I’ll start by saying I got lots of thoughts rolling around up here in Sarah Town, so bear with me as I go all over the place...
Since being back at work these last few months not much has changed but also everything has changed? Every day there is a new something to be concerned about. This election is making me insane and I’m going to look 70 by the time my birthday rolls around. Never in all my life did I think I would care about politics as much as I do these days. Don't worry, I am not going to try to sway your vote one way or the other but this is my blog and I'm going blog some thoughts...
I miss decency. I miss kindness. I miss being able to read a story online and not do a deep dive into the comments and come out the other end feeling like absolute garbage. You hear/say it all the time; “don’t read the comments”. It’s horrible that you know without looking how absolutely vile people are going to be. Even on the most simple of posts- a recipe, a dog picture, a picture of a tree. Guaranteed there will be at least one negative comment. What makes people so mean?
A very open celebrity gives updates on her tough pregnancy and eventual miscarriage and people rip her to shreds. A grieving family. Ripped to shreds because “she just wants attention”, yet these same people are following her on social media with the sole purpose of wanting to know about her life and invade her personal space. They attacked her with disgusting comments and horrendous thoughts about her baby dying. For what? Why?
A grieving wife posts a plea to the president to have empathy for not only herself but the other families who lost loved ones to covid and the responses to her were atrocious. What gives you the right to speak (or type. gross) to someone this way? What is wrong with people? Does it make them sleep better at night to know that they left this really nasty comment on a widow’s Instagram page? What. The. Hell. I don’t understand it. I will never understand what drives someone to be so cruel, whether on the internet or in person.
Stop it. Nothing gets better by being mean. We learn this as toddlers; BE NICE. It’s basic human knowledge. When does common decency get lost along the way? I’ll never understand it and it makes me so sad.
200,000+ people have died. Died. Lost their lives and we say it like it’s the most normal statistic in the world. Well, it is what it is, I guess, right? NO. People’s lives and trust are not to be cast aside. That’s not how the world should work.
We need more empathy. We need more kindness. We need more DECENCY. It’s really not that hard.
Whoa whoa whoa. Sorry but not really sorry about that because I am exhausted and my brain cannot take much more negativity.
Something has got to give. And soon.
Happy things:
Charley went back to in person learning this week. The first day wasn’t great for his anxiety (or mine— I’ve diagnosed myself after this year, guys; I have anxiety) but he pulled through like a champ and actually had a great couple of days and we are super proud of him. Remember that this whole entire situation is a lot for these kids and try not to get too frustrated with them. Mask wearing and all the new rules are a lot for these smaller humans. C had a moment today where he had to cough but he was trying not to cough because he was terrified someone would think he was sick, and it made him cough more and he was so embarrassed. These kids are dealing with more on a daily basis lately than we ever had to and they are rockstars for adapting.
The Walking Dead aired their season finale (that was supposed to air in April?) this past Sunday and I can’t believe it but it was actually really great. Made even better by The Talking Heads because the perfect song can take any situation to A++ levels, let me tell you!
We also watched the spinoff- The Walking Dead: World Beyond, which takes place 10 years after the zombie apocalypse began. It centers on how life has progressed since then and how they’re trying to rebuild the world. At the heart of it is a group of teenagers who venture out on their own, all because they want to see what’s beyond the community they’re apart of and also because they want to find loved ones. I got Hunger Games/Divergent vibes and I’m not angry about that. I’m intrigued to see where it goes.
You know what’s a good movie(s)? Ghostbusters 1 & 2. I’ve watched both of them twice the last few days because Freeform just replays things over and over and they both just made me really happy and reminded me how much I love the actors. They bring back really great memories of being a kid.
That’s about the extent of my tv watching lately. This pandemic has done something to my desire to watch television. For the first time in years I am not watching Dancing With the Stars. I just can’t get behind it for some reason. I’m having difficulty jumping into anything new and I can’t figure out why.
What has happened to me?!
Cure my TV blues, y’all!
