flight paths discussion

The intention of this thread is to be a safe space to vent. I'm confident that we will still be respectful.

If it ain't one thing it's another. This morning I opened up GR to add a book and lo! ALL my shelves read zero all the way down. I just checked, and aside from 1 title on my tbr that I just added to see what would happen it's still empty.
I did write GR and tho I haven't yet got a reply, a multitude of comments indicate this glitch or whatever it is is randomly epidemic.
Sure hope none of you are experiencing this

I've heard that this is happening. Apparently, everything is still there; it just isn't registering. GR must have "updated" something again and caused another glitch. Hope they get it fixed soon.

My whine of the weekend: I have a nasty, nasty chest/head cold. I've been laid up since Friday and still feel awful. This is the worst cold I've had in many years.
The one good thing about this cold is that I was hope sick on Friday when the snow storm hit, so I didn't have to drive in that mess.

It is a horrible thing to survey empty shelves

So sorry to hear about nasty cold,

Try to eat really well, lots of veggies and tumeric and garlic and lemon and Sleep! Steam and neti pot helped me when i had my first bad cold in many years last year.

Today the sun melted a lot of the snow here and im hoping tomorrow to be able to go out...I finally have a lead on a place.

Oh......a lead on a place!! That's awesome! I hope it's exactly what you want and that you get it.

I have been making myself eat good food. I don't want anything but liquids. I feel very, very dry.
Steam is wonderful.
Sleep would be nice. I've had very restless sleep.

Go get that apartment, Magdelanye!

Thanks for your enthusiasm Petra but I;m holding off the excitement until I have something to really be excited about. This place is pretty iffy.

Soup! and hot apple cider with ginger! and maybe a shot of rum or whikey in it, *not the soup, the apple juice
lovely bath with salts!
may you get a good rest and feel better in the morning!

@ Magdelanye - Good luck on finding a good spot to live.

@ Petra I had the start of a cold and fever but I took echinacea and golden seal tincture in water several times a day on the first day and then it never got to be more than fatigue that a good night's sleep cured. Of course, i upped the lemon, ginger, turmeric, honey and cayenne in hot water as well.

My good reads account also thinks I have read nothing.

Gee MaryAnne, you too.
Disconcerting eh
Are you packing?

echinacea only works to head a cold off at the pass.

Yes I have been packing - I leave here in 4 weeks.

And yes - echinacea works when anything is just starting.

4 weeks!
May it all go smoothly
very much looking forward to tea!

@Magdelanye: what a drag about GR! I'd freak if that happened. I hope they clear it up for you--and soon.

But how wonderful that you have a lead. I hope it works out!

@Mary Anne: Also my sympathy on the GR situation. But I'm glad you stopped your cold. I've also had luck with echinacea. A;so good luck with your move. Packing is so exhausting but it's great you have a place to go.

@Petra: sorry for the cold. Ginger and lemon helps a little once I'm sick. I hope you feel better soon.

As for me, my whine is it's almost 1 am and I can't fall asleep; I'm so nervous about work. I can't wait to retire; the stress of working is so great. I never know how I'm going to get through the year. And, I probably mentioned it so forgive me, but I was in the hospital right before vacation with what may be vertigo but is hopefully just a reaction to some medication I took. But it put me way behind at work and I don't know how I'm going to catch up.

I'm going back to bed now. Hopefully, I'll fall asleep soon. 4:30 is so close!

Insomnia! my darling!
It must be gruelling Ellie to dread work that much that it interferes with your sleep. I'm lucky to be free of deadlines and such acute worries and yet I can't sleep more than 4 hours.
Listening to audio books helps if I it's 4 am and I've been up for2 hrs. Pema especially
Do hope we all have good rests and all is brighter in the morning 🐃

Just to let you know the place i looked at today was less than half of the size of my current place for more money.
nuff said about that.

Shelves not restored here, how bout you MaryAnne?

The books I am reading are weighing me down. One is the Canada Reads:
American War by Omar El Akkad : perhaps Ice in his outpost hasn't heard of it and might like better than I do. MaryAnne you actually liked it I think?

Sure hope Petra and Ellie are feeling better!

@ Magdelanye My goodread shelves have been restored to indicate that I have read books, am reading books and want to read books.

I did not 'like' American War in the way I do Scandinavian Noir, say, but I appreciate it because it is well written with internal logic and helps makes understand the world and its woes a little more palatable. Because our world is terrible is not a reason to blame the writer.
No matter how important a message Forgiveness has, I do not appreciate it because it is poorly written with little internal logic to help me understand the horrible 'effects' of internment and POW camps.
My whine is the early (between 4:30 and 6:30) morning snow removal plows right outside my door just about every morning since it snows just about every day on the mountain to the delight of the myriad of skiers who drive here and need to park.
Petra, I hope you feel better. Magdelanye, I hope you find a place that is just right.
And everyone, I hope you have more sleep -- wonderful, restorative sleep. .

Yes! just checked and my shelves are restored. A satisfactory outcome but also a warning.

Insomnia is one thing but to be woken up in the wee hours by snow plows or garbage trucks is the worst. Where are your new digs?

American War is brutal.
I appreciate your comments and almost agree. It's a pity Water Beetles was not the contender, Forgiveness can't compare. But aside from the writing, I'm finding a similar didactic quality in all the 4 contenders that I've read.
I feel not only led but quite emotionally manipulated by the formula.
Violence begets violence and it's the blind rage of mindless people that undoes higher intentions.

stopping myself here from going sideways.
Going to try to finish this damn book before I have to go into town.

New digs are either in south Cambie or right next to it. I am not sure of areas in Vancouver.

Vancouver is kind of a tinker toy town. Cambie is one of the more pleasant neighbourhoods.

I'm sorry that the apartment was a dud, Magdelanye. Are you staying in your general area? How much range are you comfortable moving within? (just in case I hear of something through a grapevine)

Thank you for the well wishes. I think they are helping. I'm starting to feel better. I went back to work today and am now beat (but I made it through the day). I won't be going to tai-chi class tonight; I'm too congested for that. I have hopes of being perfectly healthy again by the end of the week.

Mary Anne, I work just off of Cambie, in Children's & Women's Hospital. I'm not sure where south Cambie starts. Will you be near the Golf course? or maybe Queen Elizabeth park? We won't be far apart, while I work, I think.

@Petra I am between your hospital and the vancouver general - and a little to the west

Wow! That's so close! I see a lunch in our future! The restaurant selection around Children's is awful but around VGH is superb (I worked at VGH for 27 years).....great restaurants along Broadway. You'll have to try Banana Leaf. Yum! Their Singapore Laksa soup is to die for....as are their delectable roti.
....now I'm hungry.....

Oh.....and that's a really nice area, Mary Anne. Really cute and central and easy to get around in. Well chosen.

My youngest daughter who has lived in Vancouver since beginning her Master's at UBC chose the place for her and I to share. She works downtown and I hope to get some part time work, maybe in one of the nearby libraries.

The Vancouver Library is amazing. Their catalogue has everything. You're going to have a marvelous time. Hope they have a job for you. That would be exciting.

Thank you for your enthusiasm! I have visited my youngest daughter enough to have envied her living in Vancouver, so this is like a dream I hope not to wake up from.

It'll be so much fun to you and her. A new home is exciting.

it is a 2nd floor apartment with a sweetheart of a landlord, who seems to own a few of the stately large older homes in the neighbourhood.

That reminds me of a newspaper article from years ago that featured a nice middle-aged man who owned almost the entire block of homes on the street he lived on. He'd bought his home, then over the years quietly bought the other houses on his block as they came up for sale.

Mary Anne your move sounds like it will be a positive and happy one. I admit I’m a little jealous —I would love to relocate to Canada but upon investigation I don’t think I could get a green card

Magdelanye I’m so sorry about the apartment. It sounds as bad as New York. Hopefully something better will turn up.

I’m having trouble keeping up with my email even in this, my favorite group. Between work and trying to read and write and plan for a hopefully soon retirement I seem to have fallen behind here. I apologize for not being more attentive here.

This thread makes me miss Vancouver!!!

My whine today is how hard it is for me to concentrate on reading. I can hardly read fiction at all so I'm focusing on poetry. I hate how all consuming work it. I had a wonderful time at dinner last night with a very old friend (37 years: I can hardly believe it) and she's retired and loving it.

15 more months, if I can stand it!

Meanwhile, I'm looking for fiction I can read.

Hugs, Ellie. I hope you can retire soon.

I hope you find some fiction to read. Have you tried a play or a book of short stories? Their shortness is great when time is an issue in one's life.

