The Weird Thing About Time

Tomorrow will mark two months into my year of doing and blogging. Odd how a year seems like such a long time and yet time feels like it goes by so quickly. The one thing I'm learning about this 50 thing challenge is how much impact real life has on the best of your intentions.

I know I'm going to have some serious catching up to do-but I'm not as far behind as it appears on the challenge, just on updating the lists. I know, I know.

On the positive side, I completed a nearly 1500 word short story and beat the contest deadline by a day! And this was while hosting Thanksgiving dinner for eleven people, cooking, cleaning, shopping.

They have about 6 weeks to judge the contest, which is a long time to wait. See what I mean about time? It works both for and against you. It goes by at the same speed, sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, etc. It is just our perception that varies. I have an hour before I have to leave for work, and I guarantee you it will go by too fast.

Out of the Comfort Zone

So in search of new foods to eat--okay I admit, weird foods to eat--I ended up at an Asian market with my good-sport husband, searching the aisles. And I learned something. There is a reason we eat the same foods, and go to the same places and do the same things. Because it is comfortable!! I kept finding myself drawn to the things I knew. Mushrooms, coconut milk, rice noodles. I had to push myself to grab something different. I ended up with red curry paste, lotus flower stem thingies, and jasmine rice.

And I made an impromptu, perfectly wonderful dinner. Celery and onion browned, then about a tablespoon of the red paste as it was VERY hot, then threw in chopped lotus stems (which when cut create a weird sort of spider web-like thread) and shrimp. Finished with the coconut milk and served over jasmine rice, it was divine. And it cleared your sinuses.

Lesson learned. Go ahead and push yourself out of the comfort zone; it will probably work out, but just in case, buy a can of mushrooms anyway.

It's the Characters, Baby

I have finally conquered Jane Eyre and am ready to review a couple of the books from my list.

First off, let me say that the wordsmith in me loved the melody of the language, although the 21st century ADD me became impatient with the incredibly convoluted way the story was told. Although it was fun for me and my husband to attempt with furrowed brow upon our countenance to poorly imitate the language one evening. I noticed that we used very few verbs, and most of our sentences were at least two minutes long.

That said, I really enjoyed the story of Jane Eyre-mainly because I liked the spunky main character and was able to fall a little in love with Mr. Rochester. And I truly disliked Wuthering Heights for about the same reason. There was no character I could love. identify with or root for. And that is hugely important for me.

Wuthering Heights also suffered by being told in a very strange narrative fashion where the main narrator was being told the story of the main characters in a past tense way. This served to take all immediacy away from the story, jerking me back away from the story of Heathcliff, whom I desperately wanted to find a redeeeming quality in, yet never did.

I also read To Kill A Mockingbird and there again I loved it for the characters. Atticus Finch was a strong principled man immersed in a dangerous situation, yet he didn't falter and that value system was trickled down to the children. My one complaint is how worldly the viewpoints of the children seemed.

So I'm learning something about me as a reader which will also stand me in good stead as a writer. The characters have to be compelling and not irredeemably flawed. After all, I have to want to cuddle up with them for several hours of reading, and maybe fall in love every now and again.

At a Snail's Pace

Bit of a time lapse since my last post and some of you are aware of why. I continue to creep forward and that is good enough for me at this point.

I'm in the middle of reading Jane Eyre, and when I'm finished I'll give a summary on the first five books I've read. So far what I can say is I much prefer this to Wuthering Heights. I can only imagine the sibling rivalry in the Bronte family.

I would also like to send out a genuine thank you to P.F. Chang's. I went there with my three sisters recently in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and it was an oasis of peace in a period of turbulence. The icing on the cake was the gluten free menu. This is a restaurant that takes providing a delicious and safe dining experience for their patrons seriously.

So I've got ten and a half months left, and some catching up to do. Keep you posted.