Holiday Break

Last night as Kenz and I both mourned the loss of our time off and return to the grind of daily life I realized that over the next couple of months, I will have more freedom. No obligatory studying, no application essays, no classes. It will be just work (and hopefully we're over the madness that has been the med-school application process).

And to that happy ending, I was happy to see that last semester I pulled an A- in Pathophysiology because it was a beast; a horrible, fascinating beast that I probably should have postponed until med school given my load over the past couple of months. 

So, freedom. I admit, I've become a little obsessed (and perhaps overly ambitious in how much I intend to do with so much free time that I don't have to use worrying if I should be studying more). First, there are books that I have not read because I have been too busy reading what someone else wanted me to read (ie. textbooks). 

It began right after finals with Harry Potter. No, I have not yet read the Harry Potter series. (Who am I, did I grow up under a rock, did I even have a childhood, right?) I devoured the first book. It was like I was regaining my childhood, fulfilling long-lost dreams. 

Speaking of childhood, was anyone else terrified of the animated Hobbit movie as a child? 

To put it lightly, I hated it.

It was like that time when Sherlock first met Kitty in the bathroom. 

It repelled me. 

Unfortunately, I allowed my disgust for ugly lumpy animated characters to deprive me of the written work, which I have been reading during any perceived down time over the past couple of days. 

The movie was pretty good, too. (It didn't hurt that Watson was Bilbo because I'm a little depressed that I have run out of episodes of Sherlock on Netflix.)

But can someone tell me where the white orc comes from? Is it just story embellishment for the sake of making the book into three movies?

And speaking of making books into movies, or musical movies, Les Mis was meh, okay. I got a little tired of seeing angst personified singing to the camera for three hours.

Oh yeah, I'm re-reading that one, too.

A lot has changed since 8th grade when I first read it. We'll see how long it takes to get through the unabridged version.

And this is just because I need to comment on this somewhere and this seems like an appropriate venue and time for a break in this post which has been unrelated to actual exciting events surrounding the holidays.

By the Light of the Halloween Moon

We have progressed from the board book phase at our house, which has opened a door to a new, endless world of books for kids. 

One of Adi's favorites has been this one:

During our excursion to the HBLL, we picked up this story about various monsters and creatures all vying for the toe of this little girl who is all alone minding her own business practicing her violin (or fiddle) on a dock in what seems to be a bayou in the middle of the night. Although, the reference to the williwaw ghost leads me to believe this is more likely to take place in New England. 

Admittedly, the version I read to the Binx is not as light-hearted and musical as this one because really, all these monsters are contending for this girl's glistening toe as she nonchalantly dangles her succulent digits into the dark abyss below. I'll add a witch cackle, a ghost or ghoul moan and a howl or two in there to liven things up a bit, but it can't be all fun and games. Plus, I'm not necessarily musically inclined, so this one to the list of how I scarred my child for life.

Truth be told, we love the book and bought the hardback copy from Amazon because it's apparently out of print. Gotta love Amazon. (Sorry local small, struggling bookstore business. Convenience won the day on this one.) Any other suggestions on what books we can buy to support Amazon?

Dystopia

We had book club last night. It was fun, the cake was yummy. 

We talked about Matched? Anyone else read it? It seemed pretty straight forward. A dystopian teen novel... 

Anyone else think it's a mixture of The Giver, 1984, The Hunger Games, The Island, and perhaps oddly, Twilight? 

Good, easy read. Definitely want to read the next one. Definitely need to re-read 1984. 

Google, Borges, and a Walk Down Memory Lane

I am quite positive that most of you have no idea who Jorge Luis Borges is...

Why would you?

But, when you saw this Google doodle today... did you wonder?

Borges was a Latin American author. He published incredible short stories and often compiled them into anthologies such as Ficciones.

Enter a walk down memory lane.

In late 2006, I returned to the United States after living abroad in Spain. My Spanish abilities were at their peak and I just happened to meet Ryan in advanced English that winter semester in 2007.

After we parted ways for our adventures to Washington DC (me) and Chile (him) we reconnected via Facebook and thought it might be fun to take another class together. So we did. A survey of Nobel prize winning literature in the Spanish language.

