A Typical Two Weeks in Redlands
Pride. Prejudice. Captivating dialogue. Six-foot spears. Hardcore battling. Overcoming years of difficulty and failure and succeeding at last against all odds. One incredibly screwed-up roadtrip. One phone playing “Rockin’ Robin” from the ceiling of Dunder-Mifflin, Scranton. One Electric Monk sincerely believing that a desert valley is pink.
It’s been an exciting pair of weeks here in Redlands, California. Well, okay, perhaps “exciting” is a strong word. But things have happened here in the last two weeks, and it’s my job to relate those things to you, no matter how boring, pointless, and completely devoid of an interest factor those things are. Too bad I don’t get paid for it.
Thursday, January 11th. Life, generally speaking, is good. Then, I’m hit by a stunning revelation: “It’s Thursday. January 11th.” Why is this significant? Because Friday, January 12th, is the day of Lit. Club. This time, we are discussing Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
Which is 375 pages long.
Which I hadn’t started yet.
Accompanying the stunning revelation came the thought of a single word: “Crap.” This was followed by another word. A beautiful word. A word that has been the salvation of many, a word that is so sacred that it is never spoken except in times of great need. What is this word? “Sparknotes.”
I was thus faced with a moral quandary: should I go for the Sparknotes, or try to get through the entire book in less than 24 hours? The former, obviously, would be greatly preferable in terms of time spent. But on the other hand, reading the Sparknotes would also obviously give me less insight into the nuances of the characters and Austen herself as the narrator, which would no doubt have adverse effects on my ability to participate intelligently in the discussion.
In the end, it was something seemingly completely unrelated that decided it: I’m a Torrey Academy student. How does this apply, you ask?
Torrey Academy Student Requirement #29: “All Torrey students know that reading Cliffsnotes is for amateurs — we WRITE the Cliffsnotes.”
Obviously I could’ve justified it by saying that I’d be using Sparknotes and not Cliffsnotes, but I chose in this situation to obey the spirit as well as the letter of the law.
So I opened the book and began to read.
Unfortunately, this story has a somewhat anti-climactic and non-inspirational ending, because I failed to finish the book by 7:00 PM on Friday. I did, however, get to page 325, which was farther than I was expecting to go. In the end, then, I was forced to turn to Sparknotes to get the last fifty pages of plot, although obviously it was fairly easy to predict.
The discussion itself was cool as always. Not really a whole lot I can say, I don’t think, unless I really want to spend a lot of time on this part of the post, which to be honest I really don’t. I will note, however, that every girl present enjoyed the book, and surprisingly most guys as well (myself included). There was only one person that I remember who expressed a distinctly negative reaction, saying that there was “not enough action . . . dancing doesn’t count.”
Saturday was a pretty typical non-Lifehouse Saturday, other than the addition of football to the mix.
On Sunday I went back to Seth’s after church and hung out for most of the day. We spent the majority of the afternoon messing around with my lightsaber (nothing damaging, of course) and playing Seth’s Wii.
This was my first experience with the new(-ish) Nintendo Wii, and I must say, I’m greatly impressed. The games I played were Wii Sports and (briefly) Twilight Princess. Twilight Princess I didn’t really do much . . . I just rode around on Epona flailing about randomly with my sword, pretty much. Wii Sports, however, I did much. The game was quite simplistic (it was more an introduction to motion control than an actual game), but it was a blast.
The first thing I did was bowling, where I was soundly trounced by Seth, and then Tennis, where I came really close to beating him but failed, then Baseball, which ended in a 0-0 tie, then Golf, where we (we alternated holes) ended up at roughly +15 after three holes (in my defense, Seth played one hole and went +7, I went +8 in two), and then finally boxing by myself. I triumphed greatly at Boxing because it was painfully easy. It required basically no skill whatsoever. I just jabbed nonstop, alternating hands, and basically totally smacked down every opponent I faced. And that was pretty much that.
