Ugh, FAIL.

FAIL FAIL FAIL.

Yeah, so the challenge didn’t work out…obviously. Is it even worth keeping a blog if I’m not going to update it, or make promises to myself that I can’t keep?

I don’t know. But I think I’m going to continue with this. After all, it’s not costing me anything, and it’ll help me be more disciplined (hahahahhaha…..). I need to get my act together and stop doing things I regret.

A weekly challenge

I actually think about this blog a lot, in spite of going for months at a time without actually posting. I think the longer I go without posting the more pressure I feel to make the post significant or profound.

To that, I thumb my nose and say ha! This post doesn’t have any substance. Except to say that I’ve challenged myself to update this blog at least once per week for the month of October.

The most successful blogs in my experience–at least, the blogs I like to read the most–have two things in common. 1) They focus on a relatively narrow topic. 2) They get updated on a frequent and/or regular basis.

I don’t know if I have any one passion I’d blog about regularly. I suppose the point of this blog is about my life, but I tend to think my life unremarkable, which is probably one of the reasons why I don’t update very often. If I had a narrow topic to blog about I might actually be motivated to post more. For example, if this blog were all about reviewing books I’ve read, I’d probably read more, and as a result, post more. But that would require time and effort I don’t necessarily have at the moment. Some people are quite good at documenting things without a well-defined focus but I personally need a strong purpose in order to stay interested.

Perhaps I’m too lazy to think of a real purpose for this blog. But I can impose a goal for myself to post more frequently and so I have. Even if it’s just a quick post for the sake of posting, I will do it. Hopefully it well get me into the habit of actually posting on my blog, instead of just thinking about it.

Why I am Pro-Choice

Why yes, I do think about deep issues every now and then. I am not completely shallow, y’know.

I am often reluctant to talk about tough things, not because I don’t have opinions (although there are many times when I really don’t have an opinion, or feel that I don’t have enough information to make an informed decision one way or another) but because in real life I suck at thinking on my feet and defending myself, so I just end up looking like an idiot. It’s really hard for me to express myself in words, or ways people can understand. I think I secretly have the mindset of artist, but with no discernable talent for it, unfortunately, so I have no outlet for my creativity (ha!).

I also hate it when people get argumentative, defensive, aggressive, and hurtful. But then, I have really thin skin, so frequently overreact to what others feel to be normal. However, I do value meaningful discussions with people who are respectful, even if we disagree. Especially if we disagree. No one’s opinion is superior to another’s—everyone believes their opinion or viewpoint is the correct one, otherwise why would they hold it? Unfortunately, most people either tear through my thin skin together too easily (knowingly or not) or aren’t respectful at all to begin with, so having deep discussions stresses me out to no end. And I hate stress and being stressed. So I generally avoid it.

So why am I talking about it now? I don’t know the answer myself. The topic has been on my mind recently, for whatever reason. Hardly anyone reads this blog, so I feel pretty safe venting my thoughts there.

That rant aside, let’s talk about abortion.

Figure Skating Vancouver 2010 Preview

Yuna Kim is set to win gold.

Time for some brain fluff! I’d like to start off with a disclaimer that I haven’t had time to really follow figure skating recently. Once I realized the Olympics were so near, I began frantically watching YouTube clips to try to catch up, or at least be familiar with the skaters competing in the games. (In my downtime, of course. I would never sacrifice schoolwork for YouTube. Or would I?) So this is based mostly off the few routines I’ve watched, competition results, and my personal biases.

The Morning Gift

To escape Nazi-occupied Vienna, half-Jewish Ruth Berger engages in a (secret) marriage of convenience with an old family friend, British paleontologist and professor Quin Sommerville. They plan to divorce as soon as Ruth is safely in Britain, but of course, things are never that simple, and naturally, they start to fall in love…

Eva Ibbotson is another author I’ve found that’s writes well, but tends to recycle things, to the point where I suspect that all of her characters are the same people, just in different disguises. That said, I really liked The Morning Gift, since it was one of the first of her (adult) novels that I’ve read. (Eva Ibbotson has written several very highly acclaimed pieces children’s fiction–sadly I haven’t had a chance to read any of them yet–but the general word on the street is that she’s slightly more successful with children’s fiction than she is with adult fiction.)

The Grand Sophy

Georgette Heyer is widely hailed as the pioneer of the modern Regency romance, and The Grand Sophy is often cited as one of her best works. I have to say, I love this book, but some of her other books, not so much. They tend to be a bit formulaic and not meet the standards The Grand Sophy set for me. But The Grand Sophy is made of win. It’s irresistibly funny, and Sophy has the personality, charm, wit, spunk, and confidence to solve everyone’s problems while winning her way into their hearts (and the reader’s).

Sophy’s father is going on a business trip to Brazil and dumps Sophy with his sister. Lady Ombersley expects a sweet niece to keep her children company, and perhaps to marry off, but Sophy is anything but conventional and arrives in a blaze of charisma, and animals. Sophy arrives to find the household in disorder: her cousin Charles is about to marry the stuffy Eugenia, Cecilia is mooning after a hapless poet, Hubert is harboring some dark secrets, and more. The story is predictable in that Sophy does manage to solve most of the problems (and encounters a few surprises of her own along the way), but how she does is brilliant and hilarious at the same time. I would recommend not reading this in public.

