"Only the Good Die Young"*

One thing I like about young adult books is that the authors aren't afraid to kill off main characters. It's not that I like it when fictional characters die (although I've gotta admit, I did give a little cheer when Renee Walker from 24 kicked the bucket...she was pretty freakin' annoying!), I think it makes YA books more authentic, more unpredictable, and more suspenseful.

Let's face it, in real life people die, and not just the ancillary ones (one of my pet peeves about movies is how dispensable the ancillary characters are...who cares when a character dies when you had absolutely no emotional attachment to him?). At some point in your life, someone you care about, and sometimes even love, will die. And really, any of us could die pretty much anytime. That's life, and books should reflect that.

I get that fiction--whether it be books or movies or whatever--is supposed to be an escape, but I subscribe to the thought that a piece of work that stirs my emotions and surprises me is better than one where all things turn up roses. I'll never forget when I first read the part in Little Women when Beth dies. It was terrible and heart-wrenching, but it was so good too because it's real. It's one of the things that keeps that book on the top of my favorite list.

Here's the book trailers for three books I've read over the last year that deal with the possibility of the main character dying (don't worry, I promise no spoilers below!).

If I Stay by Gayle Forman deals with the most fundamental question of all: Do I choose to live or die today? In a way, we all deal with this question each and every day of our lives, maybe not on the scale that Mia does or with the same stakes or while facing a tragedy, but it is still the most basic choice we face day in and day out.

In Before I Die by Jenny Downham, Tessa doesn't have the choice to live or die; she's terminal. Imagine having to complete your bucket list by the age of 16? The end of this book had me silently sobbing (and it takes a lot to make me cry) so hard that I scared my husband when he looked up from his laptop and saw my face. I had so many tears in my eyes, I couldn't even read the words on the page.

Samantha dies right at the beginning of Before I Fall (yeah, pretty similar title to the previous book...there is theme going on here) by Lauren Oliver and gets seven chances to live her last day. An interesting thing about Samantha--and I found this to be true of Tessa too--is that she isn't always likable. She was even cruel at times, but that made her all the more real.

I would definitely recommend all three of these books...just make sure you have a box of tissues nearby. What books or movies do you like where there's a real chance the main character dies?

*Billy Joel

"Happy birthday, beautiful"*

I've had birthdays on the mind lately (not my b-day...I'm a summer baby). My grandma celebrated her 75th b-day two weekends ago and the hubby's b-day is today. My family, like most others, has our own particular traditions. The hubby was born on Turkey Day, so always gets the Carvel turkey cake.

Another tradition is that we sing in an unique way, which means we sing very poorly. My family takes a similar approach as the students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry do when they sing their school song, i.e. we each sing to our own tune. I like to sing slowly in an ear-piercing pitch and an off-key falsetto.



Thanks to the infamous Mr. Anonymous for this great footage from my grandma's party. This isn't even that bad because we were in mixed company (not just family), so some of the guests are actually not trying to be awful. You may be able to catch a bit of my singing right at the end (I really like to hit a high note for the last "TO YOU!!!").

A few years ago for my niece's b-day, our singing was so terrible that she actually started to cry. Yup, we are that bad. I guess we take the approach that if you're going to be bad at something, you may as well embrace it and be the absolute worst you can be.

*The Innocence Mission

"It's The End Of The World As We Know It"*

It's about time for an update on my favorite science project, the Large Hadron Collider. Seeing as we're all still here, I don't think I need to tell you that it hasn't opened up a black hole. Phew!

Actually, the LHC has been working so well that scientists have started smashing lead ions together instead of just plain-old protons. What does this mean? Basically, smashing lead ions at super speeds creates tiny Big Bangs that will shed some light on what happened immediately after the Universe was created by the big Big Bang. (Something you've all been dying to know about!)

Aside from the fact the the LHC studies very, very, very, very, very small particles, everything else about this project is big: the price tag ($10 billion), the number of countries involved (34), the temperatures created by the collisions (a million times hotter than the sun), the speed the particles move (just slightly below the speed of light), etc...

Scientists have not found the elusive Higgs boson (a.k.a. the God Particle) yet, but once they start smashing protons again in February, they hope that by the end of 2011 they will have proof that this particle exists.

Aside from unlocking the great mysteries of the Universe, the LHC could find additional dimensions beyond the four known ones. (What happened to the good old days when there were only three dimensions?)



*R.E.M.

"A thousand people in the street, singing songs and carrying signs"*

Today I exercised the nineteenth amendment and voted. I think it's important to vote every chance we get because not everyone has that opportunity, and I'm always disappointed at the low voter turnout (seriously, our 40 year high in 2008 was 61.6 percent...what was the remaining 38.4 percent doing that day that was so much more important than voting?).

I think the perception of apathy in the nation (and in particular, in those my own generation) was what compelled me to exercise my first amendment rights and join the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear this past weekend. Apparently, I wasn't the only one because about 215,000 other sanity/fear-seeking people attended.


If I had to pick one word to describe the rally: crowded. Above is a small portion of the line to get tickets for the metro. The hubby, the bro, and I waited over an hour and a half to get our tickets and then we had to wait on the platform until we could find a car with enough room to literally squeeze onto the train (note to self: next time buy tickets in advance!).

(Here's my view on the train. I particularly enjoyed the pithy advertisements for deodorant, which included a handy odor-meter.)

Once we finally made it to rally (fashionably late), the crowds just got denser. There were lots of fun signs; people off all shapes, colors, sizes, and beliefs (I picked up some interesting Communist literature); and yes, there was the occasional waft of pot.

My favorite sign of the day was a campaign ad for Palin/Voldemort 2012. I'm of the short variety so I mostly heard the rally and didn't so much see it. I did see a black guy selling t-shirts that had a picture of George W. Bush on them and said "I SCREWED YOU ALL...BUT THANKS FOR BLAMING THE BLACK GUY."

Yes, it was crowded and overwhelming at times, and the truth is, I wasn't really sure why I went. I originally thought it was to have an experience and to observe (which is what I do), and I carried no real expectations at the start. But deep down, going to the rally was more than that; I just wasn't sure what.

Even Jon Stewart, when he took a step back from the jokes and had a moment of sincerity, admitted, "I'm really glad you're here, even if none of us are really quite sure why we are here."

As Jon Stewart spoke his mind, my own mind became clearer. He said, "This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith or people of activism or to look down our noses at the Heartland or passionate argument or to suggest that times are not difficult and we have nothing to fear. They are and we do. But we live now in hard times, not end times."

Regarding the media and the 24-hours news channels, he said, "If we amplify everything, we hear nothing...the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe, not more. The press is our immune system. If it overreacts to everything, we get sicker."

And then he ended on a positive note (oddly enough, just as most YA novels do), "We know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light, we have to work together. And the truth is, there will always be darkness. And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn't the Promise Land; sometimes it's just New Jersey."

And I think that summed up my whole compulsion to attend: a chance to work together with others, no matter what their beliefs, to see through the darkness to the light at the end of the tunnel.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Indecision 2010 - Republicans Can Go to the Back of the Car
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity

After the rally, we had a rowdy and fun dinner with my two aunts and cousins (when we finally found them in the crowd...note to self: 200,000 cell phones in a small area will compete for service and none of them will work). It's weird how sometimes it takes over 300 miles of travel to spend some quality time with the people you love. And then the hubby, the bro, and I were 'on the way' home.

Check out the rally's live feed for more coverage of what I saw (or more accurately, heard).

*Buffalo Springfield