I recently finished reading Jim Gaffigan's Dad is Fat, which chronicles his own follies, fails, and funny experiences.  Gaffigan's gaffes include stealing his kids' candy and hjfjkldsahfjklsdahfjksalhfkljsad.  Jim is often plagued by his balding head, and his kids' unique minds.

While at a party, Jim was appalled to hear a friend compare having a baby to getting a dog, and gave the following reasons why that was so wrong:

“1. Dogs come when you call their name.2. The absence of birth control does not lead to pet ownership.3. You don’t have to worry about your dog ever becoming addicted to meth.4. You do not have to save so your dog can go to college and then find out after they graduate that they want to be an actor.5. If someone is pushing a baby in a stroller, they are probably a parent or a caregiver. If someone is pushing a dog in a stroller, they are probably insane.”

I'm not sure I totally agree with Gaffigan, especially with number 3.  My dog has been hanging around with the wrong crowd lately.

I have continued to read Jim Gaffigan's Dad is Fat, which has the most eloquent title ever written, one that sends a valuable message.  Jim talks about troubles with a child and troubles he had as a child.  An example of the latter is his extreme paleness (which you can witness here, in his classic stand-up routine "Hot Pockets") and the moderate bullying that resulted.  He describes his appearance here:

"If you have no idea what I look like, I am a very pale person. My photo on the book cover was retouched to make the glare from my skin easier on your eyes. Hey, the publisher wanted to sell books. Trust me, I am a very pale person. No, I’m paler than that. Yes, that pale. Even when I look in the mirror, I think, 'Wow, I’m pale!' I’ve never tanned. Growing up, I hated being pale. I was the whitest kid in an all-white community. Ironically, in a way I was the minority. As a kid, I was called 'Whitey,' 'Casper,' and 'Albino.'"

Jim faced adversity, and he overcame it.  We can all learn a message from this man, who over came a skin abnormality to become a famous mainstream comedian.

Clara Bowles tried to shove her thoughts out of her brain as she drove home.  She tried not to process what she had heard.  She tried to forget about what he had brought up.  It was too much.  Too much sadness, too much memory, too much...

She lost her train of thought.  Clara tried to remember what she was so confused about, but she didn't know.  As she pulled into her driveway, she remembered.  Montag's words echoed in her ears.  My goodness, she thought.  He was right.

No no no no no no no.  She tried to shove those thoughts out of her head.  She called the fire department and reported Montag, so he wouldn't corrupt any more minds.  That Montag is digging around where no one ever should, she thought.  Then she broke down again.  She now spoke aloud, to no one but herself, "Oh no, he's right.  My children hate me, my husbands hated me, and I stood by and watched!" she said, more hysterically than before.  "I have no--." She fell to the ground.  She had habitually taken sleeping pills when she walked into the door.

She woke up several hours later, sluggish, and she felt dried tears on her face, and said, "I wonder what could have made me so upset."  She promptly took more pills and returned to her unconscious state.

I have been reading Fahrenheit 451, a book about a dark, futuristic society.  Montag, the main character, is trapped in a society that brainwashes its people and takes away freedoms.  Montag is a fireman who starts fires rather than putting them out.  The fires are started at homes of people who possess unapproved ideas (in the form of books).  He starts to think more independently after he befriends a girl named Clarisse, whose profound thinking changes Montag's perception of the world around him.

Montag burns a woman's house down at the end of part one, and it clearly affects him, as evidenced by this quote:

"'I'm counting to ten,' said Beatty. 'One. Two.' 

'Please,' said Montag. 

'Go on,' said the woman. 

'Three. Four.'"

Montag, by saying please, demonstrates his minuscule understanding of the true effects of his job, and takes a baby step towards fully realizing the wrongs of the society.

I have been reading Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan.  As you can tell from the title, it is a very solemn book that lacks humor.  Jim Gaffigan, the author, is a comedian most famous for his "Hot Pockets" bit and his high voice that is meant to imitate the audience's thoughts.  In his book, he tells of an awkward trip to the Grand Canyon with friends, talks about his children and wife, and the process of aging.

This is an amusing quote from the book that showcases Gaffigan's wit: "The phrase 'I have children' is always present tense.  They are always with me.  Even when I am by myself, I 'have children.'  When I travel I 'have children' who I feel guilty being away from.  If I'm in the bathroom enjoying some of Daddy's private time, I 'have children' who will knock on the bathroom door.  'Daddy, what are you doing in there?'  As if I'm being rude.  I 'have children' like I 'have male pattern baldness.' "

Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King

Rita Hayworth And Shawshank Redemption is a story written by Stephen King.  It is centered around fictional character Andy Dufresne, who was (supposedly wrongly) accused of killing his wife and the man she was cheating on him with.  The story is narrated by another inmate in The Shawshank prison.  It is done in unique fashion, as the narrator subtly hints at what will happen without giving much of the story away.

King, while describing the process of the trial, often flashes forward to a event that happened after the natural timeline:  "Later, much later, he speculated to me about the clerk who testified on the subject of those dishtowels (that he had allegedly bought but had not remembered buying), and I think it's worth jotting down what he said."  Shawshank is an interesting book that, if your parents let you, you should give a try.

Blogging Reflection

This semester, I only completed one post.  It, obviously, is not something I would call a success.  I feel that it often seemed unimportant to me, and other homework trumped it on my list.  It was something that I did not prioritize.  I used my lab time to view other people's blog posts (and socialize) a bit too much.  I did not get into enough IR books, and part of the problem with that was that I don't like reading two texts at once, as it hurts reading comprehension and I can mix plot details up in the texts.  I need to make blogging more of a priority next semester.  I need to make independent reading more of a priority as well.