What does something weigh?

This is an excerpt from The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.  Some of the most thoughtful and poetic PROSE I've read in a long time.

What they carried was partly a function of rank, partly of field specialty.


As a first lieutenant and platoon leader, Jimmy Cross carried a compass, maps, code books, binoculars, and a .45-caliber pistol that weighed 2.9 pounds fully loaded. He carried a strobe fight and the responsibility for the lives of his men.

As an RTO, Mitchell Sanders carried the PRC-25 radio, a killer, twenty-six pounds with its battery.

As a medic, Rat Kiley carried a canvas satchel filled with morphine and plasma and malaria tablets and surgical tape and comic books and all the things a medic must carry, including M&M's for especially bad wounds, for a total weight of nearly twenty pounds.

As a big man, therefore a machine gunner, Henry Dobbins carried the M-60, which weighed twenty-three pounds unloaded, but which was almost always loaded. In addition, Dobbins carried between ten and fifteen pounds of ammunition draped in belts across his chest and shoulders.

As PFCs or Spec 4s, most of them were common grunts and carried the standard M-16 gas-operated assault rifle. The weapon weighed 75 pounds unloaded, 8.2 pounds with its full twenty-round magazine. Depending on numerous factors, such as topography and psychology, the riflemen carried anywhere from twelve to twenty magazines, usually in cloth bandoliers, adding on another 8.4 pounds at minimum, fourteen pounds at maximum. When it was available, they also carried M-16 maintenance gear - rods and steel brushes and swabs and tubes of LSA oil - all of which weighed about 2 pound. Among the grunts, some carried the M-79 grenade launcher, 5.9 pounds unloaded, a reasonably fight weapon except for the ammunition, which was heavy. A single round weighed ten ounces. The typical load was twenty-five rounds. But Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried thirty-four rounds when he was shot and killed outside Than Khe, and he went down under an exceptional burden, more than twenty pounds of ammunition, plus the flak jacket and helmet and rations and water and toilet paper and tranquilizers and all the rest, plus the unweighed fear.

Cheating

FYI....I'm cheating on The Hunger Games with Brisingr (AUDIO)....if a book offers me a sword, a dragon, and a quest and I just can't say no.
Still married to Hunger, but dating Brisingr on the side.

The Hunger Games

My current read, recommended by Elli (my 12 year old)

      Every now and then, as we navigate our way through life, we read (or see, or are told about) a story which changes our view of the world.  We grow up...just a little bit.  When I was in 4th grade, I read a book called There are Two Kinds of Terrible by Peggy Mann.  The story centers around a boy who is finishing the school year, and heading in to summer baseball season, which, to him, is a little slice of heaven.  But, after school gets out, on the last day, he's running through the woods with his buddies to get to the baseball field, and he trips and falls.  He breaks his arm.  His mom comes and splints his arm with a rolled up newspaper, and does what moms do.  She takes care of her child.  But, he doesn't appreciate it.  He feels like it's the worst, MOST TERRIBLE, thing that could have ever happened to him.  From the eyes of a young kid, we understand that this seems like the end of his world.

     But....then something else happens.

     As he's spending his summer inside, bored, with his mother, he notices things.  She's weaker than he remembers, she's sleeping a lot more than he remembers.  She's sick.  A lot.  Then he finds out that she has cancer.  And, over the course of the summer he gets closer to his mom, but then he loses her.  And, the rest of the story centers around him learning to deal with this loss, while he watches his heartbroken father learn to deal with the loss as well.

     He learns that there are two kinds of terrible,

    

 the kind where your summer is ruined

 and

 the kind where you lose your mom

     This book changed my view of the world.  While I am now, and probably always will be, a ridiculous optimist, I learned to put things in perspective.  So, when I came home crying because some girl (who shall remain nameless) called me a snob and convinced everyone else they shouldn't talk to me, I knew, that it wasn't the worst thing that could happen, and I learned one of the most important lessons in life.  Resilience. 

     I still think about that book, when I need to put things in perspective.  When I can't see past whatever terrible thing that has happened, I remind myself that there are worse kinds of terrible.  And, typically, I count myself lucky.

    I'm about a quarter of the way into this book, but I have the feeling this could be one of those that stays with you.  The lesson is different, I think, but I understand, now, why my daughter told me to read it.  She said she needed to talk about this book.  So, she waits, impatiently, for her very slow-reading mom, to finish.....

Ah HAH! I knew it!

Anyone who knows me, knows there are few things I love in this world more than being RIGHT!  Yes, it's true.  I was the Hermione, sitting front row, center, in every class, raising my hand in desperate desire to answer every single question!! 

SO, with that said, for those of you who have read City of Bones...re: Jace/J.C.....I KNEW IT!! I was right.  Definitely an EEEWWWWW moment...If you've read the book, you know what I'm saying, and if you haven't...you should.  I enjoyed it, a lot.  If you don't like that whole sci-fi, fantasy world of demons, werewolves, faeries and monsters....it's not for you, but if you do...pick it up.  It's worth the read.  I want to pick up book 2 right away, but....alas, I have promised my daughter I would read Hunger Games next.  She needs someone to talk to about it.  So, City of Ashes will have to wait.  BUT, NOT FOR LONG!

The Circle=Nazis? Something to think about....

So.  As I'm reading, my brain keeps drifting to our Holocaust Unit that we are studying in class...The Shadowhunters and the Underworlders....The Circle and The Clave....

In my mind, The Circle are the Nazis, and Valentine is their leader (Hitler).  They want to rid the world of everyone who doesn't fit their perfect little ideal...and the Shadowhunters and Underworlders are two races who align with each other but don't want to get too close to each other.  Prejudice. 

This book is so interesting and yet relevant to today's society!  It's killing me!!!!

Somebody tell me what you think.  I'm not sure I know how this whole comment thing is set up, so I'd like to test it!!! 

Anybody who follows the blog and leaves a RELEVANT comment gets 5 point extra credit (IN THE TEST COLUMN....insert evil laugh here).

What was that!?

Ok.  I'm really frustrated.  I finally sat down for a good span of reading last night, and I find myself at school WITHOUT MY BOOK!!!!  I'm going to have time to read today after school, AND I HAVE NO BOOK!!!!

It's the apocalypse.

I still love Simon.  I think Jace is probably good.  I'm having that moment that I had when reading Twilight, when I wanted Bella to date Jacob but knew she would choose Edward in the end. I eventually agreed with the decision...but....well....you know....

I want Clary to choose Simon....but feelin' like she's gonna go for Jace....Booo.

Mom.

Clary's mom knows more than she's letting on....