Weekend wrap
The weekend, not surprisingly, didn't work out the way I had expected. I should be used to that by now. It wasn't a bad weekend. It just wasn't what I had expected.
What did I expect? Stitching. Lots of stitching.
What did I actually do?
I watched things.
Finished Season 2 of Tru Calling. This show ended rather abruptly and wasn't as good as the first season but that's because they didn't give it a chance. The dichotomy of changing fate was becoming interesting, though I wasn't crazy about Jack. But I liked Tru and I liked her conviction to the cause.
Got caught up with Primeval. While the SFX are more like British tv in the 70s, I do find the show interesting. The relationships between the characters, even the stereotypical characters, are complex, more than I expected. I still prefer Stephen to anyone else but I do like Cutter and it should be interesting to see where they take the show in the 3rd season.
Caught up with Supernatural. Almost. I'm still an episode behind. But for a change I'm in the same season that they are airing on television. I'm enjoying this season more than the last. It's less gory for one thing. But I think the story is stronger.
Saw The Overwhelming at the Salt Lake Acting Company. This play was different than I expected, in a good way. A white tenure-track professor brings his black wife and the white teenage son from his first marriage to Rwanda on the eve (not literally) of the massacre of Tutsi by Hutus. The wife is an essayist and she wants to bring the "truth" of Rwanda to the Americans. The problem is that truth is very fluid and depends a lot on who is talking. I liked that there were no answers in this play. I didn't like that the questions themselves weren't clear. They hired a dialect coach for this play and that made a huge difference. I absolutely believed that the actors were French and Australian and Pakistani and African by way of Belgian and French influences. That was very impressive. The play was neither happy nor sad, though plenty of bad things happen. But it was emotionally distant. I thought that worked here. One of the better productions.
I read. Not much, but a little. Book #111, Marked by PC Cast and Kristin Cast. I don't know if I would have picked up this YA vampire series if I hadn't been sent book 4 to review in Audio. I'm learning that I don't want to start a series in the middle if I can avoid it. I was blown away, frankly. In Zooey Redbird's world, ours only different, vampyres have always existed. It's a genetic/hormonal thing. Either it happens to you or it doesn't. But when Zooey is marked, her whole life changes. Her home life left a lot to be desired. Her mother had remarried an ultra-religious fanatic and she made it clear that her husband was much more important than her kids. So when she finds herself at the House of Night, it's like she's reborn. And perhaps she is. From the first, she's different. She's not a fledgling. Or she doesn't behave like one. She is clearly on the path to become a High Priestess of Nyx. But that doesn't make getting through high school any easier. Zooey felt real. She's an innately good person who can't let injustice go unremarked. Her new friends are firmly behind her as is her grandmother, her greatest supporter. But if you're looking for a "Twilight"-style high school, you'll be disappointed. This is the real deal, where teenagers have sex and swear and drink. It maybe podunk Oklahoma, but it's real high school and it felt real. 4 stars.
I shopped. More clothes, though not a lot. Holiday gifts. I am just about done. There is only one more thing I want to get for my niece and nephew but just about everyone else is done. Not bad considering it's mid October. I have a few other things I need to buy for various reasons, but the bulk of the gifts are done. I also bought things for me. I probably shouldn't have but I decided that life is uncertain and to eat dessert first. Since I shouldn't be eating dessert, I am working with shopping therapy. Shoe shopping is on the list for the coming weekend.
I cleaned. I can see my desk. Sort of. I can almost see my kitchen table and my countertops. I have a few de-clutter projects in mind for the coming weeks. I paid bills. Depressing but that's the way it goes. Tomorrow I'll get the bad news from my tenants about when they are moving. I've been avoiding thinking about it, but life happens, you just have to live it, live with it and live through it. I refuse to believe that things won't eventually work out.
I didn't write the reviews that I need to write. I didn't get all the packages ready for the post office. I didn't get books together for the book exchange that I was invited to attend. My to-do list wasn't touched at all and I did have some critical things on it. But it's a whole new week and things happen in the order in which they were meant to. It isn't that I'm particularly fatalistic because not doing anything is not a solution. But I'm trying to look up and forward rather than down and backward. Things never go 100% the way we want them to. Everything after that is attitude. I've been going through a tough time and about the only thing I can really control is my attitude.
