Livre des Rêves

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The Night Circus is a magical book, and I like magic. It is told in a nonlinear way, and Morgenstern's style is unique and fresh. This is a book that you have to pay attention to the chapter titles, locations, and dates, or you can get lost very easy--like the labyrinth. Because of the structure of the book the mystery/climax is more intense, exciting, and emotional.



While reading, the author brought me into a world that was misty and dreamy, like the rêveurs'.



The characters are unique and have an unreal, but real quality to them, like they belong in this world of dreams--a contortionist with tattoos that are not typical tattoos, a clockmaker who creates a "dreamlike" clock and only he has the skill to do such a feat, twin redheads who can read people the stars and train kittens, and leading the cast 2 magical foes who fall in love.



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This month the movie Anonymous comes out. It's about Shakespeare's authorship. My opinion--William Shakespeare wrote it all (take that Oxford). The movie looks compelling & I am for sure going to see it!The link is to a Stephen Colbert video, it's hilarious, interviewing Stephen Greenblatt, America's Shakespeare expert (he's like the Olivier & Branagh of the academic world), during the interview they compare McCain & Obama to Shakespeare characters.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/186547/october-02-2008/shakespearean-candidates---stephen-greenblatt

What's Wrong With Kids These Days?

I've only been teaching for 3 weeks, and I've observed something about the kids today--they have no manners and they somehow feel entitled to everything. Really? What have you done in your life to deserve anything? I blame it on TV and the feminist movement.

I guess being disrespectful comes with the territory. Or teenagers aren't being shown respect at home, and so they don't know how to give it? Maybe? Well newsflash, "Teens, your brains are underdeveloped and you haven't matured beyond a teaspoon." It's like The Hungry Caterpillar. Adolescents are in the eating phase (literally and figuratively), not even in the cocoon yet. I think the cocoon comes during college, and then sometime between their 2nd and 3rd year of college they emerge as a butterfly. Even then, they still don't have things figured out, I know I don't, and I've been graduated for almost 4 years now. But, being a teacher in-and-of-itself deserves respect. Being an adult deserves respect. Being human deserves respect. But teenagers need to check themselves before they get any, they deserve it for being human, not because they actually accomplished anything. To me, just being kind and not obnoxious deserves respect because that's hard to do as a teenager, appearance means a lot to these kids and being a suck-up takes away their street-cred.

So here's what's been on my mind this weekend: an episode of Eureka and Bones, and some random kid banging on the piano.

In season 2 episode 4 Jack Carter's daughter Zoe is supposed to go live with her mom, but she doesn't want to and she exclaims "Don't I get a say in this?" Well, I've never been married and I don't have kids, but I don't think this is a decision that the parents made before the divorce, that Jack would get her for a year and his wife would get her for a year. Kids really don't know what is best for them, and adults don't really know either, but they do have more life experience. Being divorced obviously makes things more difficult, but they are trying to be amicable--that should count for something. I just don't think teens can think straight, they're too emotional, hormonal, and dramatic--ok so that was redundant, but it's clear, "it's a barbarity that clarity is a rarity." Why are teens portrayed as being smarter than adults, because it's just not true. I think it's because teens don't actually portray teens on TV or in the movies. They're usually 20something, only on the Disney Channel and Bella on Twilight (but that was cutting it close).

In an episode of Bones there was a little girl in a beauty pageant. Now those things are just messed up. The parents, kids, and judges. Yeah I want my future daughter be confident, to have good posture, speaking skills, and all the things that is expected of pageants, but I don't want my daughter to be mean, and a brat. Bones was a little disturbed by pageants, parents, and little girls dressing older than they should. Shouldn't that be a sign to anyone? Kids need to be kids.

The other day, I was playing beautiful music on the piano and some obnoxious kid banged on the bass keys really loud. It scared the bageegees out of me. I just looked at him, and had to pretend to not care, but I was boiling up inside. That is just rude. Didn't your mother teach you not to bang on the piano while someone else is playing it. Bang all you want when no one else is creating pleasant sounds. I wanted to tell him off, but he's not my kid, and if the mom was there she probably would have yelled at me. Why didn't she yell at him for doing something so ugly and bratty. You should have seen the look on his face when I stopped to see who he was. It was mischievous. Really? You think that's cute? Well right now you look like. . . . like some bad kid from the scriptures. . . . Laman! (Ok so that was the meanest thing I could say about someone else's child.)

