Thursday, October 28, 2010

Mockingjay


I was looking through my blog the other day and noticed that I never wrote about the third book in The Hunger Games series.  I don't know if any of you out there even care, but I just couldn't leave the third book hangin'!

I was beyond excited to read this book when it came out in August.  I pre-ordered a copy from Borders and picked it up a couple of days after it came out.  For the next two or three days I pretty much did nothing but work, eat, sleep and read.  I was dieing to know how it ended so I just read and read.  When I got to the end, I was not that impressed.  Want to know why?  I'll tell you, but if you haven't read it and plan on it, don't read any further!

After all of the preparation for invading the Capitol I was hoping for this great climax and then resolution of everything.  Sometimes I like predictable, but apparently that's not what Suzanne Collins was going for.  Now I didn't hate the ending, I was just hoping for more.  Before I even get to the ending though, I want to talk about Katniss.  In books one and two I liked her a lot.  She was this symbol of hope for everyone.  She was strong.  I didn't see that in her in book three.  She was boring and weak.  After all that she had been through I don't blame her, but people were looking to her for guidance.  She would just mope around and do whatever she wanted to.  While everyone in District 13 was preparing themselves for attack, she would skip out on everything.  She wasn't above that.  She needed the lessons just as much as everyone else did, especially since she wanted to fight.  She also wouldn't listen to anyone.  In the end, it turns out President Snow was a punk, but there were good people on her side that she just wouldn't listen to.  Bottom line is Katniss bothered me a little bit in this book.  I did feel bad for her when they got Peeta back and all he wanted to do was kill her.  That would be awful.

Moving on, I was really into the book until Katniss and her crew were on their "secret" mission to the Capitol.  Everything was fine until Finnick got eaten alive by those skeleton monster things, or whatever they were.  I really liked Finnick and didn't want him to die.  It made me really sad.  I know this book is about war, so I couldn't expect everyone to live, but I wish it wouldn't have been him.  What made it even worse is that in the end you find out this his wife Annie is pregnant!!  So sad.  After I got over that I was getting anxious for them to get to the Capitol.  As they approached the gates, they were bombed, and everything went down hilll from there for me.  First of all, I was so confused about what happened.  Katniss said she saw a girl with a long braid helping some of the children, and then the second bombs went off.  Boom.  Chapter over.  Next chapter started and I didn't really understand what was going on.  I thought it was a dream or something, and then all of a sudden Prim was dead, and apparently I was supposed to know that by the description of the girl with the braid.  It didn't register to me.

Then the whole thing with Gale really got to me too.  All that happened was they talked, she pretty much said she couldn't forgive him because he created the bombs that killed her sister, and then he left.  That's it!!  He didn't fight for her at all.  After all that they had been through he just gave up.  I was hoping for more from him.  Then in the end it just said that he moved to a different distract.  Done.  In my mind I was telling myself that they talk on the phone every once in awhile.  I still wanted them to be friends even though they couldn't be together.

Wow, this is getting long.  I'll get to the point.  The whole thing with President Snow was confusing to me.  She hates the guy, then goes and talks to him in his garden, then she believes his whole thing about President Coin and in the end kills President Coin instead of President Snow.  Wasn't that was pretty much the whole point of the book; her getting to kill President Snow?  In the end he dies by being trampled over, but that's anti-climatic.  Also, I was a little angry that when President Snow asked the previous gamers(or whatever they're called; I can't remember) if they wanted to make the kids from the Capitol compete in their own Hunger Games, Katniss and Haymitch said yes!!  Isn't that what they were fighting for?  To not have to have children and families go through what they went through?  They didn't go into any further detail about it since Snow died.  I just couldn't believe she said yes.

Three more quick things.  1.)  I was a little sad about how the relationship was between Katniss and her mom in the end.  They never had a great relationship, but in the end her mom moved to district 8, I think, while Katniss went back home.  After everything they went through, and all of the losses, you'd think they'd want to stick together.  2.)  I was always rooting for Peeta, so I was happy that they ended up together, but it felt like they ended up together because Gale left and it just happened.  There wasn't any romantic anything that led to them being together.  It just happened.  Once again, I was just hoping for more.  Oh, but there was the cute thing about him planting primroses outside.  That was sweet.  3.)  What happened to Haymitch?  Collins left us hanging with him.  I'm sure he turned back into the same old drunk, but it would have been nice to hear about it.

So there you go, you now know how I felt about the book.  From all of my comments it may seem like I hated the book.  I didn't.  It was a good book, but my least favorite of the three.  Number one was indeed my favorite.  I can't believe I had that much to write.  Anyone else out there have any opinions they'd like to share?  If so, leave me a comment!

