Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Life of Pi

I officially read Life of Pi in 2 days. I don't think it was that long of a book, if I remember correctly looking at it in Barnes and Noble, but a Kindle doesn't measure length in pages.

In general the story was quite intriguing, although the first half was a bit tedious at times. Actually there were many instances of tediousness. But every instant was important to the story. And then it got really gruesome. Seriously, if you want to read this book, go with that warning in mind. It will graphically describe predators turning on each other. While also examining survival instinct and necessity, and the presence of God.

And then the ending. And you question everything. And you think you get it. And you go to Sparknotes and read every analysis for every chapter and question everything some more. And then you realize you didn't get it, and maybe get it now. And then you feel very glad to have read it. And thankful to Sparknotes.

Monday, June 11, 2012

UPDATES AND FUN

First shift of the summer down. Roughly 60 more to go. At least with 9-10 weeks and 7 shifts a week. Yikes.

Today I was just filling in for my mom. We haven't started the summer schedule yet, and since the youngins are still in school, it was a quiet day and I got to sit in the box office and read. Currently I'm reading Life of Pi, which I've always heard was a good book, and I don't know if people ever read it in school, but I've never picked it up. In two days I'm over half way done, and it's a lot more gruesome than I thought it would be. But considering all I knew about the story was that a boy gets trapped on a life boat with a tiger, a hyena, an orangutan, and a zebra, I should have seen it coming. In any case, I'm now slightly shocked that one of my sixth grade students, granted an avid reader, recommended this book to me. The first quarter of the book the main character goes on for pages and pages explaining things like zoos, zoo animal behaviors, the morality of keeping animals confined in zoos, and religion, because the main character loves religion and God and wants to be Hindu, Catholic, and Muslim-at the same time. As verbose and boring as all that may sound, it was quite interesting, and went by relatively quickly. It's hard to tell how many pages one truly reads when reading on a Kindle, but like I said, I'm over half way done and it's only been two days.

Anyway, Pi is now on the life boat and well, the animals have quickly turned on each other and it puts terrible, gory images into my head. Not pleasant before bed. But it's one of those stories that tells you ahead of time that it's going to end well, so now I'm just eager to see how Pi possibly survives all this. You should read it! Whoever you are reading this now. Or maybe I'll wait and give the recommendation when I'm done...stay tuned, people.

Other than reading and working, this past weekend I also went into Boston with my mom to see Starkid's Apocalyptour concert at the House of Blues. Luckily for us, the Red Sox game was at practically the same time! (If you haven't already, just go ahead and reread that with way more sarcasm). We took the train in from Alewife, and then waited outside the HOB in the shade while the line to go in died down (we had seats). Since there was so much activity around Fenway, the line snaked its way behind the HOB building instead of up the street, so it seemingly never ended. We watched endless girls in various shades of Ray-Ban sunnies and bright costumes go by, while we sketchily stood on the corner across the street. Comparatively, I was dressed very plainly, so you really couldn't tell what we were waiting for.

We also saw several band members emerge from the tour bus parked nearby, although I only recognized one (cool Clark!). In hindsight, I should have been that creepy bus-watcher fan who ran over to get a picture, since the door was not facing the line and no crazies in line would have seen, but I guess that's just not who I am. So instead, I just stared at them and probably sketched them out with my awkwardness. Welcome to my life.

Once inside, Mum and I found our way upstairs to our cushioned, swively box seats. And no one sat in the seats in front of us or behind us, so it was PERF! I had a great view, and could stand up whenever I felt like it without bothering anyone around me.

Charlene Kaye opened the show and she was amazing and if you don't know her, look her up right now because I love her and she has a new album called Animal Love and it's wonderful and why aren't you listening to it yet???

Then the Starkids came out and goofed around as archaelogical diggers who were going to give up singing and dancing, except they awoke a Mayan god of death, chaos...and musical theater! So they put on a show to try to save the world...from, you know, the apocalypse. It was fun and the music was great. Here are some pictures. Enjoy the beauty. 

Starkids, how I love them.




After the show, there were still many Red Sox fans hanging around, even though the game had ended about 45 minutes earlier, so combined with the 2,000 plus fans leaving the HOB, there was quite the crowd, especially trying to get into the T station. So instead, me and Mum found a self-serve Fro-yo place and made our own fro-yo creations and it was delish. I went a little over board with the candy and tried to add some fruit... They also had fro-yo machines that MIXED FRO-YOS! So I got Strawberry on the bottom, and then added a mixed banana-peanut butter fro-yo on top. Again I say, DELISH.



Also I attempted to paint my nails with flames in honor of Apocalyptour! It was fun and I think it turned out pretty cool...I even had to improvise because I couldn't find toothpicks or small brushes, so I used the tip of a mechanical pencil to swirl the colors. YAY!


Monday, June 4, 2012

The rain in Maine falls mainly on the plains...

So Amanda is helping people in Guatemala and Julie is studying art in Verona, but hey, I went to Maine this weekend.

It was a rainy, chilly couple days, but Brys and I spent it in some good company with Owen and Rick. We went to the movies to watch Snow White and the Huntsman, which, despite Kristin Stewart's manly voice and cross eyed death scene (very reminiscent of a certain vampire-y movie), was an enjoyable movie. K Stew has definitely improved, or maybe I was just distracted by the huntsman...Who can really tell.

So now that Brys and I have officially seen Snow White and the Huntsman, as well as The Avengers, we thought it would be appropriate to watch the superhero movies that came before The Avengers, and started with a completely random, has-nothing-to-do-with-a-hot-Australian-actor pick, Thor. Followed by Captain America. Which we rented and watched in one day. A good way to spend a rainy afternoon, even in Maine.

We also ate a lot, but what else is new. I think I've taken in enough calories in the past week to last me the rest of the summer. It's too bad it's raining or I would go for a run. Darn that rain. (I'll let you guess how much sarcasm should be behind those words...)

But for reals, I probably should start working out and stop eating ice cream every day of my life.