Rules were made to be broken (#17)

One of my goals is to read every Man Booker prize winner since 1982.  Lately I have been reading everything but Man Booker prize winners.  There a few factors  that have driven my recent reading habits including: books my sister has sent me, the filming of ‘The Hunger Games’ in uptown Charlotte, and books I have to read as I seem to go through book clubs like Hugh Hefner goes through girlfriends.  I will put my book reviews into three categories (serious novel, beach novel and non-fiction) and rate them out of five. 

Freedom: A Novel by Jonathan Franzen (2010)

My absolute favourite genre is big, meaty, American contemporary fiction (preferably male authors); think Tom Wolfe, Philip Roth, John Updike etc.   Freedom was right up my alley and easily earns its place next to the big guys.  It begins as a story of a seemingly normal contemporary American family, but quickly transitions into a third person narration by the unhinged protagonist, Patty.  It’s an engrossing and utterly convincing peek inside the mind of a deeply dissatisfied woman with well-developed characters.  

Overall rating 4/5 (serious novel)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2008)

Because I was basically reading Dostoyevsky before I learned to walk, I used to tease my little sister when she read cheesy teen novels about mystery and unrequited love.  Then one fateful day I saw “Twilight” on a flight from New York to London and thus began my love of all things teen vampire drama.  I quickly expanded my repertoire to include Twilight, Vampire Diaries and True Blood and re-read novels aimed at young adults such as “Harry Potter” –which I’ve been enjoying  more than grown-up books.  Two possible hypothesis: 1)  the quality of novels aimed at teens is higher than I anticipated; 2) my maturity peaked at 25 and I am now regressing back toward a fetal state.  This newfound appreciation for teen-lit coupled with the fact that they are filming the movie adaption in Charlotte led me to read “The Hunger Games”.  I devoured it in one sitting, I couldn’t put it down, I was totally addicted.  The story line is full of suspense and draws the reader in.  The book touches on some moral and emotional issues, but these are secondary to the compelling narrative.  The only ‘dis I have is that the ending was a underwhelming and seemed rushed and disjointed.   I have since recommended the book to a number of friends who have all loved it.  I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of parts two and three of the trilogy in the mail.

Overall rating 5/5 (beach novel)

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (2008)

This book was recommended by a friend and was a rattling good summer read.  The story is an intertwining of modern day Parisian journalist and a young girl who was separated from her family in the Vel' d'Hiv roundup and deportations of Jewish families from Paris in 1942.  It’s a great page turning historical novel about some of France’s darkest days.  The book makes a powerful emotional connection to the reader but the characters are a little stereotypical.

Overall rating 3/5 (beach novel)

One Day by David Nicholls (2009)

This is a great beach novel – but not a serious read.  I think I enjoyed it more than most because the story begins at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland (where I spent three happy years), the cultural references belong to my generation, and the relationship that is the main theme of the book follows a path that I could relate to.  The book is funny, sad, and incredibly sweet.  Without giving too much away, it has a really great, totally unexpected twist.  I went to see the movie, big mistake.  I wasted two hours of my life that I will never get back. The movie was dis-jointed, confusing and didn’t do the story justice.

Overall rating 4/5 (beach novel)

Mary Ann in Autumn by Armistead Maupin (2010)

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this latest installment from the “Tales of the City” series.  I am a huge Armistead Maupin fan but the last installment “Michael Tolliver Lives” was pretty bad and nowhere near as compelling as the earlier books in the series.  I enjoyed “Mary Ann in Autumn” because I have a fondest for the characters and for Maupin’s voice – but as a stand-alone book it’s pretty weak.  “Mary Ann in Autumn” is the literary equivalent of “Pirates of the Caribbean 7” and it’s time for me to stop reading them.  The first four books are just fantastic – I hardly ever re-read books but I have and will re-read these.  They  are gorgeous books that chronicle San Francisco life and are vastly superior to the Alexander McCall Smith “44 Scotland Street” series about Edinburgh life.

Overall rating 2/5 (beach novel)

We can do no great things, only small things with great love (#16)

Volunteering helps me feel connect to a place.  When I lived in San Francisco, CA the British American Business Council was a big part of my life.  Through volunteering at events I made personal and professional contacts that I still have to this day.  When I lived in Charlottesville, VA I was very absorbed in graduate school.   In an attempt to break out of the 1 mile square radius self-absorbed world I inhabited I volunteered for an annual school project called Building Goodness in April – every year they raise money to renovate 10+ homes that belong to low income families.  With two friends I led a project that built a kids playground in a trailer park.    The experience put my  ‘I don’t want to do my homework’ troubles in perspective, led me to explore beyond ‘grounds’ and get to know the city where I lived and allowed me to meet people outside of school. 

