Nearsighted Enlightenment

I remembered why I chose the name Nearsighted, or at least have come up with the reasons that I think I chose the name. I had a bit of a notion when I said I couldn't remember but I wanted to think a little more and make sure it was what I wanted. The general thought behind the name Nearsighted was about looking at things closely....really looking at things. Not just on the surface, but also not ignoring the surface. While I am nearsighted, it has nothing to do with my trademark glasses...although in a round about way I guess it it does. You see, the more I read the more nearsighted I get. If I read a book for a few hours when I finally look up from the pages I cannot see anything further than my own hand. My ability to see beyond what is near me is temporarily hindered. So if I spend a lot of my time blogging about books, which I'm sure I will since they consume my life in so many ways, I will be closely examining the things that are in the books...but I will also become more and more nearsighted and eventually need to invest in a stronger pair of lenses, which incidentally, I have been putting off for entirely too long.

The Secret Novel

I have always dabbled in writing since I was a little girl. I have written poems, short stories and I even wrote a small play. I always have little ideas for screenplays, tv pilots, or novels and I'll jot down my ideas and then never really do anything with them. This one idea that I have for a novel just keeps coming up over and over and over again though. It just nags at me constantly and I feel like I've finally come to a point where I'm just going to have to do something about it. I don't want to say much about the presmise because it just seems to intimate right now for me let it any of it go. I want to hold on to the secret a little longer and let it stew. I have jotted down in a notebook some of the key ideas and even large chunks of what will someday become chapters , but its funny because it would be pretty hard for anyone to decipher what I wrote. It is all in wierd Jen code....strange, I know, but I just feel so secretive about the plot right now. I'm not worried about anyone stealing my idea or anything like that, I just don't fell like I'm ready to reveal anything other than what I'm saying in this blog, just yet. There are things I want to say right now about the plot in this blog, but I know I regret it later, so I'm going to savor that fact that I know what it is about and no one else does and just be satisfied that I at leats admitted that there is something in the works. I guess I can say this: I know of certain people in my life that may read it, if it ever materializes into something tangible, and have very strong feelings regarding what I have written. I guess that is the hardest part is just letting go of the fear that you are letting someone into your mind.

That Crazy Computer Contraption!

I fell so techno...no, not like one of those water drinking, ecstasy popping people dancing to the pulsating music. I guess I should say I feel like a techie. I have a new blog, this thing that you are currently reading...well, I hope someone eventually stumbles upon this and reads it. Chances are no one will be bored enough to religiously check my blog, but I would urge you to. I have an abundance of inane things to say that will hopefully make you chuckle from time to time, or at least thank your lucky stars that YOU weren't the one to finally say them in cyberspace. OK, so back to me and my techie ways. I have joined some networks: http://www.bookcrossing.com/ and http://www.goodreads.com/. Hey, look at that! It made a link all by itself! See how good I am getting at this! I have been learning HTML over that last few months and I was going to try and make a link using my new super snazzy skilzzzz, but the computer just did it for me.

So, for those of you that, like me, have nothing better to do than waste vast amounts of time on the internet when I should be doing anything but, here are the links to my pages on aforementioned websites.

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/931557
http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/JenKazoo

I promise that in the future I will talk about things other than books! I swear! Just bear with me. I'm on a book organizing kick. It will succumb to some other obsession soon and I will tell you all about it. I like referring to whoever might read this as "you", by the way. I find it amusing because "you" could be no one...or anyone, for that matter; but most likely it will be no one since I don't really think many people I know want to read my blog. I mean, if you are a friend of mine or an aquaintance you have already been subjected to a "live" conversation with me, and let's face it, that can be rather painful at times.

Peace out!

Books, Books, Wonderful Books!

This is a partial list of books that I read in 2007. I didn't start keeping a list until the second half of the year and these are the only ones that I can remember. I know there were at least 20 more but I didn't make a decision to keep track of them until I had already forgotten a big chunk of what I read. Hopefully more will come to mind and I can add them to the list. This year I'm going to try and do a better job of keeping a book log.

The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
The Last Summer of You and Me by Ann Brashares
Middlesex by Jefferey Euginedes
The Worthy: A Ghost Story by Will Clarke
Songs Without Words by Anna Packer
The Big Question by Chuck Barris
Pilates on the Ball by Colleen Craig
The Infidelity Pact by Carrie Karosyov
The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
The Tent by Margaret Atwood
Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood
The Double Bind by Chris Bojahlian
Flower Children by Maxine Swann
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Peony in Love by Lisa See
Divsadero by Micheal Ondaatje
The Russian Debutate's Handbook by Gary Shteyngart
Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
The Secret of Lost Things by Sheriden Hay
The Emeror's Children by Claire Messud
The Professor's Daughter by Emily Raboteau
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
Paint it Black by Janet Fitch
The Reluctnat Fundamentalist Moshin Hamid
Free Food For Millionaires by Min Jin Lee
The Washingtonienne by Jessica Cutler
The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster
Piece by Piece by Tori Amos
The Echo Maker by Richard Powers
The Girls by Lori Lansing
The Nest Newlywed Handbook by Carley Roney
300 by Frank Miller
Best Friends Martha Moody
The Last of Her Kind Sigrid Nunez
I, Etcetera by Susan Sontag
This is Not Chick Lit by Elizabeth Merrick
The Uncommon Reader by Allen Bennet

I'm starting my list for 2008 and I will try to continue to add to it all year.

2008
Wonderful Tonight by Pattie Boyd
The Brief and wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Matrimony by Kevin Henkin
Rhett Butler's People by Donald Craig
The Songs of Galileo: Voice of God by M.T. Jones

What the hell am I doing?

I started this blog several months ago and then forgot that I had it....now that I rememeber that it exists and I actually know my password I'm going to try and make a go of it. At this point I'm not sure what I am doing, despite that fact that I am quite computer literate. I've been reading a lot of blogs lately so I figured I needed to work on my own. I guess my first step is to make it look really effing cool and I also think I need to rename it. Why on Earth did I name it Nearsighted? There was a point to it back when I decided to call it that but what that point was I'm not sure. Maybe it will come to me in a dream.

I think next time I get on here I am going to try and list all the books I read in 2007 and then I'm going to start one for 2008.