Me and My Dad Dear reader, I hope you are excitedly preparing for New Years Eve, where most get intoxicated and end up in situations they shouldn’t be in! I on the other hand am not. The only thing that I am really doing to get ready is making some Nanimo Bars right now. I only have the base done at this time but the rest is soon to come. One of the most favourite places in Ontario of mine is the Zoo and I was lucky to have the pleasure of going there with my dad. It was a bit chilly (and I was silly because I didn’t wear my coat or bring a hat and mits) but when the sun was out it was not so bad. We were able to get the whole Zoo (minus the animals and such that were not out b/c of the season) done and in 5 ½ hours. I thought that was pretty good because I am a bit out of shape at the moment and there is a lot to see at the Zoo. The one area we did not go in was the Canada Domain because there is a hill that is practically vertical and I was not going to tackle that and have a heart attack and ruin the day. Besides I know what animals are available there and I’ve seen them many times. The one disappointing this was that the Australayasia Pavilion was closed so we didn’t get to see the Night Time Animals or some of the cool animals found there, ie. kookaburra, possum, wombat, sugar glider, tree kangaroo, many fishes and reptiles. The one thing that saddens me is that when I was a kid there used to be painted foot prints to follow for certain trails and since I am growing up the foot prints are starting to vanish. The prints I used to jump on when I was a kid and pretend that I was actually leaving them. Unfortunately they have broadened the foot prints and painted more, there are now 6 trails that you can follow instead of the 3 I grew up with. I had a fun day and enjoyed seeing all the animals. I will include some pictures to show you about my adventure, I hope you like them.
Book Review – Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
This book will probably have a very confusing review but I will try my best to stay ‘on the beaten path’.
The blurb that describes the book goes as follows:
Augusten Burroughs was just twelve years old when his mother gave him away to be raised by her unorthodox psychiatrist who lived in a world which rules were unheard of and a pedophile resided in the backyard shed. Running with Scissors is Burrough’s painfully funny and unforgettable account of his outlaw childhood – now the basis of a motion picture.
Book Review – Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
This book will probably have a very confusing review but I will try my best to stay ‘on the beaten path’.
The blurb that describes the book goes as follows:
Augusten Burroughs was just twelve years old when his mother gave him away to be raised by her unorthodox psychiatrist who lived in a world which rules were unheard of and a pedophile resided in the backyard shed. Running with Scissors is Burrough’s painfully funny and unforgettable account of his outlaw childhood – now the basis of a motion picture.
The one quote I got from the book that i really enjoy is this:
Our lives are one endless stretch of misery punctuated by processed fast foods and the occassional crisis or amusing curiousity.
The reason i liked this quote so much was because i could really relate to it. I know that when I am having a crappy time all I want some yummy, greasy fast food to make all my problems disappear. I realize that it never really helps, or at least to this day it hasn't but hey, i can wait for a windfall i guess.
I don’t know about you but from that I get a whole lot of nothing. I choose the book because I saw that it was made into a film that I wanted to see. After reading the book, I am definitely interested to see what the film will be like. The author did not live a regular childhood, but I guess I can’t say or think of anyone that has really, there’s always some sort of tainting somewhere, you may just have to dig a little deeper then the norm. Burroughs is a creative child that cannot stand the boring regimen of school and refuses to go, because he is so young, only 12, he and the psychiatrist and his mother formulate a plan so that he does not have to go. Note that the plan last for a short term period of time and it goes to great lengths involving hospitalization and such but I will leave the rest for you to read if you decide to. The book does describe mental illness a little bit but not in the proper way, it helps perpetuate the stigma that most people have. It is a common denominator in the book though because almost every character has some form of mental illness which is presented to the reader by their quirky character traits as well as common words used in the mental health community. The book is somewhat strange in that it isn’t really a story, it is a bunch of recounted memories and it jumps around quite frequently. It delves into the author’s personal life by the reader and himself learning that he is gay and how he is to handle it not only with the family he lives with but also his own mother. The father character in this book is present for maybe 2 chapters and then chooses to escape Burrough’s mother and try and lead his own life, which he hopes to be ‘problem free’. The book did having me laughing to myself a fair bit because the situations and scenarios involved were so out of the ordinary and outrageous that any reaction the person involved would have, would be hilarious. As a ‘thinker’ type of read, I don’t really recommend it because nothing really can be taken seriously except for the fact that the author had a very ‘different’ childhood. As a light read with a bunch of laughs, I would definitely suggest the book. The only thing I am curious about now is what will the movie be like if there is no real storyline?
I don’t know about you but from that I get a whole lot of nothing. I choose the book because I saw that it was made into a film that I wanted to see. After reading the book, I am definitely interested to see what the film will be like. The author did not live a regular childhood, but I guess I can’t say or think of anyone that has really, there’s always some sort of tainting somewhere, you may just have to dig a little deeper then the norm. Burroughs is a creative child that cannot stand the boring regimen of school and refuses to go, because he is so young, only 12, he and the psychiatrist and his mother formulate a plan so that he does not have to go. Note that the plan last for a short term period of time and it goes to great lengths involving hospitalization and such but I will leave the rest for you to read if you decide to. The book does describe mental illness a little bit but not in the proper way, it helps perpetuate the stigma that most people have. It is a common denominator in the book though because almost every character has some form of mental illness which is presented to the reader by their quirky character traits as well as common words used in the mental health community. The book is somewhat strange in that it isn’t really a story, it is a bunch of recounted memories and it jumps around quite frequently. It delves into the author’s personal life by the reader and himself learning that he is gay and how he is to handle it not only with the family he lives with but also his own mother. The father character in this book is present for maybe 2 chapters and then chooses to escape Burrough’s mother and try and lead his own life, which he hopes to be ‘problem free’. The book did having me laughing to myself a fair bit because the situations and scenarios involved were so out of the ordinary and outrageous that any reaction the person involved would have, would be hilarious. As a ‘thinker’ type of read, I don’t really recommend it because nothing really can be taken seriously except for the fact that the author had a very ‘different’ childhood. As a light read with a bunch of laughs, I would definitely suggest the book. The only thing I am curious about now is what will the movie be like if there is no real storyline?
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