Ι received a note from the Post Office about a package that had arrived for me and I had to go and get (Lazy Postman won’t bring large packages). So I went there and this is what I got! Presents from Madelyn, in Canada. A cd, an action hero, chocolates, stickers and a card. I am listening to the cd now, it is beautiful: Moby, Nick Cave, Johnny Cash, Coldplay, all wonderful. Thank you Madelyn! Now look at those Dagoba chocolates. They are divine. They are organic and the packaging reads : “Chocolate is sacred” and their trademark is “You can deprive the body, but the soul needs chocolate.” So true. I ate the lime chocolate and now there is the lavender flavour and the roseberry one which I am going to share with others. Because I am a good person. Librarians Rule And then there is Nancy Pearl the Librarian, an Action Hero who promotes the written word. Her weapon? The Dewey Decimal System. Pearl is a real person and I love the idea of normal people being made into action figures. Where did you get that Madelyn? You can see more of the doll here
I am going to quote Nancy Pearl’s rule for reading for you because I know that most of you read lots of books and might need her advice. Some of you might know it. I had been secretly applying it although I hadn’t heard of Nancy before (but with less than 50 pages).
“Life is too short and the library is too large to ever read a book that you are not thoroughly enjoying. I’m ruthless, I give every book I begin about 50 pages, then decide if I want to continue. (Mostly I don’t –I figure that I read one book for every 12-15 that I begin. There’s a lot of dreck out there masquerading as literature.) I’ve devised what I call The Rule of 50: if you’re under 50 years old, read the first 50 pages. If you’re not loving the book, GIVE IT UP and try something else. Nobody is going to get points in heaven for gutting out a book they don’t like. If you’re over 50, subtract your age from 100 –the result is the number of pages you should read before deciding whether or not to continue on. This rule has served me very well.”
Curious about what other Action Heroes like Ms Pearl there are out there, I found this page and my jaws dropped. Among others, there is a Jesus Action Hero doll, a Barista, Sigmund Freud, Oscar Wilde, and a Jane Austen, all wonderful. You can find them here
On the other hand, postmen don’t rule So, I got my beautiful package and was about to leave the office where they keep the packages. “Are you going home?” the postal clerk-lazy postman asked me. I know him because he has (not) bringing my mail for the last 8 years. “Yes, I am going home” I answered whereupon he smiled and said “Could you take these letters with you? They are all for your building. Just leave them in the mailboxes, will you?” So, he gave me about 10 envelopes among them bills and other confidential material, like letters from banks and doctors and trusted me to do his job. Which I did of course, but only because as I said before, I am a good person.
Postman Pat, Postman Pat, Postman Pat and his black and white cat, Early in the morning, Just as day is dawning, He picks up all the post bags in his van.
February 23rd, 2006 at 12:06 pm
What a lovely package!
And I am humming the tune to that show as I type….we get it here too. What a funny photo!
February 23rd, 2006 at 12:12 pm
Ha ha So you’re a postwoman now? You might as well with all that post coming to you. But really the nerve of that postman!…
That’s an interesting doll, I’m especially curious about that Sigmund Freud doll. Concerning books, I’ve become more like Nancy lately because there’s really no point in carrying on something unpleasant. But I feel bad sometimes 
Wow, what a great package
February 23rd, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Nancy’s rule is a good one, and I can subtract quite a lot; but care is needed - I got quite bored by all the butterflies and stuff at the beginning of Yasher Kemal’s Salman the Solitary, but I kept on (because I am neurotic, not because I’m dutiful) and it was one of the most memerable books I’ve ever read.
February 23rd, 2006 at 12:23 pm
thats even better than the last picture where you looked like The Joker from Batman. (a very beautiful one of course - love you x)
February 23rd, 2006 at 12:26 pm
Very funny photo! It sounds like you’re lucky to get any mail at all. We have all of those action figures here - in fact most things from that web site. You find them mostly in CD stores, which is also where my Kid Robot toys (like the ice bots and poor, headless Murdoc) come from too
February 23rd, 2006 at 12:32 pm
cathy
hello!
how’s your day been?
The package is lovely although the edible part is quickly diminishing.
Devil
Don’t feel bad. Feel bad because you bought the books.
jago
i know, there is a danger to that. but i think she means this as a general rule. sometimes you have an instinct. that’s when you keep on reading.
nevets
did i look like the Joker?
I’m never ever posting my picture again. I’m just going to post empty white boxes with the boxes “If it wasn’t for Steve, my photo would be here”
February 23rd, 2006 at 12:36 pm
That postman would have been breaking the law over here by asking you to deliver his mail.
Hope you enjoy the chocolate. You know it’s good for you.
February 23rd, 2006 at 12:36 pm
Also, I forgot to say Dagoba chocolote rules. My personal favorites are the chai and latte ones…after visiting their web site, I can also report that they make drinking chocolate too.
And this (well, they sell it):
http://www.putamayo.com/catalog/item.php?&item_number=230
Music from the Chocolate Lands!
