An msb Smorgasbord of Sorts – Football and Snow and What are We Reading?

We are under a Winter Weather Advisory.  (I want to be in school again and sleep in at my mom and pop’s with stacks of books and movies on their big projector screen)

People in these parts are mostly upset with the results of last night’s Super Bowl.  Any sympathy for the underdog was completely trampled over by devotion to the Colts.  Sahwee.

As far as sport-viewing, I’m a fan of basketball (Go Hoosiers!) and tennis.  I like the idea of football and respect it, but i always forget all the rules.  Even in my younger cheerleading days — we just clapped & yelled when everyone else clapped & yelled (well i suppose i should only speak for myself).  I would have enjoyed watching the game last night, but after hearing the winner, I have to say i’m glad i was not around my family in the moment…..

…..Introducing my nephew…..His name is Colt

So now switching back to my comfy nerd-dom… What are you reading right now friends?  It’s been such a crazy-busy time, I haven’t been able to read for my own pleasure in quite a while.  I’m digging in now though and this is what I’ve got on my chair-side table…

I’ve been desiring to read the entire series for several years but always got distracted by Lewis or MacDonald or the Russians.  They’re definitely hefty meticulous books and since I already know the storyline…  but enough excuses…  I finished The Fellowship a couple of months ago and so I’m determined to continue faithfully (plus- i got the illustrated hardbacks from my little bro. for Christmas!)

A recommendation and gift from my friend Mike….  finally getting around to it after over a year…

Ok, this one is a little embarrassing and not what I would normally choose to spend time reading BUT my dad’s a smart guy and I make him read/listen to all my fave authors & speakers so it’s only fair I read some of the stuff he throws my way.  Enter in probably the first real self-help book I’ve ever read in my life.  We’ll see how it goes.

Finally, I want to dig back into some Tolstoy short stories after my bestie Lyndsy reminded me of how beautifully and richly he writes them.  Here is a list of some good’ns you can read online! .  In the past, I’ve read How Much Land Does a Man Need?, A Lost Opportunity, and What Men Live By.

*Interesting fact: Pushkin was enamored with the female foot while Tolstoy noticed his first love’s “aristocratic elbow”

And now… Just Because… in honor of my viewing of “Bright Star” this past weekend, I will close with Keats words under the same title…

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art–
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors–
No–yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever–or else swoon to death.