**SPOILERS FOR THE GATHERING STORM***

In case you didn't catch the title, this post will most likely include spoilers for the latest Wheel of Time novel, The Gathering Storm.  I will put that part of the blog further down just in case you have wandering eyes and can't be trusted to skip the stuff that might ruin the book for you!

Ok, so it's been FOREVER since I last updated.  I apologize, but things haven't been all that exciting.  No excitement = no reason to blog.  However, with the release of the above mentioned book, and an adventure yesterday, well I have some stuff to say!

Let's start with the adventuring, shall we? 

Yesterday was Veterans' Day.  Since I was off work for the holiday, I spent most of the late morning and early afternoon with my Grammy, sister, and my Mom, who was in from Arkansas.  We were just puttzing around, doing a bit of light shopping.  About an hour into this, I get a text message and a phone call from Arthur, my boyfriend.

The text included a picture (which I don't have a way of uploading to this computer, but will try when I get home) of a small orange ball of fluff.  When I looked closer, it was a kitten.  Then my heart broke. When I squinted at his eyes I say that they looked way too big and way to black.

I called Arthur back and said, who is that?  He told me how he had opened the window to let some air through.  He was home for the day since there were no classes being held due to the holiday.  After he opened the window he heard a small cry.  He rushed outside to investigate and what he found almost broke him.  There was a small orange kitten wedged between our neighbor's cable box for warmth.  When he was finally able to extract it, he saw that the poor thing's eyes were so caked in guck, mud, and various other filth that the baby couldn't open them!  He was also so starved that Arthur could feel the bones portruding through it's fur.

Being the wonderful man he is, Arthur brought the kitten inside and smartly isolated it from our other two cats.  If kitten was sick, he didn't want the other two to catch it.  He then called me and I ran to a pet shop for some kitten formula.  Then I rushed home.

I took one look at the little guy and said "We're going to the vet. Now."  We took him to Banfield which is located in most PetsMarts.  The PetNurse and the doctor looked him over.  Dr. Horner examined his teeth and declared that he is only about 4-5 weeks old.  She also noticed he had fleas, which is dangerous for a kitten so young.  The good news was, that aside from his eyes and his obvious malnourshiment, he seemed to be ok.  She wasn't sure she could get all the gunk off his eyes, though.  She told us she'd try, but wouldn't force his eyes open and risk damaging them further.  She and the nurses took him away and Arthur and I went outside to pace.

About half an hour or more when by and one of the nurses came out to talk to us.  "We've got one of his eyes open!"  I nearly collapsed.  We thanked her and she went back inside.  About 10 minutes later she and another nurse came out with our foundling wrapped in a towel, drenched, and with both eyes open.  I never cry in public, but I did then.  He could see!  He was responsive and his eyes were undamaged!  They weren't done cleaning his eyes, but they had wanted us to see what color his eyes were.

A little while later they finished up with his eyes.  Poor baby was so cold and freaked out!  The doctor gave us some dewormer (since he's a baby and they get those), a liquid antibiotic, a liquid vitamin supplement, topical eye antibiotic, and some moist food specifically for starved and undernourished kittens.  We spent the evening wiping his eyes while we were at Grammy's house.  The whole family fell in love and he was never put down or let him get cold.  Love at first sight, indeed!  With the help of the family, we picked a name. I'll tell you at the end. ; )

So, we finally got him home and then the reall "fun" began: we had to bathe him and give him his medicines.  He was not at all impressed.  But, we got most the fleas off of him, forced the liquid meds down his throat, and slathered on the eye gel.  He ate a bit of food and then I tucked him into his bed: a big ole' basket (courtesy of Grammy) lined with a towel and a big, soft, warm blanket.  He promptly fell asleep. 

I was surprised, but he slept the whole night.  He started rooting around at 5:30 this morning.  He managed to crawl out of his basket and find his food dish.  So proud of him!  Before he crawled out, though, I looked down at him.  The best part?  He looked right back at me with both of his eyes open!!!  No gunk!  When it was time to do his meds, I had a damp towel ready to clear the gunk from his eyes but there wasn't any!  His poor little eyes are still swollen and teary, but they aren't gumming shut!  That gel is amazing...

What a day, huh?  Dr. Horner said that if we hadn't found him, he wouldn't have survived.  If we both hadn't had the day off, we wouldn't have found him.  Is that serendipity or what?  I feel like we were meant to find him.  We'll try to locate his owners, but I don't think we will.  I'm convinced his mama was a stray and that's why he was doing so poorly.  I want to keep him.  How can you not fall in love with something that needs your protection and love so desperately?  Impossible I say.

Here's our little guy:  We decided to call him "Mogwai" since he looks like one. 

His eyes are open! 

And here he is cleaning the liquid vitamin from his paw.  It's nasty stuff!

If you don't know what a mogwai is, check this out:

Gizmo is a mogwai.  If he eats after midnight, he becomes a gremiln.  We named the kitten Mogwai because of his big, hairy, floppy ears.  Too cute!!

Such happiness!

AVAST!  THAR BE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Ok, now for my book review.  The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.  Those of you who are fans, or have read earlier blog entries, know that Robert Jordan died in September of 2007 after a battle with rare disease.  He was so dedicated to his fans, however, that he spent his last days organizing his notes and outlines for the conclusion of the Wheel of Time series.  After his death, his wife and editor, Harriet McDougal, asked Brandon Sanderson, a young sci-fi writer, to complete the final book.  After much review, the two of them realized that the story couldn't be told in less than 750,000 words, which would be about 2,400 pages.  The binding machinary doesn't exist that could make a book that big, so they decided to break the story into three books.  Good call.

The first book is The Gathering Storm.  Holy crap, was this book amazing!!  While Sanderson definitely kept to his own writing style, which is different from RJ's, he kept to the spirit of the books.  What particularly impressed me was how he wrote the characters.  Namely, Egwene Al'Vere.

Here's an artist's rendition:

I NEVER liked this character.  She snotty, arrogant, and bossy.  She can't follow orders because she's such a know-it-all that she thinks she's above her superiors.  And Sanderson wrote her in a way that I not only like her now, but actually respect her! 

In previous books, Egwene had been raised to Amyriln by the rebel Aes Sedai.  She turned out not to be the puppet they had intended, but a strong, willfull woman.  She led the rebels to the White Tower to lay siege to Elaida's tyrannical rule.  She was captured by the Tower and punished with beatings and a demotion to Novice.  She was strapped daily and she bore it all with dignity and earned the respect of not only the novices and Accepted, but from full Aes Sedai as well.  She refused to be rescued, choosing instead to use her imprisonment as a chance to gather information, destabilize Elaida, and try to bring the Aes Sedai to her side.

Things got pretty bad for her in GS, but she became awesome for it.  She grew so much as a character that she hardly resembles to the character from previous books.  She stood up to Elaida and made the woman look lik a maniac, which earned her a severe beating and a stint being locked away in a tiny, cramped cell.  And she bore it all.  When the Seanchan attacked the Tower, she lead a group of novices, Accepted, and even a few full sisters, against them, saving hundreds of lives. 

After the attack, the Tower Hall elected to have her raised as their Amyriln (Elaida had been captured by the Seanchan) and the rift was healed.  Now she's kicking the butt of the Black Ajah, repairing the physical damage from the attacks and repairing the emotional and political damage from the split. 

In summary, Egwene kicked butt!  I loved her and for the first time ever couldn't wait to read her chapters.  I was actually disappointed when they ended.  Great character developement!

So much cool, and scary, stuff happened in this book.   I was left with a feeling of "wow...just...wow" when I finished it.  I want to personally beat the snot out of Rand Al'Thor, Dragon Reborn and master of being and idiot.  Cadsuane Sedai said it best: "Being hard is not the same as being strong."  The guy nearly killed his own father!  That was right before he Travelend to Ebou Dar and was going to use the male-attuned Cholden Khar to take wipe out all of the Seanchan with balefire, which is a HUGE no-no.  Gaaah!!  At least he managed to shake some sense into himself. 

As always, I loved Mat.  He's such a scoundrel!  Perrin actually sunk on my list, even though he used to be my favorite.  I'm just sick of his "Oh woe is me, I dont' WANNA be a leader or a lord, but it's been thrust upon me against my will!  Wah, wah, wah."  Seriously, accept that you're not only an awesome and competant leader, accept that you're a Wolfbrother, and move along!  Geeze.

Verin Sedai.  OH.  EM.  GEE!!  For years the great debate has been is Verin Black Ajah or just extra sneaky?  Has she somehow been released from the Three Oaths, or did she never take them?  WTF is up with here?  Stuff that is totally jaw-drop worthy!  Turns out, everybody was right about everything!!

Verin held the Oathrod before Egwene's grandmother was born and had been a member of the Brown Ajah, the Ajah dedicated to knowledge and research.  70 years ago, she became Black, which released her of her Tower Oaths and bound her to the Shadow.  Why did she do this?  RESEARCH!!!  She was a Brown to her core.  The best part: she did it because she figured the Shadow had tons of spies in the Good Guy camps, the Good Guys needed a spy in the Shadow camp.  She gave up her life to entrust a book (and it's cipher) detailing the Black Ajah, it's members, laws, ceremonies, and general knowledge to Egwene. 

