so there i was, talking to dad in the corporate area of the sec baseball tournament, hoping against hope (b/c they lost) that bama could rally and beat the hogs friday, and lo! and behold, a foul ball lands near me – and i grabbed it!!!

little kids, sick people, old men – all begged for the ball – i told them to get lost:)

anyway, in between all of the baseball watching, this was what i read to kick the summer off…

“becoming odyssa” – by jen pharr davis – book about hiking the appalachian trail as a 22-ish girl looking for the answers to life’s questions – sort of the story of how the journey in life makes you a different person – makes you better (or can make you better) – i think i speak for everyone who’s read it that we probably all worried about a lone girl off hiking – glad that the trip ended as relatively well as it did…

“running dream” – new YA book by a decently published (in amount) YA author – the book is about a 16-year-old 400 meter runner who loses a foot in a bus accident – and learns to adjust to being an amputee – great book about learning to “see” people, learning to overcome difficulties, and adjusting to disappointments by resetting your goals (like when i realized i would never win the boston marathon or even qualify for the olympic trials – oh, wait, i still hold out hope on both – but that’s b/c i’m silly…)

“bottom of the 33rd” – great book to take to the ballpark – reminded me of rickwood – of watching barons games with my dad in the late 80s, early 90s – basically, this game in 1981 between two triple-a teams kept going until 4 in the morning – a fluke ruling by the ump on the curfew rule – lots of issues raised in the book – one, like what you do when the repetitions you do don’t come to an end one day but seem to keep forever going on (like the way a baseball game can go forever b/c there’s no clock)

who am i rooting for today in the finals??? not sure…

maf

well, this was the week to take care of oodles of other items – not much reading – still, i went from john through 1 corinthians in bible reading – finished my “prayer book of the nations” – 1000 pages of it – took five months, but i finished with zambia and zimbabwe

as for books, i finished “two wars” – it was sad – the guy fought in three wars and had severe difficulties returning stateside – go figure – i ordered “espn 30 for 30: volume 2” – it became available this week – there are a few on that set that i’m looking forward to seeing – one about a runner named terry fox – and i had his book – the 20th anniversary edition – and read it in a day – gripping story – fox had cancer in ’76 – in ’80, he ran for cancer research across canada – on one leg (the other leg was lost to cancer) – he ran until september when he had to stop – went to the hospital – he died (the cancer reoccurred) a year later – very tragic – but in his short life, he made a difference – over $24 million has been raised in his name through the years – and since none of us are guaranteed our next breath, it was a good reminder

hope your week is great – happy last week

maf

so it’s on to the summer blogs that no one reads – and better yet – no one comments upon – to ruin all the writing i create

yeah, sure, anyway…

“okay for now” – did i mention this one last week??? can’t remember – it’s the sequel to wednesday wars – loved it

“tuscaloosa runs this” – ebook from bama on the tornadoes – the english department published it – awesome, gripping read – i had nightmares that night envisioning what some of the authors wrote – some of the entries, like all collections, were better than others – i’d forgotten how much of college at UA is perceived (or is) spent in bars and other seedy places – i was too busy with work and school – missed out on so much of the college experience…

“33 men” – chile miners back in the fall that were trapped for 69 days – the story of their rescue – just amazing – both how they could survive and how they could be lifted from 2,000 feet down the depths of a mountain – things like that inspire me to go out and run 18 miles like i did this morning – b/c that doesn’t seem nearly as difficult when compared to going 17 days without food

“reshaping it all” – by DJ from full house – or candance cameron-brue (hockey player she married) – more a book for women on eating – i liked the full house stories – the rest, eh, not as much

reading now on “two wars” – a book about a soldier dealing with stress disorder after fighting – it’s from a christian publisher so i’m interested in how it turns out (typical books in this genre are all pro-military and nothing critical)

remember, final is thursday

maf

wow – the play was so good – well worth getting down to columbiana this afternoon – even if it meant i had to spend the hour beforehand trying to program, reprogram, deprogram, grandmother’s tv remote (it sort of works now, which really means it doesn’t work b/c she’ll never figure out a “sort of fixed” remote – so sort of fixing really did no good, sigh…)

anyway, every year, i’m blown away with the play – this year’s was the best i can ever recall – kudos to all the kids that had roles – just fantastic – i mean, the best i could say about it was that it interrupted nap time, i had gotten up at 4 today and run 18 miles before church – and yet, in a room w/o air, i still managed not to fall asleep – it was that good (or sam and brennan were that loud – or something…)

i did read though…

“confessions of a teenage nomad” – it was free on nook – and a quick read, like 183 pages, so it wasn’t a terrible torture – still, sort of a twilight-like novel where the misfit girl goes to a new school, and suddenly, the gorgeous guy loves her – and it’s all confusing to her – ah, young love – sick… 🙂

“east of eden” – finished early last week – wonderful book – like i said last week – i now want to find it on dvd and see james dean as caleb – i guess the thing i liked most about the book this time was how it addressed time – how, sometimes, if you wait long enough for it – things come back to a wonderful ending – if you can hang on – and as someone who struggles to hang on sometimes, that was a great lesson to reread

“the digital disciple” – book on how to be a follower of JC in the internet world – good read – i learned that none of you like e-mail b/c you can text quicker – which makes me feel old… the author closed the book by suggesting digital holidays – closing everything down sometimes so you can think – i think that’s important – one reason why i don’t keep net at home – that, and i don’t want to watch the red sox lose at home – i’d rather watch that at snap or read about it in the paper

nearing 40,000 words on “Battle of the Books” – my nanowrimo for this year

well, last blog for the year for you – write me something great…

love,
maf

well, two more – here we go… i read “the last boy” about mickey mantle – on loan from mr. scott – last week – sad, sad book – mantle had a sad life – basically was bent on killing himself for the 70-ish years of his life – alcohol, women, etc. – having read a biography on willie mays two years ago, the differences were stark – the book chain of darkness continued later in the week when i started “east of eden” – well, picked back up after three weeks off – i’m 300 pages in – that book starts very dark too – i had read it a few years back, maybe 10, so i knew to keep with it – this time around, i can identify with the character “adam” a whole lot more – last time, i just liked the redemptive nature of the book – this time, so far, what i’ve liked is the story of a guy that is never really loved – and how he learns to cope in the world after years of just basically “going through the motions” because he doesn’t feel anymore – the book is 600 pages long so i have a while to go – not in too big a rush – i did get a “shakespeare for kids” book that i’m hoping will help me teach julie, st. k, and the gang (the gang being goth girl maddie and possibly cailea – but definitely not jerame or tyler – and definitely not any eighth grader left that’s still blogging – i don’t think any of them are though – they’ve contracted that work out to india or something)

you heard it here first – three journals this week if you turn them in thursday – any guesses how many will wait ’til friday and still turn in just three??? i’m guessing most everyone – although, i strongly suspect at least 25 percent of my students do the work right before class – anyway, you also heard it here first – come to my booth friday – the dash race – race your friends – it’ll be fun

mafeld