So, I guess you're wondering what the feminist movement has to do with this. Well it's simple. There isn't a parent at home to teach kids the value of being a child. To be kind. To respect adults. And to tell them to turn the TV off, and read a book instead, like The Hungry Caterpillar.

Hopefully, I will have my students whipped into submission by Christmas, and then I get to start over again after Christmas break! The joys of being a teacher!

Psych

Since I got Netflix I've been watching Psych. There are only 4 of the 6 seasons. I've watched all the episodes but one, so I started watching them again in random order. I don't want it to end. I love Psych too much, and seeing all the episodes watched would make me sad. Plus I'm afraid that if I do finish the final episode they will take it off "Instant Queue," and then I will have to add DVD to my account and pay an extra $2. No thanks. For now.

When the Right Door Opens You Just Go Through

The story you have all been waiting for: "How I got my new job"

The story is actually kinda long, so I posted it in the "Pages" tab click on the link to your right (not mine) with the same title.

A Spell of Happiness

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really love The Peachkeeper, and so I figured Garden Spells would be good, and it is, but I was surprised by a few things. The Peachkeeper has minimum to 0 swearing (as far as I can remember), and the "romance" scenes isn't as "romantic" or not as detailed as GS is (I know I'm somewhat naive, but that is why I figured GS would be just as good). I don't want to compare the books, they are both equally good and entertaining, but I was surprised by the language and "romance" in GS

I do enjoy third person narrative, especially an omniscient narrator, it's very rare these days, the narrator got into all the minds of several characters, and the reader is able to see different scenes in Bascom, North Carolina, and not just the Waverly home. The characters are lovable and jump off the page. Really, they are well developed and each character's presence affects the tone/setting, especially other characters.

The pacing of the story was just right. Sarah Addison Allen has a gift for detail, and conveying magic in the real world (I just got done reading the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and watching the film, so magic is stuck in my head right now), instead of a world created especially for magical beings. The past, present and future come together in a neat bouquet of flowers, herbs, thorns, and apples, which have a little magic of their own.

There were some funny moments, moments when I cried, felt anxious, and moments when I was just plain happy! A treat for the senses!


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ภูมใจ to be American

Yay! It's the 4th of July. A day where BBQ's and swimming are a part of the celebrations (like turkey on Thanksgiving and presents at Christmas), eat watermelon and have seed spitting contests (and pee all night long), and watch fireworks into the night (and pee because you ate too many slices of watermelon, I swear watermelon is 99.9% water and .1% fruit). I guess it is also a good time to be thankful for how lucky we are as Americans. I'm not being "arrogant," but I just call it good ol' fashion pride (the good kind and there is a good kind despite what people say). In Thai, there are different words for pride, the good kind--not boasting, but feeling good about a sense of accomplishment, a healthy dose of sef-esteem/confidence-- ภูมิใจ (pronounced poomjai), and the bad kind--arrogant, obnoxious, "I want to pop your head like a pimple until you shut-up about yourself"-- อุทธัจ (ootat) or  ความอหังการ (kwamahang gan). Around Bangkok, I would see banners that read  "ภูมใจไนไทย" (or something like that), and it made me think of that great song "I'm Proud to be an American." ภูมใจ allows us to go out and make something of ourselves. To capture the American dream. To rise from the ashes and be a noble nation/people.  It's why Americans love Kate,  Her Royal Highness Duchess of Cambridge--a middle class girl who becomes a princess, I mean duchess--that is all I want! So, I think it's ok to be ภูมใจ, and it's ok to be ภูมใจ of America. We have accomplished a  lot in our short existence. 

Yes, we are lucky to live in America, and don't you forget. It took living in a foreign country for me to realize it. Not that where I lived was bad, it just wasn't America. Thailand is a free country (but with most free countries there are boundaries and laws to protect people from their own stupidity), the name does mean free, ประเทศไทย, not "land of smiles." There are some laws in Thailand that we don't have in America that are based on tradition and culture--like you can't talk bad about the king, but a taxi driver will go off on the prince/future king (???), or you can't sit on, or pose, like a Buddha statue in a picture to be a cute or funny tourist, because you will get arrested. I saw Brokedown Palace--you don't want to get arrested. (It's scary being in a foreign country and going to their jails, and facing their court system, and not really knowing what is going on around you because of a language barrier). Of course, I love Thailand (like I love America, it is my second home), and admire the people's devotion and respect to their culture, traditions, and laws (I try my best to respect their customs and beliefs--I never talk bad about the king, he's cool). We have things that we honor and respect--the flag.

