Year: 2010

Had a great time at the PVHS reunion. Still, I sensed I was growing older when my father, who drove me to the event, walked into the venue and asked if we were in the right place — and someone came up to him and asked if he was part of my graduation class! (My Dad just turned 84 years old.) It was great to catch up with everyone, and the venue looked like a bit of Soma right in the middle of Torrance, CA. It was part aircraft hangar, part art gallery, with bits of airplane rejiggered as furniture, sculpture, etc. Had to cut out earlier than expected after imbibing a mysterious libation known as a “Sea King.” Will not confirm or deny rumors that my parents drove me home from this event. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

The microphone kept cutting out on Gary Shteyngart during his informal Q and A this week at Bookshop Santa Cruz. “Technology hates me, obviously,’’ the 38-year-old author and writing professor explained. The danged thing cut out three times. The world of gadgetry has every reason to despise Mr. Shteyngart. His new book, Super Sad True Love Story, is a funny, scathing response to shortened attention spans, the waning of books and reading, and the dominance of the digital world. In his new novel, reading is so marginalized that people think books smell like unwashed feet, and sometimes spray them to conceal their odor. Instead of reading, the people of SSTLS check in regularly with their apparat, a gizmo that, among other things, helps people log onto the Web, keep tabs on their health and broadcast their “hotness’’ rankings. To prepare himself for this book, Mr. Shteyngart broke down and got…

I found that link I was talking about in a previous entry. Could hardly believe this. She hired a stripper to go to a reunion in her place last year — and had the stripper wired with an earpiece so she could give offstage directions! I think the big running joke from this ‘documentary’ is that people always look so different at reunions anyhow (so how would someone really know if it wasn’t you?) This person grew up in the same town as me but technically it wasn’t the same high school (I think her high school was a temporary merging of my high school and a rival nearby high school, unless I’m mistaken …) Anyhow, looking forward to my own reunion — if any PVHS friends are out there reading this, would you let me know if you’re going? http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Enjoyed reading this article about a college classmate’s book, which creates a new demographic. I don’t know Stephanie very well but I wish her success with this. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

In my new hometown, “used cars” is considered an offensive expression, and highly insensitive. In fact, there’s a car lot, two blocks away from me, in which the words “used cars” cannot be found anywhere on the parking lot or on the merchandise. Instead, there are little stickers on the windshields saying “this car has been previously loved.” http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Here it is. You’ll notice that I’m not smiling in this one either. The photographer is Carolyn Lagatutta. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I’ve only been to one before in my life. Determined not to look at any of the name tags and see if I can recognize everybody. There is an outside chance that I will have a most unusual chaperone (or driver) for this particular event. By the way, I just stumbled across this crazy story about a woman who went to the same high school as me, but instead of going to her 10th reunion, she hired a stripper to go in her place! Wondering if this is a true story. Personally, I don’t think I’d get away with doing something like that. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Thank you to Helene, who wondered if my Fuzzy Tree (see below) is part of the Yarnbombing trend. Check this out. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

In Santa Cruz, people knit sweaters for trees. See below. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Trying to make a reasonably sophisticated-looking mollusk puppet for an art project that is due in the coming weeks. It must be made out of cheap, easily available materials. It needs to have large and bulging eyes, a moveable mouth, etc. Send me advice or links off-blog if you’ve got them. (Nope, I’m not kidding.) http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default