when the olympics get old...

It's sad but true: after 4 days of nonstop couch-sitting and Olympics-watching, I'm starting to tune it out a little. Don't get me wrong-- it's still on all the time. But I mostly just glance up on occasion, or if I see people all up in arms on Facebook/Twitter about something or the other, I'll rewind and try to find it. But it's background noise (except for the particular events I'm actually looking forward to, which for the record do not include water polo or any other long, extended team sports (such as soccer, team volleyball, etc.)). Instead, I'm making progress through my large stack o' books. And blogs and other Internet-reading.

Yesterday I knocked out A Stolen Life.

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It was raw and tragic, as you would probably have guessed. Also disturbing and sad. I then spent the rest of the night Googling everything I could find about the situation and the fate of Jaycee's kidnappers.

Today I opted for a more upbeat memoir (look at me, diversifying my fiction with all these memoirs!): Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.

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Personally, I loved this one. I think the most important thing to remember (and the thing most people seem to MISS when they're criticizing this book/slamming the author) is that the author wrote it as a memoir-- not a parenting book, how-to guide, or treatise on why "Chinese moms" (which she explains in the beginning, is an umbrella term she uses to describe mothers of many different cultures and ethnicities who adhere to this type of parenting style, and does not describe many actually-Chinese mothers who do not adhere to this style) are doing it right and everyone else is doing it wrong. It's simply her story about her own experiences being raised as the daughter of Chinese immigrants and raising her own half-Chinese daughters. I found it to be brutally honest (pretty sure I'd never have the balls to admit to most of the stuff she 'fessed up to saying/doing), humorous, and refreshing...and despite the fact that I DEFINITELY was not raised by a Tiger Mom and DEFINITELY do not think I'll be one myself, I feel like she raised some really good points about Western parenting that I will have to think over one day if I ever find myself raising kids of my own. All in all, a great read, and something good to think over as I watch the Chinese dominate the gold medals in the Olympics!

Lastly, my friend Bren posted this last night and it was something I really needed to hear/read: Be Still. I am always finding myself being so thankful for this community of bloggers that encourage and inspire me and remind me of Truth when I constantly forget it. 

On the health front...to be honest, I felt a lot better yesterday than I do today. Boo. But I'm surviving, and at least I have a lot of books and friends (to G-chat, FB-chat, and text with) to keep me entertained. I spent the first half of the day regretting that I'd let Matt go back to work...but once I got lost in a good book, I wasn't nearly as miserable (plus I totally forgot about eating lunch-- which has never, ever happened to me before, I DO NOT MISS MEALS-- which saved me the inconvenience of having to prepare my own food. Now I'm just waiting for him to get home to fix me some dinner...). 

Well, I think I'm going to be super ambitious and go check the mail. It takes me about two hours to walk the 50 yards out there, so...that should fill out the rest of my afternoon nicely! Have a good evening!