Monthly Booklist

In March I was on a roll. I pretty much just read one series, but it was a good one.

Dark Lover, Lover Eternal, Lover Awakened and Lover Revealed (also known as the Black Dagger Brotherhood series) by J. R. Ward: - I devoured each of these books, forsaking homework and TV for days at a time. An addiction, I suppose. I won't go into the storylines too much (or at all, really), but suffice it to say there are vampires involved. But then, aren't there always? Just go read these books already, would ya.

Serenity by Keith R.A. DeCandido - Wow, I can't believe I forgot to add this one. Better late than never, I guess. Anyway, this novel is based on the Serenity screenplay. I've seen the movie at least twice and from what I remember, the novel is pretty much exactly the same. No better, no worse. I suggest you watch the Firefly series before reading this book (or watching the movie), though. It's just better that way. And it is OH so very good. Love it!

These books (and more) can be found in my Amazon.com store conveniently located right here.

How thoughtful!

So I'm perusing Craig's List for apartments in Austin (keeping options open here) and as I'm looking at pictures I see the funniest thing. The first apartment has a picture of a kitchen and on the wall there are huge wooden letters that say "EAT". I don't think anything about it, but then I go a few apartments down the list and look at another one. This has a picture of a bedroom and on the wall over the bed there are huge letters that say "DREAM". I'm like, hey that's weird. So then I go back down the list and the third one I look at has a picture of a living room and what do you know - right there on the windowsill by the couch are huge wooden letters that spell out "LIVE".

I'm not even making this up. These were three separate listings in a row which I chose at random. So I can only assume all of the apartments in Austin have instructions on what you're supposed to do in each room conveniently located on the walls. Oh, Austin, you think of everything!

GRARG!

See? I told you! It's a day later and I'm hearing someone RIGHT NOW talk about how Obama is related to Brad Pitt.

Hello, downward spiral

This story caught my eye, then I felt a little like I might throw up. Seriously. I'm not sure if I'm more annoyed at the media for writing it, the genealogists for doing the research in the first place or the fact that some people probably base their entire political opinions on shit like this.

Maybe I'm just bitter because I got canned yesterday. Well, technically I guess I was just informed of my impending canning as of May 30, 2008. (To clarify, it wasn't just me. Five of my co-workers got the axe also. Budget issues or some such. That makes it all okay, doesn't it?)

Spring Break

I took off work Monday - Wednesday this week because Wayne and I were both out of school for Spring Break. Joy! We went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Frida Kahlo exhibit. It was excellent! Not only were there so many of her phenomenal paintings, but there were also tons of photographs of her and Diego, their family and friends. It was very intimate, despite the people everywhere.

Five years ago, almost to the day, I was in Mexico City visiting the museum in Frida's famous blue house. While there were many more paintings and photographs at the Philadelphia exhibit, the blue house (Museo Frida Kahlo) was just amazing. There was her bed, where she was forced to spend so much of her life. Her casts. Her studio. I was so lucky to have the opportunity to visit there.

If you're in the area, you should definitely check out the exhibit in Philly. Even if you've never heard of Frida Kahlo you'll be amazed by her life, her spirit and her phenomenal artwork.

Go. Now!

Thinking and Driving

As I was driving to work today I went through my CD case looking for something I hadn't listened to recently. The case is pretty thick, but I guess I keep going back to the same ones over and over. Anyway, I finally picked one I hadn't heard in awhile, a compilation of MP3s. (That's why I hadn't listened to it in a long time. The pause between the songs is like four seconds instead of two and my time is far too valuable to be wasted waiting on the music to start.)

I had to skip a few folders that were mostly there for Wayne's sake (Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill) and finally came to one called Goodies. Oh yeah, I remember this folder! So I listened and a few good songs come on, then one comes on that I'd totally forgotten about. It caught me completely off guard and kinda knocked the breath out of me, I love it so much. How could I have forgotten it? It made me think that there are very few songs that affect me like that. I can think of precisely three, and they have distinct memories attached to them:

Brick by Ben Folds Five (the one I heard today) - Talking to Wayne on the phone all night

Far Behind by Candlebox - First real concert, first super-favorite band

Black by Pearl Jam - Over and over and over and over and over

So, yeah, that's me being nostalgic.

Creeped out

I am just a little traumatized from watching Last Tango in Paris the other day. I wasn't feeling well and it was free On Demand, so I figured why not. The name seemed familiar and I thought maybe it was one of those classics that would enrich me culturally, or some shit. Plus Marlon Brando was kinda hot when he was young. Unfortunately he'd already hit middle age by 1972 and his character was just a little crazed in this movie. (And really, I think that wispy 70's hair only accounts for about 40% of the insanity.) Overall it was just a smidge too creepy and disturbing for my liking. But I just kept watching it. I hate movies like that. You go in not knowing what to expect and when it's over you feel just a little dirtier for having seen it. And not in a good way.

Straightening up and flying right.

I started reading One Year to an Organized Life by Regina Leeds on Saturday. In it she recommends journaling, so I suppose I will. I mean what is the use of buying the book if I don't even try what she says. I'm starting on week one where she says to explore the reasons why I am an unorganized slob and blame my parents if possible. Well, she doesn't say that exactly, but she does say to look back into my childhood and see what sorts of things might have triggered my current behavior. This is sort of a problem for me because I really can't remember a lot from my childhood. Not because it was unpleasant (quite the opposite), but because I watched too much Scooby Doo and you know there's only so much room to store things in the human brain. What I do remember is being late to school a lot because I stayed up too late and didn't want to wake up. Boy has THAT been a repeating pattern. Poor Wayne depends on me to take him to school three days a week and he's perpetually late. I'm perpetually late. If I would just go to bed and wake up 30 minutes earlier, this wouldn't be a problem.

But I am getting ahead of myself. The first week is about choosing one thing in the kitchen and doing it every day (like doing dishes or taking out the trash) for 21 days. Sounds good. I didn't do it yesterday though. Maybe today. See, that's another problem. I procrastinate too much (as I have whined about in previous posts). I have the best intentions of making a plan and following it, but everything falls apart when something good comes on TV. Or even something bad. I can always find 1,001 things to do instead of what I need to do (schoolwork, cleaning) and sometimes even things I want to do (schoolwork, writing).

Twenty-one days to make a habit, she says. I can do twenty-one days, right? Three weeks. The plan is to keep the sink clean of dishes and go to bed at 11:30. Baby steps. I'll keep you posted because I know you will be waiting on the edge of your seat.