So back to why I started writing this . . . ภูมใจ to be American

1. A little website called Facebook
2. Freedom of Speech
3. Freedom to not listen to others overusing (abusing) their freedom of speech
4. Freedom to be Creative and innovative
5. Decent education
6. You can gossip about anyone in Hollywood to make money (i.e. Us and Star magazines)
7. Fireworks on the 4th of July
8. You can drink water from the faucet

There are a bajillion things that makes America great. And yes, I am ภูมใจ to be American!

Netflix Is a Very Bad Thing. . . For Me

For People like me Netflix is a very bad thing. Last week sometime, I discovered a show called Veronica Mars. After the first episode I was hooked. Blast those cliffhangers! I've basically been watching it nonstop--before bed, when I wake up. When I'm not at home, by my computer, I'm wishing I was so I could watch the next episode, and find out what really happened to Lily Kane. It's gotten to the point where Veronica Mars was in my dream.

This summer I planned on getting caught up on my reading and superseding my (too-low-set) goal for the year. (My goal is 12 books, I was looking forward to reading at least that this summer!) But no, I'm craving Veronica Mars. Before Veronica, I was watching Psych, what can I say I'm a sucker for snarky detectives.

Why am I obsessed with Netflix--I can watch episode after episode without waiting a week, and the perkiest perk of all, no commercials. I've also watched a few movies. So what is a girl like me (a girl who loves movies and tv) to do when Netflix is tempting me? Addictions can be such a waste of time, and so is writing this post.

The Tortoise Went Faster Than This

It's been almost four years since I (officially) graduated from college, three years since I walked, and 2 since I became a credentialed teacher. (It's been seven since I left Thailand.) And now, I am officially a substitute teacher for the Kern High School District! Slow and steady wins the race. Well, this must be a neverending race because the rate I'm going is slower than slow. The tortoise went faster than this, like a bajillion times faster.

I'm thinking in 3 more years I will be a full-time teacher with a salary, benefits, a retirement package and the whole shabang. The most exciting thing about being a teacher is having my own a classroom. A classroom I get to decorate and buy fun organizational stuff for. A room with bookshelves for my ever expanding library--thank you Borders for going out of business and slashing prices dramatically! My own desk with knick-knacks, freshly sharpened pencils and inked-up pens, and a new computer and printer. A mini fridge to store my lunch and my secret stash of chocolate. Neighbors that I can go to lunch with and commiserate over why the educational system is so screwed up, and students that are too-much-to-handle.

Finally feeling accomplished!

Chapter Three

Chapter Three: Unicorn Crossings

The troll didn't quite give up yet. He thought and thought. Finally, he came up with something. "I'll make two paths one with traps and one with a deep hole in case she doesn't pick one." Now the dumb troll didn't know that the unicorn was standing outside the cave to hear the nasty old trolls plan.

That afternoon the unicorn hid behind a tree to see the nasty old troll finish his plans.

She knew where all the traps were, she could fly over them. "Dum dee dum dee dum what shall I do today. Oh-me-oh-my! A path. Better yet, two paths. Which one shall I take?"

She thought the second one had a hole, so she could fly over the hole. She picked the second path. She found the hole and saw the troll setting up the net.

The unicorn waited for the net to be set up. When the troll was ready he ran out of the hole and behind a tree. The unicorn stepped up to the edge, and threw a huge stone in the hole.

The net came up. The troll was so excited he tripped over a stump, rolled down into the net, and captured himself.

What will happen next? Will the troll finally capture the unicorn? And where is the princess in this story? Stay tuned for the concluding chapters  of The Unicorn, The Troll, and the Princess . . . . 

Don't Go to the Taco Bell on Chester and Brundage, You Might Cry

Today I went to Taco Bell and ordered their Deal 2: Regular drink, Doritos and Double Decker Taco for $2.00. I said "The Double Decker Taco meal Deal 2." Straightforward, right? . . .  Wrong!

When I got my food I took it back to my table and unwrapped my taco. I noticed it looked weird. Like maybe someone added nacho cheese. So I proceeded to put mild sauce on it. Then, when I inspected it further, I noticed that it was indeed nacho cheese sauce on both sides of the soft shell. I guess the Cheesy Double Decker Taco is a new thing that they are promoting, and they decided to try  it out on me. . . . I don't know.

