does not pretend to hide the fact that it's really exploring sex and gender expectations.

So how should I presume?

Lesson learned the hard way #1747: Though it may be your lot in life to attract (and sometimes cause) drama, don't doubt yourself, and don't look back.

'Nuff said.

In the room the women come and go ...