Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Fiction
Young Adult Fiction
Non-Fiction
Friday, December 18, 2009
Marrakesh? Marrakech?
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
In This World of Purchase...
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Kenna
Embedding is disabled, so: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsRB-N_WCOo
Kenna was nominated for a Grammy this year for his song "Say Goodbye to Love," which honestly...is alright, but not okay. The sound is (to me) a little too synthesized, and makes me think of the music in the Chip's Challenge game. Also, I'm disappointed because he seems to have gone a bit more mainstream, when his original idea was to be different from everyone else. They couldn't even categorize him. This song makes me feel like now they can.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Roles
"Western colonialism also appears to have been generally detrimental to women's status, perhaps because Westerners were accustomed to dealing with men. There are plenty of examples of Europeans restructuring landownership around men and teaching men modern farming techniques, even in places where women were usually the farmers. In addition, men more often than women could earn cash through wage labor or through sales of goods (such as furs) to Europeans. Although the relative status of men and women may not have been equal before the Europeans arrived, colonial influences seem generally to have undermined the position of women."
There are a lot of things this makes me think of, one being that the European mindset seemed to have been that women are not "worth" as much as men, even in cultures where they clearly had already established some form of status. It seems like a step backward.
Coincidentally, I was also reading this morning in Blink by Malcolm Gladwell about how people, whether they like it or not, tend to judge people upon first glance based on race and gender, generally putting white men above all others. This is even true in people who have made a conscious decision not to. The reason for this is because these sorts of judgments are made subconsciously. Harvard has a test called the IAT that puts your tendency to do one thing or another on a scale. It's pretty interesting. If you want to try one or a few tests, go to www.implicit.harvard.edu and select the demonstration. I think you should try as many as you are even vaguely interested in-- it could be very educational.
I digress. Both the things I read today implied that the culture we are exposed to determine about how we feel about the roles of gender (or minorities). It is possible to counteract these stereotypes, consciously and subconsciously (though subconsciously is more difficult) by exposing ourselves to and interacting with those types of people more often.
Food for thought.
P.S. If you want to know results I got on the tests, email me privately. Tell me yours privately too. I don't want people to be too judgmental one way or the other.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Changes
Monday, November 16, 2009
Bonneville Seabase
When we arrived, there were several snorkelers already on the premises kicking up silt and screaming and being generally irritating. They left around lunch time, however, and a beginning SCUBA course arrived, who were also loud, but not quite as irritating. Adrien and I were there until closing. What I loved most about this place was that since they don't get tons of customers, especially in the winter, the customer service was excellent. From the time we arrived we were barraged by equipment help, dive trip information, jokes, recommendations on everything, inquiries as to our well-being, assistance in weighting, and orders to holler no matter where we were on the base if we needed anything at all. It sort of felt like they were our personal team of dive helpers.
On the base, there are three "bays" to dive (or snorkel) in: White Rocks Bay, Habitat Bay, and the Abyss. White Rocks Bay is where we did three of our five dives. White Rocks was a covered pool with tons of fish and fabled nurse sharks (which we spent two dives searching for but never found, sadly). We bought lettuce for $2 and fed the fish with it. It was fun to hear them munching and feel the strong pull of fish beaks on soggy lettuce (fun to watch too, but visibility was so bad that most of the time they caught me by surprise). In Habitat Bay (called so because of a sort of diving bell "habitat" area under the water somewhere...we couldn't find it) there was a boat "wreck" for divers to investigate on clearer days. We did poke around there for a bit, but since it was unsheltered, it was considerably colder and we didn't stay long. The Abyss is about 65 feet deep and the deepest spot on the base. We originally intended to only descend to about 40 feet, but after local light failure and my neglecting to take my flashlight into the Abyss, we ended up going to 50 feet, which was all well and good except that it took a little longer to ascend and we ran out of air faster than we'd planned for so we couldn't do a sixth dive to look for the sharks (again). I plan on returning in warmer weather for a better look for the sharks and the boat.
This picture is funny for 3 reasons: our faces, since the guy gave us no warning as to when he was taking the picture; the fact that we can't put our arms against our body; and that it documents the aftermath of putting on the wetsuits-- we considered making a video of us trying to get them on because it was quite a hilarious endeavor and people had to ask through the dressing room door if we were okay.
