Bell and Whistle

Monday, November 25, 2013

Hunger Memes

You know what that last post was lacking? Memes.

That's "All My Thoughts On The Hunger Games Jumbled Together In One Post." Spoilers, or something.

It's 12:20 AM, and I've got fifty pages left in Mockingjay. A certain firebomb has just gone off in the Capitol (you who have read it know what that means). I have to get up at 6 AM. Do I push through, stay up an hour or two longer to finish, then just be a wreck the next day? Do I risk simply not being able to keep my eyes open and falling asleep with twenty pages left? I opt to save it for later, so I can plow through until the end in one big chunk.

The first thing I do when I get in to work the next morning, after answering the two or three emails waiting for me, is finish the book. This proves to be a mistake, as I can't concentrate on anything else for the rest of the day, and keep going over the ending in my head, trying to make sense of it.

I don't think I've ever read a book which changed tone so quickly. At 100 pages left, it's a war thriller; with 50, a shock; at 10, I have resigned myself to the fact that it's a deeply depressing book about the futility of struggle, mired in the inhuman morality which infects all the characters. Then, on the next to last page the tone of the book completely turns and it ends with one of the most hopeful, positive endings you could ask for.

(If you disagree on that last point, I'll explain myself at the end.)

Happy 10th Anniversary, Dear Blog

If you're reading this, it means that I forgot to come up with something funny or insightful between April, when I created this scheduled post, and today.

Actually, I did, but thought it would be funny to leave that message there.

But today is, in fact, the blog's 10th anniversary (or, at least, the anniversary of the old blog). So in honor, I'll try to dig up the 10 most memorable posts—one from each year—of this blog's existence, and give a little write up of what was going on that year.

Wrong Emails

Nov 6th, 2013:

RE: Big Top Math

Isabella did not pass her Big Top Math test today. Please be sure she is practicing her math facts. Thanks

Carolyn Ayers
1st Grade Teacher
Stone Lakes
<phone number>
<email address>

* * *

Nov 14th, 2013:

RE: student of the month

Isabella was chosen for our October student of the month. There is an invitation for you to join us on Monday, November 18th for the celebration in her binder.