Here's to a great week!
What did I expect? Stitching. Lots of stitching.
What did I actually do?
I watched things.
Finished Season 2 of Tru Calling. This show ended rather abruptly and wasn't as good as the first season but that's because they didn't give it a chance. The dichotomy of changing fate was becoming interesting, though I wasn't crazy about Jack. But I liked Tru and I liked her conviction to the cause.
Got caught up with Primeval. While the SFX are more like British tv in the 70s, I do find the show interesting. The relationships between the characters, even the stereotypical characters, are complex, more than I expected. I still prefer Stephen to anyone else but I do like Cutter and it should be interesting to see where they take the show in the 3rd season.
Caught up with Supernatural. Almost. I'm still an episode behind. But for a change I'm in the same season that they are airing on television. I'm enjoying this season more than the last. It's less gory for one thing. But I think the story is stronger.
Saw The Overwhelming at the Salt Lake Acting Company. This play was different than I expected, in a good way. A white tenure-track professor brings his black wife and the white teenage son from his first marriage to Rwanda on the eve (not literally) of the massacre of Tutsi by Hutus. The wife is an essayist and she wants to bring the "truth" of Rwanda to the Americans. The problem is that truth is very fluid and depends a lot on who is talking. I liked that there were no answers in this play. I didn't like that the questions themselves weren't clear. They hired a dialect coach for this play and that made a huge difference. I absolutely believed that the actors were French and Australian and Pakistani and African by way of Belgian and French influences. That was very impressive. The play was neither happy nor sad, though plenty of bad things happen. But it was emotionally distant. I thought that worked here. One of the better productions.
I read. Not much, but a little. Book #111, Marked by PC Cast and Kristin Cast. I don't know if I would have picked up this YA vampire series if I hadn't been sent book 4 to review in Audio. I'm learning that I don't want to start a series in the middle if I can avoid it. I was blown away, frankly. In Zooey Redbird's world, ours only different, vampyres have always existed. It's a genetic/hormonal thing. Either it happens to you or it doesn't. But when Zooey is marked, her whole life changes. Her home life left a lot to be desired. Her mother had remarried an ultra-religious fanatic and she made it clear that her husband was much more important than her kids. So when she finds herself at the House of Night, it's like she's reborn. And perhaps she is. From the first, she's different. She's not a fledgling. Or she doesn't behave like one. She is clearly on the path to become a High Priestess of Nyx. But that doesn't make getting through high school any easier. Zooey felt real. She's an innately good person who can't let injustice go unremarked. Her new friends are firmly behind her as is her grandmother, her greatest supporter. But if you're looking for a "Twilight"-style high school, you'll be disappointed. This is the real deal, where teenagers have sex and swear and drink. It maybe podunk Oklahoma, but it's real high school and it felt real. 4 stars.
I shopped. More clothes, though not a lot. Holiday gifts. I am just about done. There is only one more thing I want to get for my niece and nephew but just about everyone else is done. Not bad considering it's mid October. I have a few other things I need to buy for various reasons, but the bulk of the gifts are done. I also bought things for me. I probably shouldn't have but I decided that life is uncertain and to eat dessert first. Since I shouldn't be eating dessert, I am working with shopping therapy. Shoe shopping is on the list for the coming weekend.
I cleaned. I can see my desk. Sort of. I can almost see my kitchen table and my countertops. I have a few de-clutter projects in mind for the coming weeks. I paid bills. Depressing but that's the way it goes. Tomorrow I'll get the bad news from my tenants about when they are moving. I've been avoiding thinking about it, but life happens, you just have to live it, live with it and live through it. I refuse to believe that things won't eventually work out.
I didn't write the reviews that I need to write. I didn't get all the packages ready for the post office. I didn't get books together for the book exchange that I was invited to attend. My to-do list wasn't touched at all and I did have some critical things on it. But it's a whole new week and things happen in the order in which they were meant to. It isn't that I'm particularly fatalistic because not doing anything is not a solution. But I'm trying to look up and forward rather than down and backward. Things never go 100% the way we want them to. Everything after that is attitude. I've been going through a tough time and about the only thing I can really control is my attitude.
Here's to a great week!