Fall 2007 was glorious. We were studying Gabriela Mistral, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Pablo Neruda, and of course Borges. Our professors we bright, talented, experienced, gifted. One spoke Chilean Spanish. The other Spanish Spanish. It was meant to be.

Many of my favorites in this class were poems by Gabriela Mistral, I also learned to love Neruda. However, I never quite came to understand Borges.

Ryan and I often studied in the library together and I remember him laughing while reading. When I asked what he was laughing at, he said Borges. It must be a Latin thing because to this day, I do not understand Borges' humor.

Anyway, because I was smitten with Ryan, I thought a copy of Ficciones might be a good gift. So, while on Thanksgiving break in my hotel room at the Gaylord Hotel in Orlando, Florida, I scoured the Internet and found a leather-bound, gold-leafed copy of Ficciones printed by the Easton Press on eBay. I remember sitting, waiting, watching, and at the last minute sniping for that book. I had to have it.

And, I did.

It was agony to wait for it in the mail and then wait for his birthday in December, but for Ryan's 26th Birthday, I gave him a copy of Ficciones to begin his (our) book collection.

So, despite my lack of appreciation for his humor, I appreciate Borges because he brought Ryan and I just a little bit closer together.

So, Happy Birthday Borges. May your works and quotes last another 112 years!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

For Adi's 1st birthday, we had a little get together and Dan (Ryan's old roommate) gave her her favorite book ever. A copy of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear."

Well, it wasn't until Dan made a comment a few weeks ago about "Brown Bear" that I realized that he, Dan Brown, was referring to himself. :) The first few times Adi met Dan, she was a little apprehensive, but last week, this was her evening...

Thanks Dan we (including little Adi) love you!

Huck and Humor

Well, I'm slow to start, and it will take longer than I anticipated. That's what I get for getting myself into finals and starting classes at the same time. Double assigned reading and studying leaves little time for leisure. It's going to take longer, but that's okay.

So, want to know why Huck Finn is on Time's list of Greatest Books of All Time?

It is hilarious.

Mark Twain illustrates the time period and makes social commentaries with humor. (I honestly think humor is why Reagan is idolized, but we won't get into politics at this point.) If there is an author who comes close to the wit and humor of Mark Twain in our current society, please point me that way.

I am rediscovering why humor, rather than criticism, is a better way to comment on behaviors or ideologies that I don't understand or agree with. If done tastefully, it produces a good laugh and understanding rather than a scoff and continued ignorance.

Another take away from recent reading: word choice and description matter in communication. I laughed as I read how Miss Watson told Huck about the "good place" where all you did was walk around and play a harp all day. She had a fit when Huck said he would just as well go to the bad place because, he thought to himself, at the time he would just as well go anywhere really and Miss Watson didn't think Tom Sawyer was going to the good place and Huck wanted to be where Tom was.

Greatest Books of All Time: Huck Finn

So, Time released their opinion of the top 10 greatest books of all time. It made me start thinking about the books I have read, and which I would put on my own top 10 list. I'll have to get back to that. In the meantime, here's their list:

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
4. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
7. The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
9. The Stories of Anton Chekhov by Anton Chekhov
10. Middlemarch by George Eliot
    

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1578073,00.html#ixzz1JNPALQ8q

I've been thinking of reading these books (obviously shorter books first due to severe time constraints with trying to finish classes this summer), and commenting on them via the blog.
I'm going to start with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because despite Kenz's opinion that Mark Twain was racist (who knows, they all pretty much were back then, right?), and even refused to read this classic when she was younger, I love Twain's humor. It's been a while since I read it last, but I remember liking it. Now I'm looking forward to reading it in a new light, with some context and contrast with current racial issues, and maybe even try to tie in The Help somewhere.


This is a boring side note, but riding public transportation has made me think seriously about how I treat others, especially those who are difficult to deal with on many levels. I am also working with my local Red Cross chapter to launch an outreach program that targets Spanish speakers (Utah's largest minority population) in order to make services more accessible to them and to increase their support and involvement in the Red Cross and community. I suppose that circumstances have had me thinking seriously about how we treat one another in society, both on the macro and individual level, and what I feel I can do better.