My move to Charlotte, NC last summer was one of mixed blessings.  A year on I am still not in love with Charlotte as a city (a sensation that is only compounded by visits to places like Vancouver) but I have found peace with it and built a really happy life here.  I have an amazing group of friends, love my job, love my neighborhood and seem to have some kind of adventure every weekend.

Service is important to my wellbeing – so I explored various volunteering opportunities in Charlotte.  My passion for education still pumps hot through my veins but school based tutoring programs were problematic as my work and travel schedule is so erratic.  Big Brothers Big Sisters (“BBBS”) won out as it had the most flexible schedule (spend time with your little twice a month) in a friend and mentor role.  To say the application for BBBS is thorough is an understatement; an application fee, written application, in person interview, 4 reference letters and a match interview later – I had a little sister!  My little sister is 9 (going on 21), is going into third grade for the second time and has 3 brothers.  I’m very pleased to report that my real life little sister (the one who I love more than anyone else in the whole world) has been incredibly grown-up, supportive and non-jealous about this new addition to my life. One thing has been consistent through all the volunteering I’ve done – I do it to give back but always feel like I get more out of the experience than the people I’m helping. 

Four months in my little sister and I are doing just fine.  We are still feeling each other out and testing boundaries.  She is a strong little girl and we do more “I’ll race you to the car” than “let’s braid each other’s hair”.  She can have a challenging personality and I am the second “Big Sister” she has had (the first one didn’t make it).  I have to balance getting to know her and the things 9 year olds want to do with some non-negotiables like wear a seat belt, say please and thank-you, and don’t litter.  There is so much I want to do for her like teach her to swim, improve her diet, help her pass third grade, take her an aeroplane for the first time, start talking about college etc. but for now I need to just take it easy and carry on building our friendship – Rome wasn’t built in a day.  Sometimes I really have to remind myself she is a child and I am an adult.  She has a bazillion reasons to feel angry and part of my role is to help her release some of that anger.  One of the things I’m grateful for is that I have a good relationship with her Mum.  I have made an effort to get to know her Mum, I always take ten minutes to sit and chat with her and send her pictures while her daughter and I are out and about.  This Thursday I plan to take the whole crew out for dinner using a voucher I won at work – this will be my first outing with the whole family and I’m really excited.

The experience has been a lot harder than I anticipated and during the lows I’ve felt frustrated, discouraged, scared, unprepared and inadequate.   The balance between giving her freedom while trying to keeping her safe is excruciating.  When she is in my care I see otherwise inane objects such as water, dogs, cars and humans as potential threats to her life.    An episode pretty typical of our time together was this Saturday when I took her to a Charlotte Knight’s baseball game using free tickets that BBBS gave us.  When we got to our seats she started pouting, making claims that she couldn’t see from so high up and that it wasn’t fair that I’d got us such bad tickets.  I was in no mood for that kind of behavior and I told her that some people would do anything to just be at a baseball game (kind of a stretch seeing as it was the Charlotte Knights) and instead of realizing how lucky she was she was focusing on the one bad thing – the crappy seats (in her defense they were really crappy seats!).  Then we got in a squabble because she wanted me to buy her crackerjacks but she had spent all of her money.  I was feeling pretty low on the car ride back and out of the blue she asked me how I was doing with my garage door as I’d been having some trouble with it and she had been worrying all week that I wasn’t getting in.  Heart.  Melted.  Immediately.   

The best part about having a “Little Sister” is that most of the time we have a ton of fun – she brings out a playful, silly side of me that I love.   In the past 4 months I’ve rediscovered the joy of screaming on a rollercoaster, whizzing around at a roller disco, playing sharks in the swimming pool, watching the Smurfs and laughing at my dance moves (“pleeeeeeeeeease stop dancing” I can hear her cry – haha). We typically hang out once a week and below are some of our best days together.

