Blood Meridian

I have wanted to read Blood Meridian for a very long time, and now that my local library is a part of the One Card Network, I was finally able to get a hold of the book without buying it. I'm going through a bit of a Cormac McCarthy phase at the moment after recently reading The Road for our work book club. I think he's a fantastic writer.

Blood Meridian can be a little bit of a difficult read at times. Most people have a problem with the level of violence in it, which I must say is quite extreme, but I think I am a little de-sensitised, so although some of the imagery is quite shocking, that's not actually what made this difficult for me to read.

I actually struggled with some of the language. There were a heap of words I'd never heard of before, and I have to admit I'm not one of those readers who keeps a dictionary nearby for those occasions so I tried to figure out the sense of what he was trying to say myself. There's also a little Spanish used throughout and although it isn't essential to know every piece of dialogue, it took me out of the story when it got to those parts. And my final complaint was the writing style, I suppose used to convey the intensity of certain scenes, was a little tiresome, particularly when it came to a sentence that just wouldn't end.

However, all that said, it's a great, if difficult to read story, and is confronting. I'm still loving Cormac McCarthy and have to admit to being impressed with how drastically he can change his style to suit the novel. It's a massive difference from The Road to this. The last 50 pages or so in particular were really gripping.

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy - 3.5 stars.



Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy



Upcoming Father's Day

Father's Day is this Sunday and I am seriously struggling to know what to get my Dad this year. His birthday was just a month ago so getting him another gift so soon after his birthday is tricky. He's hard enough to buy for regularly but with his only interest these days being alcohol, it's proving even more difficult than usual. I wandered around the shops for ages yesterday trying to find something he might like and came out with zero ideas. It was hard enough picking a card to be honest. They all say 'you're the best Dad', or, 'you're a great role model', or, 'you're my best friend' and none of that seems true anymore. I feel bad saying that because I know what he has is an illness but it's how I feel.

In happier news, I can't wait to get my tax return so I can get my next tattoo. At this stage it's looking like happening at the end of September. YAY! Not telling Mum this time lol. How silly, being 33 and still not wanting to tell my mother something.

Food, glorious food

I've been on this high protein Bodytrim diet for the last 6 and a bit weeks and so far have lost 5.3kg (it was up to 6kg at one point but I've put on in the last few days). The good thing about it is that I haven't had cravings for chocolate until the last few days, but what has surprised me is how much I've been craving bread. I didn't realise just how much of it I was having until I cut it down to one slice of toast in the morning. I also miss cheese, so have been caught overindulging in it when we have the occasional afternoon tea at work, because there's always a cheese platter.

Some benefits so far have been getting regular walks in, not feeling bloated and sick at work after lunch, eating vegetables more regularly, and trying out a few new recipes which are yummy. The downsides are the obvious things like having to be more organised with meals, less flexibility when going out to eat [although the places I've been have either had something on the menu I could have or have been willing to accommodate my weird requests. E.g. At lunch with the girls at Glow Cafe in the city they made me a cajun chicken burger without the burger bun lol] and finding myself thinking about food more regularly. I seem to think about food a lot, hence why there's a whole blog post dedicated to it.

Anyway I'm doing this for me. I got to the heaviest I've ever been and was feeling unhappy within myself and very unhealthy. I still have a long way to go but at least it's going in the right direction, and so far this has proven to be a lot easier than anything else I've tried. Fingers crossed I can stick with it!

The joys of family?

It's been a while since my last post. I guess it's hard to re-form this habit of writing more regularly. Besides which my life is really boring at the moment, just working and studying, and playing the occasional bit of LOTRO when I can.

Family issues are up and down at the moment. A couple of weekends ago we had a horrid time, with Dad taking another bad turn. It really was horrible and I still can't get those images out of my head. The whole situation still effects me so badly despite it having been around for years, that I think I might need to seek some counselling or another support group. I still fall into the trap of thinking things are going well and then being surprised when he has another setback. I don't know why, it isn't logical, but it's something I constantly do.

As for the family planning stuff, last week I went for a few tests and now am waiting for my GP to come back from a conference to find out the results and see where to from here. Fingers crossed...

Aside from that, I've still had no luck in finding time to cross-stitch but have some projects I want to work on for upcoming birthdays and babies so better make time. I'm still reading when I can, having recently read an unpublished manuscript called Fade In by Michael Pillar. I'm part-way through A Beautiful Mind and Blood Meridian, two books from complete opposite ends of the spectrum!

Time is lacking

I can't believe we're already into August. I honestly think there just aren't enough hours in the day! I wake up at bullshit o'clock to get to work, then get home when it's already dark, and by the time we have dinner and watch a little TV there are only a couple of hours before bedtime in which I should be studying. I'm also trying to get back into cross stitching though, as well as reading for pleasure, not just homework. So I was glad we had a relatively quiet weekend planned.

The only plan we had was to go to Mum and Dad's for lunch on Saturday for my Dad's 62nd birthday. Given recent events I was nervous about what we might find when we arrived but I was pleasantly surprised. We turned out to have a great lunch and stayed for a few hours. It was nice to just sit and chat with them.

Aside from the usual weekly chores, the rest of my weekend was really quiet so I got heaps of studying done. Plus the weather was crap so despite the garden needing some attention, that wasn't going to happen. I actually had the time to read ahead a bit, which I think is probably the first time that's ever actually happened lol. I have an assignment to do by Friday but should be able to finish that by tomorrow night as it isn't a big one and I've done the prep work.

So on Sunday I had time to try out one of my new recipes in my new slow cooker, Steak and Stout. The beef and veggies turned out so yummy and soft, although the sauce was a little strong. In future I think I'll strain it out. It added great flavours to the meat but was too strong on it's own without some bread to soak it up. The plan is that I'll do a different slow cooker meal every weekend until we find some favourites :)

As for the baby planning stuff, tomorrow I'm off to the Drs to discuss some tests so time will tell with that one. Fingers crossed!