Out of Tribulation Comes Triumph!

Bella is over the chicken pox. She returned to school today. All said, it was a very manageable case. Not super-mild, but not super-bad either. Perhaps it took having the chicken pox to nudge Bella over the edge of readiness to ride a bike without training wheels. In the midst of the pox, she asked me to take the training wheels off. She practiced coasting in the driveway. The next day, she was getting the start-off and some wobbly pedaling down. Yesterday, she had nailed it. She's still perfecting the brakes, but she has completely mastered the start-off, pedaling, and steering. Now it's time to get her a bigger bike. As you can see in this video, hers is too small. I'm not sure if she'll get one for Ayyam-i-Ha, which is less than 2 weeks away. It might wait till her birthday in June. Although with us packing up to move, she might get a "bike coupon" for her birthday, redeemable in whatever city we move to.

https://youtu.be/2qBYGY9HFTs

A Valentine's Day Poem

Alex has a friend in his class who happens to be a girl (she'll remain nameless for now). They get along really well, enjoy play dates together, and play every day at school. It's been nice to see Alex, our rough-and-tumble boy's boy, have such a sincere friendship with a girl, though he's hesitant to admit it.

On Thursday, Alex and Bella made Valentines to distribute to the kids in their classes. Alex's were all the same: he wrote his name in nice cursive, and then wrote "Happy Valentine's Day." And that was it. All the same.

Except for one.

Cristina and I noticed that on one of the Valentines, he had printed his friend's name, the nameless friend, as well as the simple message "I love you."

That's the sweetest Valentine's Day gift I've ever seen.

I'm not a huge fan of love poems, but this is one that has stuck with me through the years. My son's lovely, innocent gesture made me think of it, and I thought it would be fitting to share it today.

"Oranges"
by Gary Soto

The first time I walked
With a girl, I was twelve,
Cold, and weighted down
With two oranges in my jacket.
December. Frost cracking
Beneath my steps, my breath
Before me, then gone,
As I walked toward
Her house, the one whose
Porch light burned yellow
Night and day, in any weather.
A dog barked at me, until
She came out pulling
At her gloves, face bright
With rouge. I smiled,
Touched her shoulder, and led
Her down the street, across
A used car lot and a line
Of newly planted trees,
Until we were breathing
Before a drugstore. We
Entered, the tiny bell
Bringing a saleslady
Down a narrow aisle of goods.
I turned to the candies
Tiered like bleachers,
And asked what she wanted -
Light in her eyes, a smile
Starting at the corners
Of her mouth. I fingered
A nickle in my pocket,
And when she lifted a chocolate
That cost a dime,
I didn't say anything.
I took the nickle from
My pocket, then an orange,
And set them quietly on
The counter. When I looked up,
The lady's eyes met mine,
And held them, knowing
Very well what it was all
About.

Outside,
A few cars hissing past,
Fog hanging like old
Coats between the trees.
I took my girl's hand
In mine for two blocks,
Then released it to let
Her unwrap the chocolate.
I peeled my orange
That was so bright against
The gray of December
That, from some distance,
Someone might have thought
I was making a fire in my hands.

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody.

Bella's got Chicken Pox

A little over a week ago, we took Bella to a chicken pox party. Thursday evening, she started showing a few teeny red spots. By Friday, the diagnosis was definite. Our attempts to expose our daughter to a disease had proven successful.

Friday morning...it begins. She was sad because she would miss exchanging Valentines with her class.

One of her first pox

Sofia and Alex both got the chicken pox vaccine years ago (Sofia got the shot out of necessity for school, and Alex because I took him to get his shots once and was persuaded by the nurse to get it...I didn't know I was supposed to decline it). Cristina and I both had chicken pox as kids. We prefer the immunity gained from contracting the disease, which while inconvenient and uncomfortable, is better than the vaccine. Even my mother-in-law, who is a major proponent of vaccines, says the chicken pox vaccine is not that great.

Friday night...Bella ate her heart pizza from the comfort of an oatmeal bath

So Bella is rockin' the pox. Her fever has yet to get above 100, but she's in the full-fledged itchy phase. But it'll eventually be over and then she won't have to worry about it again.

