Both?

I am in Seattle with oodles of time, so I am going to experiment with doing both the blog thing and Facebook.

Here is what I wrote on Facebook:

Packing. The cats are helping. They are making sure that everything is suitably covered in cat hair. It is still snowy here and chilly, although it has been above freezing. It is hard to wrap my mind around temperatures in the 70s and 80s. The problem is, it is beginning to be fall in Australia and it should be cooling off slightly. How cool? What if I don't bring the "right" clothes. I guess I could just buy new ones. I need new clothes, anyway. I am down nearly 80 pounds now and have given away some clothes already, but still have 2 more laundry baskets full to give away.

Camera. I wanted to buy a new pocket camera. My digital SLR is just too cumbersome and I have disliked the zoom lens ever since I bought it. It just doesn't zoom enough for my purposes. But a stronger zoom would be a) way too expensive and b) way too big and even more cumbersome. I hate to go off to Australia without a camera, but the only store with the camera I want doesn't have the exact version that I wanted. I was going to get a Canon Powershot SX200IS. I really want a good zooming capability. But the store only had the red version. Now, I know the color of the camera isn't really important, but I just don't like the reddish color. Ugh. What to do?

Off to get a hair cut. Still not really started on packing.

Tons of other stuff to do, too. I don't think I will get everything done. Sigh.

And now, an update:
I am in Seattle with oodles of time (4 hours), so I think I will write a bit.

On the plane down, I listened to Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. It is the April selection for our book group and I hadn't gotten very far with the reading, so I decided to buy the audio version and listen to it at odd moments on this trip.

When I was reading the book, I couldn't get the movie out of my mind and I couldn't get into the story about the bishop. It was interesting, but I didn't understand how it related to all of the characters I remember from the movie. But now that I am further into the book and getting to know how that plays into the background, I am in awe. This is a rambling tale to be sure, but the details are so evocative that I am getting more and more glad to just sit back and let them build up.

I just listened to the part where he declares that each person is like one or more animals in character. He is specifically talking about Javert, but, of course, I immediately speculate about what animal(s) I am like and what animals the people in my family are like. I would like to think that I am like some of my "talisman" animals: the tiger, the sea otter, the puffin. But I don't have the ferociousness of the tiger or the colorfulness of the puffin. And the sea otters seem to be more social than I am. It is funny that I can't pinpoint any of my own animal characteristics. Ah! Well! Let's see. Analytical, talkative, self-centered. Maybe I am a parrot.

Off to find some lunch.