Cooking breakfast together is our favourite thing to do:

"The Intimidator" at Carrowinds theme park:

Baking competition - Apple pie vs. Blueberry muffins:

Tubing at Lake Norman:

Take me out to the ball game:

The whole crew at Chili's:

It’s fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A. It is not fun to be a member of the YMCA gym. (#28)

I love working out in the evening, but with my current job I don’t normally leave work until 7ish and by that time I’m hungry (often starving).  I’m then faced with the dilemma of eating then having to work out really late and risk feeling sick or not eating and working out and feeling weak and totally distracted by hunger – so I have been choosing the couch.  The recent hiking trip to the Cascades in Washington and my upcoming half marathon has made me aware that my fitness is not where I want it to be.    For the past two weeks I have been trying a morning workout schedule that has me up at 5:30am, exercising from 6am – 7am, going home to eat breakfast and shower and arriving at work by 8:30am.  What really helps is my good friend Emily is firmly on the 5:30am workout schedule so knowing she will be there each day is super motivating.  She is more wonderful and inspirational to me than she knows.

Heading to work knowing I’ve already worked out is such a good feeling and at 5:30am and I’m too sleepy and disoriented to come up with an excuse not to exercise.  The part that’s weird is accepting that my life is now one where I go to bed at 10pm and wake up at 5:30am versus one where I go to bed at 1am and wake up at 8am.  It’s what I need to do but something about it smacks of growing old and boring.

To facilitate the new schedule I decided to move my YMCA membership from the gym close to where I work to the gym close to home.  I naïvely asked the nice young gentleman behind the desk if I could just transfer my membership at the first of the month.  With a twinkle in his eyes and a big smile he proceeded to tell me that by moving memberships I was lucky enough to access the fantastic new membership structure (he was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory “you’ve won a golden ticket” excited).  He again stressed just how awesome it was and when I looked at it all I saw was that my monthly fee was going to increase from $35 to $65.  A little bit confused and a lot bit irritated, I asked him to explain what specifically about paying an extra $30 a month was “great”.  He proceeded to tell me that the new structure was much better for everyone as your fee was based upon your income.  It all seemed so unjust and I was so mad and he just stood there judging me for creating such a scene about $30 a month when I make a six figure salary.  I felt like the YMCA was discriminating against me for working hard and making decent money.  I have worked my ass off since I was 14 years old, I currently work a 6 day, 72 hour week – why on earth should I have that held against me?  Also, last time I checked the YMCA was meant to be a gym, not the federal government – there is an elected body responsible for income redistribution and I (happily) pay my fair share of taxes – why do I have to pay them at the YMCA as well?  And, after student loan repayments (apologies YMCA that I chose to seek higher education) my disposable income is pitiful – I really resent that additional $30.  I know I’m being an obnoxious cow about this but it really got to me – time to move on to the exercise class reviews:

Cycle – J.B.

This was my first exposure to spinning and I LOVED it.  The instructor had killer tunes and the 45 minutes flew by.  I have not been on a bike in a long time so my bum was sore afterwards but all in all it was a great work out.   I like that you control your own resistance so you can manage how hard you push yourself. It’s on a Monday morning so it’s the perfect way to kick start the week.  This one makes it into the permanent rotation.

Cardio Strength – Kim

The best part about this class was the instructor – she was very motivational.  The class itself wasn’t really my thing.  There were a lot of props (balls, half balls, bands, ropes, steps, bricks, whistles etc.) and some pretty out there moves that were hard for someone as dance challenged as I am.  My biggest frustration with this class is I felt like I put more effort into trying to figure if I was doing the one legged skip-hop on the half ball correctly than working out hard.  I won’t be rushing back to this class but I will try out some others that Kim teaches.

Yoga – Dawn

I love yoga but this class was pretty weak.  There were way too many people in the room so you couldn’t stretch out fully in the poses.  The pace was very slow and I came away feeling like I had done 45 minutes of stretching in a sardine can.  I need to keep looking for a yoga teacher who is more my style.

Athletic Conditioning - Becky

There are no words to describe how awful and awesome this class is.  I literally thought I was going to throw up on more than one occasion.  What I love is the simplicity – no props – just good old fashioned sprints, push-ups, star jumps etc.– too many of them, way too fast, to the sound of someone yelling at you about how weak/slow/lazy/awful you are.  We were beat all day at work and at 5pmish Emily finally admitted defeat declaring – “Becky kicked my ass like I stole something”.  I want to go back but will only seek out Becky classes on days that I hate myself.