(M80'12) Sunny Side Up, BJ Appelgren
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1mirrani
This was an actual, physical book that I was given to read and the first thing that I noticed when I opened the package was the smell. Holy cow! I know you're supposed to love the smell of books, but this one smells like infection. I don't know what it came in contact with while it was on the way to my house, but it needs to forget about it real quick. Luckily, I was able to read a good chunk of it outside, on the veranda of our cabin when we were cruising to Hawaii.
I enjoyed the story behind this book, though there were times when I thought I wasn't all that deeply into it. Occasionally I thought the author was repetitive or it felt like she was leaving a good chunk of something out of the story all together, but for the most part, it was enjoyable.
As I end the lives of dandelions I have no wish to kill, I see four year old me tugging at my mother's skirt while she chats with a neighbor. They're standing on the lawn behind our house seemingly oblivious to my presence. Finally, mother notes my tugs and bends over to hear what I'm trying to whisper. I do not want to embarrass my mother's friend so I ask Mom to move the lady off the dandelion she is stepping on. My mother tells her and they both have a good laugh. p4
I liked the opening of that paragraph, but I wondered what the little story had to do with her situation, other than that she was currently digging up dandelions as she was recalling the past event.
Here I am sleeping in a house with sixty strangers and fretting a out the possibility of other strangers walking in on us. p20
That does kind of put things into perspective...
As the morning wears on, discarded sweaters and scarves appear to be growing in the garden like intergalactic flowers opening to the warm air. p53
That was a very good description. I'm sure some of my English teachers would say it's because of the subtle play on words with the morning wearing on and it being about clothes. Some kind of subconscious rightness or something. I just thought it was very visual.
Between page 97 and 98 there is a section about cutting up a tree that has blown over in a storm. As they are cutting and stacking the wood, one of the saplings nearby begins to bend under the weight of the newly created pile. It starts out with her describing the workers as happy elves, doing their work...
I straighten the little tree and move the stacks to either side of it. However, when I return, I find it broken. I point out to whoever is near that "it had been a living tree." As soon as I hear the tone of my voice, I'm sorry to have spoken. It's a tone I so dislike when I'm on the receiving end. Besides, the damage is already done and had no doubt been an accident. If anything, I hadn't done enough to prevent its being damaged. Sandra, the one who broke it, is standing right beside me.
"I thought it was a crooked branch sticking out from one of the stacked pieces," she tells me. "I feel like I'm wrecking the pile every time I put something down on it." She was already feeling incompetent before I had my say. I've changed the merry picture of elves into this. p98
This is what I'm guilty of. With just one wrongly thrown out line, I tend to ruin everyone's feeling of fitting in or having a purpose. Turn that great moment into a tragic memory. So very, very me.
I feel Patrick's tension within my own body, fearing his anger.Maybe I can sense other feelings to, but anger is what I grew up thinking I had to notice. p114
Don't we all grow up thinking that? We have to be able to recognize when we've upset someone. How many of us actually pay as much attention when we make someone happy?
Even at thirty I still haven't gotten used to seeing a man nailed to a cross to symbolize a religion of love. p116
I think this says a lot about religion in general. How much of it is about putting fear into people to do what they /should/ do? Can't we just learn lessons and follow them? Okay, not getting into all the hell and damnation stuff... Moving on..
The gist of the exercise is for the person practicing to describe his awareness. When I am the person working, the one in the so-called 'hot seat' I might say: I'm aware of sitting with my right leg crossed over my left knee. I'm aware of jiggling my right foot. I feel my foot moving up and down. I notice you are watching my jiggling foot. I am aware of thinking that you're thinking I'm stupid for jiggling my foot. p125-126
It goes on, but what the rest says isn't as important by the fact that I was finding this whole thing rather creepy, since this was EXACTLY what I was doing as I was reading. My reading position changed very quickly! :)
Now I understand why childcare has become the domain for parents and those who pledge unconditional love for kids. Parents say it's to get the best care for their children, but the truth is it's too dangerous for the uninitiated. p129
I had a good laugh at this one, being a preschool teacher myself.
