My First Day of the 101 in 1001

So, today is my first day of my project. Although I did put a dent in my list, my day was not so great. First, I will start with my accomplishments.

Freerice.com - I officially donated 500 grains of rice putting a small dent in my 100,000 grain goal. It's small, but it's a start =)

Read 100 books - ok, this one was kind of a cheat because I started reading the book before today which is my start date. But what the hell, I did finish it today and it was a great book so I am including it. My list, my rules. The book is called The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel, and it was fabulous! Summary - A story about a rebellious Chinese princess who refuses to accept the subservient role that early 20th Chinese society requests of her. The heroine, Eastern Jewel, is the daughter of Chinese Prince Su's last concubine. Her early sexual curiosity got her into trouble and at the age of eight, her father banished her to Tokyo, Japan. At first she stayed with distant relatives. She grows to love Japan, but her trouble making results in an arranged, loveless marriage to a rough and freezing Mongolia. Bewildered and isolated, she has experiences disturbing fantasies. Conflicted by her desire for a strong father image as well as rejection of traditional subservience of women, she devotes herself to more dangerous adventures and hedonism. Armed with boldness and rebellious spirit, she escapes Mongolia for Shanghai and wraps herself in the luxuries provided to her by rich and powerful but dangerous lovers. Eventually she gets caught up in the world of Japanese spies and sexual manipulations. Self-discovery comes later with a very high-price. This story provides an interesting insight into Japan and China between the 1920s and 1930s, with the opium dens, luxurious and exciting parties, mysterious disappearance of the losers, and the powerful is king. Eastern Jewel is an intriguing and complicated heroine, fallible, selfish, but also intoxicating. Racy and seductive, it is a historical fiction at its best.

26 Random movies for A through Z - I have "D" crossed off my list after watching "Donkey Skin" which is a French fairytale shown with english subtitles. I received this movie from Netflix, and to be honest, I never remember putting it in my queue which is strange. I tried to watch it the other night, but fell asleep - so I watched it today. At first the movie comes off as very hokey - very Rogers and Hammerstein (see Cinderella). Not only does it come off as hokey, but really strange as the bottom line is this princess is trying to escape her father's attempts to marry her to produce a male heir. Here's a summary:

A king had a beautiful wife and a rich castle, including a marvelous donkey whose droppings were gold. One day his wife died, after making him promise not to marry except to a woman whose beauty and attributes equaled hers. The king grieved, but was, in time, persuaded to seek another wife. It became clear that the only woman who would fit the promise was his own daughter.She went to her fairy godmother who advised her to make impossible demands as a condition of her consent: a dress the color of the weather, a dress the color of the moon, a dress as bright as the sun, and finally, the hide of his marvelous donkey. Such was the king's desire to marry her that he granted all of them. The fairy godmother gave her a marvelous chest to contain all she owned and told her that the donkeyskin would make an excellent disguise. She fled. Eventually, she found a royal farm where they let her work in the kitchen, despite her ugliness in the donkeyskin. On feast days, she would dress herself in the fine gowns her father had given her, and one such day, the prince came by her room and peeped through the keyhole. He fell in love at once, fell ill with his longing, and declared that nothing would cure him but a cake baked by Donkeyskin, and nothing they could say of what a dirty creature she was dissuaded him. When Donkeyskin baked the cake, a ring of hers fell in it. The prince found it and declared that he would marry only the woman whose finger it fit. Every other woman having failed, he insisted that Donkeyskin try, and it fit. When she had dressed herself in her fine gowns, his parents were reconciled with the match. Donkey-skin later found that her father had remarried to a beautiful widow and everyone lived happily ever after.

Blah blah blah. It was ok. I would give it a C and could definately go the rest of my life not seeing it again. Although I am happy that I watched it.

Overall I found today to be a pretty productive day and it would have been a GREAT day had I not just gone out to my car a little while ago and found that it will not start... >=(

Troyskis has promised that he can fix it tomorrow as he thinks it is only the battery, but still. You forget how bad it is not to have a working car until it happens. Frig. Yeah, yeah, things could be worse and I know that, I am just annoyed.

Well, Malichai is giving the "pet me and layyyy with me" eyes... and it's too tempting to pass up. Until next time... Stay classy San Diego. HA!