Oh, and one last thing.  I like how in the end Prim's cat was alive and at their house.  She hated the cat but now they're friends since Prim is gone.  Now I'm really done, promise. 

       

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Witches Night Out

For two nights during October Gardner Village  in West Jordan hosts "Witches Night Out."  I had never heard of it before until my friend Becca invited Lisa, Kirsten and I to go with her.  One of Lisa and Becca's long-time friends was in town, so her and her sister joined us as well.  To learn more about what it is, click on the Gardner Village link above.

Since it was a night for witches, I decided I was going to dress up a bit.  I have always wanted to wear black and orange stripped tights, so I bought a pair.  They were pretty awesome except for the fact that they only came in adult or child size, and apparently the adult size was made for someone who was like 5'4".  Well, I'm quite a bit taller than that so I had to be creative in order to make the tights work.  It was actually pretty funny.

Anyways, so on Friday night we headed up to West Jordan to hang out with some witches.  After dealing with traffic for a good hour and a half, we met up with Becca and headed to Chic-fil-A for dinner.  I hadn't eaten there in a long time, and it was pretty good.  We then all piled into one car for the short drive to Gardner Village.  We were amazed at how many people were there.  Some people got really into it.  I saw some people who actually painted their faces green.  Now that's the Halloween spirit!  Gardner Village was decorated for Halloween and had fake witches all over the place.  There was a lady with an owl (it reminded me of Harry Potter), some guys on stilts, a fortune teller, food and dancing.  We walked around for awhile and then finished the night off with some dancing.  It was pretty fun.  I haven't danced like that for years it seems.

The event ended at 10pm so we took Becca back to her car and then had to deal with more traffic to get home.  Thank you I-15 for being terrible even at 11pm.  :)  Overall it was a fun night had by all.  Thanks for the fun idea Becca.


A witch riding her bike through the air.  Her legs were actually moving.

The whole crew.  The top from L to R: Lisa, Sarah, Caroline, Kirsten.  Bottom L to R:  Becca, Me

The random guys on stilts.  None of us were quite sure what they were supposed to be.

A witch bathroom.  So clever.

Becca and some witches.

Lisa and Kirsten and some witches.

Becca, Kirsten and Lisa taking a break from dancing to smile for the camera.


I'm sad I didn't get a picture of my tights.  Maybe another time...

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Oktober Fest and The Peruvian Chair

Back in June when I did my triathlon, Lisa and I got free tickets to ride the Peruvian Chair or Scenic Tram at Snowbird Ski Resort.  While waiting for us at the finish line, my parents won two more tickets from the emcee for being the loudest spectators there.  It was perfect because then Lisa and I could go with our husbands for free!!  Since Eric was gone in LA all summer we weren't able to go.  I actually forget about the tickets until a couple of weeks ago when I found them in a basket.  I looked up Snowbird and found out that the trams were still open until this week-end.  It also happened to be Oktoberfest up there.  I was sold!!  Mike and Lisa got a babysitter and we all headed up to Snowbird today.  There were some vendors up there (I wish there would have been more German booths though), traditional German food, people dressed in traditional German attire, and of course beer.  After looking at some stuff at a German booth, we headed up to the food tent to eat some brats and German chocolate cake.  It was pretty good.  In the tent there was also some entertainment.  There was this yo-yo guy who was pretty good and a whole lot of people drinking beer.  We were pretty much the only one's who weren't drinking!

After eating, we headed up to the Peruvian chair to go on a ride.  After figuring out a missing ticket, we were off.  The Peruvian chair is a four-person chair lift so we were all able to sit together.  The lady at the bottom told us that it was 15 degrees colder at the top.  It was about 50 degrees at the base, so that meant we were heading into 35 degree weather.  BRRRR!!  She also told us that there was snow!  The ride up wasn't too bad.  It got cold as we got to the top but it was bearable.  We got off and walked through a tunnel to the other side of the mountain.  It wasn't as cold over there.  Then we headed back down.  IT WAS FREEZING GOING BACK DOWN.  We were going against the wind and were frozen by the time we got back down.  We were all laughing about it and having a good time though.  It definitely makes for a good memory.  We finished off the day by walking by the vendors again and then going to the car.  It was a really fun day.  I'm glad that we got free tickets and that we were able to go with our good friends! 

Eric and I in Lederhosen and an awesome dress:)


Mike and Lisa on the way up the mountain

Eric and I on the way up








The view looking down at the top.  It was cloudy.

Walking through the tunnel

The view from the other side

We look cold.  Our wind blown hair looks so awesome!

Haha, Mike looks miserable!
  Thanks for the fun Eric, Mike and Lisa!