What a busy month – I have plans every weekend and often during the week till literally June. It started with a quick 2-day business trip to Chicago back in mid April and will continue until I get back from my trip to Cuba at the beginning of June.
I did manage to shoot a few pictures while in Chicago. Here are some highlights of the trip. I was actually in town for the GSMI Social Media Strategy Summit - where I learned a lot, was inspired and took lots of notes! After the day’s events ended though I took my evenings and walked. I did not have a car but I was staying on beautiful S. Michigan Ave. at the Essex Inn – which I found for under $100 at www.hotels.com! It was well worth the money and somehow I lucked out and got a great corner room on the 8th floor where I could see the Willis Tower out on side and the roof of the Field Museum and Lake Michigan out the other side.
My first free evening I walked to Willis Tower. I had been once, back in 2005 when it was still called the Sears Tower, but I wanted to return to check out the “Skydeck” balconies they had since added to the 103rd floor observation floor. I was not disappointed and got a great view from up there… looking STRAIGHT DOWN those 103 floors! I won’t bore you with pictures of the beautiful Chicago skyline but you can see pics in my Chicago Flickr album.
So that was the 1st evening… on the 2nd evening after the workshop I headed up S. Michigan Ave. to Millennium Park to see the Bean, er, Cloud Gate. I has also seen it during my 2005 visit but did not realize that I saw it when it was still being completed… I saw it with scaffolding around it which I recently found out was because they were polishing the seams in the sculpture. So I wanted to see it in all its glory. I was a little late getting out to the park but it was actually great timing because I was able to photograph it at dusk when the sky was a beautiful twilight blue and the buildings were lit up. I took tons of pictures as it got darker but below is one of my favorites:
And finally, on my last day I had a few hours before I had to head to the airport so I did a very very quick run through the wonderful Art Institute of Chicago. Wow, I was drawn in to the galleries as I walked by… it was very, very hard not to spend more time there. They have an amazing impressionist collection and they had many of my favorites in there – Renoir, El Greco, Van Gogh, John Singer Sargent, Frank Lloyd Wright, Chagall…
And then I had to head home,,, inspried by great art and by a great conference!
You can see ALL of my photos from the trip by clicking on the slideshow below:
So disappointed in how the trilogy gets wrapped up. And I am not talking about what happens to the characters but in the writing and in the *lack* of character development for Katniss. This 3rd book drags on – I’d check how far along I was along and be dismayed at how little I had progressed.
I had to think about why I was so disappointed at the end – and actually angry. Because Collins gave up. She stopped growing Katniss. I fell in love with Katniss in Book 1, was still enamored in Book 2 but in Book 3 I was just annoyed at her.
She whines about becoming the Mockingjay even after accepting it. She only survives because of the friends and heroes around her. They are the true characters, the true heroes. I felt Katniss spent most of the book hiding in closets or recovering from injuries or in general getting herself in trouble only to be saved by the other characters. I lost respect for her and wish the spotlight had been taken away from her and placed on the true characters of the story like Gale, Finnick, Boggs, Prim, Peeta and even Johanna. All of these characters actually grew and matured. Not so with Latniss and I deserved more than that after investing myself into the story till the end.
SPOILER ALERT:
1) Katniss’s choice to say yes to an important vote at the very end was ridiculously disappointing & proves the points above. I also felt it goes against everything the other two books stood for and how she was presented originally.
2) Peeta deserved better than Katniss. She was NOT good enough for him nor was she good enough for Gale (who seemed to realize that at the end).
OK, so I didn’t see it coming and the book was better than I thought it would be. A little more action and more interaction with other characters, a little less introspection on Katniss’ part. Still a hurried ending though… Enjoyed the new characters.
Still find it a bit unbelievable how cruel and stupid the Capital is but hey, if they weren’t you wouldn’t have a story, right?
So I jumped on the bandwagon and read the book (yay for lendable books on the Kindle!). Kenny had read it and so many of my friends had done so too. They said it was a quick read and I wanted to read it before I saw the movie. It was good but you have to keep in mind it is a book for young adults. I plan to read the other 2 books but have been warned that they do get a bit more teen-angsty. I was surprised at such an abrupt ending but I am told the 3 books can essentially be one long book since book 2 starts up 5 minutes after Book 1 ends.
