45 Books

Book 21

The Pickup - Nadine Gordimer

Thank you Mrs. Walters for lending/recommending this one.  

The Pickup is a really interesting story. I know it sounds like such a stupid sentence, but let me explain. Gordimer's direct, stylistic, bare bones approach to narrative feels very appropriate for the material. I think the reviews of The Pickup (the ones quoted from The Washington Post on the cover) are more dramatic than the story, at least in my experience of it, warrants, but I can't say it wasn't very compelling. Set in 2 unnamed African countries (the first, very apparently, South Africa), an affluent white woman (Julie) "picks up" (yes, I was disappointed at first, so literally) a black immigrant man working as a mechanic. Their relationship with one another is complex but I don't believe I would in any way call it a "love story." Certainly, there is love, unnamed, but they meet on a level neutral ground. Love, no, the only talk of love in the book is limited to a few brief mentions of the absence of talk of love. If I were reading this for high school and had to choose a theme for the novel I think I would choose displacement. For the most part, The Pickup embodies an emotional dryness, which made me feel detached and indifferent to the action of the story during reading. I found that it was in the periods of reflection and recounting, between reading, that the story came alive, remarkable. It really worked for me stylistically.

45 Books: Progress

I'm going to get over myself with the "counting" and "not counting" and devise a comprehensive list of all of the books I've read so far this year. I read them, they all count. The variety and difficulty level vary so widely that I can take some slack on the easy end. If I didn't, I'd never get through. Moreover, I would be a total elitist ass**** if I only read books as difficult as The Complete Works of Rimbaud or as long as The Executioner's Song I can hang with Fantastic Mr. Fox, right?  So, I've taken a couple of weeks off for the show, for vacation, etc. and I'm trying to figure out where I stand.

Can I still read 45 books this year? Am I running out of time? What do I need to do to get on track? Well, here's the list thus far:

1. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Seth Grahame-Smith
2. Animals Make Us Human - Temple Grandin
3. In Defense of Food - Michael Pollan
4. The Human Stain - Phillip Roth
5. And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks - Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs
6. The Diversity of Life - E.O. Wilson
7. The Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon
8. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
9. Coming Home to Eat - Gary Paul Nabhan
10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling
11. The Professor and the Mad Man - Simon Winchester
12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling
13. Arthur Rimbaud Complete Works - Arthur Rimbaud
14. The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion
15. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling
16. How to Read and Why - Harold Bloom
17. The Immortal Game - David Shenk
18. The Executioner's Song - Norman Mailer\
19. Fantastic Mr. Fox - Roald Dahl
20. Persuasion - Jane Austen

I believe that I'll have finished book 21 by tonight slash tomorrow. We are in the midst of week 26 for the year. 52 - 26 = 26! The half-way mark (I feel like somebody should host a party this week for the occasion!).  45 - 21 = 24.

24 books + 26 weeks = Still on track.

w00t.

Curaçao Saturday/Sunday/Monday

The rest of the trip:

Darling and I had been discussing how we'd like to spend the remainder of our trip. We tend to let this (what we do) be an organic process rather than planning beforehand. (Who are we to know what we'd like to do in a place that neither of us has been to or know much about?!) After our discovery dive Wednesday, we were told by the OEW dive shop, that, should we choose to move forward and earn our Open Water Certification, they would credit our first dive toward the certification. After ho-humming for a night we decided we both would really love to go for it, even if it meant focusing the rest of our money and time on diving exclusively. So, needless to say, Darling and I, officially, are now open water divers! The silly thing about our doing this is that throughout the entire trip we did not once lay on the beach!! Spending so much time underwater was absolutely worth the trade. From 8-12 every morning we found ourselves in a classroom, watching these amazing  early 90s videos ("diiive through the wataaa") and taking quizzes/final exam. In the afternoons we found ourselves in a shallows off the dock working on our confined water skills (flooding the mask, taking on and off the equipment, swimming exercises, buoyancy, compass work etc. etc.) and ending each day with an approx. 45 minute dive around 60ft. In total we logged 4 shore dives and 1 boat dive.

Don't be surprised if you see a lot more about diving around here in the future. Darling and I both took to diving very quickly and were on just about the same level throughout the course. We both fell in love with the underwater world and were enamored with incredible fishes, sponges, coral, eels. Most notably on our last dive, an eagle ray (less spotted than the picture shown) which was stunning.

 and a lion fish

Which, although incredible, has been unrightfully placed in the Caribbean Sea by aquariums. The lion fish is not native to the waters (native to seas in the Asian continent) and has no predators. They consequently, are destroying much of the fish and coral life.

We've got our dive logs started, notes about some of the more unusual or memorable animal sightings and I've got small plans to start a dive sketch journal. Maybe colored pencils and watercolors. A sort of reflection journal for Darling and I to catalog our journeys.

Diving is the most incredible experience. Some of it has to do with breathing nitrogen 60' below sea level, I'm sure, but it is remarkably meditative and peaceful, unlike anything else I've done. Time disappears, gravity disappears. There's a point in the water where you cannot see the surface nor floor. Blue. Sometimes vertigo inducing, but I'm telling you. I now have some wonderful visual material for yoga cool-down meditation. Blue. I looked over to see darling doing these funny torpedo spins, just because he could. Like astronauts, amazing. PADI certified, Sissy and Darling. We're already excited to plan our next adventure. Thailand, Vietnam, Belize, Florida ....

