Sophie and I got a girl's day out today. Victoria had a slumber party and Josiah went to Six Flags with his bestest friend in the whole wide world.
I had to track down a movie theatre in the area that was still playing the American Girl Doll movie. Seems it got bumped from a bunch of theatres because of The Dark Knight. I had been promising her all week we would go. Most of the showings were too early. I finally found one in Annapolis that was showing at 4:10pm.
I got everyone else to where they were going and we headed out. I was super excited because there is an Amish market AND a Whole Foods in the same shopping center. I needed more truffles (Yes, I finished off the box I bought Monday night, but in my defense I shared with the kids, my mom, my sister in law, and broke them out on TV Thursday.) and wanted to grab some creme fraiche since no local store sells it.
The movie was good, but a bit of a tear jerker. Not once, not twice, but like 5 times at least. The Great Depression was definitely depressing. The cool thing was almost every group that came in consisted of a mom, some kids, and a great grandma (at least, I'm assuming it was a great grandma, they all looked like my Mom-Mom). There was even an elderly couple by themselves. I couldn't help but think that my Mom-Mom would've enjoyed it, considering she lived through the Great Depression herself.
After the movie we hit up Whole Foods. I bought my truffles and creme fraiche. I also picked up some cute grocery bags that were made from recycled plastic bottles. I love me some reusable bags. I hate plastic grocery bags with a vengence. They always seem to multiply and it's gotten to the point that I feel horribly guilty throwing them away knowing they are just going to sit in a landfill somewhere. The hardest thing is making sure I remember to take my bags into the grocery store when I shop.
On the way home, Sophie was dropping hints about going to dinner at Sakura, a Japanese hibachi restaurant. I was trying to steer her toward a local Korean restaurant, even reminding her that Jon and Kate Plus 8 just made Korean food. She could have some just like they made. She wasn't buying it though.
Steve got home shortly after us, and was like, let's go to Sakura, without Soph ever saying a word. Needless to say, she was thrilled. She was also thrilled to find she is too old for the kid's menu, so she got an adult portion. Nothing like a good dinner and enough leftovers for lunch the next day. Knowing Sophie, she may just break it out for breakfast.
So, anyway, I'm rambling. Soph's in bed, so Steve and I are going to curl up and watch a movie.
Do you ever hit that point where you're too tired to even care if you get caught nodding off at work? Yeah, I'm there.
Here's a list I found of the best things to say if you're caught sleeping at work:
25. "Oh, Man! Come in at 6 in the morning and look what happens!"
24. "This is one of the seven habits of highly effective people!"
23. "This is in exchange for the six hours last night when I dreamed about work!"
22. "You don't discriminate against those with Latient Atrophy Zymosis Yeast syndrome, do you?!"
21. "Gee, I thought you (the boss) were gone for the day."
20. "They told me at the blood bank this might happen."
19. "Oh, hi, I was trying to pick up my contact lens without my hands."
18. "This is just a 15 minute power-nap like they raved about in the last time management course you sent me to."
17. "Whew! Guess I left the top off the liquid paper."
16. "I was just meditating on the mission statement and envisioning a new paradigm!"
15. "This is one of the seven habits of highly effective people!"
14. "I was testing the keyboard for drool resistance."
13. "I'm doing the "Stress Level Elimination Exercise Plan" (SLEEP) I learned at the last mandatory seminar you made me attend."
12. "It worked well for Reagan, didn't it?"
11. "This is a highly specific Yoga position to relieve work-related stress."
10. "Just pacing myself for the all-nighter tonight!"
9. "I was working smarter-not harder."
8. "Auggh! Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out a solution to our biggest problem."
7. "I'm in the management training program."
6. "The coffee machine is broken."
5. "This is one of the seven habits of highly effective people!"
4. "Boy, that cold medicine I took last night just won't wear off!"
3. "Ah, the unique and unpredictable circadian rhythms of the workaholic!"
2. "Its okay. I'm still billing the client."
And the #1 response if found asleep at your desk:
1. "... and I especially want to thank you for my excellent boss. Amen."
"We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that's got to change."
–Al Gore
link: video/text of speech
The other book about zealots I read was on a much lighter topic than religion, violence, polygamy and society: Scrabble.
The book “Word Freak” from Stefan Fatsis chronicles the author’s foray into competitive Scrabble. Initially, Fatsis (a Wall Street Journal reporter) had decided to cover competitive Scrabble from a human interest story – a get to know ‘em piece, but also one with a bit of “hey, look at these crazy obsessed folks” angle – and in the “walk a mile in a man’s shoes” idea, he begins playing competitively. And he gets hooked.
