is there anyone out there cause it's getting harder and harder to breathe...

Gonna start off by saying I feel like crap.

I need at least 6 hours of sleep to function and since I got less than 4 last night my stomach is all acidy - does anyone's get that way or is that just me? Like even if I stay up all night on purpose like at lock-ins and stuff when I was a kid - my stomach turns into complete acid and hurts and I'm nauseous and it throws off my whole day. Plus I was burning up this morning but too tired to go get thermometer so I'm really hoping I'm not getting whatever flu is going around cause that means the boyfriend will now get it and he's been sick enough.

Needless to say I slept all day, finally waking up around 5:30 to eat and then crashing back on the couch to watch Bones, Malibu Country and NCIS.

I did however, register for not only summer classes but fall ones as well and did some homework before getting on here to post so the day wasn't a complete loss.

This summer I'll be taking Foundations which is a 1 credit class completely online that you can apparently finish in like a week - yay. And then Library Systems which is 3 credits completely online but it's only in June so with that combination I should be fine for camp in July.

In the fall I'm taking Youth Services which only makes sense since I'm in it and then doing my practicum at the Regional Center. Did I mention Tom is in? I about jumped up and down but then realized that would look bad and I don't want to scare him off already.

Anyway, 3 credits for Youth Services and 2 for 90 hours of Practicum and then I'll be done completely.

After taking comps of course.

Which is going to suck big time.

It's the equivalent of writing a thesis, except that it's four of them basically. She told us to take that week off of work completely.

Oh joy.

I'm already nauseous this is just making it worse.

Okay new topic. Let's go with yesterday.

So, from the beginning, since apparently me not posting means I'm dead on the side of the road.

Sunday, March 2nd,

scratch that, March 3rd,

See, can't even function properly. Good thing I wrote down the class names and numbers before attempting to register today.

Anyway, woke up at 9:50, went to church. Mom was there cause of Grams birthday party, she came early to help the Cool Aunt set up. After church went out with Oldest Sister's family plus Mom plus the Cool Aunt to the awesome Greek restaurant for some flaming cheese - which my niece and nephew are obsessed with cause they light it on fire and yell opa - and some eggs and sausage, cause apparently they have a breakfast menu.

It was awesome.

Afterwards I came back to the apartment, showered, and figured out numbers for classes and added them to a cart so all I had to do was hit enroll and I'm good. Which I did so I'm good.

Then headed over to Grams place for the party. It was a good turnout, some of her siblings were there and their kids, then the Cool Aunt's family and a couple of uncles, one with his wife and a daughter and then ours minus Second Sister who is sick.

So I'm basically screwed cause our family is sick and people at work are sick. I'm hoping it'll just be today and then I'm over it. Granted it's worse cause of the lack of sleep but I don't think that's the entire cause of the thing. Got the gross runny nose and cough to go with it too but I've had that all week.

Blah.

Anyway, we sang and ate cake and jammed out for about an hour with the family. Nice to see some extended family I haven't seen in like years. And Grams was happy so that was good. We took a lot of pictures and I got to talk to my uncles about some family history that I've been attempting to collaborate. Scroll down a few posts, well it might be a few pages by now since you've gotten Jax and Matt Harper since.

I know all this stuff about my Dad's side but really nothing about Mom's side which is weird cause I lived with Grams.

Anyway, I asked my uncles about a family legend - basically my grandpa was a kickass baseball player. And I'm not just saying that. He was a pitcher and no one could hit off him. He played for a farm team in Kansas in the semi-pros and legend has it he got called up to the big leagues, but the day before he was going to leave his throwing arm got hit by a stray ball and his career was over.

But it's legend because my uncles have heard it through extended family and not from their own dad because grandpa was never about showing off. He wrote a book - a novel - and it got published and they didn't even know about it until after it came out.

Which was posthumous, btw.

But he didn't tell them. He was good man, my grandpa, and I'd like to learn more about him but with Grams the way she is with the Alzheimer's I'm almost too afraid to ask her. Cause I don't want to upset her if she doesn't remember.

And it's a hard topic anyway.

I have his journals. Well, sections of his journals that my artist uncle uploaded. But those only go so far, like I said he wasn't one to show off.

So I shall continue to attempt to get my facts from extended family.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, birthday, Grams was happy and it was fun.

After that came back to the apartment to get ready for the concert. The boyfriend has this thing that DRIVES ME NUTS where I tell him to be here at 5 and then he'll text me at like 4:55 saying he's just leaving - there's an hour drive between his place and mine - and then I start freaking out and then 5 minutes later the buzzer on my door goes off and he's here.

Cause he's full of crap and was in the parking lot the whole time.

Mean.

