Since the last time I wrote, I've been to derby twice, and I have to say -- there are a lot of reasons why I shouldn't be doing this. Granted, I really enjoy it and it's great exercise and I get to see my sister, but it's become somewhat overwhelming. There are a lot of politics now, it's mandatory that we are part of one of the committees, it's mandatory that we attend 66% of the practices and now they've moved that up to three times per week, so I have to attend at least two per week to remain league-worthy. I really don't get to talk to my sister much while I'm there, and she's the main reason I wanted to do this. Add to that the fact we have to pay $40 for "derby insurance" which is nothing more than "you're paying so that you can't sue us if something happens to you". There is a $7500 deductible that has to be met before it even kicks in! It's $20/month which is reasonable for the amount of skate time and conditioning, etc... but it's $240/year that I don't really have when I think it through. I just canceled satellite radio so that I could get a water softener for the house! And, last but not least, I've been trying all this time to get pregnant and I never know if I am or not, so I don't especially want to take a pregnancy test before every full-contact practice. So, I discussed with my sister and she said she wouldn't mind me not being in it as long as we still got some quality time together -- which I'm on board with, since that's all I really wanted in the first place. We had an enjoyable evening yesterday shopping around and talking. I love her to death, she is 150% more awesome than I will ever be!
I finished "Plain and Fancy" on audiobook. Let me say a few things about this book. First, I think it is titled that because they are the only two adjectives that the author, Wanda Brunstetter, has ever heard. Use a thesaurus, woman. I almost want to listen to it again to count how many times she uses the words 'plain' or 'fancy'. The narration was a joke. Anyone Amish sounded like a Canadian Forrest Gump, and any female had a witchy, high-pitched, coming-at-you-with-a-pick-axe tone to her voice. The basic storyline is: young English girl meets young Amish boy at Farmer's Market, falls "in love", asks him to become English, he won't so she becomes Amish, she joins the church even though she doesn't really believe, they get married, have a Down's Syndrome baby, she runs away, comes back, they live happily ever after. There, I saved you the horror of reading it for yourself. All of the actual action of the book happens in the last 1/6th of the book (since it was all on disc 6 of 6). Add to that the fact that the main character is the most vain and selfish character I have ever encountered in any work of fiction. All she cares about is keeping her 'figure' and it's hard to work all the time. Pathetic. All of the characters were completely one-dimensional and I almost, ALMOST stopped listening near the end of the last disc even though I was almost done, because the main character popped out a baby and found out it was a Down's baby and wanted to put it in a "home" immediately and not take care of it. If Brunstetter patterned her characters after anyone she knew in real life, I pity them and hope never to meet them. How's that for a book report, teacher?
I'm at the library now so that I can get a couple more books. I'm also reading "Never Say Diet" by Chantel something or other (who names their kid Chantel?) Oh, and I finished "Old Yeller" much to my chagrin. That story kept going on about how the young boy was getting closer and closer to the dog and then all of a sudden had to make the decision to kill it in like, two seconds because it had been bitten by something else with rabies and it was going to get rabies, too. That was the assumption. The only thing I got out of that book was a stark reality of what it would be like if someone I cared about were being nommed on by a zombie and I had to make the decision to kill them right away before they became a zombie, too. Yeah, that's where my mind went when I read "Old Yeller".
I did see a very good book at Barnes & Noble that I would highly recommend. In the spirit of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", there was a kid's book called "Dick and Jane and Vampires". When I am pregnant, someone must immediately buy me this book for my child. In fact, I suggest you buy it now so as to ensure that it will be around in a decade when I finally do get pregnant.
Our daughter turned 13 on Monday. She is saving up all of her money to go on the Eighth Grade Washington D.C. trip over spring break. She loves to watch the West Wing reruns with us, and has decided she wants to go to Michigan Law School. Ahhhhh, happiness! A little Wolverine of my own!
We're actually venturing up to Ann Arbor for our anniversary and taking the kids this year for a day trip so they can see the campus and we can pig out at Blimpy Burger. So far, Aria's excited and the boys don't really seem to care. But... anyone who's in Ann Arbor and wants to see me on Sunday, give me a call!
Hope life is good for everyone. I just got a chuckle because the old lady next to me is loading up and logging into Runescape! Hehe.
SJS
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