The next big, exciting thing that happened was on Monday night, when Josh walked into rehearsal carrying a six-foot spear. Unfortunately, Nikko gets to use it and not just your average Winkie, but it’s still freakin’ cool.
We didn’t get to see it in action until Tuesday, when we actually choreographed the fights. Which are fun, even though I get a bastard sword and not a spear. And even that I lose several seconds into the fight. But it’s all good.
Other interesting events that have happened, in no particular order:
— Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
Another book by one of my three favorite authors, who I haven’t read in a while. I got this book for Christmas, and started it this week. My impression thus far is that it isn’t as good as the Hitchhiker’s series, for the most part, but it’s still pretty good.
— The Office
I had a random craving a while ago for this NBC comedy based on the award-winning British comedy of the same name. Remembering that you could buy TV show episodes on iTunes, I bought the episode “The Coup”. I greatly enjoyed it, and decided maybe I’d buy one more, just for fun. After that, I became completely obsessed, and have now bought eleven episodes. A big part of this came out of a sub-obsession with the Jim/Pam story, so I bought a number of episodes purely because I knew that they factored into that (specifically, “Casino Night” and “Gay Witch Hunt”). So basically, I’m completely in love with this show now, and I’d like to publicly express my condolences to Karen (not that she actually exists or anything like that). I like you, and it’s too bad about Jim.
— Little Miss Sunshine
This is a comedy that came out a while ago starring Greg Kinnear and (more importantly for me) Steve Carell. Due to my fledgling Office obsession, I’m a big fan of Steve Carell at the moment. Anyway, we watched this on Friday night because Uncle Ted and Bev had heard good things about it and gotten a copy of it from somewhere (I can’t remember where specifically). My reaction to this movie in one word: bizarre. If it wanted to be, it could be one of the most depressing movies I’ve ever seen. But it wasn’t, because it was a comedy. And it was HILARIOUS. Not the sort of movie I’d want to watch again and again (although I WOULD watch it again if I were watching it with someone who hadn’t seen it), but it was a very good movie. All the acting was great, the writing was great, and I . . . can’t think of a third thing to compliment. There weren’t a whole lot of special effects or anything like that, so I can’t go that direction . . . but anyway, it really was a very good movie. If you have the opportunity to watch it, I’d recommend it . . . but watch it with other people, not by yourself. And also, be prepared for quite a bit of foul language . . .
— The New Moses
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out So_Thoughtful to see a brand-new post, the first in a long time. It’s about Val Kilmer playing Moses in The Ten Commandments: The Musical.
And that’s pretty much my life for the past two weeks. And now you’re all caught up. I might go to posting every two weeks instead of every week (theoretically, anyway), I haven’t decided yet. But be sure, there will be a new post in a few weeks.
And until then . . . adieu. Drive safely.
Comments (some skipped):
Stephen1: One of my friends wanted to get the Mace Windu one . . . don’t think he ever did, though. And from the sound of it, I have about the same level of desire to get a facebook as a myspace . . . which is roughly zero.
Amy Grace1: Why thank you!
AJ1: *deep breath* Thanks. Yes, he’s dead. Most things could be better. Thanks again. Well, it’s the truth. Because when you button it, it secures the collar. Me, too. Undoubtedly, but “a wever” is much more fun. I had to look it up. Would “Congratulations” be better? Yes, good job.
AJ2: Thanks again again.
Stephen5: I love how you can tie Tolkein and MacDonald into a conversation about video games. Although . . . I guess D&D isn’t really a video game, right?
Rae: Well, it would be kind of unfair to give you the award since you didn’t comment, wouldn’t it? I’m sorry that my masculinity in Wizard wasn’t terribly clearly defined for you. I’ll try to remedy that in the future. Yay! Another person who’s seen UHF! Hurrah! And that’s not true . . . there’s some uncool girls trying to be cool girls out there, too. And then there’s the girls who just ARE cool . . .
