Sunday Update Week 5

This week was pretty eventful on my wedding plans. I finally picked out a dress for myself and my maid of honor (sister), and I got the invitations addressed. My dress looks nothing like that pictured above.

It was also an eventful week on my blog, since I decided to compile all my 3 blogs into one. I started one around 2012, and then decided after a while that my blogging skills had progressed to the point where I wanted to start fresh. I started a new one in 2015. Then I had a blogging pause in 2016, and instead of picking up where I left off, I moved from Blogger to WordPress (a change which I’m very happy I made, this is such a wonderful platform). Now I’ve decided to suck it up and say “people will understand that my posts from 2012 aren’t as quality as they are now.” So I uploaded the other two blogs to this one, and am slowly completing the Review page to have all of my old reviews. I’m glad I did this, because there were some hidden gems in the oldest blog. 🙂 I still have quite a few reviews to add to the Review page, so stay tuned.

Saturday was the first day of our new screen-time rules for the kids, and they took it much better than I thought. We ended up playing a game of Sorry as one screen-time earning opportunity and then I read [Amulet: Stonekeeper] for a while as the second screen-time earning opportunity. They didn’t throw a fit or anything – seemed to take it as a challenge.

Saturday we went to a birthday party for my friend’s nephew, L (3). I brought my nephew B (3), my niece L (2), and my step-kids-to-be M (5) and D (8). The party was a lot of fun, though A and I came home a bit over-stimulated. Luckily D did a good job of dragging B around with her, so I really only had one little one to chase around. I thought this portrait of them was a gem:

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Acquired

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A and I decided that we would subscribe to The Economist. I’ve subscribed on and off in the past and always felt that it provided more information than I was capable of reading in a week. But now that there are two of us reading it, the subscription feels more worthwhile.

Completed

Completed

For our family night on Sunday, we rented How to Train Your Dragon. That is such an adorable movie.

A and I also finished watching the fifth season of Supernatural, and started in on the 6th. I’m as of yet unimpressed and wish they’d ended it at the natural conclusion of the series (5). They had to jump the shark a bit to reboot after they tied up most of the important plots in 5.

I finished reading The Island of Doctor Moreau and listening to three audiobooks. Reviews all upcoming.

Currently Reading

Currently Reading

I’ve decided to tone down my currently reading pile so that I feel like I’m making more progress, so now I’m only reading two books and listening to one.

Last week on the blog

I published two reviews: The Shadow Land, by Elizabeth Kostova and Against the Tide, by Tui T. Sutherland. I published notes on Coursera lectures about Everyday Parenting and Solving the Opioid Crisis. And I republished two stanzas of a poem I’d published in my first blog: Facing my Demons One and Two.

Facing My Demons 2

I hesitate before taking my first step.

Once I make this choice

down is the only way out.

Am I ready for this?

Or will I be just another lost soul?

Stuck

Unable to retreat

Too afraid to face the demons further down.

My friends outside have become quiet

have they given up?

moved on to happier friends

who walk easier paths?

Why burden themselves

with my problems?

I take the step.

Solving the Opioid Crisis: What are Opioids

The University of Michigan is teaming up with Coursera to create Teach-Outs which are week-long MOOC lecture series which address problems currently faced in society today. Following will be notes for The Opioid Crisis.

michael_smith113 This post is notes from an interview with Mike Smith, a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy and Clinical Pharmacist in Pain and Palliative Care at Michigan Medicine.

An opioid is a class of drug that binds an opioid receptor. Unlike pain medications of other classes, opioids can easily lead to euphoria, particularly in higher doses. Years after doctors started prescribing opioids, scientists found that opioids only work on a certain class of pain; therefore, it had been over- and mis-prescribed for years. The abundance of opioids in the community that resulted from this over-prescription led to increased recreational use and addiction. Dr. Smith feels that the best way to bring the opioid crisis to a halt is to minimize the number of pills that are being prescribed. A good second step to halting the crisis would be to identify opioid misuse earlier in patients.

The interview ends with this discussion question: What kinds of innovative steps could be taken to collect surplus opioids in communities like yours?

I admit that I know little about what steps have already been taken to encourage people to properly dispose of opioids; however, I think a government- (or insurance-) funded program where people are partially reimbursed for returning certain prescriptions to their pharmacies when they don’t need the drugs anymore would be beneficial. The problem is that many tax-payers may not approve of such a use of their money and the insurance companies would also object if they were forced by federal regulation to fund such a program.

Facing My Demons 1

Before I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, I was diagnosed with depression and put on an antidepressant. Doctors need to be careful when prescribing antidepressants to people with Bipolar Disorder because many antidepressants can cause mania in patients with Bipolar Disorder. I recently unearthed some of my poetry from my first-ever truly manic days. (Ever since then, I have had several manic episodes. I think the antidepressant rewired my brain.)

Over the next few weeks, I will publish it stanza by stanza.

Facing my Demons

I sit in a tomb

dark, except for a flickering red glow.

