Jabober

Over the weekend of our Colorado holiday, I finished up the Thursday Next series, which ended with Something Rotten, by Jasper Fforde.

I've been raving about this series from when I started it. I even bought the series for a friend, and for Yoshi's grandfather, I was so entranced with it. I'll probably give it as a gift until I run out of people to give it to.

The fourth book was by far the best. He unraveled so many things that he'd twisted in the first three books. He included the explanation for all these things in an refreshingly unexpected way. The creativity that must go through Jasper's head when he writes, is unfathomable. If I have any fantasies of being an amazing novelist, it would include this kind of writing.

The third book was the slowest of the three, and I almost didn't read the fourth book because I lost momentum. If you've read the third book, and you just don't know if you have it in you to get through the fourth, just do it. It's worth it.

So, don't be surprised, if you receive a copy of this series as your next gift from me.

Posted by Tammy at 04:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While on our Colorado trip, I picked up a couple of books on Buddhism. The first one was Buddhism Without Beliefs. I was attracted to this book in part because I thought Yoshi might like to read it. I also was curious about the author's criticism of organized religion despite the fact that many branches of Buddhism are founded in thousands of years of orthodoxy.

Stephen Batchelor takes several of the main foci of the Dharma practice taught by the original Buddha and questions how they apply to our modern culture, in particular western culture. He also explains his view on karma, reincarnation, idols and large organized orthodoxy of following Buddhist tradition.

I particularly liked his perspective on learning and teaching, based on role models and looking at people who, to us, seem as if they have something we don't, and trying to discover that thing is in ourselves, rather than depending on that someone else to teach it to us.

The book was a little disorganized in my opinion, and it took a bit to get into. But overall, I thought it was a nice discussion of Dharma practice from the point of view of someone who wanted to find his own truth, in the context of modern society, rather than focusing on some perfect ideal of long ago that's both inattainable and ostensibly reserved for the religious elite.

I have struggled with this very concept during my spiritual search, wondering what the point of spiritual leaders really is. Many of the people who have guided me spirituality didn't even know it. And the one spiritual leader who I have asked for guidance has gently refused my efforts. After reading this book, I understand a little better why he did.

The next book on my pile: What Would Buddha Do?

Posted by Tammy at 07:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last night we watched The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. I find it hard to describe the movie, since most of it was so undramatic. The interplay between the characters was far more important than the storyline, which itself was quite non-formulaic. A lot of well-known actors in this movie brought together each character's strengths and weaknesses so that by the end of the movie, you end up liking them all, but also, see how each of them have their faults, since the "good guy, bad guy" dichotomy has a very fine line.

Even the ending of the movie was ambiguous, wrapping things up, yet not exactly a moment for a collective "huzzah". The tone of the move, and the ending, was also quite mellow. Some moments of drama start to come to the surface, then, as if the story is catching itself, the actors tone down their voices and language. Dirctor Wes Anderson peppers the standard confident speech that movie characters usually have, with stammering, hesitation and weakness in presentation that normally would be considered bad acting, but in this case, bring a deeper dimension and reality to the characters.

That said, it wasn't one of my favorites. Yoshi liked it tho. Maybe I need to see it again to get a better feel for it. In a movie like this, where there is so much character flavor and lots of subtle cues, it takes a couple viewings to know for sure if it's a keeper.

If you haven't seen it, I recommend it, if anything for the characters. And the storyline too, since it's somewhat of an "everyman" topic, portraying a man's search for meaning and a chance to recover his youth.

Posted by Tammy at 07:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's some photos from out trip to the Colorado Rockies.


Some beautiful scenery in Utah. It quickly moved from desert landscape to....


Snow covered mountains in a matter of hours. We took a lot more scenery pictures. I don't want to bore you with all of them.


Megan and Grandma Susan walking up the sledding hill.


Yoshi and Allison having the snowball fight she was anxiously looking forward to. They had several snowball fights over the weekend.


Climing up the sled hill with tubes in tow.


Megan had it the best on the sled hill.