Saturday morning...the pox are spreading and have reached her face.

She seems happy, but she begrudgingly agreed to pose for pictures. Poor thing has one on her lower eyelid. And on the top of her head. And in between her toes. And some other private areas.

Not too sick to play with the dog a little.

Cristina wanted me to list the various remedies she's been using, but I'll go ahead and post now and add her stuff later.

The Lightning Thief...my review

Last night, Sofia and I saw The Lightning Thief at midnight. For those who don't know, this movie is based on the book of the same name, about a character named Percy Jackson who learns that he is a demigod: half human, half Greek god. Sofia has loved the series of books for nearly five years. If you remember back to my blog last summer, I waited in line for two hours to get the author's autograph, since Sofia was in Costa Rica. She's crazy for the books.

So it was only fitting that we go see the movie as soon as any non-theater employee/industry insider possibly could.

Sofia didn't have school Friday, but I did. So I purposefully fell asleep when I lay down with Bella and Alex, and then woke up around 10:30 to get ready to go. Sofia also took a bit of a nap.

We dressed, drove to the theater, got our popcorn and drinks, and found the perfect seat. The showing wasn't a sell-out, but it was pretty full.

So now, for those interested, I present my review of The Lightning Thief.

I haven't read a single review of the film yet, so I want to get my two cents posted before I check out what the critics are saying. I've read all the books, so my opinion will obviously be flavored with that perspective, but I'm not one of those people who hates when movies change the storyline or details. I know adapting a book to a movie is a bit of an art form in and of itself. I'm cool with that, as long as it's done well.

Faithfulness to the book's plot: B-
Sure, there are some differences in the plot, but the basic premise is the same: Percy Jackson gets blamed for stealing Zeus's lightning bolt and has a limited time to find it and clear his name to save his mother and prevent war between the gods. The only reason I didn't give this category an A is because the omission of the Oracle and the whole prophecy thing. That prophecy is an important thread that runs through the whole series, and it was left out, for reasons I can understand (too much information for the average moviegoer to keep straight in such a short time). But that still drops it from an A to a B-. Most other departures from the book seemed necessary for time limitations (including Clarisse and Ares would have cluttered the movie too much) or budgetary concerns (The battle in the St. Louis Arch would have been much more costly to produce than the fight in the Parthenon in Nashville, TN. Plus, have you ever been in the arch? I have, and it's really small and cramped up there! That would make for an awkward fight, or they'd have to fictionalize how much space there is up there.)

Faithfulness to the book's tone: B+
The book is written in the 1st person, so it's infused with the voice of Percy, who's a classic modern American teenager (though I recognize that description is pretty useless). In other words, the book has the humor and pop culture perspective of a teenager. They do a decent job of keeping that tone, largely through Logan Lerman's (Percy) and Brandon Jackson's (Grover) acting and the script.

Two big departures kept this category from getting an A: the change in Grover's character from being a worry-wart (a la Telly from Sesame Street or Arnold from Magic School Bus...how's that for providing some comparisons that most adults won't understand!) to a humorous, hip, girl-crazy, faithful protector. I love the change. Grover was never my favorite character, because worry-warts kind of annoy me (I never liked Telly and I wished they'd thrown Arnold off the bus). In the film, Grover actually steals many of the scenes he's in.

The other big tonal departure is the change in the gods. In the book, they act and dress unexpectedly modern and human. For example, Poseidon wears flip-flops and shades and sports a nice tan, as if he's on a beach all the time. And in the book, Ares (the god of war) is a muscular biker dude. In the movie however, with the exception of Hades, all the gods look like they stepped off the set of a sword-and-sandals epic (Kevin McKidd, a favorite of mine from the HBO series Rome practically just dusted off his costume from that show). Steve Coogan's Hades wore the guise of a bad boy rocker, which was a great touch. But I think the director was afraid people wouldn't see the others as Greek gods if they weren't wearing togas and body-sculpted gold armor. Oh well.

