Ponder: Year of YES

Year of YES by Shonda Rhimes ©2015 was recommended to my Weight Watchers group by our leader. She suggested if people were interested, that after we read it she would host a short Zoom discussion group for whoever wanted to attend. I thought the reason for suggesting this book was that the author had lost 127 lbs. But there was more to it than that. I learned that Shonda Rhimes per Wikipedia

is an American television producer, screenwriter, and author. She is best known as the showrunner—creator, head writer, and executive producer—of the television medical drama Grey's Anatomy, its spin-off Private Practice, and the political thriller series Scandal. Rhimes has also served as the executive producer of the ABC television series Off the Map, How to Get Away with Murder, The Catch, and Station 19.

The subtitle of the book is How to Dance it Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person so it addresses more than weight loss. The concepts in the book were worth pondering. The premise was that the author, an introvert by her own admission, challenged herself to go outside her comfort zone in the areas of public speaking, dress, new friendships, culling unhealthy "friends",  balancing the dual role of motherhood versus career, accepting compliments, and more.  There is even a chapter on saying yes to "saying no" to demands on your time, your money, or your resources. There is one chapter on accepting compliments that hit home. At a dinner celebrating women in TV Shonda Rhimes noted each woman respond in one of three ways to an acknowledgement of her achievements. Do any of these sound familiar? Just. Say. Thank you!

1. She shook her head and looked away
2. She ducked her head, an embarrassed look on her face
3. She laughed, mortified and embarrassed 

In principal I liked what this book had to offer but initially I had difficulty adapting to the author's writing style. I think it was intended to be friendly, personal, and self-revealing but instead I found it cloying and trite and repetitious. In the early season of the show Grey's Anatomy, I was a fan but there are only so many times when you can hear the  word "seriously?" before it gets old.  Her language style is better heard than read. One women in the Zoom discussion said Year of Yes was more enjoyable as an audio book read in the author's own voice. It is true I got much more out of listening to her commencement address to the 2014 graduation class from Dartmouth, her alma mater, than I did from reading the text in the book. It is worth listing to the address on YouTube. I may consider saying yes to giving an audio book a try.

So how do I rate this book? It is strange because when I dislike a book while reading it, it often provokes a lot of thought and discussion with my husband as I plough through it. So is a book that bad, if it makes me think? Isn't a book good if it lures me outside my comfort zone? The content of this book was very valuable but the delivery method left me cold. I did however enjoy the book discussion with others on Zoom. That interaction made me rethink joining a book club. I have been reluctant to do so because I have such a large number of books that I want to read (theoretically, admittedly that interest often fades as other books push to the top of the stack), I do not want to be obligated or constrained to spending my reading moments on a book of someone else's choosing. But this book entices me to say yes to joining a book club. It is another experience worth exploring.

I will waffle and rate Year of Yes a middle of the road three stars Better than average; not a waste of time. The book had great food for thought but was rather mediocre in preparation and lacking pizazz in delivery. Yes, I know Shonda Rhimes is an award winning writer. Yes, I am entitled to my own opinion.

101 Dalmatians Theater Show

Yet another Wander Post! All right. I am cheating. This post is for an outing that occurred with Alex in January. But in clearing more paperwork (a never-ending task) I came across the tickets and the program for 101 Dalmatians. Since I have had so few "Wander" posts in 2020, I decided capture the mini-adventure as a post that would be a welcome break from all the "Ponder" book reviews. Better late than never.

I saw an ad for this production staged with child actors. Alex loves, loves, loves, 101 Dalmatians and knows the story forward and backward. I also thought a child ensemble might amuse him. There would be three performances January 25th: Saturday's class at 11 am, Tuesday's class at 2pm and Thursday class at 5pm. We had tickets to the 2 pm matinee.

I was not expecting a professional-level, Broadway-caliber performance from a cast of kids based on their having taken some acting classes, but I was hopeful it would be audible and entertaining. The kids did amazingly great. They were understandable, they remembered their lines and timing, their singing was on cue and on key, and they really seemed to be enjoying themselves. The costumes were creatively minimal and distinguished the characters very well. Perhaps I did have a bit of trouble telling one dalmatian from another but the same thing is true in the movie. 

Alex had good time and stayed engage throughout the entire performance. Attending a kids's show (without being a parent or grandparent of one of the performers) was an experiment and it worked out to be a lot of fun. Frank and I would do it again with Alex for the right show where we were already familiar with the plot and songs.

Finally... A Wander Post!

Since the pandemic I have noticed my Wander or Ponder posts have been mostly ponder posts, typically book reviews. We have been doing very little wandering. We got out yesterday! Frank drove me to get my flu shot at Kaiser's drive-thru option at their Dublin facility. We got on line. It was longer than we expected. Look in our rear view mirror. See that small blue tent with the guard standing by it? Next to him is a sign that says 60 minute wait from this point. If I closed my eyes I could imagine I was at Disneyland with its well-tuned skill at crowd control and queue management. Even the line followed a serpentine path.

Frank and I learned our car communication skills well from Dan and Robin. Each of them generally calls us to catch up when they are driving somewhere. They use Frank and me as alternative entertainment to pass the time while they are en route or sitting in traffic. This time we called Robin and learned all about her house re-roofing bids and kitchen re-flooring projects. A-ha! Time passes quickly. We are now approaching the 15 minute mark. My cell phone was flashing low battery @ 3%.

I got my shot without ever exiting our vehicle. (Frank had gotten his a few days earlier when he was in Livermore facility for an a eye appointment.) It was quick and I hardly felt it at all. Plus we had an outing!

Since mid-March we have been ordering our groceries and paying in advance online with a curbside pickup appointment; the clerk puts the bags directly in our trunk. I pick out books from our library and place them on hold in my online account there. Again, with an appointment, I drive up and an aide puts the brown paper bag with books in it directly in the trunk of my car. I secretly giggle that it could discretely contain banned books. I drop off the books I've read in their curbside drop, much like a mail box but silver colored instead of red, white, and blue. I do get out of my car here, since the drop is located on the passenger side.

We generally sit out back on our deck each afternoon/evening but that was curtailed this past week due to the poor air quality and ashes from the fires. The week before the heat kept us indoors.

As I write this it is 3:00 in the afternoon, our skies are blue and sunny and the temperature a mild 90°, quite pleasant in the shade with a breeze. As soon as our roofers leave in a bit, we will have quiet, too. We will enjoy what we can while awaiting another opportunity to wander once again.