Monthly Booklist

Here's the list for February. Still no manuals on how to perform brian surgery for fun and profit. Just stuff I enjoy (mostly). Halfway through this month I got bogged down with homework and didn't have much time to finish any other books to add to the list. But here we go... books for February.

Idlewild by Nick Sagan - This is the story of a young man with a great name who attends an elite virtual reality prep school. He wakes up one day with amnesia and wackiness ensues. Okay, maybe not wackiness...or even hijinks. There are a few shenanigans though. But mostly, just some solid sci-fi writing. I enjoyed this book right up until this one chapter at the very end. It wasn't that the chapter was bad, it was just a little weird. Seemed disconnected. That didn't ruin the overall experience or enjoyability of the book though. I plan to read the next in the series, Edenborn, as soon as I find it or order it online. You should read it.

Kitty and the Silver Bullet by Carrie Vaughn - Kitty is a werewolf and also happens to have a supercool radio show about all things supernatural. Of course she also has several people who would like to see her dead. This is number four in the series, I believe. I recommend all of them, despite the silly titles. Great characters and stories. No gaping plot holes, which is nice.

Kiss of Fire by Deborah Cooke - Sara is an accountant turned New Age bookstore owner with a haunted air conditioner. Quinn is an immortal shapeshifting dragon guy who also happens to be a blacksmith. Supernatural forces bring them together, and some other shapeshifting dragon guys want to tear them apart - literally. I knew this was a "paranormal romance" when I bought it (even typing "paranormal romance" makes my teeth itch) but I liked the cover and I'm a sucker for shapeshifters. Overall it wasn't bad. (I might read the next one if I happen to see it on a shelf at the bookstore.) There was just a little bit too much romance for me, though. There was a lot of slow, sexy smiling and A LOT of sweating. However, the air conditioner was just a little bit too much of a main character for my liking. But if you're into romance novels and you happen to like supernatural junk, you'll probably like this one a lot.

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

Infatuated

I've been listening to Ray LaMontagne for the last week straight. If I could listen to him cranked up here at work, I probably would. If I could put him in an IV and stick him in my vein I would probably do that, too. He is the epitome of awesomeness. The bee's knees, if you will. It bums me out that Wayne doesn't like him. Maybe I'll convert him eventually.



Speaking of Wayne, he was pretty swell yesterday. He got me roses and chocolate for VDay. Awwwwwww, cheeeee.

(A friend of mine in high school used to say "cheeeee" instead of "awwww." I have no idea why, but I always found it funny. You know, I can't even remember which friend it was now. And actually I don't remember if it was high school or college. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if it didn't happen at all and it was something I saw on television. I firmly believe that TV rots your brain and steals your creativity. I'm living proof.)

Balls

I've been twittering a lot, but no real updates. Twitter is just so much easier than thinking about stuff, logging in, then typing stuff. Lazy. Yes, I am aware.

School has started again. I love my animation class and can't wait to do more fun stuff. My first animation was cheesy and had a lot of problems, but it was superfun. That is, once Wayne and I got the camera rig FINALLY set up. It took longer to figure out how to mount the camera, buy the supplies, then put it all together than it did to draw all 178 individual frames of my animation. For reals! I have a nice setup now though. Perhaps I will post a picture of it. Wayne and I are both extremely pleased with ourselves and our ingenuity. We're all MacGyver up in here.

Well, I was GOING to post my animation video, but Blogger keeps eating it. The title of this post would make much more sense if the video was up, but whatever. I'm not changing it.

Ani

Last night Wayne and I used our Tomtom (GPS navigation thingy, for you people living in caves) on a maiden voyage to see Ani Difranco at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia. While this isn't supposed to be a review for Tomtoms, I have to say it was so extremely useful. We had the wrong address originally, but we got directly to that wrong address with no problems whatsoever. A kindly Philadelphia police officer gave us directions to the actual venue which was luckily nearby. We found parking easily and afterward... I've never had an easier time getting out of a concert and back onto the highway than I did last night. It was so cool. Especially when you compare that experience to a couple of months ago when we went to Baltimore to see Ani. Nothing but headaches and road construction and confusion. Bleh.

