Another book for my book list

I stumbled across a review of Amy Rosenthal's Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, which led me to her web site, and I must say I'm intrigued. I was struck by this review, which compares it to Sei Shônagon's Pillow Book (she was born a lady-in-waiting cum documentarian of the tenth-century Japanese court), because they both share a command of okashi:

Okashi holds a range of meanings, all positive—amusing, charming, delightful, interesting. A possible etymology of the term breaks into two parts, a conjugation of the verb "oku" meaning "to invite" or "to elicit" and the causative/adjectival formant "shi," creating a descriptor for things that "cause to invite" or "cause to elicit." In other words, okashi characterizes people/objects/places/events that draw forth the interest of an observer. Moreover, it is clear from usage that okashi describes matters that appeal to the observer’s wit through the unique confluence of a specific time, space, subject/object, and action. For instance, the dawn of spring, when the mountain ranges gradually brighten and purple wisps of clouds drift across them (the opening passage of The Pillow Book). Or the circumstance Lady Shônagon deems at the top of her list of "Hateful Things: when an important visitor arrives unannounced at one’s home just when one is in a rush to leave, and one is begrudgingly forced to entertain—how hateful! In Sei Shônagon’s writings, things that are okashi are the extraordinarily amusing things that punctuate ordinary life (albeit quotidian life in the imperial court). The things Ms. Rosenthal captures are, therefore, the hallmark of okashi.

I'm quite intrigued by this, as I think to some extent that's what LiveJournal is like. I have a series of memories which I call "snapshots," and I think what I really meant was something rather close to okashi. I now am quite intrigued to read both Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life and Lady Sei Shônagon's Pillow Book (kijjohnson has read it and mentioned it for years.)

I am also interested in several of the methods she (Amy Rosenthal) used for promoting the book. She had 20 friends/Book Hiding Specialists hide 150 copies of the book around Chicago and then invited the finders to write into the website about their experiences of finding it and reading it. Lost and Found has been set up in other cities, too. She invited readers to e-mail her at the website and describe what they were doing when they read a particular entry, and she promised to bake and Fed Ex a pie to the 100th person to e-mail her. Then she said that the 100th person to congratuate the winner gets a batch of blueberry muffins. Some rather whimsical book promotion, which seems like fun.

Finding Cheap Gas (USA and Canada)

I may have mentioned this before, but since slacker_genious pointed out on poor_skills that gas prices are going up it's probably worth mentioning again.

Go to Gas Buddy to find lower-priced gasoline in your area. It is comprised of 170 gas price information web sites that help consumers find low gasoline prices. Since gasoline prices change frequently and may vary by as much as 20 percent within only a few blocks it is important to be able locate the service station with the lowest priced fuel.

In my area (Minneapolis St. Paul) I use TwinCitiesCasPrices.com. It works, too. I check the website and find that prices range today from $1.85 to $2.09, and I can find the cheapest gas in my area.