so very in love

with this little beauty. She's gorgeous, isn't she?

Whenever I go into any store that has electronics, I won't let myself stop and say hello to the cameras because, well, I'll drool and wish I had a crap load of extra money underneath my mattress to buy one. Or at least be able to sell a kidney on the black market for the cash.

I made the mistake of picking her up and I didn't want to put her down. We connected on a spiritual level. Well, not really, but I didn't want to part.

And as much as I love the camera I already have (and I'm hoping that as I write this, she won't decide to suddenly crap out on me, because I do appreciate her and all technological goodness), I kind of want a new one. By "kind of", of course I mean desperately and yesterday instead of someday soon.

sherlock vs. elementary

Both of these shows are a modern day take of  the adventures Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. One is set in London and the other is in New York. 

They're two very completely different shows in so many different ways. (Individuality is always a good thing)

Sherlock is basically a modern retelling of Sir Conan Arthur Doyle's original stories. John was injured in Afghanistan and he still keeps a journal, only now it's an online blog. Which everyone reads and that's why they all know who Sherlock is. The season's are only 3 episodes long, so it's more of a mini-series. But they end them on cliff hangers that tick me off (in the best kind of way, of course). I'm still waiting to see where they're going after the way season two ended. 

Now, Elementary. I'm still not really how I feel about this show. Sherlock is a recovering drug addict and Jane Watson is the companion his father hired to keep him in check and in line. I don't know if the creators made John a girl because they want some kind of romance between Sherlock and Jane because it would be too much to have to guys hook up (because wouldn't that just offend everyone? *insert rolling of eyes here*. Personally, I'd much rather see a relationship between the two on Sherlock than on Elementary). Which I'm really hoping they are not going there. Shows don't always have to have a romance between the main characters. 

I started watching Sherlock first, so I'm a little bias about loving it so much more than Elementary. Elementary is very American (not that that's a bad thing). Sherlock has more issues than the X-Men and so does Jane. Again, not a bad thing. The creators want you to be emotionally invested. I get that. But I don't feel personally invested. The show overall has some interesting cases and Sherlock is pretty obnoxious, but that's how I like him. I'm not attached to this version of Sherlock - if I miss an episode, I'm not too upset.

Sherlock is a pretty cut and dry British TV drama. I think that's why I like more than Elementary. I have plenty of show where there are 30 billion different kinds of drama (The Walking Dead, Suits, Supernatural, etc.), but there are times I want a break from all that extra drama. Sherlock is drama but without all the extra drama that American shows always have to have. I don't think shows always have to have it to be interesting to watch. That's probably why I don't watch reality shows anymore.

So, I still haven't made up my mind on whether or not I like Elementary. I guess this is more of a post on why I like Sherlock more? Well, that seems to be the story of my life. 

the kid I got stuck with . . .

amazes me at times. Like seriously leaves me speechless sometimes. And that is very hard to do.

She's ten. Ten and a half, according to her, because she's that much closer to eleven than ten these days.

She amazes me because she's on top of her homework on a daily basis. There's never any need to remind her to get it done. She also freaks out if she doesn't get it done on time, but that's never happened before. Because she's on top of it. Her school planner has every assignment written and checked off.

(she gets right into her homework as soon as she gets home from school- we never have to remind her)

A perfect example - being a 5th grader and California student, she has a state report that's due in April. It's comprised of about 10-12 different projects, including postcards, full 3-5 page paper, and the state's flag. They're not allowed to do California and B had a whole list of states she ranked in order of her favorites. Her first choice was Colorado because she's "a Coloradoan". Her exact words and cannot convince her that she was just born there so that doesn't make her a Coloradoan. Even though I have pointed out numerous times that she's hasn't set foot in the state in 9 years. But I digress.

B worried for weeks about not getting a state she wanted. Seriously. She had dreams about it. When she got her first choice she celebrated.

Her school participates in the AR (accelerated reader) program and the kids are required to read at least 15 minutes a night and log it. When they're done with a book they take an online test about the book. Each book is worth a certain number of points and her teacher said once they reach a certain number of points, they don't have to keep a log anymore. The kid reached that number back in November.

Her teacher also wants them keep track of the number of pages they read during those 15 minutes. One of B's friends who was in her teacher's class last year read 900 pages during the school year. One of her fifth grade goals was to surpass his number. I'm not at all surprised because this is how we usually find her:

Another goal of hers? Starting her own business before she goes into 6th grade.

That's not the only reason she amazes me. She's been planning her college career since she was 8. Her goal is get a full scholarship to Oxford University. She's put together a list of alternate schools just in case the money doesn't pan out, but Oxford is first choice because "it's the best college in the world". Her words. I kid you not.

She's the kid in class that gets in trouble for reading when it's math time and she's done with all her work. And when we punish her for talking back, lying, normal kid stuff, we take away her books for a couple of days. Though now she's getting a little more into the Lego video games (hell, who am I kidding? So am I) and her iPod, so it's a little more leverage.

She has more of her dad's patience than mine (which is a great thing for her) when it comes to most things. Except talking to people. Because she's such a talker (like her lovely mom) when she has conversations with people and they're saying something, if she knows where they're going with their words, she'll butt right in and finish it for them if they're taking too long. I have to remind her most people don't take too kindly to that and she needs to chill about it.

She's so different than I was at her age. I was lucky if I turned in my homework on time. And college? Not even something I thought of.

No one knows where she gets it from, but I try not to dwell on it too much because I'm not sure I could actually narrow it down.

Yup, she amazes me more and more every day by being her own special little person. And I wouldn't change her for the world.