In Which I Review a Book, Complain About Work, and Present The Story of a Jewish Man’s First Bacon Cheeseburger

Longest blog title I have ever written, I dare say.

It’s four in the morning and I am awake. The air is drenched in the scent of mulberry, due to a dollar brand candle, the dog does not approve.

I’ve lit another cigarillo, the smoke mingles with that of the mulberry dollar brand candle and it makes the air even thicker. The dog has left the room.

The last couple of weeks have been hectic. I’ve been fighting an unending war on the cooler at work. I organize and maintain it in such a way that makes accessing the various bottled goods easier for those who stock, myself included, which is not as simple a task as it may sound. The delivery men for both Coke and Sun Drop find it necessary to leave their products in the middle of the cooler, thus blocking others from passing. The dairy man seems to suffer the same illness, the symptoms of which include grouchy demeanor and lazy workmanship. There is but one other amongst my fellow employees who fights alongside me in my self-waged war on disorganization in the cooler, yet she is often busy elsewhere in the store, fighting her own battles.

It’s delivery persons like those I’ve mentioned above that make me all the more thankful for Dale the Pepsi Guy. He not only stocks his own product in the cooler door (basically what I’m paid to do), but he will also put his damn stock away himself. A feat that is not asked of him, a feat he performs out of the goodness of his heart.

I know I have mentioned Dale the Pepsi Guy in this blog before, but the last few weeks have been the sort of weeks where you go “Man, at least HE goes above and beyond” and then you grumble and grunt and sigh exasperatedly as you haul crates of Coke and Sun Drop and Milk and you put them where they actually belong.

Amidst all this chaos, there were also two birthdays (the wife’s, the boy’s followed a week later), a three day housecleaning mission, and a night durring which the boy had a friend over for the night.

Needless to say, I’ve not gotten any writing done, and I’ve managed very little reading.

Though I did manage to obtain (thank god for libraries) and read Born Standing Up by Steve Martin:

I’d have to say it’s probably the most concise autobiography I’ve ever read, yet it still comes off as very poignant. Martin does not spend much time discussing family or the loves of his life, instead they are peppered throughout a very thorough recounting of his life as a comedian. The book starts with a brief tale regarding the strained relationship between himself and his father, a theme that is revisited a few times later, and he writes about past loves with such admiration and compassion, yet all of these portions are brief glimpses. This book, without a doubt, is about comedy and how Steve Martin came to be the comedian he is.

His journey from humble beginnings as a pre-teen selling tour books at the newly opened Disneyland theme park in the summer of 1955, to his love of magic, to his eventual rise as one of the highest grossing modern comedians of the 1970s/80s, is truly staggering in scope. It’s not realized as you’re reading it, but rather after you set it down.

“Wow, he came a long way.” was possibly my first thought after closing the book.

I’d highly reccomend it for, obviously, fans of Steve Martin, but really and truely, I would reccomend this book for anyone who is a fan of comedy in general. It’s a true insight into the life and struggles of one of comedy’s most legendary funnymen.

Sadly, The Keys to the Kingdom: Book One: Mister Monday by Garth Nix has fallen to the wayside, but I plan to rectify that by reading as much of it as I can fit into my schedule for tomorrow.

Er, today.

To those of you who have completed your National Novel Writing Month challenge, you have my congratulations. To those of you still chugging along, you’ve two more days. I suggest you stop reading blogs and start writing.

I may throw my hat into the “NaNoWriMo” ring one of these years.

Then again, I may not.

I’ve been listening to a lot of The Clash lately. I’m not sure what that means, but there you have it.

—

A quick rundown of where I can be found these days:

Twitter.

GoodReads.

My personal LiveJournal, though it gets very little use these days.

The LiveJournal feed of this very blog, if you care.

Flickr.

Blip.fm.

—

Right. I’m going to attempt sleep once more.

But first, I’ll leave you with the following video:

It’s Penn Jillette, of Penn and Teller, recalling a story about a fan of theirs who approached him after a show and revealed that he had recently decided, for the first time in his life, to no longer be an orthodox jew. The story goes from this man’s decision, to Penn and Teller taking the man out for his first-ever-in-his-life non-kosher meal (feast, really).

It’s a very interesting story, whether you’re religious (which I am not) or an athiest (which I am also not).

Also, Penn’s hair resembles mine so much that it’s a bit creepy.

Goodnight.

Er, morning.

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