If you are ever at Target in search of ice cube trays, let me help you out: they're over on the other side of the store by the food storage things, NOT by the rest of the kitchen stuff.
Semi related: if you are ever in need of a jar opener for all your jar opening needs, what you are looking for is a CANNING jar opener.
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I give a monthly donation to Greenpeace, just a small amount that I set up as an automated payment through their web site. I like that it is a monthly smaller donation rather than a LARGE feeling-guilty donation because that's easier for my budget to handle. Anyhow, so now I'm on Greenpeace's email list. I'd like to be able to unsubscribe because them emailing me about whatever iceberg-melting, rainforest-burning, whale-killing horror is happening right now only stresses me out and I'm still going to give them the exact same amount of money as I do every other month. But apparently to unsubscribe, first I have to go to the web site and 'manage my account' which means that first I have to 'create an account' so I ended up just flagging the emails as spam. Sorry Greenpeace, I still support you both in values and financially but I can only handle so much unrequested communication.
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KC, while replacing one of my annoyingly tricky and hard to find lightbulbs, "Who was it that said 'let there be light'?"
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Last week I received an email alert from my school about a job opportunity. Sometimes hospitals, clinics, or recruiters send these out to the school so that the school can forward them to the appropriate group of students. I emailed the contact person and he called me back within the hour. The job sounded really great and they sounded interested in me, even after I explained that because the quarter ends in September I won't have my NP license until October at the earliest. He told me to email my resume and an explanation of my timeline and that he would call me the next day to set up an interview next week (which is now this week). So I emailed my resume and a cover letter that explained my timeline and I included some information from the BRN about the application process for getting my prescribing (furnishing) license to illustrate that aspect of my timeline. I tried not to get my hopes up, but I started daydreaming about what it might be like to work in that clinic and how cool it would be to move into a bigger apartment near the site and what should I wear to the interview?
And then... nothing. I didn't hear anything the next day, which was Friday. I waited until yesterday (Tuesday) and I called. Weirdly, I got one of those automated voicemails "The party you are trying to reach is unavailable, please leave a message," so apparently the guy had called me from his cell phone?
Also, the email address was the guy's personal email, not a company email.
Also, the clinic doesn't have a web site.
I'm starting to wonder if this was a real job at all.
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I slept in Jenny's bed on Friday night. And now I know EXACTLY how KC feels about his guitar. My bed sucks.
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My parents got me a Kindle for my birthday. It was a very nicely coordinated gift-- they got me the Kindle and my sisters got me a Kindle cover and some Amazon gift cards. I LOVE IT. I can't believe how pleasant it has made taking public trans. It's like boarding muni with a STACK of books and I just zone out with my stories and let myself get taken to a dream world of magic.
I'm a little disappointed they don't have the Babysitters Club books for Kindle because that's pretty much my fave guilty pleasure reading and then I could read them in public (instead of just at my parents' house, where my mom politely pretends she doesn't notice) because NO ONE WOULD HAVE TO KNOW. Get on that, Amazon.
Showing posts with label the Chronic-what-cles of Narnia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the Chronic-what-cles of Narnia. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Saturday, December 4, 2010
50. read all the Chronicles of Narnia books
So. My commute to clinical is about an hour each way and it turns out there in fact IS a limit to just how much Cher a person can listen to. I have therefore turned to audiobooks to keep myself from going slowly insane during my drive (aren't we glad I don't live in LA anymore? Yes, we are). I decided that this would be a good way to work on number 50 on my life list. I had already read Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Magician's Nephew, and The Last Battle and I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe back in July.
Anyhow, these books are actually great to listen to on audiobook. There is a different reader for each book and they all do a great job-- they even do different voices for all the characters. And C. S. Lewis spends a fair amount of time describing food and I very much enjoy listening to descriptions of food.
The Silver Chair
This was actually the second book I listened to and, wow. It was good. Eustace (cousin of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy) is back in Narnia and has brought a classmate named Jill. They must follow the signs Aslan gives them to find King Caspian's son Rilian who has been missing for years. I found it to be an interesting and entertaining story despite the fact that it was basically a collection of my own worst fears rolled into one neat package: heights, cliffs and falling from them, being trapped, being chased, being buried alive, giants, cannibalism, being tied up, being hypnotized and unable to move, snakes, and DID I MENTION GIANTS?
The Horse and His Boy
This was the first book I listened to. A very fun adventure story of the runaway orphan boy Shasta and the horse Bree-- short for Breehy-hinny-brinny-hoohy-hah (Yeah. And we thought Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii was a crap name)-- that took place during the reign of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. The pair meet up with another child running away and her talking horse as they all try to escape Calormen and get to Narnia. I did get fairly eye-rolly during the descriptions of them dark-skinned barbarian Calormenes with their beards and turbans and pointy shoes and their false god, Tash. C. S. Lewis, I'm not sure I'm following your metaphor, could you be a little more clear?
The Magician's Nephew
I had already read this book but I listened to the audiobook just for fun. Here we see the creation of Narnia and meet Jadis in her own 'hood and see what kinds of misadventures ensue. This was actually my favorite book to listen to. It is read by Kenneth Branagh who is definitely the best reader (though, like I said, they are all quite good). I actually found myself laughing out loud during some of the parts-- there are a couple sequences wherein many different animals are having a discussion and Branagh manages to give each one his or her own voice AND keep them straight so that the same voice is consistently used for that particular animal. Well done, sir.
I actually also listened to Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader because I was enjoying listening to the books so much. I did get a tad bit tired of Aslan and his infinite wisdom making people feel bad for their choices and implying that they should have done something else but refusing to discuss what might have happened if they had. Also, I kind of wanted to kick Reepicheep over the side of the boat about halfway through Dawn Treader. I'm not sure if I'll round it out and listen to The Last Battle as well. I seem to recall that book stressing me out a bit when I read it, possibly because it's a giant metaphor for y'know, the end of the world and all.
Anyhow, these books are actually great to listen to on audiobook. There is a different reader for each book and they all do a great job-- they even do different voices for all the characters. And C. S. Lewis spends a fair amount of time describing food and I very much enjoy listening to descriptions of food.
The Silver Chair
This was actually the second book I listened to and, wow. It was good. Eustace (cousin of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy) is back in Narnia and has brought a classmate named Jill. They must follow the signs Aslan gives them to find King Caspian's son Rilian who has been missing for years. I found it to be an interesting and entertaining story despite the fact that it was basically a collection of my own worst fears rolled into one neat package: heights, cliffs and falling from them, being trapped, being chased, being buried alive, giants, cannibalism, being tied up, being hypnotized and unable to move, snakes, and DID I MENTION GIANTS?
The Horse and His Boy
This was the first book I listened to. A very fun adventure story of the runaway orphan boy Shasta and the horse Bree-- short for Breehy-hinny-brinny-hoohy-hah (Yeah. And we thought Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii was a crap name)-- that took place during the reign of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. The pair meet up with another child running away and her talking horse as they all try to escape Calormen and get to Narnia. I did get fairly eye-rolly during the descriptions of them dark-skinned barbarian Calormenes with their beards and turbans and pointy shoes and their false god, Tash. C. S. Lewis, I'm not sure I'm following your metaphor, could you be a little more clear?
The Magician's Nephew
I had already read this book but I listened to the audiobook just for fun. Here we see the creation of Narnia and meet Jadis in her own 'hood and see what kinds of misadventures ensue. This was actually my favorite book to listen to. It is read by Kenneth Branagh who is definitely the best reader (though, like I said, they are all quite good). I actually found myself laughing out loud during some of the parts-- there are a couple sequences wherein many different animals are having a discussion and Branagh manages to give each one his or her own voice AND keep them straight so that the same voice is consistently used for that particular animal. Well done, sir.
I actually also listened to Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader because I was enjoying listening to the books so much. I did get a tad bit tired of Aslan and his infinite wisdom making people feel bad for their choices and implying that they should have done something else but refusing to discuss what might have happened if they had. Also, I kind of wanted to kick Reepicheep over the side of the boat about halfway through Dawn Treader. I'm not sure if I'll round it out and listen to The Last Battle as well. I seem to recall that book stressing me out a bit when I read it, possibly because it's a giant metaphor for y'know, the end of the world and all.
