The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Posted: October 19, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: Book of Sand | Leave a comment

A Novel in Words and Pictures
by Brian Selznick

I heard about this book from the Provo Library’s list of recommended young adult novels. A few weeks ago, the Romgi and I were in the BYU bookstore and saw that it was on sale; I’ve really been wanting a book to read, so the Romgi was nice enough to coerce me into buying it. School has been busy (midterms, yuck) but today I finally got a chance to sit down and read it.

And? I think it’s a great book. The story is not superbly written, and definitely doesn’t compare with my other favorites (Harry Potter, Phantom Tollbooth, Inkspell), but the way everything was presented was fantastic. It really is a novel in words and pictures: Selznick is a great artist and a lot of the book is his drawings. They serve to further the plot, not just illustrate what has already been said. Altogether the book is about 500 pages, but I read it in a little over an hour.

I definitely think you should check it out sometime, because it’s a really unique approach to storytelling.

a hot chocolate kind of day

Posted: October 17, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: All's Well That Ends Well | Leave a comment


There is something about fall that makes me long for something. Maybe it is because I have spent 3 of my last 4 falls in Korea… Whenever I am walking around and I look at the colors of the trees, and feel the coolness of the air, in short, those days when it is especially autumn-ish, it makes me feel really nostalgic.

Now I now what you are thinking, “hey, who is this kid, he’s like not even 25 and he is talking about nostalgia??” But I think that you can feel nostalgic at almost any age. How you feel that nostalgia might differ over time, but I believe that even a 7 year old kid can be nostalgic for the days when he didn’t have school.

Back to nostalgia, it seems that when I look at the myriad of colored leaves that autumn has to offer, it reminds me a lot of my freshman year of college. Back in California, I don’t especially remember trees changing colors, and all the leaves falling off the trees. I think that trees feel this “fall” nonsense is superfluous when the coldest they are going to be is about 60 degrees. So when I came to Utah in fall 2002 and the leaves started changing colors a few weeks later, I really began to notice.

In particular, there is this big tree with broad leaves that I passed every day on my walk from the dorms to campus and back. When I noticed that the colors were changing on the tree, I thought it would be fun to get a leaf for each color. So about once a week, I would pick a leaf from the tree. By the first snow I had yellowish green, yellow, orange, red and even brown leaves gathered in my dorm room.

So now, to this day, when I see the leaves beginning to change color, I am reminded of this. And for some reason this makes me want to have hot chocolate. Really good hot chocolate. In fact, I think I can hear the Ghirardelli hazelnut hot chocolate calling my name right now…

Putting the "Mika" in Roni

Posted: October 12, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: Great Expectations | 4 Comments

I keep meaning to go to bed, but it just hasn’t happened yet. After sleeping through my alarm this morning and having a long nap after dinner, I don’t really feel tired at all. Sitting at the computer is probably not the best use of my time…surely I have homework to do, dishes to wash, laundry to put away, and so on…

Lately I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what it is that I enjoy doing. I remember once in high school my mom told me that I didn’t have any real interests of my own, and that I just absorbed the identities of my friends. At the time I was highly offended as only teenagers can be, but I’m beginning to wonder if maybe she had a point after all. Many of my favorite books are ones that I read because a close friend loved them; I like making cards, but I only started because Krista was doing it; I really like playing Zelda, but the Romgi talked me into that. Sudoku? Krista. Blogging? Maybe me. Our pets? The Romgi. Saving the world through microcredit? An FHE lesson my dad gave years ago.

So what things are Roni-ish? I would like to bake and cook, but constraints of time, money, and talent get in the way. I’d like to learn photography, but I don’t think my work would be anything much compared to what others do. I think part of the problem is I realize there are many people with exceptional skill, and my attempts at hobby-ing couldn’t begin to reach those levels of achievement. I’m torn, though, because I really do want to do something that is enjoyable in and of itself, without comparison to what anyone else can do; besides, how can I get better if I never try?

What I’m thinking of doing is getting a long-letter penpal. Apparently there is an actual group of people, women mainly, who want to correspond through lengthy paper letters. I love the idea, because it reminds me of Anne’s letter-writing. I think it would be fun to have a “snail mail” friend, especially since so much of my contact with people is through email and blogs. It could be nice to get a long letter in the mail every few weeks.

So…is that an ok Roni thing to do? Can you think of anything I do that makes me me?

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →