In Which I Shamelessly Plug My Friends’ Work

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May 27, 2010

My friends Lord Bargain (whose first book- 101 Forgotten Pop Hits of the 1980s – is now on sale) and his lovely wife Suburban Hen (whose beautiful baby quilts, jewelry, prints, and more can be found here) have entered a contest.  The object is to create a video ad for Paddy Power.  The video that gets the most hits wins £1,000.  Like the rest of us, they could really use the money, and the ad is only 32 seconds long.  It spoofs a recent event during the British elections when an incumbent candidate who had been soliciting a woman’s vote forgot that his mike was still on when he got in his car to leave.  You’ll have to watch the video to find out what the candidate said!

BTW, it’s Lord Bargain himself playing the politician, and SwissToni as the Paddy Power employee.

(and in case any of you are wondering: Yes, I would probably do the same thing for you if you needed/wanted a plug :) )

Categories: My Viewing Pleasure, Random Thoughts, Reading Room.

For Readers with Something to Say!

1

February 11, 2010

I would now like to bring something to your attention. 

The Reader’s Place Ning.

I have linked to The Reader’s Place in the past and, in fact, still have a link to it here under “Other Sites of Interest.”  The trouble is that membership participation there was a bit off.  Admin has been neglecting the site and it has stopped being a dynamic place to visit.  As a result people began to drift away.

But in a brilliant coup d’etat one of its members has created a ning* where members will have more control.  In addition to locating the old members, we would love to invite those of you with a love of books and reading to join us in our discussions there, and to start discussions of your own!

*If, like me, you’d never heard of a ”ning” before, it seems to be a social networking site similar to FB but with a more common theme or purpose, in this case, discussions about books.

Categories: Random Thoughts, Reading Room.

Withdrawal

3

December 29, 2009

Something evil took out our cable company’s fiber optics; cable, internet, and their phone service went out all over the northwest corner of Connecticut.  I just went without cable or internet (gasp!) for 11 hours.  I don’t actually mind not being online or not watching television when it’s my choice.  It’s having the option taken from me that makes me twitch.  It wouldn’t have been so bad if I had a decent book to read, but I didn’t.  Rather, I have unread books but none of them appealed.  Don’t you hate when that happens?  It’s not something you can force.

Anywho, I dug out my Evil Under the Sun Wii game and played that for a few hours until I got stuck and needed a break.  Randy came home and we watched several episodes of NCIS until… at last! … cable and internet returned.  Still, we love NCIS, so it wasn’t a hardship.  Did you know that Pauley Perette (“Abby”) is 40 and has a Masters in Criminology?  Cool.

All of this goes to show that I need to make a run to the bookstore soon.  Thankfully my sister gave me a gift certificate to one.

Categories: My Viewing Pleasure, Random Thoughts, Reading Room.

Ears, Nose, Back and Books

7

August 20, 2009

I went to my GP and said “I thought I’d switch things up a bit; I’m here because of my ears this time.”

I was having sharp pains in my ears when driving over hills, something that can’t be avoided here.  As it turns out, it’s not my ears, it’s my sinuses.  So now I’m on steroids (there go my Olympic dreams!) and Flonase.  My GP asked about my back and leg problems; I hadn’t contacted him after seeing the neurologist.  I just needed to take a break from it for awhile, if that makes any sense.  So I filled him in and he was very comforting.  He knows me, and believes me.  He thinks the steroid might help with some of my symptoms in addition to the sinus trouble.  He also put me on Flexeril, a powerful muscle relaxant.  I was on it once before many years ago after a car accident.  I had to drive to school after taking one back then, and the drive went something like this:

“Wow.  Look at the leaves.  Look at the light shining through the leaves.  The leaves are green.  The car in front of me is stopping.  The light is red.  I should stop too.”

It isn’t affecting me as powerfully this time.  At least, I don’t think so.  I took it about an hour before I went to bed so I don’t know how loopy I was.  I wasn’t driving anywhere or speaking to anyone.  Which might have been a good thing.