So, we don't have many photos from here on out. I already recounted to you the 18 hours traveling home... here's the end of  Curaçao. I'd really love to go back. Hopefully one day, so many new destinations just became incredibly appealing...

 Our gear. Can you believe I know how to put all of this together and how to use it?

 The only time I'll post a picture in a bathing suit online. It's the closest thing I've got to me in my gear.

I told you, no laying on the beach + I made sure we were religious about 85SPF. Yes Darling, I am saying we are pale.

Voila! There you have it. And it's back to the grind... for now. Darling keeps telling me we should "get out of the rat race while we're still mobile/flexible." More adventures to come, absolutely. Thank you Darling, for a great time, for being an amazing travel companion, for putting up with me, for paying for shit, for being a hard worker, for pushing me beyond my limits, for bringing so many incredible experiences to me. I love you. Burblecut. There, I said it. In front of everyone, that's how much I love you. Now please, "Peetie repeat: I will never speak of it again."

Curaçao Friday

Friday we went to Williemstad, the capitol city. First we hit the floating Farmer's Market where we picked up fresh Venezuelan food to take back to our mini-fridge and avoid $100+ meals at the lodge. A great idea on Darling's part, a bad idea for the first stop as we ended up lugging 5lbs of groceries around with us for the remainder of the day, and, our papaya spoiled.
Curaçao is known for making textiles. We saw all kinds of designer fabrics/prints for both home and clothing lines for ridiculously low prices. I bought some really great colorful cotton prints and a bold patterned silk charmeuse for under $8/yd. Amazing.
The heat totally kicked our asses this day and we found ourselves ducking into any and every shop we passed that offered even a hint of air conditioning/fan action. (This is the day we overcompensated for not taking many photos during the rest of the trip.)

The view of Playa Kalki from the restaurant. The Carribbean Sea is stunning, visibility is fantastic.

Historic Dutch Colonial architecture in Caribbean colors is the signature of Willemstad.

I don't think I told you about these yet. I got major f*****g mosquito bites our first day on the island. Over the course of the trip the total count was over 20. If you hang outside with me, you will never get a bite! Bugs love my skin too much. You cannot even begin to imagine the itching, which I was diligent in not doing, and these bites bruised anyway. Bruised. From mosquito bites. So unreal. At the time of this writing, I still have markings on my legs nearly 2 weeks from the date bitten. 

The melons on their own tug!

Farm boats from Venezuela

Muy Delicioso! Okay, I need to get back into Spanish... "Que tipo?"

A stray pup was looking for relief form the heat as well.

W

World Cup everywhere. All the time. Go Holland! If I never hear the buzz of those blasted horns again I will be satisfied!

The famous Queen Emma Pontoon bridge swings open and closes again all day long for boats of all sizes. 

The "vacay" shot

Darling paid some man 10 guilders to take a picture with his snake with our own camera. I thought it was nuts.

He just loves snakes. Look at how happy he is.

The rest are shots from the car.

As we left town, we hit another market for groceries. Groceries were the best idea as breakfast, lunch, and drinks were taken care of for the remainder of our time on the island. It worked out exceptionally well with our schedule. Later that night we went to Sol Food which, if you are ever in Curaçao you must head to Westpunt to eat/hang here. Sunshine, the owner, opens her home patio Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 12-9 and functions as a restaurant. Really wonderful food, really nice people. Sunshine is an amazing host and will come to your table to talk diving (her home is a big diver's hang out) and the West end of the island with you. She'll feed you delicious homemade caramels and give you a copy of her infamous notes letting you in on all the best parts of "her end of the island, " which, in truth feels like a completely different place than the East end. Friday-Sunday we found ourselves at Sol Food like clockwork.

Curaçao Thursday

Thursday:

Thursday is really where our vacay took a turning point. We found that the dive shop just off of the lodge (Ocean Encounters West -- We love this place) offered a "Discovery Dive" for non-certified divers. The reef just off of the dock, Playa Kalki, is known as Alice in Wonderland. We went through the basics of Scuba with our instructor Connor: the gear, some essential confined water skills, and went for a 42 minute dive at 12 meters, or, 40 feet. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take photos scuba diving until after you have completed a course in underwater photography (at least not with PADI). It makes sense as there are so many other things to worry about rather than getting a great shot. I'm also of the persuasion to enjoy doing what your doing rather than taking out a camera to document what you're doing as your focus completely shifts. My first dive is no time to be worried about photos, there's too much I want to see and experience.

When searching google images, this is the best representation of the reef I could find. A giant cascading wall of corals, fishes, sponges, creatures. On this dive we saw lots of gorgeous fishes, some small eels, a seaslug, and were generally enamored by anything we saw moving. I suppose it's time to mention that I had never swam in the ocean before Wednesday's snorkeling trip (have been to the beach, had lunch at the beach, but never swimming). I had never snorkeled before either. So, going from my first ocean swim to my first dive in one day was a big magical adventure. Not to mention how clear the Carribbean Sea is. Visibility is generally more than 100', so amazing, stunning, breathtaking... But more to come with the diving...

After the dive we were starving and went to Jaanchies hoping to find some delicious local cuisine. 

We never did have any luck with Jaanchies.

A funny little hut near Jaanchies. It says "Jannchies Restaurant" on a sign behind that bush... it lies.

 Back to fancy dinner on the fancy ocean view terrace. This was our last fancy meal at the fancy Lodge diningroom.

What a view, eh?

We shared the whole snapper. 

It was delicious.

We slept so soundly this night.  

xoxo