dazzling new levels

Welcome back to the work-week! I hope everyone had as good of a weekend as I did! On Saturday, I threw a party for the students of mine who received superior ratings in the local festival and are qualifying for state. We had a WONDERFUL time. Sunday, we bought bushes to plant in our front yard (I have yet to do the planting though) and went to a Decemberists concert. (Their new album has a cleaner and more mainstream sound to it...... and thus I like it BETTER).

I also put down the book Waiting for Gertrude by Bill Richardson. This is one I won't be finishing. The idea of the book was cute; a community of cats live in the main cemetery in Paris and they are reincarnations of such famous Parisian artists as Chopin, Rossini, Isadora Duncan, Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, and others. I think the author missed a step though, in making his characters a bit too crass. It is cute that the characters retain much of their former-life personalities while being primarily concerned with things like licking their paws and scavenging for their next meal. In putting this book down, I either quit too early, or this book would have made an excellent short story. Either way, I don't have the time to waste reading a book from which I'm getting neither enjoyment nor information. So, my copy is available to anyone who wants to read it after such a glowing review!

In other news: Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Segolene Royal win through to the run-off of France's presidential poll, Maradona is treated for alcoholism (I originally read that as "Madonna." I don't know who Maradona is.), Mischa Barton can't dress herself, and my tea is ready. Cheers!