On a completely different note, some of you have asked about the books and authors I’ll be reading for school.  For those of you who care:

Major British Writers:

(this only covers the Middle Ages through the Restoration and 18th century)

  • The Dream of the Rood
  • Beowulf
  • Marie de France
  • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
  • Geoffrey Chaucer
  • William Langland
  • Julian of Norwich
  • Margery Kempe
  • The York Play of the Crucifixion
  • Sir Thomas Malory
  • Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder
  • Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
  • The English Bible
  • Elizabeth I
  • Edmund Spenser
  • Sir Walter Raleigh
  • Sir Philip Sidney
  • Mary (Sidney) Herbert, Countess of Pembroke
  • Christopher Marlowe
  • William Shakespeare
  • Thomas Nashe
  • John Donne
  • Aemilia Lanyer
  • Ben Jonson
  • Mary Wroth
  • Thomas Hobbes
  • George Herbert
  • Robert Herrick
  • Richard Lovelace
  • Katherine Philips
  • Andrew Marvell
  • Margaret Cavendish
  • John Milton
  • John Dryden
  • John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester
  • Aphra Behn
  • Jonathon Swift
  • Alexander Pope
  • Eliza Haywood
  • Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
  • William Hogarth
  • Samuel Johnson
  • James Boswell
  • Thomas Gray
  • William Collins
  • William Cowper
  • Olaudah Equiano
  • Frances Burney
  • and selected poems in progress of some of the above

May I say that you Brits have been altogether too prolific, and that I sincerely hope we only skim through some of these?

Adolescent Literature:

  • Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
  • Ironman by Chris Crutcher
  • The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
  • Holes by Louis Sachar
  • Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
  • The Killer’s Cousin by Nancy Werlin
  • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  • American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
  • The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
  • The Giver by Lois Lowry
  • The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier
  • Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

I have already read some of these, as well as The Swallows of Kabul, required for another class.  Suffice it to say I will have my nose stuck in a book  most of this semester!

Categories: College Life, Random Thoughts, Reading Room.

More Randomness

3

July 4, 2009

Happy Independence Day!  Do the Brits celebrate independence from us also? ;)

~ Well, it’s the end of the world as we know it: I’m on Facebook.  I fought, I resisted, but in the end gave in.  Too many family members were using it to communicate and share pics which I couldn’t see.  It was extremely annoying!  I am still a bit disgruntled that I needed to do this, but it’s done.  At least I can catch up with a lot of my friends from school now.

~ I finished reading Warrior and Witch, the sequel to Warrior.  I really liked these books and am disappointed that there won’t be a third.  But Brennan feels that, while there were some tantalizing strings left dangling, the story has been told and that to write a third would be to drag it out needlessly.  I see her point and agree with it, but I grew attached.  By the way, Leah mentioned in a comment that she wanted to find Warrior at the library.  This reminded me I should mention that these books have been re-released under new titles.  Warrior was originally Doppelganger, and Warrior and Witch was simply Witch.  If you can’t find one title, try the other.  Confusing, right?  Doppelganger/Warrior is the first book, and Witch/Warrior and Witch is the sequel.  They are definitely worth reading.

~ I am craving hot dogs and other cook-out fare.  Thankfully Randy will be home soon with goodies.

Praying that I stop taking pictures soon

Praying that I stop taking pictures soon

Categories: College Life, Creativity Expressed, Random Thoughts, Reading Room.

