- Hit: I gave blood for the first time in a decade last Wednesday. Yay me.
- Miss: part of my motivation for donating said blood was that it gave me 45 minutes at work to read my copy of Mockingjay. Yeah, I even told my boss that was my motivation, and he didn't care, but still. Getting to read hot new exciting book under pretense of blood donation is a miss.
- Hit: Gave some service for my church on Thursday morning. Even put on a dress and high heels.
- Miss: Having to walk home from Walmart in said heels and dress when my car battery died in front of the tire and lube entrance.
- Miss: Lecturing the Walmart tire and lube person for using my the key alarm clicker that doesn't work, which resulted in my alarm going off each time anyone attempted to start it. Forgot that when the car's battery dies or is replaced, the car thinks the alarm has been set and it immediately goes off.
- Miss: leaving my half full cart of groceries smack dab in the middle of the reception area of the Walmart tire and lube department. End up seeing the guy that I lectured about key clicker emptying it an hour later. Feel a bit sheepish.
- Miss: I retracted all the good I did during said service by cussing up a storm during said walk from Walmart.
- Hit: my babysitter is great. She called me back after I attempted to call her during my attempts to find someone to pick me up from Walmart and take me home. I didn't have her rescue me, but she did pick up Ben from school and drive me down to Walmart to get my car once I had the working key clicker. Thank heaven for good babysitters who are also good friends.
- Miss: having the worst run of my life on Friday. I didn't realize until today why: the blood donation (see miss #1.) Apparently, running a well known route doesn't prevent your body from moving through space when it's down a pint. Who knew?
- Hit: found an awesome blog post about running and blood donation that has been receiving similar comments for over 5 years. Check it out here. How cool is that?
- Hit: now know that a - I can handle being stuck with a needle and bleeding into a bag without passing out and b - I should to go easy on the running after being stuck with said needle. Win/win situation, once all the expectations and fears are thrown out of the mix.
- Hit: my dear friend Isabel had her lovely baby boy. She had the same due date as I had with Thomas (August 18th) and she passed it, still prego, just like I did with Thomas. It's like we are part of a secret club or something. But seriously, so excited for her little boy coming into the world.
- Hit: finally buying Thomas his reward copy of Battle of the Labrynth (Percy Jackson #4). He earned it by reading 2 books in 2 weeks before school started. He got it on Saturday in the mail, and started reading it tonight. He's on page 22. Love that kid. Love that he loves to read.
- Hit: buying Mockingjay early online for $8.99.
- Miss: finding myself on Tuesday night without my copy of Mockingjay. Realizing that even if I got a good deal, what good is it if I have to wait a week to read it?
- Hit: realizing I can go and buy Mockingjay for full price, then return the one that is mailed to me (that I spent $8.99 on) with the receipt for the full price one. Brilliant.
- Hit: finished Mockingjay by Saturday morning. Cried a little at the end.
(extra space if you don't want to be spoiled. Stop reading here!)
- Miss: was left wanting by end of Mockingjay. Collins gave us too much telling, not enough showing. I was frustrated by much of the action in the end, and left wanting to know the details of important characters. Why did Gale only get a sentence explaining his new life? What made Peeta forgive Katniss in the end? Why did we have to hear about Katniss' trial second-hand? For as well-loved as this series is, and as talented as I believe Collins is, I think that the last 50 pages were a let down. Granted, every series ending can't be as well done as the grand finale that was the end of Harry Potter, but still. She gave in to too many of the things I think Stephenie Meyer has done with Bella by allowing Katniss to do the "things" Katniss does, making her a paper-cut out character. She is Bella without being Bella. Again, a side character (Haymitch) is really the star of the show and the only character with real life to them (I feel the same way about Jacob. Although he isn't a side character. Anyway.)
So, have you had hits or misses in the past week you want to talk about?
4 comments:
stopped reading before I got to the bottom because I don't want to read your spoilers. It's my own damn fault I haven't read it yet, but I REALLY want to re-read the first two.
As for donating blood. I read somewhere once that not having a period is sort of bad for your body (it's actually really good in other ways) because having one forces your body to make up a new batch of blood. Refreshes your iron, or something. Anyway. I decided that one of my NY's resolutions next year is going to be donating blood every 8 weeks. But yeah...wait a couple of days before you hit the road.
Glad you updated your blog! Did you give that Walmart Tire & lube guy your library card number???? hahahahahaha that memory made me giggle! ;)
**SPOILERS***
I agree with you about Gale. I was left feeling so unsettled about his story. I don't think Collins was fair to him. She made him out to be a bit of a villain (for lack of a better term), and I think the only reason she did it was to make it easier for Katniss to end up with Peeta. I didn't like that Katniss wouldn't forgive Gale. The whole trial thing was weird - almost as if the author was tired of writing so she took the easy way out.
It was still good, though. Very intense (probably raised my blood pressure - but I wasn't giving blood when I read it). I cried at the end, too!
Oh! And I was heart-broken when Finnick died. He and Annie were like the Tonks and Lupin of The Hunger Games.
****MORE SPOILERS****
I actually didn't love Mockingjay, I didn't love Catching Fire either though, so I suppose there's that. I have always been Team Gale. I love Gale. I don't like Katniss all that much, and she seemed like a pawn, not a heroine. I don't know--I am not very populat when I detail all the reasons I don't think Katniss is a good role model or heroine or anything like that, so I'll refrain. But, I really wished Gale had more compassion from Kat or from the author, he's a great guy and he was written off as a guerilla revolutionary (which, by the way, is what Katniss is claiming she is, but isn't) with no heart or soul. Shrug. If she doesn't want to love him I'll gladly take the job.
Heidi and Britt, you have me thinking about Gale. I agree with Heidi that she sold him off, but in a different way. I think his role during the first 2 books was that of the guerilla revolutionary and she sold him out to the new regime. His ideas against the Capital throughout the series were far more real than the person he becomes in the latter parts of Mockingjay: he embraces the same tactics that Snow engendered, and his belief in the revolution gets him a cushy job in a district where he's on TV. Where is the revolutionary in that? He's just another pawn for another winning regime. I can't imagine that he relished his new life. Or maybe his experiences in the war remade him into a new person. When the side you want to win wins and you helped bring it about, you get new responsibilities beyond trying to buck the system. It's like he ends up a mid-level executive in a company that performed a hostile take over on another corporation.
Altogether a sad end for such an vibrant character. I was leaning team Gale for much of the series (he was the dark haired rebel...who doesn't love the rebel) but once he started getting caught up with Beetee in the explosives department, I stopped loving him. And his job at the end sealed it for me.
I also disagree with the way Collins let him give up Katniss so easily. Could he really be that happy in his role of the new Panem?
On the other hand, I didn't always love Peeta either. I feel the same about this triangle as I did with the twilight one: why do the self-deprecating whiners named Bella & Katniss get these boys to love them? They are both so selfish (in their own ways) and yet boys risk their lives for them over and over. Why, why, why??
Hard to believe that I did like the series. Just disappointed. And sad about Prim, too. The part with the cat coming home and he and Katniss crying together just killed me.
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