he's into me for everything i'm not according to you.

Ah Monday.

No, today was actually pretty good for a Monday.

So, remember how I took the teens to Barnes and Noble this weekend?

And how some are sad cause they're about to age out?

So I talked to my bosses today a possible series of programs aimed at young adults ages 18-24.

The problem with that age - I say as if I'm not a part of it, which as of a few days ago I'm not - is that they're too old to want to hang out with the teens at the teen programs and yet too young to want to spend the evening with the retirees at the adult programs.

Because of our proximity to the university it only makes sense that we at least test it out. And it's not like it would only be college kids, there are plenty of non-schooler kids that age.

So at the moment I'm coming up with an action plan including marketing strategies - aka specific demographics we can reach with specific programs. It's been interesting. So far some of my programs include: Game Night - board games, Wii, Movie Night, Poetry Slam, Pop-Culture Trivia Night, Repurposed Books Craft Projects, Guest speakers that are actually their age and can relate to about topics of interest, etc.

Any ideas send them my way. Right now I'm in contact with some kids who may be interested in attending some of these events.

But I'm excited, it's gonna be me and Girlscout and BossLady cause Girlscout is basically the head of adult services program planning and then BossLady who's my immediate supervisor is just very proactive. And they're both fun so it should be awesome.

After work Smo came over to stay the night - our Monday routine as she has class tomorrow morning.

What else? Oh Castle was awesome. I held off on watching last week's until tonight because of the to be continued. This way I could watch them both together. I love DVR. Watched that and 2 Broke Girls. Oh Mer Gerd - Han was hooked on memes.

Okay on to the music, I listened to Superhero by Cher Lloyd on repeat today but since I've already posted that you're getting some of this:

According To You - Orianthi acoustic


nice MJ jacket

According To You - Orianthi live


can't decide which one i like better so i'm posting them both - she rocks.

not sure how i haven't posted it before since it was my go-to song a couple years ago, i listened to it on repeat. it's a good jam song.


okay, you're not going to like me very much cause i'm leaving you hanging. i hate the ending so until i can fix it you get to be left in suspense with this as your last chapter. for now. after i fix it i'll post it.


Life of a Teenage Writer: Part Six

Sarah Chase Cameron’s blonde hair shone gold in the sunlight. Her green shirt contrasted nicely with the shiny red car she was leaning on. Charlie had made him wash it before the book launch party claiming, “Image is everything.” Sarah stood up straight when she saw him coming and adjusted her sunglasses. “Damnit Charlie, you’re so fired,” he mumbled, picking up his keys and looking around for spectators. Seeing none he headed toward his car.

“Hi there, A.J., how was school?” she asked in a tone that, if you hadn’t met her, would have sounded sweet and innocent. The problem was that he had met her, so he knew she was up to something.

“What are you doing here?” he asked flatly.

“Straight to the dirt, I like that,” she smiled. “Here’s the deal. I’ve been doing some research on your parents’ case.” She pulled her notebook out of her purse. “Lily and David Smith were killed at the gas station on the east side of Middlebrook. A man in a black ski mask was holding up the convenience station demanding cash from the owner, Martin Springer. David approached the gunman and tried to grab the gun but missed and was shot along with his wife, Lily.”

A.J. flinched and stared at his shoes. He really didn’t need this subject brought up yet again.

Sarah continued speaking, pretending not to notice A.J.’s reaction but mentally recording every detail so she could write it down later. “David was shot twice in the chest and Lily once in the head. Martin Springer was sent to the hospital with a concussion and the gunman got away with almost two hundred dollars in cash and some cigarettes.”

“What do you want from me?” he asked quietly.

“Just an interview. Your parents’ case is still open. With my help we could get the police to look over things again, bring in some new evidence, and interview some old witnesses. They might even find out who killed them. Don’t you want that?” A.J. continued to stare at his shoes. “Okay, here’s my card,” she said holding it in front of his face. He grabbed it reluctantly. “Give me a call when you’re ready,” she said walking back to her car.

“What if I don’t?” he asked.

She turned around. “Then I guess I’ll have to keep showing up. I hear you’re living with your grandmother now. It’d be great to interview her about her son and daughter-in-law,” Sarah said with a sly smile.

A.J. felt like his stomach exploded. “What do you want to know?” There was no way he was letting her anywhere near Grams.

Sarah looked like a kid at Christmas. She pulled out a pen. “Where were you when it happened? Did the police talk to you directly? Is this why you write crime novels? Have you talked to the police lately about any leads?” Sarah continued rambling in a speed that only other reporters could interpret until A.J. cut her off.

“Here’s what I know and what I don’t know.” Sarah stopped talking and nodded. A.J. took a deep breath. “I was nine, okay, and it sucked.” Sarah started scribbling notes in her notebook. “Grams tried explaining it but I couldn’t understand. How do you tell a kid that their parents are dead?” A.J. rocked back and forth on his heels. “I spent every night for a year sitting in my windowsill, waiting for them to come home before I realized that wasn’t going to happen.” Sarah stopped writing and looked up. “I moved in with Grams, but the stress of it all had some affects on her too. We don’t talk about it, not anymore. It was a long time ago and we’ve moved on.” A.J. left out the fact that he still went to visit them in the cemetery every week. “Please don’t dig up something that’s already six feet under.” He opened his car door and got in.

