Under the Skin

"All knowledge hurts." Another book done, and it finished out a series, so here we are. First though, I will respond to something on the internet that is rampant.  Because my little sister accused me of going to the dark side for reading The Mortal Instruments this morning because of it.  That The Mortal Instruments is 1) plagiarized and 2) the same as Harry Potter. First the facts: This is an internet scandal that started because the author was a popular fanfiction writer of something called the Draco Trilogy.  I've never read it, so this is all what I learned from internet articles on the issue.  In was in some sort of an alternate universe where Draco was kind of a redeemed character and went on adventures with Harry, Ron and Hermione.  The author, Cassandra Clare, took passages from that, and even some situations from that, and put them in The Mortal Instruments.  But they were not Harry Potter specific things at all--they were bits of dialogue...

“What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable?” “If people could see me the way I see myself - if they could live in my memories - would anyone love me?” And with this book review, not including series which I cannot at this time review (as I haven't reached their current terminations), I am officially caught up in book reviews, and we will lay off the one-a-day diet.  Applause for Hannah! Colin Singleton is a child prodigy. Or was.  As he is quick to remind people, child prodigy is not the same thing as genius, and many child prodigies grow up to become nothing.  So here Colin is, at the end of his childhood, trying to figure out how to make his transition into meaning something to the adult world.  He also has a type.  He has dated (and been dumped by) nineteen girls, all of them named Katherine.  Even all spelled that way.  So, Colin hopes to use his knowledge of Katherines to make The Theorem o...

“He is my brother. She is my sister. Come what will, they are my kin.” “I was born to be your rival,' she [Anne] said simply. 'And you mine. We're sisters, aren't we?” "We might, either of us, be Queen of England and yet we'll always be nothing to our family.”  (I couldn't choose one quote, so you got three!) Can you believe that after this review and one more, I am caught up?  It's true. This is one of those books that you spend forever thinking, "Oh, I should read that.  I aught to read that.  I really should read that," but then you don't. But, now I did.  And I don't regret it at all. Mary Boleyn spends her life doing precisely what she is told to do.  And what she is told to do is to have the ambition of a Boleyn, or at least pretend.  As a fourteen year old girl, she begins to fall in love with her role as mistress to the dazzling Henry VIII.  But disenchantment soon sets in as she realizes that she is a powerl...

"With a deep intake of breath, I squeezed my eyes completely shut once more.  Damian, I love you . No matter what happens, I hope you always remember that.  And then I burst off the ground, lunging for the sword lying on the lap of the guard closest me." I have a theory.  Right now, I'm reading a fairly long book, and so, if I review a book a day in the meantime, I may actually catch up with my book reviews!  Remember when I reviewed the book Defy about a year ago.  So, it was a book that was written by the daughter of my coworker.  Here you can read that review . Well, the second one is out, and it is called Ignite.   So, I read it as well.  In this one, Alexa, now known to the whole kingdom as a woman, but still one of the king's guards is faced with a-whole-nother set of problems as two new ambassadors come to the kingdom.  When the king's half-brother, Jax, is kidnapped, it is up to Alexa to figure out what is going on, before the...

No one can build his security upon the nobleness of another person. I am never caught up.  Never.  Oh well.  I had never read anything by Willa Cather.  Nope, not even My Atonia  or O Pioneers!.  So, I decided to read one.  And yes, for some reason, I started with a very obscure one.  And I loved it.  Perhaps partly because I read it right after the horrific piece of travesty, The Very Thought of You. It probably helped that the theme was kind of directly opposite.  But, I do think it was a good book. Alexander is a genius civil engineer who designs bridges.  He is currently working on his largest bridge project.  At the same time, he is trying to cut ties with an affair that he has started with a British actress, even though he is perfectly happy with his wife. As Alexander tries to bridge his two lives, he is told that the bridge he is building is too big.  Perhaps both bridges are just too big.  I think t...

“I want to thank you for the profound joy I've had in the in the thought of you.”   Book review time! I have this strange habit of sometimes just taking random books that I've never heard of off the shelf of the library and reading them.  I have had a lot of luck with this, but also had some very bad luck with this.  Here would be an argument against that habit:  The Very Thought of You. When I read the description, I thought, "Why is this in the general fiction section? There's a romance section, you know."  I read the book, and I think I learned why.  1) It's terribly written.  2) It's smut.  3) It contributes nothing to society as a whole. Anna Sands is sent out of London during the WWII evacuation (there seems to be an entire genre dedicated to evacuee children--and I don't say that in a necessarily bad way.  Chronicles of Narnia, for example, is one of my favorite series of all time). She is sent to live with Thomas and Eliza...

I worked in Young Women's.  I run a camp for girls with bleeding disorders.  And I'm just kind of a feminist. So, I read a lot of stuff on "making strong women."  It's important.  It's especially important with our camp--girls that have to live their lives standing up for themselves as women, but then also as women with a disease that is associated with males.  And here's one thing that I've come to be bothered by, and I'm developing more and more thoughts about:  being a strong woman doesn't mean you have to be masculine. Women are gentler than men.  They just are.  Women like to nurture people, and they don't like to hurt other people.  It's in our nature!  And that's not a bad thing.  Our biological purpose is to nurture.  I'm not even going to go into eternal purpose, but we could go there, too.  And that isn't weakness. But, a lot of feminist internet sensations are teaching that in order to be a strong woman, you...

