Number 62
Watched "All Quiet on the Western Front" with A this week. I'm not generally very keen on war movies, but it was refreshing to see a war movie that didn't make soldiers out to be heroes. Not that it vilifies soldiers, but it makes the point that soldiers are grunts, out doing things that will likely damage them for the rest of their lives because someone in power decided that they should be done. Really interesting. Of course, the film is set in WWI, so the omnipresent media that we have today didn't exist, but I thought it very effectively made the point that the propaganda that is presented to people when a war is going on is often a crock. Really a poignant, touching movie. I'm glad to have seen it. Oh, and one of the most violent movies I've ever seen, but no/very little blood.

Numbers 1 & 63
Read Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" again, and it's still heartbreaking. In ways that I can't really even describe because there are so very many bits of heartbreak in it. It is a beautiful book, though.

Also read "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith, which is instead sweet and light and airy and funny. Highly recommended fluffy stuff for warm days.

Number 33
Andy and I went to the Bahamas (an all-inclusive resort outside of Freeport on Grand Bahama Island). He needed a passport, so the letter of the goal is filled, and there were a great many Europeans there so there were lots of cultural differences to be amused by, but I still think it may not be quite the same. I'm calling this one complete, though. And it was a fantastic little getaway.

Numbers 90 & 91
Why yes, this is a new hat.

Number 33
We have a vacation booked for the Bahamas at the end of this month. A will indeed leave the country. For somewhere other than Canada - places that are 15 minutes away do not qualify as leaving the country.

Numbers 1, 63, 59 and 60
I read "The New Rules of Lifting for Women." Ok, some may claim that it doesn't qualify as a real book, since it's rather self-helpy, but I say it does. Anyways, I really enjoyed reading it. Lots of good information that I didn't find idiotic (at no point do the author's recommend against eating any particular real food, one of my pet peeves of diet and nutrition writing). And I'm really interested in lifting "real" weights. The book presents a 6 month lifting program, and I think I'm going to try it. I just need to get over my fear of looking like a fool over in the "real" weight section of my gym, which is not separated from the rest of the gym. And try to figure out just which contraption is the "squat rack".

Numbers 65 and 91
EVERYONE SHOULD GO TO A MIREPOIX TASTING! A and I went last Thursday, and oh my, what fun. We drank much wine, all in convenient little 2 ounces tastes, and discovered 3 new tasty wines that sell for less than $10. The atmosphere is great, with live music at an appropriate volume and lots of chatter. Great date. I wore my red and black hounds tooth hat, which got a compliment and, I think, convinced people that I must be very friendly so they chit-chatted with me.

Number 100
I was a pint lighter Saturday afternoon. The phlebotomists at the Berkley Donor Center do a fine job.

Number 62
I challenge those of you who enjoy musicals to watch The Broadway Melody. Seriously, this must have been made when making talking picture was not considered real acting, thus good actors wouldn't do it. I can't imagine how it could have been the best anything of 1928-1929.