#167 Savage Run

I went to the library book sale quite a few years ago. At the end of the day they had a great deal: all you can carry for $1. I loaded up my arms with bags and boxes and ended up with 55 books of all sorts. There was only an hour until closing, so I didn't get a chance to actually examine the books and see if they were worth reading. This was a moment when I really did judge a book by its cover (or no cover, for that matter, as what happened with one), grabbing anything that looked at least somewhat appealing. This book was one of those.

I must admit I was quite surprised by it. It's one of the dozen or so books that are left from that sale that I still haven't read. I kept avoiding it ironically enough because of the cover. It was the thinnest of the lot of books, so that is why it got picked up this time. Right from the get-go, I was pretty well into it.

The storyline is quite gruesome: the war between the extreme environmentalists and well-off ranchers has gotten out of hand and has led to the embarrassing but untraceable murders of the biggest players on the side of the environmentalists. This book is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. Quite a few scenes are too descriptive for my taste and left me rather nauseous. A poor game warden, who is just trying to do his job right, gets caught in the middle of it and ends up being the hero of the day. Box throws in a few twists and turns that you could almost see coming, but are still surprising and not entirely predictable. I enjoyed this book despite its horrific descriptions and give it a total of 7.5/10

Math 10

I have briefly considered going into the Animal Health Technician program, which requires Math 11 and Chem 11, two courses I do not have. I decided to do a little updating through TRU, and ordered a Math 10 course, since I haven't studied math in 8 years, I thought it would be smarter to do the level below rather than jump into Math 11.

I went to a private school. There must be something completely wacky between the public and private school systems! What I am studying now is the equivalent of what I learned in grade 5-7, not grade 10! What I was doing in grade 10 was much more complicated and difficult (or at least so I thought at the time). Like the Math 11 Essentials course I took while in High School (instead of Math 11), I don't even need to read the instructions and I get close to 100% on all of the exercises. No, I do not use a calculator. If this is the precursor to Math 11, I should have no problems when I start that course. Hopefully the chemistry course is just as easy. Yay for upgrading and keeping my brain semi-sharp.

#166 The Cloud Pavilion

Is there any way to accurately express my disappointment in this book?

I bought this book at Chapters because it was on sale ($4.99) and because it had a Japanese cover. I have a friend who is obsessed with everything Japanese, so I thought I would read it, and if it was decent enough, give it to her to read.

Now perhaps I am just a little stuck up when it comes to writing skills, but I found Rowland's style extremely choppy; so much so that I almost got a headache every time I read the book. The storyline was OK, but I often questioned the characters and their actions. If they were so smart, why were they making stupid decisions? I felt that if they had asked just one more question, the whole thing would have been solved almost immediately. It also seemed that Rowland pulled back the characters' intelligence because she wasn't capable of thinking of a more sophisticated plot line.

All in all, I give it about a 3/10. It wasn't awful enough to not finish it, but I would never recommend it to anyone who prefers a reading level higher than grade 6.

Dreams or Something Like Them

Today I participated in my first ever vaulting show. It was a schooling show, so we all got ribbons, but it was a tremendous amount of fun. It reminded me that I really want to do something with my own horses.

Problem is: I need a trainer who is willing to work with 2 very different horses (personality wise), and me.

A trainer a couple years ago had me in Western Pleasure, which gave me severe back problems ( I assume it's due to needing to sit directly straight up in all gaits, which was jarring my spinal column and had me in tears during some lessons). On top of that, they HATED my mare. I am IN LOVE with my mare. I remember thinking one day: my mare treats me so poorly, but I still love her. I could never get rid of her. If I did, a piece of me would disappear.

The next trainer I had was severely against ME. She liked my mare, her husband HATED my gelding (told me I should send him up to the Yukon to be a pack horse), and neither of them liked me. After a couple months of putting up with her telling me that everything is my fault, I quit. I couldn't handle it, and clearly things weren't working out. (Once, when my horse's head was facing the wrong way, it was "my" fault. She told me the loosen the rein that was already loose. I told her so, but she started yelling at me. I got so mad I threw down the rein, and asked her "DO YOU BELIEVE ME NOW?" but she ignored me.)

So the thing is, I need someone who is willing to work with me in my horses in an encouraging way. No, we're not perfect, but we're willing to learn. I'm desperate to learn. I want to earn more participation ribbons ;).

#165 Surprised by Joy

Just a little background as to why the number 165: Growing up I was always told that I read a lot. I was called a bookworm, and everyone who knew me told other people that I always had a nose in my book. This was most likely true until I reached the age of 12, and my new friends didn’t like reading. They thought people who read were tres uncool. I didn’t quit reading altogether, but my habit did slow down quite a bit. By the time I started to fall out with those friends, I decided to get back into reading. On March 13 2002, I decided to keep track of just how many books I’ve read. 165 is the number since that date.

