Syllabus #197

Happy Sunday to everyone except the Monster Beverage Corporation.  I'm not pleased with you.

0 out of 10, do not recommend

Our friends left behind a few cans of this stuff as a parting gift, or as a talisman that would summon a demon to bring despair and misfortune to all who drink of its elixirs.  One of those two things.   At any rate,  this curious malt beverage was in my fridge for over a week, I decided to give it a whirl, and it unleashed the beast on my liver and possibly my soul.  I've never had a hangover from one drink before, but there's a first time for everything.  I wasn't sure if I needed an Excedrin or an exorcism.  I rolled the dice and went for the former, mostly out of convenience, because we had a few crusty old Excedrins kicking around in the medicine cabinet but we were fresh out of Catholic priests.  Anyway, the pill, some Liquid IV, buttered toast, and a few hours of wallowing on the couch and two episodes of dry heaving that resulted in some burst capillaries under my eyes (cute!) and I was back in fighting form.  Thanks, Monster!

---

10 out of 10 do recommend the Laurel Woods hike in Beaman Park if you are local to Nashville.  Would suggest not doing it when you are wildly hungover, but it's your journey.  We did the shortcut version, which ended up being about 8 miles round trip from the parking lot.  

Dropping this book list here to remind me to request some of these from the library.

Sorry for all the NYTimes links if you're hitting a paywall, but this sounds delicious:  Farro with blistered tomatoes, pesto, and spinach.  

Another NYTimes article, but really all you need to know about this article that I honestly didn't even read, is that it's about a professor named Carlos Moreno, and how he is being severely harassed for his scholarship about how cities should be organized so that everything you need is accessible within a 15 minute walk.  I think we should give the guy a Nobel for that, it sounds great.  The other thing you should know is that in Spanish, moreno means brown.  But, the point is, why wasn't the headline, "Carlos Moreno wants to know, 'Why is everybody always picking on me?'"  Missed.  Opportunity.  Do.  Better.

Analog Reading:

Lessons in Chemistry is reminding me why I quit science after Honors Chem in 11th grade.  Too many nerds!  Actually, the nerds in this book would be fine if the author would just let them do their thing, but Bonnie Garmus must be a rebel because she's breaking the "show, don't tell" maxim of fiction writing more times than I thought humanly possible.  She's just telling and telling and telling and telling.  And telling.  And also slipping in some weird anachronisms that strike me as just lazy editing.  Despite all that, I actually kind of like the book.  The characters are growing on me, and it's amusing enough, with some fun little plot twists.  It's not capital L Literature by any means, but it's entertaining if you can overlook the flaws.