Turkey?
No thank you.
Ham?
Nope.
Stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc?
No, no, no…
Ok, Griffin, what would you like?
A pickle and some cranberry sauce!
Thanksgiving, Griffin Style
All posts by Andrew
First Fire
Two winters later, we finally have a swept and inspected chimney, bringing our cozyness potential up at least three more points. To Griffin and Maggie’s delight, we built our first crackling blaze tonight.
Good idea?
“Griffin, do you think that’s a good idea?”
“No, but I’m going to do it anyway.”
Green Halloween?
“Hey Griffin, what do you want to be for Halloween this year?”
“A rain barrel!”
Decorative Trees
On the highway to Duluth, passing through a forest:Â “Mommy, Daddy, are the trees for decoration?”
Who will play with me?
After nearly four hours at the park with two playgrounds, a pool, and friends, we return home and Griffin immediately says, “Momma, will you play with me?”
“No, sweetie, I have to make lunch.”
“Well, then who will play with me???”
Book Review: “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Kate Chopin is one of my favorite authors of short stories, so I wanted to read one of her novels. Chopin had me with her opening words, pulling me into the late nineteenth century Louisiana setting. The story revolves around Edna Pontellier, a woman who, by the standards of the time, appears to have it all: a devoted, wealthy husband and two young boys. The family spends summers at a beach cottage and the rest of the year in a palatial New Orleans home. As the title suggests, Edna slowly becomes aware of the web of social conventions that imprison her and demand that she exist only in the service of others (primarily her husband and children). She chafes and rebels, in increasingly scandalous ways, culminating in a poignant and satisfying ending.
It was a quick read, and certainly worth re-reading. (I reread the first chapter immediately upon finishing the book and found much to admire in how it sets up the eventual conclusion.) The primary theme is a bit dated, and is delivered bluntly at times, but there is still much to think about. I particularly enjoyed how Chopin highlights the tension between the mindless emptiness of strict social conformity and the potential selfishness of resistance. Edna is compared to a child on more than one occasion as her actions become increasingly self-centered: like a child, she is not considering the impact of her actions on those around her. This question of how to harmonize your duty to yourself with your duty to others is, of course, as relevant today as it was in 1899—relaxing gender expectations cannot magically resolve this for us.
Ultimately, although I thoroughly enjoyed the book, I was not as impressed with Chopin’s craftsmanship here as I have been with many of her short stories. If you’ve never read any Chopin, she can pack a powerful punch with very few words. Check out “The Story of an Hour” and “Doctor Chevalier’s Lie” for two great examples.
Aging Rapidly
Two age-related conversations with Griffin today:
“I want to go to Kindergarten soon.”
“Oh, why?”
“Because soon I will be a teenager.”
Later, while climbing some rocks:
“Daddy, why did you almost fall?”
“Because I’m old and clumsy.”
“Well, you are not clumsy, but you are very old.”
Aging Rapidly
Two age-related conversations with Griffin today:
“I want to go to Kindergarten soon.”
“Oh, why?”
“Because soon I will be a teenager.”
Later, while climbing some rocks:
“Daddy, why did you almost fall?”
“Because I’m old and clumsy.”
“Well, you are not clumsy, but you are very old.”
Ready Player One
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A delicious romp through ‘80s geekdom! This is the sort of book I could have read in a single night, wrapping up before breakfast (as I once did with Ender’s Game some twenty years ago). Alas, sleep is at a higher premium these days, so I paced myself.
I was immediately taken in by the setting: a dystopian future where people spend their happiest hours immersed in “The Oasis,†a virtual reality where you can be the superhero/knight/wizard/jedi of your fantasies. (Think of a global, genreless World of Warcraft with infinite scalability and no lag.) The public schools have even gone virtual, since simulated schools have better facilities, stellar libraries, and no bullies (the school zones don’t allow physical contact between characters and you can mute anybody you don’t want to listen to). Meanwhile, the real world crumbles into islands of urban slums separated by Mad Maxish no-man’s-lands. The setting was painted in broad strokes leaving plenty of room for my piqued imagination to fill in the gaps. Vivid scenes gave the basic flavor. I reveled, for example, in the image of a public bus that traveled between cities (a la Greyhound). Fully armored, with a defensive gun deck up top, the passengers jacked into their VR rigs as soon as they boarded and spent the entire trip lost in another world.
The plot is built around an epic quest within the Oasis to locate the late lead-programmer’s Easter Egg, a deeply hidden golden ticket worth a dazzling real-world fortune to whoever finds it. The programmer built his puzzles and clues around the obsessions of his youth: 1980s geek culture (movies, music, video games, and classic role-playing games). To say more will lead to spoilers, and half the fun is applying your own knowledge to the puzzles, but I will say that there were many joyous epiphanies along the way as treasured memories of Atari cartridges and D&D adventures were given new life.
When I first rated the book I put four stars, but I’ve been considering the line between “really liked it†and “amazing†ever since. After writing this review, it’s clear that the overall reading experience was in amazing territory. With that said, the novel was not without flaws. Characters were often two-dimensional, and there were a number of relationships that didn’t quite gel. Foreshadowing was of the un-subtle variety. The plot was predictable, though a dash of cyberpunk toward the end was a pleasant surprise. In short, I kinda wish this wasn’t Cline’s first novel. In defense, one might argue that the source material suffers from all of these flaws in spades, but I think that’s a copout. Better writing would have improved the depth of immersion. Despite this, however, Cline easily managed to dunk me deep enough to have a blast. I want to read a book like this every summer.