Left A Bad Taste In My Mouth

This is just my opinion, read for yourself. You just might like the stupid book; well not stupid but pretty lame. Well, there were some good points.

The story is of a girl named Rose Edelstein. At 8 years old she realizes that she has the ability to taste people's emotions through food. This is what drew me to this book to begin with because I think I might be in tune with people's emotions and I love to cook - great plot, or so I thought. It takes place over many years and it feels like it took me just as long to read it. An old friend of mine says to always invest at least 100 pages into a book then you can determine if it's worth finishing. What I liked is that the weirdness happened right away but then it felt like it was dragging its feet to the next exciting point then the excitement stops abruptly. The side stories were a little more interesting than the main one and Bender could have explored those a little more. As it turns out, Rose discovers that there are others who have gifts as well and they're closer than she thinks. The family life sequences are boring and when Rose and her dad begin to watch television, I would be the one to fall asleep. Bender did a really good job luring people in with the title, which is probably the best part of this book. The ending does not come to a whole, and is probably meant to make the reader think but in reality leaves them to say, "Well, that was garbage." It was too easy on Bender's part to end the story that way and maybe her publisher was rushing her to finish. That's what it is, it seems unfinished. On a positive note, the descriptions of food and feelings were top notch. I can picture the food, taste it and understand the relationship of the food to the cook. This book is a library check out only, I wouldn't buy it. (Even though I already did and threw away the Amazon packing slip so I can't return it).

Work In Progress 4

It was a short walk to Aiolena's office. The plush carpet quieted Aiden's short footsteps. She met him at the doorway and hugged her son. It was an awkward hug because Aiden just stood there, blank faced with absolutely no love for his mother.

"It will be alright Aiden. You worry too much," Aiolena says as she releases from the hug.

"The only thing I'm worried about is how that target was tipped off. It happened so fast, it's like he knew who she was and what she was there to do. I thought we kept a close circuit on him," says Aiden.

"How is the target still dead? That's interesting," replies Aiolena.

This news takes Aiden off guard. Of course the target is dead, Lorza's too good. He didn't think of this part of the story. Why didn't Lorza tell him this crucial piece of information?

"I killed him. I saw Lorza's tracker go dead and just then he ran in front of surveillance and I shot him. He didn't see me and he was alone."

"Wow, you're quite a shot. It was nice and clean. Have you been going to the range more often? I thought you didn't like guns...no matter. Great job."

The intercom goes off on Aiolena's desk.

"Speak."

"The girl has been stabilized, she's in recovery now. "

"Good."

Without thinking, Aiden lets out a sigh of relief. His mother narrows her eyes slightly, gazing at Aiden. He looks away and lets out a fake cough.

"How much recovery time do you give her?"

"Well we'd have to see who knows how long that will take. She lost a lot of blood, plus we don't know if she'll have a lot of brain activity if she does wake up. Then what good will she be to us? If she's a permanent vegetable, we'll have to end her." Aiolena looks at her son, looking for a reaction.

Aiden thinks about the deal Lorza gave him. He's the only one that wants her to stay alive, she was fine with dying because then she would be free of the constant killing. Would he be selfish enough to make her deal with all of the post traumatic stress so that maybe one day she would learn to love too? If her brain activity was at zero, would he want her still? Yes, yes I would he thinks to himself. Aiden looks at his mother and shrugs. "Why should she get special treatment otherwise?"

Content with his answer, she says, "I'll give her a month to wake up. If she doesn't I'm not wasting anymore time. Those machines cost money along with the life support."

"Today was crazy, I'm going up to my flat," Aiden says casually.

"You've made your first kill. We should celebrate later tonight. I'll have them prepare your favorite meal and you can tell me all about it."

"Sure thing Mom."

"You can also tell me how you got Lorza's sting ray bullets to fit in the basic glock from the van, that's amazing seeing how they're so much smaller. "

"Wait...what?" Aiden asks shakily.

There's a knock at the door and the two guards from the infirmary step in.

"Take him to the plexi room."

What Book Club Meeting?

This past Friday was amazing! I sent out a few invites for a "book discussion" which at the time I was really wanting to do but ultimately, like in any book club, the chatter was not about the book. I was worried that no one would show up let alone have a really great time but I wasted my thoughts on worry because it was just the opposite.

It's pretty weird when girls get together....well not girls, grown women. Well to be specific married grown women with children. I'd say it's pretty rare when these types of ladies can just let their hair down without a worry in the world and just talk about anything and I mean ANYTHING. It was pretty much an open discussion about life's follies, laughs, memories, experiences and body glitter. Ha! It was nice to be able to hang out with a bunch of chicks and not get catty or mean and eat the yummy food brought by everyone then complain how fat we all were and discuss how we were going to make up for it. (Yeah right).

