I drove a pigeon home with me today. Literally. He was on my car when I got in it at work and literally rode on my hood/windshield all the way to my apartment. I called him Jack. He had some serious balancing skills. When I got in I honked, you know expecting that would scare him off, but no. Then I turned on my windshield wipers - but no matter how many times I honked, windshield-wiped, and sprayed him with that water stuff that goes along with the windshield wipers he wouldn't leave. So I drove home. And yeah, he stayed. And, of course, when I got here I expected him to jump off then, but no. He was still on my car when I went back out to go to Target like an hour later. But yeah, as cool as Jack was, that wasn't happening again so I pushed him off. He landed okay and walked away. Headed toward a black bird. No idea what type it was. But I know this one was a pigeon cause I got up close and personal with it. Took pictures and everything. Oh, I should upload one. Yes, Jack rocked the ride. I wonder if he'll still be in my parking lot tomorrow morning.
Today was good. Superwoman called this morning asking if I could work all day Saturday, then called again half an hour later telling me I work too much and made me take Sunday and Monday off. Apparently I spend too much time there. or there(s) since I work at two branches. I don't know, that didn't make any sense to me either and I wrote it. Anyway, I was thinking today - that's new, I know - that I used to be like the laziest person ever. I was content to stay on the farm, live with my parents and move pipe for a living. Because it was like a month in the summer. Maybe. And then I was done. Now, if I were to have to go back to that I would go nuts with boredom. I like staying busy. And while 2 jobs, taking classes for my master's and directing a kids camp - plus other random kid-directing-related jobs aka plays, VBS, etc. - may sound daunting, I've adjusted and I like it.
Clips of the Day:
Yay for more Match Game! Okay, so this is my favorite moment in all of Match Game. We watched this episode right before my Delayed...Reaction partner and I went to Scaryoke dressed as Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers.
He went around all night calling himself an actor of the "legitimate theatre." I laughed. Fannie's answer is my favorite, seriously hysterical, I died on the spot. But when we asked that question to the people at Scaryoke this one dude said "baskets" and I lost it then too.
"Third Rock From The Sun" Joe Diffie
apparently their label made this giant globe to promote the video and a bunch of college kids stole it and rolled it down the street...haha.
Okay, so it's on. Tomorrow I'm wearing the boots to work. It's a short day so I'm going all in. Because SOME people don't think I can do it. And now they demand pictures as proof. So, if I see some of you tomorrow and you catch me pointing my phone at my feet there is a reason! well, this time there's a reason, but anyway I'm doing it! And I'll post the pics tomorrow as proof as well. I'm sure some of you have faith in me.
Alright, gonna watch some more Match Game and work on some of these camp application. They're coming in hoards now that we're past the due date. Which is usually what happens.
Okay, so not a full post tonight, just a quick update to let you know that I made it through both the wedding and the 4th. And I'll post tomorrow all about the shenanigans involved in both. Lots of fun.
And, just so you know, I would totally wear those cowboy boots to work tomorrow if it wasn't going to be such a long day. I'm proud of those calluses.
So yeah, this week it'll be wedding/4th/warped central. And I'll even post some pics because some of you *cough*uncletheartist*cough* don't have Facebook and won't see them there.
I love my job. Just gonna put that out there. Today the Queen of Awesome brought me super hero crazy bands so I went around today with Iron Man, Captain America and Spiderman. And it was super funny this morning because it was our Post-4th-of-July party and my Glee-Loving Boss made a bracelet out of pipe-cleaner and beads, hands it to me and says, "Here, you can't say I never gave you jewelry."
Another thing I love about my job - interlibrary loan. Currently I'm watching Best of Match Game. The pilot isn't as funny but it has Brett Somers' husband on it. He agreed to do it if they let Brett join the show as well. Every answer he has he makes fun of his wife. Funny stuff.
Okay, so if you haven't seen the pictures on Facebook that I was tagged in - I haven't posted mine yet - for the love of God do it now. That way we can get over it and move on faster. Yes, I wore a dress. No, that's not happening again anytime soon. I will, however, wear the cowboy boots to work. I'm thinking Thursday since it's my shorter day.
The wedding was awesome. Outdoor on a ranch, seriously pretty. There was a slight rain delay but it was a baseball wedding so they're used to those. Well, not like a baseball themed wedding but the groom is a baseball coach and their family is linked to the SF Giants. The bride was super calm the whole time, no bridezilla moments even when he sat around in the basement for like 4 hours.
