Food for Thought

I don't consider myself to be a "foodie," not in the slightest!! I'm far too picky for that!!! However, this past trip to Mount Holly - it seemed that all Morgan and I did was eat AMAZING food! We ate and swam off the calories in the pool then ate some more!!! We ate from fast food joints, fancy restaurants, family-owned diners, and homecooked dinners.
Wednesday was by far the most extravagant eating day. Here's what was on the menu:

Breakfast... at Rita's:

• Scrambled eggs
• Freshly baked biscuit
• Sausage links
• Grits
• Water

Lunch... at various places:

The String Bean 

• Duck fat fries
• Fried Oreos and ice cream
• Water

Saki

•  Hibachi steak with vegetables and white rice

Dinner... made by Morgan:

Morgan's grilled peaches with glaze

• Hamburgers with Angus Barn beef
• Black bean soup
• Various chips
• Salad
• Grilled peaches
• 7-Up
• Johnson's lemonade slushie

  

Late Night Snack... from the kitchen cabinets

• Popcorn
• Swiss Miss hot chocolate powder with marshmallows

22. Jurassic Park

Book 22: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (A)

So, I love Michael Crichton because he's intelligent. And, he knows how to use his intelligence. Do I believe that he knew everything about dinosaurs before writing this book? Or everything about French knights and castles for Timeline? Absolutely not! But Crichton graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. He knows how to use his brain to make the most interesting, unqiue, and intelligent stories ever written.
Jurassic Park is a look at and opinion about paleo-DNA and what if scientists had the power to genetically enhance or change anything they wanted. Nowadays, we find our every day food to be genetically enhanced - brighter looking tomatoes and healthier corn. But, what if we could make extinct animals? What would happen? Would they be content to live in zoos like today's animals? Are they reptiles, birds, amphibians, or all three? Is it possible to contain and keep alive something that's already completely dead, something that's been dead for millions of years? In Jurassic Park, the answer is a firm no!

My only issue with this book is that I was annoyed by one of the characters again. Alexis or "Lex" is one of the children brought to the island, the granddaughter of the creator of the theme park. And boy is she annoying!! She whines and whines and whines and complains and whines and messes everything up!! I'm not sure how old she is but even a six-year-old would be able to understand the concept of we're running for our lives because dinosaurs are loose! Getting a hamburger is not that big of a deal right now!! I literally screamed at the book, "HOLY CRAP!!! FREAKING SHUT UP!!! YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE! STOP WHINING ABOUT ICE CREAM!!" I cheered when her brother finally told her to shut up! I had seriously hoped one of the characters would crack her over the head so she'd slump into unconsciousness and they'd just sling her over their shoulders for the rest of the way through the book. I mean, seriously?!?!?! BE QUIET! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE AND GET EVERYONE ELSE KILLED BECAUSE YOU WON'T SHUT UP!!! I wonder if Crichton hated writing that character as much as I hated reading about her.
The novel is deliriously intelligent and works in two parts: information and action. The first half of the book is a nonstop transcript of biologically, mathematical, and scientific information coming at you fast. If you like that kind of thing and find it interesting, you can get through it pretty quick. The only conversations that were tough for me were the mathematical speeches on the chaos theory from mathematician Ian Malcolm as he described why Jurassic Park would ultimately fail. However, if you're in fear of the big words, don't be too alarmed. The conversations are easy to get through and are expressed clearly and concisely. Thankfully, the only person that was long-winded in his explanations was Ian, who used so many examples I lost the point of what he was originally talking about.
The second half of the novel is action-packed. You race through the chapters as fast as the characters in the book are running from the dinosaurs. It is a non-stop heart-pounding ride through the theme park that's gone horribly awry. First, the T-rex is loose, but you don't even know the half of it. You think you've seen ugly and then the velociraptors escape! Now, that's terror!
It was a great summer read, definitely check it out. And if you want more action, check out the movie... but just the first one!!!

Photo of the Day June 22

This is Rocky. He's a housebroken, trained German Shepherd mix at the Wake County Animal Center. He's absolutely amazing on the leash, super friendly, and is super fluffy! Believe me, if I didn't live in an apartment and had the financial stability, Rocky would have come home with me that day.
This Saturday I am volunteering as an adoption counselor at the big Adopt-A-Thon event!! I can't wait to help all these pups, cats, rabbits, and other critters find good homes.

