Et ceteras.

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency is one of those rare, perfect books: perfect descriptions, perfect resonance, characters fleshed out just enough so that your mind fills in all the details to - of course - perfection. I always love reading about different cultures, how different people handle their day-to-day lives, and this book was a very satisfying glimpse into that aspect of Botswanan existence.

While the novel was bound by one over-arching plot purpose, each chapter contained a separate, little story, that actually could have stood on its own in a short story collection. During my reading, I suddenly started having a lot to do, and the compact little chapters really helped me continue reading - if they'd all been complicated, requiring memory of previous ones, I don't think I'd have ever finished the book.

Which is why I just gave up on The Omnivore's Dilemma, frankly. One can only read about corn for so long. I know that at some point I will absolutely devour this book, but right now is not at all that time. Plus, the book reminds me a bit of Fast Food Nation - a jolting, life-changing read that pretty much exposes you to all of that subject you can stand. Reading it rehashed in Dilemma just doesn't interest me at the mo.

I've been looking more through my reference books lately - specifically, my triathlon ones - to gauge my training. I hit a really great landmark for me yesterday, so yay! I credit a lot of my excitement about it to my Polar 625x - I can measure both my running and cycling distance/cadence/speed, then see it graphically on a PC (with Polar ProTrainer software) and on my Mac (with iSmartTrain). Consequently, for the past three weeks I"ve been in absolute biofeedback bliss:



I highly recommend it. But then, I'm the kind of person who gets copies of my x-rays so I can stare at my bones (recently I went to a podiatrist and got a good look at the bones in my feet - which to me is just beyond fascinating, that all those teeny things bear all our weight over the years . . . ).

My Trial Practice competition is coming up in a couple of weeks. If one more prosecutor comes to "sit in" on our class and disparages PDs again - ooooh I think I am going to wrench off my shoe and pop him in the head with it (they're usually men). Last week it was "Professor, if you don't mind me interrupting for a - for just a second you know" - with that horrible, supercilious, know-it-all kind of shrug and laugh - "So class, you all know what you're not supposed to do during Opening Statement, right? Right?" A few students mumble, "Argue?" "Yeah, that's right - argue. So, uh, would somebody mind - you know, would somebody just explain to me why public defenders do it all the time? I mean, I was just in trial, and I had to make about five objections during the PDs opening statement - I mean, it's not Opening Argument, is it?" Professor Prosecutor: "So, did the judge let it slide?" Dumbass: "Of course not, he sustained every one of my objections! Every single one! Shoulda seen their faces. So let that be a lesson to you, students - you try to slide by, and it aint. gonna. happen. But you'll all be good - you're being taught by Professor Prosecutor here, he won't steer you wrong."

And then, the week before that: Mock Trial Professor (former Prosecutor) "comes to visit" our class and chats with Prof Prosecutor. MT Prof: "You know, I one time accompanied students up to Buffalo for a competition, and the judge was really harsh on our students, reminding us that, 'Up here it's called Oral Argument. Not Statement - Argument.'" Prof Prosector: "Did he use to be a PD?" "You know what, he did! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha." Prof Prosecutor: "Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

*barfs*

oh p.s. Man of the Year really reallly really sucked. I was beyond disappointed. The trailers made it out to be something completely different. Plus it attempted to incorporate some hard drama, but it failed absolutely and completely at that too. Bleh.