Epiphany 2018

The Child has been watching the Star Wars prequels. They don't seem quite as bad as I remember when they first came out, and I'm going to chalk that up to changed expectations on my part (expecting the Splendor of the Old Republic the first time around and getting Jarr-Jarr Binks) over the movies improving over time (and expecting Jarr-Jarr).  In some ways it's like watching Mystery Science Theatre 3000... although I have to admit, the sets, costumes, and CGI work are still stunning.   My favorite movies are still "The Empire Strikes Back," "A New Hope," and "Rogue One."    

On the writing front, I'm learning how to format documents with Scrivener 3.  The compile and formatting commands are very different from the 2nd version, but I think I like them better (at least in terms of setting up things like meta-data, author information, and document titles).  

I'm reading Hillary Rodham Clinton's "What Happened."  I wanted to see what her writing voice is like. I wanted the story to be gripping, but I'm afriad it's a very slow read for the first 100 pages -- mostly because there's a lot of thanking of various people, name-dropping, and historical-site-visiting in a narrative summary way.  She has a complicated relationship with other politicians and presidential families, which is one part graciousness towards past residents of the White House, one part "OMG, bad Republican policy," a dash of praise for Obama, a sprinkle of incredulousness for Bernie, and liberal sprinkles of "look at the mysoginist, crude, hate-spewing, non-sensical, train-wreck that got elected to the American Presidency."  (She establishes early that Trump makes George W look good...)

It's picking up a bit at page 120-ish because she's describing the process she and her team used to prep for the debates and she's experiencing a situation, reacting to it emotionally, and then making a decision to act based on her reaction.  I'm only about half-way through, but...  If this were my book, I would have organized it more around "what we didn't know," "when we learned X," and "how X raised more questions."  I'll have to see how the second half of the book plays out.

(Talking with Mark about the book and the chapter on "It's Hard to Be A Woman in Politics," he asked if she had any insights on Angela Merkel, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, or one of the other women leading their countries.) 

Went to the gym Saturday:  Warmed up on the elliptical (about 100 calories), then switched to the rowing machines (another 100 calories).  Went downstairs; 30x40x30 on the deltoid-fly.  30x40x50 on the pec-fly.  40x50x60 on the lat pulldown.  3x12 Roman Chair curls.  20x20x30 barbell curls.  3x12x30 triceps pull-downs.  Cooled down with spine-rolls on a pool noodle.  Sunday, I'm sore in the trapezoids, pectorals, and lower back.