Verin = GREATEST WIN EVAR!!

Well, I've managed to write a Jordan-worthy novel style post, so I should probably give it a rest.  I'm going to be rereading, for the umpteenth time, the Black Jewels Triology by Anne Bishop.  It's violent, but really good.  Eventually I'll finish reading Let the Right One In, but I'm just not in the mood for it.  I'll review it when I'm done.

Till next time, have a good one!

My Life as Fail

Howdy.  Sorry I haven't updated in so long.  I had a whole week off work (hooray for fall break!) and it wound up being quite busy.  As a show of my sincere regret for abandoning you for so long, here is silly video I'm sure you've seen a million times:  (WARNING: BAD LANGUAGE AND T-PAIN)



Arthur and I went to the AZ Fetish Ball.  After a rough start (i.e. paypal screwing us over and not actually placing our reservations) we had a pretty good time.  I wore a full-body fishnet stocking with red, black, and white striped boy shorts as well as red heart-shaped pasties and really cool shoes.  The shoes were black wedges, though the wedge curved inwards and was laced up the back with red ribbon which winds up the leg a big.  I also had killer black feather eyelashes and red, red lips.  Corry, a friend that went with us, insisted on making a tag to attach to me that said: "From: God To: Man."  Even one of the Horns n Halos guys thanked Arthur for bringing his "hot chick" and told me personally that I looked fabulous!  Apparently I was quite sexy.

We were having a pretty good time and around 1:30am I was feeling wiped and we went back to the hotel for a rest before the after party.  At this point (after changing back into  street clothes) I realized I was cold.  I got under the blankets.  No good.  Arthur cuddled up to me and that helped until he got up.  Instant freeze. Remeber how I was sick?  Well, apparently I wasn't over it.  Arthur and I wound up missing the after party and went home the next day around 9.  I then proceeded to spend the whole of Sunday in bed.  Grrr.  I hate sick.

Well, aside from recovering from disease, my "week off" was a week of work.  My sister and her boyfriend found an apartment and on Tuesday my sister discovered she could move in that day if they signed the lease and paid their pound of flesh.  So, I got to spend two days hauling Megan all over Phoenix, getting her stuff packed and moved to the apartment, getting her untilities turned on and buying stuff she needed.  That was a long two days.

What was longer than that?  The THREE days I spent cleaning my condo after they moved out!  Good god, it took forever and I didn't think I'd ever get done.  I swept up about 4 pounds of cat and dog hair.  Threw out at least 6 bags of garbage (no, we aren't filthy, just threw out stuff we didn't need/use/want).  And now, I have an ugly, but comfy, sofa sitting out on my patio.  I have no use for it and am hoping somebody will take it.  If nobody does by Friday, I'm borrowing a truck and hauling it to Goodwill.

So yes, lots of moving, lots of cleaning, lots of sneezing and lots of tissues.  My house is now livable again!

That being said, let's move on to some lovely book and movie reviews.

First up is Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause.  This is a very cool teen sci-fi piece.  It's the tale of Vivian, a 16 year old werewolf.  Her pack was driven from their West Virginia home when younger members of the pack murdered two humans.  A few humans thought the pack was responsible, though they were not really aware the family were werewolves.  The humans set fire to the pack-owned country inn, killing several members, including the pack leader who was Vivian's father. It's now a year later and the survivors have moved to a city to regroup and earn money until they could find a new plot of land.  Vivian is enrolled at the local high school where she has no friends because everybody is intimidated by her.  She eventually finds herself falling for a human "meat-boy" named Aiden.  As their relationship deepens, strange things begin to happen.  Vivian inadvertantly becomes the alpha female after taking out another who attacked her mother.  Now she's promised to the new leader, Gaberiel.  It goes from bad to worse as viscious murders that can only be the work of werewolves start happening.  And Vivian is convinced she's the one committing them. 

This book was turned into a movie in 2007.  In my humble opinion, I do not believe the screenplay author even SKIMMED the book when the script was written!  The main characters are sort of the same but the plot is completely different.  While the movie is good, it's just not the same story at all.  So, once again, I vote book over movie.

Next book: Evermore by Alyson Noel.  This was a pretty ok book.  Another teen fiction (can you tell what I like?).  Ever is a high school junior who can read thoughts, see auras, and tell a person's whole life story simply by touching them.  The reason she has this gift is unknown, though she got it after a horrible car accident that claimed the lives of her mother, father, dog, and 12 year old sister, Riley.  Now Riley's ghost hangs around and Ever can't get close to anybody without knowing way too much.  She has two friends, Haven (think Marla Hooch from Fight Club) and Miles, the token gay teen.  These three are the misfits and are doing just fine until the tall, dark, and handsomly mysterious Damen shows up.  Is he after Ever or her sworn enemy?  He runs hot and cold, takes her to Disneyland and ditches her on the way home.  And who's that Drina chick who's always following him around.  It's a pretty decent read if you can ignore how the plot seems very familiar if you've read Twilight.  Not my favorite, but I didn't hate it either.

Alright, now for a movie.  Arthur and I saw Paranormal Activity.  Terrified the snot out of us!  It's about this young couple living in a nice house who've been experiencing odd, unexplainable phenomena at night.  Micha, the guy, decides to get a video camera and set it up to catch these occurances and prove they aren't crazy.  It starts off easy with a moving door, but things soon escalate.  Katie admits that she's been haunted since she was 8 and it follows her everywhere she goes.  I won't go into further detail  because I don't want to ruin it for anybody.  Let's just suffice it to say this movie was terrifying and I was clinging to Arthur's arm the whole time.  The entire audience was into it and yelling at the screen and scream like little children. 

Check out the trailer.  Then, if it's in your area, check out the movie.  Just make sure you don't have go home to an empty house.  ; )

Well, I hope this extra long post with lots of reviews, links, and things to look at made up for the week (or more ^^; ) I missed.  See ya next time!  Same bat time, same bat blog!

Sicky Icky

Sorry for the lapse yesterday; I was sick.  It came on pretty suddenly, actually.  Wednesday morning I was fine until about 9am.  I had even gotten up and done my exercise and everything!  I felt a dip in my energy and assumed I was tired.  Then, by 10, I was feeling awful.  I wound up clocking out at 12:15, going home, and sleeping till about 5.  I woke up, ate some soup, putzed around for a few hours, then dosed myself with nyquil and went back to sleep.  When my alarm went off again at 5:45 the next morning I still felt wretched, so I called off and slept till noon.  I spent the rest of the day on the couch watching movies.

I feel much better today, which is a good thing.  We're doing karaoke tonight!  We go to the awesome little bar called Darwin's Waiting Room Bar and Grill..  They have a fabulous KJ named Glen.  He really knows how to run a rotation.  We used to go almost every Friday, but things have been busy lately and we've missed several weeks.  That being the case, I'm really anxious to go tonight. 

Not only do we have karaoke tonight, but Saturday is the Annual Horns n Halos AZ Fetish Ball.  It's lots of fun.  We get to dress all sexy and go party with a bunch of crazy people!  They've always got tons of great performers and cool vendors.  The best part is the feeling of acceptance.  It doesn't matter what your size, shape, color, kink, anything!  It's pretty nice to walk around and have random strangers come up to compliment you on your outfit.  At the Fetish Prom I actually had several girls come up to compliment me on my super-long, bright pink false eyelashes.  Joy! 

Arthur and I learned that the best thing to do with this event is spring for the VIP/Hotel package.  It's expensive, but you get two VIP passes and a hotel room not far from the event.  This means no worrying about a designated driver or having to miss out on fun because somebody (usually me) wimps out around 2am.  Another bonus is the access VIPs get.  There are one or two VIP lounges at the event itself, plus you don't have to wait in the long lines to get in.  The biggest plus, however, is the after party.  Horns n Halos takes over the majority of the hotel and the whole pool area.  The party doesn't start until about 3 am and it is kickin!  You have to show your badge to get in, then it's all swimming, thumping music, sexy people, and lots of inappropriate fun!  Definitely worth it.

So, that's that.  Last night we bought an old movie from my childhood.  Did you ever see Hocus Pocus? This movie came out in 1993 and starred Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimi.  It's a story about a few teenagers who, being virgins, light the black flame candle on Halloween night and bring back the vicious Sanderson Sisters.  These witches were hung three hundred years ago for eating the life forces of local children.  Now that they're back, the have until sunrise to eat more children and retain enternal youth and beauty or they'll burst into dust.  Max, his sister Dani, and Allyson, have to fight them and stop them from achieving their goal.  It's a goofy, childish romp and it's hilarious!  My favorite part is how it's a Disney movie that  constantly makes fun of the lead character for being a virgin at the age of, let's say, 16.  Priceless!

