Twilight: the movie that sucks.

In my last post I was trying to be very blase about my feelings regarding Twilight in a desperate attempt to not let on about how totally in love I am with these books and how Ive quite unexpectedly joined forces with legions of preteen Edward Cullen fanatics.  

Well, the Stransky sisters went and saw the movie (with great anticipation) and it sucked.

SUCKS!!!

I really cant say enough about how terrible it was or how truly disappointed I am.  Sad face.

Now all I have to look forward to is reading Breaking Dawn.  I guess sometimes it just pays to be literate and put in the time and effort to get through the book.

Aunty Mo Overcomes Fear of Babies!

Twilight!

I finished the ENTIRE SERIES of teenage smut novels - Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse. Oh man, I have a lot to say about that but I feel like I would have to start a new blog since Im sure they exist (Twilight blogs) and diehards would probably be insulted by this casual reference. I read a trilogy of similar books (Vampire Diaries?) when I was in high school. The one thing I will say here is that these books are neither insightful nor well written (the writing was simple but then she would use pop quiz vocab words like "chagrin" or "insolence" and she would use them over and over again, it was just bizarre) but they are literary crack! I skimmed through the last two but I couldnt put Twilight down. COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!

I do, however, understand why people usually just see the movie. Reading books takes a whole lot longer and Im like "whats gonna happen? whats gonna happen?" and instead of having the answer within the hour and a half - its hours later when I get to page 462! Although my sister insists that the book is way better than the movie (which now I will likely go and see just because Im curious) and thats typically what happens.

Oh thats a good topic for comments - what movies are better than the books they are based on?

Ive discovered the inherent flaw in my moving plan. When we go to Hawaii there will be no grandparents to pass the baby off to! In order for me to read these books my mother spent endless hours playing with Ikaika. A task she was more than willing to take on, but Im no less grateful for. Being here with mom & dad is AWESOME!

Theres No Place Like Home

Ikaika and I have been in Seattle for a week now.

The ride up was an adventure. He slept so much before the ride that somewhere around Centrailia he woke up and wanted to eat...like right now! I had to stop at a Subway and feed him in the parking lot. The car was so packed with stuff that I couldnt have fit a tic-tac in there if I wanted/needed to. There was a little hole in the backseat for Ikaika and a hole in the front seat for me and a couple patches for me to look out the windows. Wild. I still cant believe I fit all that junk in there!

Its great to be up here since my family can help out with the baby. I can take a nap! I can pump some milk and go to a friends house sans infant! I can hand him over to someone else when hes fussy, gassy and inconsolable! Nice!

Mr A has been keeping me updated on his progress in Hawaii. Hes been on several promising job interviews. This week he interviewed and did a presentation for a position as a community health educator...educating the youth of hawaii about SEX! SAFE sex, no less! Harhar. Other than that hes been playing vball, watching our friends son play basketball, and eating gallons of poi. Best of all - its 80 degrees plus every single day. I can not wait to get over there.

The baby has been smiling more and will smile reactively, so thats new. Hes also started babbling/cooing. Didnt know exactly what cooing was until I had a baby. He will sit with Opa (my dad) and "talk". Its cute.

ECing has been challenging here so I had to change not one but TWO kukae diapers today. Yuck.

For his gassiness I had gotten some mylicon drops but found that they didnt do much (in fact, they seemed to only make it worse) and then, on the recommendation of my moms coworker, I got a Dr Browns bottle and that seems to help. Yay! Solution!

Giving Thanks for PDX International!

(publishing this late because blogger isnt letting me upload photos from this computer...very annoying)

Thanksgiving was very fun (for me at least). Went over to brother-in-laws and had a rockin good time with the Arrayan Ohana. Gonna miss the holiday/birthday party get-togethers with those folks. There is always something to laugh about. Luckily, last night it wasnt me.



Uncle Mike said that Ikaika was "a little lovin". A perfect description!



Then this morning Mr A got on a plane for Hawaii. Sigh. I know he didnt want to go by himself and, even though I know I shouldnt since this is the best for everyone, I feel bad. He was really bummed about leaving. We were hanging out in front of security check after a lovely airport family breakfast and he was just holding Ikaika and staring at him and not wanting to give him back. Eventually he did and got on his flight. I just got a call and he has made it to Kona none the worse for wear. This is the beginning of our great adventure!



