Water for Elephants

In light of my recent Amazon Prime subscription, I've decided to read one book per month in order to fully utilize my lending privileges. The first book I read was the second book of the Hunger Games trilogy. As I mentioned in my previous posts, I was very happy with the Hunger Games. And so my second choice? Water for Elephants! 'Twas another fine choice indeed. I saw the commercial for the movie, and I thought -- WHAT! A MOVIE ABOUT CIRCUS PEOPLE! I was immediately intrigued. You see, I've never been to a circus. The closest thing is probably seeing the Cirque du Soliel shows in Vegas, but I'm sure that's much more upscale than what you'd see when visiting the traveling circus. And then because I'm deathly afraid of dirty people (and places), I will probably never be able to sit through a grimy road circus show. But this book was like being there. I was on the train, in the big top, and running through the lives of so many different characters within the hierarchy of circus people. There's a community, a culture, and an oddly captivating environment surrounding the characters in the novel, and the author did a fantastic job portraying them in a way that SUCKS that reader in. This weekend, I was part of a circus.

I just got back from a last minute trip to SF -- you know, HAD to see my Sharks play at least once this season! Flew in Thursday afternoon and hung out with Julian in San Mateo. Got my ramen fix at Himawari because Santa Ramen had just closed. It almost worked out better though, cuz karaaagee chickennns! :)

Had some delicious french pastries at Santana Row with Julian <3 .="" class="separator" div="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> Then met Alex up at the Firehouse in SJ before the game to have a pre-game pre-game! The game was fun, stuffed my face with nachos and sipped my beers. I SOO MISS SHARKS GAMES! HP Pavillion feels like home. Too bad we didn't win that night, or Saturday night, and too bad the Sharks got eliminated ..

On Friday I had lunch with my parents, then hung out on the rooftop at my brother's place. It was so gorgeous! Great time catching up, I'm glad everyone is healthy and doing well. I haven't seen them for a whole four months, but the time feels shorter to me. On Friday evening, I went to Alex's for dinner. His house feels like home too! His mom made me eat a lobster claw, my first lobster claw ever. It was seriously ridiculous. I got to watch Bear and Tupac play, it was kind of gross to eat around them with the fur flying but they're still too cute.

We went to Priscilla's birthday after, and she ended up in tears!! I think they were happy tears... I hope. Anyway, I'm really glad she enjoyed her birthday, she totally deserves it! And it was very nice to see Andy and Janet and other people I haven't seen in forever. Saturday I had dim sum with my mom and brother, and I sort of just lazed around until the Sharks game started. A disappointing finish led to a dinner of leftovers - seems fitting. Saturday night was Alesso at Ruby Skye, and I actually had MUCH MORE fun than I had anticipated. The music was great, but the company was greater! Felt good to be back, and my calves are still sore from jumping around with Loan. My crack of dawn flight Sunday morning was not fun at all. When I got back though, the weather was gorgeous. Matt and I decided to make use of the rooftop with some wine! We continued the drinking at Vic's for bbq, and the night ended around a fire with smores and perfect weather.

This past weekend could not have been better. Loving life!

Guilty Pleasures: Basketball Wives

Who says you don't learn anything from trashy TV? Today I learned what kitten heels are, after catching up on the last four episodes of Basketball Wives!

I don't mind at all that none of then are actually currently basketball wives. All I care about is the juicy drama. As my roommate said earlier "they're so hood" - and that is exactly why I love it.  :)

Hock-u (Hockey Haiku)

Finally Spring comes
Hockey heart strings pull left, right
Cup anxiety

Snowboarding, Menie, and Charles

Finally made the trip! Snoqualmie was tiny, but it was perfect to break me in after two seasons of not boarding. Unlike Boreal, it was clean. HAHA!

Lunch time at the resort, which also means boozing time. I got peer pressured by Matt and Eric, but I have to admit that it was an entirely different experience to drink and board.

Like feeling compelled to do this. And being daring enough to try and pick up speed in the terrain park. I failed miserably by the way, lost control and ending up on my back gasping for air. It was a really bad tumble but I'm perfectly fine. I should probably call it quits before I break something.. amazing day trip though!

Black Bottle Postern in Bellevue for Menie's birthday dinner before Blue Martini. This was my second fave dish, my first fave was Victor's Roasted Tomatoes. Mmmmm.

Pesto wood fired pizza for lunch on Sunday with Charles. The weather was perfect and we sat outside near the Kirkland Waterfront.

BBQ at the Zante house after Charles left. This weather is amazing, it's getting me all hyped for summer! Looking forward to bbqs and sunshine in Seattle <3

Playoff Mania

It's the last week in the regular season for the San Jose Sharks, but the past few games have felt like the playoffs have already begun.

Oh the drama! The suspense! The anxiety! I dearly miss having someone to watch the games with, and having the games available on local channels.  I love that NBCSN has been making hockey more available to me though. Something funny happened today...

I tuned in for the Blues and Red Wings game after work, and got all riled up. A very intense game indeed! I've found myself watching other games besides the Sharks recently, but none up until today were so exciting that I felt compelled to yell at the TV. I started to notice that I was actually yelling through all of the shifts. And I realized that it was because I didn't want either team to win.. everytime there was a breakaway or a shot on goal I found myself screaming, HAHA.

How silly!

The Hunger Games: Book vs. Movie

Overall, I think that this motion picture was well done.

I can see where people were disappointed about the movie skipping certain parts and not developing the characters enough, but there's no way that the producers could fit everything in a reel that's less than three hours. I honestly feel that every moment they chose to show in the movie was absolutely necessary, and adding more to it could have made it too lengthy for one sitting.

That being said, I can't believe that they changed the origin of the mockingjay token. For a theme so deeply embedded in this series, it doesn't make any sense to alter the backstory of the pin. In the text, the pin is a symbol of friendship and respect - something rare in the life of the protagonist. The pin also will later bring up references to a past tribute and mean significantly more to the struggle for humanity and decency. So why cut this vital detail out? They might have saved maybe two, three minutes? There were other details that were changed for the sake of efficiency and simplicity (which were understandable), but the mockingjay pin's origin is one that I cannot and will not forgive.

I also realized today, that the characters that I had developed in my imagination were all White. I was actually taken aback when Rue and Thresh were black actors in the movie. I can see how it makes sense from a casting standpoint, but I didn't realize until now how much the media's tendency to rely on White actors has affected my subconscious.

And on a final note, I must say that Gale could not have been dreamier. Swoon.