After I got back it was fireworks central. And me and my niece and nephew are pretty goofy so Oldest Sister took a lot of pictures of us posing. There's a super awesome one of me and M holding confetti guns and looking like we're gonna peek around the corner of it and attack. Definitely one to post on here. It's my profile pic on Facebook. Plus Charlie's Angels with J. "It's Bubby's Angels. Who the heck is Charlie?" This is second general CA, I went as Dylan with my two friends as the other angels. We had shirts made and everything. Love it. Other fun quotes: -"Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water." I had this neverending fountain in the road and a car pulled up and sat there for like five minutes then when it looked like the fountain was done he passed it and right at that moment it started shooting a bunch of stuff again right as he was passing it. Awesomeness. -"Not as comfortable with strobes up your butt?" I sat down to watch the finale and the chair was super uncomfortable.... yeah forgot to take the bag of strobe lights out of my back pocket. After that it was much better. -"I feel bad drinking out of this. But Jesus drank wine! So its okay." Sister-In-Law and I got koozies at the parade and they had religious stuff on them. We used them to hold our alcohol.
How does one "Watch their language". Just curious.
Songs from the weekend
"Dueling Banjos." Deliverance
A dedication for Beej who spent an hour trying to think of the title of this movie. We knew it was one word so we kept guessing titles that sounded western. That kid is awesome.
"Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" - Dr. Elmo
was stuck in my head all day today. I have no idea why or where it came from. No grandma or reindeer books at all. I swear it sounds like he's saying Grandpa got run over and not Grandma but I'm going with it. I love 0:58. Pause. Turn. Sing. SEND THEM BACK!
Alright, all for tonight. Today was 9-12, 1-5 and 6-8 so I'm gonna was MG and crash.
So we decided to leave tomorrow morning instead of tonight which means I actually have time to pack and sleep and shower and all that. Which is good, cause I kept putting it off. Like, I'll pack last night! Nope, do it in the morning. Then I woke up this morning and I'm like nope, I'll do it after work. It's after work...so I should pack. Cause I'm definitely not going to do it tomorrow morning!
Today was one of those. As much as I wanted to go to bed early last night it didn't happen. And I tried to post but it wouldn't let me so you're getting today's and yesterday's. But I separated them to prevent confusion.
My brain was fried by 5. Unfortunately I worked until 6! But we sent out all the food drive stuff and she sent out emails to all the staff giving them a heads up since it starts tomorrow! Then it'll be game time! Well, next week it'll be game time! When we start the competition between branches for loose change. We're sending empty milkjugs to all the branches and seeing who can fill it with the most loose change by the end of the donation period. Maybe they'll get into it and maybe they won't. We'll see. But we still need the milk jugs and Fearless Leader aka my partner for this whole thing said she was going to get some tonight and I was supposed to continually remind her about it so she wouldn't forget. And, her brain was fried around the same time I was, and, because I'm kind of a goofy person I came up with this invisible milk jug dance and continued to do it around her until she would smile. And now I'm texting her the title of this post over and over until I get confirmation.
So the wedding is Saturday but we're leaving tomorrow and everyone at work was teasing me all day about the need for pictures because I'll be in a dress and cowboy boots. Apparently I need to bring back pictures. And I was like um, no. But now Superwoman and Boss's Boss's Boss are saying it as well. So I'm toast. Boss's Boss's Boss told me today she had faith in me. I felt special. And Superwoman says I'm doing good. So the day was good up until my brain was fried. After that it was just a lot of dancing. Which I guess was fun too.
Songs tonight since I'm feeling goofy and dancy:
"Mahna Mahna" Cake - Star Wars Version
love how the sound effects match up with the clips. super cool. this song is also in my head a lot at work, but it's mostly the original muppets version.
aka this.
mostly when i'm shelving in the kid's section.
"Tonight Tonight" Hot Chelle Rae
the second appearance of the summer song. good jam out material. plus i like the video. even though it makes the lead guitarist look more like the lead singer than the actual lead singer. i enjoy the zach tattoo. that's fantastic.
Alright, gonna finish packing then turn on some Closer and konk out.
This is my last post for a couple of days, hope you guys have a good weekend and if I don't post behind then a Happy 4th of July!!
PS - Just got confirmation on the milk jugs. I can officially stop dancing. Well, at least for the next few hours, once the wedding reception starts who knows...
I'm gonna keep this short because I need to konk out soon. So today was all over the place. Usually this day sucks, for the past couple of years anyway, but today turned out okay. Shelved like a maniac again this morning, worked at the desk and on food drive stuff in the afternoon then hit up a Saltdogs game tonight. Sad day that we lost by 1 but it was still a good game. And I got to jam out with my nephew J who's a total goofball.
Quotes of the Day: Oldest Sister: "I like First Sister better than Older Sister." Me: Take it up with Customer Service." mwahaha.
J: "Run! It's Godzilla!" the other team's right fielder was like 7 feet tall.
Songs that were stuck in my head throughout the day. I'm sorry they're both from musicals but I'm a musicals kind of girl.
