Book Review: The Hunger Games (Book One)

Where do I start with this book? This is incredibly hard to review and even more complicated to write in a fashion that is as calm and real as possible, allowing you, the reader/viewer, to understand why I'm so mad. We live in a time where having money gives you power, and having power gives you greed, and having greed gives some the ability to destroy anything they view as a threat to their luxurious lifestyle. There are constant battles between who should be taxed the most, or who should "receive the most in tax breaks during tax season" allowing for those with money to keep most of their money, and individuals and families with less money to be taxed for being alive. Why should someone who makes over $250,000 a year have to pay more in taxes? They need that money to buy more cars, luxury trips, houses, clothes, plastic surgery, and things to entertain themselves. Why should the lazy people who work 60 hours a week be allowed to go to the movies and buy a new pair of pants? They're the ones who decided that they wanted to work at McDonald's instead of making a real person out of themselves... right?

Right?

I have an idea. Why don't we separate them from us? If they want to cry about being so tired, over worked, under paid, and depressed... instead of just trying harder... then why don't we just take our money and our power and build our own empire? They can come in when they've earned the right to make money. All they have to do is work those 60 hours a week and go to college full time, and in no time they'll have money and then they'll understand why they're lazy, right? Lazy people with their hands out, always wanting help and hand outs. Always getting sick and wanting us, the real Americans, to pay for their health care since they are too lazy to pay $400 a month for it. If they would stop buying alcohol and drugs, and spending money on food, they would have that extra $400 a month to have health care coverage. Why should I, someone who has a lot of money, have to help out people who don't do anything for me? How hard is it to flip a burger?

Right?

Separation. Finally! Now I don't have to worry about those people making me feel bad all of the time. I'm so tired of listening to them cry about how much their ankles, knees, and back hurt. Buy better shoes, right?! At least we're separated now. Now I can have all of the food I want, all of the clothes I want, cars, houses, movies, vacations, fun... everything I deserve because I have money. After all my father made this company give me my job, and it's hard because I have emails to answer every day and things to look after. My life is so hard. So much harder than the people flipping burgers. But at least we're separated now and we're a perfect example now of how fantastic you're life can be if you just try. Just work harder. Who cares if you're tired, worn out, over worked, under paid, and in pain all of the time? Just work harder. Lazy.

Lazy.

I'm bored. There isn't anything to do around here anymore. We've seen all of the movies, we've taken all of the vacations, we've done everything worth doing. They're all so lazy... they're still living in poverty over in their area. They must not want to live like us! They must love how gross they are. They must think they're better than us! Who the hell do they think they are? We should take away their food and see how much they like that! Thinking they're better than us because they have love, family, and each other. They'll turn on each other! This will be great! We should all watch. Watch them beg us for help again. Help to come live here, in our glorious land, where we've all worked to get here. Well except for the kids that were born here... they just got lucky. Some people are just lucky.

Suzanne Collins recognizes the problem we're at the beginning of and writes from a place in the future where we're separated, the rich control the poor, and reality television shows are used as an arena where children fight to the death for life and safety for their families. From a place in the future where the United States is no longer the United States and districts supply for the Capital that lives in luxury and happiness. Those lazy people that supply for the Capital. Who do they think they are? Trying to have anything to do with us? They're just selfish people who don't understand our needs. Don't understand that we need food to live. Let's punish them to teach them a lesson about obedience! Teach them that they're never safe because of how gross they are. Lazy. Filthy. Despicable.

Suzanne Collins brings us through the life of Katniss Everdeen. The heroin, the saviour, the one who is supposed to save Panem; the city of districts that provide for the Capital and battle the idea of death every day, unless they can somehow find food (tree bark, plants, a squirrel, maybe some rotten potatoes) for their entire family to survive on for a week... sometimes a month. We live her life with her as she enters "The Hunger Games," a yearly event held by the Capital where children eighteen and younger are chosen at random to fight to the death on cable television... for the Capital's pleasure. We experience her pain, her fear, her struggle, and her battle to try to make it home to her family. We experience what it would be like, what it could be like, in the future if and when financial greed becomes too powerful that people control people (again) and force each other to the breaking point of war. A war that would end the control of the poor, or possibly end the lives of the people that provide for the rich. Brilliantly written, Suzanne Collins dangerously dances on the edge of safety as she writes this novel close to peoples hearts, inspiring them to see situations in their own lives that relate to how the Capital and Panem interact with one another. As politics between Republicans and Democrats become more and more heated these days, we're introduced to our future if we don't watch our steps.

