BACK EAST!!!

And we are back in VA!! Back home for a WHOLE WEEK, and it's actually supposed to be unseasonably cool this week, all the way down in the 80's as a high! (For frame of reference, it was 113 this past weekend back home, until the ash and smoke from the wildfires started cooling things off in our area...)

We were so funny on the flights today, too. Definitely the little kids so anxious to get there. The last leg of the flight especially. Couldn't understand at all why we were waiting so long to taxi out, even though everyone was on the plane, just wanting to go go go! Zach recognized a lake nearby, "Ooh Ooh, There's Smith Mountain Lake!" Just fidgety from there on out. "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

Talking with Zach tonight, it's not that I'm particularly attached to VA, though I do miss a lot about it. There were also things about it that drove me up the wall. But it's so green, and it's really the greenery that I miss. I've lived other places that Va Beach, but all of them have been green, and all the places that I've travelled where I thought "I could live here" have been green too. That's really what I miss the most at post - the natural beauty. I miss greenery, and seasons, and being able to be outside comfortably for longer than 5 minutes at a time. "Hot" and "Windy" just don't count as seasons for me, and those are really the only two that we have out in the High Desert area. I don't feel like our next duty station needs to be back in the mid-Atlantic region (though I'd enjoy that, too), but I'd really like to be out of the desert and back in a place where I want to be outside. We'll see how it goes - fingers crossed for us!

I plan on enjoying the beautiful weather here to the fullest, and then crying all the way on the flights back to CA! :\

Review: A Knight's Tale

Yeah, I know this one's a couple years old, but we were watching it the other night so I thought I'd mention it.

For those who haven't seen it (or forgot the trailers), Heath Ledger, pre-Brokeback Mountain, plays William Thatcher, a poor boy from London's Cheapside apprenticed to a knight. Thatcher wants to "change his stars" and rise from a peasant to become an honored knight and win recognition on the jousting tournament circuit. The story begins as Thatcher gets his chance to rise above being just a squire, when his master passes away at a tournament and Thatcher steps into his place, taking his armor and his horse to finish the tournament. Realizing the opportunity he has received, Thatcher becomes Sir Ulrich Von Liechtenstein of the Gelderland and seeks his fortune on the jousting circuit, of course aided by the standard troupe of lovable supporting characters. And along the way, meet girl of dreams and arrogant ruling champion of tournament. Yeah, nothing really new plot-wise, pretty standard under-dog story, just set in medieval Europe.

Casting is great. I've been a fan of Heath Ledger's since 10 Things I Hate About You, and continued to be pleased here. And so many familiar faces in the supporting cast, lots of people that I love to see on screen. Alan Tudyk is adorable and hilarious as always. And as much as I like Rufus Sewell as a good guy (think Dangerous Beauty), he does make a great villain as well :) Mark Addy is in so many BBC productions I've seen, I've forgotten where I saw him first. He's just one of those good supporting actors that you just accept as belonging there, you know what I'm trying to say? He just fits whatever role. And James Purefoy is great in roles like this one - good guy, honorable but burdened. I first saw him in a similar role in the BBC Sharpe's series (he was Jack in Sharpe's Sword, if anyone else is familiar with the series).

A great part of the fun is the soundtrack. It's an interesting juxtaposition, 70s rock in medieval Europe, but it's handled well. I enjoyed listening to the words of the songs in relation to the story - they are definitely well chosen. Of course, if you're one of those people who'd be bothered by Queen at a jousting tournament... well, then this is definitely not the movie for you.

And it has some good lines too. My personal favorite:
Wat: I don't understand women.
Chaucer: Nor do I. But they understand us.
Zach didn't find it quite as funny :)

I think the only part I really didn't like (other than minor things, like how drawn out the ending joust was) was the female lead. She just bothered me. Not as well written a character as William's band of supporters, and the costumer went overboard with her wardrobe. Like at the big dance scene after William's first tournament, her hair was just... bad. Twisted and spiked all over, with different colors all over. There are punk-y type hairstyles that do look very cute, or attractive, or edgy-glamorous, but the costumer just couldn't find them for this character. So, I guess it wasn't the love story itself that bothered me - that helped move the plot along nicely - it was just the girl.

Overall: 4 of 5. Yes, predictable and cliched, not a classic, but lots of fun. Rather in the same family as The Princess Bride - adventure, romance, witty writing, enjoyable time had by all (or most).