So, in that context I'll begin The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on Friday, and plan to finish within a month. Anyone interested in reading and ranting along? I like to make connections with current events, if that makes it sound more interesting. But if this all sounds boring, feel free to skip related posts.

** I should also mention that after riding on a steamboat in Hannibal, Missouri, I have had a strange obsession with the idea of making my own raft one day and riding it down the Mississippi. **

Reading with Grandpa

Our little lady loves to read. In fact, she has now started brining us books, magazines, newspapers, etc. to read to her. It's so cute. I am so glad she loves to read, and I hope as we build her library that she continues to enjoy it.

Here she is reading a magazine with my dad. So cute. She handed him the magazine and motioned to be picked up. I love it.

Page 6.

As a personal goal for my professional development, I have decided that I am going to read two or more books each month to help me further my understanding of the job market, resumes, career counseling--more to help me help students.

So, on Tuesday I picked up a copy of "101 Tips for Graduates" by Susan Morem.

All I can say is wow. It was on page 6 that it hit me. Listen to this (Emphasis added):

"You can put as much or as little effort into your job search as you want, because... there's no one to blame but yourself." Ouch.

"Your moods are likely to fluctuate, and your feelings of exuberance, empowerment, and excitement will probably be intertwined with feelings of rejection, loneliness, and at times desperation." Ouch.

"You will fail before you succeed, and there will be times you'll feel like giving up." Ouch.

Sound bytes are priceless.

Yes, page 6.

Page 6 was an epiphany. I have never wanted for work when I needed a full-time position. I have never gone through the roller coaster of emotions that accompany a full-time job search. I have so many things to be grateful for and I feel so blessed to have been offered two jobs in the past eight months--both wonderful opportunities for personal and professional growth.

For those of you who feel that you have failed, and feel like giving up, don't. Continue. Traverse the challenges. Rethink your strategies, and you will succeed.

Voracious Little Reader

This baby loves books.

She loves to "read" them,

examine them,

and eat them.

Yum.

Looking for a Good Read?

After years of assigned readings that have consumed my life, I had forgotten how much I enjoy a good book. In the past couple of weeks, these have been some of my good reads:

These Is My Words

Diary of a settler in Arizona, and good insight into life on the American frontier. Plenty of lawlessness, heartbreak, Indians, and joy from family. Good development of the main character (as it should be, being her diary), which makes it easy to relate to her and her life story.

As an aside - and tribute to my fascination with Latin American politics - I believe that this book gives a lot of insight into what occurs currently in frontier areas around the world. The situation with a new insurgent group in Paraguay (EPP) serves as a good example.

The Help

This book was thought-provoking for me. Hailing from a pretty non-diverse state in terms of ethnicity, I have never been faced with issues regarding discrimination. It could be that I never found myself in these situations, or that I have been oblivious or ignorant of them (as are some characters in this book).

I strive to treat all people equally. However, I recognize that my lack of experience among some demographics may influence my behavior in that I become ultra-sensitive in trying not to offend. For example, in church we sat next to a gentleman of another race and I noticed that although it would have been more comfortable for Kenz to scoot her chair closer to mine (and away from this individual) to lay her head on my shoulder, I did not suggest it because I did not want the gesture to be misinterpreted. I don't believe that hypersensitivity is the solution - I believe it achieves the opposite - but being cognisant and aware of our behavior so that we treat all people with respect could be the answer.

SUPER Freakonomics

Entertaining read with a lot of interesting, but perhaps useless information. I think it's always fun to read analyses of human behavior and how we use instruments to attempt to measure, quantify, or predict it.

The Hunger Games

It's a mix of The Giver, 1984, and Lord of the Flies (this last I have been told since I have never read Lord of the Flies). It's Big Brother at his worst. I think the end could have been developed more effectively for a more dramatic way to "stick it to the man." But, I have to give it to the author, she knows how to write a compelling story.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

I found this in a box of books we have, and it goes to show that sometimes what is common sense is not so common. Everything in this book makes sense, but few of us practice it because emotions get in the way and make us behave irrationally. I think it's a good reminder of how we should treat others, but many of his suggested practices could easily be ruined by insincerity.

And I'm currently working on these two:

Blink

So far the examples and studies have been fun and fascinating, and I look forward to learning more about the assessments and decisions we make without conducting an in-depth analysis.

