Slaughterhouse-Five

Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, 1969. (205 pgs.)

This is the third book I've read for the LOST Books Challenge. It's one of those books that I've heard people mention for years, but I'd never read it. In fact, I really didn't know anything about it at all until I got it from the library. I knew it had something to do with the firebombing of Dresden during World War II, but knowing that Vonnegut is the author should have clued me in that it would be more Sci-Fi.

It is the story of Billy Pilgrim, who has "come unstuck in time." This is why the book finds its way onto the LOST Books Challenge list. Although it is a story about WWII, it is also largely a story about time travel. And aliens. Yeah...see, Billy was once kidnapped by a spaceship full of aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. Billy learns a lot from the Tralfamadorians, and I'm wondering if the writers of LOST learned a lot from them, too. These aliens can see in four dimensions, and they explain to Billy that: "when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past.... All moments, past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist. The Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments just the way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are, and they can look at any moment that interests them. It is just an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another one...and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever."

So if you're a fan of LOST, think of what this means for the show/story/characters. Many of the characters have obviously "come unstuck in time." This is how some of the characters can be in 1977 while others are in "the present." This also would explain what Farraday said...that nothing you do in the past can change the future. Those things in "the future" have already happened. That also means that no one who has died on the show is truly dead...those characters are still alive somewhere in the past.

I know...it makes my head spin. If you've gotten this far in the post and you're not a watcher of LOST...well, then I applaud you. And I tell you, you've got to start watching the show. Just don't try to jump in now...go back to Season One. :)

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Total number of books read in 2009: 16

Total number of pages read in 2009: 6329

Our "hike"

Early last week, we decided that one day this past weekend, we would go for a hike. The two of us haven't really gotten outside much together lately, so we made a point of reserving a day to get out and do something. Unfortunately, Shawn was kinda sick for a large part of last week, and so when the weekend rolled around, he didn't really want to go out and do something that would just exhaust his still-recovering system.

For his birthday back in November, part of Shawn's gift was a book called "Hiking in Snohomish County" (which is where we live). So for Sunday's day out, Shawn looked through the book to find a hike that looked like it wouldn't be very far away, and that would be pretty easy. He found one that claimed to have no elevation gain, and it would only be about 3 miles. (And yes, for us, 3 miles would be a really short hike.)

We followed the directions in the book, and we found ourselves in a park. Really close to a town. In fact, I'm pretty sure that we could see nearby houses from almost every part of the trail we were on. So we decided that a more accurate term for our activity would be a "walk," not a "hike." We had both worn our hiking boots (expecting something more strenuous), but it turns out that was a good thing, since the park we were walking through had somewhat recently flooded. The trail was nothing but mud, and in places, we had to walk through the huge puddles that were still covering parts of the trail. In fact, part of the trail no longer exists! The park is next to the Skykomish River, and when the river flooded, large chunks of the river bank were washed away...including part of this trail.

Overall, our walk wasn't quite what we were expecting. But hey...we got outside. In fact, we even got to enjoy a little bit of sunshine! And we were able to appreciate the nature of the Pacific Northwest. We both love to see how all the moss grows all over the trees in this area.

Have I mentioned before that I'm married to quite a talented photographer? Shawn has a knack for taking amazing pictures, particularly of flowers and other things in nature. This is my favorite from Sunday. We're planning to look this up, but if you know what plant/bush/flower this is, please feel free to let me know!

Subbing

So...have I mentioned yet that I'm subbing? My long-term sub job started on March 16th. I'm now working every day, and frankly, I'm kinda tired. I'm teaching 5 sections of Freshmen English every day, and all of the classes are pretty big. The good thing about it is that all 5 classes do the same thing, and the teacher who went on maternity leave had all of the lesson plans done long before she left. So most days, I don't really need to do much in the way of planning (although I have tweaked some of the lessons and changed a few things around here and there). However, I am on my feet most of the day, and I tend to do a lot of talking. Today, I actually lost my voice. Should be interesting tomorrow. :)

Generally speaking, the job is going well. There are a few students who manage to drive me nuts just about every day, but that's pretty typical for 9th graders. But have I mentioned before that I'm really not a morning person? Yeah...I have to get up at 5:00am every day. Not so much fun. Now granted, school is done by 2:00, and I can technically leave for the day by 2:30 (although I almost always stay later than that). But when I get home, I'm usually exhausted. And then I have grading I should do.

I'm trying to get back into the swing of things, with working full-time during the days and still finding time to do the things I want to in the evenings (like reading, watching TV, hanging out with Shawn, maybe doing a little crocheting). And ideally, I'll manage to get out at least a few blog posts every week, too. :)

Animal Farm

Animal Farm, by George Orwell, 1946 (114 pages)

I actually first read this book in high school. I remember choosing it as one of my "outside reading" assignments, and although I thought it was a decent book, I didn't realize until years later that it was actually an allegory!

I first taught this book during my student teaching assignment while in college. That's probably where I first learned the history of the book, and when I learned that the entire book is really telling the story of the Russian Revolution. Over the years, I think I've taught this book 6 or 7 times, to probably 3-5 classes at a time. Needless to say, I've read it a LOT. So when I got this long-term sub job, it was actually rather nice to see that one of the units I would be teaching was the Animal Farm unit. Frankly, I probably could've taught the unit just fine without reading the book again, but I wanted it to be fresh, so I read it one more time.

