If it ain't broke, don't fix it

When I found out they were making a John Carter movie, back whenever that was, I decided to read the book.  I read Tarzan a long time ago at my mom's suggestion and it was surprisingly good, so I thought I'd give another of Edgar Rice Burroughs's books a chance.  It was pretty good, especially if you like old school sci-fi, and I even read the next few books in the series.  I never got around to seeing the movie when it came out, but everyone said it was horrible.  I assumed it was horrible because they had a hard time adapting the book.  Some of the technology and crazy alien races (green people with 4 arms, red people), not to mention everyone being naked all the time, would be pretty hard to re-create.  The movie was on TV last week and I finally saw it.  It was terrible, but not for the reason I had assumed.  They actually did a really good job with the special effects and making the aliens look how they were supposed to.  They solved the nakedness thing by obviously just having everyone wear clothes.  But for some reason they totally messed with the plot.  They changed some things and put other things in the wrong order.  They brought in elements from the second and third books that just made it confusing.  Yet another example of movie people thinking they know better than the author. 

I wonder what they were thinking.  Maybe something like, "I am such an awesome writer.  Even though this author has sold millions of copies of these books over the last 100 years my ideas are definitely better.  Instead of sticking with the plot that has made this story so popular for so many years I am going to substitute my own awesome ideas that will totally make more money."  So if you saw the movie or heard it was terrible, please don't judge the book by that.  Ditto with Tarzan and every movie version ever made of that book.  Also Peter Jackson's version of The Hobbit, but I can't talk about that yet because I'm still too upset. 

Blanket #8

I finished Emily's blanket for her second birthday at the end of September.  I've actually finished blanket #9 (Liam's) too, but it's a Christmas present so I'll wait to post a picture.  Jonathan helped me pick out the colors for this one.  I think they go well with Emily's personality.  Heather recently showed me some old family videos of the Christmas when I gave Laurel and Lindsay their blankets back in 2003, right after I graduated from BYU.  It seems like a long time ago.  It's hard to believe how old the girls are already.

Life Update

I'm still doing medical transcription, but I am working at night now from 7 pm to 3 am.  It is pretty crazy.  I do okay with it.  I only run into trouble when I have to mesh my nocturnal schedule with the real world.  For example, my ward moved to 9:00 a.m. this year so I have only been getting about 3 hours of sleep on Sundays, partly because I feel anxious before church and have a hard time falling asleep and partly because of my work schedule. 

I also have a new calling.  When I got back from California in January they called me to be a primary teacher.  I teach a class of 4-year-old kids.  I like being in primary and it's easier for me to feel comfortable at church when I have something to do.  But man the kids in my class are wild.  They are all sweet kids but I am usually exhausted by the time church ends.  It might have something to do with the lack of sleep.  Luckily I can go home and take a nap for a few hours after church.

I started a medical billing and coding class in February.  I am 43.5% done with it so far.  I think that's pretty good since it is supposed to take 4 months if you do the program 40 hours a week and I already have a full-time job besides this program.  I am hoping to have it done and be certified by the end of the summer.  Then hopefully I can find a better paying job and work during daylight hours.

Since Christmas I have become obsessed with Wii Fit.  I asked for a Wii for Christmas in the hope that I would use it to work out.  I haven't actually lost any weight, but I feel better and I went for a bike ride last week without dying or throwing up so that is some sort of progress.  I think getting scores for everything feeds my perfectionist drive, and I feel inordinately proud when I can do one of the games perfectly.  Whatever it takes to get in shape I guess.

So between working out, medical transcription, cleaning my condo, working on my coding program, and hanging out with Heather's family my days are pretty full.  Heather has been great as usual with making me feel included and letting me participate in her family's life.  Still no social life to speak of.  My nocturnal schedule makes that a little hard.  But I am getting to know people in my ward better including some of the other singles, so hopefully if I can get a daytime job I can start going to some activities.

My condo is pretty much decorated except for one wall, but I can't afford the shelves I want to put there at the moment so that is indefinitely on hold.  It's a little sad to be done because it was so much fun.  A great big thank you to Mom and Dad for helping me with so much of it.  Dad was surprisingly patient with helping me hang up a ton of things on the walls during his last visit.  Mom and I had a lot of fun picking everything out over the last year or so.  There is still a little work to do on Mom and Dad's room so we can probably still squeeze in a few more shopping trips.  Hopefully the condo will be a comfortable place for everyone who comes to visit here in the future. 

Last but not least, I started teaching Heather's three oldest kids the piano several weeks ago.  It is pretty fun but reminds me how much I have forgotten since I stopped taking lessons 15+ years ago.  They are really sharp kids and are picking it up pretty quickly. 

I just realized this totally sounds like one of those letters people send out with their Christmas cards.  I should've taken a picture of me in a reindeer sweater for this post.  Unfortunately I'm trying to be more responsible money-wise, so reindeer sweaters aren't in the budget.  Maybe for Christmas.  Cross your fingers.  You know it would be awesome.

Reading Pet Peeve

The other night I was reading A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, which I do not recommend by the way.  I wasn't too jazzed about the book, but I figured I might as while finish it so I could find out how it all ended.  Sometimes if I don't finish a book or movie I find myself wondering six months later what happened to the characters (this especially happens to me with Lifetime movies which I never seem to finish). 

So I kept plugging away at the book.  It was 585 pages long, but it was a quick read, nothing too brain stretching.  At about page 500 I realized there was no way the author could wrap everything up in the next 85 pages.  She just kept adding more stuff with clearly no intention of resolving a single thing before ending the book.  I was steamed.  The only reason I kept reading the book in the first place was so I could see what happened and then get on with my life.  Now what am I supposed to do?  The sequel apparently comes out in July, but I don't really feel like reading it since I didn't like the first book.  So six months from now I will probably be driving or taking a shower and suddenly wonder what happened to those people.  Arrgh.

I think books that start off a series should have some kind of disclaimer on the cover.