Why I Hate The Giver

       Dear readers, I know it’s been a minute. As much as I would like to churn these posts out with consistent timing, writer's block is a vicious ailment. To the people who regularly blog, consistently each week, I commend you. However, for me is it a Sisyphean task. Nevertheless, I've sat down at my desk and decided to start hammering out this next volume. 

    I kicked off my New Year by competing in the Resolution Run & Polar Bear Dive, which as I am typing out is quite the mouthful for the name of a race. I foolishly signed up for this race not thinking about the fact that I would have to go into Lake Washington on January 1st. When I woke up the morning on New Years and realized that the temperature was in the mid to high 30s I seriously regretted signing up. I pushed through and left early for the venue. I was worried that there would be quite a line in packet pickup, so I got there quite early, essentially at nine when it opened. There really wasn't and I could have slept in more. It wasn't all bad though. I think I snagged the best parking spot there. I was quite literally 50 feet from the finish line, so I could leave with ease. It was also free parking, which many other spots weren't. All in all, pretty great start to my year. So, I made it over to the starting line and somehow secured a spot at the very front of a crowd of about 800 people. Then I thought I was as fast as I was in November and went out too fast and promptly blew up. The lake actually seemed warmer than the air outside, which based off of the little research I just did, seems true. My one regret is I took the easy way out and just ran through the little corral, while the man next to me dove and submerged. The crowd went crazy for him. Channeling my inner Fred Forsberg, I was the first one out of the parking lot, and beat the traffic heading home. When I got home I got a text saying that the race results were out, and I did much better than I thought I did. I then found out that if I was slightly more patient and had stayed at the race I would have won a giant beer stein, gummy bears, and a $50 super Jock 'n Jill gift card. Absolutely tragic stuff. 

     I received many books for Christmas which is great, I love books. My only fear is that it will be a while before I finish them all. I'm determined to get through each and every last one of them, but progress has been slow. I want to read them all right away, so I've been jumping from book to book, which is not helping my efficiency.

    Recently it came to my attention that there were some terrible grammatical mistakes in my last post. I think I've fixed them, but knowing myself, there are likely many more lurking. 

    I hate the book The Giver. When I watched the Stranger Things finale, its ending reminded me of The Giver. I have always found it deeply unsatisfying how the Giver ends on a question mark. Did Jonah make it out, or did he die and hallucinate it as a dream? When I first read it, I thought he made it to freedom. Then my English teacher shared the, in my opinion, terribly flawed 'dream/hypothermia' theory. I have been furious ever since. There are sequels to The Giver, which make it explicitly clear the Jonah and Gabriel survived and found a free community. Why this terrible misinformation continues fascinates me. The author even confirmed it themself. Here is where it gets interesting. The author originally didn't intend on writing a sequel, but after seeing the popularity of The Giver, did. Money might not have been their motivation, but I'm sure it was a big pro for writing more books. They then capitalized on their mysterious ending, one allowing them, if they chose, to write more books, or allowing them to end the story with one book. I think the writers of Stranger Things did the same thing. They could have wrapped up the book neat and tidy, or they could have ended on a big cliffhanger, setting up for more content. Instead they took The Giver way out, which is making that a decision for a later time. So will the pull a Wings of Fire (which I am embarrassed to admit that I've read the vast majority of) and keep writing, adding new story lines and plot arcs until it becomes unrecognizable from the original, or will they leave the ending here. Time will tell.

    Even though we are only three days in, I've had a pretty great 2026, and I hope you all do as well. 

Happy New Year, 

Calvin