Writing: C
The first scene scared me. And not because it was scary. It's because the dialogue between Poseidon and Zeus is pretty bad. It's cheesy. It's melodramatic. It's overacted. And even worse, it's dumbed down to not lose anyone from the get-go. So I cringed a bit, fearing that I was in for two hours of George Lucas-esque dialogue. But once Percy appeared, the writing was better, more natural, and the melodramatic god-speak was minimal (save for the final scene at the end, but even that was better than the opening scene). The opening scene makes the first impression, so I'm more harsh on this category, since the offending dialogue was in the opening scene.

On the way out of the theater, I heard a guy complaining about the scene where Percy pulled the minotaur horn out of the tree, despite the fact that the minotaur couldn't pull it out himself without it breaking off. I'm much more forgiving when it comes to details like that. Percy is one of the most powerful demigods around. Who am I to say that he shouldn't be able to yank an embedded horn out of a tree in the adrenaline-powered heat of battle? There were probably more of these kinds of issues, but frankly, I don't quibble about that kind of stuff.

Casting: A+
I loved the casting. Every character was cast well.

Acting: A-
Overall, the acting is excellent at best and average at worst.

Special Effects: A-
Excellent. No major disappointments. There were maybe two moments where I felt conscious of the CGI and it briefly took me out of the moment (like when the minotaur picks up Percy's mom) but overall, the SFX are wonderful. Medusa is a joy.

Overall grade: B+
I was not disappointed at all. I only read the book once, and it was years ago, so that probably helps me be even more forgiving than I usually am. But I really liked the film and thought they did the book justice.

For those who don't celebrate Valentine's Day...

Here's some interesting facts related to Valentine's Day, from the website listverse.com. If you don't celebrate Valentine's Day, intentionally or not, this list may make you feel better about your lack of participation!


1. In the two week period leading up to Valentine’s Day, American sales of gold jewelry lead to 34 million metric tons of waste.

2. The vast majority of roses sold for Valentine’s Day in the U.S. are imported from South America, wasting fossil fuels.

3. Valentine’s Day traces its roots to an ancient pagan holiday called Lupercalia, in which men stripped naked, grabbed whips, and spanked young women in hopes of increasing their fertility.

4. The Christian martyr St. Valentine was beheaded on February 14 for performing marriages in secret.

5. Research suggests that 75 percent of suicide attempts are attributable to relationship problems.

6. 46 percent of Americans will exchange Valentine’s Day candy.

7. 67 percent of Americans are overweight or obese.

8. The first Valentine’s Day card was sent by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He remained a prisoner of war for the next twenty-four years.

9. A recent poll found that one in ten young adults admitted to feeling lonely, insecure, depressed, or unwanted on Valentine’s Day. And that’s just the ones that admitted it.

10. Forty percent of people have negative feelings towards Valentine’s Day.

11. The famous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, in which seven Chicago gangsters were gunned down on February 14, 1929, was one of the bloodiest in mob history.

12. 64 percent of American men do not make Valentine’s Day plans in advance.

13. Candy hearts taste like crap.

14. Even if you’re really, really in love right now, you’re still going to die eventually.

Compiled by Lia Romeo and Nick Romeo, the authors of the humor book 11,002 Things to Be Miserable About and the humor blog www.thingstobemiserableabout.com.

A Day Without Refined Sugar

I decided this morning, rather spontaneously, that I would attempt to eat no refined sugar all day today. I'd like to have one day a week be "No Refined Sugar Day." I'm not obsessing or radically changing my diet. I'm just choosing to not eat things that I might normally eat that have refined sugar.

The average American consumes an astounding 2-3 pounds of sugar each week, which is not surprising considering that highly refined sugars in the forms of sucrose (table sugar), dextrose (corn sugar), and high-fructose corn syrup are being processed into so many foods such as bread, breakfast cereal, mayonnaise, peanut butter, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and more. It's really hard to avoid all sugar. We try to buy things without sugar. For example, we never buy peanut butter with added sugar, and if we had Duke's mayo in Arizona (no sugar in Duke's) we'd buy that.

