So then...

Another warm day out. Oy vey.
A boss of mine called me last night and asked if I could come in this morning at seven. I said, "I somehow think that won't work."
Which was a rather vague answer if there ever was one.
Sometimes I am up for it, but I have been feeling exhausted this entire week and the last thing I wanted to do was wake up God early and go into work on a damn Saturday.
Besides I have to get up and be at work by seven a number of days next week.
I need to rest or I will kill a customer.

No brainpower left.

Another pointless day at work. Just pointless. I came in for four hours of standing around with a whiney queen. He is a nice enough sort and well-meaning but he is one of those who enjoys being a victim.
Maybe I will call him....*thinks about it* Maury Povich. Or Bonnie Franklin.
Anyways, so Bonnie Franklin talks about how another co-worker teased him and said he didn't have fashion sense. I think I will call that co-worker...Tallulah Bankhead. Tallulah is a favorite sort he is always (yes I mean he, and he is gay) winding up Bonnie Franklin and causing him to whine. He told Bonnie that he isn't really gay because he doesn't tuck in his shirt.
It was one of those days.

I may just fall asleep.

review revue

Whatever have I been reading?

To begin with awhile back I read 1215. It is a book about the year the Magna Carta was signed and it delves into what daily life was like for everyone, a bit of the history leading up to the barons grabbing King John I and forcing him to sign a document at Runnymede which centuries later would be the defining influence for the development western democracy (specifically the creation of the United States) and straightening out a lot of misconceptions held about the period. One of the things I found interesting is the commonly held belief that before ol' Columbus showed up everyone thought the world was flat. That is not so. even in the 13th century there were many learned men who knew the earth was not flat and there were a number of writings about the subject. Another intriguing aspect of the book was the nasty awful fighting that occurred among the royal and noble families. Some of the actions taken by these people are more suited to the guests of a typical episode of Jerry Springer.
Eleanor of Aquitaine encouraged her teen aged sons to overthrow her husband and their Father Henry II and it failed. There was quite a bit of fighting and after that Henry kept a very close eye on Eleanor. Often she was held prisoner. Some of them also killed a number of nobles of Wales, and Ireland mostly on the basis of the notion that the Kings of Ireland and Wales were nothing but awful savages and needed civilization.
England does have a rather nasty habit of "civilizing" a group by invading, killing the leaders and then keeping the people in a state of limbo.
The authors also discuss the Church's role at this time. It talks about the number of "natural" children that many priests, bishops and popes had and the influence they had in the ruling of a country.
The book isn't terribly thick or big which I think is a definite appeal but it touches on all these things that brought about a great change in how a country might be ruled.
It was a step in the direction of checks and balances and the acknowledegement that sometimes one could have a little too much power.

I also finished reading Playing Moldovans at Tennis by Tony Hawks who also wrote, "Round Ireland with a Fridge". He is an English comedian who likes to drink, talk big, and take on silly bets while drinking.
Obviously he is fun at parties.
In this particular book he was drinking one night with a friend while watching a football (soccer) where one of the teams was from Moldova and discussing his tennis career as a child (non-existent to be honest) and Tony's friend got sick of him going on at length and said he bet he couldn't beat the entire Moldovan football team at tennis and the loser would have to sing the Moldovan nat'l anthem buck naked in public.
Well folks doesn't that sound appealing. Tony being a slightly sloshed sort who likes to prove people wrong and possibly get a book out of it decided what the heck. It follows his journey into post-soviet Moldova where hope is expensive and there are no streetlights and large manholes with no covers. Great prospects eh?
I gave this to Andrew for Christmas and he said he liked it, but not as much as the first book and I have to agree. This book is entertaining but I think it lacks a certain sense of urgency. But maybe it is the tone he intended since that seems to be the state of Moldova. A lack of urgency. This is an appropriate book for the airplane. A bit fluffy, amusing and it will pass the time until you break down and find yourself watching the documentary on Diana Princess of Wales, her tragic life and terrific fashion sense.

The last book I read was Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh.
Not a single person of importance or class was spared in this sharp bit of satire. The book is very funny but not quite as mean-spirited as some of his later books where he truly lets his general hate for the human race shine through and through. The book covers the theme of imagined celebrity and the obsession it brings about and while certain elements are dated I think much of it was quite timely. Especially in the case of the various glossy weeklies and their love/hate emotions of the stars and the silly actions of these made-up celebrities.
One sees the unpleasant danger in vicarious living, the manic sense of living one takes off after disasters and how easy it is to forget those simple words, "Only ye who has not sinned may cast the first stone."

Now to wade through a books on influenza, Agatha Christie and French history.
I may also make a Chocolate flan tomorrow.