Eerie screams of tortured souls

slither up from the catacombs.

The despair of the lost potentiates my own.

But they’re not really there.

All in my head.

My friends outside push and heave at the tombstone.

They want to save me.

But they can’t. Because they’re not really there.

All in my head. Shall I go down?

Everyday Parenting – Lectures 1 and 2

These are notes from a Coursera lecture series entitled Everyday Parenting – The ABCs of Child Rearing.

Lecture one: Praise

Doctor Kazdin suggests using effusive (his word) praise immediately after a child’s behavior in order to reinforce that behavior. For instance, I should say M, great job putting on your outside clothes quickly! While having tone of voice rise with excitement and gesturing with my hands. This should be followed by a light, kind touch like a hug, kiss, high five or whatever. (I am not good at effusive praise because I think praise should match the task completed. Effusive praise for getting on outside clothes seems condescending.)

Lecture two: Antecedents

Doctor Kazdin suggests that using antecedents can make behavior either more or less likely to occur depending on the content of the antecedent. For instance, if you started a sentence with “If you really loved me…” it makes the child less likely to obey. Antecedents should be used strategically. There are three types of antecedent that change behavior.

The first type he names “prompts.” They are instructions that ask or tell someone to do something. Often, it’s best for that prompt to be specific. For instance the verbal prompt “I want you to brush your teeth,” could then be followed up with a physical prompt of leading the child to her toothbrush.

The second type of antecedent he calls “positive setting events,” and the third “negative setting events.” Following a positive antecedent a child is more likely to behave and she is less likely to behave after a negative antecedent. These can be subtle like tone of voice or facial expression. Ordering a child to do something with a frown on your face is a negative antecedent. Whenever possible, use a gentle tone of voice. If you are far away, come closer so that you don’t have to yell across a room.

Providing a child a choice may also help the child to behave. For instance, a choice of what to wear when you tell them to get dressed. “Please put on one of these two shirts.”

Dr. Kazdin suggests using the word “please” as an antecedent, though he says many parents don’t like using “please” with their children. (I’m not sure why parents would feel that way, but ok.)

Another way of encouraging a child to behave is to offer help. Once the behavior is started, help can be slowly withdrawn and praise can be given to the child for starting the behavior on her own.

He also suggests challenging a child by saying “I bet you can’t do that again. No child could do that until they’re all grown up.” (This, like the effusive praise, seems a bit too condescending to me and I would feel fake doing it.)

Against the Tide, by Tui T. Sutherland

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Summary: Against the Tide is the fifth book in Spirit Animals, a middle-grade fantasy series imagined by Brandon Mull. The first one is called Wild Born, by Brandon Mull. The story picks up where book four left off. The team is looking for the amulets from other Great Beasts while trying to figure out if they have a mole in their midst.

My Thoughts: Spirit Animals is such an adorable series appropriate for middle-school-age kids. I plan on giving the first in the series to my 8-year-old step-daughter. It may be slightly above her reading level, but it’s the right level to challenge a second or third grader.

I love that Spirit Animals is written by different authors for each book – it introduces new authors to me. Against the Tide did not disappoint. I had some good laughs and was engaged the entire time. The story-line is not predictable, despite being appropriate for younger children. I am excited to get the next in the series, and will certainly look at what other books Sutherland has written.

The Shadow Land, by Elizabeth Kostova

510cvzpkoll-_sl500_ Synopsis: Alexandria leaves her home in America to travel Bulgaria and teach. But on her first day there, she runs into a mysterious family, whose bag she accidentally “steals.” When she discovers how valuable the contents are, she feels she has to find the family and return the bag personally. However, the family is difficult to find and she is led on a wild goose chase looking for them. All the while, strange people are following and threatening her.

My Thoughts: This is Kostova’s attempt to do for Bulgaria what she did for Istanbul in The Historian. I was hoping this book would turn out as good as The Historian, but it fell flat for me. What was the point of the plot again? It was a bit silly. And so wordy. I was hoping there’d be a fascinating big reveal at the end that would make this 18.5 hour audiobook worthwhile, but the ending was about as mediocre as the middle. Despite this total meh-ness, I give the book 3.5 snowflakes instead of only three because the book was interesting at times, and the writing flowed well.

3 and half snowflakes

Sunday Update Week 4

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This week was my nephew J’s fourteenth birthweek. (We’re not quite finished celebrating, as my family, my sister’s family, and my parents will all go out to dinner to celebrate on Monday.) My step-daughter-to-be D baked him this lovely cake, which I decorated with my mad frosting-writing skills.

Saturday my fiancé (A), best friend (L), J, and I played D&D together. Mainly character building. I’m a Dragonborn Cleric, L is a Halfling Ranger, and J is a Dragonborn Fighter. A is Dungeon Master. This is J and my first time playing. We’ll be meeting every first Saturday. We also watched the first 5 episodes of Series One of the new Doctor Who.

