Twitard

Several months ago I heard about these young adult books that were really popular. I saw their titles appear on bestsellers lists. Due to my limited interaction with those under the age of 18, I still had no idea what it was all about. When a co-worker of mine began reading them, she was staying up until the wee hours of the morning to finish them. I kept asking "A vampire book for teenagers is what is keeping you up all night?" After seeing friend after friend being picked off by these books, I was intrigued.

Finally someone gave me a copy of the first book and suggested I at least try it. After a week of the book acting as a table decoration, I finally picked it up Sunday at 7pm. I don’t know how it happened or why. All I know is I stayed up until 2 am to finish it. Was it among the great literary classics? No. Did I think it was a little cheesy (okay, a lot cheesy)? Yes. Did I love it anyway? Yes, I did!

What is more shameful of my little secret is how I had accused others of being "twitards." A radio station here coined the term to reference all the Twilight series fanatics. Because the movie had just come out that week, it was almost impossible to get the second book in a bookstore. So, like any computer savvy obsessed fan would do, I found copies of the book on the internet. So this meant I had to read three books on a computer screen. Did it deter me? Nope. Did I finish all four books in four days by staying up late and going home immediately to read? Yes.

Chris has seen me stay up late to finish an occasional book, so he refrained from commenting too much on the first late night reading. However, the fourth day/book was Christmas Day, and he had enough when I asked if I could take the laptop with us in the car on the way to Christmas dinner in Pasadena. He finally drew the line and made me admit out loud that I had a problem – I was a twitard.

He offered to go see the movie with me that next weekend (out of curiousity for a series that had taken his wife over). While the movie was pretty goofy, I was able to convince him to take a crack at reading the first book. He has yet to finish the book and doesn’t think it is all that great.
This brought up some interesting conversation with me and my fellow twitards. Why hadn’t he become obsessive? Was this a female-only affliction? When we discussed why we enjoyed the book (who doesn’t want a superhuman vampire to fall in love and woo you?), we realized something – this was a toned down version of the trashy novels all our moms read! You know which ones I’m talking about – the paperbacks with the hunky man holding a beautiful woman in his arms as the wind blows their hair.

The funny thing is Francesca and I used to tease Mom about those books and those big huge sunglasses she used to wear (which I now own a pair). I guess it is true – we are becoming our mother.

(Chris' comment: Women love this book because it combines the innocent flirting with the bad boy that is trying so hard to be good - and not kill his girlfriend).

Bunny Bliss

From Pumpkin the Rabbit

Let me start by saying I never envisioned myself as the lady who loved her pet as if it were a child. I do not see myself as this woman, but, let’s face it, I’ve only had Pumpkin a few months, and I baby talk to him.


For those of you who are not aware of what conspired two weekends ago, let me catch you up. When we adopted Pumpkin, we were told rabbits are social pets and prefer to be in a couple. Lately, we have been getting home later in the evenings, and there is a degree of guilt you experience when you walk into your pitch black apartment to see a bunny that has been in his pen in the dark for hours. In true yuppie fashion, our response was he needed a buddy.

We were pretty in the dark ourselves about “bonding” a rabbit, so we went to a local rabbit adoption group. By the end of the afternoon, we had a new girlfriend for Pumpkin – Squash. Cute, huh? After about 24 hours, Chris and I realized I was pretty allergic to Squash’s fur (did you know rabbits have various types of fur?). So, off we go back to the adoption group to return poor Squash. Fortunately, the group was able to find a few backups. The first rabbit was cute and absolutely terrified of Pumpkin, so that was a no go. The second set off my allergies. The third seemed to be a great fit – cute, looked like Pumpkin but gray, and really friendly.

Something that was disturbing to me in all this was the chance of a fight breaking out during the bonding process. Rabbit fights, as counterintuitive as it may seem, can result in death. Yup, people, death by bunny. You just don’t hear that often. Well, another slightly embarrassing aspect of bonding is humping. The dominant does it to the submissive to establish hierarchy. Once it is established, the dominant stops. Well, you have to monitor newly bonded rabbits to ensure they do not fight and the dominant does not start humping to submissive’s head.

As we were preparing to leave the adoption center, Pumpkin (the dominant) decided to take hump his new buddy’s head. Before I knew what happened, Pumpkin’s tender area was being bit by his new buddy. I couldn’t pull them apart until Pumpkin screamed. Yes, a rabbit scream is eerie and sounds like a baby scream. (insert shudder here) Well, as I snatched up my shaking rabbit, I realized we had an issue – he was bleeding – in an awkward place. I will spare everyone the details and just inform you that he is still a bachelor and recovered but only after I had to administer ointment twice a day for a week (because you knew there was no way Chris was going to do it).

In true overprotective mama fashion, I am barring him from dating until I forget this whole incident.

Welcome to our blog

Happy end of January, everyone! Chris and I decided to try something a little different – rather than send tons of emails to everyone monthly, we want to just create a blog that everyone can check at their leisure.

Here is a brief update for everyone:

We now live in Costa Mesa, California, but are moving to Irvine, California in February. Here are some pics of where we are now:

From Our Home

From Our Home

We now have a bunny (Pumpkin) living with us. He is super cute and is our answer to my allergy to cats and SoCal apartment’s expensive pet rent. We discovered he does not qualify for the exorbitant pet rent. He was adopted from The Bunny Bunch, which we discovered. You can visit them at: http://www.bunnybunch.org/ [Visit at your own risk. It is can have sad stories and cute furry things you want to take home].

From Pumpkin the Rabbit

Chris’ running hiatus is about to come to an end. Back in 2007 at the age of 30, he decided to start training for a half-marathon. He competed in the El Paso Marathon and has since run the Disney Half-Marathon, the Revlon Run (in LA), the Dole Run (in Agora Hills, CA), the Strawberry Stampede (in Arroyo Grande, CA) and the Long Beach Marathon (Long Beach, CA). After the marathon, he questioned his sanity and took a much needed rest. He is now gearing up to train for a triathlon. I am just hoping to see the inside of a gym at least once a month! He’s smiling and showing his Red Raider spirit. The second pic is of the guy who came in fifth place – he was dressed as Snow White. Gotta love the Disneyland run.

From Disneyland Half Marathon

From Disneyland Half Marathon

I am pretty busy with much less painful extracurricular activities. I am involved with Banking on Our Future and the Friends of the Costa Mesa Libraries. We are both also playing in a co-ed softball league in Huntington Beach. Much of the team has returned this season, but these are the lovely people we played with last season.

From Fall 2008 Softball Team

While we did lose last night, it is only the season opener! I am convinced we are going to be awesome this season. Chris is a full-fledged member of the team (instead of the husband that plays when we didn’t have enough people).