One day, I was sitting in church, and a young girl--seven years old--further down the pew was coloring.  I must confess that on my weeks on, though I still attend church, with it being in the middle of the day, after working all night, I'm not exactly "all there" mentally.  So, my mind wandered, as I blankly stared at this girl's coloring book. I watched as a cartoon girl's hair took on a hue--specifically blue. Probably cerulean if my crayola recognition is on--I developed a very sensitive eye to blue and purple in college where, in MLS training, "sky blue histiocytes" and "pink-dawned promyelocytes" are all actually the same color. I made an observation though.  Why, when this seven-year-old girl looks at the crayon selection, is blue an acceptable color for hair? When I colored all the pictures for these picture books for my nieces and nephews (which are still not done), I sat there trying to find more hair color options, because I would h...

I am not Irish.  I am probably one of the few mutt-Americans who has no Irish ancestry to claim.  I am Scottish.  And Welsh.  And English.  But not Irish.  However, I would not be a self-respecting Irish dancer if I did not do my part to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. I am all showed-out, and the nursing home circuit is done, by the way. I read an article today that said,"When you learn that everything you thought of St. Patrick's Day is a lie, the holiday kind of sucks." I disagree. First, I disagree because all of their things were things I already knew.  Yes, it's true that corned beef and cabbage is not actually Irish.  It is Irish-American.  It is true that the Shamrock is not the symbol of Ireland, the harp is.  But shamrocks were used by St. Patrick to illustrate the trinity, so it's still an appropriate symbol. Yes, St. Patrick's color is blue.  But the color of Irish Nationalists, and Irish Catholics, is green.  And ...

I have decided today to write a bit about hospitals in TV vs. Reality.  I will share the TV scenario and then how it would actually go down in a hospital.  Remember, I am a lab scientist, so you'll be able to tell that.  Did you know that healthcare workers voted and named the most realistic medical drama as "Scrubs?"  Second place was "St. Elsewhere."  Last place? "Grey's Anatomy." Start of Shift TV:  "Okay, listen up people. [everyone gathers round] There have been nine disasters, but we're going to be okay.You are all trained, and people are counting on us.  [Proceed with ridiculous pep talk]." Reality:   "Okay, let's have shift huddle. Any safety concerns? [waits for responses] Okay, so [patient] has a cold aggluttinin.  The floor knows, and they're supposed to be sending CBCs on hot-packs, but look out.  We're out of methanol, but we called LDS to borrow some and there's some coming with the next c...

Because I work in Primary, and little kids take longer to absorb some things than normal people, we have started to talk to the Primary kids about General Conference.  Especially since the theme this month for Primary is "God gave us prophets," it has worked well.  Even though it did yield last week's "Cutest Moment Award."  When one of the counselors asked the kids, "In a few weeks, we get to have General Conference, and we get to listen to someone very special.  Do you know who we get to listen to?"  One of the Sunbeams (3 or 4 year olds, for those not aware) promptly chimed in, "Me!"  However, with this General Conference in mind, I have a scripture analogy for all y'alls.  People always mention the gathering of the people of King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon as the first General Conference, and when the people gathered, they didn't all fit.  So, they all pitched their tents around the city.  And in Mosiah 2:6, it tells us, ...

“I wanted to wear the mantle and the pearls. I wanted to know the man who painted her like that.”  I am far behind on my book reviewing.  And a lot of things.  But, I am trying not to be so negative on myself all the time.  I just don't want to think that I am wasting my life, you know.  So, when I get to the end of the day and I didn't do everything I planned on because I spent too much time sitting around aimlessly, I get a bit down on myself. However, here's a book review, to maybe catch myself up. This is one of those books that I'd always kind of thought in the back of my mind I should read, but wasn't really the very top priority.  But I've always heard good things about it, so I figured I would give it a whirl. Griet is a middle-class girl in Renaissance Holland, her father is a tradesman--a tile painter.  However, when he is blinded in a kiln accident, her family has to find some different ways of making money, and Griet is sent t...

Today's post will be a little bit more serious than usual.  Some parts of this topic  may not be completely suitable to very young children. With that scary disclaimer (and I'm not going to go R-rated on you all, don't worry), I'm going to talk about something that I am passionate about.  But whenever I get passionate about it, a lot of people I know roll their eyes, because they feel attacked.  I don't want to be aggressive, but sometimes you have to say things that people don't like.  And this is one of those topics. The other day, I was at work in the breakroom. Two other people were in the breakroom as well.  One of them said, "Did you read this article about what this woman did to her husband for cheating?"  I actually had read that news article.  Let's just summarize quickly (and this is the part that is not completely suitable for children):  She put a combination of habanero oil and cayenne pepper in his condoms.  It resulted...

Why do people never actually keep their New Year's Resolutions?  I think it's because a lot of people forget about them.  So, I have decided to not forget about them, by re-checking in on them.  It is the third month, so we're doing it today (to be done again in June, September and December). Health Goals Eat at least one meal every day: We're doing better on this one, but sometimes the meals are kind of lame excuses for meals.  I have done a generally good job.  I don't think I ate on Monday though.  And one day I had mashed potatoes.  Carry around a water bottle: I go back and forth on this.  I need to be more consistent. Writing Goals Finish first draft of novel "War to End All Wars": I have made progress on this, but I am not done.  But it's March.  I don't have to be done. Finish first draft of novel "Passing the Setting Sun": Completed! Complete NaNoWriMo in November : it's not November yet. Reading Goals Read...