So we left about 5:15, got to the arena around 6:30 and parked in the lot cause we don't really know that area as well. I go there with the Cool Aunt for the CWS but she drives and really, whenever I go there for school I stick to 72nd and Dodge. That's literally all I know. BTW lot parking, bad idea, but I'll get there.

Went in, showed our tickets, found our seats - front row mezzanine on the balcony it was awesome I was like 50 feet away from Adam Levine, holy crap.

The boyfriend said if he lost his voice - like last week - his sister could fill in for him.

First off, Adam Levine and Avril Lavigne are not related.

Which he knows, but did I mention that he's often full of crap just to bug me?

So the seats were great, the guy a couple seats down from us was not so great. We were on the end - and being on the end is awesome - except when people keep insisting on getting up to leave and go talk to the people in the row behind you. Eventually they just went and sat back there but there were at least 5 times he had to walk back and forth in front of us before that happened.

Anyway, Owl City was first.



They did about 5 songs - I knew 2 of them, apparently I need to listen to their new album cause all I could sing were Fireflies and Good Time. Fireflies was super cool cause everyone had their phone out in the pitch dark and it looked like fireflies.



Then came Neon Trees - whom I love.



See, I got their single Animal free off itunes way before they were on the radio. So then when I heard it on the radio I went nuts - same thing with Hey Monday and La Roux. They played Animal, Everybody Talks, some others from their new album and then covered Don't You Want Me by the Human League. The audience went nuts, we went nuts. The boyfriend even sang that one.

But the sociology minor in me kicked in during this whole thing cause the majority of the people in the audience were either 40 or teenagers. And then there was like me and him and Beej (who was there with a group of teenagers.) Anyway, so it was hysterical because when they covered that all the "old" people - they're not old, don't scoff, I'm just saying in the context of audience members they were old compared to the teenagers - so all the "old" people were yelling out the lyrics while the younger ones sat back and went, "what the hell is this song and why do you know the words?" So they rocked it, but not nearly as much as Maroon 5 rocked it.

Holy crap. So while Owl City and Neon Trees sang about 5 a piece, Maroon 5 sang about 20, and it was awesome.

They started with Payphone and it all went uphill from their, even including classics like Sunday Morning, She Will Be Loved, Harder to Breathe, and This Love. Other ones you might know are Wake Up Call, Won't Go Home Without You, Makes Me Wonder, Misery, Moves Like Jagger, and then their newest One More Night, Daylight, Lucky Strike, and Love Somebody - amongst others. It was awesome.



So they sang 3 out of my top 5 - Won't Go Home Without You, Misery, and Moves Like Jagger only missing Back At Your Door and How. But I love them all and making that top 5 and leaving others out like Man Who Never Lied, Doin' Dirt, Get Back In My Life, One More Night and Lucky Strike are painful, but they're in my top 10.



Did I mention I was a fan?

Blame Second Sister.

She's the one that gave me the Hands All Over CD that brought them back in my life - after the first album I got distracted by other artists. Now they're back full-force.

And she's the one that called today demanding details.



Anyway, one of the coolest things was how much he featured James Valentine. Kept calling him a native and saying how excited he was to do the show for months and how he deserves the most camera time.

Held up his guitar pick that said Jimmy V.



Loved it.

For those of you who don't know James Valentine is his guitarist.

And he's from Lincoln.

Plus he's awesome so it's a trifecta.

And speaking of natives - Neon Trees' sound engineer is from Omaha so he and his kid ran onstage before the performance and took a picture in front of the crowd.

I literally cannot ramble enough about how awesome Maroon 5 were live.



I mean, Neon Trees was fantastic. Tyler has some excellent dance moves - and cool shoes - plus their female drummer is phenomenal, but Adam, James and the rest of their crew were even better.



It was amusing because at one point they gave Adam a camera and he went around introducing his band members.

They sang for a while then left the stage and I'm like, are they not gonna sing Moves Like Jagger? I was in shock. Then they dropped the bridge which was up in the ceiling to the platform in the middle of the crowd and they came back out and sang that was plus She Will Be Loved - acoustic with James - Stereo Hearts, and Daylight.



Instead of Xtina it was some brunette, who I'll have to Google cause I have no idea who it was. She was good just not as good as Xtina. She did has kickass boots though.

As do a lot of people lately so apparently I need some. Which Oldest Sister keeps insisting but see the only place I go is work. And the last time I wore boots to work was on a dare - the cowboy ones after Myers, sorry Connelly's wedding - and they kicked my ass. That was painful.

There's a reason I don't wear heels, you should have seen me in drama senior year, oh geez.

Silver high heels as Elaine Harper in Arsenic and Old Lace attempting to flee Jonathan and his henchman Einstein (who just happens to be the current boyfriend.)

"Run across the stage in these and don't make noise that the floor mics will pick up."

Yeah, right.

I got so much crap from Juwanna. Still have a picture of us holding them after a performance.

Where was I?

See what I said about ramblings? Amped just talking about the concert - it was this times ten last night which is why I couldn't sleep.



It rocked, so they sang and we sang - boyfriend included.

Which he will deny I'm sure so please bring it up in the future.

But he did good.

Was the perfect present.

So of course afterward he's like, you know I'll never be able to top that, right?

Ever the romantic showing up at work with flowers and all that.

He'll think of something.

After we got out of the building we got stuck in the lot for an hour, and like I said they sang about 20 plus the other 10 so it was way way way late by the time we got back.

Which is why I'm going to bed early tonight - early meaning midnight.

Which is 5 minutes from now.

So I should stop rambling and post the music and fiction and then crash.

As expected you're gonna get a lot of Maroon 5 for the next week.

Or two.

So get used to it.

Figuring out how I'm gonna divide this up. Think I'll go by album so favorites from Songs About Jane - came out 2002 - of course I can't post them all so you'll get 3 and then tomorrow you'll get more from SAJ and then it'll go from there on...

Harder To Breathe



This Love


She Will Be Loved


THEY LOOK SO YOUNG!

alright, all fantastic and now it's on to the Jax's finale. or should i say beginning.

In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni - Part Six

I get about halfway done with my own grave before my arms start shaking and I can’t dig anymore. The taller man looks at me, then at the dead girl, then at me again. I shake my head no. It doesn’t matter what I say, I’m dead anyway.

The taller man points his gun at my head. “Any last words, Mr. Jameson?” he asks.

I just stare at him.

“Go with God,” he says, cocking his gun.

“If there was a god, there wouldn’t be people like me,” I reply, closing my eyes waiting for the gunshot.

“Jax…Jax,” says a female voice.

Who was that? How do they know my name? I open my eyes and look around, seeing only the two men in front of me and the dead girl to my left. None of the three have moved since I closed my eyes or seem to notice another female presence.

“What?” I ask.

“Your alarm is going off,” says the voice.

Alarm? I blink and I’m gone. Ceiling. No stars. A dream. “Right, sorry,” I say reaching for my phone and turning off the alarm. Eight A.M. I sit up, throwing my legs over the side of the bed, and run my hands over my face. It was a dream. Stop sweating. In my stomach I can feel her eyes on me. I turn around and see the girl smiling at me. It’s probably against regulations to sleep with your assigned partner the night before a mission but I’ve never been one for following rules. She looks a lot better without the blood-splattered face. I should really get her name before the op tonight. She only knows mine, or one of my aliases rather, because I paid for the hotel room with a credit card.

I grab my duffel bag and walk to the bathroom to take a shower. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. After I’m done I return to find her dressed and cleaning her gun. Eight-fifteen A.M.

“Ready?” she asks, looking up at me from the chair in the corner.

“Yeah.”

She pulls a phone out from her bag and hands it to me. I hold down the number two key, activating the speed dial. It takes two rings before someone picks up.

“I can get you what you want,” I say simply. There is a pause.

“Blue building, corner of thirty-third and Thomas,” says a German voice. “Eleven P.M. Through the back door and up the stairs to the second floor. Come alone.” Dialtone.

I look at the girl. “Phase one, complete.”

***11:15 P.M.***

“Do we have an understanding, Herr Jameson?” the German asks, staring at me through the darkened office. 

...

In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni - We go into the circle by night and are consumed by fire.

and then it starts over again. cause it's a circle.

...for more pictures see facebook album...

Oh Captain, My Captain.

So I picked up "Dead Poet's Society" from the library yesterday thinking it's a classic, and hey, it's got Robin Williams in it, so it'll be hilarious!

I've come to realize that SuperHumann was right all those years ago when she said, "just because something is a classic doesn't mean it's any good." Even though she was referring to the Grapes of Wrath I think it still applies in this situation.

Not that I doubted her wisdom. I've always taken her words to heart.

Even when she's throwing markers at my head.

Though, to be fair, I did deserve it.

"What's unique about the word 'equal'?"
*absolute silence* *raise hand*
"It has a q in it."
*red marker flies past my head and hits the wall behind me*

Good thing her aim is lacking.

Or was at that moment.

That woman got me through high school and then some, which was no easy task, believe me.

Going to a dorm school when you're used to living with your parents back home isn't exactly paradise. It was more like homesick central. I mean, I'd met the other kids before at school events, but that didn't prepare me to live with them on a daily basis with no escape.

So I'd talk to her. About pretty much everything. Looking back I don't know how she put up with all my crap. But she was patient. She was kind. And she wrote me a five page letter front and back that we labeled "The Safety Net." I carried it around every day in my back pocket for years until it started to fall apart. Now it resides in my wallet and I've read through it a few times in the past few years.

Frayed around the edges it still gives me the strength to keep me on the road I'm on.

She's the reason I majored in English in the first place. So really, you can kind of blame my profession on her as well.

Well, her and the Library Goddess.

Both very strong and independent people, watching out for me. I've been lucky that way, always having someone watching out for me.

Ironically, some of those inspirational words she quoted actually came from her teacher...my uncle.

My favorite of course being:

Say One Thing
Mean Another
Write A Third
Expect A Fourth
If It's Simple, Complicate It
It It's Complicated Draw A Picture
If It's On The Test Don't Talk About It


In true Everts fashion.

And I still frequent the phrase "comments? questions? snide remarks?" at most of the meetings I lead.

So Dead Poet's Society, yes, horribly horribly depressing and not at all what I was expecting. Which sometimes is a good thing, but in this situation was not so cool.


Scale of Awesome says 4/10.

In order to sway from the depression of the moment I began to write out skits for camp while still watching. Giving it my full attention was too much.

Why is Red Foreman always Red Foreman?

Seriously, does he ever play the good guy?

Typecasting.

Which amusingly enough is yet another high school thing involving SuperHumann. In drama productions I was always the dumb girlfriend. Or the evil queen. Maybe they were trying to tell me something.

In one instance I actually had to sing something on stage - in a non-musical - and the script listed something boring so we decided to go our own way. During a sophomore World History class she pulled out a boombox and "forced" us to listen to "Istanbul" by They Might Be Giants. I say "forced" as the other kids were like, what the crap? But I was totally into it. Which led to me singing it onstage during a One Act performance whilst being photographed by my current boyfriend though he was not at the time.

I had this horrible habit of dating my fellow actors which drove SuperHumann nuts. And it made it awkward when you're playing the dumb girlfriend. Because for some reason I was never dating the one that I was paired with onstage. Like in Candid, the one where I was walking around with headphones and singing "Istanbul" I had to play my current boyfriend's girlfriend, but at the time I was dating the guy who played one of his best friends.

Awkward.

I still remember SuperHumann telling me about an interesting reaction, apparently I put my hand on my current boyfriend's leg and the boyfriend at that time shot straight up in his seat.

Woops.

Then, senior year when we did Arsenic and Old Lace I was engaged to that straight shooter on stage whilst actually dating my current boyfriend who played Jonathan's henchman, Dr. Einstein. "My how I've changed!"

See, now, if I'd been anything other than the dumb girlfriend that wouldn't have been so awkward.

But apparently they liked making me sit on the windowseat and watching me re-apply my makeup for eight pages straight.

I've got the photos to prove it.


It took two people to get me into that dress.

And running across the stage in those heels while trying not to make noise was more difficult than you'd imagine.

Especially as I was not so good in heels. Cause I didn't wear them.

Don't wear them.


I loved high school drama.

I mean, the stage kind.

The living drama I could do without.

We'd have so much fun in practice that I'd look forward to it all day.

That's the boyfriend on the far left.

Doesn't he look focused.









This dress was a bit more manageable.

And comfortable.

But for some reason I stuck with the silver heels throughout the whole thing.





Though that's probably a good thing, I was having trouble navigating that pair already, you didn't have to throw in another to make it worse.

Plus my roommate loved giving me crap about them.





That coat was massively itchy man.

The freshman playing Jonathan said it was a bit intimidating to play against a bunch of seniors.

But he pulled his weight pretty well.










Oh yeah, such a hard worker.

Actually pretty sure that was our first read-through/block-out for Arsenic and Old Lace.







I miss the good 'ole days. "Arsenic and Old Lace", "Candid", "Pecos Bill & Slue Foot Sue Meet the Dirty Dan Gang", "Briar Rose", though my all time favorite is still "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown". The boyfriend playing Charlie Brown with bleach blonde hair. That was interesting. I'll leave that picture out of the bunch, though it is on Facebook.

I probably should have joined drama in college, but really I was just looking to get out of their as fast as possible. As much as I loved high school, that was as much I hated college.

Most of the people were great, but four years seemed like a century. So glad to be out and in the real world.
Drama-central, seriously. It was like, sharing a hymnal with someone at chapel meant you were engaged and off the market. Even if you didn't know their name, people assumed you were an item and backed off.

Memories.

Speaking of.

As I'm on a roll with them, Random Quote Book entry: Let's try Freshman Year.

"What do you think of this dress?"
"Stick two candles in it and make a wish?"


"We never really had problems."
"Then why'd you break up?"
"I cheated on him...I guess that's kind of a problem."


"Any job skills?"
"I'm a snake-wrangler."


"Did you bat your eyes?"
"I batted everything that wasn't nailed down."


"Can you vacuum the rugs?"
"Can't you shake them out?"
"I'd have to pick up the house."
"Oh, you meant the carpet."


"My mind is like cheesecake, whatever cheesecake is. Fluff. I don't know, ask me later." that was my mother.

"Herod really had his undies in a bunch."
"Did he really just say that?"


"Send your parents a report card: 3 A's and a baby."


"I like him, but he's a pimp!"


"I'm sick of talking about boy problems. Remember in the beginning of the year when we never talked about boys? Let's do that again."
*silence*
"What did we used to talk about?"




Okay, overload. Music Rec and I'm out.

"Istanbul"

fantastic. remind me a bit of some guys i went to high school with.

Now SuperHumann and I sing this for karaoke.

It's highly amusing.

Woops, tomorrow's Word of the Day: "Rhathymia: the state of being cheerful, merry, and optimistic. It comes from a Greek word meaning 'to take a vacation, be idle'."


Gonna have to do a lot of that tomorrow, it is Summer Reading afterall.

What's an enigma?

Almost made it.

Got to the halfway point and it all went south.

Stupid food.

Made me sick.

First actual meal I've eaten in like 3 days. Serves me right, I'm going back to fasting man.

Mom picked me up halfway through the day and took me to the doctor.

He says it's strep.

Fantastic.

But he gave me some good drugs.

Speaking of, I will probably be out soon.

So I better make this quick.

You know when you're sitting in the doctor's office, after the nurse leaves, and you're patiently waiting for the doctor to show up?

And that's when the most random of thoughts or songs or quotes or whatever just hits you?

Is that just me?

Cause it's like that at the dentist too.

That's why I bring my ipod.

To drown out the crazy random.

Yes, the crazy random.

Go with it.

Today, I figured he wouldn't be long since it was really just us in the waiting room, so I left the ipod in my pocket.

I wasn't wrong...I mean, I wasn't right, but I wasn't wrong, but then I had to think of something to think about that wasn't going to make me nauseous. Cause there were pictures of needles and organs gross stuff that made me nauseous.

And that's the common denominator in all of my problems lately. Nausea.

So I'm thinking...hmm...what's a good and awkward song to sing in a doctor's office that you've never been to before?

No, not really.

It actually just came out of nowhere, like most of the songs that get stuck in my head do.

I got hit with this one.

"Glee Club Rehearsal"


We did "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" my junior year of high school. And this scene was probably my favorite of the whole thing. We did pretty well, but one of the nights I totally broke out laughing during this thing live onstage.

I was Peppermint Patty, my boyfriend - at the time - played Linus, haha um my current boyfriend - but was not at that time - played Charlie Brown.

Oh yeah, and then to make things more awkward since you know Patty is supposed to be secretly in love with Chuck and all that, for One Act that same year we did this play called "Candid" in which I was the girlfriend of my current boyfriend, but again at that time I was with...I'm just gonna call him Linus cause that'll make things easier.

The NEXT year, we did "Arsenic and Old Lace" in which I was engaged to Linus, but at that time, I was dating my current boyfriend.

So there was that switch.

But it really made a lot of scenes very awkward, especially those geared toward romance.

Yeah.

There were a lot of those.

Somehow I was typecast as the girlfriend.

Huh.

High school drama, eh.

Anyway, I loved every minute of that. And if I could go back I totally would. We had so much fun, even backstage dancing behind the scenes. I'm pretty sure I told you about the gum story.

We put gum into one of the Valentine's that Charlie Brown opened onstage - we always do a lot of weird stuff like throw in extra stuff on the last night - and he was like, WHAT?!

Awesome.

Yeah, found it, for more pictures and behind-the-scenes stuff go here: My Life in Closed Captions: Christmas time is here, Happiness and cheer

We had too much fun.

Glee Club Rehearsal

i really love everyone's facial expressions in this one just because they all individually make me laugh.

Arsenic and Old Lace

yes a dress - there was actually more than one dress, the other one took 2 people to get me into it - plus silver heels. you should see those things man, they killed me - i had to run across the stage in them without like making loud clacking noises or dragging my feet and sliding all over the place cause we had floor mikes. that was fun. and took coordination. which took time. cause i don't wear heels.

Okay, I'm going to go take some drugs.

That sounds really bad, but the doctor told me to, I swear!

And then I'm gonna konk out.

And wake up tomorrow to do all my homework for this weekend.

I hope you have a good weekend. If you don't hear from me I'm probably sleeping.

