In Stitches

I finished "Magical Thinking" by Augusten Burroughs. It was a great read. I heard his new book will be coming out soon about his father. I read an interview with Augusten Burroughs, which was really great. He seems like such a sarcastic, down-to-earth, kinda guy. Like someone I might get along with. I think that's why I like reading his books so much, it's almost like reading a friend's work, but I don't know him. Hard to explain, but I think you catch my drift. I'll read his next one.

I'm reading "Survivor" by Chuck Palahniuk. It's one of the best novels I've read in a long time. I'm enjoying it immensely. I am quite amazed at his stories and writing style. It's all pretty ingenious. If I ever do write, he's the type of author I'd love to model myself after. Well, and Tom Robbins.

I had a mole on my back removed a bit over a week ago. My doctor referred me to a dermatologist. The dermatologist said it looked like strange, so they had to remove it and are doing a biopsy. The crazy thing is how advanced modern medicine is now. It took them all of about 15minutes or less to numb me, remove the mole and stitch me up. I'm not happy about the stitches as they are on my back closest to my right shoulder, where I cannot reach them. I wake my boyfriend every morning to do a quick alcohol swab, neosporin and then another band aid. It's all a bit annoying. It's only 2 stitches, but because it's on my muscle I have to be careful not to extend my arm too much or do anything that might cause the stitches to tear. Firstly it's a bit uncomfortable when they tear, even a little bit, as I accidentally already did that one & secondly, apparently the stitches are there to minimize getting a scar. I get the stitches out Wednesday morning and I cannot wait! I think this is the first time I've ever had stitches.

Over and out!

On Saturday I finished "Possible Side Effects" by Augusten Burroughs. And right now I'm halfway through "Magical Thinking" by him, as well. I really think that after "Running With Scissors" and "Dry" that Burroughs is really coming into his own. His style is much like that of Sedaris, but different enough. I think Burroughs seems to have a grasp on the strangeness of the life that he has lead and is now able to put it into stories and make fun of himself and know how odd it all was. He doesn't bask in it or have any sort of snobbishness that his life is very different then most out there. He seems to take it all in stride, tell the stories and even offer bits of humor along the way.

I went to a movie screening last night and saw "Then She Found Me". It's Helen Hunt's directorial debut. Apparently this film is adapted from a novel. It sounds like a great book. The story was really good and the acting was superb. It had a great cast with Helen Hunt, Colin Firth, Bette Midler and Matthew Broderick. I think it's way more a "girly" movie than anything, not sure if guys will enjoy it as much as I did. I liked it.

I'm ready for a vacation. Maybe I can figure out a way to get back to Tahoe soon...

Wilderness

I finished "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer. It was very interesting and fascinating. Not only does he go in depth about Chistopher McCandles, but he ties in other stories of people who have similar adventures. He even talks about some trips that he did. I don't really understand the fascination of rock climbing or making it in the "wild" or anything, but I now have a deeper appreciation for people who can do those things. I saw the documentary "Touching The Void" a long time ago, which is a great documentary. Now I'm super interested in reading that book too. "Into The Wild" was a good read. I really liked how the author wrote it. The amount of research he did sounds like a ton, just to tell this story & by reading the book you can see how much of himself he put into it.

Now I'm back on my memoir kick with some Augusten Burroughs. I'm reading "Possible Side Effects" which I'm loving. This one is very reminiscent of Sedaris, which I like a lot. Instead of a memoir book told from start to end, each chapter is a memory of something that happened in his life. And most of them are pretty funny. Next I'll read "Magical Thinking" also by Augusten Burroughs. That will complete my readings of his until he puts out another book.

In other news, I've been watching a lot of Netflix. Saw a lot of great movies. Too many to even think of right now. I now have an office. Been posted here for almost 2 weeks now. It's really nice to be able to shut my door to eat lunch & read. I could get used to this.

Penguins from the aquarium in Atlanta: