Two Things Meme

Two names I go by:

1. Merry
2. My real name

Two things I’m wearing right now:

1. A mexican style t-shirt
2. Long denim skirt

Two of my favorite things today:

1. Apologetix
2. Breaking Dawn

Two things I want at the moment:

1. More time
2. Less things on my to-do list

Two favorite pets I have had:

1. Constance, my first guinea pig
2. Abby, my third

Two people I hope will fill this out:

1. Purring Piggy
2. Clankeeper

Two things I did last night:

1. Finished writing a story
2. Watched the latest episode of Stargate Atlantis

Two things I ate last night:

1. Alfredo pizza
2. Cherry-berry Koolaid

Two people I last talked to:

1. Aragorn, about something insignificant enough to forget quickly
2. The Queen, in answer to her question about some character in something
(I don't talk much... ;)

Two things I will do tomorrow:

1. Write!
2. Go to church

Farthest trips I have taken in the last 5 years:

1. We all went to Yellowstone
2. And we went camping on the Olympic Coast

Two favorite holidays:

1. None
2. None - I don't like holidays

Two favorite beverages:

1. Ice water
2. Chai tea

Comics pt. 2

Whoops! That post was published before I was done with it. Here are a few others I meant to add:

Comics I found

I've seen a couple other of this artist's comics, and they're always geeky and funny in a sophisticated way, sometimes a bit above my non-scientific head. But this one should make sense to everyone:

Macgyver gets lazy:



There's also this one, way more geeky:



The home site for all these comics is: http://www.xkcd.com/

How ironic...

...to realize that pretty much only times I get depressed are when other people are being negative. I've discovered that I'm a generally pleased person, so seeing people get upset about things upsets me more than whatever they're getting upset about. Why can't everyone be happy and let things slide?



(Yes, I know it's a personality thing...doesn't make it any less frustrating on occasion, all the negativity in the world.)

The Twilight books - book review

Apparently, I have been following up on all the wrong recommendations. I've never held to the opinion that modern literature is all twaddle and fluff, and yet the more I read of recommended books, the more I have to wonder—is it really true after all?

For those who aren't aware of what is popular among the tween and teen crowd, right now there is a series of books that is "all the rage", even so much that there will be a film made of them coming out in December. Twilight is a book by Stephanie Meyer, a Mormon author who writes vampire and werewolf books set in the Forks/La Push area of Western Washington. There are two other books in the series (New Moon and Eclipse), with a fourth one eagerly anticipated this August. Her stories revolve around a teenage girl who discovers that a family of good vampires lives near her town, that there are evil vampires out there, and that there are werewolves nearby who fight the evil vampires. She falls in love with one of the vampires, and that relationship drives the plot of most of the books.

At first, there seems to be a lot going for these books. There's a strong message of abstinence and morality, not least because the vampire love interest was born in the late 1800s and hasn't changed much. There's also a strong importance placed on chivalry and honor, even though the books are plainly set in modern times. Edward Cullen, though a vampire, appears to be the sort of hero who might be a young version of one of Jane Austen's—mannerly, respectful, self-sacrificing, and honorable.

However, it becomes plain as you read that these virtues are unfortunately drowned out by flaws. It's not as though the author meant it that way—she clearly loves her good characters and seems out to present a moral protagonist that readers can love. Unfortunately, her obvious and blind love for her creations seemed to delude her into forgetting that they could make mistakes.

The first and major flaw with these books is that the heroine is unabashedly teenage. Overemotional and hormonal, quick to say that she will die if she can't have the man she loves, and gush over how perfect he is, she could be a character from the 1700s or a modern teenage girl. Bella never seems to get beyond crush level in her attraction for Edward, despite the fact that she is willing to sacrifice herself for him—it's more that she has made her world revolve around him, so she couldn't bear his death. Her level of attraction is unhealthy, and though it is nominally addressed by Bella herself, Edward, and a couple other characters, the author never seems to totally condemn it, and there is little to no consequence.

The second major flaw is in the character of Edward. While a very decent young (old?) vampire, he also suffers from teenage angst that, you would think after 100 years of life, he would have outgrown. No, he might just as well have been a young human for how maturely he behaves. Not only that, the way that Bella (and the author) gush on about him, you'd think he was perfect. He's not. He's not even consistently written perfectly, it's just that he apparently can do no wrong. It's frustrating to a reader to see a character who could be quite interesting, if only his flaws were acknowledged and dealt with. The same can be said about the first flaw, the character of Bella.

And the third major flaw is that the author is too much infatuated with her own creation. She seems to identify so deeply with Bella that she cannot see the other flaws. Certain characters are discarded for silly, petty, reasons due to Bella's youthful point of view, and certain plotlines are dealt with in very youthful ways, all with no consequences. I have no problem with young characters behaving their age, but when the author seems to think that youthful behavior is not only appropriate but not deserving reproach from the older characters? It becomes a very frustrating situation.

Looking past these flaws, the books are a quick and enjoyable read. Definitely page-turners, though the author doesn't have much going for her beyond that. Too sensational, and the lack of true strong moral characters is painfully obvious. Like Harry Potter, these books are a guilty pleasure, if pleasure is the right word for books that gave me so much frustration.

Prince Caspian: The Movie

I feel so bad for liking this movie. I feel bad that I nearly squeed out loud at the theatre at so many parts, and that even now I have warm fuzzies in my heart from certain parts—even worse, I never got such warm fuzzies from reading the book. Is Prince Caspian a bad adaptation? Yes. But it's a fun movie that only tweaked me in a few places, and as I thought the same about the book, I'm not disappointed.

No, I don't like the Chronicles of Narnia books. Yes, I know that makes me a heretic. And yes, that impacts this review.

Ah, I have so much love for some of this movie, and so much distaste for other parts of it. The distaste first, because bad things should always be drowned out by good. My biggest quibble was the attack on Miraz' castle, which was both stupid and out of place in Narnia. Never mind that it didn't happen in the book, it would never have happened, because that's not how Narnian battles take place. Plus it just made the characters look bad. I understand the need to have failure to amp up the tension, but this was poorly handled.

My more minor quibbles are these. Peter was too belligerent, especially towards a Caspian who was appropriately meek without being a pushover. I don't think the character of Peter worked in the books, as he felt far too unreal a creation, but there was no need to push him so far in the movie. Just plain over the top, making him even less attractive than his perfect cousin from the book. Secondly, the kiss—I could have handled the Susan/Caspian romance when it was limited to semi-subtle googoo eyes that teenagers are wont to indulge in, especially because Susan was supposed to be fond of boys and the most lovely woman in Narnia. However, while I thought Caspian's post-kiss hug was very sweet and appropriate, the kiss was, again, over the top and out of place.

A last quibble, though this is for adaptations in general, is how little of the dialogue from the book was used. This was true of LWW, and most adaptations unless they're something iconic like Jane Austen, but was only annoying when the dialogue was very bad. In general I didn't notice, but there were a few instances which were horribly cheesy, and I noticed with pleasure that Reepicheep's recovery was almost verbatim from the book.

But on to the good! The special effects (or more accurately, the visual effects) were unerringly good and well-used. The landscapes were gorgeous and could have been real or painted for all I cared—they looked epic and Narnian. I greatly appreciated how the living trees were separated from Weta's Ents so that only the slightest of comparisons could be made. And the river man? Simply amazing!

The characters were generally well-acted. I especially enjoyed Ben Barnes' Caspian, as he brought that adorable clueless bravery to light very well, and with a lovely accent to boot. His uncle Miraz was equally well done, and a very nice villain indeed. Edmund shined among the child actors, but then his character was always my favorite—I thought the others acted well, I just didn't like their characters. Reepicheep was as excellent as I had hoped, as were Trufflehunter, Trumpkin, and Nickabrick.

I must give props to the choreography, especially. That duel between Miraz and Peter was one of the most real I've ever seen on screen. Dramatic, long-lasting without being boring, and realistically draining—very nicely planned, acted, and filmed.

The rest of the movie ranged up and down the mediocre scale, as I'm not a big fan of this franchise and this simply wasn't a great movie regardless. Costumes—good; knocking out the columns—not so much. Ruins of Cair Paravel—okay; summoning of the White Witch—not quite. Flipping around the storyline—good; having Caspian confront Miraz in his chamber—not.

But I liked it, and I won't even qualify that. Like almost every movie, I had things I would have done differently, acting I would have rejected, scenes I would have trimmed, lines I would have changed, but that's just perfectionist me. And, as I said, any movie that leaves me with fuzzy warm feelings about it 18 hours later deserves credit. I'd even see it again in theatres, if I had gobs of money to spend.

*snerk*

"In many houses the fridge serves as the communal noticeboard. Messages on the door in magnetic letters are always slightly contrived as you never have enough vowels to say exactly what you want. Messages on the inside are more along the lines of ‘I have measured the exact angle of this slice of chocolate cake. Shaving bits off will result in your disembowelment’." —Guy Browning

Music that rocked my—flipflops?—off

Here's my favorite recently purchased songs (from iTunes):

“1985” and “High School Never Ends” by Bowling for Soup. I think it’s kind of sad that I got a song about nostalgia for the 1980s where I only really relate to one line…but it’s certainly a lot of fun. The second song, however, I relate to even without going through high school, because unfortunately the premise is all too obviously true. Another misfortune is that I had to get the Radio Disney versions of these songs on iTunes because the originals were, well, a little crude.

“If I Were You” by Hoobastank.

“Invincible” by Skillet

“River’s Jig” by the Bedlam Bards. It never fails to impress me with irony that one of my favorite folk tunes was introduced to me through a science fiction show. “Saffron’s Wedding Dance” is another great one by this artist.

“Dead Man (Carry Me)” by Jars of Clay.

“Buachaill On Eirne” by The Corrs.

“Cleaning This Gun” by Rodney Atkins. I don’t like all country music, but there are some great songs out there, and this is my current favorite. You don’t have to be a father to get this one, I found. I also enjoyed this artists’ songs “A Man on a Tractor” and “If You’re Going Through Hell”, though the former is much more country than the latter.

“All Who Are Thirsty” by Kutless

Introversion vs. Extraversion

In my Psychology of Human Relations class, we discussed one of the spectrums of personality: introversion vs. extroversion. One of the most interesting things about this subject is how people view it in society. It's likely that just about everyone has heard of these terms, but how many of those people use them as "shy" and "outgoing", or worse, "antisocial" and "social"? Though the world is becoming more friendly to the introverts, who used to be considered flawed for not enjoying parties, there is still an inherent misunderstanding about why they're introverts.

In general, people who understand introverts say that they're uncomfortable around people or become energized when alone. The underlying idea is that introverts don't really like people, or not enough to want to be with them. In reality, biology tells almost the opposite story. Scientists have shown that the biological responses to being around others—e.g. increased endorphins—give pleasure to people, who are then encouraged to seek out the companionship of others. Social people are obviously an example of this; they love being around people, and it makes them feel good. On the other hand, introverts are less likely to seek out companionship. This is not a matter of being unaffected positively by being around others, but rather being overaffected. Scientists theorize that introverts are oversensitive to the presence of others, and so what is a pleasurable experience to extroverts is too much of a good thing for introverts. It's not that they don't like being around people, it's just that their needs for companionship are satisfied by a much lower amount of time spent together, and being around a lot of people overstimulates them. They are also not energized from being alone—introverts can be just as lonely as anyone else—it's just that being alone helps them come down from the emotional "high" of being among others.

I found this research fascinating, especially because I am an introvert. I've never felt that I didn't like being around people, just that I didn't need to so often, so I definitely ascribe to this theory. As an introvert, I don't feel lonely when I spend hours and hours away from people, only emerging for meals and shopping and church—my social-emotional needs feel perfectly satisfied with these small levels of social interaction, so why would I want to spend more time around people? This is probably the best explanation for introversion that I have come across.

Okay, so I failed

I failed miserably, I admit it. You'd think that, having been there before, I would remember how utterly packed the Olympia Y&G schedule is. I barely got enough sleep as it was, and so blogging had to be dropped on the wayside. Just to wrap things up, the governor did pass a couple bills: ratifying the Kyoto treaty and women included in the Selective Service. He did not pass a bill lowering the drinking age to 18—the veto was overturned by a margin of one vote in the Senate, but failed in the House (and it turned out that one voter in the Senate was ineligible anyway). Oh well for that; it was great debate while it lasted.

The Governor's Ball, like last year, was something I could have avoided... However, unlike last year, staying in the basement away from the dancing and the eardrum-bursting music was quite enjoyable. There were a couple other people who didn't care for dancing, and since we brought Scrabble tiles, we got to play Speed Scrabble. And since it was late at night, we got to cheat. So maybe under normal circumstances it's inadvisable to open up the game to proper nouns and foreign words...but it's a definite bonus to the game when you do! I mean, when was the last time you got to use "Dalek", "kree", "Ra", and "Ai" in a game?

We elected the major officers for next year, and I'm both satisfied and upset. The Lieutenant Governor we elected has nothing more going for her than taking the program seriously and looking cute—I saw no skills that would make me think she would make a good leader, while the other candidate was much more well-spoken and firm (but fair) in talking to people. However, we did elect a great governor!

Best laid plans

It was my intention to keep a near-running log of what was going on during this Youth Legislative Session...but, well, I have a bad habit of overestimating how much time I actually have. But, for the highlights:

So far in the Senate we have made marriage a religious institution (and not one of the government), reduced the legal drinking age to 18, required mediator sessions for women looking to get an abortion, banned the penny from US currency, ratified the Kyoto Protocol, required school and city buses to use biofuel, required one hour of physical activity for children in school, required high school seniors to register to vote, reduced the copyright law to 14 years, required recycling bins in schools, and added sexual orientation to the list of things employers cannot discriminate against.

