I am going to miss Saga. Not the food, but the conversations and the people. Cafeterias are not about the food but about the friends eating the food, together. Two meals a day (no breakfast) for four years is a lot of memories and a lot of conversations. So, I decided to post some of the top ten Saga memories. Not necessarily in order. Feel free to add ones that you think should be on the list.
Last supper
Christine
Gannon Canon
Jess eating with her eyes closed
Guys smuggling oranges up and out with hats and twine
Matthew's enterprises and trip to Vegas
Alicia's new knowledge
Thanksgiving dinner
Strawberries and chocolate
Laughter
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
I feel like a 5 year old
You know how kids sometimes decide that they are going to help out Mommy and Daddy and end up making a bigger mess than the original. I'm there.
The night before, Dad asked me to tidy up the house and vacuum for Mom, as she's been busy this past week. So, I did. I decided that I was going to do a thorough vacuuming. As I was moving to a different part of the house, I saw some dust and rusk coming out of the zipper, but I zipped it back and kept going. Turns out, the vacuum is not bagless. In fact, Mom had just had it cleaned and hadn't yet put in the new bag. And now, it is all dirty again. Go me.
The night before, Dad asked me to tidy up the house and vacuum for Mom, as she's been busy this past week. So, I did. I decided that I was going to do a thorough vacuuming. As I was moving to a different part of the house, I saw some dust and rusk coming out of the zipper, but I zipped it back and kept going. Turns out, the vacuum is not bagless. In fact, Mom had just had it cleaned and hadn't yet put in the new bag. And now, it is all dirty again. Go me.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The local United Methodist church is having a blood drive on Thursday and they are giving away Cardinals blood drive T-shirts if you donate blood. They seem to think that this is a draw. I plan to give blood, but I will not accept a T-shirt. I am a Cubs fan and have an acute dislike of the Cardinals.
In other news, we had quite the night last night. There was a big storm, lots of branches down all over town and our power was out all night.
In other news, we had quite the night last night. There was a big storm, lots of branches down all over town and our power was out all night.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
'Ello, 'Ello
I am back from visiting. Two visits in one week. I went to see a good friend in Indiana last Thursday and came back on Saturday to hear a senior viola recital, which was beautiful. However, I had a wonderful time with Miss Moore and her family, who were gracious enough to allow me to invade. :-) She is a very good sports announcer, and I was allowed to sit in the press box as she called the play by play for the Agape League, which is a baseball league for children and adults with physical and mental disabilities. I had never been to a game like that, and it was fun. We decided that I was the color announcer and She was Len Caspar and I was Bob Brenley, the Cubs announcers.
Then, from Monday to today (Thursday), Mom and I went up to visit my grandparents. We also went out to my aunt's house/farm/camp. She runs a camp for mentally and developmentally disabled adults. I was also able to see my cousin and her son (who is adorable!). There were water gun fights, smores, campfire, and a very impressive air guitarist. On Tuesday, Grandma took Mom and I and one of her friends out to a Japanese fusion restaurant. It was a very nice restaurant. I'd never been to one. They also had Japanese gardens that you could pay to walk through, but we just went to the restaurant.
My grandparents have an interesting assortment of old records, and I love their two record, volume 1 of old radio bloopers. So funny! I laughed so hard. My favorite is an old radio show with two convicts talking in prison. One asked the other how he got his 99 year sentence. The reply: Some dirty squeal pigeon stooled on me. Priceless.
Also, I bought a Veggie Tales CD and it has a mix of Veggie Tales songs in different languages with different, world/international beats. I love it! The best of both worlds: Veggie Tales and world music. I've also been listening to modern gypsy music, which is my current favorite CD.
TTFN
Then, from Monday to today (Thursday), Mom and I went up to visit my grandparents. We also went out to my aunt's house/farm/camp. She runs a camp for mentally and developmentally disabled adults. I was also able to see my cousin and her son (who is adorable!). There were water gun fights, smores, campfire, and a very impressive air guitarist. On Tuesday, Grandma took Mom and I and one of her friends out to a Japanese fusion restaurant. It was a very nice restaurant. I'd never been to one. They also had Japanese gardens that you could pay to walk through, but we just went to the restaurant.
My grandparents have an interesting assortment of old records, and I love their two record, volume 1 of old radio bloopers. So funny! I laughed so hard. My favorite is an old radio show with two convicts talking in prison. One asked the other how he got his 99 year sentence. The reply: Some dirty squeal pigeon stooled on me. Priceless.
Also, I bought a Veggie Tales CD and it has a mix of Veggie Tales songs in different languages with different, world/international beats. I love it! The best of both worlds: Veggie Tales and world music. I've also been listening to modern gypsy music, which is my current favorite CD.
TTFN
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Brave New World
I just finished Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. It is an amazing work, especially in a literary sense. His knowledge of literature, particularly Shakespeare is excellent.
I do not like the ending, but I suppose that it avoids a preachy Randian ending like the one in Anthem. (Though I believe Brave New World was published before Anthem.) The Savage knows what is good, true, and beautiful, but he is still flawed. In his revolt against the "perfection" of civilization, he moves in a completely opposite direction. He argues with the Controller for the existence and necessity of God, but he in turn has an incomplete and flawed view of Him. Christianity is mixed with animism and Native American rituals, and he does not grasp the redemptive power of Jesus' sacrifice and God's love. Instead, his acknowledgment of his own failings, feelings, and flaws overwhelms him and he turns to penance and asceticism. And, when he ultimately gives in to his desires, he subjects himself to the ultimate penance.
