I love talking to her about books. She used to work in a bookstore and has read so much. She gives good recommendations and I like going to readings with her. We were in Barnes & Noble last night and she mentioned the book she's currently into.

"I don't read anymore," I said.
"What? Why?"
"I spend all my time on the subway playing Tetris."
"Tetris?"
"It's the best computer game ever."
"Yes! Hello! That's my childhood!" she said laughing. "How do you play it?" she asked.
"On my phone. I just got the game, like, a week ago and I've completely stopped reading books on the subway."
"How fancy. I bet I can't get Tetris on my phone."
"I bet you can."

I grabbed her phone and pushed a few buttons.

"Are you sure you want it?" I asked just before I pushed the last button to download it.
"Of course!"

Beep-bop-boop, she had Tetris on her phone.

And that's when I lost her, haha. She can converse lucidly while playing Tetris, as any good player can, but there was no more eye contact.

"This is the best $8 I ever spent," she said.

All hail Tetris.

*SERENITY ... NOW! (I know everyone's making that joke, but I wanted to, too. Hee.)

He ran his second marathon ever. Thie first one he ran was just two years ago. He said he ran it 12 minutes faster this time. He's 59.

The morning after Amy & Jeff's wedding, he got up and ran 17 miles before I even woke up. He's so cool. In his own dad kind of way. ;) I'm so proud of him.

*In case you were wondering, my mom is also awesome. But she doesn't run marathons. Neither do I.

*Do I detect a honeymoon in Brokentype's tale? I do! Congrats!

*Daniella, a New Orleans native, has had a bit of a rough time lately, as you can imagine. But she's moving in to her own house soon! Toss her some good thoughts.

*Lola is thinking of stepping out of anonymity. Should she?

*You Knit What?? [via]
You have to read this. Now. When I clicked on this knitting blog last week, I had no idea that I'd love it so much that I'd read every single post from the archives and encourage my friends to do the same. This blog is hysterical. I was spitting out soda over my laptop for an entire afternoon. Bonus: They have potty mouths that remind me of Emma. And knitted rainbow hotpants. Which also remind me of Emma.

I am not a Joss Whedon fan. I saw the first episode of Buffy and didn’t think much of it. I’ve never seen Angel.

I’m not a big Firefly fan. I rented it from Netflix and I did like it, but I’m not as crazy about it as some people.

But, what I am a fan of are fans! I love when the power of fans actually influences the choices that entertainment powers-that-be make.

And that is why I will be seeing the highly-anticipated Serenity on opening night, this Friday, September 30.

The power of fans brought Family Guy back to FOX. The power of fans brought a Donnie Darko soundtrack and director’s cut.

And now, the power of fans have helped bring Firefly to the big screen as Serenity. And I am more than happy to support the Browncoats.

Plus, it looks like a great movie!

What are some other examples of the power of fans?

*Can't Stop the Signal
*My Urban Kvetch: Esther gets a sneak preview!
*Google News: serenity
*Google Blog Search: serenity + firefly
*Technorati tag: serenity
*Jen and Brady, my favorite Firefly fans, leave some good links in the comments ;)

I’ve always loved making mental notes of the random things in daily life that are built or made for right-handed people. And now, since my right hand has been temporarily handicapped by my freaky accident, it’s more apparent than ever that this world is just not built for left-handed people.

*Generally, I hate the word “normal,” and this has been a difficult post to write from that perspective. I found myself struggling with the words “correct,” “proper,” and “backwards,” even though they are in here. There’s nothing wrong with doing things the left-handed way. It’s just the natural way for a lot of us. Even still, many things in this world just weren’t designed with us in mind.


Things Built or Made for Right-Handed People:

*The MetroCard Turnstile. For those who are not in NYC: To enter the subway, you have to swipe your card on the right side of a turnstile to pass through. I’ve learned to do this with my right hand. (Which is pretty annoying right now because of my gimp right.)

*ATM Machines. Luckily, the buttons are usually in the middle, but the card insert is always on the right. I’ve learned to do this with my right hand.

*Cameras. This one is particularly inconvenient to me, especially when sightseeing. I love the little wrist leash, but I wear it on my left. And if I want to take a quick picture, I have to use my right hand to push the shutter. It’s not the one-handed operation I wish it was.

*Serrated Knives. I’ve had to explain this one to some people, but I’ll trust you understand or will figure it out. This one I just have to use backwards, which pretty much defeats the purpose of the serration. This might be one I’d consider buying lefty versions of for myself.

*Playing Cards. This one took a lot of practice. I wanted to fan a hand of cards right-to-left. Doesn’t work that way. Some shops make left-handed cards, but unless you’re playing with only other leftys —or are bitter about your own left-handedness and want to stick it to your right-handed friends—they’re worthless. At this point, I think I’d have an awkward time using left-handed playing cards. I play like a righty.