This is a week of my favorite things Day Four: Books

PREPARE FOR A MASSIVE POST and sadly I went through and cut a bunch of stuff...and it's still massive.
Birthday cake at a staff meeting, hooray my day is made!
Was going to head home tonight but the weather has changed my plans.
Looks like you're stuck with me for yet another favorites post.
Quote of the day comes from Sketch - "I want a bagel damn it can't you tell i'm hungry and yes it's lame but that's how you are when you're all whoooo." yeah, not gonna explain that one, other than to say it's not the bagel that she's talking about me being all whoooo over.

This time we'll go with books. Writing's in my blood, my grandpa's a published author (posthumous), my aunts have published books on teaching, and I just love to write. If I could it's what I would do all day...if I wasn't blocked, which I have been a lot lately. that's why you're stuck with me on here and not on physical pages.

So, since I'm a librarian and I'm around books all day I'm expanding my list from 5 favorites to 7 instead. The irony about being a librarian is that I haven't read a single one of these books since I started working there. It's like I'm around them all day the last thing I want to do when I go home is read a book. Which is kind of funny in a weird way.

Anyway, on with the list.
All-time favorites:
7. Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling
Gotta say I started these before she was big time with the movies and everything and I was hooked. I read each of them in like a day, maybe hours. Mass hysteria but they were just soooo good. And so different from other books at the time which I think is why they became so popular. Aside from her writing style and her characters which are also fantastic. I was hooked.

6. When You Are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris
This might be the funniest book I've ever read. I read the entire thing at a craft show and there were many points at which I was physically laughing so loud that I needed to like step back and contain myself so the people around me didn't think I was some psycho just randomly laughing. Highly recommended if you like nonfiction.
"Itch in da scrubs, go giddit!"

5. The Book Thief - Marcus Zuzak
Read this one for an adolescent lit class in college and fell in love with it. It's narrated by Death which totally stuck out to me so you know everyone is going to die. Which is fine, until you meet the characters and want them to somehow just triumph and live forever. It's basically a German take on the whole nazi killing jews thing. And it follows the story of this little girl who's adopted into a German family. I think it was also cool to be reading it for a class and having that debate aspect where you could get others opinions on it too. Our class consensus was a thumbs up.

4. The Westing Game - Ellen Raskin
Another favorite from my childhood, we read this in 8th grade for an English class. I love it because it was the first murder mystery I ever read. So it all took off from there. I was hooked from page one and wanted to read it all the way through but we were supposed to read it in section so we could talk in class. I soooo wanted to know who did it!! And I've recommended it to many people over the years. Gotta love it.

3. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Yet another from that adolescent lit class and I think this was the class's favorite. I don't remember anybody not liking it (not like Twilight or Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, sorry ZH not so much for me) and I think it was the most fun I had in that class just because everyone loved it and wanted to talk about it. Although the Twilight love it or hate it debate was fun as well.
I've recommended this book to literally everyone who's asked for a recommendation. Which is a lot because I work in a library...two actually. And I'm stoked for the movie. But the problem with recommending it is that those that I recommend it to also read the next two which they love as well but I haven't yet since I started working soon after college. I know, I know. They're on my list.

2. Runaway Jury - John Grisham
I loved this book! I read this one summer during high school and couldn't put it down. So many twists and turns and the movie was great as well but it was totally different than the book since it was on guns instead of cigarettes. Soooo good! Totally recommend this one who likes fiction on like the court system or lawyers or just good vs. evil. It's fantastic.

1. Women's Murder Club series - James Patterson
"In margaritas veritas. I'm in." Big surprise here. Not really. Look at the tattoo to the right. Lindsay Boxer the detective, Cindy Thomas the reporter, Claire Washburn the ME and Jill Bernhardt the lawyer. All different crime aspects covered so when you put them all together and drown them in margaritas you get what we call the Women's Murder Club.
"So, this outfit have a name?"
..."We're sort of a murder club."
"Lindsay's deputized us."
"The margarita posse."
...."Homicide chicks. That's who we are. That's what we do."
The books that lead to the show...that got cut off too early but the books are still going so it's okay. Actually 10th Reunion comes out soon. If you look at my bookshelves one of the first thing you'll notice (aside from that they're organized yes i'm a librarian get over it) is that these are the only books with tabs in them. Cause I'm a nerd. And I can't really explain the tab system just that it's there and it helps me keep track because sometimes I'll just pick one up and start from a random tab and know exactly what's going on. I love them. I love them. And I love them. And yes, I always recommend James Patterson to anyone looking for a good mystery writer as well.

