The Plague

Dear sweet Jesus, I just had a cold that knocked me on my rear for a solid week. Unreal. I managed to make it through the last winter season cold-free, but this time my luck ran out. Amy and I both got it, too, which made for a Dark Ages kind of house, complete with me wondering if I should burn our sheets and pajamas, and maybe spray paint "UNCLEAN" on the outside of our house.

Saturday I finally got my strength back, and just in time! I've signed up for another class this year - this time it's Aqua Aerobics! Go ahead, make jokes about how I'm a 65 year old woman. We already own a Buick, so it's hard to argue against that.

Anyway, my first class was yesterday at our local YMCA and it kicked ass. While I was definitely the youngest person in the class, I was not younger than the rest by years and years. There were two other gals who looked to be in their 30s. But yes, beyond that, you are correct - lots of older moms and grandmas.

The class was 45 minutes of fun, and it was a real workout, too. The first half was just water resistance stuff, all set to a funny mix of music. It went from Yanni to Tina Turner to Cher to Yanna to Cher to Yanni. I didn't have much trouble keeping up with the other ladies, almost all of whom had taken the previous aqua aerobic classes. I did have trouble from time to time maintaining my coordination. All those knee lifts to elbows to a beat wasn't too easy.

The part that whupped me good was when we brought in the floating dumbbells. I probably didn't have to write "floating," but I did. Can you imagine if we'd brought in regular dumbbells or barbells? Man, now there's some resistance...and sinking women.

Anyway, we had to maneuver these good-sized floating dumbbells underwater, which was really hard. I started floating when I tried keeping the things underwater, floating and turning around and then slowly capsizing. A funny sight, I'm sure, like skinny Titanic slowly arguing with the water as my face moved toward the surface. Then the teacher told us to keep the things underwater while moving them up and down and jogging into the deep end. Thankfully I didn't drown, but I'm not sure how anyone behind me was able to move and not laugh at me. Maybe we all looked the same?

I had a great time and wish I could do the class everyday, but it's only every Sunday until early March.

Also, this year's book tally is already at 2, in case you're keeping count.

ANTM

While waiting in line at Subway today, I noticed two guys dressed in business suits behind me in line discussing the reality TV show America's Next Top Model. The one guy was telling the other all about this one contestant who'd cried really hard when the show's hosts made her cut her hair. She hated it so much she left the show. He knew a lot of details about it and went on for quite a while to his buddy.

"Dude, there's so much drama on this show!"

"Yeah? Sounds like it. Huh."

*pause*

"I want a meatball sub."

"Oh, me too."

I'm not sure what was funnier, two guys in business suits discussing that show, the fact that I knew what they were talking about despite them not ever saying the show's name, or that they went so easily from discussing model haircut drama to meatball subs.

Slacker

Um, yeah. Anyway, let's see if 2008 will make me a better blogger.

I thought I'd at least pop on to report back on my 2007 New Year's Resolution of reading as many books as I could. I made it to 46 books. Considering I didn't really start this challenge until mid-February of '07, I did pretty well.

The list of what I read in 2007, in order:

1. "300" by Frank Miller
2. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kersey
3. "Juiced" by Jose Canseco
4. "The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death" by Daniel Pinkwater
5. "The Zombie Survival Guide" by Max Brooks
6. "Carrier Combat" by Frederick Mears
7. "In Dubious Battle" by John Steinbeck
8. "Hope for the Flowers" by Trina Paulus
9. "For One More Day" by Mitch Albom
10. "The Short-Timers" by Gustav Hasford (inspired Full Metal Jacket)
11. "Hiroshima" by John Hersey
12. "The Phantom Blooper" by Gustav Hasford (continuation of The Short Timers/Full MetalJ)
13. "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson
14. "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" as told to Alex Haley
15. "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair
16. "A Stone Cried Out" by Shigeo Shimada
17. "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Frederick Douglass
18. "Tortilla Flat" by John Steinbeck
19. "Russian Journal" by John Steinbeck
20. "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck
21. "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
22. "Ugly Americans" by Ben Mezrich
23. "King Solomon's Mines" by H. Rider Haggard
24. "If I Die in a Combat Zone" by Tim O'Brien
25. "The 9/11 Commission Report - Graphic Adaptation" by Sid Jacobson
26. "Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia" by Peter Maas
27. "Martha Inc" by Christopher Byron
28. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
29. "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway
30. "Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry
31. "Mariette in Ecstasy" by Ron Hansen
32. "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin de Becker
33. "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
34. "Animal Farm" by George Orwell
35. "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway

36. "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King
37. "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton
38. "Around the World in 80 Days" by Jules Verne
39. "The Average American Male" by Chad Kultgen
40. "Devil in a Blue Dress" by Robert Mosley
41. "Under and Alone: The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang" by William Queen
42. "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess
43. "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" by Ron Hansen
44. "The Mist" by Stephen King
45. "Twenty Something" Iain Hollingshead
46. "Smoked" by Patrick Quinlan

I figured I'd highlight which ones stuck out to me and for what reason, although the ones towards the end of the list stick out more since I've read them most recently.