4 out of 5 STARS; losing one star because she spent too much time engaging her teenage audience in a love story between Katniss and Peeta, and not enough time on the reality of the situation.

Book Review: The Mermaid Chair

Several years ago I was introduced to a book entitled "The Secret Life of Bees," and I adored it. I was intrigued by the author Sue Monk Kidd, and decided to look into other works of hers. When I ran across The Mermaid Chair at the Holland Hall Book Fair here in Tulsa, half of the reviews were less than positive and it sort of encouraged me to not read this book. Other readers reviews had suggested that Sue Monk Kidd had dropped the ball and' didn't follow through with creating another masterpiece like "The Secret Life of Bees."



About a month ago I decided that it was time to stop listening to other people and to give this book a shot, and I am so glad that I did that. Of course this book is nothing like "The Secret Life of Bees!" It has nothing to do with that time frame, that type of lifestyle, and that type of being! The story follows the life of a woman named Jessie Sullivan who is dealing with the mental breakdown of her mother who has chosen to deal with her pain from the loss of her husband thirty years prior, by removing a finger on her hand with a butchers knife. Unhappily married Jessie goes to stay with her mother on the island she grew up on and winds up falling in love with a monk, having an affair and trying to decide what is best for her, Jessie, the person who is actually important! We go through the ups and downs of a woman who is sad, and depressed, and has lost her way in her own life and what she loves. She has been married for twenty years and loves her husband, but doesn't love the fact that she feels as though she had to give up who she was to maintain the lifestyle the have lived for so long.

If you're a woman and you have ever been in a relationship where you feel as though you have been asked to give more than you receive, then you will appreciate this book! Sue Monk Kidd did a wonderful job capturing Jessie's life and making the reader start to wonder why certain things in their own life make them unhappy. For a book that is just under 400 pages, it's an easy read, but it does start off a little slow in the beginning.

My only little complaint, and this is just my own personal preferences with novels, I get tired of everything having a predictable, happy ending. I would have been interested to see the ending go in a different direction, but I gave the book 4 out of 5 stars on goodreads.com and most definitely suggest that people should give this book a shot.

Stop Doing That You Little Punk!

I am a med student studying the veterinary medical field, and therefore I have animals. It's a given, if you are in that industry, that you have animals, and love animals, and want to squish their cute little heads in your hands and give them a million, billion kisses! They're my kids, since I don't have kids yet, and even when I DO have children, they'll still be my kids.

So, let me gush for a little bit about my kids and how awesome they are... totally better than yours. ;) Ha, kidding of course... sort of.

Meet Molly, my wonderful one year old Corgi/Heeler mix. She is full of spunk, pazazz, mystery, and energy. A lot of energy. She doesn't ever get tired... ever! She was found on the side of the highway when she was three months old, and a my friend's wife hung on to her until I was able to cope with having another dog. About six months (or so) prior I put my 9 year old Golden Retriever (Duke - he didn't know the Bush's baked beans recipe, I asked) to sleep due to cancer.



Yes. That's a little kids, pink sweater vest. She used to get cold in the snow, so I covered up the top half of her body that didn't involve the messy section.

Enter Stewie, my Snowshoe cat that is almost eight years old. She was two months old when I got him, sitting in the tiny little hands of a little girl outside of WalMart. Her mother was trying to get rid of the kittens that her cat had just had and well, I'm a damned sucker. He's evil, mean, plotting my death (just like Stewie on Family Guy), and amazing, wonderful, and I love him to death. Jerk. He is getting awesome in his old years though.



I know MamaKat's prompt asked what my pets least likable character trait was, but I love them a lot and what annoys me today, doesn't annoy me tomorrow. So I will show you their other side - the side that makes me want to scream sometimes, but only after laughing until tears roll down my face.

When Molly gets going she runs... a lot... up and down our long hallway, through the living room, around the kitchen and through our roommates bedroom that is attached to the kitchen. Down the hallway, over the bed, down the hallway... and repeat... 27,000,000 times. She chases her tail, leaves puppy slobber on Stewie's head after instigating devil kitty to come out. Meet Molly when she enters crazy town!



Molly acting like that turns my Stewie cat into devil kitty. His ears go back and his eyes dilate, his tail starts to flick back and forth and you can see as the "kill Molly" thoughts start to formulate in his brain. To pep himself up, he goes to hide in his blue trash can and transform into BATTLE MODE! Molly VS. Stewie, Battle 1,596... commence!