What made it one of the most fun evenings was that it had a familiarity to it. I felt like I was at home cracking up with my sisters. There was no awkward silences; the conversations just kept flowing, no one was judging anyone, no one was competing for attention, it was just what we all needed. It was a time to vent, dork out and gather some estrogen vibes. I think what topped it off was that I was wearing a costume with a lot of feathers, heavy makeup and a make shift peacock tail sticking out of my head and was treated normally.

Not only did we all have a blast, we unanimously decided that we must do it again...

High In the Sky, Apple Pie Hopes

A few weeks ago I left the television on after Sesame Street was done. I usually turn it right off but I was tackling a dilly of pickle which involved a toy car stuck in a place it shouldn't have been. As soon as said car was removed, a new show was starting and this quote appeared on the screen:

"It's never too late, in fiction or in life, to revise." - Nancy Thayer

I thought about this quote often since I saw it. Uncontrolled change is hard to deal with but being the creator of the change in your life is monumental. Plus there's a big difference between having to change yourself and wanting to change yourself. It can be as simple as just letting the kids make the mess versus getting upset about the mess. I can be a bit of a grumpy Gus when it comes to seemingly irrelevant things. Why do I take the negative so quickly? Have I not learned anything?

This past holiday weekend, I asked Mechanic Hubby to buy us a kite because the wind was super strong. He comes back with a really cool looking 3-D kite in the shape of a killer whale. It was pretty impressive. I make us a picnic lunch and we set off to a beautiful park to have an early dinner. I brought delicate sandwiches, fruits, cheeses - a pretty yummy feast. We decided to play first and got to putting the kite together. Strike one: I saw that this kite was $17.99. What the? I said buy a kite not a handmade with double stitching flying art piece all the way from the kite capitol of the world China! I tell myself to calm down and enjoy the day. Strike two: The "easy to put together" label was wrong. There was one rubber rod that did not fit in its intended spot which was the tail. After taking turns trying and trying to put that thing together, the rubber rod sprung backwards and slapped me in the face. As the pink line that starts to develop on my cheek starts to burn, I make a quick ice pack out of a baby wipe and crushed ice and press it to my cheek. I freak out with anger a little but did not lose my temper completely. I suggest that we tie the rod in place and test it out. Strike three: The winds did not disappoint and they were strong, VERY strong. Mechanic Hubby had a hard time flying the kite. I decided to show him how it was done, seeing how I logged many kite flying hours back home in California. He hands me the kite and it's up in the air. I release more string as it starts to climb higher. A strong gust sends the kite into a double swirl then crashing to the ground. As I start winding the string, another gust catches the belly of the kite and sends it up again. After my turn was over, Mechanic Hubby anxiously takes the string, I walk over to dislodge the kite from a bush, the wind picks up again and I get rope burn on my hand. Beautiful.

This pretty much puts me over and I want to go home. My hubby quickly puts me in check and says, "Really, you're going to let this tiny thing bother you and ruin this beautiful day?" Usually his amazing positive attitude annoys me but in that moment, I just let my anger go. Poof, gone. My hand hurt and my cheek was burning but the sun was out and my daughter was having a blast running around the park. And to top it off, they were both sick with colds. Well as for the kite, we lost the head of the whale due to the strong wind gusts and I just laughed.

Here's my quote for the day, "Everything in life sucks or rocks, what do you want your life to do?"

Am I Desensitized?

"Revenge is a dish best served cold." - Old Klingon Proverb

About a year or so ago, I went to a book club discussion about Hunger Games. Everyone's heard of it. Kids fight to the death for entertainment, winner promised riches forever, gore, gore, gore, tough decisions, an inkling of romance, the end. I LOVED it. I loved the description of the bloody battles, the fight or flight situations, all of it. At the meeting many were saying, "I don't know what I would do if I had to send my kids to fight," and "I had to put the book down because it was so brutal." RBP and I were confused. We thought the violence was great. I mean, it says in the book jacket it's about kids fighting to the death right? You should expect some gore.

One of my favorite movies of all time is Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2. It's about a woman who left her job as an assassin behind because she was going to be a mother. Her boss didn't like that idea very much and calls on his other assassin employees to assassinate her. The very first shot in the movie is of a brutally beaten, very pregnant woman, also known as "The Bride," getting shot in the head. The killers leave her for dead but she survives. She wakes up after a four year coma, realizes she has lost her baby and is out for revenge!

I don't know why I love this movie so much. The Bride is amazing! Unfortunately there is a ton of foul language (it's a Quentin Tarantino flick) and GORE! Lots and lots of gore! The violence doesn't bother me and I have no idea why. Even through all the gore, there are some touching moments; hard to believe, I know. It's been years since I've watched it but it'll always have a place in the black parts of my tender dripping bleeding heart.