Even though Megan spent a lot of time in the tubes being dragged around in the snow, the adventure wore her out, and she fell asleep on the way to lunch.


We played a lot of games. The kids all played together well.


Allison and Erika quickly became best buds.


Group photo at the Keystone resort.


In the gondola above the Keystone slopes.


Another gondola picture.


All together at the top of the slopes.


Looking out from the top of the mountain.


In front the enormous outdoor ice skating rink in Keystone.


We took a bus to these sleighs, pulled by retired draft horses. We took the sleigh to a remote cabin for an amazing dining experience. There's no way to accurately describe the sleigh ride. Nor the quiet and beauty of the back mountain country.


The food was awesome. So was the company.


We were serenaded by a cowboy guitarist. We ended the evening by a group-sung version of Take Me Home Country Road.


We did a lot of resting while the kids played in between adventures.


On our way home, the first leg of the drive was a little tricky down the snow covered hill. As we were leaving Keystone, we could the mist, which drifted off the snow peaks, creating clouds.

We're home now. Safe and sound. The drive was fairly easy. It took us about a day and half to get home. The kids did great. They are happy to be home though, and can't wait to sleep in their own beds and not have to bundle up in coats, hats and gloves to venture outside.

Posted by Tammy at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As I sit here, I'm watching the snow fall through wall-sized windows in my uncle's winter home in the Colorado Rockies. We are at the Keystone ski resort, about 30 miles east of Vale.

Our drive up here from Burbank took about a day and a half. The first day, we stopped in a small city in Utah and stayed at a small Best Western. We left around 8 in the morning and arrived at the hotel at around 7 local time. The drive was easy. The kids were great. They played their GameBoys, read, played with sticker books and puzzles, and listened to their iPods. Yoshi and I spent a lot of time just sitting doing nothing, as we stared at the scenery. It was a day of decompression.

At the hotel, we went swimming for a bit and watched the Olympics. Yoshi and I were able to log in with the hotel's free wireless. I didn't have time to play WoW, but I read my email and kept up with my blog reading. Yoshi found out there was something big going down at work, and he couldn't get his laptop to function properly (and you know, if Yoshi couldn't get it to work right, something was really wrong with it.)

The next day we drove the rest of the way through Utah. It was a gorgeous drive. We saw all kinds of rocks and canyons. Red, yellow, green, orange, brown rocks. Huge natural structures jetting out of the ground. Big caverns and canyons with the geological strata clearly defined in the diagonally oriented rocks. I did some reading and worked on my laptop a bit, but I spent most of my time oohing and aahing at the landscape with the kids.

We stopped in Grand Junction Colorado for lunch and an hour of rest at Barnes and Noble. We bought a couple more sticker books and a card game for the kids. Then we headed off into the rocky mountains. The dramatic change of scenery was awesome, in the true sense of the word. We were soon driving through snow covered, tree splattered mountains, on mildly winding roads. As we got higher, we started seeing frozen waterfalls and trees salted with snow clumps.

We arrived in Keystone about three hours later, and joined my dad and his family at the mountain house. The house has 6 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, a huge kitchen, two offices, a huge game room with foosball, air hockey and a ping pong table, a big flat screen TV, and a hot tub. There are 13 of us staying here in the house and we have plenty of room. Yoshi was able to use my dad's cellular modem to get hooked up and start fixing his problems at work. And he figured out how to get my computer hooked up too.

Yesterday, we went to a nearby sledding hill and spent a couple of hours tubing. It was not too cold (30 degrees) and we had the hill almost to ourselves. It was great fun sliding out of control down the hill. Then climbing back up the hill with our tubes. Megan got the best deal, since she got to slide down the hill with Yoshi, who would then pull her up the hill while she sat in the tube.

The rest of the day was spent visiting and playing games. Yoshi figured out how to fix his computer (and save the day at work). Grandma Susan made two huge vats of bean soup and corn bread. We watched Olympics and talked. We all slept really well last night.