If you can, get ahold of this film.  We found it at Target for $9, so it's not expensive.  If nothing else, buy it for the song numbers:

Sorry about the low quality, but I didn't have time to find a better video.

So that's about it for this week.  See you next week and have a great weekend!

Shirtless Hotties

Today's post will probably be a little shorter than my previous posts.  I'm tired and nothing truly exciting happened yesterday.  We finally rented X-Men Origins: Wolverine, having refused to pay $10 a person to see it in theatres.  I'd heard from some friends that the CG was terrible, the plot weak, and the dialouge worthy of George Lucas for it's lack of believability.  I am happy (?) to report that this was all true and we saved about $15 by waiting to rent it.

The main redeeming quality is that Hugh Jackman winds up shirtless, and nekkid, quite often.  The audience is rewarded for sitting through the film with the occasional glimpse of that fine, sculpted tushy.  The unforunate part is that Ryan Reynolds doesn't get shirtless until he's all mutilted from experimental surgeries. 

Basically, the movie is kind of worth the rental fee.  It's fun, but not well-done enough for the series. Some stuff is canon with the comic book series, but most of it isn't.  Facts are smudged over for the sake of the plot, and that's ok, I suppose.  I'm not the major comic book geek that Arthur is, so it didn't bother me as much.  If you're gonna watch it, have a stiff drink with you.

Megan, my sister, finally got up with me this morning to go walking.  We brought her boyfriend's dog and had a lovely walk and some nice conversation. I also found an app. for my iPod that turns it into a pedometer.  Unfortunately, you have to keep the Pod unlocked for it to continuously count your steps.  I didn't realize this at first, so it only counted my first 117 steps, stopped for about 15 minutes, and then I restarted it.  By the time we got home, it had coutned about 2,900.  I figure, with the lapse, we did a little over a mile and a half.  The goal is to do between 1.5 and 2 miles, so success!

My biggest disappointment is that I haven't been having the huge energy rush I had the first day.  Now, I'm just feeling sluggish.  Maybe I have to keep it up for awhile to get that energy back.  I dunno.  At least it's getting easier to get up at 5.

How bout some book stuff?

For anybody who is a fan of the Wheel of Time Series, written by the late Robert Jordan, I've got a great link for you!  As you know, Robert Jordan died on October 16, 2007 after a long battle with a rare bone disease.  He had been in the process of completing his long-running and much beloved series.  They were able to find a young writer to finish the series.  Brandon Sanderson will be completing the series based on RJ's extensive notes and thurough outlines.  The first book (yes, they broke the "last" book up into three books.  Way to milk it, guys) is coming out Tuesday, October 27, 2009.

Now, if you've been a follower of the series, you know how long it is.  The Gathering Storm is book 12 and all of the books are LOOOOOONG.  I myself tried to reread the series earlier this year.  I think I got about 1/4 of the way through the third book.  Needless to say, I got tired.  It's a difficult series to read and each book is just...so...long.  I've been desparing of my situation.  How am I supposed to remember all the plotlines?  What's going on in RandLand?  Who is Cadsune?

Happy day!  While trolling blogs the other day, I stumbled upon the Tor Books online community.  And guess what?  I'm not the only one who's been worrying about this.  A woman by the name of Leigh has been diligently rereading the series for us and posting chapter summaries (along with some commentary) on the message forum!  This blog is fantastic!!  I'm only on book one, The Eye of the World, but she's already up to The Lord of Chaos, book #6, chapters 44-45.  Granted, there's still 5 more books to go, but hey, this is still awesome of her.

So, if you're a fan of the series, but have a life and thus no time to reread the epic, visit Leigh's Reread of WOT.

Now, the required goofy video of the day:  (DISCLAIMER: BAD LANGUAGE)



Have a lovely day.

Rule #33: Enjoy the Little Things

It's time to nut up or shut up!  This is now my battle cry!

Went and saw Zombieland at the drive-in last night.  Seriously, funniest movie I've seen this year.  This is probably the BEST zombie movie I've ever seen!!!  It also includes the most awesomest cameo EVAR!  I'll not tell you who it is so as not to ruin the suprise.  However, a little hint: he's a man so funny, all he has to do is twitch an eyebrow to have the audience rolling.

So yeah, great flick.  Patient zero ate a madcow disease infected hamburger and thus zombies were spawned.  Very few survivors are left, and those that are have their own ways of doing things.  The main character, Columbus (played by Jesse Eisenburg) (all the characters hide their real names and go by their hometowns) is alive because of his list of rules.  #1 is cardio, #2 is wear a seatbelt, #3 is the double tap, #4 is avoid bathrooms.  Or some order, I might be mixed up.  He meets up with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), who is the most bad-a** character I've seen in quite some time.  Tallahassee's goal is Twinkies.

Throughout the movie, the guys are continuously robbed by a sister team, Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin).  The girls take two of their vehicles, lots of their guns, and eventually the four team up to journey to Pacific Playland in California.  Lots of hilarity, vandilism, and zombie killing ensues.

If you have the option, see this movie at a drive-in.  You're gonna wanna scream at the screen and yell out loud and laugh and it's easier to not anger people if everybody is closeted in their cars (or around their cars) with their own sound systems.  You can find the nearest drive-in theatre to you at this website.

Click HERE to see an interview with Jesse Eisenburg and Woody Harrelson.
Click RIGHT HERE to watch an interview with Emma Stone.

And one more time, check out the trailer!


That being said, I'll move on to some self-indulgence now.

I wasn't as good this morning about excersising.  This was mostly my fault, but not entirely.  I didn't sleep well the night before, so I slept a little later today.  I got up at 6:15 expecting to squeeze in a bit of Wii Fit.  Unfortunately, the fates conspired against me.  First I couldn't find the Wii Fit board and had to wake Arthur up to tell me where it was hiding.  When I finally found it, I turned on the game and prepared to do some yoga and mild weight-loss activities.  However, the batteries in the board were, of course, dead.  By this time it was after 6:30 and I have to leave around 7.  I did about 20 crunches on my own and then I had to get ready for work.

So, new plan?  Get up at 5:45 on Tuesdays and Thursdays if I'm gonna have time to do at least 20 minutes of Wii Fit stuff and still shower off and have breakfast and get dressed and whatnot.  Lesson learned.

Books:  I finally got Let the Right One In!  I loved the movie and have been dying to read the book.  I got through to the second chapater last night before we went to Zombieland.  John Lindquist really goes out of his way make you feel as uncomfortable as possible right from the first page.  In the movie, Oskar (a 12-year old nerd boy) is a very sympathetic character.  In the book, he makes me squirm.  He's both more and less sympathetic.  He's the victim of severe bullying and some really humilitating physical problems.  He also overcompansates for his feelings of inadequecy by shoplifting and indulging in violent fantasies.  I feel bad for him, but I also want him to be a better person in order to prove the bullies wrong.

I'm really excited to be reading the book.  I can't wait to meet Eli and learn more about her character.

That about wraps it up for today.  I'm enjoying doing this blog, even if nobody's reading it.  It helps me stay committed to my healthier lifestyle goals and it lets me feel like I'm sharing my favorite things with the masses.  If you do visit, I'd appreciate some comments or feedback.  Also, go ahead and follow me!  T'would make me happy, indeed.

Papa's Swan Lake

Got this in my email from my grandfather.  He's so cute!  He emailed it to all his granddaughters.  <3

This is amazing!

Happy Monday!  Is it just me, or do weekends seem to go entirely too fast?  Oh well, that just means I'm a little closer to a week off!  Sometimes it really pays to work for a school.  I get all major holidays off as well as fall and spring breaks.  Can't complain about a full week of paid vacation.

So I successfully managed to get up at 5am all on my own today.  It was hard.  5 am is a hellish hour and it seemed a little warmer this morning than it did Friday morning.  My sister offered to join me last night, however, when I tried to wake her up this morning, it didn't happen.  As a matter of fact, the brat locked her bedroom door and didn't answer her phone!  How's that for sisterly love?

Anyway, not only have I gotten up at 5 am twice now, I also got up early Saturday morning to go for a walk.  Of course, by early I mean 8 am.  But hey, that's early for a Saturday!  I think I'm screwing with my internal clock, though.  Sunday morning, 8 am, I was wide awake.  It's amazingly peaceful at that time.  I sat quietly in the living room, enjoying the cool breeze coming through the open windows, and tooled around online.  I even got laundry started early, though it took the whole day.

I have to say, I think the walking is working.  I've lost two pounds since Friday and my energy levels are up.  I'm going to start alternating what I do.  Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I will rise at 5 am for the walking.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I will get up at 5:30 am and do Wii Fit so I can get in some yoga and other exercises.  Woo-hoo for a healthier lifestyle!  Hopefully by the time Phoenix ComiCon rolls around, I'll be in good enough shape to go as Demi the Demoness. 

Alright, so much for the health update, which I'm sure everybody appreciates.  Time for some fun stuff.

Didn't get to see Zombieland this weekend, but we're going tonight.  We're going to see it at the drive-in!  The last (and only) movie I saw at a drive-in was 28 Days Later.  Good flick.  Apparently I can only see zombie movies at the drive-in.

Oh!  Speaking of zombies, I have a good book reccomendation for you! 

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan.  Fabulous read.  Very few books scare me, but the scenes where the main character is under attack were truly frightening.  Also, this book actually has a trailer!



Pretty nifty, eh?  So yeah, read the book. 

And now for some funny videos I found over the weekend.  Hope you enjoy them as much I as did.

Nintendo.  So good, you'll need a smoke.


Mean Kitties are everywhere..


And finally...

I think the best part, aside from this guy's outfit, is how it's making fun of the sexist and disrespectful view of women portrayed in so many rap songs and videos.  But hey, it's not sexist cause it's in a song.

That's all for today.  See you tomorrow!

Let the Right Steampunk Zombies In

Another day, another dollar, another blog.

Morning, folks!  I started my day off pretty well.  I've been wanting to get up early to go for a nice walk/jog before going to work.  The problem is that I alraedy get up at 6:30 am.  In order to get in the walk and shower, I need to get up at 5 am.  Ugh.  I failed utterly the first day I tried it.  Luckily, I have an awesome friend, Rachel, who agreed to help. Since she lives in Maryland, she called me at 8am her time.  That means 5am mine.  The phone rang, blasting forth the chorus of Chase the Morning from Repo! The Genetic Opera, and I grouchily answered.  "Get your a** out of bed.  I know it sucks, but you have a jog to go on."  "Fine.  I'm getting up, b***h.  Thanks for your help."  "No problem, doll."

Friends will call you.  Only best friends will call you at 5am to help you get out of bed.

Oddly, that whole "if you get up early and excercise, you'll feel great the rest of the day" thing is true.  I've been in a much better mood than usual and I have more energy.  I'll probably crash out and need a nap by the time I get home, though.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep this up.

A few interesting things I think you'll like:

Watched "Let the Right One In" last night. This movie is AWESOME!  It's based on the book of the same title written by John Ajvide Lindqvist.  It's a Swedish vampire story about a 12-year-old boy named Oskar.  He's a loner at school and gets picked on and beat up pretty regulalry.  When he gets a new neighbor, Eli, he thinks he's finally found a friend, possibly even a girlfriend.  But Eli's a bit odd and only comes out at night.  Plus, there's been a lot of mysterious murders around the area.  Great movie, awesome characters.  I just ordered the book on Amazon.com last night and can't wait for it to get here.  The people I've talk to who have seen the movie and read the book have said that while the movie rocked, the book is ten times better.  Huzzah!

Here's the trailer for the movie:

If you have the chance, rent it or read it.

Ok, here's something I'm interested in, though I haven't had a chance to really get into it. Being poor sucks.  Anywho, it's called Steampunk.  It's a pretty nifty sub-genre that has its roots in science fiction writing (such as H.G. Wells) and has evolved into a whole fashion and "gear" movement.  It's basically a romanticized version of the steam powered era.  People go about reworking existing technology to look like old-fashioned, steam-powered gadgets.  Check out a few pictures of cool gadgets here.  The fashion is pretty interesting, too.  You get a very victorian style with lots of zippers, goggles, and hardware added on.  Clockwork gears are majorly popular add-ons as are old keys.  I would love to get more involved with the scene, but it's not something you can piece together one article at a time. Unfortunately, as I stated earlier, being poor sucks.  If you want to learn more about it, here's the wikipedia link.

Alright.  That seems to do it for today.  It's Friday, woot!  It's been an awfully long week and I'm looking forward to some R&R.  Actually, I'll be going to karaoke, sleeping, doing laundry, cleaning the house, going to my cousin's birthday party, and hopefully seeing Zombieland.  Have a good weekend everybody!  See y'all Monday!

Pull the Other One

Why the desire to blog?  Why the need to spout useless information and self-indulgent crap?

Boredom, that's why.  Some work days are boring.  Some sitting around days are boring.  So what's a girl to do other than fill cyber space with meaningless drivel.

That being said:  How 'bout a book recommendation?  Or a two, really.