Petra wrote: "Hugs, Ellie. I hope you can retire soon.

I hope you find some fiction to read. Have you tried a play or a book of short stories? Their shortness is great when time is an issue in one's life."

Thanks for the hugs, Petra. :)

I think short stories are a great idea! I love the good ones. Maybe I'll look for some Alice Munro; I always love her.

Any other suggestions?

I enjoyed Margaret Atwood's Moral Disorder and Other Stories. The stories follow a girl into middle-age and explore the different fears & issues faced in different times of one's life.
The Beggar's Garden was really good, as I remember (it's been a few years). It told stories of the downtrodden in Vancouver, showing their fears, addictions and paranoias.

I don't read many short stories. I should explore them more.

Petra wrote: "I enjoyed Margaret Atwood's Moral Disorder and Other Stories. The stories follow a girl into middle-age and explore the different fears & issues faced in different times of one's life...."

Thanks for the recommendation. Atwood is always interesting.

Atwoods short stories are stellar, Maybe my favorite is wilderness tips. I adored the Beggars Garden too Petra, Did you know we used to be neighbours? I didn't actually until I read this collection.

I enjoyed 11 kinds of loneliness as well by Richard Yates

Of course there is the incomparable Clarice Lispector/
if you want to be blown away/

Magdelanye wrote: "Atwoods short stories are stellar, Maybe my favorite is wilderness tips. I adored the Beggars Garden too Petra, Did you know we used to be neighbours? I didn't actually until I read this collection..."

Thanks Magdelanye for the suggestions. I'm interested in the Yates. I never knew he wrote short stories. I loved Revolutionary Road.

I adore Lispecctor: it's definitely time to reread her. Thanks for the reminder!

I saw the movie A Wrinkle in Time last night. I enjoyed it but it made me crave the book. So, despite work to do, I came home and reread the book. I love that book so much. I've read it many times but it never disappoints.

Now I think I'll turn my attention to the short stories you all have so thoughtfully recommended.

Magdelanye, we used to be neighbours? I consider us neighbours now. Did we once live closer yet?
When my family first moved to Vancouver (I was 8), we lived on 2nd Avenue, by Clarke. I loved it and would move back in that neighbourhood in an instant. I spent so much time up on Commercial, going into the small stores and chatting with the owners/cashiers. I felt that they were all friends of mine and I visited often just to tell them of my day. LOL.

sorry Petra for not being more precise. I was referring to Michael Christie, who lived across the park from me while he was working on Beggars Garden. In fact, he could have been referring to me in one of his stories, as I would spend a good portion of each day in my spot under a tree in the park that was once my de facto living room, lying on my blanket reading and sketching and having little picnics and brief lovely naps. And MC might havr been, quite possibly one the other few that regularly showed up with their books and / or journals.
We never approached each other but respected the invisible boundaries we each maintained to protect our privacy. Considering that all around the park people were carrying on with their more exuberant activities which often included drug deals and alcohol, it's remarkable how rarely I was bothered.

I now want to read Michael Christie!

That is so cool, Magdelanye! Did you know he was working on his stories? I keep thinking I'd like to reread this book. It was quite touching; he kept everyone's humanity & dignity in tact.

I like everything I've read by him and He is due for something new.

Today I am finally going to address a situation that I hoped I could just shake the dust and move on. But it's in subtle ways that negativity erodes our joy, and I am hoping for some positive feedback.

Its been a month now that Susan, the moderator of a group I had become quite involved with, and who actually joined this group and may be lurking here now, blasted me for expressing an opinion and removed my post. This was especially hurtful because I had respected Susan and even lavished my love when I was her secret santa. And in fact, I wanted feedback on my opinion, and was wondering if others were as offended as I was by the negativity the author expressed to other stigmatized groups, especially his cracks about old people. He seemed rather entitled and judgmental at times which jarred me from the flow of his narrative, Apparently Susan saw this as a personal attack on the author, who she has met, and even his wife.

Unfortunately, it was me being personally attacked here, so as

involved as I was, I just dropped out. At first I kept going back

something strange began to happen to the above post so Ill carry on here....to sum up, at first I found myself going automatically to that group, and I even wrote a few of my favorite people to explain the circumstances behind my disappearance. I also worked on a letter to Susan expressing my disillusion with her hypocrisy. I couldnt send it ! I hoped it would fade away.