This morning we took the tram down to the ski resort area. Keystone has three complete ski areas. We took an enclosed gondola to the top of the first ski run. Then we transfered to another gondola which took us to the second ski run. We had lunch at the top of the mountain, watching all the skiers and snow boarders swoop down the hills.

We're here for two more days. We'll be heading home on Tuesday morning. I'll post pictures later if I can.

Posted by Tammy at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Mike tagged me. So here it is:

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. Music Plus minion
2. Border's Bookseller
3. University Computer Lab Tech/Support
4. Step/Kickboxing/Yoga instructor

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. The Fifth Element
2. Young Frankenstein
3. Zoolander
4. Mary Poppins

Four places I’ve lived:

1. Bordeaux, France
2. Madison, Wisconsin
3. El Cerrito, California (N. of Berkeley)
4. Culver City, California

Four TV shows I love:

1. Mythbusters
2. The Daily Show
3. Inside the Actor's Studio
4. The Backyardagins

Four highly regarded and recommended TV shows that I’ve never watched a single minute of:

1. The Bachelor
2. American Idol
3. 24
4. Desperate Housewives

Four places I’ve vacationed:

1. Madrid, Spain
2. Venice, Italy
3. Wales, UK
4. Yellowstone, WY

Four of my favorite dishes:

1. Salmon, saffron rice and steamed veggies
2. Crèpe sallé à la champignon
3. Pad Thai (with extra tofu)
4. Oden

Four sites I visit daily:

1. Google RSS Reader
2. Fark.com
3. Amazon.com
4. HSC.org

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. In a Yoga class
2. Reading a book or writing at a cafe with my headphones on
3. Running
4. Actually, nowhere. I like where I am most of the time.

Now, I tag Louis, Travis and Pajaro.

Posted by Tammy at 02:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Allison had some fun drawing yesterday, using an drawing book that our friends gave her for her birthday. While she was drawing, she told me the story of the frog, who was far away from home, and was walking down the path to his house. There was water on the path that he had to jump over.



She also drew a fat, furry cat. The image is kind of blurry. Wasn't sure how to take a picture of a drawing without it coming out this way. Any recommendations?

Posted by Tammy at 03:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At the recommendation of a friend, I signed all three of our kids up for yoga. That's right. Yoga. For kids. Even Megan.

All of the kids immediately fell in the love with the instructor. There were around ten kids in the class. Out of all the children, my three children were *the* most talkative. But they also had fun following the instructor's poses.



Megan didn't do all the exercises, but she stayed on her mat during the whole warm up.



They finished the warm up with a traditional warrior pose. I think Cameron, for his first time, has a very good practice. Look at that alignment!



After ten minutes or so, Yoshi and I went to have some coffee. When we left, they were bouncing exercise balls around the room. We had to soothe some tears when we came back though. Megan was a little tired and started to cry near the end of the class. She loved the teacher, but she wanted mom and dad to be there. Overall, they all loved the class. We heard tales of the games they played and the jokes they made on the way home in the car.

I'm so excited to have found a class that all three kids can participate in, and I can sit back and be a proud mama. And, it's yoga! How wonderful is that? My kids practice yoga, just like their mama. Happy me.

The studio we go to is Yoga at the Village, in Glenale. Here's there website.

Posted by Tammy at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I spent my free time yesterday hunting around for information on self publishing options. I also spent quite a bit of time reading through the Writer's Market to see if there were any publishers listed that were a good fit for me. This is what I took away from my research.

Self publishing is very easy nowadays. That is, if one is not too picky about how much one makes, or how a book is distributed, or whether or not the book gets sold at the local Barnes and Noble. Websites like lulu.com, iuniverse.com and cafepress.com offer print on demand and online ordering. As an author, this covers two of the hardest problems with being self published - inventory management and money. The online companies will ship it and deal with sales.

That still leaves marketing. And if the author wants to have their book listed at Amazon or Barnes and Noble, she has to get an ISDN and a bar code and then somehow get it onto each book. Lulu.com offers that service for a price. Part of the price is monetary. The other price of having them do this for you is they have the rights to your book.

