"Glory Season" by David Brin

This is a book that I picked up when I belonged to a Sci-Fi book of the month club many years ago. It was quickly added to my librairy and I re-read it at least once a year.

Mr. Brin idea for the story began with contemplation of several species of American Southwest lizards that can reproduce parthenogenetically (mothers giving birth to clones). He then discovered aphids, which reproduce cloning and through normal sexual means, and then asked himself "What if humans can do the same?"

The result is a world run by women, but reliant on men to "spark" the creation of the pleccenta in winter to enable cloning, but "regular" sex in the summer result in your varients; boys and girls woith the genetic of both parents.

"Glory Season" follows the life of a summer-concieved mirror-image twin, Maia, after she and her sister, Leie, are sent off into the world at 16. The twins' plan to pass themselves off as clones, in order to start their own clone clan, but cercimstances soon find them separated and following their own paths. Maia soon finds herself caught up in global polictics surrounding an alien man from Earth, and her own feeling regarding him. After all she has been brought up that men are good only for "sparking" and not much else.

David Brin could have taken this world to a very feminist Eutopia, but instead, adds a sect of women who would like their world to be only women, while maintaining a balance of those of an opposing view. Men are shown, at the begining, from the viewpoint of shelter children who believe they are nothing more than raging animals, but through Maia, you see how she begins to view everyone so very differently than how she was brought up. By the end of the book, you see how balanced the world truly is, and how much control men do have in this woman dominated society.

WOOHOO VACATION! {TAG I'm it}

This is my last day of work this week, and I'm on vacation next week. Yes folks, that's 11 days without worrying about work. Heck, I won't even be thinking about it!
Now as to whether I'll get rest, i don't know. We head out of town Saturday morning to visit my sister. Have I mentioned she's 6 months pregnant? If she'll let me, I'll get pictures so you can see how great she's looking. But don't hold your breath. To say she's been emotional is the biggest understatement in the world. Luckily, since I've been pregnant before, and emotional too (although not like that!), I'm about the only one who's allowed to laugh, when she's around, at the things that set her off crying.

For example, it's family tradition to make a certain type of cookie at my mom's house. The cookie has a VERY stiff dough, so stiff that my mom buys a new hand mixer every year, because the motor burns out just by making the cookies. My sister decided to help out and mix up a batch while my mom was out, and the hand mixer broke. As usual. However, I got the call afterwards from my sister crying because she broke it. And her asking me why she is even crying over something so stupid. After I stopped laughing and picked myself up off the floor, I reminded her that she was pregnant, and to blame the guy who got her that way and mom for getting cheap $10 mixers that break every year. My sister consoled herself with the cookie dough. Mom got an early Christmas present from my step-dad, after he heard the story (how could I not share it), an semi-expensive Kitchen-Aid mixer; which we almost burnt out the motor making the same cookies.

So...
We're going to go see my sister this weekend because she want a niece and nephew fix.
Then the following weekend, my step-sister is getting married. My daughter and I are bridesmaids. have i mentioned she's 5 months pregnant? She and her hubby are already married (common-law status rocks in Texas), they are just doing the official paperwork, and she REALLY wanted a ceremony to make it official. She's put together everything in less than 3 weeks, and so far the tab is under $2000. Not bad! During the week, next week, I'll be doing lots of the craft stuff that's needed. There will definitely be pictures. I look GOOD in the dress. It makes me look thinner for some reason.

