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snoggedThis is a post in which I ramble. You have been warned. :D
BOYFRIEND: Nick's birthday (despite it actually being on Saturday) managed to encapsulate much of the weekend. On Friday, he had the day off (as did I) so we went up to the Dells and saw the movie, Hanna. We both loved it. The cinematography was gorgeous, the actors were brilliant (particularly Saoirse Ronan who played the 16 year-old assassin), and it made me even more excited to see the Hunger Games movie that's coming out next spring. Before the movie started, there was a preview for the film, Anonymous, which looks awesome. It explores the question: who wrote the plays of Shakespeare in a politically, thriller-y sort-of way. After the movie, we went to Taste of New Orleans for dinner. I had baked Catfish and sweet tea and Nick had baked catfish that was stuffed with crab-meat and had a jumbo shrimp on top of it. In terms of my own food, the catfish tasted a bit too mushy for my preference and the spices were too intense. But Nick really liked it and our waitress was so sweet.
On Saturday, Nick's dad came up and we went to a little cafe in our hometown called "Let's Eat." I had a Crispy Chicken BLT Wrap and it rocked my socks off. Saturday evening, after Mark left, was mostly spent catching up some shows and cuddling...and a little birthday snuggling too.
On Sunday, he worked on his car and had quite the productive day with that.
POLITICS: As some of you know, the political climate in Wisconsin is not a happy one. Since March, I've been volunteering my free time at the offices for the Committee to Recall Senator Luther Olsen. Yesterday, Luther Olsen became the THIRD Republican senator in this state to be recalled because we turned in our signatures to the Government Accountability Board (24,000+. We only needed 14,733.) I'm hoping that Fred Clark, the man set to challenge Olsen in the upcoming recall election, will need help with data entry. I'd love to say on board with this stuff. It excites me. :D
WEAP: The Wisconsin Early Autism Project continues to a fun experience for me. I'm hoping that I will get to add more hours to my work-load. 4-6 hours a week is just not enough, no matter how much fun the kiddo is.
BOOKS: At the start of April I completed my 15th book for the year (Water For Elephants and quickly managed to get through number 16 (Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult). I started Book #17 (Stolen: A Letter To My Captor) about a week or so ago. Honestly, I thought it's status as a Young Adult novel would make it a quick read, but instead, it feels like a chore. First, there are no chapter breaks. It's 300 pages of continuous story with an occasional page break in the middle. Second, a majority of the sentences starts with "I" or "you." I think this is meant to draw the reader in and make the character easier to relate to. Instead, it drives me nuts. Yes, this is a book for teens, but must it be so damn juvenile? Another issue I have with it is that, like Twilight, it portrays control and obsession as love. This guy literally kidnaps this teenage girl, drags her to the Australian outback, and expects her to be okay with it. Not only that, the reader is expected to feel sympathy for him because he came from a broken home. The female character seems to waver between experiencing pity for this man and wanting to escape/injure him. Judging by the back of the book, however, it seems that soon she'll experience Stockholm Syndrome. *sigh* I'm only half-way through and I really just want to give up on it, but giving up on a story is so unlike me.
BOYFRIEND: Nick's birthday (despite it actually being on Saturday) managed to encapsulate much of the weekend. On Friday, he had the day off (as did I) so we went up to the Dells and saw the movie, Hanna. We both loved it. The cinematography was gorgeous, the actors were brilliant (particularly Saoirse Ronan who played the 16 year-old assassin), and it made me even more excited to see the Hunger Games movie that's coming out next spring. Before the movie started, there was a preview for the film, Anonymous, which looks awesome. It explores the question: who wrote the plays of Shakespeare in a politically, thriller-y sort-of way. After the movie, we went to Taste of New Orleans for dinner. I had baked Catfish and sweet tea and Nick had baked catfish that was stuffed with crab-meat and had a jumbo shrimp on top of it. In terms of my own food, the catfish tasted a bit too mushy for my preference and the spices were too intense. But Nick really liked it and our waitress was so sweet.
On Saturday, Nick's dad came up and we went to a little cafe in our hometown called "Let's Eat." I had a Crispy Chicken BLT Wrap and it rocked my socks off. Saturday evening, after Mark left, was mostly spent catching up some shows and cuddling...and a little birthday snuggling too.
On Sunday, he worked on his car and had quite the productive day with that.
POLITICS: As some of you know, the political climate in Wisconsin is not a happy one. Since March, I've been volunteering my free time at the offices for the Committee to Recall Senator Luther Olsen. Yesterday, Luther Olsen became the THIRD Republican senator in this state to be recalled because we turned in our signatures to the Government Accountability Board (24,000+. We only needed 14,733.) I'm hoping that Fred Clark, the man set to challenge Olsen in the upcoming recall election, will need help with data entry. I'd love to say on board with this stuff. It excites me. :D
WEAP: The Wisconsin Early Autism Project continues to a fun experience for me. I'm hoping that I will get to add more hours to my work-load. 4-6 hours a week is just not enough, no matter how much fun the kiddo is.
BOOKS: At the start of April I completed my 15th book for the year (Water For Elephants and quickly managed to get through number 16 (Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult). I started Book #17 (Stolen: A Letter To My Captor) about a week or so ago. Honestly, I thought it's status as a Young Adult novel would make it a quick read, but instead, it feels like a chore. First, there are no chapter breaks. It's 300 pages of continuous story with an occasional page break in the middle. Second, a majority of the sentences starts with "I" or "you." I think this is meant to draw the reader in and make the character easier to relate to. Instead, it drives me nuts. Yes, this is a book for teens, but must it be so damn juvenile? Another issue I have with it is that, like Twilight, it portrays control and obsession as love. This guy literally kidnaps this teenage girl, drags her to the Australian outback, and expects her to be okay with it. Not only that, the reader is expected to feel sympathy for him because he came from a broken home. The female character seems to waver between experiencing pity for this man and wanting to escape/injure him. Judging by the back of the book, however, it seems that soon she'll experience Stockholm Syndrome. *sigh* I'm only half-way through and I really just want to give up on it, but giving up on a story is so unlike me.
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no subject
on 2011-04-20 02:07 am (UTC):P That's hard to have read such good books and then get stuck on something so difficult to read because of its lack of quality. I dunno... it might be worth just leaving off in favor of something you might actually enjoy.
no subject
on 2011-04-21 11:05 pm (UTC)