Chrissy's Blog

Obviously a very last minute photo. I was reading before going to bed and starting to get tired when I realized I needed a picture. Strangely last time I opted to take the easy road and just take a picture of whatever book I am reading, I was reading a book from this series. The Millenium series as it is known in Sweden. This book is the final book in the trilogy. For English readers, it is called “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.” The Swedish title is “Exploding Castles in the Sky.” A little strange, but it fits with the theme of the novel. The true injustice to English readers is the first book. It is called “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” but in Swedish it is called “Men Who Hate Women,” which is simply an awesome title. It is strongly what the entire series is about. Time and again in the books, women are subjected to horrible things at the hands of men who don’t consider them equals. Without giving too much away, the book doesn’t just indict specific men, it points out society’s willingness to ignore the plight of some women. But of course, the title sounds feminist, and Americans are afraid of feminism. The books do deal with feminism though, but in the context of an exciting thriller. Americans just have to be snuck feminist ideals, or they wouldn’t swallow it down. Also, I watched the Swedish film version of the book, it was really good! But of course, they are insisting on making an English version. I feel offended as an American that our culture is believed to be unable to handle anything that isn’t watered down or Americanized. But, of course, I also understand why this assumption is made.

I spent the entire day cleaning out my closet and going through all the large Tupperware containers of my old things in the garage. My parents have been pushing me to do this for years now, probably since I first moved out when I was 17 or so. I honestly had nothing else to really do on Labor Day, so I set to. It was a lot of work, and I got rid of most everything. But I was able to come across a lot of good memories, like yearbooks, pictures of friends from college, and this. In this picture I am 11 and had barely been living in Reno, probably around 10 months or so. My family took me and my friend from school up to Virginia City, which is a semi-ghost town that attempts to look the same as it did when it was established in the late 1800’s. Anyways, they offer a lot of fun things to do, like what you see to your left.

Angie called me to hang out, and the two of us ended up going to the Rib Cook-Off festival in Sparks. I hadn’t been since I was 12, and I hadn’t planned on going. Not much of a rib eater, and the whole thing tends to be over-crowded and over-hyped. But it was something to do, so we checked it out. I got a ribs sampler and found myself pondering how far I’ve sunk since being a strict vegetarian only two years ago. It was good but not life changing. What WAS life changing was the fire-roasted corn. So buttery and juicy and hot.

A very productive day, but not a very exciting one. I ended it, though, by watching “Gone With the Wind” with my mother. This was the best my camera could manage. If I have learned anything, so far, from this project, it’s that my camera is not a very good one.

This is the scene right before Scarlett shoots the Yankee in the face!

Chaucer got a hair cut and was none too pleased about it.

After seven months of confusion, worry, stress, and expensive tests, we finally got the news that my mom does NOT have breast cancer. We were all relieved and ecstatic to say the least. We were all scared as doctors oscillated back and forth between telling us it was definitely cancer and she was going to need a mastectomy, and then telling us that it wasn’t cancer. But after a painful biopsy, an official pathologist told us that it was not cancer, and they would not have to operate. It was a terrifying month and a half. Cancer isn’t something I think about a lot, until all of a sudden it was threatening someone so important to me. Then every radio show, every tv commerical, every news article seemed to talk about cancer. Pink ribbons were everywhere, as I began to feel like the worst daughter on Earth for moving across the country at a time like this. No worries, though. They are going to still keep an eye on everything, but she is A-OK.

My final morning in Seattle, I had breakfast with my old roommates. I moved to Seattle without knowing a soul. I still feel incredibly fortunate that within a month of moving there, I fell into a group of 8 friends that I still consider to be some of my closest in Seattle. Our sophomore year of college, we got a huge house together. It was chaos, but in retrospect, one of the best times of my college experience. A lot of people at that time were getting big houses to all live in together, but we were more a family than any of them. We took turns cooking family dinners, our parties were epic (a penta-keggar with the entire study abroad population, anyone?), we fought only the way a family can and reconciled awkwardly the next day over some beer. Sadly, there are three key family members missing from the breakfast, but it is getting harder as we all spread out. But the “5021 family” is still a strong bond.