Pancake Power!
- Shrove Tuesday precedes Ash Wednesday, so the date is determined by Easter (which changes each year)
- "Shrove Tuesday" gets its name from shrive, meaning absolution for sins by doing penance
- "Shrove Tuesday" is the tradition of trying to be 'shriven' before Lent
- Pancakes are made as a way of using up rich, perishable foods, like eggs, milk, and sugar before Lent (traditionally, 40 days of fasting)
Friday Flash: "More Fun"
Everyone wishes they could have more fun in their lives. But
what about the people who want to have lessfun? Yeah, that’s right. We exist.
"Why don’t you say no the next time somebody asks you to do
something?” asked my oh-so perceptive friend Rachel.
"Thanks, I didn’t think of that,” I replied. No stink,
Sherlock. "What do you think I’ve been doing the past three months?”
"Practicing how to say no in the mirror?”
I wanted to kick her in the kneecaps. Instead I settled for
throwing a couch cushion at her head.
"Problem is, there’s just so much to experience, it’s like…
if I don’t get out and have fun, try new things, I’m going to come to the end
of my life having wasted it all sitting around watching Vampire Diaries reruns and eating cheap potato chips.”
"Get a Costco membership. They have the good stuff at decent
prices, plus you get like seven bags per trip.” Rachel stretched her arms above
her head and yawned. She never had any fun. I envied her at times like this.
"You’re missing the point,” I said, standing up and crossing
my arms. "With all these GroupOn and WagJag and whatever deals, there’s more
fun to be had than ever before! It’s like… there are hundreds of things to do
that I didn’t know existed before group buying sites. And I thought I had too
much to do already…”
Rachel poked me in the leg. I buckled backward on purpose
and let the momentum carry me to the floor, sitting cross-legged and burying my
head in my hands.
"You know, most people don’t even have the courage to get
off their couches let alone try, uh, what was it you did last weekend?”
I groaned. "Skydiving simulator at Niagara Falls.”
"You’re insane,” she said.
"I know.” I sighed and rolled back until I lay on the
carpet, staring up at the stucco ceiling. Next weekend I had a painting class
scheduled where I was supposed to learn painting textures. I don’t paint, but I
thought I could use it to re-do the ceiling in my room.
"Too much fun,” Rachel said, yawning again and closing her
eyes. She snuggled against the pillow I’d thrown at her at minute ago. "It’s
not like life is there to be experienced or anything.”
Don’t I know it.
Booksbooksbooks! January Lookback Edition
Then I picked it back up again. Read two chapters. And wondered how I ever could have left this story, these people.
Finished it without even catching my breath. Set it down, ran to get book three before my heart burst from my chest...and here is where it all came clear to me. Where words on a page turned into reality, where the people and story and Cabeswater became real and burrowed into my head until it was all I could do to unstick the book from my hand to eat or drink or, you know, do those things humans need to do.
I finally understood why this story has wormed its way through so many people. This was more than payoff for sticking through, this was...I don't know. Hearts on a page. Magic that squeezes your insides and leaves you wanting more.
When I turned the last page, the book had not even fallen from my hand before I'd reached the computer to click "pre-order" on book four. I cannot wait to experience how this story ends...and yet I don't want to say goodbye, either.
Good grief. I'm still thinking about it. I just can't let go. I don't want to.