My only major gripe? Some background inconsistencies regarding the dystopian society where the story takes place. For example, they have some amazing technology like hybrid mutated animals but then still mine coal and use trains? Ms. Collins wrote an entertaining story with some great characters but the world she created for them seemed like an after-thought. Suffice to say, her writing doesn’t hold a candle to writers like Madeleine L’Engle and Ray Bradbury but it will endure despite this due to the unique story and the characters.
So… I wanted to like this book more than I did. Interesting story line, new author… but it had too many flaws that I could not overlook in the long run.
Spoilers ahead…
First of all – the character Trent was more than obnoxious. He was unforgivably obnoxious and yes, I get he was suppose to be this way but really? The women put up with him for that long with castrating him? I was *more* insulted by the fact that they put up with him than by his behavior by the end of the book. He alone could have ruined the story for me. He had NO redeeming qualities and for going through such a serious, life-threatening experience, he learned nothing and I find this way too unbelievable. His character brought nothing to the story except frustration.
Second of all – really, they drove halfway across the country and found only one other person alive? Um, yea. No. Four random people in one small town in Florida could survive but they found no other survivors on their way from Florida to DC? Sorry, could not suspend my disbelief that long. I understand the concept of nuclear annihilation but there are typically more survivors (ever read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road?).
Those two issues really ruined it for me. And the way he wrapped up the story (yea, it involved Trent) was laughably ridiculous. I knew the book was meant to be humorous – and it was at times – but really? I was anxious for it to end just so I could move on and start a new book. It’s a shame because I did like the other characters in the book.
I love to travel, even if it’s for work (since I don’t travel for work often enough to make me hate it)… and I’m thrilled to see so many upcoming trips on my calendar, all taking place between April & August:
> Chicago, mid April – Social Medias Strategies Summit
> Las Vegas, end of April – to shoot a friend’s wedding & introduce my husband to Vegas (he’s never been)
> Havana, Cuba, end of May – vacation and to meet my family for the 1st time!!
> San Francisco, end of June – AllFacebook Marketing Conference – I am actually speaking on a panel here! Eep!
> Napa Valley, August – to shoot another destination wedding with Christine
Over the weekend, I booked my trip to Cuba. To Havana (or Habana, the correct spelling) to be specific. I still have family there and can legally visit (my parents left the island in 1968 – and although my sister was born there, I was born in the US, here in Houston). I have wanted to go for years but have never acted on my desire to do so using the excuse that I could not afford it. But I put those anxieties aside and with my husband’s support, booked the ticket for the last week in May.
I will post more on my thoughts and anxieties and excitement about the trip in a separate entry but in the meantime, I decided to pick up salsa dancing again, especially after confirming that my family in Cuba loves to dance as well. I needed to get back in shape and I thought it would be a way to get some exercise in as well. As you may or may not know, I took salsa lessons several years ago and have reached an advanced level. A standard salsa class won’t really teach me much else unless I want to go into competition (which I don’t) so I decided to get more experience in “rueda” or “rueda de casino” salsa dancing…
Per Wikipedia: “Rueda de Casino” dancing is a specialized type of salsa dancing where “pairs of dancers form a circle, with dance moves called out by one person, a caller (or “líder” or “cantante” in Spanish). Many moves have hand signs to complement the calls; these are useful in noisy venues, where spoken calls might not be easily heard. Many moves involve the swapping of partners.”
I had learned the basics already and know some essential combinations but my current class is really making me step up my game!! I am getting some awesome exercise, I’ve met some amazing dancers who are really challenging me (which I need) and all this has reinvigorated my love for salsa dancing! I hope to be able to go out a couple of times a month outside of class and hit the local salsa scene so I get some of my dancing stamina back before I head to Cuba at the end of May and dance in the country where salsa originated! Really can’t wait!
To give you an idea of what rueda looks like, check out the video below…