“Their story deserves to be told,” she tried.

“I tell it in every one of my books. You should try reading one some time.” He put the keys in the ignition and closed the door. He sped home, watching Sarah stare at him through his rearview mirror.

"I had actually been committed to play Margaret Thatcher, and Meryl was Steven's first choice for Lincoln."

Aw, the Oscars.

I'm an awards show junkie. Which I'm sure you've realized. Especially if we're friends on Facebook, then your newsfeed kind of blows up. 

Sorry. 

Anyway, Sketch and I like to commentate. I had a couple of other guests jump in tonight, it was awesomeness. 

Here are some of the highlights:

Seth MacFarlane as the host. 

While some of you may have found him obnoxious I found him charming. And that's coming from someone who HATES Family Guy. With a passion. I can't stand it. However, tonight he rocked.

Here are some of my favorite one-liners:

-"And the quest to make Tommy Lee Jones laugh begins now."
-"That's as bad as it gets if it makes you feel better. It's really not as bad as it gets."
-"It's an honor that everyone else said no."
-"Tonight's ceremony is being watched by close to a billion people worldwide. Which is why Jodie Foster will be up here in a bit to ask for her privacy."
-"It'll be 16 years before she's too old for Clooney."
-"I really hope I don't lose to that old lady, Jennifer Lawrence."

-"So you got nominated for an Oscar. Something a 9-year-old can do."
-"Whether she wins or loses, it's just an honor that Meryl Streep wasn't nominated."*about J-Law *
-"150 years and it's still too soon."
-"Daniel Day Lewis, loved the beard but Lincoln's voice was kinda weird."
-"Adele's screaming out her song."
-"You guys have made some beautiful and inspiring movies. I made Ted."
-"Current Star Trek stars and future Priceline spokespeople."
-"Plus the cast of Prometheus explains what the hell was going on there."
-"And also a celebration of every women's innate ability to never ever let anything go."
-"They remember when this town was nothing but cocaine trees as far as the eyes could see. It's late."
-"He's a boy wizard and she's a girl vampire. So together they're pretty much everything the Christian Rights say is wrong with Hollywood."
-"It doesn't matter that his name sounds like a Russian man sneezing."

He had some fun back and forth with fellow stars as well:

Seth: "You'll be at the future Oscars when the rest of us are dead."
Kristin Chenoweth: "You have all Tom Cruise's talen, and you're equally as tall."

Sally Field: "Oh hell, they're gonna give it to Anne."

Captain Kirk: "Oh trust me, in July 2015 you join the chorus..."

and there were some great presenters as well

Most of the cast of the Avengers - minus Scarlett and Chris - presented for Best Cinematographer
Chris Evans: "Convey that Robert is as tall as the rest of us by framing out the apple boxes that he so often is standing on."
...
Samuel L. Jackson: "Superhero can't even get an envelope open."

Jennifer Aniston: "Welcome to the club, Chan. Not so fun is it?" *about waxing*
Gotta love Jennifer Aniston. She's in my top 3 favorite actresses of all time, the other two being Drew Barrymore (happy birthday 2 days late) and Rachel Weisz. But now I love her even more cause she's engaged to Seamus!! aka Justin Theroux. Who is fantastic. "I'm gonna teach you and your friends about pain." look a Drew tie-in. and No, that will never get old.

My two favorite speeches were for Best Picture,
Ben Affleck: "I want to thank my wife. Who I don't normally associate with Iran."

and Daniel Day Lewis for Best Actor.

Day Lewis: "It's a strange thing because three years ago, before we decided to do a straight swap, I had actually been committed to play Margaret Thatcher. And Meryl was Steven's first choice for Lincoln. I'd like to see that version. And Steve didn't have to persuade me to play Lincoln, but I had to persuade him that perhaps if I was going to do it, that Lincoln shouldn't be a musical."

I died.

J-Law rocked it tonight as well winning for best actress and then falling on her way to the stage. "You're only standing because I fell." but really she did deserve it.

And this is gonna sound awful, but my favorite thing of the entire night that I actually went back to watch was her reaction during MacFarlane's Boobs Song. When he said they haven't seen hers and she did this like celebratory fist bump. It's hysterical, and apparently I'm not the only one cause someone's already posted just that part onto YouTube.

Watch this.



I know, I know, it's awful but I died and have rewound it like 8 times.

What else?

I totally freaked out when the cast of Chicago came onstage. And then when Catherine Zeta-Jones performed. And Sketch knows me so well, totally called it. But they're fantastic and that was Renee freakin' Zellweger!

Also, Anne Hathaway was excellent - really come a long way from the Princess Diaries. Which I'm allowed to love cause that was my generation. Yes, I really am that young. I'm sorry.

