now this could be fun

Dubai plans 'moving' skyscraper

Make sure to watch the video too.

How fun would that be? Both to walk down the street and watch the building move and then also to live inside one and have your view constantly changing. There's this restaurant in Big D (and I'm sure many other places as well) that's at the top of a tower and revolves around to look over downtown Dallas. And it's always seemed really cool.

And I bet that would make for a beautiful and chic housewarming party. I would really like to know more about how that works. The article goes into a little bit, but at one point I used to want to study architecture, and that part of me wants to really understand the nuts and bolts.

And $3.7m to $36m is quite a range. I wonder what the penthouse's view would be. Pretty spectacular I'd wager. Especially at night.

finding admiration in the object of irrational fears

I have an irrational fear. Probably several, but the one that I thought about today was my fear of sharks. Yes, I realize that I have a greater chance of dying by being struck by lightening than being attacked by a shark. I realize that given the whole world with its huge population, on average there are about 100 shark attacks.

But what can I say? I was a Jaws fan growing up. For some inexplicable reason.

And that is why I never learned to surf those years in California, even though I really, really wanted to. So that's my irrational fear.

I bring this up because despite my irrational fear, sharks are, for lack of a better word, cool. Very, very cool.

I think they're fascinating. And this morning I came across this article about whale sharks (which it should be pointed out do not attack humans), that had this to say: "Monster sharks can execute underwater 'flight' moves that would have put some fighter pilots to shame...."

The sharks are normally placid when close to the surface, but when they dive into depths not easily reached by us, they can be quite...oh let's say acrobatic.

There was another link to an article on a "fossil" shark captured on film that was oddly in shallow enough waters to be seen a caught (and if you look at the picture...it does kind of look like a fossil). This article, along with the media buzz on the colossal squid, are just one of several reminders that there is so much we don't know, about the depths of the ocean and even the specimens we do have access to. Again, looking at the whale shark and beginning to find out all this information that was unexpected.

There's so much we don't know, in all of our thousands of years of observations and study. And I, for one, look forward to the next discovery.

author recommendation

I recently finished reading Jhumpa Lahiri's recent novel, Unaccustomed Earth, which was incredibly beautiful, as her writing generally is. I was first introduced to Lahiri through her first book, Interpreter of Maladies. I picked it up after hearing a lot about it, and because it was to be a phenomenal collection of short stories. I wanted to read more short stories since it's a type of writing I'd really like to work on.

But back to the purpose of this post. In Unaccustomed Earth, Lahiri returns to the short story and her writing is poetry. It flows and, at least from what I recall, there wasn't a single unnecessary word. And I particularly liked the last section where the first stories are told from first person, and then the next, told in third, really joins the two characters and becomes their story, and not just hers or his. I think that was a really neat tool to use.

I know, but as I'm writing this, I can't come up with a better word than "neat." I'll have to come back and edit, but I'm writing this as I go, with whatever comes to mind.

With some of the stories, and her previous works, at first glimpse it may not seem like I can relate to her characters. I don't have that cultural struggle that comes from being an Indian set into a different culture either here, in the US or in England. But she really illustrates that, without "telling" us it was difficult or awkward. That awkwardness comes through the writing and the reader feels it. And I would imagine that might hard to do.

But the cultural background, while a large part, is only part of the story. The characters themselves are multi-faceted and their stories can happen to anyone, and do I'm sure.

Lahiri is a wonderfully gifted story-teller, and whenever I read her books shortly after their release, I just really, really look forward to the next one. But as I know, writing is a process. A long one. So it'll take some time but the wait is worth it. Thinking more on it now too, I'd have to describe her writing as calm. It was like...the pace of what I'd imagine a bard telling the story to be like. Slow and melodic, and engaging. Very, very engaging.

I highly recommend Lahiri's works. All of them are equally poignant, so start from the beginning, the end or pick up The Namesake, the novel in the middle of the two short story collections. Just enjoy on a lazy afternoon or maybe as the sun sets at the end of a long day. And I, for one, will be waiting for her fourth book.

I heart coffee studies

I love coffee. Everything about it. The taste, the smell, the warmth, the shape of the mug and the way your hands mold to it on cool mornings. I love walking in, or even sometimes walking past, coffee shops and that rich aroma spills out and you may only get the faintest scent, but it's calming. To me.

In my relatively short life, coffee and I have had a long history together. And that's what happens when you're a night person but your high school starts at 7:30am. Which of course means you have to be up hours earlier to eat, get ready, finish homework and, until I was 16, catch the bus. Honestly, school boards, 7:30am is way too early for a 14 year old. I'd even argue occasionally for the 18 year old too.

But I digress. My coworker mentioned this new study on coffee drinkers a little earlier today. And I've seen several other in the past on BBC about coffee's effects on memory. Now of course, this doesn't mean to go out and drink a lot of coffee throughout the day, because then we'd never get any sleep. And I've had my moments, mainly pulling those all-nighters in college, where I know I've had too much and I think...oh, I should probably cut back (seeing as how I no longer have those all-nighters, I can say that I have cut back).

But...it does give just a little bit of justification for that vice that quite a number of us indulge in. Every morning.

On a side note, I bought a cup at Monticello with part of a quote from Jefferson that says "Coffee...the favorite drink of the civilized world." It made me smile.

summer music

Driving me back to DC last a night, a friend had blues playing on his stereo and he commented how the blues is summer music for him. Now whether that had to do with the music itself, or summer music memories, could be up for debate. But that got me thinking...

I do have music in rotation throughout the year depending on the seasons. Granted, there a few staples that play throughout the year depending on my mood, such as lounge, dance or rock. Although I do listen to a lot more lounge and softer/quieter music in the winter months. But as soon as summer hits, that music often heads into the background for my summer staples. And it's really time I put that music back into my rotation.

In the summer I love Brazilian music.

Latin in general, but there's a lot of Brazilian in my stereo during the sunny, sweltering months. I'm listening to some on now on Pandora, hoping to find some new artists to add to my collection (my inspiration for that radio station was Bebel Gilberto). And all I want to do is sit out in the sun with a caipirinha and a book, or maybe catnap and let my skin soak up the sun (with the proper SPF of course).

I used to complain that I much preferred the colder months and did not like summer. But I've since learned that has changed. I love sunshine and warmth and being out in the sunshine. Just as you can gather from my last post, it's the humidity that pushes that lazy, contented feeling into misery. If I could just my heat and sun without a lot of the moisture, I'd be a happy girl.

allow me to state the obvious

Wow. It's hot here. And muggy.

And...believe it or not, but I miss North Texas heat. I'd have to say that the humidity is at least fifty percent less, give or take a little bit...but that means that you're not walking in very thick, heavy air.

Hmmm...never thought I'd hear myself say that.

Short post. But...I just really felt the need to state the obvious. You know...for the record and all.

Back to writing. Seeing as how it's too disgusting to do anything outside, unless you're walking from one ice-enclosed building to another (oh thank you thank you thank you to the air conditioner inventors), I'm staying in and trying to be productive.