My bill, restoring the states' rights of the Tenth Ammendment, passed committee but failed in the Senate. Aragorn's bill, raising the legal smoking age to 21, also failed. However, both of us received compliments on how well we did our bills, even if the majority disagreed with the content, so it's not too depressing.

One exciting thing that happened yesterday did not relate to Youth and Government at all. Halfway through the first session, we in the Senate heard very loud chanting going on outside. We couldn't tell if it was in the Rotunda, on the Capitol steps, or in the House Chambers, but it sounded very passionate. After session ended, we found out that there were May Day protesters who had been rioting on the Capitol steps and entered the Capitol without permission. The Senate and House Chambers were locked down, and the security eventually dealt with the riot, but not before they put graffiti on the front columns. There was talk of getting T-shirts reading "I survived the May Day riot", but mainly we're just glad it didn't get dangerous.

In more mundane news, the host home I'm staying at is lovely, however the attic room where I'm sleeping has two giant skylights that make it impossible to sleep after 6am. Also, my favorite dress shoes broke when I fell down the Capitol steps. But that's all I can think of to withdraw from this wonderful experience. The delegates here are friendly, intelligent, and almost without fail respectful to those with opposing opinions.

Live from the Capitol...

Here I am in Olympia, in the most gorgeous state capitol building in the US, preparing for my Youth and Government legislative sessions. Unlike last year, I have a laptop and the generously provided wireless internet in the Capitol, and will be able to keep an active log of what's going on. Today has been pretty rough, actually, with the marble floors wreaking havoc on my not quite healed leg in dress shoes, and lots of standing for pictures with the governor. Thankfully it's sunny and there's only been a slight drizzle, so who can feel totally down? And the rest of the weekend will be 95% sitting in the Senate Chambers, so my only concern is for the Governor's Ball on Friday night.

Gotta love lawyers

This was interesting, and had me chuckling.

http://lawiscool.com/2008/03/29/lord-of-the-rings-as-property-law/

Copyright video—interesting and funny

I died laughing through most of this, and happen to agree with the sentiments as well. You can watch it on YouTube:



Or download it at the original site here: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/documentary-film-program/film/a-fair-y-use-tale

Sad

Oh so sad, and oh so interesting at the same time:
http://www.sliceofscifi.com/2008/03/25/oh-yeah-they-know-were-here/

Another update - 3/24

MerryK continues to show weekly improvement in her physical therapy. She has been using only crutches all week and we returned the wheel chair to the rental company! What a relief to see that go!

MerryK conquered the stairs last week and now can come upstairs anytime she wants! This is a blessing to her since she can pick out her own snacks on her own schedule, which includes midnight.

The last few days she has been using only 1 crutch, which is amazing to see! Each week brings more progress and we are so thankful to God for her wonderful recovery.

MerryK signed up for classes at college this next term. Originally, we thought she would be taking online classes only but she felt ready to conquer the campus (which is on a steep hill) so she chose 2 classes close together.

It may be awhile before she can return to work, though, since her job requires her to carry heavy boxes of books back and forth from her desk. Please keep her your prayers!

Thought-provoking

“[Creationists] will only allow God the minuscule, infant universe described by the writers of Genesis (or Moses, if you prefer). They can't stand it that God has been working on this version of the universe for something like 14 billion years, and His workshop is so inconceivably huge that it seems silly to imagine the Earth and its dominant species to be the center of God's attention. They won't allow Him to work His miracles of life patiently, subtly, using the gradual, majestic power of evolution. My hypothesis is that creationists, having short attention spans themselves, just can't allow God three billion years of patience and attention to Earthly life. Instead, all they'll allow Him is one *POOF* magic, all-in-one creation, barely 6,000 years ago." —The Power and Majesty of God Almighty, Bob Riggins

Update on MerryK

We went to see the physical therapist on Monday and MerryK was allowed to stand up and take a few steps with a walker bearing most of her weight! It was scary and exciting all at the same time. She also tried using crutches and those felt better to her so we purchased a set for her later that day. She did get a bit light headed several times during therapy, since she hasn't stood up in over 6 weeks and her body wasn't very prepared. It will get better with practice, though. We are now focusing on strength building exercises and MerryK is practicing walking around in short sessions! She controls how much weight goes on her leg and if she uses too much her body reminds her with shooting pain. It should take a 3-4 weeks to get to full weight bearing. She is also trying to use her arm as much as possible for everyday movements.

She continues to have a great attitude and looks forward to getting upstairs so she can get her own food and snacks. ;) She is registered for classes at college for the spring quarter, although she may just take online classes. Her handwriting skills are improving and her arm doesn't tire as easily while typing, so we think she might be able to complete classes this spring. We will see how she is doing in April. She had to drop out of the last quarter since she was hit by the car on the first week of school.

Thanks for your prayers!