The Golden Compass

Posted: June 23, 2009 | Author: Mika | Filed under: Book of Sand | Leave a comment

by Philip Pullman

The only reason I read this book is because the movie looked awesome, but when I watched it I was left confused and a little bit disappointed. Still, the book sounded like it would be intriguing. More or less, it was. Unfortunately, I can’t say I’m no longer confused…

It was somewhat easier to follow because I’d already seen the movie, so I had good solid character visualizations (and with my diminished thought capacity these days, I appreciate that). The changes made in adapting the book to film made sense, and I enjoyed getting a deeper, fuller story by reading the book. It seems that I may actually have to read the subsequent books in order to answer a question neither I nor the main character of The Golden Compass currently know the answer to:

Seriously, what is Dust?

(My other question: since when is James Bond the bad guy? It makes me sad. {You need to have seen the movie and read the book to understand that, I think.})

New Camera

Posted: June 16, 2009 | Author: Mika | Filed under: Dangerous Book for Boys | 3 Comments

New-to-me, at least: a Sony DSC-F717 that is tons of fun to play with.

Behold:

Baby fox from IKEA is the Bwun's new best friend.

I haven't bothered reading the manual yet so I don't know how to fix the saturation on the camera - just in a photo editing program. And only sort of, even then.

Yes. I know. The Bwun is adorable.

We got some English roses from the Romgi's grandmother last night.

I'm not a fan of roses in general, but English roses are so fragrant and blossomy.

Again, I don't know how to change the saturation and I didn't want to ruin the image by playing with it too much. The Romgi likes this one.

Miscellaneous

Posted: June 15, 2009 | Author: Mika | Filed under: Dangerous Book for Boys | 2 Comments

Did you miss me? I know it’s been about a gazillion years since I posted. (Slight exaggeration.) I’m going to try writing once a week…but don’t feel disappointed if I can’t manage that.

We’re enjoying our last real summer for a long time. The Romgi will be doing internships the next two years and then studying for the bar/beginning his career as a lawyer the summer after that. We keep meaning to take a quick weekend trip down to Moab, but between the Romgi’s hateful work-every-other-Saturday schedule and the various other events that come up, it hasn’t happened yet. Tentatively planned for July 17-18. Our big adventure will be a few days at my grandpa’s cabin in New Mexico in mid-August. Law school starts August 19, so I think the Romgi is planning to leave his job about a week before that.

Can I tell you a secret? I didn’t know that law schools (and dental/medical/business/etc.) actually have wives’ clubs – I thought it was a joke. But I’ve been invited to be part of the Law Partners group at BYU, which means that hopefully I can make friends with some people who have kids. We realized recently that aside from our siblings, we don’t really have any friends who are parents. I can see that as a benefit, though: our friends always want to play with the Bwun. As much as I adore him, it’s nice to have a break once in a while.

Recently someone gave us some diapers for the Bwun, but unfortunately he had already outgrown them. I posted the diapers on FreeCycle and got over 30 requests from parents who were trying to make ends meet. I felt bad about only being able to help one person – so I started looking for a volunteer opportunity. Tomorrow I’ll start volunteering at a community center in South Provo, with a summer reading program for kids in the area. Lately my days seem full with trying to improve myself, take care of the Bwun/the Romgi/our house, and helping friends and neighbors. I feel busy but exceptionally happy. It’s a good life, and I’m glad I have so many chances to enjoy it.

And, before I go, here’s a picture of the Bwun NOT enjoying our new IKEA Poang chair: