Club Penguin ate my kids

Last week was Spring Break for the kids, but unfortunately not for me. It was my second-to-last week of class and I felt too burned out and busy to think of fun stuff to do with them. Instead, they ended up watching a whole lot of television and spending a lot of time on the computer playing Club Penguin.

I figured that we would make up for it this week when they got back in to school. This week is also my last week of class and so I have a bit of down time. I made a lot of plans for stuff I would do to get 'back on track'. I should have known better.

Tuesday morning started out well; we went to playgroup and then ran an errand at Target. Then after P. Bibby's nap I put her in her high chair for a snack; much to her distress, and mine, she started throwing up. I was hoping it was a fluke, but as the afternoon went on she was obviously not getting better. Even worse, I started feeling more and more disgusting. Tuesday was the worst evening for this sort of situation because I was hosting my book group. Well, I had to abandon my plans because the virus incubating in my gut took over. I spent Tuesday night tossing and turning in bed, in between trips to the bathroom, and had to flake out on my class Wednesday morning (it was their last day too!).

Thankfully I've been feeling better today; unfortunately S-Boogie woke up early this morning covered in vomit. So far Little Dude is the only who has been untouched and he has enjoyed unlimited Club Penguin time during the last few days. I just worry that tomorrow will be another day of disrupted plans due to illness.

Cool Stuff on the Internet

There's quite a bit of cool stuff out there on the internet today. I don't usually put up a lot of links, but I guess there's a first time for everything.

Fictionist A few weeks ago we saw this band live at a party and they were awesome. They're from Provo and I like to support local stuff, so go vote for them. And buy their CD because it's good.

Modern Mormon Men This new blog is a funny idea (I really like the logo) and the posts are actually pretty good too. I'm curious to see what else they come up with in the future.

Peculiar Pages Not only is this run by a good friend of ours, but they publish cool stuff too. I don't usually read a lot of plays but I think I would like to buy that play collection just for fun.

Reading Roundup: March 2011

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

This was our bookclub read for the month; it was a nice little fluffy read that worked well for me when I was feeling sick. I think I enjoyed it more when I read it at age 15, but it wasn't too bad this time around.

The Lord of the Rings (Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King)

I decided to re-read these books after attempting to read a book that we had sitting around our shelf. The book sounded promising--it was an analysis of Tolkien's work that focused on his career as a linguist. Unfortunately the book was terribly boring and I didn't get through it. I did read the books again and found that I enjoyed them even more than the first time; this time I knew the story well and could focus on the language and really appreciate its complexity and beauty.

A Sense of Order and Other Stories by Jack Harrell

This is one of the best books I've read this year, and one of the best collections of short stories I have read in a while. Several of the stories were ones that I remembered reading in the past and have been pondering ever since (one of them was also a not-so-favorite of mine, but I liked it a bit more after re-reading it this time). He asks interesting questions about the world, and the answers aren't always what you would expect. If you want to know more about the book, the award citation is a good place to start.

Forest Born by Shannon Hale

I was initially reluctant to read this book because I had been disappointed by the third in the series. I loved Hale's first two books (The Goose Girl and Enna Burning), and I was happy to find that this one was just as good as the first two were. I love the way Hale combines an adventure story with a story of self-discovery in a way that each storyline is dependent on the other and necessary to the book. When S-Boogie gets older I really want her to read these books; not just because they are fun and well-written, but because they encourage thinking about your life, your relationships, and your motivations. And, for the record, I think that the 'new' covers are ugly so I'm waiting for the edition with the 'old' cover before I buy it.

Trespass by Sandra Grey

This is also a continuation of a series that I started reading a few years ago. I really like historical fiction, especially books set during World War 2, so the books seemed like a natural fit for me. I feel like the author asks a very interesting question: "What would happen if a German Army officer joins the Mormon church?" and answers it well. The books don't offer pat answers or easy solutions, but they still are satisfying in their conclusions (and fun to read).

Movies

The Social Network

I had low expectations for this movie, and I'm glad that it exceeded them. The story and characters were much more interesting than I thought they were going to be.

Reel Injun

This was a great documentary about a subject that I had not thought much about before. It was also interesting to watch shortly before we went to the anniversary show for BYU's Living Legends dance troupe, which includes Native American dance. If you are interested in film history at all, or just want to watch something new, I'd recommend this movie. I don't think it's rated, but there are a few scenes at the end with full nudity (not sexual).

Freakonomics

I thought it was interesting to see the process for making a non-fiction, informational book into a movie. The film is divided into segments that are each made by a different director. This approach made the film more enjoyable, but it was also uneven. I think it's a good introduction to the material, but if you really want the full details then you should just read the book

Winter's Bone

I can see why this film has been getting so much critical acclaim; it really is a well-made movie and the acting is amazing. I still didn't like it very much, probably because the story is a little hard to follow and it took me about half of the movie to figure out what was going on. The plot also doesn't follow a traditional arc and so I kept feeling a little confused because my expectations got in the way of my ability to understand and appreciate the story. It is still a great film and maybe some day I will watch it again and like it a lot more the second time.

A Wild and Wonderful Weekend

Last Tuesday afternoon I was reading one of my usual blogs (instead of grading papers) and mentioned to Mr. Fob "hey, that play you were interviewed for is going on this weekend. Wouldn't it be fun if we could go?" My question wasn't really serious, of course. But then we started talking about it, and then we started looking up trip prices on the internet, and then we called Mr. Fob's sister to see if she could watch our kids, and the next thing we knew, we had bought ourselves a trip to the Bay Area for the weekend. I think my motivation came from an interest in the play, the fact that winter here is long and brown and I always miss California this time of year, and the thrill of doing something absolutely spontaneous.

I spent a lot of time before last Friday afternoon wondering if we were doing 'the right thing'. I have no regrets today. We were blessed with beautiful weather the entire weekend and I got a nice dose of green plants, sunshine, and flowers. We ate amazing food the entire time, starting with some awesome Japanese food at the airport and progressing through crepes, goat cheese and artisan bread, falafel, and gourmet pizza. Although we stayed in a hotel, we still spent a lot of our time hanging out with our friends the Thteed family. I love having friends that we can just hang out and talk with for hours on end. None of us managed to watch much of General Conference (sorry), but we did get to go see a Little League game, tour the Berkeley chapel, and eat a lot.

The trip would have been great even if we didn't see the play, but I'm so glad we did. Until we sat down and looked at the program I didn't know how many of our friends were 'in' it. It was a beautiful piece and both Mr. Fob and I agreed that it was much too short. We could have kept watching it for hours. The strength of the show lies in the fact that he just presents the thoughts and words of many different people, some of which are contradictory or clashing, without commentary or anything. It felt like sitting in a room with a bunch of people baring their souls to me. I think the best part of the weekend was the fact that we got to meet Ben Abbott, the writer and actor, and his wife. They are wonderful people and we enjoyed hanging out with both of them. Even if we get the chance to see the show again, the opportunity to make new friends was really worth it. So was the sunshine.