Books I've read for class and loved:
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie this was another adolescent lit class special and we all really liked it. It was really funny and the artwork was a nice touch along with the humor.
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen which is basically a rite of passage for an English major. Classic, I did a project on it for my final portfolio because I find her fascinating, yes I'm a nerd. But I loved doing it because I got to come up with musical playlists for each character and I even made a board game for the thing and what else, oh wrote updated versions of the scenes and all that stuff. So much fun. Also a good story, Pride Prejudice and Zombies...or the first half which is all I got finished before I started working.
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens another one for an English major this was for British Lit 2 or 3 I can't remember, I think I took them out of order, but I love this one just because of the crazy old lady who wears the wedding dress every day and acts like she's not crazy. Which she is. And I said that repeatedly in a presentation and everyone loved me. hahaha...another fun English presentation was on Mary Robinson.
Me: "She got paid to be a mistress, I love it!"
Dr. Ashby: "You know, there's a word for that..."
Class: "Ohhhhh!!!"
The Illiad and the Odessey - Homer Thurber class and really, reading anything with Thurber was great because even if you didn't like the book he made you see it in a different perspective so you didn't hate it. did that make sense? not really. But there are really classics that deserve to be classics. A classmate and I did a presentation on the Illiad with sock puppets. Oh yeah. Sock puppets. It was awesome.
Bridge to Teribithia - Katherine Paterson More grade school fun, I cried. and that's all I got.
Anything Shakespeare but especially As You Like It and Twelfth Night
we read As You Like It in high school for English 9 I think and I fell in love with his style and his language and just everything. And Twelfth Night I love just because of all the drama and the back and forth and the mistaken identity and mostly because of yet another presentation for yet another Thurber class (Shakespeare, it was my favorite class of his) where he put us into groups and we had to present each play in a unique way. Our group got Twelfth Night so we divided up the scenes and presented them in like a Whose Line is it Anyway kind of thing with a censored scene (I was the Censored Seductress with the name tag to prove it) an E-True Shakespearian story, a soap opera called 'Days of our Night', silent acting, one segment with the crocodile hunter that we called 'Malvolio Hunter', a scene where I got interrogated in a prison cell while Anna sang in rhyme it was hilarious and I had to keep a straight face, and then the final scene was Mystery Date where all the identities were revealed.

Books I loved growing up and for fun throughout school:
You Belong to Me - Mary Higgins ClarkRead this one I think the same summer I read Runaway Jury. I loved it because I loved the song and I thought it was cool to murder people and tie it to something like that. Not that I'm going to go out and do that but it was still a clever way to tell a story.
All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten - Robert Fulghum
Yet another from a summer in high school. I remember reading this one outside on a swing, he's hilarious and this is probably his best work. So if you're looking for good and short nonfiction go for Robert Fulghum.
Princess Bride - William Goldman senior year of high school, class trip to chicago I read it on the plane. I loved the movie so I read the book and there are so many more things in it with the zoo of death and all that, definitely worth reading if you liked the movie.
Carrie - Stephen King yeah, yeah name sake and all that. I read it in grade school and I think it was my first actual adult novel. scared the crap out of me but I was hooked.
Little Girl Lost - Drew Barrymore more high school fun. discovered this book and wrote a report on it. I love Drew, which I'm sure you've picked up since post one, so reading this book was like the best thing ever. Cause she wrote it. It tells all of her life story - up til checking herself into rehab (not for the first time) and doesn't leave out any of the gory details.
Politically Correct Bedtime Stories - James Finn Garner ask the BFF and she'll tell you she only keeps me around for reading her fairy tales in voices.
Julie and Julia - Julie Powell read it during down town of camping with the family, loved it. totally different from the movie which was also good. i attempted her second one "Cleaving" but again, that was after I started working for the library.
The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown read this one and wrote a paper on it for a college class, also totally different from the movie but it's still fantastic. i couldn't put it down.
Heat Wave/Naked Heat - Richard CastleI'm a Castle junkie so when these actually came out to go along with the show I was all over them. Oh crap. That breaks my streak of not finishing anything since I started working, damn. I liked saying that. Oh well, it was worth it. Heat Wave is definitely the best of the two but there are so many more jokes you get if you watch the show.


Holy toast this post is getting long. Well, if you're still around I'll give you the highlights to my favorite plays...which I'm aware aren't books but they're still literature so whatever. I'll make it short.

Favorite Plays:
Arsenic and Old Lace - Joseph Kesselring We had the joy of putting this on my senior year of high school. I played Elaine the minister's daughter who's the fiance to the main character. Soooo much fun!
"There's something about calling for a girl at a parsonage that discourages any man who doesn't embroider."

"For a minister's daughter you sure you a lot about life. Where'd you learn it?"
"In the choir loft."
"I'll explain that to you some time, darling-the close connection between eroticism and religion."
"Religion never gets as high as the choir loft."

The Playboy of the Western World - J.M. Synge oh the joy of Modern and Post-Modern Drama, I loved that class. This was a highlight because this dude comes into town claiming to have murdered his father and everyone loves him. They celebrate him as a hero. Then, when his father shows up not dead they turn their backs on him. Hilarious.

