it's not life that matters but the journey...

It's been awhile since my last poll, so I thought it was time.

And since I had the opportunity to do one of my favorite activities this weekend, walking, I thought I'd do a poll about exercise.

[Poll #1835601]

Today I called it a day early, stopped working at 2:30 and went for a long walk. It was gorgeous, clear and even slightly warm, and I just HAD to be out in it. And it should be nice all weekend. Spring may be here. I even saw dandelions on my walk today, and that, to me, is the signal that winter's over! Poor Masahiko is working this weekend. He's only going to be working 25 hours a week, but he's training, so today, tomorrow and Sunday he is working a full 8-hour shift, learning to cook Chinese food in the deli! He's been doing 4-hour closing shifts up until today.

Anyway - in light of the fact that today felt so spring-like, I thought I'd do a very short poll - about weather and seasons.

[Poll #1833512]

I changed my layout to something a bit more cheerful. it's green!

and I posted a new poem here at my writing site clevermoon. I wrote it awhile ago, thinking mostly of my cat Leo, and inspired by a silly drawing my husband did of a cat fish. I should scan that picture and put it with my poem.

anyway - I thought last night that I'd start doing some random polls so that I can get to know my LJ friends better. I'm kind of inspired by the polls that java_fiend does, but mine will be a bit different. for one, they'll be a lot less clever. but I love polls.

So I thought I'd start tonight with a fun one. About something that I love so so much!
( Clicky Clicky )

I finally watched the last episode of FlashForward, and it just left me feeling more frustrated and sad that it was canceled. It was really such a good show. Why, ABC, why???

I've got lots and lots of things to write about, and some pictures to post from last week ... but I just don't have the energy. my weekend was super busy - mostly spent rearranging furniture and getting things organized at home. Plus shopping for more furnishings for our two rooms - we've turned what was meant to be the classroom into a little "living room" with our tv, DVD player, sofa and a coffee table. it's very cozy. now we just need to get AC in that room for summer - it's the hottest room in the house! I also got myself a library card - the local library has a small but substantial collection of books in English so I can at least get by until I can buy some books this summer.

And speaking of summer, I finally got around to booking my flight to Washington, and it's going to bankrupt me. For some reason, airfares are outrageously expensive this summer - I know it's peak travel time in Japan, as it is most places, but I never expected to have to pay more than half of a month's salary just for a flight! I hardly even have enough money in my account now to pay for it! I did check to see how much a flight would cost if I had been traveling from the U.S. to Japan, and it's outrageous too - almost the same, in fact maybe even more. What's going on with the airline?? Anyway, I have to go. There's no question. my dad died and I haven't been back to see my family. So I decided to make it a 3-week trip rather than 2 weeks - this way I might be able to take a side trip to California (only if I can get a pass from my sister's husband who works for Alaska - I can't afford any more flights!)

Well I've got to get to sleep. I've been super busy making lesson plans after work, which is one reason I'm so scarce on LJ and so bad at commenting and replying. Please don't delete me from your friends list - I will have more free time soon. in fact next week, things will slow down a bit.

Before I go, I need to get some input. I'm trying to decide what to do with my hair. summer is coming and I usually end up cutting my hair short. But I have been toying with the idea of growing it out a bit, and growing the bangs. But to be honest, it's driving me crazy and I'm ready to chop it off - at least the bangs! And what about bangs. are they in or out these days? I tried bangs last year and thought they didn't look good on me, but if I continue to grow my bangs, it will be another two months of frustration - they're always in my eyes.
So here's the most recent picture of me with the students - as well as a picture of me with shorter hair from last summer. tell me whether you think I should cut my hair short, or keep growing it. right now it's at a terrible stage, and just looks bad.

( hair it is )

please fill out my poll. who knows what I'll do, but ideas are always nice.