I took it back up to the counter and the lady basically said it was my fault because I did not specify. ??? Yeah, I didn't know I had to. (She was in the process of collecting change from another customer and seemed very put out by me that she was very short with the other guy, but she asked what I needed while helping the gentleman. I would have waited for her to finish with the guy.) I was in shock that the lady would address me in such a manner. She was very aggressive and rude. I tried to calmly explain to her that I said "I ordered deal 2 with a Double Decker Taco." That does not mean I want a Cheesy Double Decker Taco, I have never had to specify before, and this cheesy thing is new, so it would be on them to ask me which one I wanted, so they would not make a mistake and have to eat 89 cents.

Why was she biting the hand that feeds her? The customer is always right, right? All I wanted was my taco made the right way. That's all. I don't want her job, I don't want her to get in trouble, but I will make sure of it now. Where was her manager? There was another lady standing over her shoulder that did not say anything, that did not come to my aid. Luckily, a male employee came to my aid and didn't make a fuss over it, and said he would "just make a new one" and "it's no big deal." That's it! That's all I wanted! For someone to just make me the taco that I wanted. I wasn't trying to make a scene , but the lady surely did want to. Don't blame me for your incompetence, it's your job to get the order right not mine. That's why the cashier/server informs the customer that there are multiple options, and then the customer decides, and finally the cashier/server repeats back the order before hitting "TOTAL." The lady nearly brought me to tears.

At any other Taco Bell the person behind the counter would have apologized profusely and taken back the taco and give me a new one with cinnamon twists.  I'm not one to hold a grudge, or sincerely wish horrible things on people, but I sincerely wish that she gets fired--even in this economy!

Chapter Two

Chapter Two The Lost Gremlin Named Corny

The troll may not be able to catch this unicorn, but he tries and tries to capture the unicorn. He thought and thought. He finally came up with something.

"I can disguise myself as a gremlin and name the gremlin Corny. I'm so wicked," he said to himself (he likes to talk to himself, he is a loner).

The next day he hid behind a stump by the pond. The unicorn got another sip of water.  All of a sudden, a little tiny gremlin popped out. The unicorn was drinking the water she eyed the gremlin. Then she turned her eye to look at her lovely reflection. She saw that nasty old troll's reflection, and looked up (she was very clever) and saw the sneer on the gremlin's face. She found out that the gremlin was really the troll, so she decided to go along with the joke.

When he took out his net to get  ready to capture her she flew away. The troll said, "Darn it! She found out." The unicorn said, "Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha! You didn't get me."

The troll was so mad he turned back into a troll and turned blue.

I wrote the story in pencil, I am surprised that the story has lasted this long. Growing up, I was told that pen lasts longer, and doesn't smear like pencil--well I proved the critics wrong. I know there are a lot of mistakes, but I didn't have an editor to tell me that I was making a lot of leaps. My fourth grade imagination is not like a J.K. Rowling or Jane Austen, and yes I did take lots of leaps in writing this story visualizing the scene at the pond, expecting the reader to just know the actions of the unicorn and troll. The illustrations help too!

I didn't realize it at the time, but I made a pure and perfect animal really vain.

P.S. In this story gremlins are suppose to be cute and good fairy creatures, like Gizmo before water spills on him in the classic movie Gremlins.

The Story I wrote in the 4th Grade: Chapter One

While cleaning out the garage and going through boxes of old stuff--stuff from Thailand, stuff from my childhood through high school, and early college years, I lovingly call my "goof-off years"--I found a story that I wrote and illustrated in the fourth grade: The Unicorn, the Troll, and the Princess. I really liked unicorns as a child. I still want one!

Well I decided to edit it (mostly change punctuation and spelling errors, and take out repetitive phrases), and post it here chapter by chapter (there are only 5 short chapters),  along with three poems I wrote: "Trolls," "Unicorns," "A Princess."

Chapter 1 Almost Captured

Once there was a unicorn. It was so friendly, so wise, and so talented. It had wings like a dove and flew swiftly through the air. Everyone liked the nice friendly unicorn, but a troll wanted to capture her horn for the power. The power was so strong it could purify poisoned water. The troll wanted to capture this unicorn so he could take the horn for the power.

When the unicorn heard this she was so frightened she went into the forest so she couldn't get captured. She went to a pond to have a cool sip of water (it was a very hot day). She stood up to see her lovely reflection. Her reflection looked funny, then she noticed a troll was walking up to her with a net. When the troll was about to capture her, she flew away. He tripped over a stone fell into the net and floated down into the pond. The troll said, "I'll get you next time!"