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Thanks to online library requests, I accidentally checked out the GIANT "read aloud" version.
Bigger than my head, people.
There's this passive-aggressive note in the book about how even though The Magician's Nephew was written later, it's SUPPOSED to be first so that's how HarperCollins is publishing them. Which, did somebody do a fact-check on that? Because, while *I* certianly don't care what order the individual consumer decides to read to books, I think that my respect for C.S. Lewis might drop down a few rungs if he really MEANT the Magician's Nephew to be read first.
One of the reasons I enjoyed reading the Magician's Nephew so much was that I already KNEW the story of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe so it was neat to be like "Oh THAT's the explanation for such and such" or "Oh THAT's where this came from." It was FUN. If you are supposed to read the explanations FIRST, the information isn't surprising and intriguing, it's just information. Like how the new Star Wars movies came out and everybody was all excited at first but if you watch the prequel trilogy first, you miss out on the DRAMA that occurs when (spoiler alert!) Luke finds out Vader is his father. You're supposed to read Graceling and THEN read Fire because then you're all spooked and fascinated. Prequels are neat because we already KNOW what happens later. That's the POINT.
Uh. Anyhow.
That aside, this book was enjoyable. It was quick and fun and lovey I thought I hadn't read it before but now I think maybe I have because I totally remembered the part where Edmund draws spectacles on a stone lion, did that happen in any of the movie representations, is that why I remember it? And I know the witch is horrible and such but I kind of like the name Jadis now, is that crazy?
Also, there is one part where the children are asking the Beaver friends about the White Witch and why she's so bent out of shape about humans because isn't she a human herself? Mr. Beaver explains that she is not a human because she is the daughter of "Adam's first wife, Lilith" and then he just CONTINUES ON WITH HIS STORY and none of children stop him to go "Adam's first wife? Exsqueeze me?" and the plot carries on and adventures ensue and everyone fawns over Aslan and the kids chase him as he frolics through the meadow and they fight exciting battles and there is even a unicorn (!!!) and (spoiler alert!) the kids make it back out of the Wardrobe and whew! But I'm still stuck on Adam's first wife? Exsqueeze me?
There's this passive-aggressive note in the book about how even though The Magician's Nephew was written later, it's SUPPOSED to be first so that's how HarperCollins is publishing them. Which, did somebody do a fact-check on that? Because, while *I* certianly don't care what order the individual consumer decides to read to books, I think that my respect for C.S. Lewis might drop down a few rungs if he really MEANT the Magician's Nephew to be read first.
One of the reasons I enjoyed reading the Magician's Nephew so much was that I already KNEW the story of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe so it was neat to be like "Oh THAT's the explanation for such and such" or "Oh THAT's where this came from." It was FUN. If you are supposed to read the explanations FIRST, the information isn't surprising and intriguing, it's just information. Like how the new Star Wars movies came out and everybody was all excited at first but if you watch the prequel trilogy first, you miss out on the DRAMA that occurs when (spoiler alert!) Luke finds out Vader is his father. You're supposed to read Graceling and THEN read Fire because then you're all spooked and fascinated. Prequels are neat because we already KNOW what happens later. That's the POINT.
Uh. Anyhow.
That aside, this book was enjoyable. It was quick and fun and lovey I thought I hadn't read it before but now I think maybe I have because I totally remembered the part where Edmund draws spectacles on a stone lion, did that happen in any of the movie representations, is that why I remember it? And I know the witch is horrible and such but I kind of like the name Jadis now, is that crazy?
Also, there is one part where the children are asking the Beaver friends about the White Witch and why she's so bent out of shape about humans because isn't she a human herself? Mr. Beaver explains that she is not a human because she is the daughter of "Adam's first wife, Lilith" and then he just CONTINUES ON WITH HIS STORY and none of children stop him to go "Adam's first wife? Exsqueeze me?" and the plot carries on and adventures ensue and everyone fawns over Aslan and the kids chase him as he frolics through the meadow and they fight exciting battles and there is even a unicorn (!!!) and (spoiler alert!) the kids make it back out of the Wardrobe and whew! But I'm still stuck on Adam's first wife? Exsqueeze me?
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