"Defying Gravity" Wicked - Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth
It was those last notes at 4:30. Over and over and over. Not the rest of the song, just those notes. Oh man. All day. This song was seriously awesome live. Highlight of the whole musical.
"Windy City" Calamity Jane - Doris Day
childhood favorite movie. still love it. I think I sing this on average about once a week while I'm shelving. I have no idea why it keeps popping up but it does. Sometimes it drives me bananas but most of the time I just go with. I mean, it's Doris Day. Come on.
Dear Blogspot, Today I was a Ninja of Awesome. I was a kickass shelver this morning - shelved for four hours straight while avoiding the mass of children that had congregated in the middle of the library to watch a musician. He was pretty good actually but now I have that "green grass grows all around" song stuck in my head. Ugh.
Just wanted to let you know that my Mom is pretty much awesome. Today, we bought drapes. Yes, after living here for over a year I'm officially sick of waking up to the sun at 5AM. So she bought me drapes. Plus the curtain rods. Now we just gotta get the maintenance dudes to install them. They are also pretty cool guys. Then, I went fireworks shopping while she got my oil changed - also her idea. And then, I hit up the McDonalds drive-thru right behind her and I went to pay for my pop and the chick gave me the weirdest look ever and said, "Um...the lady in front of you paid for yours. So, you're good to go." and I was "That's my mom." and the look on her face became like one of those epiphany looks "Ohhh! Okay!" So I called Mom and she said when she said that to her the chick probably thought it was some pay it forward kind of thing. But seriously, the look on her face was hysterical. So yeah, my Mom is awesome.
And, speaking of mothers, got to see my dorm mom today! She loves me. Bought some fireworks and stayed under 100. Which is impressive for me. I know that that may seem high to you but I go all out. When I see the fireworks tents go up I'm like ecstatic. It's like when they start selling candy canes. I'm addicted to those things and stock up. I still have 2 boxes in my cabinet. But yeah, fireworks! Totally stoked! Before we used to do this big block party thing at Oldest Sister's place but then they moved so since then we haven't really found a permanent replacement. This year we're going to Second Sister's house. I think we did that last year as well. Maybe that'll be our new place. Dad is making steaks. Or so I've heard. I told Oldest Sister that she has to make frog-eye salad - anyone else know what that is? it's fantastic - because she owes me. Even though she doesn't really. Or she could just teach me how to make it. I don't think I could burn that. But you never know, I did burn grilled cheese. Go here: My Life in Closed Captions: Sketch and Edit Make Grilled Cheese
Another highlight, I pulled into my parking lot earlier today and saw this plastic looking cat in a windowsill sitting like stock still. And I was like, "I hope that's fake, cause if not that's a really unfortunate-looking cat." And then....it moved. So someone in my building has a really unfortunate-looking cat. One of those hairless cats, you know? And I love cats, I am a cat person. Even though mine bites me. But hairless cats just freak me out. Plus it kinda reminds me of that episode of Friends where Rachel gets a hairless cat because her grandma had one and it's like vicious so they give it to Gunther.
Dude! I want Flex Seal! It's rubber in a can! You could like make anything waterproof. And the second can's free!
Sorry, more ESPN commercials. Maybe tonight I'll dream about building a raft with spray-can rubber. That Alec Balwin thinking I'm Jesus dream was just plain weird.
I'm sad that the CWS - that's College World Series, not Carpooling With Santa *cough*SecondSister*cough* might be over tonight. Even though I want SC to win it. It would be super cool for them to win the last game in Rosenblatt and the first game in Pseudo-Rosenblatt. Yes, Pseudo Rosenblatt. Because TD Ameritrade is just too long.
So, it was a good day, which is funny because the next few days for the past couple of years have kind of sucked. Long story. But we need some good jam out music for a good day.
"I've Had the Time of My Life" Glee Cast Version
Wow, Sam with short hair. Retro.
"Forget You" Glee Cast Version
Is it weird that my favorite Glee cast member is a guest star? Holly Holiday is my hero. Seriously. Constant Ninja of Awesome. and yes, I know I've posted this more than I've posted any other song. Want me to post the other 2 I post more than any of the others too?
Why not. They're good dancing tunes. Well, the first one is. The second will be more of a cool down I should go to bed thing.
"You Drive Me Crazy" Shakin' Stevens
He's Welsh. And it was the 80's. Deal with it. I love it!
"Reflecting Light" Sam Phillips
Cool down time. It's in my top 10. Pretty sure these last three are all in my top 10.
