(subject header overheard at church today – a mighty superhero runner discussing his feat at spain park… 🙂

so i was reading in my journal from three years back and at this point, i had some morning runs in the 40s – these are about the only moments i wish i could go back in time (i have a short memory as well b/c this “hot and humid” feeling i have currently out there is how i described summer running – which i’m sure was hotter but i truly can’t remember how much more miserable…)

on to the books – “in the water they can’t see you cry” by amanda beard – good bio about a swimmer – her bravery to discuss the abusive situations she found herself in – both abuse from others and things she did to herself – i admired her courage to come forth – very little about swimming in the book – good part about the whole issue of being an olympian at 13 and then a year later being a “has been” because you’ve hit puberty – sad that female athletes have to go through that

“the science magpie” by flynn – odds and ends from the magnificent world of science – and math – and literature – the cool part for me were the number of literature tie-ins to scientific works – poems about science – fiction about science – obviously, 90 percent was lost on me, but i do enjoy learning new things and this book was full of them

“pray” by hornby – recap of the 2011-2012 priemer league season – so british soccer – very cool as a comparsion to the football-crazed South – for example, the writer said 95 percent of teams live in the past – whether 5, 10, 15-plus years back, they go back to an era and live there – of course, alabama fans used to do this for years – now, they live in the present while ole miss still drags up archie manning and their 1960-something team that was really good – and ole miss is of course not alone…

“how the SEC became goliath” by glier – excellent book explaining how the SEC rose to power and won the last six BCS titles – a must-read for college football fans – even “experts” will enjoy it

okay, so that was a productive week – hope you get in some good reading before finals

mafeld

okay, brilliant thought for the day brought to you by the man and his son that sit behind me – now for three years strong at the bama games – first series yesterday for the opposing team, the owls of fla atlantic have a third and one – and they delay the game and are backed up five yards – and the father says “ooh, they’re going to be better now here b/c we would’ve stopped their run” – and i’m like “seriously??? you think third and six is better than third and one??? quick! tell coach saban so he can decline the penalty!!!”

“Never Fall Down” – so i finished this book in a day – yesterday to be exact – 1/2 before the bama game – and 1/2 during the game (thank you pay-per-view timeouts – really people, if you pay $40 for a game, why should you have to see commercials???) and so i’m done with high school BOB – don’t consider this a high school book at all – serious topic, 197os cambodia-vietnam conflict – serious issues (child soldier) – but in my high school days, we actually would’ve, oh, i don’t know… READ about the conflict and what happened and grappled with the US involvement – rather than read a child’s novelization…

“Catherine the Great” – yeah!!! finished friday – took forever – if she’d only had like five lovers instead of 12, maybe the book could’ve come in at 475 instead of 575 – anyway, catherine was great b/c she got rid of poland (literally) and developed the ukraine – and she was russia’s last female leader – unique character – but like reading a russian novel, it required some patience – the names probably most similarily to a novel from the same country

freed up from BOB obligations now and with a “big, serious” book finished, i’m looking to go brain dead for the rest of the fall – good times await:)

maf

so i ran a 1/2 marathon at talladega today – did pretty good – very cool run (i mean, like awesomeness factor – although the weather wasn’t that bad at all either)

before i went braindead (warning – i’m still dead right now so i’m not responsible for much of this blog…), i did complete two books this past week

“how they croaked” – finished the BOB set with this one – i would be the weak link on a BOB team on this book b/c it was a skim read for the most part – i just found it pretty offensive – i’m sure the author meant well, but i’m pretty sure the author didn’t have anyone close to him/her dying at the time – otherwise, you just can’t read it – or write it

“solo” – hope solo biography – really enjoyed it – from the dirt on the DWTS crew to her soccer crew, solo (and the author that probably wrote all of it with her:) did an excellent job – lots of lessons in the books – persevering, dealing with family, forgiveness, redemption, young talent – very enjoyable read

currently on “catherine the great” –  so far, what’s made her great is that she sired an heir – hoping for something else better…

mafeld (the great – b/c i finished higher than my assigned bib number:)

movie to promote gifted ed. julie and may Invest in gifted ed – it’s your best move (way better than that apple stock…)

thanks to merritt and julie – oh, and me… mafeld

one direction thursday’s pep rally – yes, we did win later on – all the rest edited out b/c they weren’t good enough… 🙂

so commercial breaks are still impossibly long – and i’m still too far up to see hannah, jp, ashley, and the rest of the million dollar band, oh, and it was impossibly hot (so much for the rain that day), but i did survive yesterday – and even finished “false prince” in the morning so i felt like i’d accomplished something…

“false prince” – book five of six in my quest to finish BOB – did not like “false” – took too long to get into – and then cameron RUINED the book for me by telling me there was a twist (and yet, she wanted to join my scholar’s bowl team… 🙂 i’m just glad we got the poor mute girl speaking – i mean, it’s an author’s nightmare when the love of the main character can’t talk… 🙂

“great call” – my labor day, in part, consisted of reading a book about paul finebaum – finebaum has a sports talk show – some say it’s the greatest ever (this would be the view of the author) – me? i’ve just never been able to follow sports talk for too long – particularly that show (i like to think i’m better than it:) although, paul is a very nice guy and actually came on my student radio show in college – yes, it was a sports talk show – yes, i get the irony

“escape from camp 14” – wow, what north korea does in the dark – even the daylight – while the rest of the world ignores what goes on – very amazing book – amazing story – insight into a dark spot on this planet – good book on how you respond to trauma – how do you live when you hate your past – the endurance we have and maybe don’t know – just a gripping read – should really be read by everyone – well, adults – and then we should decide to do something in the UN

moving to a soccer biography now – so glad to be done with most all the fiction of the BOB (just not a fan)

hope your dance week is great

mafeld

dear sunday audience,

hope your labor day weekend is going well – what with college football starting, i guess i’m just not reading anymore – or maybe running and the impossible-to-lose humidity is frying my brain – or something – anyway, two books this week – my apologies for leading you on by doing more…

“between shades of gray” – one of the BOBs – sad, sad book – based on real events from wwii – and a silence about those events that lasted for well over 50 years – i’m curious to those that read it whether they can enjoy it – it’s not a typical YA book so the enjoyment sort of has to come at a deeper level – like for me, the beauty of the book is asking yourself “could i endure something like this? how can i prevent things like this from happening? what things in my life seem hopeless?” but, i’m not sure middle school kids can ask those questions so i’m thinking this will not be a BOB fave…

“heist society” – i think this one will be a BOB favorite – even though this wasn’t one of my favorite it books – although, it does read quickly (i nearly finished it waiting for marjorie’s cross country race to start saturday – yes, it was HER race – no one else’s) – basically, super-smart stealer gets busted out of private school to return to live in the mafia – or the mafia that steals things – and art is involved – and boys – and kissing – so everything goes well and all ends well and we sort of forget that the book was originally about the girl busting her dad out of trouble because at the end of the book, the girl has a boy, and isn’t that the point in life???

okay, i’m letting my aggrevation show on that book:) time to move onto next week – if you’re sixth grade and new to this, you do not have to blog on labor day – we don’t meet – it’s not a school day – so do something productive and lament the fact you return to school the next day:)

sincerely,

mafeld