Arcadia - Tom Stoppard such clever writing, two storylines happening at once even though they're decades apart. everything weaves together in the end, stick with it.

On the Verge or The Georgraphy of Yearning - Eric Overmyer my favorite play I read throughout college. These three women take a trip through a jungle and are simultaneously traveling through time as they travel farther and farther through the jungle. "Terra Incognita!" Each character is different and it's just sooo funny.

"Yes, Mary, there are two sorts of people in the world. There are cannibals-and there are lunch."

"Little sasquatch has gone for more snowballs, no doubt!" *hit by snowball* "Ahhh!"
"Baby yeti may have yeti croonies, I think prudence dictates we move on."

"Why is there evil in the world, Alexandra?"
"To thicken the plot." Alex is my hero.

"Alex I believe verse is your province."

"Hang ten. Shoot the pipeline. Curl the Big Kahuna!" Again, Alex is my hero.

"So, when's the shindig?"
"Shindig?"
"I think she means the the authentic suburban charred meat festival you promised us."
"Ah, yes. The bar-be-cue."
and yes, I did write a report on this one as well but it was more focused on the language and how it changes throughout the novel.

Tartuffe - Moliere another presentation where a friend and myself acted out a scene, well two scenes that we combined, for a grade. We got an A it was fantastic. I still remember some of my lines.
"What of Tartuffe then, what of your father's plan?"
"I'll kill myself, if I'm forced to marry that man."
or
"Not Tartuffe! You know I think him-"
"Tartuffe's your cup of tea, and you shall drink him."
"I've always told you everything, and relied-"
"No, you deserve to be tartuffifed."
basically her father wants her to marry this awful man Tartuffe when she's in love with someone else.

here's a bonus if you're still reading.
Books I've read for class that I will never read again aka classics that are overrated:
Moby Dick - Herman Melville no normal person cares how many dimensions a boat has or a whale has. i mean maybe some people but we don't need to read about it in detail in a novel. just no.
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley sorry SuperHumann, loved the discussion with you but the novel was a little like, um...whoa. gross.
Books I've started since working at the library and love so far but still haven't finished them:
Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger Yes this may be the most well-loved novel by serial killers everywhere but screw statistics, it's excellent.
Novel Destinations - Shannon McKenna Schmidt this is cool because it's nonfiction about all the different locations in famous novels
Slaugherhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut Kilgore Trout. Need I say more? Even Prentiss is a fan.
You're a Horrible Person, But I Like You: The Believer Book of Advice a gift from my sister, ha! But it's fantastic, people write to celebrities for advice and it publishes their answers.



Okay, more add-ins.
TV - Wipeout, I love the commentary and the big red balls. Hilarious.
And then World's Dumbest, I've already posted a clip from this. I love it, it's where celebrities careers go to die but seriously, it's fantastic. Celebrities do commentary on these stupid clips that people send in and they make lists like the top 20 world's dumbest criminals or 20 world's dumbest brawlers or 20 world's dumbest commercials just that kind of stuff. It's fantastic.
Music - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (remake classics), Johnny Cash growing up I listened to him all the time my dad is a big fan, Theory of a Deadman I've already posted a song of there's a while ago but everything they do is just epic and awesome. And Saving Abel is also another good band you can jam out to. Plus Stop Making Friends aka Pauley Perrette is freaking awesome. Listen to their song "Fear" and tell me what you think. And um, hello, Glee cast soundtracks? They're all I listen to lately, that show has the best remakes. My most recent favorite is "Don't you want me baby" or "She's not there" but all time it's probably the "Time Warp" (already posted) or "Forget You" (also already posted) with Gwyneth Paltrow (okay I remember typing that name lately so maybe that one's in there) she's got a voice man, I'm stoked she's making a reappearance. I'm a total soundtracks junkie, Glee, Moulin Rouge, Calamity Jane, Oklahoma, Music and Lyrics, Rent, NCIS, Hairspray, Avenue Q, Grease 1&2 (oh, another for the movies post), Coyote Ugly (this is the role for maria bello, i can't even listen to her british accent in mummy 3), Chicago, Mamma Mia (minus pierce brosnan), Rocky Horror, Sister Act, Wedding Singer, Walk the Line even Whip It had a kickass soundtrack, which was Drew's mix tape for the world. Oh crap Whip It! It's derby and it's Drew how did I forget that one? There's a poster on the wall in front of me for crying in the sun. Good thing I'm taking the time to edit these things, otherwise the remainder of the week would be These are a few of my favorite things...that I failed to mention earlier in the week. Which, actually...wouldn't be so bad. I'm still debating what I'm going to do for the rest of the week. Besides hobbies. Or like...yeah no just hobbies. Wow. gonna have to be creative.