My parents got a new puppy. She is a teacup chihuahua named Lacey and she’s the smallest thing you ever saw. She’s also super duper cute.
Speaking of puppies, our Athena (Teena Marie we have aptly nicknamed her... no, I don’t know why) is doing very well. She’s still a little asshole but she’s very cute and very smart. She can sit and I’d say she is about 88% potty trained and she is a phenomenal walker. Seriously. So good on a leash.
Okay... Now for my Midnight Sun review:
*********** SPOILERS AHEAD ****************
LOL do you still need a spoiler alert for a story that’s been out for 15yrs and is just told from a different character’s perspective? Sure ya do!
Midnight Sun, as you (should) already know is Twilight told from Edward’s perspective.
A little backstory/full disclosure:
I have read the Twilight series several, several times. At least 10. At least. It holds a very dear and special place in my heart and I will always adore it.
After I read the series for the first time and I realized that Stephenie Meyer had written a few chapters from Edward’s point of view, I was ECSTATIC. I felt like I was being let in on this secret not everyone knew about (everyone knew about it). To take Bella’s chapters and compare them with his, was so much fun. I absolutely loved it. But after a few chapters it stopped. Stephenie always said she wanted to release MS in its entirety so it would bookend Twilight. She said she had all the chapters mapped out and ready to go. And then internet trolls did their internet troll thing and leaked what she had written to the entire internet.
SM was pisssseeedddd.
She said she was refusing to finish the book for a true publication release and instead put the pdf file for what was leaked, on her website for people to enjoy at their leisure. It was the first 12 chapters. Almost everything leading up to their first “date” in the meadow. And boy howdy did I READ IT. I read it over and over and over again, only to be so sad every time it abruptly stopped. I would get angry every time SM would do an interview and refuse to talk about it. I gave up on her ever releasing it and figured she had too. But then the pandemic hit and she decided to surprise us with it.
Hooray!
Rather than dive right in, myself and the Beutner sisters (Dawn and Ashley) decided to start our own Twilight book club. Dawn and I restarted from the beginning, while Ashley immediately read MS. Over those few weeks we had many a laugh, usually at Bella’s expense (but always in good fun) until Dawn and I got to MS. I blew through the first part (the part I had already read several times. A lot of times) and then came to an absolute standstill when I got to the new parts. Why? I couldn’t put my finger on it. Here, I’ll put my finger on it now... Edward Cullen is whiny, guys. Maybe it’s because I’m almost 40? Maybe it’s because I have read these books so many times (seriously, the binding is broken on all of my books), maybe SM just isn’t a good writer? Maybe it’s too little too late? I don’t know but it made me sad.
It has moments of greatness. Moments that make me remember why I love it so much but mostly it’s Edward saying he wants to leave Bella for her own good for 700 pages. It’s very cool to read the baseball game from his perspective. You find out about abilities Jasper has that are never mentioned in the earlier books. Rosalie is truly just not nice at all and you get an even greater sense of that in this book. It’s cool to read what actually happened when The Cullens flew from Seattle to Phoenix and how they were able to beat James. But in between all of that is a whole slew of anxious whining. Also, knowing how Edward leaves Bella in New Moon, you really really get to see that he was never going to not leave her. It was always the plan, he was just waiting for the right moment. He wouldn’t leave her while she was still healing from all of her insane injuries, so he waited for her to heal and then get a paper cut and for his brother to try to attack her. I don’t know. It was a lot and I think mostly I finished feeling very underwhelmed. Not what I expected at all. But then again, maybe that’s my own fault. Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy to have it and I enjoyed lots of parts of it. I just wanted a little less whining, I guess? A little less anxiety from Edward? He’s a vampire, for crying out loud!
But you know, still read it because if you’re a Twilight fan you deserve to. And now it looks pretty on my shelf, but I think I’m done with my reread of that series for awhile.
That’s all I got, guys. What is making you happy these days?
This is an old AFV video from last year that makes Jeff and I laugh... Enjoy!
And remember... Please, please, please be decent people.
