strange days

Going to bed earlier and getting up earlier does strange things to a person. As does refocusing one's diet. I purposely went out Monday and bought actual food. Not food that comes in a box that required boiling and a packet of seasoning (yeah, I went there. Winter has been tough), not 5 different kinds of cheese that I melted in or on everything...I bought real honest to god grown in the ground or on a tree or bush food. The difference this week has been noticeable. It has made me long for the Farmer's Market even more than usual (May 14, by the way!!!). It also helps sidewalks being clear thereby not giving me any excuse to skip a run. I actually walked to work for the first time in forever this week. I was happy. To be at work.

See? Strange days.

The second half of Bush's War wasn't quite as jawdroppingly depressing. It was also shorter and less all-encompassing leaving us with the feeling the filmmaker realized he was going on too long and yet missing huge pieces of the picture. It ended with Bush's last SOTU and a voice over stating that it'll soon be someone else's problem. Like when you're writing a paper in college and you suddenly realize you're already 5 pages over so you just need to end it (thank you, Peter, for the simile). What struck me was remembering how I felt at certain points of this war: "Remember during this part we were all being told we were unpatriotic and not supporting the troops and look! It was actually the administration who left troops with no plan and no direction!" "Remember when Bush flew in on that air craft carrier and we all said 'This is all just a sham! The administration is putting on a show!' and Iraq was actually, literally, falling apart just then?"

History's something else.

I'm reading an amazing book right now. The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon who's so cool he not only made a guest appearance on The Simpsons and the Coen brothers are all up on adapting and directing this piece of literature, he's most importantly going to be at the Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin. I need to be there. I really love this writer. I loved Wonder Boys and I loved Kavalier and Klay. I want to make love to his prose. He makes me crazydrunk on his words. Being able to hear him speak for a mere $10 is a no-brainer.

And speaking of outstanding writers, Ha Jin is going to be speaking for FREE at Fountain Street Church next Tuesday night. I've only read Waiting and The Bridegroom but I really liked them both. He won the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, The PEN/Hemingway Award, and was nominated for a Pulitzer. Go Kent County for choosing an actual living breathing award winning author for your One Community book.

We went with Hemingway. It's been a tough sell as we're pretty sure he's not going to show up.

Tonight I go to Butch's for a glass of wine with Christina. I'm optimistic we'll have enough titillating material to discuss I won't have trouble staying awake. Tomorrow I'm off. Tomorrow night I'll be going to bed about the time Michigan State starts playing which really really really pisses me off. Saturday I work all day. Sunday is blissfully free thus far.