You know what's worse than Wendy's new natural cut fries? Cold Wendy's new natural cut fries. What's with this healthy crap? Fries aren't supposed to be healthy. We know that going in. Fry is in the freaking title. What's healthy that's fried? They make deep fried beer now. Not sure how that works but sounds intriguing. Oh well, they still got the frosties and the chili so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Actually that's what Grams and I lived on for a summer when I was staying with her. Cause I can't cook and she wasn't allowed to. It was an interesting summer. Luckily the cool aunt was always around when needed. Plus the bookstore aunt brought us this awesome microwaveable bacon so we could make bacon and tomato sandwiches. Not BLT's. Cause that would imply that there was lettuce. Is that just a my family thing? That it's just a bacon and tomato sandwich? Probably.
OMG! So I've been having the weidest dreams lately. In one of them Alec Baldwin thought I was Jesus. And at some point I was wearing a crown of thorns. The only logical explanation for that is that I watched the "Judas" video by Lady Gaga right before I went to bed and I've watched nothing but ESPN all week and that freaking Alec Baldwin credit card commercial runs every five minutes. Today's Highlights: -Got a package in the mail from an old friend! Huzzah! Warper Tour pics from back in '05. Gonna have to share a few with you later when I get them uploaded. Totally stoked! -I talk to my dorm mom twice a year. Once when I call her to see when her fireworks stand opens and second when I see her at the fireworks stand. So, today when I called, the first thing she says is "Tomorrow!" Definitely headed out there between shifts tomorrow! 4th of July and Xmas are my favorite holidays. And I splurge a bit for both. Totally stoked! I got some already today on sale and I'm gonna go through inventory tonight to figure out what I gotta stock up on tomorrow. -Oh the joys of camp. What started out as camp files and updating ended in cleaning the church basement since it flooded. My brother, the saint, came on the run to help. But we did get done what we needed to do and we'll meet up again in two weeks when I've gotten all the application forms. And now we have fun codenames. Which will be revealed later on.
Aaannd on with the show as promised. Four more and then I'm done.
Book #9 - "Dirty Little Secrets" by CJ Omololu Everyone has secrets, but Lucy has a big one. One that, if someone even entered her house, would blow up in her face. Her mother's a hoarder and has been for some time. So what happens when something tragic occurs? Does Lucy face facts and go get help or does she try to take care of it herself? Scale of Awesome says 7/10. I literally had to shower after this book. And that's as much of a summary I can give you without giving anything away since the event took place like only 10 pages in. But seriously, I mean I know that my parents and myself and my family hold on to stuff. But if it ever gets that bad, please say something. Seriously.
Book #10 - "The Unsinkable Walker Bean" by Aaron Renier Walker Bean loves his grandpa who just happens to be dying. He's dying because he has this haunted skull that's supposed to be in a cave with witches. If it's returned to their cave he will be saved so Walker takes the skull and tries to return it to the cave. On the way there he makes friends with pirates, avoids his father who wants the skull for himself and tries to keep the skull a secret. Scale of Awesome says 3/10. I'm sure it would be entertaining for a young adult boy since it's a graphic novel and the coloring is awesome but the storyline is just confusing. And it cuts off so there's supposed to be a sequel. I'm still lost.
Book #11 - "Wicked Girls" by Stephanie Hemphill This story follows the Salem Witch Trials and the group of girls who's lies started them. Each page is basically a different journal entry by one of the girls - they kind of alternate - and it's completely in verse. Scale of Awesome says 7/10. It's actually pretty clever and since I'm kind of obsessed with the whole Salem thing it was hard to put down.
Book #12 - "Out Of My Mind" by Sharon Draper Melody is handicapped and spends her life in a wheelchair. And she's brilliant but she can't communicate so people underestimate her. Finally she gets this computer than can talk for her but are people going to like what she has to say?Scale of Awesome says 5/10. I was totally into this book until the ending. Complete buzzkill and killed my SOA rating for it. And I'm sure that's exactly why she ended it that way, because it makes you think. But it was totally mean cause it was the last book I read the whole semester. And I started with Revolution which was this mind-blowing book. Like I said, total buzzkill.
Songs for tonight: "Mean" Taylor Swift
diggin' it. love the dudley do-right aspect.
"The Cha-Cha Slide" DJ Casper
big fan of this one throughout high school and college love the video cause you've got all generations covered. i'm gonna make sketch dance with me like that when we're in the nursing home. i mean, when we're not racing scooters. cause that comes first. scooter jousting. we've got big plans. watch out world.
Tomorrow's split shift plus FIREWORK SHOPPING! and just got a phone call from Oldest Sister who's using me and making me go to the Saltdogs game on Wednesday - long story - you know, you're lucky I don't have a life outside of work. I could have plans..... right.
OMG patrons. This weekend was just weird. Which strangely is actually becoming quite normal.