Amy Grace4: Well, then, good for you. Paul’s a pretty good guy to emulate.
Pointless Award that No One Cares About, #3: My goodness, there were so many great comments on the last entry, it’s really difficult to pick a winner. In the end, though, one person stands out. Stephen left 5 comments, but as he won it last time, I can’t give it to him again already. Rae, despite being my top commenter for so long, didn’t get hers in until #11, and only left one. Although she looks poised to be making a comeback, possibly in the next entry. AJ only left two comments, and was the third person to get two comments in. Which leaves, as the winner of the third postly Pointless Commenter Award, Amy Grace! (As a prize, her blog has been linked in the sidebar.)
It’s been an exciting pair of weeks here in Redlands, California. Well, okay, perhaps “exciting” is a strong word. But things have happened here in the last two weeks, and it’s my job to relate those things to you, no matter how boring, pointless, and completely devoid of an interest factor those things are. Too bad I don’t get paid for it.
Thursday, January 11th. Life, generally speaking, is good. Then, I’m hit by a stunning revelation: “It’s Thursday. January 11th.” Why is this significant? Because Friday, January 12th, is the day of Lit. Club. This time, we are discussing Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
Which is 375 pages long.
Which I hadn’t started yet.
Accompanying the stunning revelation came the thought of a single word: “Crap.” This was followed by another word. A beautiful word. A word that has been the salvation of many, a word that is so sacred that it is never spoken except in times of great need. What is this word? “Sparknotes.”
I was thus faced with a moral quandary: should I go for the Sparknotes, or try to get through the entire book in less than 24 hours? The former, obviously, would be greatly preferable in terms of time spent. But on the other hand, reading the Sparknotes would also obviously give me less insight into the nuances of the characters and Austen herself as the narrator, which would no doubt have adverse effects on my ability to participate intelligently in the discussion.
In the end, it was something seemingly completely unrelated that decided it: I’m a Torrey Academy student. How does this apply, you ask?
Torrey Academy Student Requirement #29: “All Torrey students know that reading Cliffsnotes is for amateurs — we WRITE the Cliffsnotes.”
Obviously I could’ve justified it by saying that I’d be using Sparknotes and not Cliffsnotes, but I chose in this situation to obey the spirit as well as the letter of the law.
So I opened the book and began to read.
Unfortunately, this story has a somewhat anti-climactic and non-inspirational ending, because I failed to finish the book by 7:00 PM on Friday. I did, however, get to page 325, which was farther than I was expecting to go. In the end, then, I was forced to turn to Sparknotes to get the last fifty pages of plot, although obviously it was fairly easy to predict.
The discussion itself was cool as always. Not really a whole lot I can say, I don’t think, unless I really want to spend a lot of time on this part of the post, which to be honest I really don’t. I will note, however, that every girl present enjoyed the book, and surprisingly most guys as well (myself included). There was only one person that I remember who expressed a distinctly negative reaction, saying that there was “not enough action . . . dancing doesn’t count.”
Saturday was a pretty typical non-Lifehouse Saturday, other than the addition of football to the mix.
On Sunday I went back to Seth’s after church and hung out for most of the day. We spent the majority of the afternoon messing around with my lightsaber (nothing damaging, of course) and playing Seth’s Wii.
This was my first experience with the new(-ish) Nintendo Wii, and I must say, I’m greatly impressed. The games I played were Wii Sports and (briefly) Twilight Princess. Twilight Princess I didn’t really do much . . . I just rode around on Epona flailing about randomly with my sword, pretty much. Wii Sports, however, I did much. The game was quite simplistic (it was more an introduction to motion control than an actual game), but it was a blast.