Weird Factors:
Totally weird that there was a tie. Hasn't been one since 1986, there have now been 5.
-Tonight's
-Barbara Steisand and Katharine Hepburn for best actress in 1968,
-2 more ties in the Best Documenary category in 1949 and 1986
-Plus once for Best Live Action Short Film in 1986.
go here for more info

What was with the first lady on the Oscars? Though I guess it's not completely out there, Bill Clinton did introduce Lincoln at the Emmy's.

Another weird thing, the orchestra was performing live from a totally different location? But I guess it worked.

Anyway, it was a great night of fun for me and my commentators.

Alright, on to the fiction cause I'm counting the above clip as my song of the day. Cause really, what tops that?

another short one, but yesterday's was long enough to make up for it and the one before that.

Life of a Teenage Writer: Part Five

Sunday had flown by pretty quickly. It usually did. Grams said that it was because it was his last day before he was forced to go back to school. On Monday he returned to school and tried remain unnoticed. He wasn’t sure if the rumors of what happened at the book launch had reached the ears of the popular kids. If they hadn’t they would soon. Everyone knew everything about everybody in a small town. Middlebrook was no different from any other small town. Rumors spread like wildfire. After his parents were killed in the shooting it was the only thing people talked about for months. Nothing like that had ever happened like that before in Middlebrook.

Some people were really supportive at first, bringing over casseroles and trying to distract him, but other people preferred just to gossip about the incident and go quiet when he or Grams would walk into the vicinity. That’s when A.J. started watching his feet while he walked instead of looking out at the world. Watching your feet meant seeing less people stare when you walked into a room.

The only thing the town had going for them was their football team. Their quarterback, Chris Parsons, was going to take them to state this year. Everywhere he went people would pat him on the back and tell him how great he had played. He was a star and he knew it. His blonde hair was always perfect and his rich parents had supplied him with all the designer labeled clothes anyone could ever want. So when he didn’t get respect from say, a writer who had dreams of his own, he’d shut him into a locker or have his buddies throw him in the dumpster.

A.J. managed to avoid Chris and make it through the day unscathed. After school he grabbed his homework and walked out of the building. He pulled out his car keys but dropped them when he noticed someone who wasn’t supposed to be there.


and i'm out. 

No one intentionally watches that. Unless you're my dad.

Hmmm, today.

Slept in, that was awesome, did some laundry, then met up with my teens at the bookstore to pick out paperbacks for the library to buy.

Huzzah for Barnes and Noble.

My favorite bookstore, though not my favorite location, but it worked.

Big group today, and I'm always impressed with them so it was a lot of fun.

Basically, gave them sheets for them to write down title, author and ISBN number. We jammed in the YA area for the majority of the time, but stopped by the youth area in the end to see if there were any youth stuff that could pass for YA.

In the end I got a lot of great titles. Two of my teens who are close to aging out brought up the fact that next year may be their last year, though technically it's TEEN Advisory Board so I'm saying 19 counts.

But what happens after 19? We do stuff for youths and teens and adults, but where do college kids fit in the mix? We're close enough to the University, we should have some sort of programming for them as well. Perhaps I'll bring it up to the bosses, see what they have to say.

After they wrote down titles they got snacks - which they said was their favorite part. Cause who doesn't love cheesecake, really? I got an IBC rootbeer - flashbacks to high school - and we jammed out in the cafe area for a while until their parents came to pick them up.

I grabbed the Doctor Who version of Monopoly for Squirt therefore re-confirming my favorite aunt status.

Take that fellow competitors.

Speaking of cool aunts, had jalapeno margaritas and fajitas with the Cool Aunt after the bookstore. Got some fun family facts from her so I can continue on with my family history research for Mom's side now that Dad's is officially posted. Scroll down a few and you'll find it.

Quote of the day: "No one intentionally watches that. Unless you're my dad." 

speaking of course of swamp people, ax men, hee haw and all the rest of the stuff he has playlisted for me to watch when i go home.

She recommends House of Cards so I will now have to find the online.

And that was my day, so on to the music and the fiction and then I'm out.

25 seconds of awesomeness that I blame completely on one of my camp kids.

I Knew You Were a Goat When You Walked In - Taylor Swift parody

It's only 25 seconds, you know you want to.

aaannd then there's this:

The Evolution of Mom Dancing - Jimmy Fallon and Michelle Obama

i love the "Where's Your Father?"

okay, to make up for yesterday's short section

Life of a Teenage Writer: Part Four

“Hi Grams,” he replied, taking off his tennis shoes and putting down his bag. He had changed back into jeans and a t-shirt after everyone had left.

“Riah, is that you?”

“Yeah, I’m home,” he said coming into the living room. Emily, Grams’ nurse, sat in jeans and a white t-shirt on the long white couch, knitting something that looked like a sock. Grams was in her flannel pajamas sitting in her favorite recliner. She smiled as he entered the room.

“Emily, it’s my grandson Riah. He’s a writer,” she said proudly.

“So I’ve heard…” Emily smiled and continued knitting.

“She knows, remember Grams? She’s been helping out for a while now,” A.J. corrected her. Grams didn’t notice as she went back to watching the game.

Emily seemed to be used to it. “How was the party?”

“It wasn’t a party, it was a book launch,” he felt the need to correct her in front of Grams.

Emily laughed. “Was there music, food and frivolity?” she asked.

“If you count lame elevator-esque music playing in the background, stale munchies and crazy people fighting about their places in line, then sure, there was music, food and frivolity.”

“Then it was a party.” Emily and A.J. laughed. He subtly gestured toward the kitchen. Emily put down her knitting and followed him out of the room.

“How was she today?” he asked quietly, looking over Emily’s shoulder and seeing Grams’ eyes glued to the TV.

“She was a little confused after you left but not more than usual.” Saturdays and Sundays were his only real days with Grams, so she was probably confused as to why he was at some party instead of with her. “We went grocery shopping and had some soup for supper. She took a bath and then turned on some baseball.”

“Royals?” he asked already knowing the answer.

“Yep, she reminded me more than once that they were going to play tonight at seven.”

“Baseball is the one thing she never forgets,” A.J. smiled and shook his head.

“Well, that and you,” Emily smiled genuinely.

“Thanks,” A.J. blushed. “So, how’s what’s-his-name, your fiancé?”

“His name is John,” she replied, smacking him on the shoulder. “That’s not simple enough for you to remember?”

“Alzheimer’s runs in the family,” he joked. Emily glared. “Right, how’s John?”

“He’s fine. Busy working as usual.”

“At the granola factory?”

“It’s not a granola factory; it’s a vegan grocery store.”

“Same thing. Is he ever gonna make his way out here to marry you? You’re getting kind of old. I don’t want you to end up an old maid.”

“Twenty-six is far from being an old maid. I think I can manage to last another summer ‘til he’s out here for good.” Emily smirked and crossed her arms across her chest. “What about Kate? I haven’t seen her around here lately.”

A.J. flushed red. “Kate and I are just friends.”

“So you keep saying,” Emily arched an eyebrow. “But there’s totally something going on there.”

“Is not,” he replied, his voice higher than usual.

Emily smiled and let him off easy, they’d been down that road before. “How’d it go with the reporters tonight?”

He thought about lying but Emily had been around long enough to know when he was telling the truth. “Not so good. Some reporter, Sarah Chase something or other, asked about Mom and Dad.”

“Sarah Chase Cameron? Reporter for The Times?” he nodded. “She doesn’t do literary reviews, she writes for the crime desk. Her stories are almost always above the fold!” A.J. looked at her amused. “What?” she asked. “I’m not a baseball fan and I have to do something while your Grams stares at the TV. I wonder why she was there.”

“I don’t know but I don’t like it. Kate has a bad feeling about her.”

“Oh, you and Kate talk about your feelings, huh?” She tried to turn the conversation back.

“Shut-up!” He turned red again.

“I gotta go anyway,” she smiled. She went to the living room and started packing up her stuff. “Bye Margaret,” Emily smiled. Grams looked over from the TV and waved.

“Goodbye Emily.”

“See ya Monday?” asked A.J.

“Bright and early. Get some sleep kid,” she replied, patting him on his head on her way to the door. A.J. dropped into the blue lounge chair, pulled the lever and put his feet up. The blue chair was his, the green was hers. Between them sat an end table complete with an old fashioned lamp, a pile of mystery novels, and a newspaper folded over to the sports TV listings.

“How are our boys doing tonight? Did I miss anything good?”

“It’s almost over. I think we’re winning.” The commercial break ended and the game picked up at the 8th inning.

“Yep, we have 7, they have 5.”

“Good.”

“Yep, that’s good.” The rest of the night was silent, A.J. too afraid to tell Grams what had happened at the book launch. The last thing he needed was more drama.

After the game ended with the score still 7-5, A.J. put Grams to bed then returned to the living room for his usual routine to prepare for the next day. He erased the dry-erase board leaning against the TV stand and pulled out the marker. “Today is Sunday, September 20th. 10 AM – church 12 PM – lunch 6 PM – supper.” He emptied Grams’ hospital-issued water bottle into the sink, put it in the dishwasher and hit ‘start’. He set out a measured amount of oatmeal next to the microwave and removed the used filter from the coffee pot. Then he checked the pill box to make sure Emily had filled them. After he recycled today’s paper he turned off the light and retired to his own bedroom.



another pre-midnight post, holy crap tag in use, i'm on a roll!

I will wait, I will wait for you.

Huzzah for a day off.

Was actually semi-productive.

Remember the plan? Watch movies and do no homework?

Actually did some homework, so the reverse psychology worked.

Which is weird, but I'm not questioning it.

So yes, I did homework and laundry all the while thinking nothing about work work, which is what I needed.

And tomorrow is another break from the norm cause I'm taking my teens shopping for paperbacks.

Basically they pick out what they want the library to buy and put in the teen section and then they get snacks.

I know, right?! Awesomeness.