I could not help but compare this book to 1984 by George Orwell, as well as think back to other futuristic books such as the aforementioned Anthem by Ayn Rand, The Giver by Lois Lowry, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. While reading A Brave New World, I expected it to include eugenics, euthanasia, and a totalitarian society as intolerant of nonconformists as the society in 1984. It is, however, a much tamer and nicer society. The people are entertained and kept docile like the people in Fahrenheit 451, though they are allowed to read books, but new books, not old ones. Everything hinges on comfort, instant gratification, and happiness at the expense of the good the true and the beautiful. Dissidents are exiled to islands, not tortured and ultimately killed as in 1984. In reading A Brave New World and thinking back to 1984, I believe that 1984 is the scariest book I have ever read. A Brave New World is not half as frightening as 1984 because I do not see it as being plausible. With my knowledge of human nature, 1984 is a more realistic possibility than A Brave New World as the society depicted in Huxley's book would not be able to be accomplished without killing people. It is rather tolerant, mainly because they keep the people drugged up and "happy." But to achieve this, there would have to be the experimenting with the embryos and older humans, the killing of dissidents, the suppressing of people, things that Huxley downplays, which in turn makes his book more palatable.
I finished this book in practically one sitting (all 300 pages) and enjoyed it. It makes one think and question when one reads it. The society is opposite ours in many respects. Why is this bad? What is wrong with their society? What is wrong with our society? How do we look at relationships? What do we value? In some respects, our society has come closer to the society in A Brave New World, and that is not good.
I do not like the ending, but I suppose that it avoids a preachy Randian ending like the one in Anthem. (Though I believe Brave New World was published before Anthem.) The Savage knows what is good, true, and beautiful, but he is still flawed. In his revolt against the "perfection" of civilization, he moves in a completely opposite direction. He argues with the Controller for the existence and necessity of God, but he in turn has an incomplete and flawed view of Him. Christianity is mixed with animism and Native American rituals, and he does not grasp the redemptive power of Jesus' sacrifice and God's love. Instead, his acknowledgment of his own failings, feelings, and flaws overwhelms him and he turns to penance and asceticism. And, when he ultimately gives in to his desires, he subjects himself to the ultimate penance.
I could not help but compare this book to 1984 by George Orwell, as well as think back to other futuristic books such as the aforementioned Anthem by Ayn Rand, The Giver by Lois Lowry, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. While reading A Brave New World, I expected it to include eugenics, euthanasia, and a totalitarian society as intolerant of nonconformists as the society in 1984. It is, however, a much tamer and nicer society. The people are entertained and kept docile like the people in Fahrenheit 451, though they are allowed to read books, but new books, not old ones. Everything hinges on comfort, instant gratification, and happiness at the expense of the good the true and the beautiful. Dissidents are exiled to islands, not tortured and ultimately killed as in 1984. In reading A Brave New World and thinking back to 1984, I believe that 1984 is the scariest book I have ever read. A Brave New World is not half as frightening as 1984 because I do not see it as being plausible. With my knowledge of human nature, 1984 is a more realistic possibility than A Brave New World as the society depicted in Huxley's book would not be able to be accomplished without killing people. It is rather tolerant, mainly because they keep the people drugged up and "happy." But to achieve this, there would have to be the experimenting with the embryos and older humans, the killing of dissidents, the suppressing of people, things that Huxley downplays, which in turn makes his book more palatable.
I finished this book in practically one sitting (all 300 pages) and enjoyed it. It makes one think and question when one reads it. The society is opposite ours in many respects. Why is this bad? What is wrong with their society? What is wrong with our society? How do we look at relationships? What do we value? In some respects, our society has come closer to the society in A Brave New World, and that is not good.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Book list
I found this list that someone posted, and I decided to do it myself. It is not the best list, as there are books on there that I do not consider great (or have even heard of, for that matter) as well as books that should be on there but aren't. However, as there are so many good books, that must be forgiven as it would be very difficult to compile all the good books on one list. There are just too many. Also, if you want book suggestions, perusing this list may help. I have read 29 of their top 100, and many of those were reading required in high school or college. Just because a book is required doesn't mean it is drudgery to read, though. I enjoyed many of the books I was "forced" to read.
The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed.
The Rules:
1) Look at the list and put one * by those you have read.
2) Put a % by those you intend to read.
3) Put two ** by the books you LOVE.
4) Put # by the books you HATE.
5) Post.
**1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
*2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
*3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
*5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
**6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights
*8 1984 - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
*10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
%11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
%14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
*16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
*21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
*22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
*25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
*29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
*30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
**33 Chronicles of Narnia- CS Lewis
*34 Emma - Jane Austen
**35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
**36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
*40 Winnie the pooh - AA Milne
*41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
#42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (does on tape count?)
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
**46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
%49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
*54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
%58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
*61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
%65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
*70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville (1/2 way)
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
*73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
*87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
#92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
*98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
*99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
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