Dog Beach Day!

This is the second time that we've taken Brie to the dog beach.  The first time, we just walked and got the feel of it.  This time, we wore swimsuits and brought snacks!

Gary, the sea, and my knees! -->

Brie was pretty alert, making sure no dogs or humans attacked her humans!

It was great weather, around 73 with a light breeze.

Brie acted like she was well-trained, too!  She stayed with us, and laid on the beach with us.  She wasn't sure about the waves that kept coming in, but she did like running in the water.  I think she even growled at a big wave that was coming towards her Daddy!

I never would have expected this, but this is exactly what I want my life to be!  #dogbeachdaysalways!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Possible (probable) SPOILERS ahead!

I've seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens (TFA) twice in theaters now.  I may watch it again, or just wait until I can get it on DVD to continue to watch it.  I loaned my set of the first 6 to a student, and she hasn't given them back, so I might have to buy them all over again!

Anyway, it's safe to say that I love TFA, even though I do see some places where there's a little too much missing information, or improbable coincidences.

There are several reasons why I love it.  It's action-packed and funny.
But more importantly, it's a Star Wars film.  The universe is the Star Wars galaxy, unlike the prequels.  Those were so CGI'd and glossy that none of it felt like Star Wars.  This one does.  The gadgets are similar, the machines are worn, it's just Star Wars.
It's also a pretty similar story to the original (A New Hope); there's a hero(ine) who lost their parents who is stuck on a desert planet and is untrained and mostly unknowledgeable about The Force, who goes on an adventure with the resistance to save the galaxy.  There's a villain who's taking orders from a more evil villain.  There's an unnecessary cantina scene.  There's a feisty woman who saves herself.  There's a crazy scary monster scene.

But I do have some problems, or questions.  Here they are:

1. Why does Finn's conditioning not work?  Does this happen often?  Is he special in some way?
2. How convenient was it for Han to find the Millenium Falcon at just that moment?  
3. Why didn't R2-D2 wake up when BB-8 first came to him with part of the map?  Why did it only happen after the Starkiller was destroyed? 
4. Is Rey just a random girl who is strong with The Force?  Is she an Organa-Solo?  Is she Luke's daughter?!  
5. Why can Rey speak every language?!
6. Did someone take care of Rey when she was first abandoned?  Who?  Was it that old guy with the map (Lor San Tekka is his name; I looked it up)?
7. How convenient was it that Han took Rey to the place where Luke's lightsaber was?

After watching the movie, I have read some things about it.  People have interesting theories about Rey!  I hope that Disney figures out that people (adults, boys, girls) want Rey merchandise!

I can't wait for Episode VIII!!!

Auntie Day 2015

I took some pictures on my own this year, so this Auntie Day post won't be late!

This year's theme was CHEESE!!  It was also Gary's first Auntie Day with us!  It was one of our more mellow celebrations, but that was fine for all of us.

We started off watching an episode of the TV show Chopped because all of the courses had cheese in them!  What's really cool is that one of the contestants is from Portland, Atalua, and we're going to his restaurant in a few days!   They also got me a giant container of cheese puffs to eat while watching it.  They were all mine!!  Okay, I did share; I just can't say no to those kids!

The big event for the evening was going to a local fondue restaurant, Urban Fondue.

We skipped the meat course to focus on melted cheese and melted chocolate.  So yummy!  I was happy that they offered sausage to dip in the cheese so we really had the best of both worlds!  In pairs, we got to pick the type of cheese we wanted, and extra sides, as well as the type of chocolate we wanted.  We tasted everyone's, and I think that Gary and I chose the best cheese (brie and gorgonzola) and chocolate (dark chocolate with no additions)!  Gary hadn't had fondue since it was hip in the '70s, so that was fun!

Another great Auntie Day!  I'm happy that my family invented this day for me, and we keep celebrating it!  We're trying to convince Gary's daughters to start their own Auntie Day, but they might choose the commercially-set date in the summer.  That works better for them.

Auntie Day 2014

Since we just finished Auntie Day 2015, I figured that I should post about Auntie Day 2014.  Even though I only have pictures from my Mom's disposable camera*.

That year's theme was the hobbies of the kids.  We started with Adam, and he drummed for us.  He's so good!

Drew is really interested in sports, so we played a very short game of basketball for his hobby.  Us adults are getting old!  But we're still competitive and aggressive.

Kylie's hobby was photography, so there were a bunch of props out and we did a photoshoot!



















From the photoshoot, I kept the tiara when we went to dinner.  :)  We went to a German place that had a fancy cheesy fondue appetizer. I love to tell the waitstaff why we're celebrating!  This time, they thought that it was my birthday, but I let her know the real reason!

Another great Auntie Day!  I appreciate all that my sister does for me, and how wonderful my niece and nephews are!

Fifty Shades of Gray

Ugh.

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I can't finish reading this.  It makes me too angry.

I get why it's so popular, though.  This is the first non-lesbian book that I've ever read in which the woman's sexual pleasure is described in the first-person.   For those who don't read fac-fic or women-centered erotica, this can really be an exciting experience.  Plus, Christian seems really good at pleasuring her.  I think all people want a partner who knows how to make them feel that way.

HOWEVER, I have friends in the BDSM community, and from my impression of what they do, their BDSM activities are mostly focused on sex, not their whole lives.  In fact, I think that people who have more power and responsibility in their public lives tend to like to be submissive, to just let go.  What this book describes is a Slave relationship.  That's very atypical for people in the BDSM community.


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Vincalis: The Agitator

Review from GoodReads:  Vincalis the Agitator by Holly Lisle
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The book started with one-dimensional characters, with the women being one-dimensional AND stereotypical.  One woman's main motivation is love, and the other is portrayed as slutty (and punished for it later with severe domestic violence).  A sub-plot of sadistic pedophilia is totally not necessary.
Based on this, I probably won't read the series.  The story itself was mostly interesting, but it was hard to get through the stereotypes.


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Black Widow & Avengers: Age of Ultron

Ultron "spoiler":

I still can't get over that Black Widow's biggest emotional struggle is not being able to have children.  How stereotypic is that?!  I was happy as can be to have my uterus ripped out so that I never had to worry about the possibility again!  Her memories showed her shooting an unarmed man in the head.  How is that not worse than no birthing of your own?!  And what about all of that red in her ledger?

I also hate how Natasha basically threw herself at Bruce.  For frax sake, that is so not her style.  It's not Joss's style, either.  From my experience of his writing (which is somewhat extensive), he hints at least 3-5 "episodes" ahead about anything like that.  But I don't remember ANYTHING in Avenger's that would support her desiring Bruce.  And even if it was there, she wouldn't be so obvious and assertive about it.  Not that she's not assertive, but she's a spy, for goodness sakes, she would be much more subtle.

The handling of Black Widow's character was so bad in this movie that I won't own the movie.  I'd like a Captain America set, but it won't include this one.
Which isn't so bad, because Captain America's character didn't really do anything, either.  You can't see any change or growth from his dismantling of SHIELD and Hydra in his last movie.  He's just a stock character.

The whole movie was really a let-down.  Marvel had been doing such a great job of building the movies, the universe, and then this movie lost all of the characters and their arcs, and was just a mess to show them all together.