Today I will have a book club meeting to discuss Shadow Land, by Elizabeth Kostova. Review is still upcoming, though I have to say that I found it rather meh. I wonder what everyone else thought?

Completed

On last Sunday, we had our family night, where we ate pork chops and played our first-ever game of Cadoo, which is a children’s version of Cranium. It was quite a bit of fun. I finished listening to Caesar’s Last Breath, by Sam Kean, which will be my next book club book in two weeks. J, A, and I watched The Wolverine on Friday night, and found it fairly palatable. Much better than the other Wolverine movie! Wow.

Acquired

This week, I acquired quite a few goodies.

I bought the Goelet translation of The Egyptian Book of the Dead, which is the second book on Harold Bloom’s Western Canon which I will probably not finish in my life-time, but it’s still fun to use as a guide. Actually, I believe Bloom suggested Budge’s translation, but from doing a little research, I’ve decided that Budge was notoriously sloppy in his translations – perhaps I will read both (I own Budge’s translation too), or I will just read the Goelet one, which has beautiful pictures.

I also acquired two math workbooks (one for each step-kid-to-be) and several board games. Because we’ve noticed that both kids sit like zombies either on their tablet or in front of the TV for almost an entire day every day if you let them, we have decided to institute screen-time rules so that they will do constructive or educational stuff. Or at least stop zombifying in front of a screen for 12 hours straight. They will get 3 hours of screen-time daily (TV in the morning till 8, and then 2 hours of tablet time) before they have no screen options left. Then, they can do something else (whatever they want) or they can do something constructive/educational for extra screen time. Examples would include reading, being read to, doing a math workbook, or playing a board game. The board games were suggested by M’s kindergarten teacher, who feels they are great for learning social skills, which M is currently working on. (He’s had a hard couple of weeks behaviorally, but has shown great improvement at the end of this week, when we instituted a new reward/discipline system. Hopefully it will continue to work. Not much seems to motivate him to behave; but “special daddy time” does seem to work right now.) Of course, we are also making an effort to take the kids out of home for indoor parks and such as well. This evening we will all go to an indoor trampoline arena with nephew J – if they are up to it after their road-trip back from grandparents’ house with their mother.

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Saturday morning, before D&D A and I bought a new Outback to replace his 13 year old car. We also got a bike rack mounted on the back – so now this summer we will be able to go on bike rides with the kids. 🙂

We also bought new Samsung Halo phones. They are a step up from our old iPhone 5s which had slowed down unbearably after Apple pulled their jerk-move, “sacrificing processing time for battery life” (in other words, slowing down the older phones so that everyone would have to buy new ones). Yes, they said that people with older phones could get a discounted ($50 off) a battery replacement to speed the phone up again, but we didn’t qualify because that only goes back to iPhone 6. So we were just out of luck. Which means we are angry at Apple and decided to get Samsungs instead. Of course, this also means that Apple has hijacked any messages sent from iPhones after my switch. I’m sure they have an excuse for why that’s in my best interest.

Currently Reading

Except one, I’m still reading the same books with the same motivations as last week: I Stop Somewhere – Negalley ARC, No one Cares About Crazy People (edification), Freeing Your Child From Anxiety (hoping to help D cope), When Breath Becomes Air (Wellcome Trust Bookprize 2017 Longlist), Fablehaven (to the kids), The Island of Doctor Moreau (literature study).

Have a nice week everyone!

Classics Club Spin #17

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Classics Club is doing another spin. We choose 20 books from our Classics Club list and on March 9th, and Classics Club will choose a number between 1 and 20. We will then read that book by April 30th. Unfortunately, my Classics Club list is meant to be read in a specific order, so I will create a new list of 20 books.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
A Room of One’s Own, by Virginia Woolfe
The Souls of Black Folk, by W. E. B. Du Bois
Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut
Discipline & Punish, by Michel Foucault
On Human Nature, by Edward O. Wilson
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
A Study in Scarlet, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The End of the Affair, by Graham Greene
Master and Commander, by Patrick O’Brian
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, by Howard Pyle
The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Witches of Eastwick, by John Updike
Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust
Bleak House, by Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
Nicholas Nickleby, by Charles Dickens

Roots, by Alex Haley

51aejpwqdol-_sl500_ Synopsis: This is the epic story following the lineage of Kunta Kinte, who was kidnapped as a teenager from his home in Africa to be a slave in the US. His family is dramatically followed down the line to Alex Haley, the author. In fact, this turned out to be false – the story was plagiarized (including some of the characters) from a lesser known book, and Alex Haley apparently didn’t know much about his African ancestors.

My Thoughts: I can’t say much about my thoughts because I know they are colored too much by my disgust at Haley’s plagiarism. Regardless, he told the story well, and it was heartbreaking and sweet all at once. This was an incredibly character-driven novel, and I was interested especially in the earlier generations, though I felt it started to lag a bit at the end.

This book only gets three stars despite being a good story with fantastic characters because it was plagiarized.

3 snowflakes