[Poll #1575373]

man it's quiet out there in LJ land... is there anyone out there? Does everyone take a hiatus on the weekends or something?

anyway, the second half of my postings today is about writing. I was watching the Sunday Morning news program this morning, and there was a segment about this author namead Augusten Burroughs who wrote Running with Scissors . He's apparently written several memoirs based on his horrible childhood, even after apparently changing his name because he wanted nothing to do with his past. His brother has also written a memoir about their father, which is significantly different in tone and even in details than Augusten's. This could be because they each have selective memories about their father, based on their age, or experience. We all have different "emotional" recollections of the same event. So this brought up the subject of embellishment in writing memoirs - that is, whether or not it's fair to readers if writers "make up" or "embellish" some details about their lives in their memoirs. I guess some famous writer was on Oprah a few years back and admitted to having made up some details in his book and she called him a liar. (I won't go into my feelings about Oprah here - that's not what this is about)...

But in the interest of research and curiosity, I have a question for my writer friends:
If you are writing something that you call a memoir, which means an autobiographical account of personal experience, is it fair to make up some details, especially if it will make the writing more interesting?

When I was teaching composition at the community college, I used to tell my students that it was perfectly okay to embellish little details - if you don't remember what color someone's hair was, or exactly what they were wearing, or if you don't remember if it was cold or hot outside, etc. But beyond that, is it okay to embellish larger details, or whole segments of your life? If you do that, should you call your work fiction, or can you still call it memoir, as long as it's still based on personal experience?

I'd love your feedback, so you can either add your answer in the comments, or if it's easier, here's a nifty poll for you (or you can do both!!):

[Poll #1337461]

Thanks!!

apparently, according to This article , I must not be a happy person.
Here's what this moronic writer, Roni Rabin says in the NY Times:

Happy people spend a lot of time socializing, going to church and reading newspapers — but they don’t spend a lot of time watching television, a new study finds.

That’s what unhappy people do.

okay, where was this study conducted? Sunnybrook Farm? Reading newspapers? who does that anymore? what century are we living in? and going to church? that's what makes people happy? can't we socialize while watching television?

so this begs the questions, and I think a poll is necessary:
( laura's non-scientific happiness poll )

I was asked by pnksaph to write about the latest book I read and what I'm reading now. Luckily I happened to recently read something fabulous, and am in the process of reading a really fascinating book (and I can't wait to get back to it).

The last complete novel I read was The Golden Compass (or in the UK, Northern Lights), by Phillip Pullman. I read it around mid January when I went to visit my family. It was really quite interesting, and intriguing, especially considering all of the controversy that surrounded it and the release of the movie. I would like to read the other two books in the series, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

The latest thing that I read was a novella by Thomas Wolfe called The Lost Boy , which is actually an extension of some of the characters in his famous novel Look Homeward, Angel . Not to be confused with the contemporary journalist and author Tom Wolfe, Thomas Wolfe wrote in the 20s and 30s, and was considered by William Faulkner to be his generation's best writer. I concur. I was swept up by Wolfe's beautifully descriptive prose, and his memories of a brother who he never really knew, and his search for the childhood home where his brother died. In fact, the entire first chapter (the novella is written in four parts, or chapters), which is told from the point of view of the author's brother (the lost boy), would make a fantastic teaching tool for a writing course in a college or university. Anyone who appreciates the English language should read Wolfe.

Currently I have about four books by my bed, but haven't been able to get into any of them. Then I picked up a book on a whim the other day by a Japanese author named Haruki Murakami . The book is called Kafka on the Shore , and was written in 2002. I couldn't really begin to sum it up for you, but can only tell you that it's really engrossing, and fascinating, a bit surreal and deep and somewhat dark and mysterious. The characters include a runaway teen, talking cats, and a "mentally defective sexagenarian" as John Updike calls him, who lost his mental functions as a child during WWII. I can't wait to see where it goes,as right now it's just kind of floating in this unknown, which I love!

So if you're still reading this, I'd love for you to take ( this fun poll )

why thank you!!
I hope everyone is having a good week. Life update is coming soon, along with the answer to dawnie1970's question about life and death.