First one:  Th1irteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher.  Fabulous book that I finished in a single day.  This is the story of Clay Jenkins and his classmate, Hannah Baker.  Hannah had committed suicide two weeks prior to the setting of the story.  Clay comes home one day to find an envelope addressed to him and filled with cassett tapes.  It turn out to be Hannah and she's telling him all the reasons she decided to kill herself.  Each reason is an event directly related to a specific person.  Each person will receive the tapes in the order of the events for which they are responsible.  The whole thing is moving and astounding.  It kinda of reminds you what it felt like in high school, especially if you were the odd one out.  This story is an echo of The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

Second One: The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of my all-time favorites.  I got it my senior year of high school and have lost count of how many times I've read it since.  Aside from it being set in Pittsburgh, my home town, the whole thing is wonderful.  It's told in a series of letters from "Charlie" written to you.  The reason Charlie is writing to you  is because you were both at that party and you had the chance to sleep with that girl and you didn't so you must be a good person.  As the title suggests, Charlie is a wallflower; he's shy, awkward, and a little off.  His story is hard to put down.

Ok, I've covered my personal passion.  How bout some of that silly video stuff I promised.  Watch this:



Amazing, isn't it?  Those women scare the crap out of me.  I'm quite sure they don't possess bones, just rubber.

I originally found this video through the RiffTrax blog.  It's run by the guys who used to do Mystery Science Theatre 3000.  Mike Nelson is one of the three main dudes.  I recommend their website and blog, which is quite funny and they find the strangest stuff.   This is their main page.  Here's their blog.  They spend their time adding their MST tracks to popular (and not so popular) movies.  If you ever were a fan of the origninal show, this is a great treat for you. You can buy the RiffTrax and sync them up with the movies you already own.  Awesomeness and hillarity will ensue.

Ok, that's all for now. I'm sure I've bored whoever is silly enough to read this to tears.  At least I feel entertained, and that's what's important.

Ja ne, peace.

YouTube Video

Awhile back, Giorgos wanted to start an ongoing video blog thing with each person doing one week.  I was to be the Monday Book Geek.  Here is my audition video, if you need a good chuckle.

Blog Re-Launch

Well, it's certainly been quite some time since I last blogged. Over two years, in fact.

I originally started this blog to keep up with friends and family while I was in Japan, teaching English. You can read about my adventures there in the "Lost in Japan" blog that's still available.

I don't really know what my intentions are for this blog. Perhaps I shall wow you all with my wisdom and wit. Or perhaps I shall purge the angst in my soul to the faceless masses of the interwebs so that my wasted life will seem a little less bleak.

Or I'll just use this blog to entertain myself, talk about books, games, movies, and post silly videos. Yes, I think that will work.

Let's start with my main passion: Books. I am a book worm. A bibliophile. A nerd. Whatever label you want to slap on it, that's what I am. I'm addicted to the written word and love nothing more than to walk into a bookstore or library and inhale deeply the sent of fresh paper and binding. I actually get laughed at by the people who are foolish enough to join me on these trips.

I can spend hours in a bookstore; longer in the library. My tastes range from fiction to sci-fi and fantasy to drama and horror. The only things that I don't really enjoy are non-fiction works. I read to escape. While I don't really appreciate them, I have been known to pick up a romance novel occasionally. If it's well-written and not too cheesy, I can enjoy it.

Of course, I have a few favorite authors. My number one is Terry Brooks, the creative force behind the Shannara series, the Word and Void series, and the Magic Kingdom of Landover series. The Sword of Shannara was the first fantasy novel I ever picked up. I had been playing Zelda: The Ocarina of Time and decided fantasy could be a cool genre to read. This was back in, I believe, late junior high or early high school. Sword was the one I chose to start my investigation. Now, about 12 years later, I'm hooked.

I actually had the honor of meeting Terry Brooks in October of 2008. He and his sister, Laurie Brooks, did a double-signing at the Changing Hands bookstore. I had him autograph a few of my books, including my original Sword of Shannara and I got to have my picture taken with him. When I handed him my book, he looked at it and exclaimed "What happened to my book?!" My poor copy is missing it's front cover, is dog-eared, and obviously has seen a few years. I told him it was my first fantasy novel; the one that got me into the genre. He smiled and signed it.

Nothing beats meeting an author who is truly happy to be talking to his/her fans. Among the authors I've been able to meet are James A. Owen (Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica) and Frank Beddor (The Looking Glass Wars). I have their books signed, and in James's case, decorated. It's kinda cool to look at my autographed books that never leave the house.

Alright, I guess I'll stop here for now. I'll leave off with a few links to some good stores, the Phoenix Public Library, and some of my favorite authors. Thanks for reading. Y'all come back now, y'hear.

http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/index.jsp

http://www.terrybrooks.net/

http://www.heretherebedragons.net/

http://www.lookingglasswars.com/

http://www.changinghands.com/

http://www.bookmans.com/