One of the regulars went off on me about stuff and because I love my job, I just sat there and took it. I had to walk it off later but I sat there and didn't say anything. I actually had a whole reply in my head about libraries being there for people to better themselves. We're here for entertainment, we're here for research and we're also here for when you can't afford anything else. Which is true for a lot of people in that neighborhood. But, since I love my job, I smiled and walked it off. Whatever, day's done. I'm passed it.
Now I'm watching Swamp People with Dad. Think I'm hooked. "Shoot him Lizbett!" Maybe I'll get Dad a Swamp People shirt for his birthday. I'm sure Mom would love that. Or maybe a coffee mug. He'd use that. Before this was Ice Road Truckers. Or IRT. Does it seriously need an acronym? Really? The chick trucker was pretty cool. But I still can't even think about the show without hearing Victoria's voice in my head. go here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-mYkJIcn8c
Me: "Who has that many spice bottles?" Dad: "Mom." Swivel Store Organizer is only 19.99. Huzzah!
Alright, commercial break is over. Joe's mad cause his stepson Tommy slept in yesterday and they're playing catchup. Troy is letting Liz (he calls her Lizbett when he's yelling at her to shoot a gator) call the shots on where they go this time. Junior and Willy are stuck in a bunch of weeds since the water level went way down. That's basically the highlights so far. and OMG! Swamp People has a blog. gotta post it. That's fantastic. http://swamp-people.blogspot.com/
"He Wasn't There" Lily Allen
one of my favorite singers and I like the album version of this song but I love this live one! fantastic. seriously. the guitar and piano are awesome. "and everyone said you have to give him some time...and i'm glad that i gave it to him cause now everything's fine..."
tomorrow is all camp all the time. so much for a day off. i'll keep you posted.
ps- yes i know i was supposed to finish the rest of the reviews on those books 9-12tonight but i dont have them with me here. will do it tomorrow night.
Book #5 "Shipbreaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi Nailer and the rest of his crew are shipbreakers - they scrap old ships and sell what they can. A hurricane hits and stalls all work. Nailer and his friend Puma are out searching for food when they discover a huge ship overturned. They go inside and start grabbing everything of value, but what happens when they find a girl barely alive on the ship. Do they kill her and make a profit or save her and risk losing everything. Scale of Awesome says: 7/10 I don't think I explained it very well but I was actually impressed by the story even though I don't know much about ships.
Book #6 "Payback Time" by Carl Deuker Mitch is the high school newspaper's star reporter. He's all about the news. But his senior year he's reassigned to the sports section. He used to play football so he's not completely clueless but he hates the assignment because all the coach wants him to talk about is their star quarterback (who just happens to be Mitch's ex-best-friend). This becomes difficult when Mitch and his photographer Kimi Yon become intrigued by the backup quarterback. He throws and plays better than anyone on the team but when it's pointed out to the coach the player starts playing worse to avoid being detected. Why doesn't he want the coach's attention? Why is his past so mysterious? Mitch is intrigued. Scale of Awesome says 6/10. Quick read, a lot of sports stuff, but I kind of figured out the ending really early in the book and I just wanted to get to that point.
Book #7 "The Lost Hero" by Rick Riordan Percy Jackson has gone missing. Completely vanished. Meet Jason, wakes up on a bonus, no idea who he is, apparently has a girlfriend named Piper and a best friend named Leo. Oh, and they happen to be demi-gods. One of the gods has stolen Jason's memory and is holding it hostage because she's been kidnapped and Jason has to be the one to save her. Zeus has closed off all contact from Olympus so who else is there to assist him on this quest other than Piper and Leo. Scale of Awesome says 9/10. I listened to it on audio and while the narrator was annoying at times I was so deep into the mythology aspect that I rarely even noticed him. An excellent story, seriously.
Book #8 "Zombies vs. Unicorns" edited by Justine Larbalestier and Holly Black Okay, I've rambled enough about this book already but apparently I was supposed to post my final version of the booktalk. So here. Read it or skim it whatever.
There have been many great debates over the years. Obama vs. McCain, Pepsi vs. Coke, Edward vs. Jacob, but the one debate I want you to focus on today is the debate of all debates, the quandary of all quandaries: Zombies vs. Unicorns.
This novel is a collection of stories about, you guessed it, zombies and unicorns. Team Zombie is led by Justine Larbalestier and the team leader for the unicorn squad is Holly Black. The book goes back and forth with a story about a zombie followed by a story about a unicorn, lather rinse repeat.
Many aspects of Zombies are covered, their love of brains, their strong devotion or hatred for their loved ones, their ability to travel in packs and stare at you, their cold hands, and their undead-ness. There's even stories about zombie children! "But there was another voice in my head, a quieter one way in the back telling me to leave. To get out of the house and away from there. To go back to into the rain. To hitchhike to London or starve or even just call home. And while I can still assign blame I want to make sure you know. This was all Franklin's fault."