I have learned a little vocabulary but don't understand anything about the construction of sentences. The order of the words seems dependent on seeing the universe from the standpoint of an alien life form. p151
This text has to do with one of the exercises that is being done at the time, but in reality I often felt the same way when I had to break apart a sentence and explain what part of speech something was. None of that stuff ever made any sense to me.
At this point, Morning Exercise enters a deeper phase. Mr. Bennett shows us the practice of drawing energy from the sacred geographic locations associated with four great spiritual teachers, Christ, Buddha, Mohammed, and Lama. Energy accumulates in these locations because of people going to them on pilgrimage and praying there. It makes me wonder if the accumulated energy s why we are naturally drawn to places known for their powerful or famous inhabitants? p163
I really had to think deeply on this one, because if you believe in the first part, the second part must be true, yes? Do we all love New York City and LA for what they ARE or do we find ourselves drawn there because of the energy described above? Hmmm...
He looks at us again and asks, "Do you appreciate that, when we eat, another life form gives up its existence for us? We cannot survive eating dirt and air. It takes life to give us life. Do you also understand that every form of life has qualities that we cannot provide for ourselves?" p169
More deep thinking. Unfortunately, I'm only too aware of this. I try very hard not to feel guilty some times when I eat... I really, honestly do.
A favorite pastime of Jonas's is to open a book at random and red to me or have me read to him. At first, this method shocks my sensibilities-so chaotic, so anarchistic! How can there be order in a universe where one enters a story in the middle? But then, I think back to the first time Mick showed me the garden and made me realize we were harvesting the bounty of the first year students' labors. I am reminded again how life is exactly like that. Everywhere we go a d in everything we do, we enter in the middle... and leave in the middle too. We always build on the work done before we came along and how often we wish to leave behind something worthwhile for future generations, at the very least for our own progeny. I son attune to the poetry of Jonas's inclinations and relish them. p185
I just found that very quotable.
And for my last note, which I made on page 267, I really did get tired of the author complaining about how little she was getting out of the program, which she volunteered to go into and could have left ant any given moment. With that being my only real complaint, I have to say this book was worth the read.
I enjoyed the story behind this book, though there were times when I thought I wasn't all that deeply into it. Occasionally I thought the author was repetitive or it felt like she was leaving a good chunk of something out of the story all together, but for the most part, it was enjoyable.
As I end the lives of dandelions I have no wish to kill, I see four year old me tugging at my mother's skirt while she chats with a neighbor. They're standing on the lawn behind our house seemingly oblivious to my presence. Finally, mother notes my tugs and bends over to hear what I'm trying to whisper. I do not want to embarrass my mother's friend so I ask Mom to move the lady off the dandelion she is stepping on. My mother tells her and they both have a good laugh. p4
I liked the opening of that paragraph, but I wondered what the little story had to do with her situation, other than that she was currently digging up dandelions as she was recalling the past event.
Here I am sleeping in a house with sixty strangers and fretting a out the possibility of other strangers walking in on us. p20
That does kind of put things into perspective...
As the morning wears on, discarded sweaters and scarves appear to be growing in the garden like intergalactic flowers opening to the warm air. p53
That was a very good description. I'm sure some of my English teachers would say it's because of the subtle play on words with the morning wearing on and it being about clothes. Some kind of subconscious rightness or something. I just thought it was very visual.
Between page 97 and 98 there is a section about cutting up a tree that has blown over in a storm. As they are cutting and stacking the wood, one of the saplings nearby begins to bend under the weight of the newly created pile. It starts out with her describing the workers as happy elves, doing their work...
I straighten the little tree and move the stacks to either side of it. However, when I return, I find it broken. I point out to whoever is near that "it had been a living tree." As soon as I hear the tone of my voice, I'm sorry to have spoken. It's a tone I so dislike when I'm on the receiving end. Besides, the damage is already done and had no doubt been an accident. If anything, I hadn't done enough to prevent its being damaged. Sandra, the one who broke it, is standing right beside me.
