I am coming down after a busy Thursday-Saturday. I basically crashed like I've never crashed before, I was so tired. I had some difficulty waking up for work, but I'm up, the day is almost done, and I will find myself at Jan's and Jorge's after a quiet day here at the museum. In case anyone who has been reading this blog is interested, Cat finished the 20k walk in 4 hours. Good for you Cat! She visited this Thursday and left yesterday evening. She wore her new kicks to "break them in" so I'm assuming her feet came away from her experience, callous free. Needless to say, the sneakers were fancy. She went to some store, where some sneaker geek gave her the ins and outs of buying the proper walking sneakers, and then made her walk so that he could determine which ones were better suited for her endeavor. She is still gonna miss a wicked dinner, however. Needless to say we had great fun during her visit. We met my department head and her husband for dinner at Pastis (at their expense tee hee) on Friday and it was a blast, followed by History Day on Saturday and a beer and pizza party afterward. I hated that it rained all Saturday afternoon. It put a damper on some of that day's events. It was fun... and perfect ending to a hellish week at work. Yes, I'm having work related issues with a certain, difficult to get along with, co-worker. I am dealing with it. It's a great relief for one's weekend to end on such a high note after a difficult few days at work. I'm coping, and wont go into the gritty details here. Before I end, let me just say that I read some rather prurient literature in a matter days, this past week. "100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed" The book is quasi-autobiographical (allegedly) and is written in the form of a sex diary, if you will. It basically follows the exploits of a wanton (and insecure) teenager who loses her virginity at 14 to some jerk. It then charts her downfall, as she wallows in a cesspool laden with anonymous sex with strangers, who exploit her naivete and youthful ignorance. The author, an Italian girl from Catania, Sicily named Melissa P. (Panarello), was 17 when this "scandalous" book was published, and the exploits take place between the ages of 14-16. It's a quick read, it's been translated from Italian to english-(some of the translated discriptions are ridiculous and over-the-top, but riveting nevetheless). I couldn't put it down! I kept wondering whether this girl would basically get a freakin' clue... but she only spiraled further down... the sex becoming more depraved, more humiliating. In an interview, Melissa claims she partook in these encounters to "discover" herself. To that, I say bull. I think she was insecure and needed validation from older men who took advantage of her, because she allowed them to! Needless to say, I'm sure she made a fortune off of this. It's been translated in like 27 languages, and she has sold about a million copies since. Now I've moved on to a book just as provocative, but only in its language called, "Lila Says" by some pseunonymous auther who calls him/herself Chimo. The author, who wishes to remain anonymous, apparently had the manuscript (which was handwritten in two red, spiral notebooks), hand-delivered by a lawyer, to some publishing house. He claims to be a 19 year old Arab boy, living in a housing project in Paris, who becomes entranced by a blond, blue-eyed catholic girl... who basically has a filthy mouth and tells him, in explicit detail, her sexual fantasies. People have debated til this day that it's a hoax and that the author is just a crafty man/woman who created this pseudonym to keep people intrigued. The book has been translated from French to english and is titillating! I actually got to see Lila Says, at the Sundance film festival (it's been made into a movie), and the language is just as erotic. It stays pretty true to the book. In summation, I guess I'm a pervert who enjoys reading provocative books.