Twilight Series: A Commentary

I mentioned in the previous post that I read Twilight while in Puerto Rico. I hadn't fallen victim to the Twilight trap that I had heard so much about and therefore tried so hard to avoid. For some reason, I hate reading books that are so hyped. (See Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code). As for Twilight, I didn't want to set myself up for some sort of obsession with a book about vampires and teenage love. I really didn't. But, there I was, carousing the books at Target and noticed the paperback was on sale for $7 and who am I to argue with such a great deal?

Anyway, it was definitely a quick read and I'll admit, I liked it, ok? Sure, it was a little much at some points, but overall, I enjoyed it....

Maybe a little too much since as soon as I got to the airport in San Juan, I searched through three terminals trying to find the sequel, New Moon. I can't believe I'm admitting to this, but it's true. I had to finish the series and had to start ASAP. Unfortunately, New Moon seemed to be a bit in demand because there was not a single copy in any of the bookstores in that stupid airport, OR the three Borders I went to in Las Vegas when I got home. I finally located a copy at Barnes & Noble and finished it in like 2 days. I also picked up Eclipse to save myself another trip to the bookstore.

Anyway, I'll admit, New Moon wasn't as good for me as Twilight. Eclipse was even worse. I did not like Eclipse. I fact, I think I hated it. I could not stand Bella, or stupid Jacob for one more second. Let's be honest, Bella is annoying. I mean, I want to like her, but she has serious issues. I'm sorry this might be a bit of a spoiler if you haven't read it and plan to, in which case, don't read further.

Bella should have stopped hanging out with Jacob a LONG time ago. Every time she begged and even ran away to see him, I cringed. What are you doing, Bella? Don't give me the "Jacob is my best friend" excuse. I hate that excuse and it doesn't even make sense. You really can't look me in the eye and tell me you thought you two could just be friends, could you? Don't be so naive. You knew Jacob was obssessed with you the whole time and would never be content being just friends. I can't believe you could think that. How could you do that to Edward; beautiful, perfect, amazing Edward? If I had the love of my life (or in your case 'my existence') I would not waste a single second worried and chasing after someone like Jacob. One book ago you were collapsed on the ground, a sad, destroyed little mess trying to breathe because you couldn't live without Edward, and now you're "in love" with Jacob, too? I mean, what is that? You bug, Bella and I hope you snap out of it in Breaking Dawn because I just don't have the patience for you anymore.

I'm just saying.

Puerto Rico

So Puerto Rico was fun...of course it was a lot more fun when it wasn't raining.

Yes, we did run into some unfortunate weather down there, but all and all we had a great time. We did get a few days of just perfect beach-going weather which gave me just enough of a tan where I felt it was worth it. I think I got a little too obsessed over with the sun down there. But if you've ever been on vacation and the forecast is consistently "Scattered Showers" and know what I mean. It's panic-driven depression. I think I spent more time looking at the sky than anything else.

But seriously, it was really fun. Monday we made it out to a small island called Vieques and found this incredible secluded beach called Red Beach. It was amazing. I could not believe places like that existed. We initially planned to go out to another, smaller island that day, but because we were there during Holy Week (week leading up to Good Friday and Easter), every Puerto Rican and their mom were trying to get out there as well. Culebra is supposed to be the better island, and so the Vieques line wasn't nearly as long so we decided to save Culebra for another day. Unfortunately, the weather would not cooperate and the Coast Guard eventually shut down the ferry for most of the week. It was sad, but we were happy we got to make it to Vieques, it was awesome. If I were to do it again, I would probably stay on one of these islands the entire time. It was beautiful.

Heather dug a hole to sit in...

Me, enjoying the crystal clear water

Ok, Tuesday we were all a little sun burnt from spending all day on Vieques (me, more than Heather and Nicole because I was, for the first time in my life, the whitest one in the group), so we headed to the Yunque National Rain Forest. And let me tell you, they call it a rain forest for very legit reasons...

We literally hiked for about 4 hours in the pouring rain. Pouring. Although it was a tad chilly, I thought it was a blast. And the forest was unbelievable. We hiked to a couple waterfalls and to the top of the forest to an old tower that was meant to give you an overlook view of the forest. But since it was so cloudy and so rainy, we couldn't see 5 feet in front of us.

Wednesday was crappy weather on our side of the island, so we hopped in the car and rode up north to check out Old San Juan. Driving around in Puerto Rico was a trip. Heather was a trooper and did most of it and she did a great job. It's a little scary.

Old San Juan turned out to be a great time. We lucked out with the weather and the clouds went away for most of the day so we did end up getting some sun. We hiked to Fort San Felipe del Morro, which sat on a hilltop, overlooking the ocean and the rest of the city. It was so awesome. They had original cannons and artillery set up to give you an idea how it might have looked had there been an attack on the Fort from some enemy at sea. Way cool.