This morning I warmed up a pot of coffee for my mother-in-law (visiting for a week). I didn't have any myself, because I'd rather have no coffee than coffee without sugar. I can give up coffee for one day ("No Refined Sugar Day"). In my mind, tea with honey gets disqualified too, because honey, though it contains some vitamins and minerals and isn't as processed as table sugar, is still a refined sugar (I googled it).

For breakfast, I ate plain Cheerios (1 gram of sugar) instead of Multigrain Cheerios or Honey Bunches of Oats (6 grams each). And I bypassed the tempting flavored yogurts that I got for my mother-in-law (an astounding 40 grams of sugar! That's nearly the same as a can of Mountain Dew!)

At work, I avoided my neighbor's classroom. He always keeps snacks and sodas for his students, and I sometimes partake when I've got a mid-day hankering for something junkie. So far so good. Even though my coffee-free breakfast caused me to be ravenous by 3rd period, I resisted.

I ran some errands during my planning period, one of which was to run home and get some postage stamps. While home, I made myself a quick roast beef sandwich (I used one of those 100% whole wheat "thin buns" that seem to be the new thing). While I was getting the roast beef out, I noticed a ziplock bag in the fridge with some homemade cookies. Normally, as hungry as I was, I would have snatched those little beasties out and downed them. But I rememebred my goal and left them alone.

I did grab a banana on my way out the door. Hey, I said no refined sugar. Fruit is okay. I said I'm not going radical, remember?

So now, as I type this, I'm 30 minutes away from lunch. And I'm hungry again. For lunch, I have waiting for me some leftover steak and a baked potato with sour cream. Certainly not the healthiest lunch, but it's "No Refined Sugar Day," not "No Saturated Fat Day, or "No Unhealthy Starches Day." One step at a time.

I should be fine from here on out. Breakfast and during the work day are the hardest. Tonight, I'm taking Sofia to see the new Percy Jackson movie at midnight (it starts tomorrow, but one theater is showing it at midnight tonight). I know I'll have a big soda and bag of popcorn at the movie, but technically "No Refined Sugar Day" ends at midnight.

So I'm okay.

I want to make this a regular thing. My master plan is to get used to doing it once a week, and then work up to doing it every other day. And then, maybe, eventually, I could be off of refined sugar full-time.

Except for the occasional birthday cake and movie Coke. (Not gonna obsess!)

Twice as Bright

"The light that burns twice as bright burns for half as long - and you have burned so very, very brightly."

That's a quote from the movie Blade Runner, but for the past few days I keep thinking about that quote in relation to the Beatles. I've been a huge Beatles fan--a Beatles geek, actually--since adolescence. I'm embarrassed to admit how much Beatles trivia I've cluttered my brain with. Sofia is researching the Beatles for her third quarter presentation at ASA ("How the Beatles influenced the counter-culture of the 60's" to be more precise). She's reading several books on the Beatles, she's written Paul McCartney a letter, and we've started watching the Beatles Anthology together.

Anyway, The Who performed during the Super Bowl last Sunday and it made me think about bands that have been around forever. I thought about how the Beatles are such an icon, so famous, so revered, etc. yet they were only a group for about 10 years. That's so short, when you think about other iconic bands that have been together for decades. U2's been together for 30 years. The Rolling Stones and The Who must be close to 50 years.

And what a 10 years the Beatles had. They packed so much songwriting and creativity into that decade. It's mindboggling. To see them looking so young during the Beatlemania period, and then so psychedelic and ground-breaking during the Sgt. Pepper days...and only 3 years separated those times! By the time they performed on the Apple rooftop (just a mere 2 years later) they were all grizzled veterans, already icons, their places in the history of rock firmly secured...and yet they were each only in their late 20's. Still kids!

It's been fun watching Sofia become even more of a Beatles fan than she already was. She loved the song "Hey Bulldog" when she was just a wee one (she called it the "if you're lonely you can talk to me" song). But she's now taking on a much deeper, mature respect for the band that I can relate to. She may be, in fact, becoming a Beatles geek like her old man. The other day, she even hit me with a bit of trivia I did not know.

Her presentation last year was about the density of plant populations and how it affects their growth. She did great and I was very proud of her. But I'm really looking forward to this year's presentation! Rock on, Sofie!