Something amazing happens after transformation. Stewie closes his eyes, reaches his inner chi, and begins to levitate! It is at this point that Molly has realized she no longer has a place to hid and that she will be getting a 12 pound cat straight to the face. I was able to capture an extremely amusing (and fuzzy) levitation, battle mode moment for your viewing enjoyment. Note the look of "oh shit" on Molly's face, and the no legs on the ground, I'm flying through the air moment of Stewie.



So again, after I'm done peeing my pants from laughing so hard, I get frustrated with the F5 path of destruction that was left behind. Then I laugh again.

Remember to stop by MamaKat's and show her love sometime!

Routines

Aren't routines strange? We never think about them. We never pay attention to the fact we're doing them. We just get into habits and routines and carry on in life. I was driving to work this morning, following my regular routine, heading towards the gas station to grab a diet Dr. Pepper fountain drink. As I'm winding through construction, around orange barrels that I swear are placed in such a way to mimic the game frogger, and towards my employment "destination," I realized this routine was engraved into me. I do this five times a week, twice a day (the driving part at least), and have gotten to the point where I can have an entire fantasy life flow through my head on my drive to work without even concentrating on what's happening in my real life!

That sounds super dangerous.

I bet it is. Oi.

Well once I started thinking about it, I started having a bit of fun with it. The gas station I stop at every morning is Kum & Go (yeah... I know... haha). Why do I stop there? Well it surely isn't because of the ridiculous namesake it carries. No, it's because of it's placement on my routine path. It is on the right side of the road, right before I turn left to head to my store. It doesn't compete with my routine, it is just there. So where is the fun part, you ask? Well, I love QuikTrip and their new Kitchens. For all of you unfortunate souls out there that have never experienced Tulsa's own QuikTrip, I deeply apologize. This is a super gas station, completely equipped with a crapper AND a mini kitchen/restaurant for your enjoyment. Phoenix, Arizona just about peed their pants when they received one!

Back to my story...

So I'm a QuikTrip loyalist, but since the construction on Hwy 44 had halted my previous routine to work, I had to switch to Kum & Go to maintain my diet cancer creating, fake sugar soda needs every morning! Since I work for a company that prides themselves on kissing the butt cheeks of their customers (appropriately so sometimes... some of our customers are wonderful!), I started imagining QuikTrip calling me to ask why I hadn't shopped with them in awhile? How would I answer this question, since clearly I'm their most valued customer with my .50 purchases?

I started feeling special inside. I was making myself feel necessary and needed... highly valued on the red carpet of gas buyers. It's an important carpet people! The lights were shining on me, the cameras and microphones were in my face awaiting my response on how they can change to get me to come back and spend .50! I smiled at all of them, in my head of course, since this was all a daydream. In reality I was winding through frogger orange construction cones at this point. "Well," I started. "Turn my old QuikTrip into a kitchens and I will make a new routine," was my response. Everyone applauded my extremely humdrum response and immediately started construction on my new QuikTrip.

CRAP.

Red light! *braaaaaaake*

Oh yeah... time to turn right and pull into Kum & Go and get my diet Dr. Pepper, before turning left and heading to work...

I need a change in my life, wouldn't you say? Red carpets for gas buyers? Ha. Until next time, folks.

Saaavings

So MamaKat made mention of the communities called BlogFrog and Frugal Living and how amazing they are and what they have to offer bloggers and people who like to live better in general. Well I started scrolling through Frugal Living and researching this amazing thing called couponing and then saaaaaved on our groceries yesterday!!

I sat down and googled "grocery coupons" and spent an hour printing off 40 coupons (15 of which we actually wound up using) and then when we went to check out, we watch our $101 grocery bill drop to the mid $80s. It was so nice feeling to leave knowing that we still had a half a tank of gas (approx) in our wallets AND yummy food to eat when we got home!

So now I'm addicted. What can I say?

Everyone, if you want some awesome shoes... stop by here and check out there clearance section! Awesome, previous expensive clothing, shoes, and accessories for low $ amounts!

BlogFrog

Visit me at BlogFrog!

So Tired

So I am a med student in this crazy state that I live in, and I work full-time for a company that I really don't like that much. It's finally really catching up to me, and I just want to fall over and sleep for twenty-seven years. I'm sure that mothers out there will tell me to have some kids and then talk about what's tiring, but I am so wiped out. I couldn't even imagine having children right now, let alone finding time for my boyfriend and I to keep our relationship fresh and new. I work all of the time, and then when I'm done with that I go to school and sit in lectures for. ever.!

Tonight's lab that's due for my biology class is a letter we had to write to a congressperson about something having to do with the biology field. I chose Sullivan and reemed him for awhile about his ignorance and lack of understanding of real Americans needs. I won't get a response, and in return will not get ten bonus points, but telling him how I felt made me feel tremendous!

I would write some more, but alas class calls me yet again.

Goodbye bloggerverse.

America's Got Talent, Finale, 2010

Oh.

My.

God.

I'm dying watching this gosh darned show! There is a reason why I avoid shows like this, and the anxiety I'm feeling right now and the addiction of having to watch this show every. single. week. is why! I absolutely adore Jackie Evancho, but I love all of the other groups too and have no idea who I want to have win!

I joined BlogFrog as well kids, so you should come visit me!

Short post, that's all for now. :)

When things got bad, it's how we bonded.

It's that time of the week again. MamaKat's writer's workshop is due again! What have I chosen this week? What was it about that movie? Describe A movie you once had memorized.

The Wizard of Oz

We were, like a vast majority of other Americans were (and still are), poor when I was growing up. We went time and time again with the cable being on, and then being off. With this thing braking, those pants ripping, this and that going wrong. My mother struggled with depression and dealt with two kids the best way she knew how to. I remember there was one time when our cable had been shut off because of other bills needing to be paid, and during this particular time my sister and I were not at all bothered by it. We had not only gotten used to it, but we had realized that we could have a perfect excuse to use the dining/living room table as a fort, once again! That table was AMAZING, by the way! A spaceship, a fort, a tree house, and even a damned car at one point!

That was a traumatizing event for me, by the way. I used to own a monkey puppet that I loved with every ounce of my little soul. My sister and I were playing under the table one day, in our new car that I was driving... because duh, my sister was too young to drive! We had window cutouts, a steering wheel, all of our friends (stuffed animals) in the car with us. Shannon (my sister) and I were arguing over where we were going and when she was going to get to drive. We had the awesome heater on... or in reality there was a floor furnace under the table that was warming the inside of our "car." Well, I reached back to grab my awesome monkey only to see that his once black eyes were now brilliant white and staring at me like a spooky ghosty! He (apparently) was leaning against the furnace and his eyeballs burned the color off of them. Lucky for me, my mother was awesome and fixed his eyes with permanent marker... and off we went down the road again!

BUT... that is not the point of this post!

During our times of no cable television, we had a few options. My aunt would record weekly shows (Friends, Grace Under Fire, and the like...) for us on VHS and we would watch those, OR we would watch the Wizard of Oz, Ace Ventura, the Secret Garden, and Richie Rich over, and over, and over again. Shannon and I share the same month for our birthdays - she is the 14th of March, and I am the 19th, and this particular year the Wizard of Oz had come out around our birthdays and so we watched the movie a million times.

Shannon and I could recite every word of that movie, knew exactly when that evil witch was going to pop up, and when Dorothy was finally going to get to go home! It was the best time of our lives. That and playing and mastering every damned level of "Yoshi"... or Super Mario Brothers as you other people like to call it.

Ahh the good old times when we were poor and we found stuff to do (like going outside and being active!) that made life fun!

Moooore Paint

So I'm at work with Chris and we're helping the small handfuls of customers coming through the front door. Working at a paint store is complicated, especially Sherwin-Williams, and let me explain why. People have no idea what the hell they're looking for *and* don't want to take the time to research and/or listen to what we're saying. On a side note, just for clarification, no employees that work at the Sherwin-Williams Company Paint Stores get any sort of commission! We get nothing from selling you something that is more expensive and we get nothing for adding anything to your order. We recommend what as recommend because we believe it's the best product for what you're working on. With that said... please don't "ask Sherwin-Williams" where babies comrade from, if your breath stinks, if people like you, and anything else that our clever, clever marketers thought was funny to advertise! We are here for you and your painting needs and if you think we may have heard it before, we probably have.

Now... asking us for help with colors, product advice, explanations on how to do your project thoroughly and correctly is completely understandable AND wanted. I just thought I would pass this information along because I'm tired of being asked a question and then being bitched at because of my answer.

Next subject...

School is going great! Drew and I started Spanish yesterday and while we both honestly have no desire to actually be in the classes, he is going to graduate soon and that's all that matters to me! My biology class is exciting and my algebra class makes me want to cry a little bit, but math is math and the teacher is surprisingly nice.

Yay for being a med student!