A Discovery

Baedeker's Guide is mentioned on page 154 (specifically the copy from 1900). The guide was first created in 1827. Each guide had up to the minute revisions. Accuracy of these revisions were checked by members of the Baedeker family as they traveled incognito through Europe.

Instead of having Jeremy Irons read to me I would rather listen to Johnny Cash sing to me (if he were still alive). On page 153-154, the last paragraph of the chapter. This sections reminds me of the Cash song I've Been Everywhere.


Johnny Cash: I've Been Everywhere

"I've Been Everywhere"I was totin' my pack along the long dusty Winnemucca road,When along came a semi with a high an' canvas-covered load."If you're goin' to Winnemucca, Mack, with me you can ride."And so I climbed into the cab and then I settled down inside.He asked me if I'd seen a road with so much dust and sand.And I said, "Listen, I've traveled every road in this here land!"

[Chorus:]I've been everywhere, man.I've been everywhere, man.Crossed the desert's bare, man.I've breathed the mountain air, man.Of travel I've had my share, man.I've been everywhere.

I've been to:Reno, Chicago, Fargo, Minnesota,Buffalo, Toronto, Winslow, Sarasota,Wichita, Tulsa, Ottawa, Oklahoma,Tampa, Panama, Mattawa, La Paloma,Bangor, Baltimore, Salvador, Amarillo,Tocapillo, Baranquilla, and Perdilla, I'm a killer.

[Chorus]

I've been to:Boston, Charleston, Dayton, Louisiana,Washington, Houston, Kingston, Texarkana,Monterey, Faraday, Santa Fe, Tallapoosa,Glen Rock, Black Rock, Little Rock, Oskaloosa,Tennessee, Hennessey, Chicopee, Spirit Lake,Grand Lake, Devils Lake, Crater Lake, for Pete's sake.

[Chorus]

I've been to:Louisville, Nashville, Knoxville, Ombabika,Schefferville, Jacksonville, Waterville, Costa Rica,Pittsfield, Springfield, Bakersfield, Shreveport,Hackensack, Cadillac, Fond du Lac, Davenport,Idaho, Jellico, Argentina, Diamantina,Pasadena, Catalina, see what I mean-a.[Chorus]I've been to:Pittsburgh, Parkersburg, Gravelbourg, Colorado,Ellisburg, Rexburg, Vicksburg, Eldorado,Larimore, Admore, Haverstraw, Chatanika,Chaska, Nebraska, Alaska, Opelika,Baraboo, Waterloo, Kalamazoo, Kansas City,Sioux City, Cedar City, Dodge City, what a pity.

[Chorus]

I have become obsessed with trying to understand why Nabokov wanted to write a book about a pedophile. The site below does not explain why, but I thought that this site was an interesting start to my search.

http://worldliteratures.suite101.com/article.cfm/lolita_nabokovs_classic_novel

I am struggling to understand why everyone is so excited about Lolita. This novel disturbs me and therefore it is not an enjoyable reading experience for me. Every time Humbert Humber talks about Lolita I envision my baby sister, who is 8 years old, being pursued by middle-aged man who can't make with women his own age so he prays on young girls. Quite frankly, I am repulsed by this novel which makes it hard to want to keep reading, but I plan to finish the novel despite my disgust.

A Caption

If I remember correctly this picture was taken on New Years Eve 2005, right before the stroke of midnight and the year 2006. I am the one hiding at the back of the picture. Sarah is the one whose shoulder I am peeking over. She is married now to a Justin, I introduced them. Jessie, standing on Sarah's left, had met her future husband but he was unable to make for this evening. Jessie married her husband, Travis, in December of 2007. She lost Travis in a boating accident on July 4th, 2009. Travis and Sarah were cousin but didn't know it until after him and Jessie met. I was in Longview Washington when Sarah called me with the news of Travis. It was 6:30 A.M. It was a sad day for me. I like this picture because it captures the three of us together before life became too complicated and we unintentionally started drifting apart. Looking at the picture reminds me to enjoy the present. Don't dwell on the future or the past.

An Early Childhood Memory

This is a vague memory. I was probably around the age of two maybe three, I don't remember exactly. At this point in my life my family lived in Massachusetts. One weekend my mother brother and I went to the ocean, I am unsure if my dad was with us. Anyway, the water that day was cold and the waves were unceasing (which according to recent experience is normal behavior of coastal ocean water). For the longest time I made the waves of that day out to be enormous, monster waves. Due to my recent trip to the Oregon coast, Astoria in particular, I believe that waves crashing into the coast are enormous, monster waves. I remember running from the waves back to the beach and never making it before the waves crashed into me. And as I was running from the waves on the Oregon coast this past summer I was struck with the memory of doing the exact same thing as a toddler in Massachusetts. Like I said, a vague memory.