Crazy things happening in SoCal

In this case, it's the wildfires. Not that I'm saying it's crazy-funny. There's a lot of property damage and personal damage happening, and it's all very tragic for those people crazy enough to want to continue to live in this sun-parched, naturally inhospitable corner of the world, which only becomes livable after much time, effort and money are pumped into reshaping the land... wait, what was I saying?

Anyhoo, it's amazing how far the effects of a wildfire spread. I had the same thought a few years ago when there were all those wildfires along the FL/GA border. I was still in SC at the time, and there were several days where the winds were right and we had haze and a smoky smell when we were outside of our office. And that was several states away, not just in the next county!

It's the same sort of thing happening now. This morning, things were still clear, and then the winds shifted. And now it's raining ash, and there's a haze over the sky, and we've got air quality warnings for the area. Lovely stuff. I stopped by work around sunset, to check on the staff, and the sky was just surreal, with the deep oranges and reds of the desert sunset piercing through the smoky sky. It looked like the fires could have been the next valley or two over. Very odd feeling. One of people at work looked at the red and smoke covering the hills around post and commented that it looked like The Lord of the Rings. Thinking about it, I would not be surprised at all to find that post was located at the edge of Mordor, and an unspeakable evil lived the next valley over. It really is that sort of place.

For the record, the sky is usually shot with red, all the way across, and oranges and purples, not a rim of red and orange and black like the picture above. And the picture doesn't show the ash falling from the sky, either. It really was eerier-looking than I was able to capture on camera.

The smoke and ash are supposed to be affecting us for the next few days. Hopefully, today's the worst and it'll get better from here on out. Also sincerely hoping that the fires will soon be under control, and things will calm down, at least until the next round of SoCal wildfires... :\

Gahhh!

So... success! And frustration!

First, the background: I have been trying to lose weight since the spring. I had lost about 11 pounds in SC before moving out here, which put me back solidly in my healthy weight range (instead of 5-10 lbs over) and then I got married....

Living with Zach and moving out to the inhospitable middle of nowhere rather combined to reverse all weight loss that had happened in SC before the wedding. A husband with a high metabolism eats about 3 times as much as I do, which I had to learn the hard way. So, eating habits changed drastically - not foods, thankfully (we still eat pretty healthily), just portion sizes. And living somewhere where you don't want to be outside or moving for about 5 months of the year really puts a kink in your workout routine when you're used to running outside.

All of that combined in '08 to completely negate all my weight loss in '07, and even packed on just a few pounds more.

I was not amused.

So, in the spring when a Weight Watchers group started up on post, I was excited and joined up again. I had lost the weight before with WW, so knew it worked for me (am really not the type to do well denying myself certain foods - people successful on things like Atkins totally amaze me). Not touting any particular weight loss program here, just saying what worked for me.

And the weight is coming back down. Yay! Am almost back down to what I weighed when we moved out here, putting me within 10 pounds of my overall weight loss goal. Am well pleased.

However! Here's the frustration:

As most of you probably already know, WW is based on daily points targets, a goal for food intake for each day. It's all based on what you weigh currently (the heavier you are, the more your body needs to fuel itself), how active you are, what your age is (the older you are, the slower the metabolism), etc. As you lose weight, WW will regularly prompt you to recalculate your daily points needs, so that you can continue to lose weight.

Well, in one day, I had a birthday and lost a pound according to my weekly weigh-in. The two together meant that my daily point goal went from 22 to 20. I lost 2 points in a day!! I'm sure that doesn't sound like much but really, that's a lot!!! That's a whole snack that I now have to find a lower-point option on!

So, yay! am losing weight, but gah! am losing points!!!

And yes, Zach was more amused than sympathetic at my reaction to my new daily points target. Bah, I say!

I'll leave you now with a picture of my weight-loss cheering section and his ice cream bowl. :)

I'm getting old...

But it beats the alternative, right? :) Not much today, so decided to do a birthday meme.

The Birthday Meme

The rules are to go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday month and day only. Then post 3 events, 2 births and one holiday that occurred on your birthday, then tag 5 friends.

Events:

• 1498 – Michelangelo is commissioned to carve the Pietà.
• 1920 – The 19th amendment to United States Constitution takes effect, giving women the right to vote.
• 1939 – The first Major League Baseball game is telecast, a doubleheader between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, in Brooklyn, New York. (not the Cubs, but still good!)

Births:

• 1743 – Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (d. 1794)
• 1910 – Mother Teresa, Nobel Peace Prize winning Christian missionary (d. 1997)

Holiday:

• Women's Equality Day - United States
  

I’m not going to specifically tag anyone, so if you’re reading this and want to, consider yourself tagged!