I like the airport during the holidays. I like airports in general, but during the holidays especially. The lights are hung up - its festive - and there is just a feeling in the air. The feeling of seeing someone special. The feeling of anticipation, excitement, surprise. Mix that in with the sort of delirious coma-like state most travellers are in and its the recipe for a perfect place to experience some really crazy emotions. Thats what I like about airports - all those emotions in such a small place. Peoples feelings are always intensified in an airport. I have a lot of vivid memories from travelling and I always felt very aware of myself when I was either picking someone up or dropping someone off.

All those years of flying on planes and I just realized today that the one airline I always ignored because it was just a bunch of rich people going on vacation (Hawaiian Air) is now our primary airline! And Im neither rich nor on vacation!

Ikaika: The Uncut Version

We have yet to circumcise the baby. Originally, we agreed to leave it for two weeks and make a decision later. Mr A is consistantly vocal about getting it done but thus far hasnt even given the effort of actually calling the pediatrition about it. Im not going to call because I dont necessarily want someone chopping up what God gave him (although I acknowledge that its more of a "guy thing" and untimately the decision will be left up to Mr A). So here we are a month and a half later with foreskin still intact.

Whats your take on cut vs uncut? What would you do?

Just so you know that I know - there is absolutely no medical basis for Ikaika getting a circumcision so I wont accept any advice that includes such dated information. Interestingly enough, the circumcision rate in Oregon is only about 30%, which means we are in the norm over here.

OMG UR my BFF!!! LOL <3

The other night as I was breastfeeding and staying up with Ikaika (hes not fussy or upset, just awake) I watched a marathon of Paris Hilton is My New BFF "on demand". You knew it was just a matter of time. I mean, there is no way I was going to be able to avoid that show. What a bunch of mindless garbage! Much like The Hills marathon around this time of last year* - I was totally entranced.

*Havent watched The Hills since. Much like BFF, I cant handle crap in small doses.

Which leads to my blog topic - HATERS.

There was a girl on the show who was trying to justify how an acquaintance had accused her of being an enormously vapid sausage wallet in front of Paris. She proceeds to explain that shes always encountering "haters" and people are always "filling their mouth with my name" ...or something like that. She goes on to shed tears and recall with great pain how she used to come home from school and tell her mom that she doesnt want to be pretty anymore because the other kids dont like her. Maybe the other kids didnt like you because those are the thoughts that come out of your mouth. Just a theory.

As I laid in bed that night, my mind numb and mushy from hours staring at the shiny plastic flock of Hilton, I wondered what makes someone a "hater?" What makes a "hater" different from someone that just hates you?

Take Avril Lavigne (is that how you spell it?). I am a bonefide Avril Lavigne "hater". I hate on Avril Lavigne. I dont hate Avril - I hate on her - and here is the difference. I dont like a single thing about Avril. I dont like her music, her image, her voice, her husband, her hair, makeup, teeth, etc. You name it - I hate it. And yet, for some reason, I am uncontrollably drawn to seeking her out. When her videos come on the tv - I look at them...carefully. When her music plays in the store - I listen...intently. If she is in a magazine - I read it. And so on.
The point is that even though I dont like anything about Avril Lavigne, I go out of my way to expose myself to her because it gives me more information to support my own contempt. I want to know everything about her life so I can scrutinize it and judge it and decide it sucks. This, in fact, makes me a "hater".

Now lets look at someone like, oh say, John Mayher (is that how you spell it?). I read an article in Rolling Stone or some other magazine a long time ago where John Mayher was talking about being fluent enough in Japanese to be able to tell people off/eavesdrop of conversations after taking only high school courses (yeah right!) and fingering his girlfriend on the school bus. Puke. So I dont like John Mayher. If his video is on - I turn it off. If I hear his song - I tune it out. If I see him on a magazine cover - I leave that garbage on the shelf.
The point again is that because I truly hate John Mayher I completely ignore his existence. I dont acknowledge him as far as I can avoid it and only recently have I been able to enjoy the cover of Your Body is a Wonderland that our friends band sings. (Its always bothered me that Kaloku sings John Mayher material - but their voices are well matched and I guess the song is nice if its not sung by JM himself).

When you actually hate/dislike someone or something, you ignore them and couldnt possibly care less about what they think or do because its so darn unimportant and uninteresting. When you are being a "hater" or "hating on" someone or something, you seek out the details in hopes of finding raw material you can use to further your own mission of hating them more.

So when we examine the acrimonious relationships we inevidably have in our lives, are we just "hating" or are we "haters"?

Ill let you gnaw on that for awhile. TTYL.