Creepiest: "The Mist" by Stephen King. Although it didn't help that I read this during a day when there was a heavy, heavy mist/fog around all evening. I have not seen the movie, but thought I'd still pick up the book. Good suspense, good action, scary monsters, and a good atypical ending. I'd recommend it.

Best Adventure: "King Solomon's Mines" by H. Rider Haggard. Really fantastic, I'd recommend it to everyone. "Around the World in 80 Days" and "Treasure Island" were close behind this.

Book that I was most surprised by how much I enjoyed it: "The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals that Protect Us from Violence" by Gavin DeBecker. This book should be a must-read for everyone - especially women. It sounds like one of those cheesy self-help books, but it's actually a fantastic read about using your intuition to keep you out of bad situations. I'm terrible at describing it to people, I can always see their eyes glaze over as I try to explain why it's so great. But still, it's a great educational book. It was recommended to me randomly and I took a chance on it, and I'm glad I did!

Most Educational: "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" as told to Alex Haley. I really enjoyed this book, as I knew little to nothing about Malcolm X beforehand.

Most interesting audiobook that was entertaining but frequently over-the-top due to how dramatic the narrator was: "Under and Alone: The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang" by William Queen. This was an easy pick since I only listened to two audiobooks this year (Shawshank Redemption was the other one), but man, this narrator was hilarious at times. He could take normal sentences and treat them as if he was diffusing a bomb. A great book despite that, though.

Worst book/biggest let-down: "Carrier Combat" and "Devil in a Blue Dress." There were actually 3 or 4 books this year that I could not finish that would actually take this title, but I don't remember what they were. Carrier Combat was boring, which is saying a lot since I absolutely love reading about WWII stuff. Devil in a Blue Dress was my first foray into Robert Mosley mystery novels, and while it started off with promise, it quickly unraveled into a confusing mess of plot twists and too many characters.

Book that I can't remember anything about. No, seriously. Nothing: "For One More Day" by Mitch Albom. Not a clue. No idea why, but I guess that's not saying much. I do remember liking it, at least.

Most Inspirational: A tie between "A Stone Cried Out" by Shigeo Shimada and "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Frederick Douglass. The Shimada book was written by a grandfather of my friend and is his autobiography. He was a Methodist pastor who served in a WWII internment camp. Fascinating and great read! The Frederick Douglass one was very educational.

Books that made me laugh the most: "The Average American Male" by Chad Kultgen and "Twentysomething by Iain Hollingshead. It's sad that I can't find any female writers whose stuff I enjoy. I keep finding that the coming of age or modern stories by women are all about shopping, make-up and finding the right guy blah blah blah. So I'm driven to reading books like these, about guys in their twenties coming to grips with life and relationships. Kultgen's book is foul, obscene and made me laugh a lot. Hollingshead's was less foul, with a great story and good realization by the end. I don't know that I identify with them (especially not with Kultgen's), but the stories were very entertaining and realistic to me to some extent.

I've not yet found any female writers who I read extensively. Seriously, look at that list. I read very few women authors! A shame, I suppose. But not too many women writers that I've found are writing action or war books that are entertaining to me. I once tried Janet Evanovich but couldn't stand her.

If anyone has any recommendations, please do speak up in the comments.

I don't know that I could pick out my favorite book of the year because I enjoyed so many of them. I'm happy to have finally read some Hemingway and loved both the books I read of his. I'm happy I read even more Steinbeck since he's always been a favorite. I'm happy I finally read Vonnegut and Orwell - I felt like I missed out since I never had to read those books for school or anything.

And there's your let-down, I can't pick a favorite.

What I did discover in 2007 was that I was reading all classics and very few modern day books. If you look at the list I did notice that toward the end and shift toward the "New Releases" shelf in the library, and that's my slightly altered challenge for 2008: Again, read as much as possible, but this time throw in a lot more modern fiction. I need to find new authors from the present time to read and enjoy.

I've already finished book #1 for 2008: "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls. Excellent read, and recommended by my mom. Good pick, mom! It's a great memoir of Walls' life, which was pretty tough. I would recommend it to everyone.

That's it for now. Perhaps another challenge for 2008 should be the "Get Off Your Lazy Ass and Blog More" challenge, huh?