That’s it for today! I’m off to go celebrate being old :)

What else have I been up to?

Well, if it's not playing mindless games on the computer or watching old movies and M*A*S*H reruns with Zach, I've been reading this summer. A lot, actually, even for me. Nice and quiet, after a long day at work! So, here is the first of several book reviews I'll be posting over the next couple weeks or so.

First up: Devices and Desires by P.D. James.

A quick plot summary: Cmdr Dalgliesh is a police inspector at the Met, but also a published poet. After the publication of his second volume of poems, he retreats to his late aunt's home to escape the publicity. Her home is a converted windmill at Larksoken, an isolated headland in Norfolk. The Whistler, a serial killer, has been working in Norfolk and is coming closer to the small community on the headland. Dalgliesh's retreat is interrupted when he discovers the body of apparently the Whistler's latest victim, the Acting Administrative Officer for the nuclear power station at Larksoken.

Totally random side note: I did wonder how the British characters in the book pronounce the county they live in (Norfolk). Growing up right outside the US city of Norfolk, it is a running joke in the area that "locals" and "non-locals" pronounce the city's name differently. And it's very true - it would drive me up the wall, listening to my branch manager at Horrible Job in SC talk about the Norfolk office of the company, because it was very much the non-local pronunciation he used. So, I did wonder occasionally how the British pronunciation compared to the local Hampton Roads, VA pronunciation :)

I love mysteries and I love British mysteries, and I'm just starting to get into the Dalgliesh series after discovering him in one of the collections of short stories I have on the shelf. I've read 3 of the novels now, and this one is strikingly different. It's almost not really a mystery at all. I mean, the murder is there, the mystery is there, but it's not really the focus of the novel. Dalgliesh is present and is a detective, but he's not an active detective as far as the story is concerned. He actually tries to stay out of the process, being on leave and all. There's not much detecting by the official police either, at least as far as the novel's viewpoint is concerned. The book is more about how the lives and plans of this small community of people intertwine and strike against each other in this chaotic situation, and with what outcomes. Seemingly innocent efforts from characters end up with disastrous results as actions are misinterpreted or magnified in the context of the murder investigations. Very ripples-on-a-pond sort of viewpoint.

This was a very interesting book to read. It was more of a personality study than a mystery, a look inside several people's minds as they are thrown into circumstances they didn't expect. As a result, the characters all seem very real and believable, not just stereotyped cast members. There is nothing 'neat' about this mystery - there are dozens of loose ends at the end of the case, and even if Dalgliesh is satisfied that he understands what happens, it doesn't mean that every thread is neatly tied up. And (without giving any of the plot away) so many of the loose ends simply result from human nature - an extra glass in a dish drainer in the sink, does it mean one person at dinner or two? The reader knows what happened, but the police do not and will never know.

The book looks a lot at family - parent-child, spouses, siblings - and the pulls of duty that family puts on a person. The only unattached person in the story was the 'main' murder victim. The other characters were all bound or driven or shaped by their family situations, whether it was a main character facet or not. Even Dalgliesh, a widower and a very private character, spent a good amount of time thinking of his late wife and infant son, because of his Norfolk counterpart Inspector Rickards' approaching new baby.

The 'main' murder victim was as unusual as the mystery. She was not one of those characters where there is a strong "evil" characterization, where you know immediately that she will be the one to die, and you won't feel any sympathy for her. She was intensely disliked (murder victims in mysteries have to be that way, otherwise you have a very short list of suspects) but as you saw in her mind, she felt she was justified in her actions. In a few cases, you could almost see her side of things. By the end of the book, I felt that she was one of those strong personalities that throws herself into whatever she does and earns respect, even if not liked.

The setting was almost a character, too. The isolation of the headland, the looming presence of the sea and of the nuclear power station forming the backdrop to the story. James spent as much time describing the setting as any one of the characters. Maybe that's why I enjoyed the book - the windy, cool, grey Norfolk seacoast is probably one of the farthest places from the glaringly bright, hot CA desert as I could imagine :)

Overall: 5 of 5. I really enjoyed it (it's rare that I immediately start rereading a book after finishing it) but take note that if you're looking for a more traditional mystery, this probably isn't the Dalgliesh mystery for you.

Wow...

I really fell off the face of the earth, there didn't I! Well, that's what happens when you work at the most popular place on post during the summer - no time for anything else! Never fear, though, loyal reader - I will be updating this weekend! We've had a busy summer, so I've plenty to chat about :) Until then!