A ginger-ale drinking game

[asakiyume]

Thank you, everyone, for your good wishes last entry. The healing angel is recovering quite nicely, though still with lingering joint pain. Hope that goes away for him. This week is winter vacation, so that gives him more time to recuperate without missing more school (he's already missed two weeks).

In English he's supposed to be reading The Kite Runner. Although I was pleasantly surprised by his last book, Angela's Ashes, this one is every bit as awesomely depressing as Good-for-You English-class books come. We've been reading it out loud, and to get us through the current chapter (we're still in the very early part of the book), we together created a drinking game--but with the drink being ginger ale.

Behold:



The check marks represent how many times the thing in question came up (and consequently how many times we took a drink). Hassan is the narrator's childhood playmate and servant, whom the narrator treats rottenly. The narrator's got Big Regret about this as the adult telling the story, but right now we've been working up to whatever Really Terrible thing he's going to do to Hassan. Hence drinking game prompt no. 1: take a drink every time the narrator makes a dark allusion to the thing that made him what he is today.

Drinking game prompt no. 2 and no. 4 are self-explanatory. No. 3 is my shorthand for "disappointment in failing to receive his father's love"--the narrator's father is emotionally distant and not very interested in his son. Drinking game prompt no. 5, Hazaras, means take a drink every time Hazaras, the despised ethnic group that Hassan belongs to, are mentioned.

(In writing this entry I went and looked at a plot summary to see just how bad a thing we're in for. Oh. My. God.)

Let's change the subject. Here is a photo of a fire hydrant with a metal marker on it. It looks sort of like the hydrant is a child holding a balloon. If the snow gets high, the idea is that the metal marker is still visible, so (a) snowplows will be careful and (b) people will dig it out. As you can see, one of the neighbors did indeed dig it out. Thank you, civic-minded neighbor!



For a couple of years, someone or ones went around bending and twisting the markers . . . but that person (or those people) must have lost interest in that very mild form of troublemaking, because there's the marker, tall and straight.

Comments

[teenybuffalo.livejournal.com]

Oh thank goodness, I'm glad he's OK. I was worried but didn't want to bug you about it because I figured you'd rather not keep having to go into it. I hope the after-effects fade quickly.

You're affirming my life goal to never ever read "The Kite Runner." I had confused it with "The Maze Runner," and boy, was I wrong. (Though that one just seemed dull and same-y to me, whereas "The Kite Runner" sounds soul-crushing.)

[gwynnega]

I'm so glad he's on the mend!

But I'm sorry he has to read The Kite Runner. I had to read it for a class and completely loathed it...

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Your drinking game made me WHOOp.

[heliopausa.livejournal.com]

Gratitude indeed! I'm very glad the healing angel's starting to recover from whatever it was. and also it's so good to hear of civic-mindedness - cheers for your unknown neighbour!

I love your drinking game! :D
(a great way to identify what an author's up to, when they're running a relentless glum-means-grown-up line.)

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

So happy hear the healing angel is on the mend.

Your game sounds like a fun way to try to get through that book. *puts on Never Read List*

And snow! :D I doubt we'll have any in France, but you never know. At least we'll get some wintry temps.

[frigg.livejournal.com]

Good to hear he's on the mend.

The Kite Runner has been on my "to read" list for years. I really need to get round to it. :)

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear that he is recovering well.

...every bit as awesomely depressing as Good-for-You English-class books come...

Oh, my. Doesn't sound like ideal convalescence reading. But the drinking game is a splendid idea! I wish I'd had that to help me through Jude the Obscure...

"as awesomely depressing as Good-for-You English-class books come"

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

Crikey, that's an apt characterization.

And then there are those movies that are often widely but usually briefly popular, because they suggest that Even in the Direst Situation People are People / Can Love / Have Uplifting Imagination / et cetera. "Life is Beautiful" comes particularly to mind....

Now I have read up the comments, which I should have done before posting. Agreed about the dullness of The Maze Runner movie.

The Kite Runner as a date movie: Oh dear, oh dear. Now, I decided early in life that I hated dates, that it was because people are Testing Each Other /Shopping on dates, and that I wouldn't ever do another*. So that colours my immense amusement and horror about The Kite Runner as a date movie. *peek* Is s/he being Moved? *peek* Should I be Moved? *peek* Is my soul dead if I'd just like to leave? *determined non-peeking when it comes to a central turning point*

Not that I've seen the movie.

But The Kite Runner was on the United Methodist Women reading list when I pastored in Rock Springs, and dutifully read a snootful of the books to reflect glory on my church's quite active UMW. I often wondered, however, what discussion groups for the book were like as concerned *central turning point*, which is not exactly the usual conversational matter of Ladies' Fork Luncheon.


* In fact, one time in college, I found that what I'd assumed was going to a movie with a friend and his friends was something he was thinking of as a date. So my resolve failed, though not through my fault.

Aching joints

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

That illness sounds like a wowzer. :( I'm so glad the healing angel is recovering!

Was a diagnosis made? Is it revealable?

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Great song choice!

Do you know this version?

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Everything I have heard about The Kite Runner has made it sound like a book I would emphatically not enjoy. And I can't imagine how discussion of *central plot point* would go in a high school English class; that seems like an even worse place to discuss it than a prudish book group.

I'm glad the Healing Angel is starting to feel better, though!

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

That's very neat about the marker. I've never lived in a place with deep enough snow to need something like that.

Also, glad to hear that Healing Angel is improving. Hope he's completely well soon!

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

That's a great way to get through depressing and manipulative books.

[negothick.livejournal.com]

Kite Runner was the "One Book, One Region" (Eastern Connecticut) selection the year after it appeared (2003). It was "challenged" by parents at several of the participating high schools, so some of your commenters are right in their speculations. I was not asked to lead any library book discussions on it, so I gave it a miss. Now I'm glad I did!

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

Thinking about you and the healing angel. I'm glad he's recovering and I am sorry he's missed so much school.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Hope he gets well soon! (I've just realised that "healing angel" can be read two ways - I guess I'll never look at it the same again now.)

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

This comes rather late, I know, but I just saw that the healing angel has needed some healing of his own. I'm glad he seems to be on the road to recovery. In fact, I sincerely hope that he is really and truly well by now. Hugs to all.