The first thing I did was bowling, where I was soundly trounced by Seth, and then Tennis, where I came really close to beating him but failed, then Baseball, which ended in a 0-0 tie, then Golf, where we (we alternated holes) ended up at roughly +15 after three holes (in my defense, Seth played one hole and went +7, I went +8 in two), and then finally boxing by myself. I triumphed greatly at Boxing because it was painfully easy. It required basically no skill whatsoever. I just jabbed nonstop, alternating hands, and basically totally smacked down every opponent I faced. And that was pretty much that.
The next big, exciting thing that happened was on Monday night, when Josh walked into rehearsal carrying a six-foot spear. Unfortunately, Nikko gets to use it and not just your average Winkie, but it’s still freakin’ cool.
We didn’t get to see it in action until Tuesday, when we actually choreographed the fights. Which are fun, even though I get a bastard sword and not a spear. And even that I lose several seconds into the fight. But it’s all good.
Other interesting events that have happened, in no particular order:
— Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
Another book by one of my three favorite authors, who I haven’t read in a while. I got this book for Christmas, and started it this week. My impression thus far is that it isn’t as good as the Hitchhiker’s series, for the most part, but it’s still pretty good.
— The Office
I had a random craving a while ago for this NBC comedy based on the award-winning British comedy of the same name. Remembering that you could buy TV show episodes on iTunes, I bought the episode “The Coup”. I greatly enjoyed it, and decided maybe I’d buy one more, just for fun. After that, I became completely obsessed, and have now bought eleven episodes. A big part of this came out of a sub-obsession with the Jim/Pam story, so I bought a number of episodes purely because I knew that they factored into that (specifically, “Casino Night” and “Gay Witch Hunt”). So basically, I’m completely in love with this show now, and I’d like to publicly express my condolences to Karen (not that she actually exists or anything like that). I like you, and it’s too bad about Jim.
— Little Miss Sunshine
This is a comedy that came out a while ago starring Greg Kinnear and (more importantly for me) Steve Carell. Due to my fledgling Office obsession, I’m a big fan of Steve Carell at the moment. Anyway, we watched this on Friday night because Uncle Ted and Bev had heard good things about it and gotten a copy of it from somewhere (I can’t remember where specifically). My reaction to this movie in one word: bizarre. If it wanted to be, it could be one of the most depressing movies I’ve ever seen. But it wasn’t, because it was a comedy. And it was HILARIOUS. Not the sort of movie I’d want to watch again and again (although I WOULD watch it again if I were watching it with someone who hadn’t seen it), but it was a very good movie. All the acting was great, the writing was great, and I . . . can’t think of a third thing to compliment. There weren’t a whole lot of special effects or anything like that, so I can’t go that direction . . . but anyway, it really was a very good movie. If you have the opportunity to watch it, I’d recommend it . . . but watch it with other people, not by yourself. And also, be prepared for quite a bit of foul language . . .
— The New Moses
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out So_Thoughtful to see a brand-new post, the first in a long time. It’s about Val Kilmer playing Moses in The Ten Commandments: The Musical.
And that’s pretty much my life for the past two weeks. And now you’re all caught up. I might go to posting every two weeks instead of every week (theoretically, anyway), I haven’t decided yet. But be sure, there will be a new post in a few weeks.
And until then . . . adieu. Drive safely.
Comments (some skipped):
Stephen1: One of my friends wanted to get the Mace Windu one . . . don’t think he ever did, though. And from the sound of it, I have about the same level of desire to get a facebook as a myspace . . . which is roughly zero.
Amy Grace1: Why thank you!
AJ1: *deep breath* Thanks. Yes, he’s dead. Most things could be better. Thanks again. Well, it’s the truth. Because when you button it, it secures the collar. Me, too. Undoubtedly, but “a wever” is much more fun. I had to look it up. Would “Congratulations” be better? Yes, good job.
AJ2: Thanks again again.
Stephen5: I love how you can tie Tolkein and MacDonald into a conversation about video games. Although . . . I guess D&D isn’t really a video game, right?