*Can Openers. I don’t open enough cans to justify buying a mechanical opener, so I continue to struggle with a manual one. This one I just use awkwardly with my left. My right hand isn’t strong or controlled enough to use it correctly.

*Scissors. One thing I loved about kindergarten were the green-handled left-handed scissors. Not only were they good for me to use, but the right-handed scissors didn’t have that comfortable extra padding that the green ones did. Now, I use my left hand with regular scissors, but I could probably get good use out of a nice left-handed pair.

*Computer Keyboards. There are some good keys on the left side, but most of the special keys are on the right side of the board: Enter, Home/End/Delete, Backspace, Page Up/Page Down, arrows, number pad. I use them with my right, but not nearly as deftly as I could if they were on the left.

*Asymmetrical Computer Mice. You can adjust Windows to allow for left-handed mouse use. Excellent. I learned to mouse with my right hand, so that’s what I do. But even if I wanted to mouse with my left, the mouse itself is often built with a curve to it that wouldn’t be comfortable to use with the left hand. To Macs’ credit (as I recall), a standard mouse, with its single button, is built symmetrically, which is perfect for left- and right-handed use.

*Vending Machines. This one only occurred to me recently. I’ve learned to use my right hand to put change into the machine. So when I tried to get a Coke the other day, I actually dropped my change on the ground because I couldn’t handle it with my right hand as it is today. Along these same lines, most coin-operated machines have the slots on the right, like washing machines.

There are stores online that sell left-handed versions of some of the products I’ve mentioned (see links below). But you do have to shop a specialty store to find them, and, I don’t know about you, but at this point it might be harder to teach myself to do it the left-handed way in many cases, like the playing cards.


Other Things I Had to Unlearn Because My Natural Way Was “Backwards”:

*Crossing Myself at Church. This one took a long time to catch on to because no one ever corrected me. I was probably 10 or so before I realized I’d always been doing it opposite from everyone else. I taught myself to do it the way it’s supposed to be done. [I don’t go to church anymore.]

*Shaking Hands. I also unlearned this one when I was little, but it was more natural to me to offer my left hand to shake someone else’s.


I’m not really whining or complaining about these things. This is just how modern life is. And these are oddities I find interesting.

But if you are a product designer of some kind, try to make symmetrical products that work for everyone. :)

Leftys, What Have I Forgotten?
*Musical instruments?
*Other kitchen items?
*Sports equipment? (I’ve learned to play golf right-handed.)
*Notebooks? (All through my school days, I’d have pencil or pen smudge on my left pinky finger.)

Leave a comment!

*Wikipedia: Left-handed
*left-handed.com
*Anything Left Handed

And now I’m going to take a break. All this typing with my bum finger has become annoying. But I had fun writing this, so it was worth it.

Hey, it’s [Goober]. I hope your finger is feeling better. I just wanted to let you know that I read my students your email when we were talking about how to visualize things while reading. I figured all the gore and violence and the unusual nature of your injury were great fodder for their little minds. And they loved it! And they want to see pictures of your finger. So email me pictures of your finger and the needle so they can see if they were right about what they guessed. And, just so you know, they think you are a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, tall, leggy woman. I thought you might enjoy that. I’m going to sleep very soon and I’m cranky so don’t call me back tonight. But you can call me tomorrow.


Dear Ms. G’s class,

I heard you enjoyed my story of personal horror and pain. What a sicko bunch of children you are. I love you.

I took some pictures of my finger just for you. I hope you appreciate it! It was difficult! Think about it: which hand—which finger!—do you use to push the shutter button on a camera? And which hand—which finger!—did I say I injured? Lucky for you, I am left-handed and made it work.

I’ve also attached a picture of me and Ms. G. Sorry I do not live up to your expectation of a leggy blonde. Life is full of disappointments.

So, enjoy the pictures! I wouldn’t have sent them, but Ms. G asked me to. She’s scary and I do everything she tells me to. I mean, she’s my best friend. And I do everything she tells me to.

Sincerely,
Caryn

P.S. I hope you’ve also learned to beware of dangerous machinery! That pencil sharpener is an accident just waiting to happen.

[1] I am calm in a crisis. Though I am scarred with a frightening image of the injurious accident with an industrial sewing machine, I got the help I needed and I was sewing again by the end of class. Update: I went to the doc this AM and I am OK. The numbness will go away on its own and I got a tetanus shot anyway. Ow.

[2] I look good in a sari! (Yes, there are pictures and no, you can’t see them. I want it to be a surprise.)