They've got Unicorns covered as well. Their ability to heal, their draw to virgins, their desire to help baby unicorns, their love of chocolate milk and you know that big spikey thing on their foreheads. There are even stories about the depression that can go along with eternal life and the violence of becoming a killer unicorn. Surprisingly, some of the unicorn stories are even more violent than the zombie ones! Some stories are serious and some are parodies. This is more of a parody. "'What does being a virgin with opposable thumbs?' she said. 'Nothing!' the unicorn said. 'But will anyone else in the herd listen to me? Of course not! They go off and grab the first thirteen year old who coos at them and then it's all *insert girly voice* their purity will lead the way...blah blah blah... Lead the way to a whole bunch of dead baby unicorns maybe. I want a little more competence in my heroine.' 'Um, I'm drunk and sleeping on a bench in central park,' Alison said. 'That meets your criteria?' 'Hello!' the unicorn dipped his horn and hoisted the tangling sleeve from her wadded up jacket. The one she had been using as a pillow. 'U.S. Marines?'"
So, do you like brains? Would you like healing powers? What's it gonna be? Team Zombie or Team Unicorn? Read Zombies vs. Unicorns by Justine Larbalestier and Holly Black and choose your side in the debate of the century.
"FINALLY! signs of intelligent life from inside the Dear Jane Gang!" -name that quote.
I love that Provensa brings Flynn a balloon when he's in the hospital that says "It's a girl". Pure awesomeness.
"SALSA!"
love captain raydor at 2:35, she says it that way in the final cut as well and now that's the only way i can say it. love it. "it was a hilarious robbery."
Two versions of an awesome song.
"Big Yellow Taxi" - Joni Mitchell original
original awesomeness. dad was shocked i knew the lyrics.
here's a link to Joni when she's younger and more goofy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgMEPk6fvpg think i like that one better. more like the recording i have of hers.
Well, the final tally is in with the verdict 1,029 points out of 1,030 points possible. And I was doing so well up until that last submission! Messed up on a citation - big surprise there - but was a total pro up until then. Out of the like 20 something citations, no wait it was 5 citations per book cause you had to do one for the book, one for the author's website, 2 for published reviews and then one for a book like it. So 5 per book and I read 12 books. And had a perfect score until the last one. Man. Grad school. Just... You know... One point, that's just... mean. But I'm done for the summer and I have a new summer song which surprisingly hasn't driven me nuts yet as pop-y as it is. I got sick of Whine Up about a month in.
But I'm done! Cause now I have my final grades, sent in my thank-you's, all that's left now is to write the reviews, oh wait I haven't called my mother...give me a minute.... Called my mother, she told me to celebrate so huzzah! I'll watch the CWS, route for SC and drink something. Like a Mike's. If I have a Mike's. *celebration ensues* Moving on.
I told you earlier I would hit you with the book reviews once the class was finished. Then I got busy with other stuff and after that I just didn't want to do it, but now I have time. There are 12 books, but there's no way I'm reviewing all 12 now. I'm thinking 4 per day. It'll give me something to talk about for the rest of the weekend.
Okay, here we go.
So Book #1 was "Revolution" by Jennifer Donnelly. Basically, the story is about Andi, a student about to graduate high school. Her brother is killed, her mother goes crazy so her father decides to take her to Paris. Her father, a famous geneticist, is there to test a heart that people claim to be the heart of the dauphin of France. The dauphin of France was the son of the King and Queen during the Revolution. His parents were beheaded and he was imprisoned so the people could live in a democratic world no longer ruled by royalty. While Andi is in France she discovers a diary in an old guitar case that belonged to Alex, the official companion to the dauphin. Alex took care of him, entertained him, and after he was imprisoned tried to free him. The story bounces back from Andi's life to Alex's journal entries. As Andi gets drawn in by Alex's story she notices things in her world start to overlap with Alex's. She must know whether Alex was able to save the dauphin or if it really is his heart that her father is testing. Scale of Awesome rating: 10/10 - The book is great if you're a fan of historical fiction. Donnelly does a great job of explaining the French Revolution as she's telling the story. I actually researched it after I was done with the book because I became so interested. You learn about it without feeling like she's drowning you in it. I was very impressed.
Book #2 - "Hold Still" by Nina LaCour Caitlin is the main character in this book. It starts right after her best friend, Ingrid, commits suicide. She doesn't understand why, she has a lot of rage, and then suddenly the summer is over and she has to go back to school and face everyone. Then one day she finds Ingrid's journal under her bed. While reading the journal she begins to understand not only about Ingrid but about herself - as cheesy as that sounds. It's a good book, Scale of Awesome says: 7/10 - It's a really quick read and actually really different from what I'm used to reading so at first I was resistant. After she found the journal it was hard to put down.