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Quick side note: Hubby just called me at work to tell me that the Internet at the house is dead, either from an area outage or the modem is broken, and since he can't work he has swept the garage and kitchen. And he may be doing some more cleaning. And did I have anything that I wanted cleaned. And he was done reading a book that I want to read. And....(Can you tell he was bored?)
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Meari was nice enough to tag me for the 7 Things meme.
Here are the rules:
Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules.
You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. I'm the white sheep of the family, in the way of coloring. Mom, one brother, and my sister have brown hair/brown eyes and dark complexion. Dad has black hair/blue eyes and dark complexion. The other brother has brown hair/green eyes and dark complexion. I have blond hair (although it get darker as get older) and blue/green eyes and burn in the sun in under 30 minutes flat.
2. Those blue/green eyes of mine. they are not hazel. They are chameleon eyes, apparently inherited from grandma. Depending on my mood, my eyes change color from every shade of green to every shade of blue. When my eyes turn a certain shade of green, hubby starts dancing around the house.
3. I have never known what I wanted to be when I grew up. I always hated those assignments in Elementary school. I usually just chose something random, and it changed every year.
4. My favorite birthday present ever was when my mom would take me to a book store and tell me that she'll let me know when to stop. I always walked out with at least 5 bags of books. And I had all of them read by the end of summer vacation. (My birthday is at the beginning of summer vacation.)
5. Out of all household chores, I dislike doing the dishes the most. But I love cooking!
6. Def Leppard is my favorite band of all time. I've bought some of their albums several times because I wore them out; records, then tapes, and a couple of the CDs. (Yes, i have worn out a CD)
7. In my 20 years of driving, I have owned 3 cars; and all made it past the 10 years mark before had to be replaced. Well the first two were totaled in car accidents. The third one has 150,000ish miles on it and is still going.

Atlas Shrugged

I finally finished the book. It defiantly took longer than what I'm used to. I had trouble reading the story. Not because it was a hard read or the concepts or plot was difficult to follow, but because 95% of the characters in the book are whiney, self-stroking, incompetent p%(#*s who need to be b$(%*-slapped. (Yes, I am censoring myself.) I know of people like this in real life, and I refuse to be around them.
All of Ms. Rand’s books are written based on her personal philosophy of life; so all address the same issues.
As I mentioned before, I read “The Fountainhead” in high school and when I started “Atlas”, I thought I might re-read afterwards to refresh my memory. However, I have decided against it. Mainly, because I am very familiar with Ms. Rand philosophies and long ago studied them (although not though her works) and incorporated what I agreed with into my day to day life, and discarded the parts that went completely against what I believe.

Had I actually picked up this to read in Jr. High or High school the story and concepts would have been mind boggling and eye opening, pointing me on the path I’m already on, a couple years earlier then when I did start. Today, I’m long past the teen-aged angst years of trying to figure out who I am and why I should even be here, and have long figured that out (For the most part. Now I’m working on what I want to do when I grow up.), so I didn’t get as much out the book. I have added it to a list of books I think my daughter needs to read before she graduates High school, but I won’t force her.

There is one quote in the book that did cut to the heart of me, as it put in writing something I spent years struggling to realize on my own. Something I have to actively remind myself every time I feel I’m slipping into depression...

“To live, man must hold three things as the supreme and ruling values of his life: Reason – Purpose – Self-esteem.” Ayn Rand, “Atlas Shrugged”

If you are an adult and have never read any Ayn Rand books, do so. I suggest starting with “The Fountainhead”, and if you like it, then read “Atlas Shrugged”. If you don’t like “The Fountainhead”, go ahead and skip “Atlas”; you’ve probably gotten everything you can out of it already. If you’re a teen, read it before you’re forced to read “Fountainhead” in school. You may not like it, but it will give you something to think about.

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As to the list of books for my daughter I mentioned above. My husband and I keep a list of books for our children that we would like them to read. We leave the decision on whether or not they get read to the children. However, every summer, we do pick out one book which they are required to read that summer.
And currently, “they” just refers to the 13 year old. We’re teaching the 4 year old to read.

The Invisible Man

I had a couple of things going through my head right now and was trying to decide where I wanted to go today. So today, while I'm getting my own thoughts in order, I'll pose a question to everyone else.

