So You Don't Know Max Brooks?

I started reading Max Brooks earlier this year, with his second work, World War Z, his history of the world wide zombie outbreak which almost caused the extinction of the human race. I found the survivors' accounts gripping. The most gripping for me was the story of the girl that at the age of six was the sole survivor from a town that holed up in a church; she is stuck in her six year old mind and can copy the moan of the undead perfectly. It is enough to send shivers up the spine of even the most hardened individual. This led me to read his other book, The Zombie Survival Guide.



I wish I had read this book sooner, so I could have begun my preparations earlier. He provides you a comprehensive overview of how to survive different levels of a zombie outbreak, from a Class 1 to a Class 4. Much of his advice would be useful in any large disaster or societal breakdown. His writing style is conversational and easy to read, I finished the book in less than two days, while completing a myriad of other tasks. He recommends resources to gain the skills you may be lacking in order so you can prepare for any eventuality. The publisher listed this work as humor, but I can find nothing humorous about an outbreak of the undead, the destruction of society, and the extinction of all animal life on the planet earth. You can think I'm crazy if you wish, but reading the historical cases of zombie outbreaks should make any sane person more than a little nervous. Once you read this book, you can not pretend that you weren't aware of the possibility and have no one to blame but yourself if you are caught unprepared. Please read this book for your family’s sake, if not your own. I wish you and your family the best of luck in your survival.

And People Say Movies Aren't Educational

I've gotten to watch four movies recently, one in the theater. Let me start off with that one, "The Incredible Hulk." I remember watching the show as a kid, though my parents were told by others that we shouldn't be allowed to because it would give us nightmares. BAH! We went and saw it as a family, as we tend to do. Everyone enjoyed the movie. Lots of action, it even got intense at times. It's amazing what judicial use of sound effects can do, that excessive amounts of blood can not. The casting was perfect. The Hulk looked so much better than in the other movie. They even got in all the necessary cameos, including Bill Bixby. It was almost as good as "Iron Man". I am looking forward to the Thor, Captain America, and Avenger movies.

The least favorite of my four recent movies was "The Superhero Movie", a parody film. It was stupid and funny all at the same time. Not a bad way to kill a couple of hours. Drake Bell was really good as our Spidey character.

The other two films were romantic comedies: "Definitely, Maybe" and "The Holiday".

We watched "Definitely, Maybe" last night. One of the reasons I wanted to see this movie was Ryan Reynolds, he's hilarious in everything he does. You may know him from "Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place" or "Blade: Trinity". He even had a small role in "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle". One of my favorite Ryan Reynolds movies is "Waiting", it's about a group of waiters at a restaurant, it is disgustingly funny. The premise behind "Definitely, Maybe" is that his daughter receives a sex education class at school, and it results in her wanting to know the story of her parents and how they got together. Dad agrees to tell the story, but only if he changes the women involved names. The girl makes a game out of trying to figure out which of the women from her father's past is her mom. This movie is very sweet, and it showcases how complicated love can be. It was also very funny.

Now to the movie that actually taught me something, "The Holiday". A cast of actors that I love was the big draw to this movie: Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jack Black, and even Jude Law. The plot: two women that are both trying to recover from breakups decide to escape to another country over the Christmas holidays. Amanda, Cameron Diaz's character, has an inner-monologue that sounds like the movie phone guy. Hilarious. The courtships in this story are very stumbling, and in that way they feel real, though they are exaggerated for comedic effect. The thing I learned from this movie was that there is a relatively inexpensive way to travel the world. You can actually sign up to trade houses with people all over the world. I didn't think it was a real thing, so I did a Google search. It is real. Now all I need is to own a home, then world travel will be within my grasp.

This Man Scares Me

I keep hearing from Republicans that McCain isn't a clone of Bush. Looking at this, he's probably worse.

Fading Enthuisasm

I have noticed that when I start a new project I am full of energy for it, whether it's work related or related to one of my hobbies. I'm excited to work on it daily, then at some point I begin getting distracted by other things and interests. I started thinking about this because with school ending I was excited to get back to the Christmas stocking I have been working on throughout the year; then I found directions for making cloth baby blocks. I started working on them almost right away, once I got the needed material anyway.

In this case, it's partly because the baby blocks are much simpler and I can see the progress more easily. Artistically speaking, the stocking will be more beautiful when complete. It also is related to the fact that the stocking will probably never be used by its intended recipient, which makes it a bit silly to finish it. But it's not only with this project, it's with most things that I start. Like sanding down my daughter's furniture to repaint it, which is terribly hard work. One desk has over fifty years of paint on it. It is hot and dusty work, I can't do it early in the morning because I don't want the noise of the sander to wake anyone up. I will finish it this summer.

If I force myself to continue to work on the projects that are hobby related, it begins to feel like a job and I stop enjoying it as much. I know that in many ways that is ridiculous feeling, since I chose the activity. For some things, I know why it happens. Researching my family tree, which I haven't done in ages, gets left behind because it is a lot of drudgery until you find something and right now I'm at a wall in my research. And of course projects for work are work, though often still enjoyable. In fact, I have to work this summer or learning a new curriculum and a word wall to go with it. I'll start that next week, while the kiddo is at summer camp.

I know that this happens to many people, at least people with multiple hobbies. Does anyone have any tips on how to combat this tendency?

Stripped by Eddie Izzard

Ok, my husband and I have been huge fans of Eddie Izzard for about a decade. So when I got an email from The Bee Keepers, the Eddie Izzard fan club, that he was coming to Houston we were shocked and excited. We ordered our tickets immediately. Most of the acts we want to see go to Dallas/Fort Worth or San Antonio, which are about six hours away. Way too expensive to buy the tickets, pay for gas, and rent a hotel room.

So we went last night, had a very nice dinner at an Italian place in downtown called Mingalone. Then it was on to the show at Jones Hall. The show started about 10 minutes late, which was fine with us. There was a mix up with our tickets, which actually resulted in us getting better seats. We were seven rows away from the stage, center stage.

Now Eddie is a bit out there for many. He's a liberal, British transvestite. Though he was an off-duty transvestite for this show. We were very curious how he would be received in one of the reddest cities in the reddest states in America. Most everyone in the audience was laughing at the beginning of the show. He got cheers and jeers when he said that we should elect Obama. Though he made some jokes, and most of the audience began laughing again. His topic was, kind of, the history of civilian, though he tends to go off on apparently random tangents. I love his tangents, he always manages to bring them back around to wear he started, or gets the audience to "lead" him back. He lost a few of the audience permanently when he did a bit about the Bible, a portion of the audience didn't know who he was.

My husband and I loved the show, we laughed until it hurt. I got a cake or death t-shirt. I've included a lego clip of his cake or death skit below.