Rae: Well, it would be kind of unfair to give you the award since you didn’t comment, wouldn’t it? I’m sorry that my masculinity in Wizard wasn’t terribly clearly defined for you. I’ll try to remedy that in the future. Yay! Another person who’s seen UHF! Hurrah! And that’s not true . . . there’s some uncool girls trying to be cool girls out there, too. And then there’s the girls who just ARE cool . . .
Amy Grace4: Well, then, good for you. Paul’s a pretty good guy to emulate.
Pointless Award that No One Cares About, #3: My goodness, there were so many great comments on the last entry, it’s really difficult to pick a winner. In the end, though, one person stands out. Stephen left 5 comments, but as he won it last time, I can’t give it to him again already. Rae, despite being my top commenter for so long, didn’t get hers in until #11, and only left one. Although she looks poised to be making a comeback, possibly in the next entry. AJ only left two comments, and was the third person to get two comments in. Which leaves, as the winner of the third postly Pointless Commenter Award, Amy Grace! (As a prize, her blog has been linked in the sidebar.)
posted by Darth_Harbison at 8:15 PM
17 Comments:
Wow! I never win anything! This is so great!!
No, no it's not a video game. It has similar elements (dice providing random numbers, and some mechanics), but it's more like collaborative story making or play acting.
Props to Amy Grace!
And your comment responses are really obtuse. Are you TRYING to make my life harder by making me go back and read what I said in my comment?
Don't answer that.
And wait--what was the "Overcoming years of difficulty and failure and succeeding at last against all odds?"
AJ
<><
Did you use to watch Alias??
This is to beat Eleanor
This is to beat Eleanor
Shoot, I just let you this big ol' comment and then the computer freaked out on me and RAE BEAT ME! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Unfortunately, it seems that in order for my predestined beating of Eleanor to the post, she lost her first entry. I never wished it upon her.
What I was meaning to say...let's see if I can remember.
"Good ol' P&P.
Perhaps you can convince the other male members of your family that it is an enticing story. But I guess that ranks right up there with convincing them that dance counts for something. It may not have sword fights like in The Scarlet Pimpernel (which I hear is a favorite childhood pastime of yours and I thoroughly enjoyed, by the way), but you liked it, right? See! Did you gain any insight on the woman's pysche?"
I really liked Little Miss Sunshine, too. I think the ending made it all worth sitting the through the bizarre.
And now for the real thing.
First of all, I know this comment is biased in that I am in fact female, but never the less... Jane Austen knows her stuff. I recommend P&P as well as S&S to every male. Mind you not for entertainment sake, but for the opportunity to discover the essence of what is known as the woman's heart.
#1 Drooled over male icon?
Mr. Darcy takes the cake, Mr. Willoughby... go home.
I miss the days of crammed literature... last experience was reading over half of "Wuthering Heights" in one night. Those were the Good ol' days.
Is that really a quote? How large are the heads of these literature clubbies... do they drink a lot of conflict free coffee?
Rae's Wii boxing score v.s. Computer: 7/0
Rae's Wii boxing score v.s. Seán: 0/5
Conclusion... boxing is only "easy" when being played against a program.
Rae has lost all hope of every gaining video game pride.
Due to powers beyond me I have only been able to see two episodes of "The Office" this season... I think I'm going to go buy myself a new ringtone... or... get rid of my phone. Haven't quite figured that one out yet.
*Note:
Although Eleanor and I were sitting next to each other while commenting; the likenesses of our comments were pure coincidence. Neither of us read the others comment before entering our own.
Conclusion: There's something to it.
Commenting in groups is fun!
Thanks for saying that I'm incredible! Although, I don't know how I feel about people watching my Star 98.7 commercial... but I guess I did make it public...
How's The Wizard going?
WOoooOooo I'm a shameless plug!! WoooOOoo Rae has updated her blog from like four months ago!! WoooOOoo...
Mark I miss you!
I command thee to update. Get writing you scallion!
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