SPOtastic

Update! I just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

That is the 9th Pulitzer Prize winning novel I have read, I have 74 more to go.

I have always been a reader. As a little girl I would go to the library and check out as many books as possible. Reading a good book always psyches me up to reading more. As a young girl I have fond memories of reading Madeleine L'Engle, James Herriot, and a weird and unnecessary phase of Sweet Valley High.

I went home last weekend and cleaned out my room a bit (Yes, my mom has kept my room as a shrine), and decided I would donate as many books as I could let go of.

Most of my comedy related books I have donated to the UCBT Library. You're welcome student who has been chomping at the bit to read Brett Buttler's Autobiography. (FYI, click the link, Brett Butler is looking for some web help.)

I donated all my animal books, but Born Free, Gorilla's in the Mist and my Jane Goodall books, to the Chester County Library.

And I donated all of my Basketball books, minus my autographed copy of Charles Barkely's Autobiography to the Chester County Library. Basketball books? Yeah, I was a huge fan of B-ball from Middle School Through College.

Sample list of donated B-ball books:
For You Hank – Bo Kimble
My Life – Earvin “Magic” Johnson
The Winner Within – Pat Riley
Shaq Attaq! – Shaquille O’Neal
Rare AIR – Michael on Michael – Masturbatory photo essay
Bob Knight: His Own Man – Joan Mellen
Magic Touch – Earvin “Magic Johnson , Jr. and Roy S. Johnson

I was bonkers for B-ball people! Jealous?

Anyway, why am I sharing this? Because I have decided to take on a book reading challenge.
I am going to read all of the Pulitzer Prize winning Novels/Fiction works.
When I find that I enjoy a particular Author or style of book, I tend to go nuts for them by reading as many as possible (Chuck Pahlaniuk, Joyce Carol Oates, Mad Magazine Cartoon books). I have found that I enjoy reading Pullitzer Prize winning Books. Crazy right?

I am not sure how long it will take, but I am going to guess years. Before I took on the challenge I had already read:

Grapes of Wrath
Confederacy of Dunces
The Hours
Interpreter of Maladies
The Amazing Adventures of Cavelier and Clay
Middlesex

I decided that I would work my way to the middle, reading the newest, then oldest etc etc. So I read 2008 winner "The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," and I am now in the middle of 1918's winner "His Family."
I will probably only repeat read The Grapes of Wrath, as the others I have read in the last 5 years.

I have not decided yet if I will take on the General Non-Fiction winners list. I will atleast try one and see how much my brain can take. For some reason truth is not as fun as untruth to my mind.

Anyway, thats what I'll be doing for the next few years, while I mix in some other books along the way, like Cesar Millan's "Be the Pack Leader."

80 plus books to go!

Spo Like, Luz Hate: Opinions by a Lady and her Dog

I guess we'll see how this goes......

I am home in Malvern, PA. My mother does not have the internet, so every time I visit I get in my car and drive around looking for some wifi to steal. Tonight she told me she wanted to go out for the drive with me. My initial search left me hopeless and frustrated since the Nextel store I used to steal it from closed down and is now a Cancer Research Donation Center, which is great, but they someone needs to donate wifi that is not password protected. Hot and frustrated I decided to drive my mom home so I could drop her off before I got too cranky.

As I turned into the our neighborhood, I noticed that on her lap and under her purse there was a flashlight.

SPO: Why do you have a flashlight with you?
PAM: I left the front porch light off.
SPO: Why?
PAM: To save money.
SPO: Well make sure you use the money you save for a rape kit.
PAM: What?
SPO: Let me give you 5 bucks so you can leave the porch light on for the next 5 years.
PAM: (laughs) Leave me alone.

(This entry has been blogged from a Holiday Inn Express parking lot in Exton PA.)

Yesterday I returned home from a week long workaction. Imagine hanging out at the beach all day long with your friends, and then performing an improv show at night with your friends. Not bad right? For the past 4 years, UCB Tour Co has been invited to participate in the Piccolo Spoleto Fringe Festival. Tour Co is very fortunate to have a relationship with the The Have Nots, an amazing improv group down in Charleston. Not only are they amazing performers, but they are great people off stage as well.

