An Obsession With the Past

[nyquil_baby]

My awesome, equally bookworm sister gave me the new David Sedaris book, "When You Are Engulfed in Flames," for my birthday. The first time I heard about Sedaris was when someone name-dropped "Barrel Fever," his collection that includes the stories about him working as a department-store elf at a major NYC location during the holidays, while I was a

Comments

[stargazzy]

I also should note that I often think, while making small talk before my children's programs start at the library (which I am really bad at, BTW---the small talk, I mean) "God, these kids must think I'm such an idiot!"

Ha, I know what that's like! I don't bother talking to the grown ups, usually. I talk to the kids about what they're wearing, what they're going to do today, the weather... (actually, pretty typical small talk conversations for adults, too, now that I think about it). Anyhow, they don't seem to mind if I lapse into distracted silence. :-)

[nyquil_baby]

I'll probably finish it today on my lunch break (I'm close enough to the end that I brought my back-up book) so I can bring it to the Great Books thing tonight if you're still going. That's tonight, right? I think Andrew wants to go too. He'll probably clean up at it if he does.

[nyquil_baby]

OK, at least I know we're on the same page....I usually address the same topics, but I run out of steam after awhile. I address myself to the kids but it's hard to ignore the grown-ups when they're sitting right there. And in fact, they're usually really good at helping to draw out the kids and relate more elaborate details about their day or a recent vacation or whatever. They're not all bad =).

[borrowedwings]

I love David Sedaris so very much. I bought this one in the Atlanta airport and had it finished before we landed in Vermont. I enjoyed it a great deal. "Keeping Up" was probably my favorite-- having short legs and liking to look at the same thing for a long time, I often find myself in such situations.

[nyquil_baby]

Yeah I love that one---but mostly I think I related to it because we share almost all the same weaknesses. I'm pretty much hopeless at socializing, fixing things, finances, and the numerous other things he listed...as well as keeping up =).

[oh_embarrassing]

where did you go to college? for your B.A. or whateveR?

[nyquil_baby]

Columbia College, the open-access media/liberal arts school in the South Loop--not to be confused with the far more prestigious Columbia University. This was around 10 years ago, and I had actually not heard the name "David Sedaris" before. Now, of course, it's hard not to hear it unless you totally avoid the media and live in a cave somewhere. =)