I really enjoy teaching this book, largely because I enjoy teaching the history behind it. I told Shawn the other day that maybe I missed my true calling...maybe I should've been a history teacher. :) If you've never read the book before, I strongly recommend that you try it. Just take the time to learn the political history of Russia, starting with Csar Nicholas II, through the Russian Revolution, and ending up with Stalin. Otherwise, you may get through the entire book and think that it's simply a bizarre little story about a bunch of pigs and some other farm animals. :)

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Total number of books read in 2009: 15

Total number of pages read in 2009: 6124

Rugby Photos

This past weekend, I actually remembered to bring the camera to Shawn's rugby match. I did take a few photos, and I also actually used the video function on the camera. Unfortunately, it's fairly difficult to get good shots when the game is going on, and it's especially difficult to manage to get a picture of Shawn actually playing. But I figured I'd post a few.

This is a picture of a scrum. Shawn's team is the one on the right...in the white and green jerseys. Shawn is actually in this scrum, but you can't see him in the photo. He's on the other side, in the front row.

This is a lineout. It's how the ball is put back into play after it goes out of bounds. Shawn is in this picture. I'm not sure if you'll be able to see him, but his back is to the camera. He's wearing number 3, and he's helping to lift the guy in the white jersey.

And finally, this is just a shot of regular play. One of Shawn's teammates has the ball.

As I mentioned before, I did attempt to use the video function to record a little bit of the game, but it's hard to really get a good view of what's going on, especially when they're on the other side of the pitch. But here's the best video that I was able to come up with from last Saturday.

Catching Up

Sorry I've been MIA. Our good friends, Jarid and Sarah, came to visit us. They got here last Tuesday night, and they just left yesterday. Since they were on vacation, Shawn and I were kinda on vacation! Except that Shawn and I went to work during the day. :(

Shawn and I rented a car so that Jarid and Sarah wouldn't be stuck at our apartment during the day, and then the four of us hung out in the evenings. There was a lot more going out to eat than usual, but Jarid also cooked for us a few times. I felt a little bad letting him cook (and I didn't cook at all while they were here!), but it's something that he really enjoys doing.

On Saturday, Jarid, Sarah, and I went downtown while Shawn went to the rugby pitch to get ready for his game. The 3 of us stopped by Safeco Field so that I could buy my birthday present! Yes, my birthday was in October. :) But for my birthday, Shawn promised that we'd get a pair of tickets to all 3 games when the Indians are in town to play the Mariners in July. The tickets just went on sale about 10 days ago, and by purchasing them at the stadium, I saved about $27 in Ticketmaster fees! Then the 3 of us went down to the Market for lunch. We decided to stop at the Athenian Inn. It's right in the Market, and it has a gigantic menu. At least one scene from "Sleepless in Seattle" was also filmed here. We sat on the second floor and had great views of Elliott Bay. Unfortunately, the food was pretty bad. As an example, my "BBQ Beef" sandwich was a few slices of packaged roast beef covered in a little BBQ sauce and slapped on a sandwich bun. Blech. But then we went and watched Shawn play rugby and the rest of the day was good. :)

Sunday, we were supposed to go sea kayaking. Unfortunately, the guide called us early that morning to let us know that the weather wasn't going to cooperate. They were expecting lots of wind and a "small craft advisory" in the San Juan Islands. Not exactly ideal for amateurs to go kayaking. So instead we went downtown for lunch, and then we took the Seattle "Underground Tour." I had done it a few years ago, but none of the rest of them had. If you ever find yourself in Seattle, I highly recommend this tour. It's only 90 minutes, but it's pretty interesting, and it's actually pretty funny, too.

We took Jarid and Sarah to the airport last night. It was great to have them here, but I'm kinda looking forward to getting back into our normal working/eating/sleeping habits. And I'll try to get back into blogging more often. :)

Dolli and Ken

I think it's been awhile since I've talked about my knottie/nestie friends on this blog. So as a reminder...there are a number of women who I consider to be good friends of mine, and yet I've only actually met a handful of them. I "met" all of them originally through theknot.com, where we would chat via message boards as we were planning our weddings in 2007. In fact, all of these ladies were married in the same month as Shawn and I...December of 2007.

If you have been reading this blog for awhile, you may remember my friend Jill. She was one of my nestie friends, and she lost her fight with cancer in September.

Another one of my nestie friends is Dolli. She's seriously one of the sweetest people I've ever met...even though I've technically never "met" her. She married Ken the week after Shawn and I married. Although Dolli never really made a big deal out of it, we all knew that Ken had been diagnosed with colon cancer sometime before their wedding...I believe it was before they were engaged.

Sadly, we learned that Ken lost his battle with cancer on Monday morning. I believe he was in his early 30's. My heart is just breaking for Dolli; I can't imagine what she must be going through right now. The funeral is being held on Friday, so please keep Dolli and their friends and family in your prayers.

Yeah...cancer sucks.