Just when I thought my heart was finally numb.

It has been weeks! My deepest apologies. I somehow took off on vacation (in mind only) and forgot to post. I think I just need a regular Monday schedule of work, ballet, and post to keep me on track. Take away the ballet, and I feel like I have hours of time before I have to go to bed, except, I really don't. Though maybe part of it is because I feel that I have nothing grand nor great to say. Not that I ever did.

At the moment, I am trying out a new experiment. That is, living with a roommate. And I have to admit that it is going quite well. I have been living on my own for quite some time now (about seven years) so maybe it was time for a change. Though, it also might help to know that this is just for a couple of months and isn't anything permanent. I am enjoying having someone to talk to at night after I get home from work. Except for those days when you've had too much public interaction at work and all you want to do is come home to a good book and some hard cider. Had one of those last Friday. We were so busy and so understaffed that if someone had asked me for a kidney, I probably would have agreed to the request (as I was letting other little rules slide for the sake of "just getting the job done"). Not that I would have gone through with the kidney donation.

So, this is here just to know that I am alive. And still slightly thinking about you. Next week, I think we'll have a grand old discussion of Antigone here, as the roommate and I are currently dissecting it. She's a Greek and Roman teacher at a school and is getting ready for the upcoming school year.

A new more positive Jane Austen

So last week I was a life coach and the funny thing is, is although I am a great life coach for my friends, I'm sort of a crappy life coach for myself. I think that's probably how all of us feel. So starting yesterday I have decided that I'm going to be more positive. A good friend of mine told me I needed to be and I think he's right.

So I was feeling nervous about my second master's program, but the genius of it is that I might feel like I don't belong because I don't have a fine arts background, but technically I do. Not an established one at least not academically established, but I was a dancer for 14 years, I dabbled in theatre and I've taken the Richard Feynman approach to teaching myself about art history. I also discovered something on my own yesterday that I didn't read in a book. It was a theory that Rene Magritte was actually the father of Pop Art. Most people say it was Warhol or Lichenstein. I was actually right to a point. Magritte is thought of a the father of Pop Art, but he's not because he didn't want the title. So I feel very proud of my non-traditional art history background.

What have you discovered that made you feel smart?

Feynman, novels, and those crazy scientists...

As an apology for missing last week, I start with a gift for Jane!

Now on to the books!

One of the many types of books that I enjoy is books about my hometown. I like the non-fiction books out there, but I really enjoy fiction that takes place in Los Alamos. Admittedly, I have not found that much fiction taking place in Los Alamos, but what I have read I love. It does not even have to be all that good and I think I would still love it.

The first novel I read that took place in LA is Los Alamos by Joseph Kanon. It is a murder mystery taking place during the Manhattan Project. It has been quite a while since I read it but it was extremely well written. (I also enjoyed his The Good German, which was turned into a movie as well.)

The last novel I read about Los Alamos was actually more of a children's book. The Green Glass Sea, by Ellen Klages. It was a fantastic, though quick, read. The story of a young girl who moves to LA with her father, a chemist I believe, and how she adapts to life in LA and then life without her father when he dies (ooops, I guess that is a spoiler, isn't it?). It is really enjoyable and seemed fairly well researched. She has a sequel out called White Sands, Red Menace, in which Dewey Kerrigan moves to Alamogordo after the war ends with the family that takes her in.

So yesterday, when I saw a book entitled Lost Almost at a friends house, I just knew it was for me. It had to be about Los Alamos! (As only a true Los Alamosian would be able to judge just from the title!) It strays from the norm for LA fiction in that it does not take place during WWII. It takes place in 2000 during the throes of the Cerro Grande fire which ravaged the Jemez Mountains and left many in LA homeless. I have only read 5 pages, but plan on enjoying it immensely!

So, do you know of any other books taking place in Los Alamos? (I shall save the non-fiction ones for another day, another post) Or do you also enjoy books about your hometown? If so, what town and what books? I love book suggestions!

Happy reading all! ;-)

The Orphan Factor

Recently I was speaking with a friend who had been listening to a great deal of YA (young adult) books with his wife. I asked for the names and although he didn't remember any of them he said that they were all about dystopian societies and most of the teens were orphans. This begs the question why do some many children's novels have dead or absent parents?

I will admit this is a flaw in some of my books. One of my more well known novels, The Railway Children, has an absent father and a mother, who although around, isn't around much and actually becomes ill so she isn't much good as a mother during that time. And really the story wouldn't really have worked if the parents were constantly there and if we look back at the time period many children had absent parents. Parenting really wasn't the thing.

But why does that theme still prevail today? It makes me wonder. Do children perhaps want to either not have parents or not want parents who are always available? Growing up as a child I remember my father not always being available because he worked odd hours at a newspaper and I didn't get to see him much. Not really my ideal childhood. Especially since I am Daddy's Little Girl or at least I want to be and I have made conscious decisions in my life to be just like my dad. So I can't really say that I want an absent parent.

Is it because more things can happen in a plot line with absent parents or dead parents? The idea of getting sent off to a place where you aren't loved as much or the fact that you can plan world domination or at least domination of the fairy world much like Artemis Fowl. Is it the sense of wanting something that makes the character more believable?

It seems to me that this is a tired story line and yet stories keep coming out with the same theme and people love them. They eat them up and can't get enough.

Do you have a favorite orphan book? Do you think the plot is used too much? What is your favorite book that doesn't have a missing/absent/dead parent? To be honest I'm having a hard time coming up with one.

Jane Austen Life Coach

So lately I have had to play life coach to my friends. For some bizarre reason they don't think they are good enough for things that I think they are completely and amazingly good enough for....dare I say it....maybe even too good.

I often find myself in situations where I am boosting someone's ego and I normally do it because I feel that this person needs it and that they are worth the ego boost. There are some people who play that they need an ego boost when really they don't.

So why is it that we doubt ourselves so much? People are always saying that in order for people to believe in you you must believe in yourself. But few people really do and I know this from personal experience. Sometimes my alter ego needs a little boost herself and it's time she learned: she's good enough, she's smart enough, and dog-gone-it people like her.

So tell me what is your best quality? What do you think that you can offer people? I would have to say mine is my ability to make people laugh. I believe that Charlotte's gift and she may disagree is her faithfulness and her steadfastness. I believe Dorothy's gift is her generosity and kindness. E.'s gift must be her razor-sharp wit. And George's gift is her optimism and gentle nature.

Ball's in your court. Of course if you want to list my best quality this life coach is always up for a little ego boost.

George Sand

Exciting news! George Sand will be joining us as a regular contributor starting next Wednesday. Currently Ms. Sand is getting ready to defend her thesis and we here at the Fourmiddables wish her the best.

So tune in next week for our latest member.

Also I promise to post this week. E. and I apologize for slacking but we were preparing and being interviewed for new jobs. So please forgive the slack.

Happy Reading!