Anyway, the concert...

We'd never been to the Electric Factory, but it was a pretty cool little venue. And I do mean little. We weren't standing right at the stage, but very close to it. Anaïs Mitchell was the opening act. Never heard of her, but she was good. I think I'll have to invest in a cd. Gotta support RBR!

Ani finally came out and just the volume of cheering and screaming went up by about a billion decibels. (I was hoarse afterwards.) She did about four new - happy - songs and a lot of older ones. I was left with the feeling, like I usually am, that I can't wait to see her in concert again. I've seen her in Oklahoma, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania. I tried to talk Wayne into going to see her again today in Norfolk, VA, but that didn't quite work out. That's okay, I guess. I gotta clean my house anyway.

Freecycle

Pretty much since we've lived in our apartment the oven has been broken. I tried to get the landlord to get us a new one, but apparently I'd signed an agreement saying the appliances were not included in the rental. They weren't covered. Basically, tough shit. So we've been making due with two, sometimes three, burners and no oven. His mom kindly got us a toaster oven, but we've yet to use it.

Anyway, after posting a few times in the past to my local Freecycle group, I finally found someone with an oven who was willing to give it to me. FINALLY! YAY! So Wayne and I rented a U-Haul (and somehow a $19 one-hour, in-town rental turned into $52, but I digress) and found the house where the oven was. It was actually in a trailer that the owner was also giving away. And the trailer was propped precariously up on wheels, leaning to one side. We had to use a green plastic lawn chair to get up into the door. I say "we", but it was actually Wayne who made the journey into the trailor.

Long story short, we got the stove home and of course it didn't work properly. The oven didn't work at all and only one burner worked. So we went from three burners down to one. Fuck that! Wayne just unhooked the whole thing and so now we are stoveless.

(Update: We have a BRAND NEW range now. I LOVE IT. I've been cooking my little heart out since we got it. I still think Freecycle is an awesome deal, even though we got screwed on that stove thing. We did get a most fantastic chair out of it when we first moved into the apartment. I'll definitely Freecycle again in the future, but I doubt I'll take anything really freakin' heavy that has potentially broken parts on it. If I can't look at it and see it works, I ain't taking it. Oh and also we've been using the toaster oven to toast this really awesome jalapeño and cheddar foccacia bread from Safeway. MMMmm...)

People Are Funny (But Also Sometimes Assholes)

Last night I was at Weight Watchers and the Leader (The Leader is good, The Leader is great, we submit our will as of this date!) was telling some hypothetical story designed to motivate us. She was talking about a fictional woman who stopped tracking her food and therefore decided to stop going to meetings. Then The Leader says, "Now, is she a cannibal?"

In my head I'm all... Huh? A cannibal? Did I miss some key part of the story where that even possibly makes sense? Mentally rewinding... Nope, doesn't make sense. I give up - IS she a cannibal?

So The Leader continues her story, "No, of course she's not accountable." And it clicks. A cannibal = accountable. It all makes sense now. Gotta love that Eastern Shore accent.

Last Saturday I was at a different WW meeting. I was supposed to meet a friend there who'd only been one time before. She got there before me, so I was scanning the seats and the length of the line looking for her. Finally I saw her maybe three people in front of me, so I went up to say hi and show her where to find her little folder to give to the receptionist when she checks in. When I moved up to stand next to her the lady behind her got all indignant and snarled, "EXCUSE ME!" Oh, dear! How dare I cut in line. This is, after all, the third grade and things like that matter.

I said, "Don't worry, I'm going back to the end of the line after I show her where to find her stuff." That still wasn't good enough. I was taking too long. She proceded to tell me where to find said stuff, even though she had no idea what she was talking about. She was still huffing and puffing after my friend and I found her folder. So I told her, "I'm going to move to the back of the line now so I don't upset the delicate balance of the universe." Bitch.

I told Wayne about this little encounter and he said (ala Family Guy), "You should have said I thought you people were supposed to be jolly." Dammit, why can't I think of these things?

Monthly Booklist

In which I list and possibly recommend the books I've read this month... for no particular reason. You'd think I'd start doing this in a month where I read a few more books. Maybe some impressively thick ones on astrophysics or parliamentary procedure (whatever that is), but alas. If it doesn't have a vampire or people who've met and/or been bitten/threatened/seduced by vampires, you can just shove it. No, not really, but with this list you just might think that:

1. Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs - Excellent as usual. I cried at the end and you will too, unless you're a heartless bastard. Enjoy!


2. Evermore by Lynn Veihl - My favorite Darkyn book to date. Much more memorable than the last one. Two thumbs up.


3. The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton - Suck. Do not buy this book. See previous post.

To buy any of the books I've recommended (and more!), check out my Amazon.com shop: Doomsday Girl Can Read!

Sucker

I did it again. I bought yet another Anita Blake novel by Laurell K. Hamilton. This time, though, I was smart(ish) and got The Harlequin for a quarter at a library book sale. (The back of the book had "DISCARD" written across it in black sharpie - boy is there some good advice.)

I will never, ever buy another Anita Blake book from a retail outlet, lest that encourage L.K.H. to continue regurgitating past plots under the guise of fresh content. I will not be an enabler.

It's so sad to see how far downhill these books have gone. They were the books that turned me on to the vampire/dark fantasy genre in the first place. Sad.

Meh

I am frustrated. Annoyed. Stifled. Frustrated. With myself. Anyone know how to get your shit together and stop procrastinating about everything? I need to figure out how to enjoy the processes of things instead of just wanting to jump to the superfun, juicy bits. I start something then if I'm not an immediate superstar at it (which hardly ever happens) I give up - only to begin yet another project and fall into the same trap. It's an endless cycle. Or at least it seems endless. Dammit. I'm so good at planning, but not the part where you actually do what you plan. How do I fix that?

Anyway. I'm going to lunch.

No rhyme or reason

The car window is all fixed and we're back from Oklahoma already. It was good to be back home, but I missed my bed. And my computer. Now I'm back to missing Oklahoma again. We had extreme delays coming back to Delaware and I ended up going about 36 hours with only an hour or two of sleep spread across two different plane rides. Argh! Now I'm waiting on my mom to send me a package filled with goodies I either forgot or didn't have room to bring on the plane.

There's this one particular radio commercial (I don't even know what it's about. Maybe car insurance?) and hearing it sends me into a silent rage where all I can do is grit my teeth and stifle the urge to vomit. I don't know what it is about that commercial, but it rubs me the wrong way. Maybe because it's supposed to sound political, but the announcer sounds like Mayor Quimby. Nothing against Quimby, mind you. It's just... I don't know. It makes my ears bleed.

School starts January 29! I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully I can get myself on some kind of schedule and not wait til the very last possible second to get my work done this semester. I hate when I do that. I have lots of things I want to do in addition to school and I know the only way to do it is to be on a schedule. So I gotta get that done, then force myself to stick to it.

Wish I had something funnier or more interesting to report, but no one reads this so it doesn't matter either way.

Will I ever learn?

One of our car windows was accidentally broken when we moved into our apartment. If you do the math, you'll realize that this was... 20 months ago. If that broken car window was a baby it'd be walking by now. Yes, it's still broken. Not gone, just in a million intact pieces with a layer or two of extremely weathered packing tape over it. Needless to say the car did not pass inspection when it was due for a tag at the end of November. So the plan has been to go car shopping and cleverly avoid paying $150 for a new window. $150 is extremely crazy to me, considering the window broken is that tiny triangular window in the backseat. But apparently that's the hardest window to fix so it's the most expensive. Of course it is. Anyway, sheer lazyness has kept us from looking for a new car over the last month. Now with only days before we go to Oklahoma I'm scrambling to try to find someone who will fix it for only $150. You see, our temporary tag expires December 27, but by that time I'll already be in Oklahoma. I'm sure there's a lesson in here about how I shouldn't put things off. I've had ample lessons like this in the past, but I doubt this one will stick either.

Shiver

We'll be heading to Oklahoma soon for the holidays. Right now everything there is coated with ice. A couple of years ago when we visited there were massive wildfires everywhere. Next year, I fully expect a plague of locusts.

Eventful

Wayne's birthday was a few weeks ago. To celebrate he bought himself some Red Stripe and, for me, a small bottle of tequilla. I'm not a fan of tequilla per se, but one time I drank it and we had a long interesting talk about monkey toupees (there were sketches involved) and since then he's decided that's my drink of choice. I don't actually drink much at all. I've never been a fan of the flavor, unless we're talking Malibu + Sprite or Buttery Nipples. In fact, the last drink I had was some fruity wine cooler thing back in July. I don't avoid alcohol because of the flavor (as I said the night of the monkey toupee - the first half of the bottle tastes terrible, but the second half is pretty good!) or because of any moral issues. I avoid it because it makes my face really hot. Sunburn hot. Not pleasant and, when drinking in public, a little embarassing.

Over time it occurred to me that I must be mildly allergic to alcohol, hence the face hotness. When I felt the urge to drink, though, it never really bothered me. A few drinks in and it would go away (or at least I would forget about it). Lately however, I've been having weird allergic reactions. Two different kinds of medicine and some random-as-yet-unknown-agent have made me break out in hives.

So on Friday, when I finally decided to have a shot or two of that tequilla, I jokingly told Wayne to call 911 if I happened to go into anaphylactic shock. I opened the bottle and took one swallow (yes, straight from the bottle cause that's just how I roll) and a minute or two later I started feeling the burn. My face felt super hot. HOT! I waited a few minutes to make sure my throat wasn't going to close up. When I happened to pass a mirror a couple minutes later...! It was crazy. My face wasn't just red - it looked like I'd smeared red lipstick all over my face. Even my ears and my neck were red. My face was puffy. I had huge splotchy hives all over my neck, back, side, ELBOWS. Strangely enough the area around my scar (from recent shoulder surgery) was red, too. I decided it would not be the best decision to keep drinking at that point. I took some benedryl instead (after only ONE gulp of alcohol, mind you). After an hour or so I was (mostly) back to normal and very sleepy.

You know what the worst part is? I was that person who never had a hang over. Now I'll never have a hang over, but for all the wrong reasons.

(And as an unrelated side note... Saturday night I broke the hell out of my tooth while eating some crab rangoon. It wasn't the food's fault, though. It was my tongue ring. I bit it. Chomped it, really. Those things are dangerous. Granted I'd had mine for almost 10 years before I did any damage, but still. I took it out and now it feels weird. Phantom barbell syndrome. Is that a thing? I wouldn't doubt it.)

Thinking, but not saying...

Get off the phone! If you blow us up I'm going to be royally pissed. And you! Turn off your damn car when you're pumping gas. No! Don't get back in! I know it's cold, but there's a little thing called static electricity that occurs when you slide your lazy ass across the seat. And you know those gasoline fumes you used to think smelled so good when you were a kid? Combine those with said static electricity and, well, things tend to blow up. For the love of god, why is everyone at this gas station trying to kill me?

(And later...)

Sometimes its not about you.

Reading

My mom-in-law loaned me a most awesome trilogy of novels called Queen of the Orcs (King's Property, Clan Daughter & Royal Destiny), by Morgan Howell. I'm just starting the third book, having devoured the first two earlier this week. It's been awhile since something grabbed me like these books have. The storyline is excellent and the characters are interesting, deep and dynamic. The author's use of language makes for a richly developed world.