Who Really Cares

I've been meaning to get to this one for at least a year now. I have liked it so far, but have been a little turned off by the politics that have already presented themselves. But, in all fairness, it looks like an objective study done by an independent voter, who happens to be the current President of AEI.

Anyway, I would recommend any of these books and we're looking for new reads for the future. I know for sure that Catching Fire is on the list, as well as 1984 and maybe some Spanish literature or history of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile.

Any other suggestions?

What I'm Reading: The Help

A couple of weeks ago, one of my besties, Adi, invited me to join her book club. So, in preparation, I read the book of choice...

It was a fabulous read, a 'page-turner' if you will.

The book is about Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960's and the interplay between the wealthy white southerners and their poor black maids. Thought provoking.

Racial relations have always fascinated me. In one of my classes during my master's program I was disturbed when we had a "diversity" lecture that turned out to be an in-your-face, blatant, yelling at the other person, racism documentary filmed during the 1980's. Maybe I was naive, but within my circle of influence racism was non-existent or at least that is what I perceived, and I was shocked by the need for such overt violent exposure to the world more than a quarter of a century ago.

So I was happy to pick up this book and have a different, calm view of how racial relations were in the 1960's. I found (and find) it appalling that within our society one race feels superior over another race. Can't they look themselves in the mirror and realize that character is the only way in which one individual is truly different than another. I found "The Help" did an excellent job of showing how a person is a person regardless of the color of their skin. It was provocative view at the (in my opinion) despicable behavior of one culture against another, and I am grateful to be informed and educated enough to realize that men and women should not be judged by the color of their skin, but rather the content of their character.

Tuesday night was book club, and I had never been to one before. It was so much fun. I thoroughly enjoyed speaking about racial tensions in a group--a subject that is often avoided within our society. I enjoyed the intellectual stimulation that I felt as we delved into the theme and symbolism. I don't want to say anymore, I highly recommend this book!

The other highlight of the evening was Paula Dean's delicious Three-layered, Hummingbird Cake. It was moist, and light; yet strikingly rich. I am going to have to try this recipe (although that may not be a good idea).

One word to describe the dessert: heavenly.

A huge thank you Sarah for your incredibly gracious hospitality and decadent dessert.

Renesmee

Disclaimer: Although I have read the wonderful Twilight series, I am by no means an Edward worshiper. I find (and have found since first reading the series) that I am perfecty happy with my own Edward, Ryan.

Renesmee. For those of you who recognize this word, you understand the emotion behind it. You can feel your heart beat quicken as you remember your obsession as you spent hours perusing her story. I just finished the book Breaking Dawn, and I have to acknowledge the fact that I absolutely loved this book. Stephanie Meyer's imagination is fascinating, and I love how she spun an intricate web with the characters' individual and collective stories. The story captivated my attention (as you have previously read), and now that I've finished I find myself wondering if I'm fully satisfied knowing that the book ended with a "Happily Ever After" or if my subconscious would like further proof of Bella's saga. Still, I must admit that I'm quite intruiged and very impressed with how Meyer pacified the Edward-lovers as well as the Jacob lovers. The introduction of Renesemee was surprising, but very natural. Things seem oddly at peace, and perhaps that's what Meyer was going for: finally Bella finds a balance. Truly she was born (rather written) to be imortal.

Breaking Dawn, Breaking Shmawn.......

Once upon a time, I had a wife.

This is what she looked like.

Well, one day she decided to read a book; you may have heard of it, Breaking Dawn. It's about vampires, marrying vampires, having vampires' babies, and becoming a vampire yourself.

At least that's what I understood from the plot updates that Kenz would give me. Sometimes she would even acknowledge my existence by giving me little schmidgets of information such as, there is a werewolf who imprints babies or something to that effect. Sick, but somehow fascinating, and obviously enveloping. In fact, I decided to try to see what was so engrossing about the aforementioned literature and got through about 20 pages before wondering what the point was.

So, sad story for me. I lost my wife for a week and don't know what I'm missing by not enjoying a popular book. But, this story does have a happy ending. Today Kenz finished the book! And, best of all, she now makes eye-contact and makes comprehensible conversation! So, anyone out there who may be missing their significant other or loved one, have hope!