Brought to You by the Letter O

O isn't necessarily my favorite letter in the alphabet (because of a certain billionaire's self-absorbed use of it) like Q and X (I especially love K), but I do appreciate it because it is one of the underused vowels (Wheel of Fortune will agree), and I do like the underdogs (the reason I rooted for the Jets).

One of the coolest words in the English language is "onomatopoeia." O is used 4 times, once for no reason (it's like a silent E), and it basically comes after every consonant. So, with those hints spelling onomatopoeia should be easy, right? Yeah, I know it still takes practice. Another reason why onomatopoeia is so cool is because of its meaning. It's that word that you can never think of when you want to say, "what is it called when a word makes a sound? You know a sound word like 'buzz' or 'beep' or meow.' That word." That's what onomatopoeia is... a sound word. I know onomatopoeia sounds like a terrible skin disease that causes puss to leak out of boils, or an Italian saying in their sing-songy English "I gotta go pee-a."

I wonder if the fantastical Cirque de Soleil show "O" in Vegas is short for onomatopoeia, and the producers couldn't figure out how to spell it correctly and just gave up . . .

What Is This Really About?

One of my facebook friends from college current status is a quote from the hilarious show Community (by far one of the funniest shows ever, like up there with Arrested Development), but he didn't stop there. He continued to post quotes from the show, and they are all definitely funny. Of course I added my "hahaha!" in there (in case you didn't know I disdain "lol" and never use it because it is overused,  most of the time, inappropriately--I burned my finger lol. My boyfriend cheated on me lol. I gave you herpes lol, ok so that one is appropriately used but you get the drift, and I also don't like it because people are really saying laugh[ing] out loud, come on we really don't say that in a conversation you just laugh so why not use the onomatopoeia for laughing "haha?"), and another guy just clicked on "Like." That is not enough.

Why doesn't facebook offer a "Love" button. Like is not intense enough. It's a weak emotion. It's noncommital. It's like saying "Meh. I don't love, but I don't hate." And that is not how we should talk to our friends. We need to love what they do, or hate it, and we tell them that to their faces ... sometimes. . .  right?! And we especially "Love" everything about Community.

Jeff Winger's snarky comments. Abed's infatuation with John Hughes and pop culture--he's like "I see your value now" Rainman. Brita who tries to be extreme and nonconformist when she really isn't. Pierce who is creepy, and oblivious to his creepiness. Shirley, sweet Shirley, who explodes if you badmouth Jesus (and I agree with her). Annie, who has her panties wound so tightly that she is one explosion short of an aneurism. Finally, Troy, the jock he's too. . .  ambidextrous . . .  I mean ambiguous.

Yes, last night's episode was funny, and I have been waiting forever for new ones, one can only watch the stop-motion Christmas special for so long to fill the void, and in case you were wondering I thought it was the most Christmasy Christmas episode of any show Fall season.

So, yes I wanted to "Love" all the comments my friend made because they were more than just "meh." Oh, and Facebook doesn't have a "Hate" button either.

Do Pretentious People Know They Are Pretentious?

I have met a lot of pretentious people in my life--and I apologize if I've ever given off the pretentious vibe --and I wonder if they realize they are pretentious. I met a boy in college who thought he was the pooh, but he wasn't. He was unkempt with greasy hair and grungy clothes, and he liked to give his opinion when it wasn't warranted.

One time I was talking to one of the teachers (an adjunct who had a Master's and was accepted to a graduate program) about fairy tales, and I guess you can say he had first hand experience with fairy tales because he used to live in Germany, the land of fairy tales--Grimms Brothers, Neuschwanstein--and the pretentious undergrad rudely butted into our conversation and inisted that the adjunct was talking about a fable. A very different sort of story (although, they are both included in the folk tale category) and a very specific type of storytelling. Yes, fairy tales have morals like fables, but they are implicit not explicit like fables, and besides, since when has Cinderella ever been a dog? They kind of went back-and-forth for a while (really, it was ridiculous and the pretentious fool should have just shut up when he had the chance). After the room was cleared, the smug pretentious jerk looked up fables on-line and found out he was wrong, but never owned up to it like a pretentious fatherless child would do. I only know that he looked it up because after he left the room I looked up the history of the computer that he used and he googled fables. I felt pretty good after that.

That was then this is now, and I ran into another pretentious person the other day, and she was offering me unwarranted advice. I am older than her, have had cooler experiences than her, and I know what I am doing. Anyways, I did look up her suggestion, and maybe she was right, but that doesn't  mean I have to listen to her . . . because she is pretentious.