One way that print on demand can be very useful for a serious writer, however, is to use it as a tool for submissions and distribution until the book has been bought by a publisher. Instead of sending a publisher a stack of 8X11 papers, you can send them a book (if the publisher accepts that kind of submission). An author can also be selling her book on a small scale while she is waiting to hear back from the publishers.

I'm still considering the option of self publishing, but it's not first on my list. Part of the reason I would like to have a publisher is to work with a professional editor - for free. I have friends who will read my book and give me feedback, but I won't be able to have someone go through every detail of my book without paying them. Lulu.com has this service available, at different levels. But their services are generic. Who knows if the person reading my book even cares about the topic.

A publisher will care about the book, because they will be putting a lot of effort into selling it. They also care about the topic, or they wouldn't have chosen it out of the hundreds or thousands of submissions they receive.

It's a long shot to get a publisher, because of the competition. But I'm relying on the assumption that my writing and expertise in my area will outshine the others. And, homeschooling is a hot enough topic that the subject itself will give it extra glow. The media talks about homeschooling nearly every day. Even CNN had a story about unschooling last week. And with the No Child Left Behind act being so unpopular, more and more people are interested in understanding the mysterious homeschooling trend. And homeschoolers are popping up everywhere. We're getting more and more public. Most of us know at least one person who is homeschooling. What the heck are they *really* doing?

There is a need out there for people who want to understand how homeschooling works - just enough to feel good about their sister's or cousin's decision to go outside the mainstream. And there is a need for new homeschoolers to help their family and friends understand what they are doing without being confrontational. There is also a need in the media for an accurate understanding of the homeschool movement that can't be derived from public school officials' opinions or statistics.

I'm going to try to sell my book. And if every last one of the publishers who I solicit to say no, or if I completely finish writing my book and I haven't sold it yet, I'll go the self-publishing route.

Posted by Tammy at 07:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, it's time to let this disappointed cat out of the bag.

One of the reasons I've been so quiet on my blog, is that I've been in "tapping my foot waiting" mode. You see, I submitted a book proposal to a small publisher. No, actually I sent out three proposals to this publisher. They really liked my ideas. The editor liked it so much, she wrote out a detailed message why I should publish all three books.

So, excitedly, I've been working hard to gather up my materials to send as part of the assessment phase of the publishing process. I sent her a detailed outline of the first book, and two chapters. And then, I waited. While I waited, I wrote a third chapter. I sent that to her as well. Then I waited some more.

She kept in touch with me enough to let me know she hadn't forgotten about me. But she didn't make any comments on my manuscripts. Waiting is so incredibly hard.

Then, I got the letter tonight. She's not going to publish my book.

Fortunately, her reasons have nothing to do with my writing, the subject or whether or not she liked the book. In fact, she told me twice that she really liked it. She decided not to publish it because they have decided to not publish anything for a while, and focus only on their own books (very small publisher) and their magazine.

Perfectly fine reason. She told me that she has said 'no' to every proposal that she had been pursuing, even though she did not want to. But of course, I'm disappointed. I wanted her to publish my book. More importantly, I wanted her to edit my book. She was the perfect person for it, and it is the perfect publisher with a history of publishing good homeschooling books.

Instead, she suggested that I self-publish. I am not sure what to think about that. I just got home, just got the email, and I have a lot to consider. I'll think about it more tomorrow, when I'm not exhausted and the disappointement is not fresh in my head.

But now, the cat is out of the bag. I'm writing a book. Perhaps, one day, you might see it at Amazon.com. Or, you might see it in stacks in my garage. One way or the other, I'm going to get this book published. That I know for sure.

Posted by Tammy at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My mother-in-law called me today. She asked me if everything was OK. She hadn't seen a blog entry from me in a few days.

So here's my blog entry, to let you all know that everything is OK.

Everything is so OK, I've had nothing to write about. Sometimes, life is best when nothing noteworthy happens.

Posted by Tammy at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)