21. The Art of Racing in the Rain

Book 21: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (A++)

First of all.... GO OUT AND GET THIS BOOK NOW!!!!! IT IS AMAZING!!!
Now with that said, here's why:
Told from the viewpoint of a lab mix named Enzo, the reader watches the makings and times of Enzo's family. At the brink of his death, Enzo describes living among this family and how when he dies, he expects to turn into a man... his one true wish... based off a TV show he saw on Mongolia. Denny, his master, is a "minor league" race car driver looking for work. He has the amazing ability of racing a car while it's raining while everyone else crashes and burns. He acquires a wife, a beautiful woman named Eve. Together, they bring home a baby girl named Zoe, whom Enzo protects to the very end. Tragedy strikes, and Eve falls ill with a brain tumor. After her death, Eve's parents sue for custody of Zoe saying they have better means of providing for her. A three year battle ensues while being told through the eyes of an amazingly intellectual and intuitive dog.
I must say that the antagonist grandparents... I seriously want them to jump out of the pages of the book and appear before me just so I can punch them in the face!! Those rats!!! How dare they try to take a little girl away from her father!! It was sincerely heartbreaking to read about Zoe playing with her toys and repeating meaningless chants her grandparents had coached into her head to explain that everything "will be okay."
Enzo is a wonderful narrator full of spunk, sarcasm, humor, and sincerity. His one mission is life is to protect his family. His one dream is to become a man and use opposable thumbs.

When trying to prove that man's closest relative is the dog and not the monkey, he says, "Case-in-Point #2: The Werewolf
"The full moon rises. The fog clings to the lowest branches of the spruce trees. The man steps out of the darkest corner of the forest and finds himself transformed into... A monkey? I think not" (20)!
The book really demonstrates how when a dog's family goes through tragedy or stress, it affects the dog too. Just because they don't have a soul or the logical thinking of a human being doesn't mean they don't feel just as strongly as we do.
Here, Enzo explains pain when Eve begins experiencing the telling migraines of the brain tumor: "The intensity and arbitrary nature of Eve's affliction was far beyond Denny's grasp. The wailings, the dramatic screaming fits, the falling on the floor in fits of anguish. These are things that only dogs and women understand because we tap into the pain directly, we connect to pain directly from its source, and so it is at once brilliant and brutal and clear, like white hot metal spraying out of a fire hose, we can appreciate the aesthetic while taking the worst of it straight in the face. Men, on the other hand, are all filters and deflectors and timed release... They have no idea that the manifestation of their affliction... is merely a symptom, an indication of a systemic problem... Suppressing the symptom does nothing but force the true problem to express itself on a deeper level at some other time" (62-63).
The book was amazing, descriptive, heart-warming, and raw. And of course as with all animal novels, I cried at the end. You can always foresee the ending of a book with an animal as the main character. Like Marley & Me and Where the Red Fern Grows, the humans continue with their lives and the animals pass on. The same holds true with Enzo's life, yet this time the reader knew from Chapter 1 that Enzo was going to die as he knows it is time and Denny even schedules a non-round trip visit to the vet. Still what's amazing here is that while the dog dies, the story continues for just a chapter more........ Read it!!! You'll love it!!

Works Cited:

Stein, Garth. The Art of Racing in the Rain. 

New York: HarperCollins, 2008. Print.

20. Silence of the Lambs

Book 20: Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (A-)

Wow, the author of this book should be locked up with the psychos that he writes about. He has a scary mind! To come up with a character like Hannibal Lector... or Buffalo Bill... seriously?! And, he's written many of these Lector novels. He's got to be at least partially psychotic! The novel absolutely terrified me! I had to stop reading it when I was home alone or when it got dark because it was just too chilling!
FBI trainee Clarice Starling is called upon to interview the infamous cannibal psychiatrist Hannibal Lector in the hopes of gaining answers from the minds of criminals to assist in solving current FBI cases. Instead, Lector sees right through Starling and helps her find the FBI's current number 1, Buffalo Bill. Bill is parading around the country killing girls with a shot to the head then skinning them before dumping them in various rivers off highways. Lector knows all about Bill. Lector himself was sitting in prison because of eating Bill's boyfriend's liver along with various other patients. If Starling only plays Lector's game, he'll give her the information she wants and hopefully before the next victim gets skinned.
Sicked. Twisted. Undeniably frightening. This is the book that gives adults nightmares.