Thursday and Friday we had a decent days at the beach and continued to work on our tans. Let me just say how much I appreciated being on vacation with people who were just as obsessed with laying out as I am. We all read a lot (me and Heather read Twilight for the first time, but that's a whole other post), got into the water when we got hot and just kicked it. I love those kind of beach days.

Saturday, we took 3 hour car ride out to the west side of the island with Hector, a friend of Heather and Nicole. Hector was very helpful in getting us around on the west side. We found a couple awesome beaches and took a little hike to a lighthouse near a beach called Playa Sucia near a town called Cabo Rojo. There were a ton of people on this beach (because of Easter weekend) but it was still great. Big thanks to Hector for showing us around! Without him, we would have never found any of these places.

Overall, great trip. I think we all had a fun time, even with the weather and the crowds. Here are a couple more random pictures..

This is an LDS church building, right in front of the ferry terminal on Vieques. We walked right off the boat and right past it.

Island band performing during dinner

Shout out to the DE! This yacht was docked at the marina by our condo. Random and cool.

Vay-cay

Well, it's approx. 5:30 on Friday afternoon. I'm finishing up some work, trying to clear off my desk before I leave and go home to pack.

If you need me, I'll be somewhere around here:

See you in a week.

Stupid

Yesterdays Gov. Spitzer bombshell left me feeling two things:

1. OMG, his poor wife and kids.

2. What an idiot.

I'm pretty confident my reactions weren't unique, but I really can't get over how stupid this man must be. That, or he must have a lot of guts. I think it's probably both.

The thing is though, I'm not even surprised. Bottom line, guys are stupid. All of them. Every single one. I don't care if you're gay, straight, white, black, whatever. If you're male, you carry some sort of stupid gene. I know I sound harsh, and I'm sure some of you who know me and are reading this are thinking, "no wonder you're single." But you know I'm right.

I'm not trying to say that every guy is going to go out and cheat on his wife or partner or whatever. No. That's not it at all. But what I am saying is that every guy has this part of their brain, this switch or something that turns on and causes them to do really stupid things, like not call when he says he'll call, or forget about picking you up, or hire a prostitute, fly her to D.C. and put her up in a hotel for $5,000. Granted, hiring a call-girl might be a tad audacious for the average dude, but you get my point. Maybe I've been let down by one too many guys, but really, can you really argue with me?

Yes, no one is perfect. We're all human. I agree. But when is the last time you saw a woman standing up in front of the press having to apologize for being involved in a prostitution scandal? Send me the link because I have yet to hear about it.

I'm sure this reaction has a little to do with the fact that I'm once again having to deal with my own version of Stupid Guy 2.0, one whose, "I'm just not the committed type" excuse is really getting on my nerves.

A few things,

First, let me exclaim how excited I was to see Christian win Project Runway last night. That was exciting. I thought he was hilarious, and extremely talented...and he's only 21! However, the most exciting part was seeing Victoria Beckham as a final judge. So completely appropriate. Of course she loved Christian's kooky couture line. No matter what anyone says about Vicky B., I love her. I don't care that she never smiles and fully admits to eating like a rationed prisoner of war. She is fierce.

Second, Claire has become my favorite on America's Next Top Model. Except I have some beef with Tyra and her making Claire look like Susan Powter circa 1993. I understand that Claire's hair had to be buzzed that way, I do. But why the bleach blond? I think it would look better dark, is all I'm saying. But I still love Claire, Susan Powter hair and all.

Lastly, I was going to comment on my nerves and what this primary election, especially the unfortunate results that came in on Tuesday from Texas and Ohio, has done to them but I really can't. All I can say is so help me if Shillary ends up taking this nomination away from the people of the democratic party, I will seriously look into real estate in a country elsewhere. Her blatant hypocrisy and detestable campaign strategy of scaring votes out of voters makes me want to throw up. I about did on Tuesday night. I tried to like her, give her a chance, but I cannot pretend anymore. She must be stopped.

Would do very bad things for a nap right now

Wretched would be a good word to describe how I'm feeling today. I've reached the point of exhaustion where nausea starts to set in.

This weekend my entire family came to Vegas and it was definitely not boring. Long days filled with shopping, a gym sesh with Jen, aquariums and cupcake shops and even longer nights filled with craps at the Palms (fun, until you lose $200 in 15 minutes), dinner at Cheesecake Factory, and Lilly waking up at approx. 3 and 6 a.m. I love my niece, but she squaks like a goose in the wee hours of the morning which equals me feeling like I've been hit by a truck.

My hamstrings are also killing me.

Here are some photos: