Caroline > Recent Status Updates

I feel silly commenting on such an early percentage of this, but it is SO interesting right off the bat. It makes me want to learn more about the history of Hawai'i, its people, and its royalty.

"The first of the diseases had sailed into Hawai'i on the smiles and charm of Captain Cook's crew."

I'm loving these aunties, but Meddelin is driving me nuts. It's like she can't think beneath the surface of the situation she's in.

This... whole situation wouldn't have been a thing if the face hadn't been covered...

Waiting for something interesting to happen... takes so long to say so little.

This book is so easy to pick up and read because the short stories/essays aren't connected, so it's nice to open to a random page and just go.

Lake St. John has such an unsuspecting title, but it has a scene that had me crying in horror. It will stick with me for a long time (I daresay forever, as a similar scene involving animals from Slaughterhouse Five is still with me these 10 years later.) Read it and be ready.

This book is so good. I have to return the interlibrary loan now, but I'm not leaving it there. I'm going to buy a copy for my own. This book is the kind that I will return to again and again. It's the sort of book you want to read slowly and frequently and absorb the chapters and try to practice the lessons. I'm not perfect and that's OK.

Just show up.

Move your body toward your dreams (gym, office, kitchen, etc.) Be there physically.

Woddy Allen quipped that it is "eighty percent of success".

Inventing proverbs improv game: A group of players who add the next most logical word to what has gone before. Do this quickly without 'thinking' of a good idea. When it is clear that the proverb is finished, all the players... say, 'yes, yes, yes, yes, yes...' affirming the wisdom of the group."
Try this: teach the proverbs game to some friends and play it around the dinner table. Enjoy your combined wisdom.

"Try this: Support someone else's dreams. Pick a person (your spouse, child, boss), and, for a week, agree with all of her ideas. Find something right about everything he says or does. Look for every opportunity to offer support. Consider her convenience and time preferences ahead of your own. Give him the spotlight. Notice the results."

Part of improvising is wholly paying attention to what is happening around us. Listen, then respond. Too often we are just waiting for a moment to speak, but actually participating in the world strengthens our ability to improvise and interact with it.

Normally Danielle wouldn't listen in meetings and would instead prepare for what she would say. One day she decided to really focus on the information being presented and LISTEN. She noticed a sales trend in her division and, piecing together this data, formulated a new idea about product development. When she did speak, the ideas were fresh and timely and grew out of what she had just observed.

I'm enjoying this more than I did the first time I picked it up. It's very subtle the way things are revealed here. It's nice seeing Mrs. Ransome bloom and explore things outside of her stuffy, expectation-riddled life. These characters have lived what they and their acquaintances perceive to be a "proper" life that they haven't developed into people... yet. It's like they were robbed of their illusions.

This is a really interesting book that's already had me laugh out loud once or twice. I'm already super-invested in their journey to find a sperm donor and all the weirdos and simple mis-matches that they've dealt with. It's not just money, but there is an emotional cost to getting pregnant, failing, and trying to get pregnant again.

We’re getting dangerously close to a zombie encounter. It will be the 2.5th encounter of the book. Most of this is talking about zombies without actually showing any :/

If I had a nickel for each time a blood test is mentioned, I wouldn’t have to work again. You’d think there was nothing else in this world but zombies and blood tests.

PUNCHING WALLS IS NOT A HEALHY WAY TO PROCESS NEGATIVE NEWS OR THOUGHTS.

Fuck, I hate Shaun. I hate Bex. I hate Maggie. Why is it OK for Shaun to threaten people like a spoiled toddler? Why does everyone casually talk about murdering Kelly every so often?? Everyone is just so smug and aggressively aggressive. Nobody is likeable. Too bad because I enjoyed the first book well enough.

Why is EVERYONE *SO* SMUG?? When the team arrived at the Garcia residence and the doctor asked why they were out in the open without any security... everyone laughed at her. I mean, knee-slappingly laughed like an a chorus of hyenas because she didn't know something. I didn't know either, so it felt like the characters were laughing at my ignorance. Thank god they explained it as condescendingly as possible.

- Shaun's reaction to anyone saying something he doesn't agree with... is to punch them in the face. We're supposed to think he's amazing because he *resists* the urge to punch people.
- Shaun punches walls when he gets bad news. This sounds terrifying, but everyone accepts it. Shaun can do no wrong.

I'm getting so sick of Shaun acting like a spoiled crybaby abusive asshole. Yes, Shaun, we know you miss your sister. I daresay I miss Georgia more than you because now I'm stuck with you as a protagonist.

I'm beginning to suspect that fantasy isn't for me. I want to get to the action, but there's too much backstory about historical alliances and current political climates in a fictional setting. The characters are interesting, but there hasn't been much nightrunning lately.

Pretty good so far. Well done with the setup, as well as giving us a peek about what their lives will be like once they've settled down to become farmers.

“9 times out of 10, if a girl gets raped, it’s partly her fault.” Spoken by a woman, written by a man.

Meandering and very little plot. It seems that Heinlein likes to “write about shit happening”. It’s like a story without plot and people being 100% smug at each other. How boring. I’m so glad I can listen to this as an audiobook on 1.5x speed to get through it faster.