Friday, November 13, 2009
How to Look Creepy
You can customize your hair/head style, decorations, skin and hair color, background, and even soundtrack! What fun!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Update (Boring)
For instance, my "50 books by the end of the year" (which started at 100 if you recall) is going very slowly. I noticed in reviewing my list that nearly two-thirds of the books I've read were within the first four or five months of the year. There are only about 50 days left until the start of 2010 and I still need about twelve more books (however, I must say that the one I just finished-- in three days I might add-- The Wild Trees, was a very interesting, informational, and inspiring book-- especially for non-fiction-- and I will readily recommend it to anyone). The main problem here is that I'm trying to work through Founding Brothers, which is probably the dullest book I've ever been required to read (after Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics I had to read for my Greek Literature class a year ago).
This obstacle brings me to my next suffering goal which was to finish all three of my Independent Study courses by January first. I have to get through F. B. and another required novel and I must point out my online instructor claimed about these two books, "you will enjoy them so much that you'll soon forget that you are reading for a class." Ha. Clearly this person has never met me. Anyway, so I might be able to complete the courses by January first if I become a temporary hermit for a while and speed through as many lessons as I can, but I'm afraid the quality of my work would greatly suffer. I've determined that I'm a better student in a physical, rather than cyber, classroom.
This month I'm supposed to be participating in the NaNoWriMo challenge alongside my mom and sister Megan, but it's nearly two weeks in and I still only have one sentence and a lot of ideas, but no clue how to put them onto paper.
Also, I'm rather sad to say that my third day in the food challenge I'm working on did not go very well at all. I'll write about it more tomorrow over on the Hungry Thing so I can combine it with day 4, but I'm really quite disappointed in myself. At least it isn't a real, health-threatening situation.
Tomorrow we have a cleaning check, and for some reason the management gave me the longest list of things to clean out of the rest of my roommates. And the most difficult tasks...like the fridge. Wish me luck for tomorrow (yes, I have yet to clean) and hope that I come out of the sticky, drippy, smelly mess of the fridge alive and on-time!
P.S. Perhaps this will cheer you up (the first two minutes are the most important part...and also the part at 5:40):
Friday, November 6, 2009
Looking Forward
Other things I'm looking forward to?
-dive trip to Bonneville Seabase next weekend
-Christmas, a time to see family and an excuse to make tons of sweets (and eat them of course)
-SCUBA stress and rescue course starting Feb 25th
-St Patrick's Day (a favorite holiday because I get to show what pride I have for a place that contributes, however minimally, to my ancestry...and who doesn't love corned beef and cabbage?)
-two weeks in England at the end of April/beginning of May (oh gosh. I just said it. Now I'm excited.)
-sailing lessons if I can raise the money and find someone to take it with me
-probably starting culinary school next August (read what I think)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Puggles and Fingerlings and Squeakers, Oh My!
Alligator = hatchling
Alpaca = cria
Ant = antling
Antelope = calf
Ape = baby
Armadillo = pup
Badger = kit, cub
Bat = pup
Bear = cub
Beaver = pup, kitten
Bee = larva
Bird = hatchling, chick
Bison, Buffalo = calf
Boar = piglet, shoat, farrow
Bobcat = kitten or cub
Butterfly = caterpillar, larva, pupa, chrysalis
Camel = calf
Caribou = calf or fawn
Cat = kitten
Cattle = calf
Cheetah = cub
Chicken = chick, pullet (young hen), cockrell (young rooster)
Cicada = nymph
Clam = larva
Cockroach = nymph
Codfish = codling, hake, sprag, sprat
Coyote = pup, whelp
Crane = chick
Crocodile = hatchling
Crow = chick
Deer = fawn
Dinosaur = hatchling, juvenile
Dog = pup
Dolphin = pup, calf
Donkey = colt, foal
Dove = squab, chick
Duck = duckling
Eagle = fledgling, eaglet
Echidna = puggle
Eel = leptocephalus (larva), elver (juvenile)
Elephant = calf
Elk = calf
Emu = chick, hatchling
Falcon = chick
Ferret = kit
Finch = chick
Fish = fry, fingerling
Fly = maggot
Fox = kit, cub, pup
Frog = tadpole, polliwog, froglet
Gerbil = pup
Giraffe = calf