But two things are pertinant now, Canada Reads....and my review of the offensive book. Actually, I quite liked the book, Precious Cargo, except for those irritating outbursts slagging smokers, slackers, and old people. I wrote my review last month but I cant bring myself to transcribe and Canada Reads is coming up
Literally, I am sick about the situation. I read 4 of the CR finalists, all except for the Marrow Thieves which is still on order at the library.
this may be more of a rant than a prolonged whine.....

I'm sorry that this situation is still hurting you, Magdelanye. It's a situation that should not have happened.
I read your initial comment (not sure if it was later deleted or you mean another) and did not find it to be an attack on the author; merely an honest opinion. I found another comment following yours to be out of line as that person had a vested interest in the author and shouldn't have participated in such a brusque manner. I think it was that comment that caused the problem; not yours.
I was dismayed to find that a comment had been deleted as in the beginning of the group there was a long discussion about transparency and it had been said that no comment would ever be deleted.
I would suggest being honest with yourself and writing your reviews & thoughts as you feel them. Then move on.
I do miss you in that group and hope you come back once you can. It's not the same without you. But I understand if you don't.

{{hugs}}

Petra wrote: "I'm sorry that this situation is still hurting you, Magdelanye. It's a situation that should not have happened.
I read your initial comment (not sure if it was later deleted or you mean another) a..."

thanks Petra

I'm behind with posts here and just read yours, Magdelanye. I am so sorry. I can't imagine what it much be like to lose a group you love as I love this one.

I'm terrible at dealing directly with people by whom I feel hurt so I admire you Magdelanye for being so honest and talking to Susan. I believe it's important that we be honest about what we read and what we think of it, as long as we're respectful. I don't understand why you should have been censored. But I think it's important that you remain true to yourself when thinking about what you read. I learn as much from people with whom I disagree as I do from those who think as I do.

I do hope you will at some point be able to return to your group and feel safe there. It seems wrong that you should feel pushed out.

All love and good thoughts.

Thanks Ellie and Petra

Watching Canada Reads on line has been fun for sure whatever criticism I have on the format. It was interesting to watch the dynamics, and it helped that I had read most of the books.
Anybody else follow the debates? What Ellie said - I learn as much from people with whom I disagree as I do from those who think as I do.' is sure true.
It's rather tiring and time consuming tho, i find after prolonged watching I am drained of creative energy.

hope everyone has a great long weekend, reading, planting potatoes, travelling, jogging, reading

This year was the first year that I fully participated in Canada Reads. I read 4 of the 5 finalists and 2 additional books on the long list. I can wholeheartedly say it has been a disappointment. I`d like to go back to the ignorance to the process that I had before.

The 2 books that I read in the long-list were far better choices than the finalists but that is subjective. What isn`t subjective is the fact that the defenders, in many cases, only read 1 of the books. How does the winning book - the one that is supposed to accomplish best the opening of the keys of Canadians - truly earn the right to win when the voting off is random based on the whims of defenders. I found the winner is really the defender and not the merit of the book at all. I don`t think I will participate next year. I may check out the books, read a couple but that`s all.

In my opinion the weakest book won. It was a memoir so I don`t want to criticize someones personal experiences too much but for me, it did not hit the mark at all on the CR theme.

Signed, the disappointed bookworm.

:)

@ Magdelanye, i just want to add that usually I have a pretty good idea of how people are thinking fairly quickly (I'm thinking politically). I think I learn the most from people with whom I have some common ground. Then the differences can be enlightening.

I'm hoping to do a lot of reading and writing this week. I haven't written anything or even edited anything in weeks. I'm so stressed out by work that even when I have some time, I can't concentrate. This week I'm planning on writing (as well as finally having my hair colored professionally and applying for a passport, and, of course, reading).

After finishing The Enchanted, I've gone back to having trouble concentrating. I'm going to try some of the short story suggestions. I'm so grateful for the suggestion of The Enchanted--I absolutely loved it) so if anyone has any more suggestions for a novel I would appreciate it. I need to lose myself in another world!

Happy holidays to all and a very happy spring. It's gray here today but I'm hoping that's just in honor of Good Friday and we have better weather for Easter Sunday! Enjoy. :)

this used to be a favorite thread....perhaps a good spot to moan about my abcessed tooth. Well its out now, and in a few more days i can get back to the moving in process.
Hope everyone is warm and dry, and a good book in hand ☘