It was extremely well-written. The facts seem to be in order, and the overall majority of the book seems plausible. I had only one problem with it and that was the ending was drawn out and went on a bit. Either that or the rest of the book took a bit to get anywhere so it seemed the ending took forever to wrap up because I was tired of reading the story. The story is fast-paced. It's just a lot to take in! Probably one of the more complicated books I've read.
If you like thrillers, read this book. If you want a quick recap of the book, rent the movie where Jodi Foster breathes through the majority of her lines and Anthony Hopkins will leaving you crying for a mental facility so you can be locked up from him. And if it's possible, the book is significantly creepier than the movie! ...Actually, make that the movie trailer is scarier than BOTH!

19. The Pirates of the Caribbean The Curse of the Black Pearl

Book 19: The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl the junior novelization adapted by Irene Trimble (C+)

I have to keep in mind that this is a "junior novelization." The book was pretty much a direct screenplay of the favored film starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Geoffory Rush from the Disney Vault. However, it lacked all and any detail.
Captain Jack Sparrow is introduced as "... far below the cliff in a small, leaky bit of a boat stood one of the sliest pirates ever to sail the Spanish Main. Captain Jack Sparrow was his name" (13). Then, that's it! No description of facial features, clothes, or any indication of why he might be the "sliest" (which was incorrectly spelled in the book) pirate ever.
The jewel of the book lies in its short chapters, which all readers love, and sticking to the script. The only major line that wasn't in the book - and this is completely unforgivable - is "BUT WHY IS THE RUM GONE!?!"

Still, if I were 13 years old, this would be the perfect reading companion to the movie. It is a wonderful way to read one's favorite movie in a non-script-like fashion with all the favorite swashbuckling pirates, damsels in distress, and plundering.

Trimble, Irene. The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Junior Novelization. New York: Random House, 2003. Print.

The Tough Romantic Questions Part 6

1. Would you leave Morgan for a celebrity that really really liked you?
Morgan doesn't need to worry about that. Leonardo DiCaprio is sadly too old for me!

2. Are you a virgin?
Yes, and I'm proud of it.

3. How would you react if Morgan started dating another girl?
If he was doing it while we were still together, there's a very good possibly I'd be in jail currently. Beware, sir! 
If he dated someone else afterward, I guess it would depend on how long after. Still, when I think about Morgan with someone else, going to movies and little dinners together, taking her to the shooting range and coming up behind her to teach her how to steady the gun in her hands, it makes me physically ill. In my opinion, my figurative flag has been planted. Other women, back off!

4. At what age do you planned to get married?
When it comes to marriage, I've kind of stopped making plans of with whom and when. Actually, I'm making plans of what flowers and which dress.

5. What would be your best reason to break up with Morgan?
He forced me to eat asparagus!

6. If Morgan had to move far away for many years, would you wait for him?
I am waiting right now. Thankfully, we're not too far away from each other that it isn't possible to see each other. While we are apart, we got seriously lucky. I was telling one of my Acting I classmates about my long distance relationship, and then she filled me in on hers. She is an adult student and told me that earlier in her marriage with her husband, he was in North Carolina and she was in Chicago, I think. They lived apart as a married couple for over a year. And, they are still together today reunited in the mountains of North Carolina.

7. Do you believe in God? Why?
Yes, I do. It's what I've believed since I had the mental capacity to formulate thought on something as big and powerful as God. It's what I grew up with, but that's not the reason why I still believe today. There were moments I've doubted, thought and questioned. I think every Christian goes through that. And I honestly can't tell you why I believe. Morgan has asked me that time and time again, but I can never answer him. It's just what I believe, and I hold on to that tightly. We have to have faith in something. I have and have always had faith in this one God in Heaven. If it turns out I was completely wrong at the end of my life, at least I had the hope that what I believed in was true and got face another day with an all-powerful God and a pack of angels at my back.

8. Do you have any enemies? Why?
Yes. I made mistakes. So did they.

18. Planet of the Apes

Book 18: Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle (B)

So, this wasn't exactly the story I remember from Tim Burton's movie (and by the way, there's a new Planet of the Apes film coming out called Rise of the Planet of the Apes which seems to explain how the planet of Soror became overrun and ruled by apes). Yeah, it's like Burton just got the idea of a ape-ruled planet from the book. But it's no surprise. Have you seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?
In Boulle's classic novel, three men decide to explore the solar system of Betelgeuse. After landing on a planet, they find humans physically like them. Mentally, they are like wild animals unable to communicate with language, tearing into animal flesh like the big cats, and showing no signs of mental comprehension. The following day, the human pride is attacked by apes dressed to the nines and the main character is taken off to the main city. There, he learns that mankind has a evolutionary mental downfall and that apes excelled. They evolved into speaking, thinking beings that control the entire planet. 
The story has a downright scary ending that left me shuddering.