This year we tried to get to know our audience a little better, as well as Charleston the town. Here are 15 things I learned about Charleston and its people.

1. Litter - they don't do it. The beach, the streets, all clean.
2. DUI - they all do it. Apparently driving drunk is so common that cops are baffled by people passing field sobriety tests. One Audience member told us he was pulled over 15 times and never received a ticket. And he was over the legal limit.
3. Hitting Cops with your Vehicle is okay. TWO audience members told us they hit a cop with their car. The cops were on foot. Neither of them went to jail or received a ticket.
4. Fireworks. Legal to buy, illegal to light, but cops don't care. We bought Fireworks at South of the Border and lit them off at the Beach around 2am. We were told by locals it was illegal to do, but nobody gets in trouble for doing it.
5. Sea Turtles can not tell the difference between a porch light and the moon.
6. The coroner of Charleston is an elected position. And upon further research I learned the following: To qualify as a candidate for Coroner, an individual must 1) be a citizen of the United States; 2) for at least one year, be a resident of the county in which he or she seeks the office; 3) be a registered voter; 4) attain the age of 21 before the date of qualifying for office; 5) have earned a high school or equivalent diploma; and 6) not have been convicted of a felony offense or any offense involving immoral behavior.
7. Jestine's Coca Cola cake should be illegal.
8. Several Celebrities have houses in Charleston, and one of their Butlers was in our audience. He would not tell us who he buttled for, the only thing I know is that it was a woman and the weirdest thing he had to do for her was feed her dog. She sounds like a real asshole.
9. Blueberry Martini's from Wild Wings Cafe are a great way to avoid the taste of alcohol but still feel the effects.
10. 6 people CAN order 40 dollars worth of Taco Bell at 2 am.
11. Harris Teeter's should always be called "The Teets" for short.
12. Emergency rooms on a Tuesday Night do not get a lot of action.
13. Bicycle cabs are very popular.
14. Southerners get offended when you remind them that they used to own slaves.
15. Boiled Peanuts are gross, Fried peanuts are okay.

# posted by spo @ 2:28 AM 0 comments

Is this thing on?

In October 2006 I ran a marathon. I finished in exactly 4 hours and 30 minutes. I was both proud and frustrated with this time. It is not bad finish time for a first time marathon (and runner), but I also walked about 2 of the miles because of an injury.

I went to rehab for my IT Band and in April 2007 was given the green light to run again. I built myself back up to 5 miles and ran 5 times a week at this distance for a month or so. I got into the NYC Half Marathon, then Satch got sick and passed away. I stopped running for a few weeks. I dusted my sadness off my shoes and started back up, I was not ready for the 1/2 marathon, but I started training for the Philadelphia Marathon that was scheduled for mid November. I was doing well with my training, as part of it I ran the Queens Half Marathon and felt great. But I did too much too fast. My pride gets in the way sometimes. I felt like running another marathon would prove something to other people. Running is an individual sport though, there really is nothing to prove but to myself that I can use running as a tool to be healthy. I was not using it in a healthy way. I pushed too much to fast and In Mid October during a scheduled long run my injury from the previous year returned. October 12th was the last time I went for a run. It was 15 plus miles, it was cold and it sucked because my leg started hurting and I was about 2 or 3 miles form the hotel I was staying at while on a Tour Co trip. What made it seem worse was we were right on the border of Washington and Iowa. My hotel was in Iowa, I started limping in Washington. I cried during those last two miles off and on.

Running should never cause negative feelings, but when you feel defeated with anything, even the things you love can feel destructive.

Yesterday I went to Prospect Park for a fun Memorial BBQ with friends. I wound up playing ultimate Frisbee and woke up a bit sore. This soreness reminded me that I have really let my body go a bit and it is time to get back in the game.

2 hours ago I put on my running shoes, socks, bra, shorts and shirt and went for a run. I was not going to push myself. I was going to be smart. I had a goal of 1.5 miles, no stopping no matter what. I went a bit over 2. I felt like I could have done more. Which means I know I can do more, and with time I will. Muscles have memories, and my muscles remember what a good feeling it is to finish a run. I have a touch of the runners high right now. I am excited to wake up tomorrow and run again. You know what else has a memory? My running shirt. It smelled like BO within minutes of putting it on.