And then after that is margaritas with the Cool Aunt.

But today was good.

I did watch movies as well, so don't start questioning my sanity yet.

Not that you haven't before.

I have all these movies checked out so I made a pile of what I will actually watch and what sounded good at the time.

Cause you know you get all these titles and you put your name on the list and then they come in and you lack the motivation to watch them cause you didn't really have it to begin with, but you put your name down anyway just cause it was there.

You know those ones?

In my not watching pile is Hell On Wheels, the Odd Life of Timothy Green, ParaNorman, and Flight vs my still plan to watch pile which consists of Looper, Workaholics season one, Fargo, School of Rock and Murder in Suburbia. Two of which are Interlibrary Loan Items. And then of course my already in progress Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The one I did watch today was Trouble With the Curve which is now in my return pile on top of all the not watchings.



Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake. Had an interesting story, reminded me a bit of Moneyball actually. Not too bad, Scale of awesome puts it at about 7/10.

Clink Eastwood as Amy Adams' dad is just funny because they both have such strong personalities.

"You need some money for some new clothes?"
"I just came from yoga."
"You into that voodoo, huh?"
"Yeah, I'm thinking about getting three 6's tattooed across my forehead."

and who knew Justin Timberlake could clog so that was exciting.

So I watched that, three episodes of Bones - finally saw the roller derby episode, loved Angela as the jammer - one episode of NCIS, two episodes of Zero Hour - and am loving it - and then had Storage Wars on in the background while I did my homework. So I burned through some DVR as well which is good cause that fills up fast.

As what I have here didn't sound appetizing and I didn't feel like driving anywhere I ordered pizza for lunch.

Delivery dude always compliments my socks.

Same dude every time.

But for some reason I'm always wearing shorts so he can see my mismatched socks.

However, tomorrow I will need to go shopping cause I'm out of Diet Dr. Pepper and that's always the deal breaker. Been drinking all my bottled water with strawberry Mio in its absence. Now I'm out of that too and all that's left is liquor so I've been refilling them.

So tomorrow is grocery shopping, paperback buying, dinner with the Cool Aunt and then probably more homework before work work on Sunday.

On to the music and fiction.

I Will Wait - Mumford & Sons

I could have swore I've already posted this, but Blogger says I haven't. Shocker. Cause it's awesome. As are they.


Short one tonight cause tomorrow's is longer.

Life of a Teenage Writer: Part Three

The red entryway was filled with piles of A.J.’s book, “Effaced” and its sequel “Nemesis.” There was a table and two chairs set up across from the main entryway. On the table were pictures, posters and pens to sign them. A.J. sat in one of the chairs but Kate stayed back, looking for Sarah Chase Cameron. She’d have a few choice words of the four letter variety for her once she found her.

It seemed that Charlie had found her first. They were talking animatedly about something before Charlie realized his star was at the table. He took the other chair and everyone began to line up. Sarah Cameron instructed her photographer to take a few shots, and then headed toward the front of the table. All eyes were on her and A.J. waiting to see what would happen. She smiled at A.J., who swallowed, signed her book, and looked at the next person in line. Sarah Cameron and her muscle-bound photographer left the scene quickly as Kate started towards them. They were locked in their car before she even made it to the front door.

After hours of signing autographs and taking pictures Charlie finally let him go home. Charlie drove off in his fancy car as Kate got in the passenger side of A.J.’s red Bonneville. There was a lot of silence which was unusual in their relationship. A.J. looked over at Kate and saw her staring out the window at the lights. The hour long drive to Middlebrook was going to seem even longer. He turned on the radio. As Baha Men blasted from the radio Kate remarked how ridiculous the song was and A.J. added that he was amazed that a song about dogs could give anyone a platinum album. After what seemed like an eternity, they made it back to their one stoplight town and pulled into Kate’s driveway. He talked her out of the car, saying he was fine and was just going to go to bed, but he could tell she didn’t believe him. She knew him too well. He drove off anyway and pulled into his driveway two blocks down. A.J. parked the car in the garage and went inside, the door closing behind him.

“Hello?” yelled an unsure voice. The TV volume was turned on loud so A.J. knew exactly where to go.




another pre-midnight post, holy crap tag in use.

Yeah, I'm gonna miss her. Oh lookie there, I've got a bite.

It's cause he's in love with his brother's wife!!

Sorry, watching Scandal.

Which I haven't done since first season.

Basically I turned on the TV to see what I had recorded and it was right at the start of Scandal.

And I love Darby Stanchfield (Deep-fried Twinkie, Shannon Gibbs) and Bellamy Young (Special Agent Stone, Ellen Darling, Hotch's girlfriend) she's the one that I guess her hair color when I see her name in the opening credits and she shares my birthday so I stuck around. It's still pretty good.

Haha, caught them kissing outside, called it!

Another call? This whole storm of the century, Q or whatever being total crap, told you it was hype. They called off school this morning with absolutely no snow on the ground. We were supposed to get like 10-12 inches, we got like 4. Barely.

