Wednesday, November 01, 2006

They call it a tag, but it looks like a poll...

When I was in elementary school I remember this one day in particular, it was a hot one and it was either very near the beginning of the year or very near the end of the year. I was walking on this playground feature that was a curvy piece of concrete with a wall that tapered off and was slighty 's' shaped, it had steps at one end and the other end... well it just sort of stopped. It was a wall, but a squiggly wall and it was where all of the odd ducks sat at recess or after school or before school. I was an odd duck on this particular day. I remember I was wearing a red and black striped Pierre Cardin shirt and I remember I was listening to Huey Lewis and the News' album Sport on my walkman. The song in particular was If this is it and I was thinking about this girl named Cara Phelan, who had recently broken my heart. (Actually it is in
the best interest of full disclosure to admit that Cara had no way of knowing she broke my heart, but I was a sensitive lad of 9 and I was convinced that Cara had broken it so I was being melodramatic.) I was wondering around the playground and all of the sudden, I got walloped. I had been mistaken for one of the people playing a game of tag. I just remember being really confused, because this kid had seemingly hit me really hard and I didn't understand why. So I started crying and ran up to the top of the playground (it was sort of built on a hill) to nurse my broken heart and now my wounded pride.

I recently got to relive this experience when I received an email that said I had been "tagged". I was very excited because I was aware of the game, but alas it all came flooding back to me and now I have to do this poll. Drats. Why are these things circulating around blogs now?

Well best get on with it. Special thanks to Nicky over at A Skirmish of Wit.

1) One book that changed your life: James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl. This was the first book that I ever read for a book report in it's entirety, I read it one day.

2) One book that you’d read more than once: The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov. I don't tend to reread too many books but this one I definitely did.

3) One book you’d want on a deserted island: This is a really tough one, because I am inclined to say Shakespeare's complete works, but I think I would want something with a lot of really great imagery so that I could escape the Island. So I am going to go with Chekhov's complete short stories.

4) One book that made you laugh: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams. I don't know, I tend to laugh at everything (I got caught recently laughing to a Chekhov play) so this is sort of arbitrary for me, I could have put down anything by Nick Hornby.

5) One book that made you cry: Books don't make me weepy but I think I am going to have to go with Indoor/Outdoor, Kenny Finkle. This was a play that just hit home for me, I don't know why but it did. I hate to piggy back on Nicky's answer but it was a good one.

6) One book you wish you’d written: Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand. Here is the thing, along with "Call me Ishmael." This has one of the most memorable openings ever. If you utter it people think you are smart, or at least well read.

7) One book you wish had never been written: I don't know that I can think of one, there have been plenty of books I haven't liked, but I can't think of one upon which I would have said, "This book deserves to be unwritten." Maybe The Davinci Code, Dan Brown. But, only because the people that read it want to talk about it ad nauseum, but I found it entertaining so I am stuck because I don't know that I wish it had been unwritten.

8) One book you’re currently reading: Budapest, Chico Buarque.

9) One book you’ve been meaning to read: The Bible, G-d. Look, a lot of shit is going down because of this book and others a lot like it and I just don't feel very up on it right now.

10) Tag people: I just don't have that many admitted readers so... I am going to tag no one. (But mostly because I am the last person I know to fill this one out.) Ohhh wait... Actually I will tag... Ummm Anna and Hippieange. Sorry guys.

4 Comments:

Blogger KayMac said...

Interesting list. Love to read so I will have to follow up on some of these. Plus, my daughter got Hitchhiker's Guide for Christmas last year so, I think I will borrow it from her.

11/01/2006 10:32:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am not G-d, but I used to think I could be if I worked hard enough, and so I feel that it is appropriate for me to speak on behalf of G-d and absolve G-d of authorship of the Bible, which is, after all, as its name implies, just a book.
If you do end up reading it, you may enjoy the myriad English translations, such as the lyric poetry of the King James version or the modern phrasings of ebonics.
Word.

11/01/2006 04:11:00 PM  
Blogger V. said...

Welcome aboard Kaymac, thanks for the comment.

11/01/2006 04:14:00 PM  
Blogger KayMac said...

how about some more on the Sketch Pad?

11/03/2006 01:12:00 PM  

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