I believe the main point of this story was to prove how cruel and unusual operating on animals is. This concept was pointed out several times throughout the novel with the main character's disgust and opposition toward the scientist apes operating on human beings to study the brain. The following conversation is between the main character and his ape ally.
"And you carry out these experiments on men!"
"Of course. Man's brain, like the rest of his anatomy, is the one that bears the closest resemblance to ours. It's a lucky chance that nature has put at our disposal an animal on whom we can study our own bodies. Man serves us in many other fields of research, as you'll come to realize... At this very moment we are undertaking an extremely important series of experiments" (104).
Boulle uses a world of apes experimenting on men to show a unique point: what if apes were just as aware of the world as us humans on Earth in today's world?? Would it still be ethical to operate on them in horrible ways? Removing their sense of self. Removing their sense of motherhood and protecting their own offspring. Giving them human diseases to fund human cures.Which scientists go further than what's actually "humanely" allowed already?
If you want something to think about, pick up this book!

Kodak Moment: 8 Months

Happy eight months, baby!! It's been an insane ride, and it makes me love you stronger. These have been some of the best months of my life. I can't wait to see what happens next!

Having way too much fun with the web cam!

Gone hiking in Raleigh

Visiting Ma in Mount Holly

Graduation day

Our first Christmas tree

Charlotte doesn't Want us to Go. Raleigh doesn't Want us Back

Enjoying the pool

Last week, Morgan and I drove down to Charlotte to visit my mother and sisters. It was a full house that night with Kate, Kate's boyfriend Seth, Anne, Ma, Ma's boyfriend, Morgan, a dog, two cats, a turtle, a gigantic could-eat-your-hand goldfish, and myself.
Morgan serenaded our stomachs with Angus Barn beef burgers that left all of us crying over the beauty of such top quality meat that couldn't be found within a 100 mile radius of our local Food Lion and Harris Teeter.
There was a man of the house vs. me Wii tennis match. It took the three males and five matches to finally take me down and my Adam Lambert-look-a-like Mii! (Suck it!)
There was some intense swimming in the backyard pool, a luxury that Morgan clearly enjoyed.
I got to hang with my best mate MK. He recently graduated with his associate's degree from Johnson & Wales and I am oh so proud of him!
Overall, one of the best vacations ever!!! Then, we tried to leave!
After packing up the car, I followed Ma to a local country bar and line dancing joint called Coyote Joe's. There, Ma and her boyfriend met and line dance together to an assortment of country songs that follow the tractor trailer, love my hound, that woman's got some tight overalls, and swinging on the back porch swing is how I lost my virginity theme. For years, Ma has been trying to drag me there and finally, I decided to go to see what all the fuss was about and to wish one of my high school classmates the best of luck as he gets shipped off across the United States for some army training and work. Morgan, as equally unenthusiastic as me whose only connection to country would be if Metallica ever pulled a prank and covered a Toby Keith song, wanted to hit the road. I promised we wouldn't stay long.
And then, I locked my car keys in Little Honda in the parking lot of the club!!! (It was bound to happen some day!)
Thankfully, there was a friend of my mother's who carries around a break-into-people's-car kit in her back trunk. Dressed in her cowboy boots and country's finest blouse, she wretched open my car door with a rubber wedge and unlocked my car with a long pink hook as a small, curious crowd of country lovers gathered around the car. Instead of waiting an hour for AAA to show up, we gently applauded after 10 minutes of gawking at this woman breaking into Little Honda then spent a few minutes quarreling and yelling at each other as to how to turn off the car alarm that refused to be silenced!

~

On the road, things were good. Traffic was light through Charlotte and down into Concord where I-85 becomes two lanes and is a complete pain! We made it into an hour of our trip and since my cruise control is no longer working, I asked Morgan if he could drive for a bit. We pulled over at a rest stop and only then did I realize that my gas was low. It would have been more convenient to stop at a gas station and switch there. Now, we'd have to stop twice. Morgan got into the car and we took off down I-85 that had now doubled as I-40.

For those of you who have never driven the I-85/I-40 stretch toward Greensboro and Statesville, I'd like to point out that there is a long, terrifying stretch of NOTHING!!! No fast food restaurants. No state-owned restrooms. NO GAS STATIONS!! Can you picture where my story is about to head? Guess what area we were at when Morgan took over driving?!?!?!

