Mette Ivie Harrison's Blog, page 128

Holiday weight

One of my Holiday traditions is to gain 5 pounds. It's not a tradition I necessarily plan. It just happens every year and I try not to worry about it much. December/January tend to be months when I am only training a little, since triathlon races are not generally held when there is a lot of snow on the ground. It's a natural time for me to spend more time with the family and less time stressing about training goals. I don't know if my body "needs" this off time, but I think my mind does...

Books Read in November 2009

Buckingham Palace Gardens by Anne Perry
Fire by Kristin Cashore
Night and Day by Robert Parker
Asimov's January 2010
Execution Dock by Anne Perry
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Marked by Kristin Cast
Wake Up to a Happier Life by Amanda Dickson (book club)
Summers at Auburn Castle by Sharon Shinn
The Truth-Teller's Tale by Sharon Shinn
The Dream-Maker's Tale by Sharon Shinn
Fantasy and Science Fiction Oct/Nov 2009
T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton
Dragon Spear by Jessica Day George
Quatrain by Sharon Shin...

December presents week #1

The four "Advent" Sundays before Christmas, I give my five kids books. Sometimes a couple of books (so the paperbackers don't feel like the hardbackers got more). Here is what the kids got today:

15:
The Doom Machine by Mark Teague

14:
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Magic Can Be Murder by Vivian VandeVelde

12:
Walter the Farting Dog

10:
Clarice Bean Spells Trouble by Lauren Child

7:
Captain Underpants (volume 6) by Dav Pilkey
Junie B. Jones Dumb Bunny by Barbara Park

What is interesting abo...

bad boyfriends

15 enjoys playing SIMS, but this weekend as we spent time with relatives, I got to hear about her SIMS character's boyfriend. She was in love with him, but it turned out when she proposed, he felt only a crush for her and turned her down. But she kept trying to propose marriage and he kept turning her down. Once he said he was in a bad mood. Another time, he apparently felt like it wasn't a good moment. On and on, her SIMS girl kept getting turned down. But my daughter was very persiste...

piano angst

I have a piano recital coming up in two weeks and the piece I planned to play (Chopin's Nocture in C# Minor) is simply not there. I went to my lesson yesterday and it was such a mess. It was one of those moments when I wanted to cry and kick and scream. Instead, I accepted my teacher's advice that I would only be playing part of the piece. It is hard to let go that last page, and even harder to allow myself to give up, at least for a little while.

The other thing I have done for this recit...

SYTYCD and "wanting it enough"

I remember when I was a swimmer in high school and frustrated by my lack of improvement that someone told me I just didn't "want it enough." This made me very angry. I wanted "it" badly. But looking back now, I can see that I didn't. At the time, I thought that wanting to succeed was somehow shown in my attitude and how my much I poured into the race. One of the things So You Think You Can Dance is teaching me is what it means to "want it enough."

"Wanting it enough" means that you are sa...

Favorite classic authors

I remember speaking somewhere and someone asking why it was that my books felt so different. The only answer I could think of was that I trained in German literature instead of either British or American. Also, when I tell fairy tales, I tell the real Grimm ones. Anyway, here is a list of the authors I consider classic and who have influenced my writing and my sense of what "great literature" is. You may be surprised to see who is not on this list (Goethe, Thomas Mann, J.D. Salinger, F. S...

cover for THE PRINCESS AND THE SNOWBIRD

I now have ARCs! Yeah! This is always the best moment for me, better than when the book goes on sale in bookstores for some reason. I suppose I get anxious about the sales then, but when I see the ARCs I just have this wonderful sense of accomplishment and ease, that I can let this book go and that it is just what I meant it to be.

used car buying exhaustion

We've been intending to buy a new "used" car for some months now, but it wasn't an emergency so it kept getting put off. We finally went out and got it done this weekend and I have to say that I never EVER want to do that again. I think I would rather swallow my own liver after having both arms pulled through my eye sockets and out through my nose.

On the other hand, it reminded me very much of reading LIAR by Justine Larbelestier. Every salesman we talked to was an utter liar, and then, on...

musical moment

I had a fun moment this week. 14 and I were discussing musical pieces were enjoyed. I said I did not much care for Mozart on the piano. (I'm afraid I agree with Salieri, "too many notes.") I like his symphonic pieces much more, but he is not one of the geniuses of music to me. I think his "prodigy" status early on gives him too much push. I much prefer Chopin and Beethoven, and I find myself choosing their pieces to learn again and again. 14 agreed with me. Then I mentioned that I lik...