We closed early, 4:30, but I got off at 4 anyway so it didn't really matter to me. We were supposed to have class at the hospital library but because of the weather we did a virtual class instead.

Dude, Webmeeting is awesome. All like 50 of us went to this Webmeeting site where they gave us a phone number. We called it and it was like a massive conference call with all of us students plus our 2 instructors plus our host. So all the audio was on the phone, none from the computer. There was a powerpoint and a chat window, it was sweet. I wish we had these in my other online classes.

I already did all my homework for that class until March, I've done the majority of Diversity homework - did the interview, wrote up the transcript and overview, now all that's left is discussion of others overviews to tie together themes and analysis. And the next Internet Reference assignment isn't due 'til the 2nd.

And see, I have tomorrow off, and I always have the best of intentions, I'm gonna clean my apartment, I'm going to write, I'm going to finish my homework, etc. But it never happens.

So here's my plan.

I plan to sleep in and watch movies all day - I have like 10 checked out so I need to fly through them. Cause I ain't driving on the crappy roads and I have sustenance so I don't need to go anywhere.

But it's a strategic plan.

Cause I always break my plans - I plan to clean, write, do homework all the time and never do it so if I plan to do none of those things maybe one of them will happen.

Does that make sense in some twisted sort of way?

I'll keep you posted.

What I am doing tonight and tomorrow no matter what is laundry, cause otherwise I'm screwed for work this weekend. That's easy enough and I can sleep through it so it's gold.

What else from today? Work was good. Super short 9-4 day but it was pretty busy even through there was snow.

Thank God for my Trainee. She always saves me from the creepers. One in particular. Wordie was there when he came in today, I told him he wasn't allowed to leave me alone until Trainee came back to the desk.

Apparently I'm too nice.

Whoa, Jimmy Kimmel on in the background, check out this kid.

Mad skills.

Here's his challenge to Jimmy. 

He totally dominated that competition, I bet that'll be posted tomorrow on Kimmel's website, you should check it out. 

And that's all I got for today. Just glad I don't have to go in tomorrow cause getting out of my parking lot after any snow at all is awful.

So, now I'm going to turn on Storage Wars - which was my original intention - and crash and burn, but first here's some music and part two from last night's fiction.

I'm Gonna Miss Her - Brad Paisley

classic, one of my favorites growing up. his actual wife in the video. love 0:30-0:32

On to the fiction

Life of a Teenage Writer: Part Two

The flashbulbs were blinding, he could barely see passed the first row of reporters but there had to be at least fifty of them staring at him with cameras, microphones, and handheld recorders in hand. Charlie pushed him toward the podium. His throat was suddenly very dry.

“Hey everybody,” his voice was shaky. “Thanks for coming out to see me; it’s great to be here.” He forgot the rest of his speech and froze. He looked back at Charlie in a panic.

Charlie stepped forward, “If you have any questions we will take them now.”

About thirty hands shot up. A.J. pointed toward a blonde man with a microphone.

“Mr. Smith, it’s great to see you. I’m Mark Brown from The Journal,” he said in a rush. “I was wondering if you could tell us a little about your writing process.”

“My writing process?” A.J.’s voice cracked. He scanned the crowd looking for Kate. She was in the back… and she was doing the Macarena. A.J. tried to keep a straight face and turned red. “I usually lock myself in my room after school for a few hours and try to get at least 500 words on the page. Sometimes they fit together and sometimes they don’t. If I get stuck I go for a run or do my homework. I usually come back to it before I go to bed.”

Next, he pointed to a blonde woman who was slowly edging her way toward the stage. “A.J., can I call you A.J.?” she asked, smiling sweetly. A.J. nodded. “I’m Sarah Chase Cameron from The Times; it’s great to finally meet you. Our readers want to know where you get your inspiration. How do you come up with those gruesome details?” Sarah thrust her handheld recorder in his direction.

A.J. smiled and thought called it, okay a quarter for sincerity.

“I’ve been really interested in crime and its prevention from an early age. I’ve done a lot of reading about it and some of the images have just stuck with me I guess.” He pointed to another reporter, but Sarah spoke up again.

“Do you think that your interest in crime came about after the murder of your parents?” A.J. froze. He looked at Kate but she had stopped dancing and was staring open-mouthed at the reporter, as was the rest of the crowd. They began to murmur to each other.

“I… Um…” Sarah’s eyebrows raised and she smiled victoriously.

Charlie stepped forward and cleared his throat. The audience went silent, anxiously waiting for an explanation. “It was horrible what happened to A.J.’s parents. I’m sure that it has an effect on everything he does.” A.J. slowly stepped backward, trying to imagine he was anywhere else. Even with his imagination it wasn’t working. Sarah’s smile only grew. “That’ll be all for the question and answer segment,” Charlie announced as an effort for damage control. “We’ll meet you at the entrance for some pictures and autographs in a few minutes.” A.J. sprinted offstage. Charlie watched as Kate made her way toward the backstage area, then he zoomed in on Sarah Chase Cameron. She smiled at him slyly and winked.