Before long, the gas light went on. It's nearing 10:00 p.m.

I've never run completely out of gas before. Not in Little Honda, anyway. My dad ran out on the way to church or something like that when I was quite little. We had to knock on a stranger's door to use the phone (yes, people, there were no cell phones yet! At least not where everyone had one). Back to the story... I had no idea how long it would take before Little Honda called it quits. And every time Morgan let up on the gas, I felt my heart try to explode through my esophagus as I thought, "This is the end! We're stranded!"

We took an exit I thought had a gas station. Instead, it's a completely different highway that DOES NOT go back to I-85/I-40. Tensions are high and suddenly we're both snappy towards each other. It's eerily dark and there's a spooky mist over the road. We nearly run headfirst into a dump truck because the fog that randomly appeared as soon as we got on this nameless highway is so thick. I'm scared out of my mind. Not only are we now going to run out of gas, we're going to run out of gas on the side of a highway where we'll either be murdered in cold blood or dragged off into a cave by rabid wolves!!!!!! 

We turned around and somehow manage make it back onto just plain I-40 toward Durham. Then, the wait begins. We have no idea how long it will take to see an exit sign that has a gas station. A sign goes past. Another. 

My eyes are closed, my hands clasped together. Oh yes, the power of prayer has been evoked. I'm praying that I have as much faith as a mustard seed that God will allow us to see the beauty of a fluorescent light again. (I'm sure my mom is laughing by now as she's reading this. I'm also sure she's not the only one.)

Finally as soon as we hit signs that start advertising Greensboro, we spot a gas station! WE'VE BEEN SAVED!!!!!!! We pull into a gas station and I finally start to cry as Morgan fills up Little Honda's tank. 

"Baby, it's ok," Morgan said. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. What did you think would happen if we'd run out of gas?"

We'd walk for hours in the pitch dark with a pen light and two cell phones between us as we tried to find a gas station and then walk back to fill up the car. 

We'd sit in the car waiting for help and an 18-wheeler would go off the road and smash into our car. 

Someone would try to pick us on the side of the road and we'd never be heard from again.
We'd actually find a gas station and end up back in Raleigh.... haha, just kidding!

"All I had to do," Morgan continued, "was call AAA and we'd wait for them. And we'd be on our way."

....Oh yeah, that special service Morgan has! AAA, a three time duplication of the letter A that rescues drivers everywhere. WHY DIDN'T YOU MENTION THAT BEFORE??  I honestly believed he had tried not to imagine the worst. He probably won't admit it, but he was probably just as freaked out and nervous as I was. 

~

Now, we're back. Morgan's at work. I'm at the apartment trying to keep the place as cool as possible. The air conditioner has picked the best season to call it quits. I actually have a temporary job starting on Saturday. I'm caring for a woman's cat while she's on vacation. I'm honestly looking forward to it! It won't be heavy cash, but I got extremely lucky that she picked me over anyone else! Her little kitty is going to be the happiest cat in the whole world for one week! I'll make sure of it!

17. 300

Book 17: 300 by Frank Miller (A+)

Gerard Butler as Leonidas

Yes!! AWESOME!!! This was just as epic and unbelievable as the movie... or actually, the movie was as epic and unbelievable as the graphic novel. 
I had a bit of a time at first getting use to the format of a graphic novel. I never read nor enjoyed comic books growing up, but this was different enough that I was able to quickly master reading a graphic novel and extremely enjoyed it. The colors and art were amazingly detailed and beautiful yet gory. The story of 300 is not for the faint-hearted!
The film based off this novel is so close to the book, word for word, that no one can say "well I liked the book better." It's practically pages turned into film with one exception. You miss the behind-the-scenes of what's happening in Sparta with the queen while Leonidas and his 300 men are fighting the Persians. And, those are my favorite scenes!

The woman who played the queen is the movie is downright beautiful in every sense of the word and her character is strong and provides quite a spark. She flaunts the Spartan women way of life as an outspoken, passionate woman who cares for both her husband and her people with unmatchable fierceness. Included in her scenes that do not appear in the graphic novel is the standard Hollywood sex scene between the king and queen before the battle. This scene, surprisingly enough for the type of movie that 300 is, is not extremely graphic, short in length with random images of pleasure to a slow tribal song. 
If you loved the movie, go to your nearest library and read the book!!!! If you've never seen the movie, go to your nearest library and to your local Blockbuster/Movie Gallery/Red Box and rent it!!!!!!!! It is a must!

"THIS IS SPARTA!"