The Blue Castle

I love the Anne of Green Gables series, by L. M. Montgomery, and most people are familiar with that story. But she has written several other novels, and I think this one is one of the few she wrote for an adult audience.

Valancy lives a dismal existence under the thumb of her relatives, never being able to carve out her own identity, never been loved, never had a chance to marry. At 29, she is on the fast track to spinsterhood The first few chapters are depressing and was a struggle for me to get through, but boy was it worth it! One day, a doctor diagnoses a heart condition she has, and tells her she only has a year to live. Now, this might sound depressing, but it is from this point that the book got really good, since Valancy, not having much to lose anymore, rebels against everything she ever wanted to, and finally transforms into a strong character, experiencing happiness that had previously been absent from her flat previous life. Joy and passion fill the days that had been formerly filled with dull relatives. I actually laughed aloud when Valancy finally gave her relatives what they had coming. Who knew L.M. Montgomery was capable of so much snark?

Of course, her sly sense of humor is also present in the Anne series if you look carefully, but Anne was written for a totally different audience. The Blue Castle is not a particularly demanding read, and a younger reader can certainly enjoy the story for face value, but there are definitely a lot of things in there that would be better appreciated by an older audience. I think the only disappointing aspect of the book was its cover–a cheese-tastic deal with people dressed in horrible ’80s clothes (the story takes place in the ’20s or so).

I don’t want to give too much away, because it’s such a good book and you should read it, but it does have a well-written surprise ending and a sweet romance that warmed my heart.

Culture and Carnival

What a whirlwind past couple of weeks! And the next couple of weeks look to be just as busy.

Monday, April 13 I exercised my privilege as a 21-year-old for the first time to enter a drinking establishment to watch Vienna Teng perform at the Club Cafe in the South Side. She’s an amazing singer/performer and was worth standing up for hours for. My calves were on fire by the end, but it was only a foretaste of what was to come later that week. I generally like girl-on-a-piano type music; I suppose I’d like guy-on-a-piano too, except I haven’t listened to much of that yet (I don’t listen to much music in general, but that is a whole ‘nother story). Vienna told interesting stories and anecdotes about the songs she played for us, and even had the audience clapping along to the music to replace their lost hexagonal shaker. I had trouble following the clapping since she had us clapping on the down beat (is that what it’s called? The last I’ve had of music theory was high school orchestra…) but overall quite enjoyed myself. My only regret was that when I finally had a chance to speak with Vienna Teng, all I could come up was, very creatively, “I think your music is amazing!”

Tuesday, April 14 I continued to be cultured by going to see Rent. This particular tour featured Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal, two of the original Broadway show stars. I was actually torn about going, since I had a major exam the next day and I had already gone to see Vienna Teng the day before, but my housemate generously offered her ticket to me (she’s already seen the show twice–or was it 3 times?), and you know, how many chances will I have to see Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal perform live? I don’t regret going. I liked it, though I don’t think I would have had a clue as to what was going on if I hadn’t known the story/seen the movie beforehand.

My Name is Anne, She Said, Anne Frank

I’ve had a childhood fascination with Anne Frank. I first read her diary around 5th grade or so, mostly because it was always recommended to me by teachers, and it was generally agreed upon that it was the sort of book that should be read. So I did. I liked it, but didn’t really get into it.

Then I read Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend, the story of Hannah Goslar, one of Anne’s friends. Hannah’s story in and of itself is quite compelling, but her reflections of her friendship with Anne brought a new perspective to the story. It was only after I read Hannah’s story that I became more intrigued with Anne Frank, and perhaps about the Holocaust in general, due to Hannah’s vivid accounts of her own experiences.

So when I saw this book while I was working at the library, I knew I had to read it. This memoir is by Jacqueline van Maarsen, another friend of Anne’s. In spite of the title and the cover, this is more of Jacqueline’s (Jackie’s) story than it is about Anne. Anne herself only makes a very small short appearance, almost like a cameo, so people expecting to see a lot more about Anne might be disappointed. However, it is important to note that the little we see of Anne tells us a lot about her we probably cannot deduce by her diary alone.

Star-crossed

Patricia Kelley has nothing left for her in England, so steals away on a merchant ship to Barbados to claim a plantation left to her by her father.

I have to admit, I started reading this book with a bit of trepidation. I’ve read many, many stories of girls being fed up with the historical social restrictions placed on women, running around in breeches, and generally espousing rather modern views. I don’t need every single little detail to be perfectly historically accurate, but glaring anachronisms have a tendency to irritate me.

So I was pleasantly surprised at how the story turned out. Patricia starts off naive and idealistic, but over the course of the novel, as she encounters various trying situations, she is forced to adopt the identity of a male as a means of survival rather than as a lark. Patricia Kelley is many things, but a Mary Sue she is not; she certainly had the potential to be one at the beginning of the story, but as it progresses it is clear that the author is firmly pointing us in a different direction.