Gnat = larva
Gnu = calf
Goat = kid, billy
Goose = gosling
Gorilla = infant
Grasshopper = nymph
Grouse = chick, poult, squealer or cheeper
Guinea pig = pig, pup
Gull = chick
Hamster = pup
Hare = leveret
Hawk = eyas
Hedgehog = piglet, pup
Heron = chick
Hippopotamus = calf
Hog = shoat, farrow
Hornet = larva
Horse = foal, colt (m), filly (f), stat, stag, hog-colt, youngster, yearling or hogget
Hound = pup
Human = baby, infant, toddler
Hummingbird = chick
Hyena = cub
Jay = chick
Jellyfish = ephyna
Kangaroo = joey
Koala = joey
Lark = chick
Leopard = cub
Lion = cub
Llama = cria
Louse = nit, nymph
Magpie = chick
Mallard = duckling
Manatee = calf
Mole = pup
Monkey = infant
Moose = calf
Mosquito = nymph, wriggler, tumbler
Mouse = pup, pinkie, kitten
Mule = foal
Muskrat = kit
Nightingale = chick
Opossum = joey
Ostrich = chick
Otter = whelp, pup
Owl = owlet, fledgling
Ox = stot, calf
Oyster = spat
Panda = cub
Parrot = chick
Partridge = cheeper
Peacock = peachick
Penguin = chick
Pheasant = chick
Pig = piglet, shoat, farrow
Pigeon = squab, squeaker
Platypus = puggle
Porcupine = porcupette
Porpoise = calf
Possum = joey
Prairie dog = pup
Pronghorn = fawn
Quail = chick
Rabbit = kitten, bunny, kit
Raccoon = cub
Rat = pup, pinkie, kitten
Reindeer = calf
Rhinoceros = calf
Sand Dollar = larva, pluteus, juvenile
Sea Urchin = larva, pluteus, juvenile
Seal = pup
Serval = kitten
Shark = pup
Sheep = lamb, lambkin, cosset
Skunk = kit
Snake = Snakelet, neonate, hatchling snake)
Spider = spiderling
Squirrel = pup, kit, kitten
Swan = cygnet, flapper
Termite = larva
Tiger = cub, whelp
Toad = tadpole
Trout = fry, fingerling
Turkey = poult
Turtle = hatchling
Wallaby = joey
Walrus = cub, pup
Wasp = larva
Weasel = kit
Whale = calf
Wolf = pup, whelp
Wombat = joey
Woodchuck = kit, cub
Woodpecker = chick
Wren = chick
Yak = calf
Yellow Jacket = larva
Zebra = colt, foal
Monday, November 2, 2009
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Trick or Treat?
I haven't dressed up for Halloween since high school when I was Queen Elizabeth and Ian was Tony Blair:
But this year I was invited to a Halloween party at the Hughes' so I decided to dress up. The only thing I could think of on short notice was a skipper:
While I would much rather have been a Star Weasel crew person:
Oh well, maybe next year.
In the mean time, enjoy this funny trick:
Monday, October 19, 2009
I'm Basically Famous
Anyway, tonight the editor/s decided to post my question! Hopefully I will get some response from this.
In somewhat related news, over the summer when Mom and Adrien and I went shopping in Salt Lake (and didn't buy anything...) we passed this wonderful apartment building that looked like it was falling to bits, but I of course loved. I took a couple of grainy pictures with my phone:
What is wrong with me? Why do I find such dilapidated buildings so beautiful?
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Boo
That's really the sort of "boo" I mean to talk about right now, so this might be a little complain-y for you. Feel free to not read on.
I curled my hair today. It was frizzy and creepy so I put it in a ponytail. That made me feel like a 50s librarian. Or maybe like I needed to be wearing a poodle skirt.
Actually that doesn't look too bad, at least not from this angle. I guess I'm too hard on myself sometimes. Well anyway.
My grilled cheese sandwich stuck to the pan, which has never happened to me before...maybe it was the pan? Though I'm pretty sure I've used that pan to make grilled cheese before...hm. Anyway, it made it taste all nasty and tore holes in it. But I'll have you know I ate it anyway. So there.
I didn't babysit this past week because the grandma/mom was in town, and you all know how grandmas are, they love their grandkids enough to babysit so the babysitter doesn't have to. For me this meant not only that I didn't have to wake up before the sun rises over the mountains and brings light and life to the valley, but also that I didn't get my $30 in spending money this week. But my habits didn't change, and the bills came early (or late?) so I have no money (though I did save enough cash to be able to buy a few necessities at the grocery store this coming week, thank goodness for my moderate foresight), and I'm having a craving to make many tasty and delicious things but I can't pay for the ingredients! I am so very, very sad :(
Luckily, Mom's coming to town on Thursday so maybe I can get her to pay for some superfluous groceries if I make tasty things for her to eat!
Madraste? Will you?
P.S. I posted a recipe for cheesecake on my other blog.