Review: Sleep Cycle App

I have used the Sleep Cycle App for iOS7 (?) for about 5 days now, the minimum for getting long term statistics. This morning, for the first time, the app woke me up. I couldn't figure out what the noise was for a moment. Although it was sweet to sleep in, because usually I wake up really early and  feel sleepy later in the day, there will be no therapeutic benefit to this. I already know that I have sleep apnea, and I have already signed up to have a sleep study next week. This app is just for fun. In the morning after I use it, I get to look at a jagged line graph of my sleep pattern the night before. Whoopee!

Book Review: The Book Thief

I read The Book Thief. It is by Markus Zusak, and it is a book narrated by a personification of death, about a German girl who lives in Nazi Germany during World War II. Death becomes interested in the girl after seeing her at the site of her brother's death, where she steals a book for the first time. Book theft seems to follow the story of the girl's life, through not having a stable family life, not owning anything, to eventually having a family and being able to read to give others pleasure and solace. What is the book about? I am not sure. Death follows the girl through her whole life, but only tells the part of her life story that has to do with the war.

I'm writing this after having read two more books, so I have trouble remembering things like the book's themes. I think the book thief is a girl who has to find her way at the same time that other characters are in danger of losing their paths through life. Caring for the girl helps those other people retain their humanity. She learns how to be a human being through her interactions with these other people.

A side note: It would be difficult for me to read a book about a character sympathetic to the Nazi regime. That is not an issue in this story. The girl identifies Adolf Hitler as the person ultimately responsible for the death and disappearance of her parents, so she has a solid hatred for him beginning early in the story.

Weight Loss Race

I just had an imaginary conversation with my new doctor who I will visit about my sleep apnea at the beginning of June. I know that he will want to tell me to lose weight because that has an impact on the condition. Here are my thoughts.

I want to get down to between 130 and 140 pounds. I weigh 175.5 pounds now. I weighed 180 on April 23rd. I think I can get down to 155 by September 23rd, or September 12th if I am lucky. September 12th is when Brad’s college reunion begins. I want to be down to my goal weight within four months of that date, and I want to remain at my goal weight through the time of my own college reunion, September of 2015.

I don’t want to try to get down to my high school weight, or my college weight. I was still growing during that period, and I am uncertain that those lower weights would be healthy for me. I want to get below or at 140 pounds, and feel good. I want to eat yummy food and do fun activities for exercise. I want to feel pretty and I do want to look great as well.

Nothing stands between me and my happiness except me, not my childhood weight or any other thing. Not that I have to be happy all the time; it’s one of life’s goals, but it is not possible to be happy all the time. Weight loss is important to me right now because it is obvious to me every day that it will help me live a better life. I live in a place where there are a lot of pretty people doing a lot of fun things outside, and I can't do all of those things as well as I would like to, because I am out of condition. Getting into condition goes hand in hand with losing weight. I also want to change my attitude toward myself right now. I can't tell yet whether I will be happy when I am thinner. My assumption is that I will probably feel the same way I do now. Therefore, I am practicing feeling good about myself now, while working toward becoming healthier and better.

I just watched the whole first year of the vlogbrothers, Hank and John Green's Brotherhood 2.0. Great job, guys! Wow. I watch the new videos too, as they arise, but I haven't begun checking out the affiliated sites yet. This is primarily a source of fun for me, but very occasionally they share actual information and ask provocative questions. Very occasionally. I think they're fun though, and they have good hearts.

11AM update
Book I am currently reading: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Miss E said the part of the movie she saw was really good but that we have to read the book before watching the movie.

Book I will read next: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. because i want to read the book before the movie comes out. while I will probably read the book thief before E, E will probably read this before I do. Miss P plans to read the book thief after I do.

The book I might read after that: Divergent by whoever it is. E said it good but not great, but I really liked the movie. good, complicated answers to provocative questions.
or the current picks for the Goodreads Nerdfighters group, which are Behind the Beautiful Forevers and Maximum City. These seem to both be about Mumbai, so I have to love that.

end of first week in may 2014 update

now that it is may 7, I would like to report that I am enjoying the vlogbrothers 2007 video correspondence. I am reading The Book Thief. It is good but weird, so right up my alley. I am watching the live streaming video from the International Space Station, which mostly shows pictures of Earth. Yay!

In two days I will go to Maryland. With my mother.

April Reviews Bring May ... ?

Reviews of recently consumed media, etc.

I can't believe it, but I'm watching MacGyver again. It's full of horrible cliches, but there is a beating heart of creativity underneath. I'll give it a few more chances.

I watched a fun film, In the Loop. It stars Peter Capaldi, who apparently now plays the Doctor in Doctor Who (I haven't seen him do this yet--still catching up on the Tennant years). Don't watch this with anybody unused to foul language. Capaldi will make his or her ears bleed. It's the story of British and American government staffers who are supposed to be working on a common project, but each person involved has his or her own ax to grind.

I just began reading Linda Simoni-Wastila's book, Pure. More later after I'm finished.

I'm also in the middle of Moonwalking with Einstein, by Joshua Foer. This is the book about a writer for Slate who ends up falling in love with the subject of expanding his memory. It's a bit of a how-to book wrapped up in the history of memory enhancing techniques, with a description of contemporary memory competitions.

Now it is May, and I have finished Moonwalking with Einstein. Linda, I'm not done with your excerpt yet. I'm done with MacGyver. It became insupportable in season 3. Now I am watching the vlogbrothers 2007 Brotherhood 2.0 videos. Delightful. I am beginning my own vlog now.

Dance Photos (Grandparent alert)

These pictures are from December, when the girls' dance school allowed the parents to come in and watch. There are stills and videos.

Eleanor's Jazz class.

Ballet

Now, Phoebe.

Ballet first.

Then a picture from the beginning of Jazz class.