Category Archives: Diversions

The stuff that didn’t fit elsewhere.

Diversions

On loneliness, ice skating champions and bed assembly

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Loneliness
My sister-in-law asked me this weekend why it’s been so long since I’ve written anything here. I told her I’d run out of things to say. And that’s kind of true, although I expect that my bowl of words will refill itself. It usually does. Here’s what I think has emptied it out this time: Rockford has been out of town since last Monday, and he doesn’t get back home until Wednesday. I’ve gotten almost used to his frequent business trips, but this one has been painfully long. I love my husband, and I also like him. He’s my best friend. I miss him terribly when he’s gone.

Also, the children have been slowly siphoning off my brain cells.

Champions
Despite the brain cell thing, we had a nice weekend. We went to the national figure-skating championships, where I got to see:

  • Evan Lysacek! His skating is just as powerful in person as it is on TV, and I still can’t decide whether or not he’s dreamy.
  • Scott Hamilton! He was announcing, not skating. I very much wanted to give him a hug, but we weren’t sitting all that close to him. And also I’m sure some security-type person would’ve stopped me.
  • Eleven-year-old Nathan Chen, who made me wonder what I was doing with my life at 11. (Answer: Playing Nintendo and eating chips). He was astonishing, and I fully expect to see him in the Olympics whenever he’s eligible.
  • A lot of other skaters, who were also very talented. And I’d love to tell you about them all. But the children? The brain-melting children? They would like their quiet time to be over now. And so I guess it will be. Because who needs quiet?

    • Bed assembly
    And then today I built the bed that my brother and sister-in-law bought for Pete:

    Kura bed from Ikea

    If you’ve ever wondered how long it takes to build the Ikea Kura bed, here is your answer: Two hours. Possibly less time than that, even, if you have help and are not working amidst a 5-year-old, a 3-year-old and a 2-year-old.

    Reading, Screen time

    The things I’m reading: A few good books about war

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    One of my two favorite classes in college was listed in the course catalog as “Vietnam literature.” I thought it sounded interesting, so I signed up for it. Only to find out that it was actually “Literature of the Vietnam War,” which was at first disappointing. Then the class actually started. It was a small class, and we were able to have some great discussions. We even went on what I believe was the one and only field trip of my college career. We’d read Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” — which is, it should be noted, so horrific and awful and The Things a Brother Knowsheartbreaking and true (or not) and also sometimes even funny — and he was doing a reading in a city about 6 hours away. So we decided we’d borrow a school van and trek down there, and it was a wacky and lovely time.

    I’ve read a lot more “war fiction” since that class. I don’t care for the very detailed, this-battle-happened-like-this sort of thing but rather the emotional and aftermath stuff. Dana Reinhardt’s “The Things a Brother Knows” is the first book about the war in Iraq that I’ve read. Although it might be about Afghanistan; I don’t think the location is every specifically mentioned. Wherever the war is, “The Things a Brother Knows” is the story of a boy whose 18-year-old brother joins the Marines right out of high school, goes to said war and then comes home. He’s wounded, but not physically, and the whole family is struggling to deal with that. It isn’t a terribly long book, but it’s effective. I read it in its entirety last night, and it made me cry a few times. It also made me go to bed far too late and thus be overly sleepy today. (OK, fine. Books don’t make people stay up too late. People make people stay up too late.)

    So! If you like books about families and sadness and dealing with things, you should read “The Things a Brother Knows.” And also “The Things They Carried.” Both of which can the found in the “Things” section of your favorite local book emporium.

    (Thus ends the Lamest Book Review Ever.)

    Reading, Screen time

    The things I’m reading: A few good books about war

    4 Comments

    One of my two favorite classes in college was listed in the course catalog as “Vietnam literature.” I thought it sounded interesting, so I signed up for it. Only to find out that it was actually “Literature of the Vietnam War,” which was at first disappointing. Then the class actually started. It was a small class, and we were able to have some great discussions. We even went on what I believe was the one and only field trip of my college career. We’d read Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” — which is, it should be noted, so horrific and awful and The Things a Brother Knowsheartbreaking and true (or not) and also sometimes even funny — and he was doing a reading in a city about 6 hours away. So we decided we’d borrow a school van and trek down there, and it was a wacky and lovely time.

    I’ve read a lot more “war fiction” since that class. I don’t care for the very detailed, this-battle-happened-like-this sort of thing but rather the emotional and aftermath stuff. Dana Reinhardt’s “The Things a Brother Knows” is the first book about the war in Iraq that I’ve read. Although it might be about Afghanistan; I don’t think the location is every specifically mentioned. Wherever the war is, “The Things a Brother Knows” is the story of a boy whose 18-year-old brother joins the Marines right out of high school, goes to said war and then comes home. He’s wounded, but not physically, and the whole family is struggling to deal with that. It isn’t a terribly long book, but it’s effective. I read it in its entirety last night, and it made me cry a few times. It also made me go to bed far too late and thus be overly sleepy today. (OK, fine. Books don’t make people stay up too late. People make people stay up too late.)

    So! If you like books about families and sadness and dealing with things, you should read “The Things a Brother Knows.” And also “The Things They Carried.” Both of which can the found in the “Things” section of your favorite local book emporium.

    (Thus ends the Lamest Book Review Ever.)