Book #3 was "Bruiser" by Neal Shusterman This book is told from many perspectives, it kind of bounces back and forth. Tennyson and Bronte are two siblings growing up and going to high school. The book starts just as Bronte starts dating this guy that everyone calls Bruiser. He's big and awkward and doesn't talk to anyone. After finding out that his sister is dating Bruiser, Tennyson decides to follow him home finding an uncle who beats him, a fears-nothing-cause-he's-young brother, and a dead bull. In their front yard. After helping him to dispose of the bull - so glad he only gave us the before and after of that part - he and Bruiser become closer and he begins to notice things. Like, why all of his injuries just suddenly don't exist around Bruiser. I can't really say anything more than that without giving anything away, but read this book. Because it's fantastic. Scale of Awesome rating: 9/10 - I loved this book! It's funny, it's mysterious, and it's a quick-read. What more can I say?
Book #4 was a Golden Sower nominee "Extra Credit" by Andrew Clements Abby is awesome at rock climbing. She is not, however, so awesome at everything else, say school. She's failing. And they're going to hold her back. Her only option: extra credit. The teacher gives her choices and puts them in a hat, she pulls out the pen-pal option aka write to a different country back and forth with a pen-pal. This is how she finds herself in contact with Sadeed who is from Afghanistan. Sadeed is the most qualified student at the school her letter was sent to. He knows English so he would be the one to write her back, except, it's improper for a young boy and a young girl to write back and forth in their society, so he writes what his sister says instead. After getting tired of being the scribe he decides to write his own letter and send it along with his sister's. Then Clements throws in some cultural differences, there's drama, and that's all I'm gonna give you cause it's a short book. Scale of Awesome - for me I'd say 6/10 but it would be a perfect read for a younger adolescent who's wanting more to read than just basic chapter books. Super quick read with big font and not so many pages.
Cool Aunt and I are sad since Vandy is toast. They lost to Florida this afternoon. Total downer man. No more "Black! Gold" this season. Although I may continue to text her that randomly throughout the summer as it is rather amusing. Now I'm saying South Carolina. It would be cool for them to win the last game at Rosenblatt and the first game at the TD-whatever-I'm-still-going-to-call-it-Rosenblatt stadium.
Third Eye Blind is wicked sweet. Scroll down for a super cool video.
So, I'm watching the Closer cause the game was totally depressing. I was hoping that Cal could pull it off and de-throne Virginia but nope. Now they're going home. Sad day. Oh well, Vanderbilt's still in it. Still wearing my kick-butt bracelet. They're gonna pull it off. Tomorrow afternoon is the big game against Florida - and I'll actually be around to watch it, huzzah! then Tomorrow night it's Virginia vs South Carolina. And I guess I should go for South Carolina since I kind of went for them last year. Until I picked UCLA. and then they beat UCLA. Whatever, go Vandy! I'm all about the "Black! Gold!"
Early morning today. Went to a Food Bank breakfast kickoff thing, as I'm co-chair for that this year. Duuude, I was not expecting there to be that many people there. This thing is like huge. And nerve-wracking. I'm just glad I got Fearless Leader on my side. She's got a plan. I just drive the truck. Which was like huge - thanks to the kickbutt bro-in-law OH! and I was totally up before my sister. Which never happens. So I gotta put that in here cause it won't happen again. Anyway, driving this big truck and then when I get back in my car I was like I felt like...you know when you switch cars and everything just feels different? Like you have to press the breaks harder on the truck than you do in my car. Which I didn't realize until I was back in my car, then I felt like I was slamming on the breaks even when I just tapped them. But I'm good now. Life is back to normal. Or as normal as my life has been as of late. Where was I going with all this? Oh right, so we hit up the breakfast, got our posters and barrels, delivered them all - forgetting that the libraries don't open until 10 so we hung around outside one of the branches for a while, haha. Now we're working on marketing stuff aka where to put barrels, how to advertise for them (posters, maybe a promo on the website) and then putting together a competition between staff at the branches. I'll keep you posted as progress happens on that one. Should be interesting.
Songs tonight:
"Never Let You Go" Third Eye Blind
love the live version - one of their kids is playing with them, too cute.
"Sixteen Military Wives" The Decemberists
funny video.
Tomorrow's halfday, huzzah! Thinking of writing a little more then crashing.
Okay, so the thing about filling out forms is that if you want your child's name to be spelled right on their return letter/nametag, you should probably work on your handwriting so that it's legible on an official form. Cause really. Some of these are questionable. And I know the names of most of the kids so usually I'm able to figure it out, but this year there's some new kids - which is great - but I have no idea what some of their names are. Cause the handwriting is worse than mine. I have a major need for counselors. As of now I have 3. Total. And the deadline isn't until the 1st of July so there's time but still... I actually get applications up until the day of camp itself so it'll be fine. I still would rather have more now.
So I'm all for Vanderbilt. They're currently beating North Carolina 5-1. My final prediction was Vandy 6-5. And this is the bottom of the 8th so there's still time. But Cal, with their true cinderella story, is quickly becoming my number two. Kept alive by donations and then making it to the CWS, that's impressive. I dunno what'll happen if they make the final two. This game is pretty much a rematch of what we saw when we were there. Only this time the loser goes home instead of just to the loser's bracket. And it's funny because I can recognize the cheers that are going on back and forth between the fans. There's a lot of "Tar! Heels! Tar! Heels!" and "Black! Gold! Black! Gold!" (which is super amusing to text back and forth with the cool aunt btw) but there's also the general admission section specialty of "Tar Heels Suck!" which was rather amusing, even though it's insulting. When we were there it was a dude standing on his chair counting to three and then they'd all yell it. Usually right when a NC player went up to bat, or right after a big "Tar! Heels! Tar! Heels!" cheer.
Quote of the day: Straight from Superwoman: "(insert my name) takes precedence since she has more points than you." I had to talk to her about food drive stuff but she was already talking to a coworker that's way up in the chain of command compared to me. I felt special. For like a second, then she said she wouldn't say that again.
Song of the night:
Adele "Rolling in the Deep"
awesome voice in an awesome video.
Out early, gonna be a super long today tomorrow. Food Drive stuff in the morning then work all afternoon. I hate early mornings. gonna have to stop for coffee. I tried to get in touch with city people all day to request a van - we're going to be driving to almost all the branches to drop off barrels for food donations - but everyone I called was either on vacation or not answering. So I called my sister and brother in law. They pretty much rock. And I'm gonna borrow their truck. Huzzah!
More on that tomorrow.
OUT!
ps - watching the Closer season six dvd, fantastic. love every scene with them in the new building and all the frustration that goes along with it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZJhdhmZLAI&feature=related WHERE ARE FLYNN AND PROVENSA?!!
Castle-ism... It was either that or "Frog and Toad are Friends". yeah, no reason behind that one other than I saw it on the shelf today. At least this title is relevant. Writer monkey has returned with a vengeance. New ideas for old stories and I'm breakin' 'em out. I guess that's what happens when I'm shelving and get ideas...now that I have free time! Or I do for the rest of the week. Monday is camp central and after that all my free time will be gone. So, I'm enjoying it while it's here. Watching CSI and the CWS - picked up The Closer season six from Target as it came out today. Lovin' life. It's awesome. Next week that may change.
For some weird reason getting inspired to write apparently doesn't tranfer to here. Cause I have no idea what to write about tonight. Split shift - between I got my license updated, yay dmv?, hit up target for groceries, laid around with my big fat cat, then went back to work. And my phone is all wonky. Those are my highlights.
Gonna write/watch CWS 'til I konk out. Totally sad Vandy lost this morning. But both Texas teams are headed home. When we were leaving it seemed to be drunken Texas fan central. And though some of my best ex's are actually from Texas I still will never root for them. Texas that is. A&M is okay on occasion. Except when they're beating us even though we should have smoked them. Guess we don't have to worry about that so much anymore with the change in conference. Go Huskers!
One for tonight:
"Killing Me Softly" the Fugees
definitely in my top 10 favorite songs of all time.
TV show review: Happily Divorced - It's like the Nanny! If Mr. Sheffield decided he was gay 18 years into marriage and suddenly all their children just didn't exist. Then he decided to give his wife advice about dating other men. "What am I trying to say on a first date?" "That you want a second!" Okay so it's really nothing like the Nanny other than the fact that it's written by and stars Fran Drescher. But it's actually pretty funny, I'd give it a 8/10 on the Scale of Awesome.
So, the weekend is officially over and I'm back at work for the week. I got to sleep in this morning, only at one branch in the afternoon then attempted to watch Vandy vs. Florida until I lost signal...then when it came back there was a weather delay. After that I just turned on CSI. Seasons 1 and 2 from Target for $12. Awesomeness. Now I'm watching That 70's Show on nick@nite. I really need to get thru the dvd's I have checked out but for some reason I have no motivation. Think I'm going to just turn them all in tomorrow and start off with something else.
It's just so weird having all this free time again. I don't have to run home just to read and post stuff. Huzzah! It's that bizarre no homework yet really no camp work since I can't really do anything until I get more application forms. That won't last. I give it a week. The deadline for the forms is July 1st. Even though we get them way after that.
Tomorrow's split shift. Gotta run errands between so I'm off to bed.
Duuude, That 70's Marathon! 10/10 on the Scale of Awesome. "Niiice burn!" Donna was pretty much my idol. Plus Laura Prepon as Nikki Heat - pure genius.