“What the hell just happened?” asked Kate. “How did they find out about your parents?” A.J. just paced and shook his head. Charlie approached him and put his hands on his shoulders.

“You did great kid! Let’s get you some water and go take some pictures.”

“What? No? How do they know about Mom and Dad?” he yelled.

“You know reporters,” he tried to blow it off. “It’s their job to dig up the dirty details of anyone worth interest. She probably has a source somewhere in the police department. Your parents’ case is still open.”

Kate handed A.J. a bottle of water and guided him to a chair. He sat and downed the whole bottle in one big gulp.

“I’m going to go see what they have set up for us in the entrance,” said Charlie making his way toward the stairs. “You’ve got three minutes buddy.”

A.J. sat in silence. Kate stood there staring where Charlie had exited. “You don’t think it was him do you?”

“Huh?” asked A.J. looking up at Kate.

“Charlie? You think it was him who let the story about your parents slip to the reporter?”

“Charlie wouldn’t do that. He’s a good guy.” A.J. felt the need to defend him even though he knew it was probably true. Charlie would do anything for a quick buck and more personal interest meant more book sales.

“I have a bad feeling about all this,” Kate said.

A.J. stood up and threw the bottle away in the trash, a mix of courage and exhaustion taking over. “Let’s go get this over with.”



legitimate pre-midnight post. holy crap tag in use.

And if you get lost come on home to Green River.

Today flew by really quickly, but that's probably because I was only scheduled 9-2.

We had class this afternoon. In Special Libraries we're visiting all these special libraries but we have to go when they're open so I'm burning quite a bit of vacation time in the process.

But it's fine cause otherwise I never use it.

Though I may be forced to tomorrow.

I'm making a deal, if it's super bad weather and my car is drifted in I'm not going.

It's not about the fact that I can drive on the snow, it's about the fact that the idiots I'm surrounded by can't. And the last time I had to drive to work in the snow it took an hour just to drive 10 miles AND I about got smoked three times by three different cars, so I'm hesitant to go anywhere with these crazy drivers.

Where was I?

Oh right, today.

Today's tour was awesome. We got to see Tom's inner sanctum. He comes in all the time but I knew nothing about his library so it was super cool. Might do a practicum there if he's up for it, cause I found it super interesting. He works at the Regional Center meaning it's in the mental health care facility but their library has both fiction and nonfiction. What he doesn't have he gets through us or the Commission.

I just liked his attitude and what he had to say, and I already knew he was a nice guy so if he's up for it and the Library Goddess okay's it I would totally be in for that in the fall.

Otherwise I have no idea where else to do it. College town maybe, learn the BISAC system.

But pretty sure I'd go nuts jumping from that to Dewey on a daily basis.

Anyway, so the tour was awesome. Afterwards I did nothing but homework for like hours, finally quitting around 10 cause I'm just exhausted. I need to start getting more sleep which is why this post is going to be short - well, this part at least - cause it's already passed midnight.

Tomorrow was going to be the other tour, but as mentioned yesterday, the Library Goddess is in physical pain cause we can't meet and has put me in charge of arranging some sort of group meetup for a virtual session cause there's a limited amount of logins that can happen at once to this specific website we have to go to - but that's also tomorrow afternoon so even if I couldn't make it to work in the morning I'd still have to dig out my car in the afternoon, which would be fine as there would hopefully be ice on the roads by then.

For those of you not local, it's supposed to be the storm of the century for us here, expecting like 10-12 inches. I'm hoping it's all hype.

Even if it isn't you know we're still gonna be open. Our bosses are stubborn like that and much like the Library Goddess, pull out the post office motto on occasion as well.

So, I should sleep, cause I'm in for a long day tomorrow.

Here's the music, afterwards you get the fiction and then I'm gonna crash.

Song that was stuck in my head all day for absolutely no reason whatsoever:

Green River - CCR


i have no explanation as for why i was singing this all day. it might be due to the fact i heard Fortunate Son last night, but that's all i can think of.


Okay, so yesterday I finished Family History, well my Dad's side anyway, so Part One, perhaps I can talk the Cool Aunt into giving me some info on Mom's side this weekend.

So now I'm gonna break it up and give you some fiction.

Story behind this one: Basically I took Fiction Writing in college and this was one of the stories I submitted to be reviewed by the class. You may get multiple of these, depending on how I'm feeling at the time.

See, I think they're crap, but I've been told otherwise, so I'll let you be the judge.

And I never like ever share this stuff, seriously ever unless I'm forced to in a class, so this is huge for me. Even Sketch would tell you it's like pulling teeth, so enjoy them while they last.


Life of a Teenage Writer - Part One

“I want to be a writer,” A.J. said to the guidance counselor. Silence ensued. He hated these kind of meetings. The awkward silence was always the worst. “All freshmen must meet with the guidance counselor to talk about their bright futures” said the flyer taped to his locker. He tapped his foot on the white tiled floors. Say something, he thought. When she didn’t he started playing with the bottom of his red cotton t-shirt, then wiped some imaginary dirt off his worn out jeans.

