Trilogy Recommendation

Everybody hang on. Things are getting pret-ty festive over here.

The snowman was $4.99 at King Sooper's and I basically couldn't help myself. Loo Loo Bean looks so precious, laying there and scowling next to him.

OK, I have a really good book recommendation for you: The Three-Body Problem trilogy by Cixin Liu.

The Three-Body Problem trilogy by Cixin Liu

No spoiler alerts.

This is a Sci Fi book series that is light on pop-culture/tropes and heavy on Chinese philosophy, sociology, and, well, science (like physics, astrophysics, and the role of science in human society and development). A mysterious and extremely mystifying video game brings together elite leaders of society and they eventually realize the location of - and very real existence of - life on a planet outside our Solar System. Despite top secret plans to avoid confrontation with the aliens, let's just say that communication happens and all hell breaks loose at a universal (literally!) level.

The book starts off slow. It begins in the Chinese cultural revolution and introduces some characters that seem unrelated to the story. I was about 40 pages in and wondering to myself, where is the, um, science or fiction or aliens or excitement or, like, plot? BUT. Hang in there because when it takes off it's worth it. Liu's writing is complex and it is nice for this at-most-only-partially-interested sci fi reader to dive deep into theories and ideologies of society at large, not just society as it plays out multi-culturally on earth. I'm still reading the last book, but these have been very hard to put down during the last couple of weeks of "real" reading for school.

If you're looking for an epic story to lose yourself in over the holidays, this is a good one (but not necessarily uplifting, and not conducive to all those holiday interruptions). Enjoy!

Christmas, Officially

It has been so nice this semester to have the occasional Saturday during which I do absolutely nothing. There's always a bit of reading here and there, but otherwise, I was a total sloth yesterday. Except for this:

Isn't it great? We got a new tree this year because the old one had that fake snow spray on it that ended up getting everywhere for a good six months after the holiday, and also because you could see the support pole (or, trunk, as it were) through the branches. The past couple of years it has bugged me more and more that the tree was big but didn't look full. So this year we got a slightly smaller tree that is much more full and that doesn't have fake snow but still has some embellishments to make it look real (like pine cones).

We got some dazed and confused reindeer to go along with the WTF snowman. G is having a heyday of sarcasm over here.


Lucy can't take all the happiness and festivity, so she spends a lot of time hanging out in (and running back and forth in) her cat tunnel.

 I've said it before and I'll say it again: three introverts live in this house.

Please step back from my Tunnel of Solitude, Mom.

She's come a long way though, this one. We continue to have love fests on the hearth. It looks like I'm holding her down, but I'm not. I'm giving her a neck massage and basking in the bunny softness. She even lets us kiss her on the nose! Such a frowny girl, but I'll take what I can get.

Today is going to be busy (read: making up for yesterday's sloth mode) but that's OK because this is the last week of school! Hallelujah! One more week of chaos and student neediness followed by finals which is only slightly less ridiculous, and then. And then. Delicious, delicious freedom. Pj's, coffee, and books until January, people.

TGIF, people!

December!

Laaaaaaa! You guys, we made it to December!

We saw this lil guy in Home Depot a few weeks ago when we bought a new Christmas tree. Of course I snatched him right up. G calls him "The WTF Snowman" because he looks like he's throwing his arms up in frustration. Like, What do I know? Like, No one ever tells me anything around here! So of course I put him in a prominent place so I can chuckle all season.

It's finally cold in Denver (what was up with like the longest summer/fall of all time?) so it is beginning to look and feel like Christmas. We haven't put the tree up, mainly because that requires both of us to (1) be home, (2) have a modicum of energy, (3) be home at the same time, and (4) be awake while at home. So guess what we're doing tomorrow night!

I have managed to put up some decorations, though, in between homework and grading. This is a German lace runner that we bought 1,000 years ago on vacation. It's so beautiful that I don't even put it out every year because I'm scared I'll pour a bottle of wine on it accidentally or something. And so when I do put it out, no one is allowed to go within a 5 foot radius of it. Basically, entire parts of the house become off limits to G (who, you know, pays the mortgage) but whatever. Happy Holidays, indeed!

This one is officially over it. She registers her protest every time I put up decorative lights or something resembling holiday cheer. Therefore, she's exhausted.

Only one more month in 2016, so let's make a good one, people. Have you started decorating? Only 24 more days so chop chop.

When Mary Jane Moves In

In light of the recent election - in which additional states officially legalized the use of marijuana - I thought I'd enlighten you on what it's like to live around so much of it.

It stinks.

Literally.

It's as if All The Skunks moved to town.

Mary Jane needs a bath. That is all.

Holy of Holies

I put up the nativity in the holiest place in dawrighthouse...

I spend more time giving thanks and meditating here than anywhere else, let's be honest.

More Wyo Pics

Well, hello from back home. I took the plunge and checked my email about an hour ago. That was mistake number one. Needy students and their needy needs. I'm not ready to go back to the real world tomorrow, but dang it's been a good break.

Here are a few more pics from our TG vacay in Wyo.

Ok, these first ones don't have anything to do with Wyo, but I love love love pics of Lucy in the car. Check these out.

Family road trip!

Where's the bunny?

There she is!

Alright, here are some actual pics of beautiful Wyoming.

We saw the highest point on the transcontinental rail road, the Ames Monument in between Cheyenne and Laramie. In 1862, President Lincoln signed the paper work approving the rail road funding and construction, and in 1882, this portion of the work was complete, thanks to the Ames brothers. This basically looked like an Aztec ruin in the middle of a snowy plain.

On our way back to town from the monument, which is truly out in the middle of nowhere, we spotted Lucy's boyfriend. For real! This guy was substantial: muscles, bushy winter coat, high energy level bordering on paranoia, all the have-to-have qualities in a lil bunny beau.

Meanwhile, Loo Loo Bean was back in the warm, dry hotel room, ordering room service and watching college football.

We also saw the smallest town in America. Buford: population 1.

Cheyenne is rail road country. We saw so many trains. G was in nerdy nerd Heaven. I did most of the driving. That about sums it up.

Ok, loves. The name of the game is to get back to business this week and decorate for Christmas.