The book covers a couple of years of Fatsis’ obsession as he tries to climb the ladder towards the top ranks. He’s a good writer and his self-observations are pretty funny as he goes from smirking observer to obsessed insider. He interleaves his story with those of some of the more colorful players that he meets and gets to know. These folks are really savants – memorizing tens of thousands of words, and analyzing (and re-analyzing) game-strategy – as much as any chess champion. The ultimate back-handed compliment is “pretty good for a kitchen table player”. It's a really fun, easy read, and I recommend it for anyone that enjoys the game.
This has been especially fun for me since (as many of you know) I’ve been playing a fair amount of online Scrabble these days – the book was lent to me by a friend who routinely wipes the board with me. Fortunately, I’ve got enough other things going on in life that I probably won’t fall into a pit of obsession about just-one-thing (like the players described in the book), but memorizing a few word lists couldn’t hurt, right?
* I know, I know – there’s a DLS in there and if you play all seven letters you get an extra 50 points, but I was going for simple.
I realized that when I was traveling this past weekend that two books that I had read back-to-back possessed a common element: they both* were about groups of people that are outside the mainstream of society and had completely dedicated to the activities within their respective communities. Fanatics. Extremists. Zealots.
In “Under The Banner of Heaven”, Jon Krakauer describes the founding of the Mormon faith, the growth of the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS), and a particular splinter sect, the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints). The book interweaves the historical research with the details of a brutal 1984 double murder in which two brothers (FLDS members) murdered their sister-in-law and her infant daughter because (they claimed) of a revelation from God. Whoa.
Now, San Diego has a large Mormon population and most of what I know of Mormonism (and its fundamentalist off-shoots) comes from HBO’s “Big Love”, which while entertaining is probably not exactly 100% based-in-fact. (Though curiously, I recognized several plots from the show in the accounts of modern FLDS communities and incidents…) I was glad to get a less fictionalized account, though Krakauer was definitely trying to sell books by staying focused on the prevalent violence and prurient aspects of polygamy associated with the FLDS.
I’m sure the book caused a firestorm in the LDS community, but I found the book both educational and at times riveting. I thought it was best though when it forced the reader to consider their preconceptions about faith and society. For example, what distinguishes a “cult” from a “religion”? When does a faith-based code trump civil authority (lots of “Law & Order” episodes there…)? Why do we consider someone that says God talks to them as crazy, when billions of people believe they communicate with God everyday through prayer?
* I’d thought to juxtapose the two in a single post, but the content didn’t seem to mesh well, so I’ll try it with adjacent posts.
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R.G. Ryan tagged me yesterday. Somehow I usually avoid these, but there was no escaping this one!
The rules are posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions and at the end of the post tags 5 suckers, friends and posts their names. You then go to the poor unfortunate soul's blog and let them know you've tagged them, begging for forgiveness and asking them to read your blog. Then you let the person who tagged you know that they are hated, you have posted your answer.
1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
Wow, 10 years ago, 1998, eh? Well, I had a 3 year old and almost 1 year old. I think I was spending most of my days packing for my upcoming move to my first house. I think I around July that year I was a counselor at my church's teen camp. Lots of fun. Oh, and I was in the middle of trying to lose my last bits of "baby weight".
2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?
1. Laundry (this is always on my list, not that I always do it)
2. Vacuum
3. Cook a yummy dinner for "TV Thursday"
4. Clean out stinky rabbit cage
5. Water newly planted flowers so they don't shrivel up and die
3) Snacks I enjoy:
Currently, Stacy's Parmesan Garlic and Herb Pita Chips and Whole Foods Organic Caramel Truffles. I also keep a jar of pepperocini handy. 10 calories a serving and oh so yummy!
4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Wow, um, give a bunch to my "garage" church so we could buy some land and build the perfect building. Buy an antique store to run with Steve, or just spend my days buying antiques with Steve. Buy our dream home, something historical and fix it up. Travel with my entire family. (I would love to take the kids to Europe so they can experience all the history.)
5) Places I have lived:
Ferndale, MD (different houses, same street from birth til 28) and Waldorf, MD
6) Jobs I have had:
Babysitter extrodinaire, cashier at the electronics dept at Montgomery Ward, day care worker (YWCA and a christian school), temporary receptionist at a pyschologist office (that was interesting!), hanging ads on doors, wife and mom
7) Bloggers I am tagging who I will enjoy getting to know better:
jamie, kelly, hannah, steph, and jenny
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