“That’s nice,” Mrs. Bailey finally replied, exhaling as she took off her glasses and wiped them on her shirt. Mrs. Bailey was a wide woman, horizontally and vertically. She hid her physical insecurities behind a large wooden desk which was organized to the max. Nothing was out of place. Even the pencils were evenly sharpened. A.J. looked around the room, the silence getting to him. Pamphlets and flyers covered the yellow walls of the counselor’s office in an organized pattern. “I can’t stop crying” said one; “My mother had a sex change” said another.

“Do you have any backup plans?” the older woman asked politely, putting her glasses back on and pushing her loose strands of white hair behind her ears.

A.J. wasn’t surprised at her lack of faith. He discovered a while ago that “I want to be a writer” roughly translates to “I want to live in my parents’ basement ordering chocolate by the case and drowning myself in booze.”

“No,” he replied simply.

“How would you get started?” she asked simply.

“That’s a good question.”

**Three Years Later**

“Smile kid, it’s your first book launch party!” said Charlie, A.J.’s tall, dark and frustrating agent. Charlie was dressed in a black suit, his dark hair parted to the side and his smile showed off his perfect white teeth.

A.J. flinched at Charlie’s tone. He could hear the reporters setting up equipment in the auditorium and talking amongst themselves. He ran his fingers through his dark brown hair and attempted to tie his tie.

“Stop it Charlie, you’re only making things worse,” said Kate, the ever-faithful best friend, stepping between the two of them and grabbing A.J.’s tie to re-do it. A.J. started fidgeting with his pants instead. She smacked his hands, “They look fine. You’re sweating through your shirt. Here, put on the jacket.” She picked up the black jacket from the chair and thrust it in his direction.

“I look like a penguin!” he replied, sliding in his arms in anyway. “Why do we have to do this? We didn’t do a big party for the first book and it sold fine.”

Charlie turned and looked A.J. in the eyes. “That’s because you were a no-named kid. Now there are hundreds of reporters out there waiting to get the scoop on your new sequel. You’re only sixteen and you’re already a best-selling author! Everyone wants to know what happens next to Detective Matt Harper and the rest of his geek squad. People came hundreds of miles just to see you tonight.” Charlie went out to the podium to make sure everything was set up.

“You’re not helping,” yelled Kate, pulling a comb out of her purse and running it through A.J.’s hair. She returned the comb to her purse and pulled out breath spray, chapstick, and a mirror.

“Have anything stronger in there?” he asked hopefully. Kate glared. “I’m joking… I’m so nervous.” He put on the chapstick, sprayed the breath spray and stared at himself in the mirror, his hands shaking.

“You’re going to do great,” Kate smiled and took the mirror. “Just… imagine them all naked.”

“Ew,” A.J. gagged, “the person in charge is a 40-year-old overweight bald man.”

“Okay, then imagine them all… doing the Macarena,” she amended. A.J. laughed.

“Thanks Kate. What would I do without you?” he asked looking in her eyes. Kate blushed.

“Probably end up stranded in a desert somewhere. Alright, spin. I gotta give you the once-over.” A.J. spun around quickly. “You look very handsome Azariah James.”

“Hey, don’t be full-naming me, Kath-.”

“No!” she cut him off, “There will be none of that! Truce?” Kate stuck out her hand.

“Truce,” A.J. replied shaking it. “You look very nice, by the way,” he added, still holding her hand and trying to be smooth. Kate could feel the heat radiating off her face. She looked down at her short black dress and tall high heels. They stayed hand-in-hand for a while until Charlie returned.

“Okay, so here’s what is going to happen.”

They dropped hands immediately. A.J. stepped back and ran his fingers through his hair while Kate suddenly found something in her purse fascinating.

“You go out to the podium and give the speech that we practiced. You smile for pictures, answer some questions, shake some hands, sign some autographs, and then you’re done,” Charlie said, adjusting his bow tie. “They’ll ask you about your writing routines and your inspiration. The mundane life of a writer is apparently fascinating to reporters.”

“I’m so tired of everyone asking me where I get my inspiration. Can’t they think of anything more original?” said A.J. running his hands through his hair again. Kate grabbed them and straightened it again.

“I will make you a deal,” said Charlie. “Every time you have to answer that question I will give you a quarter.”

“Score! I’ll be a billionaire by the time I’m thirty.”

“If you answer it without contempt.”

“Ah, well, millionaire then maybe.”

Charlie was the kind of man who would bribe his way into heaven if it was possible. He was always out for a quick buck but he was smart about it. If A.J. put on a smiling face for the cameras tonight and came off as charming then all the other editors would fall at his feet. If that meant getting rid of some of his spare change then so be it.

“Deal?” Charlie asked, sticking out his hand.

“Deal,” A.J. responded, stepping forward as he shook Charlie’s hand.

“You ready?”

A.J. took a deep breath. “Let the madness begin.” He gave Kate a high five and followed Charlie toward the stage. He could still faintly hear Kate sing, “Heeyyy Macarena!” and smiled.