"I thought it was a crooked branch sticking out from one of the stacked pieces," she tells me. "I feel like I'm wrecking the pile every time I put something down on it." She was already feeling incompetent before I had my say. I've changed the merry picture of elves into this. p98
This is what I'm guilty of. With just one wrongly thrown out line, I tend to ruin everyone's feeling of fitting in or having a purpose. Turn that great moment into a tragic memory. So very, very me.
I feel Patrick's tension within my own body, fearing his anger.Maybe I can sense other feelings to, but anger is what I grew up thinking I had to notice. p114
Don't we all grow up thinking that? We have to be able to recognize when we've upset someone. How many of us actually pay as much attention when we make someone happy?
Even at thirty I still haven't gotten used to seeing a man nailed to a cross to symbolize a religion of love. p116
I think this says a lot about religion in general. How much of it is about putting fear into people to do what they /should/ do? Can't we just learn lessons and follow them? Okay, not getting into all the hell and damnation stuff... Moving on..
The gist of the exercise is for the person practicing to describe his awareness. When I am the person working, the one in the so-called 'hot seat' I might say: I'm aware of sitting with my right leg crossed over my left knee. I'm aware of jiggling my right foot. I feel my foot moving up and down. I notice you are watching my jiggling foot. I am aware of thinking that you're thinking I'm stupid for jiggling my foot. p125-126
It goes on, but what the rest says isn't as important by the fact that I was finding this whole thing rather creepy, since this was EXACTLY what I was doing as I was reading. My reading position changed very quickly! :)
Now I understand why childcare has become the domain for parents and those who pledge unconditional love for kids. Parents say it's to get the best care for their children, but the truth is it's too dangerous for the uninitiated. p129
I had a good laugh at this one, being a preschool teacher myself.
I have learned a little vocabulary but don't understand anything about the construction of sentences. The order of the words seems dependent on seeing the universe from the standpoint of an alien life form. p151
This text has to do with one of the exercises that is being done at the time, but in reality I often felt the same way when I had to break apart a sentence and explain what part of speech something was. None of that stuff ever made any sense to me.
At this point, Morning Exercise enters a deeper phase. Mr. Bennett shows us the practice of drawing energy from the sacred geographic locations associated with four great spiritual teachers, Christ, Buddha, Mohammed, and Lama. Energy accumulates in these locations because of people going to them on pilgrimage and praying there. It makes me wonder if the accumulated energy s why we are naturally drawn to places known for their powerful or famous inhabitants? p163
I really had to think deeply on this one, because if you believe in the first part, the second part must be true, yes? Do we all love New York City and LA for what they ARE or do we find ourselves drawn there because of the energy described above? Hmmm...
He looks at us again and asks, "Do you appreciate that, when we eat, another life form gives up its existence for us? We cannot survive eating dirt and air. It takes life to give us life. Do you also understand that every form of life has qualities that we cannot provide for ourselves?" p169
More deep thinking. Unfortunately, I'm only too aware of this. I try very hard not to feel guilty some times when I eat... I really, honestly do.
A favorite pastime of Jonas's is to open a book at random and red to me or have me read to him. At first, this method shocks my sensibilities-so chaotic, so anarchistic! How can there be order in a universe where one enters a story in the middle? But then, I think back to the first time Mick showed me the garden and made me realize we were harvesting the bounty of the first year students' labors. I am reminded again how life is exactly like that. Everywhere we go a d in everything we do, we enter in the middle... and leave in the middle too. We always build on the work done before we came along and how often we wish to leave behind something worthwhile for future generations, at the very least for our own progeny. I son attune to the poetry of Jonas's inclinations and relish them. p185
I just found that very quotable.
And for my last note, which I made on page 267, I really did get tired of the author complaining about how little she was getting out of the program, which she volunteered to go into and could have left ant any given moment. With that being my only real complaint, I have to say this book was worth the read.
