Scary how it still is relevant today

Book 15: 1984 by George Orwell
Wow. that. was. strange.

It follows the story of Winston and the way his life is in this "Utopian" society; Big Brother is always watching you. He meets this girl named Julia and things start to change for him, then a man named O'Brian--who works with Winston--pops into the picture and things really begin to change.

I had seen the movie before and I wasn't too impressed, but the way that the movie depicted everything was way different from when I was reading and the world that I saw. There were some twists and turns that help drive the story along, but there are times that you really are dragging through the writing.

It is amazing how relevant some of the stuff in this book is today; it was kind of scary actually. I found myself kind of nodding and thinking "yeah, that actually is kind of happening today" and then I realized that it wasn't as bad (in most parts of the world) but this could possibly happen.

There is a paragraph in the afterward that really stuck with me and sums up the book nicely. It states "George Orwell's 1984 is the expression of a mood, and it is a warning. The mood it expresses is that of near despair about the future of man, and the warning is that unless the course of history changes, men all over the world will lose their most human qualities, will become soulless automatons, and will not even be aware of it." I think that paragraph has some merit, but I'll let you decide on your own.

This book is a bit long and tedious (in some parts) but it has some high points. I wouldn't recommend it if you are looking for a upbeat story, but it does make you think. It is written in the 1950s style of writing, but it wasn't too much of a distraction--at least for me it wasn't.

Book 14 and still counting

Book 14: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
It is a relatively short read but I would recommend it to anyone. It goes by pretty fast and the story that he is telling keeps you enthralled the whole way through. It was written specifically for his kids to remember him. I would have loved to see his full lecture; I was able to see clips of it.

Randy was a professor who found out his cancer had metastasized in his liver and he only had a short time left with his family. I don't want to say more about it because it really is a fun read and you've got to love his charm and charisma; it does come out in the book. I thought it was really powerful and well written.

I think most people would enjoy it.

I despise it . . . .

when websites are down and have been down for a long time and I need to get something really important off of it and no one has a bloody answer for me!!

when I call the "higher authority" in a situation and all they tell me is "it will be available when it is finished" without giving me even a rough estimate.

when I need to get my education placement file sent out to other districts and other people and the site that it is located on isn't working and I don't have any idea where the one and only copy I was allowed to make of the original went.

when I am so frustrated I can't even think straight.

when I'm in a situation that most people would love to be, but I don't want to be in this situation any more and I can't figure out a way to make the decision work.

when I'm ready to yell, scream, and throw an all out fit because of small little things.

when the couple downstairs has their music on so loud and the base on so high that the water in my glass vibrates with each boom.

whenever someone cooks downstairs the smell wanders into our place and it stinks it up. It always smells disgusting and burnt. Always.

when people come and cut my flowers without asking.

when people knock on the door and want to sell me something even though I have a big sign that says "please no soliciting".

when college students knock on the door and ask if the apartment is for rent, when there is no "for rent" sign on the property.

when I am working on a costume project and the needle breaks and I can't find another one.

when the rotary tool only works for 20 minutes then takes 3 hours to charge.

when people come and take herbs from my garden without permission.

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. . . and its only a Tuesday.

Happy Litha!

Happy Midsummer everyone! It was summer solstice last night and it stinks that the US doesn't do a lot of celebration like places in Europe do. Well, at least here there isn't much.

Happy Birthday

A few weeks ago we celebrated Jakob's birthday with a dinner then a fun cake that my mom helped design. I told you on the day, but Happy Birthday hun! We love you.

Bouncing off the ceiling

No, I'm not high, just a bit stressed. I landed the teaching job at the high school today. Yep, I am now officially a high school teacher, at least starting in August I will be.

Now I am ecstatic, but I'm also completely stressed out! Help!











What have I gotten myself into. . . . . . . . . .

Mesa Alive

Yeah, I'm alive. I've just been taking some time for myself and trying to get things back on track. I still haven't found a job for the summer and believe me, I've been trying. I think with so many people without jobs, things are going fast. Plus there are a lot of students that stayed in town because they were afraid of leaving their job and not having one when they came back.

I'm also working on the job situation for fall. I know that I have the job at the elementary school, so at least I've got a backup plan if I can't find a teaching job. I've been to about 5 interview since the end of May and I hope something bites soon so I can start to collect everything that I need to and brush up on the various skills that I need to have. I haven't done anything related to what I would be teaching in a while so I am a bit rusty. We'll see how things go. At least interviews are picking up and districts are finally starting to call.

With some of this downtime I was able to finish another book.


Book 13: The Ring: The Last Knight Templar's Inheritance
This book started out okay, then died about half way through. I also stopped reading it because it started just going downhill really really quickly. I continued to read it and it picked up a bit more near the end. The ending was a bit of a letdown.

I was intrigued by the tag line of the book "An engrossing search for a hidden templar treasure" and was excited that this was going to be a fun adventure. There is a bit of adventure there, but the way it was written is what threw me for a bit of a loop. It is told in first person and at times it seems more like a journal entry than someone trying to tell a story.

It was a fun story but like I said, it began to die at about the half mark. There is an interesting twist near the end and an even bigger twist at the very end.

I don't know if I would recommend this book, but there is a lot of historical facts in there so the author did do his research and the fact that it is set in Barcelona gives it a bit of an exotic flare.

Read it and judge for yourself.