[3] Declaring that I am looking for love does not mean that I am, or will turn into, any version of The NYC Single Girl that I am not and do not want to be.

*Smitten is now blogging at iVillage! Way to go!

*Bloggers, if you do not have an RSS feed, you should get one. More and more people are keeping tabs on their favorite blogs and sites this way. And now, Google's new blog search works only by scanning feeds. If you have a Blogger blog and want to activate your feed, go to Settings -> Site Feed -> Publish Site Feed: Yes then Save Settings. Want to start reading blogs with RSS? (Also, if you have a site without a feed, as much as I love you, I'm probably not reading it nearly as often as I would if you did have a feed.)

*Esther, I haven't forgetten that you tagged me for this meme! Since I'm enjoying keeping my private thoughts private, I'm having trouble deciding how much I really want to reveal with this. I'm working on it.

*Has anyone ever registered a book with Bookcrossing? Does it work? Inquiring minds want to know.

“You’re not buying the book?”

I didn’t hear the rest, but that line caught my ear.

A friend had brought two of the author’s books to the reading to be autographed. I haven’t read any of the books, so I was hanging back.

When out of earshot of the author and her entourage, I asked my friend, “Did she just make you feel bad about not buying the new book?”
“She did! You heard that?”

Her first book was turned into a wildly popular television series, which is now in reruns. She said she expects this new one to be optioned [presumably for millions] within a few days. My friend has bought two out of three of her previous books and took the time to bring them to this reading to see her. Did she really need to make a fan feel crummy for not purchasing the latest?

*Archive: A British Author and an American Idol

This lady sat on me and stole my seat.



A sampling of responses from my hilarious loved ones:

Minutes after said event, via mobile phone
"What a [bleeping] [bleep]! Hahah! People can be so [bleeping] rude!"
"Hahah! Thanks for listening. I know you're at a barbecue. Go have fun!"
"No no, I didn't mind! That was a great story, it totally made me laugh! And I got to curse a lot."

Via email
"People can be so rude on public transportation! And to pretend that she's not even aware that she's sitting ON you!! Wouldn't it have been funny if once she had her seat you just did the exact same thing back to her?"
+I did consider it.

Via email
"I would have gotten up and planted my ass on top of her... Better yet, I would have gotten up, removed my pants and my undies, then sat on her."
+You're so nasty. I love you.

*Update: Should I have offered my seat to this lady? I do give up my seat to old people and pregnant women on a regular basis, but, to me, this woman wasn't old enough for me to do that. Was I wrong?

*Caught on camera!
*Mrs. Smitten and I ride the subway
*More of me at SubText
*SubText - New URL!

I've been waiting for this payday to come around so I could make a more sizable contribution to relief efforts. But where should I send that money? I have so many choices!

*8 Trustworthy Charities¹
*Oodles of NYC Fundraisers²
*Beliefnet Pledge of $1000³
*Donate More Directlyº

*Update: You can also donate through Jeff, who is showing his fab weiner for Katrina. I'm not kidding.

¹I work for About.com
²I work for About.com and I love Heather Cross
³I used to work for Beliefnet
ºI do not and have never worked for Ken Wheaton‡

‡People who use footnotes need flogging

*Funky Chickens and Dancing Mangos
It's back to school for TiTo-ThE-cHeEtO and I'm so glad! She spent a lot of the summer in India with her family and I missed her posts. (Factiod: Kali Ma is the devi of her house.)

*A Tale of Two Sisters
This parody blog—and all of the associated blogdrama [a snippet]—has been highly entertaining.

*Jennie Smash!
Fellow Augusten Burroughs lover Jennie Smash is a newbie to NYC and is assimilating nicely.

*Daniella's Misadventures
Her stories about her ravaged hometown are heartbreaking. I was so worried about her grandparents and am so relieved that they were found. On the bright side, she and her husband will be moving into their new house soon.

*To All the Blogs I've Loved Before 1 | 2 | 3

*Over the cubicle wall yesterday, I heard someone say Tulane. Tulane! Lindsay! [I'd link to the school's web site, but it seems to be down.] I picked up the phone. “I just remembered Lindsay! Is she OK? Had she already gone down to school? Call me back and let me know if she’s OK.” Goober’s youngest sister Lindsay had just moved into her campus apartment and didn’t yet have a TV or radio set up to hear announcements about evacuation. Her family called her, and she drove to Houston. She’s now on her way back to NYC for a few months.

*My heart goes out to all who are affected! (Especially you and you.)

*I keep thinking about two of my best friends who are at Burning Man this week and all that they’re going to have to catch up on when they emerge from the desert.

*An article that caught my eye: Why no mention of race or class in TV's Katrina coverage? [via]

*Make a Red Cross donation.