Cross Country Thoughts

(I) I am feeling particularly fond of the nice curving shape of my front bumper and the smooth transparency of my windshield (not to mention keenly aware of my own uninjured body) after a near miss with a deer on the Ohio Turnpike yesterday. I'm also very grateful that the deer's companion didn't decide to cross the road, since I'm not sure I could have successfully played keep away against two large, terror-struck mammals.

(II) I swear that I read Robinson Crusoe when I was a kid, but I've realized that it must have been a version specially abridged for children... a version that left out the pages and pages of morality tale and that played Crusoe's relationship with Friday way, way, way down. I started listening to the book on CD on my way across the country but had to stop two thirds of the way through. I enjoyed, well enough, the parts of the story that were about Crusoe making a way for himself in the wilderness, and I let my mind wander during the long discourses on God's infinite justice and his micro-management style (err, my terms, not Defoe's). But, when Friday appeared on the scene, I just couldn't handle it any more. I tried, briefly, to remind myself of when the book was written, but then I remembered that I wasn't listening to the book for academic purposes and I didn't have to put up with early 18th century Euro-centrism and racism if I didn't want to. So I turned it off. I'm guessing Crusoe got off the island. So much the worse for poor Friday. I hope Kidnapped (my listening project for the trip home) will be a tad less painful.

(III) If you don't get much sleep, get up at 4:30am (EST), eat a light breakfast at 5:30 (EST) and start driving at 6:30 (EST), you will be hungry for lunch by 10:30 (EST). This can mess up your internal schedule (at least if you're me).

(IV) Though long, silent days may make me embarrassingly loquacious with perfect strangers, they tend to make me quiet with family.

(V) Babette's Feast is a fabulous, beautiful movie. Well worth seeing, especially if you love food.