The Eclectic Otter: June 2016

For whatever reason I didn't get much reading done this month and apparently I was on a bit of a Star Wars kick as well... Anyways, here's a bit of what I've been up to these past few weeks and my book reviews. My husband and I have started taking turns playing Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. We both started games years ago but neither of us ever finished so we decided to take a tag-team approach. It's been a lot more fun than searching thru Netflix for something every night. We are on our way to the last sword upgrade.

I've also started working on a new project to decorate our living room wall. I hope to have it finished with a tutorial for my next post but here's a sneak peek of the planning.

Star Wars: Darth Plagueis by James Luceno

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I have really mixed feeling about this book. It tells the story of Darth Plagueis and by extension his apprentice Darth Sidious. The book begins with Plagueis killing his former master and follows all the way through Palpatine's appointment as Chancellor. Overall the tale spans several decades worth of time and I felt like the author did a good job with the story. It ties in well with previously known events and characters. There is lots of crazy behind the scenes manipulations on the part of the Sith Lords as they attempt to mold the Force to their will.
The problems that I have are the parts of the story that focus on midi-chlorians. I realize that they are a part of the Star Wars canon now but the whole midi-chlorian thing is kind of lame in my opinion. Plagueis conducts multiple experiments involving midi-chlorians in order to better understand them and prolong his life. He is able to apply his knowledge to revive victims from near death and create pregnancies in animals. He is eventually able to manipulate his own midi-chlorians to keep himself alive indefinitely.

(view spoiler)

Overall although I don't care for the midi-chlorians as a story element I think that it was handled well and makes sense with the overall existing universe.

The other issue that I had was an overuse of large words. Generally speaking, I don't mind a lot of complicated words, that in and of itself isn't a problem. Most things were easily inferred from context and I kind of enjoy looking up new words, however, there were times where it seemed awkward and forced. The worst case for me, was the following sentence. "Here is where your path bifurcates, young human."
In conclusion, although I didn't give it a very high rating, I think that this book was worth reading in order to keep up with the current Star Wars lore but didn't necessarily enjoy the subject matter.

Star Wars: Tales From a Galaxy Far, Far Away, Vol. 1: Aliens by Landry Q. Walker

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a collection of short stories that deals with Aliens from The Force Awakens. There is a lot of crazy stuff going on these stories, everything from mad scientists to an Iron Chef style cooking contest, and that makes it great. There are six stories in all and they over a range of styles or story types. There is western/ bank robber story, a pirate story, and even a bit of a love story (although a strange one).
Books like this are why I enjoy stories written for kids. Adult books just don't seem to ever have the same level of just outright goofiness.

The picture below shows a bit of this humor by highlighting a passage with the much used "I've got a bad feeling about this." line.

I've also been reading Vertical Vegetables and Fruit by Rhonda Massingham Hart. I haven't quite finished it yet but it is a book about growing vertically both to save space and because it benefits the plants. We eventually want to start a backyard garden but at the moment we don't have a working hose hookup and the makes it nearly impossible.

I'm also still following along with The Idea Room's photo a day challenge for June so check out my Facebook page for the last few days of pictures.

Once again my focus this month has been on our pets. We have been working on training with Gil, mostly to try and teach him to stay calm. He gets overly excited when we meet people and other dogs while walking and wants to jump up on everyone. He also has a tendency to run crazy in the house and we're working to show him how to relax and just hang out with us. On top of that Gil is teething so he wants to chew EVERYTHING.

With the focus on dog training and finding teething toys, the cats have been feeling a bit left out. We had to put all of their jingle bell balls away because they are small enough to be dangerous for Gil. We bought a larger cat ball with a bell inside and, of course, Gil decided he loves it. (I'm pretty sure he thinks he's at least part cat!)

I also decide to make some special homemade cat toys using instruction I found here. They went together very easily, quickly, and are approved by ALL 4 pets. Here is video proof of how much they love them.

Baldur didn't get to play with the orange one until after Gil got ahold of it and he wasn't impressed. However, after I made him a nice blue one that matched his eyes he was much more intrigued.

I also found time to make the second bandana I had planned for Gil, using the Castle Wulfenbach insignia. I used the same method for his Easter bandana, you can check it out for more details in this post. I drew the design on with a chalk pencil and finished it with silver fabric paint and black fabric pen for details.