After reading Holly Lisle's Create a Language Clinic I pondered how I might incorporate a made-up language into my writing. These books have shown me how it's done.

So, shashav, Morgan Howell. You rock.

Loose Ends

I thought I'd update some junk from previous posts...

• I am now sling-free. Still faithfully going to physical therapy - except for yesterday when I didn't go. But we don't need to talk about that.

• The cat that was living under my bathroom floor was actually a kitten perhaps five or six weeks old. He doesn't live there anymore. Wayne captured him and he (the kitten, not Wayne) now lives with a nice family who desperately wanted a new cat. He is overcoming his wild fearfulness and getting fat and spoiled. His name is Milky Way.

• I suck at doing NaNoWriMo. Suck. Diddly. Uck. I got like 800 words then promptly gave up. Well, I guess I didn't consciously give up, I just kept finding ten thousand other things to do instead like rescuing kittens, clipping coupons, reading The Orc Queen trilogy by Morgan Howell (which is awesome) and playing EverQuest II. Oh, and watching TV. And not writing. Maybe I'll start next week. (Ha.)

Madness (in a good way)

A few weeks ago I saw an episode of Unwrapped that featured something called The Grocery Game. It looked interesting so I checked out the website. I ended up subscribing to The List(s) for my area and have since been HOOKED on this website.

The idea is simple. Use in-store sales combined with coupons to save an obscene amount of money. The Powers that Be at the Grocery Game do all the foot work (and brain work) for you, you just clip your coupons on Sunday and faithfully shop with The List. (Believe in The List. Trust The List. The List is your friend.) And it works.

Sunday I invested an hour or so cutting coupons. Monday I went shopping at three stores.

Store 1
Total Value of items purchased: $76
Total Out of Pocket (OOP) Spent: $37
Total Savings: $39

Store 2
Value: $74
OOP: $41
Savings: $33

Store 3
Value: $98
OOP: $58
Savings: 40

The grand total is.......
Value: $248
OOP: $136
Savings: $112 or 45%

If you want to sign up, which I highly HIGHLY suggest you do (at least check out the $1/4 week trial) please put in my email address as a referral (atomicbunnie at yahoo dot com). Thanks.

In related news, check out this great project that uses the Grocery Game to show kids how to save money AND provide for families in need: The Great Big Box Project

I complain a lot

I came to the realization that humor is how I cope with pain. That and crying like a little girl occasionally. Yesterday I was fifteen minutes late to physical therapy because I got stuck behind every school bus in two counties on the way there. When I arrived my therapist skipped the heat and went right into the exercises. The fucking painful ones. I asked her if that was my punishment for being late. She said it was incentive for coming early. I don't see the logic. Next I moved to a ridiculous exercise where I was supposed to walk my fingers up the wall. I was still sniffling (shameful!) at this point and she asked if I needed a tissue and if I had allergies. I said, "Yes, I'm allergic to pain."

I remember Halloween

Halloween was a bust. A bust! I had a grand total of four trick-or-treaters. This was even after Wayne kindly changed the bulb on the porch (which hadn't worked in the year-and-a-half we've lived there). Then Wayne pointed out that we were the only ones on the street with the light on at all. WTF Dover?

So if anyone wants 26 baggies of candy, give me a call. I can hook you up.

Happy Punkin Day

Yes, I know it's been about eighty years since I've updated. No excuses, just acknowledgement. Not that I'm going to vow to update regularly from now on, but I'm updating now. What more do you want?? Geez.

Anyway, tomorrow NaNoWriMo begins! Exciting! I have most of my plot worked out (kinda, sorta) and I'm gung-ho to get started. I guess technically I could begin at midnight tonight, but I won't be doing that because I will be watching the Ghost Hunters LIVE! Halloween special on SciFi. I can't help it. I love that show.

In other news, my arm is still in a sling, physical therapy hurts and there's a cat living under my bathroom floor. Discuss.