I loved everyone's answers last time. I did notice that we were all very nice in our answers. No chose to fly or hurl fireballs at bad guys, like my son did when I asked him. Of course, he is 4 1/2 and spent all night changing his answer, even woke up the next morning to tell me something else to add to his list before I left for work (then went right back to sleep).

Answer here, in your own blog, or not out loud at all. As I love hearing/reading different view points, I love you you to share, but if you feel uncomfortable, don't do it. No pressure.

The question to wake up your brain...

What are some of the things you would do if you could become invisible whenever you wanted to?

I’d like to say that I’d take the noble path when answering this question, but I think I just pee’d my pants from laughing so hard while writing this sentence.

This is a subject that has been the wealth of many movies and T.V. shows. To name the ones I remember off the top of my head (check out http://www.imdb.com/ for more info on each):
Movies:
The Invisible man
The Invisible Man Returns
Memoirs of an Invisible Man
Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man
Hollow Man (1 &2)


T.V.:
The Invisible Man

Each movie addresses the issue from a different perspective on life. The T.V. show, however, is the only one that addresses the question specifically. If I remember correctly, in the movies, the person became permanently invisible; on the T.V. show, he could become invisible at will.
I think that anyone who had this type of ability would revert to their ‘true self’. So, me?
I like to watch. No! Not in that perverted, people need to avoid me way. I watch the world gathering information and then process it, comparing other’s views to my own, trying to understand their motives, filing reaction away in the filing cabinets of my mind, etc. One of my driving forces is to ‘see’ who a person truly is. Not the true definition of voyeur.

Sure I’d use the opportunity of being unseen to do anonymous good deeds like making sure that woman didn’t walk out of the restroom with her skirt caught in her pantyhose, or be someone’s conscious (you know if you sneak out, you will be caught. Just stay home and get some sleep). However, I would also not pass up the opportunity to say “Dropped you pocket” in a crowd just to see the reaction; something fun. No yelling fire when there wasn’t one, that’s not me.

Something else I’d love to do is witness other’s creative process; that just fascinates me. Being able to become invisible would become the ultimate back stage pass! Pay to see a concert, and then when it was over , disappear and make my way behind the scenes. Of course, I probably would have been hanging out there all day.

The potential for spying, with this ability, is enormous. But I trust myself enough to know that I wouldn’t tell PERSON1’s secrets to PERSON2. Even if I was offered a lot of money.



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Oh, yes. And the long awaited picture of my new teen-ager:

Cholesterol Update

I didn't realize that I had been absent for so long. I actually had some good news in March. My cholesterol numbers have been so good for awhile now, so the doctor is having me try and NOT take the medication for 3 -4 months to see what they do.

I'm hoping those months taking the medication was enough the kick my body into acting properly. Well, that and me changing my diet and exercise habits.

CALGON!!! TAKE ME AWAY!!!

Here I am functioning on 3 (possibly 2) hours of sleep. The key word here is: functioning. My eyes feel like a sand pit, but I have my wits about me. One of these days I might even talk to my doctor about this.

I've tried everything. Warm milk, no caffeine after a certain time, no caffeine at all, working out, OTC sleeping pills, even something my hubby suggested that makes our daughter say "Ewww" when we talk about it (yes, sex); nothing is working. And I'm usually always happy to sleep after sex.

Does this mean I'm getting something productive done? Nope! I can't even get some decent reading done because 95% of the characters in the book are whiny brats! Ugh, I wish I could just NOT finish a book sometime. Seriously, it took me 5 years to read one book, because it was so badly written. I kept hoping that at some point it would get better. I'm like that with movies too. I'll tell you about the movie I paid 50 cents to see and then asked for my money back, sometime.
So no reading, no writing, no TV, no stitching. Mainly just sticking to music and meditating. I figure if I can't get the sleep, I'll relax my body as much as possible and maybe trick it into sleeping. Boy have I come up with some interesting video concepts from this time spent inside my mind.

P.S. Still trying to find C's birthday pictures.