It’s kind of embarrassing that in just over nine years I’ve only read 165 books. That averages out to 18.3 books a year, or 1.5 per month. I suppose this is more than the average person, but not for a bookworm. I blame the lack of numbers on university. The thousands of pages I read were never counted towards this record. I only count books that I’ve read pretty well cover to cover.

This most recent one, Surprised by Joy (C.S. Lewis) was given to me by a friend on my birthday. She hoped that I would also be surprised by Joy as C.S. Lewis had been.

I read through the book with an open mind. I very rarely don’t finish a book that I’ve started (unless it’s for school), but I have to admit I was bored practically to tears through most of it. He warns readers in the first chapter if we don’t like how/where it’s going, we should put it down now. I felt an obligation to continue, and so pushed on through it. It took me two months to read, and I finished 7 books in the meantime.

I think the big difference between Lewis and me is that Lewis wanted to be an atheist, and purposefully, almost rebelliously, abandoned theism. I, on the other hand, wanted so badly to be a theist, but was “surprised by reality” that steadily led me down the path to agnosticism. Our stories are almost complete opposites, and I therefore cannot relate to his circumstance and discovery of Joy. (Though Joy, in the end, is not what is most important).

I would recommend this book to people who are Christians and would like to see the path that an atheist took to Christianity. It might also satisfy some curiosity of the atheist who wants to understand how an atheist could turn theist. For those of us who were theists turned atheist/agnostic, the book is irrelevant, disappointing even. I was definitely not surprised by joy during this book.

Job Search

So finally, after going to U on and off for 5 years, I have finally graduated. And the drumroll questions is: "What now?" It is an unfortunate question that seems to plague the majority of graduates, and often tempts them to run back to school instead of facing "real life".

I, on the other hand, embraced the school-free life with open arms... for a total of almost 2 weeks.

Yes, unfortunately I succumbed to my usual past-time of signing up for classes that I will later regret. Hopefully this time, however, since I have no pressure of actually graduating, I can enjoy these moments and drink the nourishment that learning provides for my brain.

For those who are interested: I am taking Math 10 and Abnormal Psychology by correspondence. I haven't started yet, as I am waiting for the courses to actually arrive, but I'm pretty stoked to learn more.

Oh great. HAHAHA. I just read the e-mail that they sent me, that I have to ORDER the course materials first. I thought it was automatic with course registration, but apparently not. Dumbasses... Oh! And the course materials cost more than the courses themselves! I guess I'm the dumbass now. *shakes fist at self for choosing print (expensive) instead of web (free) versions!*

As for job hunting...

Here are the options of my future that I have so far mapped out:

1. Quebec
Although I haven't received confirmation of an interview yet, I had an interview last year and was waitlisted. I'm sure I'll receive an interview this year, and I noticed they were receiving applications much later than the deadline, so I'm assuming that they have extra positions that need to be filled.

Pros:
- learn French
- make decent money part-time
- travel

Cons:
- moving my entire household: husband, horses, dog, cat, & now bunny
- giving up everything I've recently established here: 2 volunteering places, vaulting, dance, background work, & tutoring.

It seems the cons outweigh the pros, but I really want to learn French.


2. Mexico Logistics Officer
This is a job I just applied for. It's a good wage, includes variety, and has benefits after 3 months. I'm not sure exactly where it's located, but I'm willing to travel for it.

Pros:
- practice Spanish on a daily basis
- awesome on resume
- make good money, get benefits covered
- keep established life for a little while longer

Cons:
- don't learn French
- may be a long commute
- might not get hired


3. Animal Health Technician
This would require me going back to school full time. This isn't exactly what I had in mind, but if the previous two fall through. Why not? Downside: I would have to upgrade my highschool math.

Pros:
- learn to be a vet assistant
- save money in the future
- almost guaranteed job after graduation
- only 2 years

Cons:
- 2 more years of SCHOOL!
- have to upgrade math
- sucky commute every day
- no job = no money!

4. Be lazy
I think that explains it all.

Pros:
- continue with the life I have set out for me

Cons:
- I'm a continual planner, so there's no way this could last for long
- no job = no money!


So, my non-existent audience, what do you suggest?

Your Highness? My foot.

I just wanted to say "WHAT THE HELL?"

I went to the theatre tonight with my husband, a guy from his work and that guy's girlfriend.

We opted to see Your Highness because it fit our schedules best. We were 4 of maybe 10 people in that showing, which thank goodness at least got us comfortable seats.

But the movie.... seriously? I caught myself texting people, checking Facebook, and searching for things on imdb.com. I didn't laugh once during the entire movie. I wasn't even remotely entertained. It was one of the very few movies I could have walked out of without a second thought. Usually, even during terrible movies, I want to stick through it to see what happens in the end. This one was so utterly predictable, drab and vulgar that I was not in the least curious as to what I would miss if I walked out.

I stayed because it would have been rude to leave my companions behind. At least it was cheap night and I got my popcorn.

I know many people enjoy that kind of movie, but I find them appalling, degrading, and an absolute waste of money and talent.

IT was more entertaining than this one.