Okay, I’m finished.
February 23rd, 2006 at 1:25 pm
Unbelievable! Is that postman going to give you 10 percent of his pay for doing hsi job for him?
You do love toys, ahem, figurines, don’t you?
February 23rd, 2006 at 1:47 pm
madelyn has good taste in music, i would say!
I love the pic of you. please ignore steve (LOL) and keep them coming, cause you are darling
February 23rd, 2006 at 3:03 pm
Hurrah! Glad you finally received
the package as the post office
sent it back to me TWICE -
because I have messy hand
writing - which I know to be
true - long live the keyboard!
The chocolate is an aquired taste-
not very sweet but it’s completely
good for you - loads of antioxidants.
Smiles!
February 23rd, 2006 at 3:19 pm
So far I’ve…
1. gone through the Tim Horton’s drive through for coffee and croissants.
2. worked in my office for a few hours writing.
3. mailed parcels (and one to you by ground transport, meaning boat…by accident, so you should see it in October…)
4. been to the grocery store and bought a birthday gift for a party my son is going to on the weekend
5. ate a quick lunch on the run and picked up my INXS tickets; while doing the best parallel parking I’ve ever done, I might add…
6. returned home to relieve my father of babe-sitting duties.
7. now blogging
8. then about to go for a walk and then get supper and then play with the children before bed and then blog and try and work a bit more and then watch Survivor….
Phew!
What are you up to?
And how was the conversation with the teachers???
February 23rd, 2006 at 3:37 pm
Woops…I got the librarian
at Granville Island in the
Kids Market. Beside the fake
throw-up- (which I almost sent you
with the matching poo.)
February 23rd, 2006 at 3:57 pm
ahahaha @ that pic!!
so, did they pay you? were there at least any interesting postcards for your neighbours?
February 23rd, 2006 at 4:11 pm
The rule of 50 is quite interesting. Except that way I don’t think I’ll ever finish those stream of consciousness books. They don’t get interesting till the 400th page!
My granny will have to decide in 12 pages. Also what will she do after 13 years?
The postwoman picture is hilarious
February 23rd, 2006 at 4:52 pm
What fabulous presents! I have been eying Nancy the librarian ever since I decided to go to library school, which I’m at now (well, more information science than librarianship, but same, same). I hadn’t realized that she comes with rules. But, 50 pages? Isn’t that a lot to read in a bad book? 50 paragraphs sound a bit more reasonable to me!
February 23rd, 2006 at 7:28 pm
What of people with short attention spans? Should they never read?
That is perhaps the best pic I have ever seen of you. How about some more PhotoShop creations? Chloe the President! or Chloe the figure skater!
It would be classic, I’m telling you.
February 23rd, 2006 at 9:16 pm
You are so funny. Love that picture.
Great package. She did a great job on puting that together. Lucky girl.
Hugs, Connie
February 23rd, 2006 at 10:46 pm
What a lovely package. You are a lucky girl !! What a lazy postman … the cheek of him, asking you to do his job for him !! Hope your day is going well. take care, Meow
February 24th, 2006 at 1:19 am
Nice package !
Look at it this way you have an alternative career as a postman , oops postwoman
hee hee
cheers
February 24th, 2006 at 2:51 am
Hehe, I love those action figures! Geezer and I gave the librarian figure to one of my cousins for her birthday one year. The shushing action is hilarious!
I hardly ever stop reading books I don’t like. But I am guilty of skimming.
That is one lazy postman!!! Very nice of you to do his job for him.
February 25th, 2006 at 5:33 am
That´s wicked! I like the librarian that uses the Dewey Decimal System as her weapon. That just rocks!
February 25th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
stephanie
i liked the lime one the most. the others were great too, but i like everything lime anyway. I liked the choco music selection. it gave me an idea about a new cd xx
ben
oh yes, it’s good for the soul
blackcrag
i do love them. i’ve got many many of them and i think of them as an expanding family
gina
thank you sweets. maybe i am going to post my pictures with a warning, like the one on cigarette packets.
madelyn
it’s not an acquired taste, i was born that way! Thanks again, I had some after my tsiknopempti dinner for dessert!
daria
no, just bills and invites from jehovah’s witnesses (all my neighbours are jw)
wriju
stream of consciousness is no excuse for boring. your grandmother shouldn’t have to read at all, i think at that age you know everything anyway. xxxx
connie
madelyn is great, just like you are
meow
poor postman, he is really old, he shouldn’t be doing that job anymore. that’s why i didn’t say anything mean to him.
true blue
only if they give me trendy postman gear. i am not delivering letters from that brown bag, no way
maja
you all know these figures! and i thought i was the first to have Ms Pearl. I have placed her on my bookshelf. I think she belongs there.
Missy
she is very rock n roll that librarian. and the sushing action, that’s even better.
March 7th, 2006 at 5:20 am
the last pic makes you look like a a lil innocent kid! stay happy the way you are , it makes you look young and cute(not that i did ever deny):-)