Doings

7

July 1, 2009

Let’s see, where to begin…

  • My mother’s car died.  Dead.  Cannot be rescusitated.  She has no money right now to get another car.  Meanwhile, as she weighs her options, I’ve loaned her mine.  Hey, with my back problems it’s not like I’m using it anyway; it just sits in the driveway.
  • I’ve sent in the letter declining admission to Columbia.  I can’t begin to tell you how hard it was, even though I knew it was the right choice.  It’s done now, though, and I’m moving forward.
  • I’ve just finished reading Warrior by Marie Brennan (not to be confused with the Warrior series by Erin Hunt, which I have also recently finished reading).  This was a real page-turner.  If you enjoy fantasy at all, I think you’ll like this.  The premise is that when a witch is born, a doppelganger is as well.  In order for the witch to receive her powers without being overwhelmed and killed by them, the doppelganger must die.  It is believed to be a soulless creature and is usually killed immediately.  When Miryo comes of age to receive her powers, however,  it is discovered that her doppelganger still lives.  Miryo is charged with the task of seeking her other half, Mirage, and killing her.  But when Miryo finds Mirage she realizes that her twin does have a soul, and she can’t follow through.  Mirage is a Hunter who also has a mission: to discover who was behind the assassination of a high-ranking witch.  The answer to that leads back to a conspiracy, one which involves the unwitting twins.  The two must unite if they are to live…
  • Did I mention that while we are on vacation, our bathroom is going to be remodelled?  Well, it is.  Randy and I went to Home Depot yesterday.  I chose the new vanity, bathroom storage cabinet, and faucet.  The shower stall size and style was already determined, but I chose the glass pattern for it.  The shower is a corner unit, but the corner it should occupy in our bathroom isn’t big enough because of the placement of the window.  So we’re going to build a wall about 17″ from the window wall and turn the space in between into built-in shelving.  The shower will go into the newly formed corner created by the newly created wall.  In addition to this, the old flooring is going to be replaced with new; I picked that out yesterday as well.  I’m thinking about buying a new toilet as well, but am not sure yet.  We’ll see.  Fear not- I will take before and after shots to share.  Because I know you’re all dying to know what my bathroom looks like, right? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
  • As long as we were out anyway, we stopped to buy a couple of things for our cats.  We couldn’t resist getting them a kitty tower.  I hesitated because a) a lot of them look kind of tacky and b) they’re expensive.  I wasn’t convinced our cats would use it; they’ve ignored the smaller kitty condo we bought for them years ago.  But we decided to get it anyway.  I’m glad we did!  After some initial hesitancy, they’ve come to love it.  One of the store employees told us that for some reason most cats don’t like the top shelf of these things.  I doubted that would be an issue, at least for Wheezy.  The cat has psychotic breaks and races up and down door frames, so heights aren’t really a problem for her.  Sure enough, she loves being at the top of the tower.  She’s curled up there now.  All I can see is her tail hanging down through the hole that allows access to the top; it looks like a furry snake dangling down.   As for Patches, he likes the lowest level best, but will sometimes explore the second level.  He did try to reach the top, but Wheezy was there and made it perfectly clear that it was a No Patches Zone.  Period.  He doesn’t seem to mind, though.  Both cats also like to hide in the corner behind the tower itself.  Putting the tower where we did created a nifty little hidey-hole for them.  Here they are:

cattower

patchestower

wheezetower

Categories: College Life, Creativity Expressed, Home Improvement, Random Thoughts, Reading Room.

Some Thoughts

1

June 14, 2009
  • Tuscany is beautiful
  • I’m tired of Tigerstar.  I tolerated him in the first Warrior series because he was part of the plot line.  His presence in the second Warrior series was a tremendous irritant.  I’m gritting my teeth at his presence in this third series.  I get the concept, the reasoning.  But… enough already.
  • Tis the season of a million and one wedding-related shows.
  • While several interesting cake shows have cropped up, none beats Ace of Cakes.  Careful if you follow the link; a video starts to play.
  • I don’t know what I want for supper.  Any suggestions?

Categories: My Viewing Pleasure, Random Thoughts, Reading Room.

Aggravating

3

June 12, 2009

I hate it when I can’t locate a book.  I thought I knew where it was, but it isn’t there.  I’ve obviously put it some place stupid.  And the thing is, I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted to reread it, but because I can’t find it, it’s become a small obsession.  I hurt too much to look for it any further, so I give up.

For now.

Categories: Reading Room.

In Cahoots

10

March 2, 2009

Some of you may recall that I’m half convinced that I’m being monitored by the feds since al Neda hacked into my website a few years ago to broadcast its terrorist newsletter.  I reported it and worked with the FBI, allowing them to track traffic until the group cottoned on and hacked into some other oblivious person’s website instead.  I was incensed not only because of the newsletter, but also because of how it would reflect on me.  At the time this happened, Homeland Security was building up steam and we were warned that our reading material would be monitored if they so chose.  To make matters worse, one of my grandmothers is Lebanese, therefore I’m of Middle Eastern descent.  So, at the time:

- I had al Neda (unbeknownst to me) broadcasting from my site

- I had a Lebanese grandmother

- I was reading An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan by Jason Elliot (good book, btw)

Now, I don’t care how much they reassured me, I’d be a fool to think that they weren’t monitoring me a little as well at the time.  I joke about it to this day, claiming that my house is bugged, etc.  I don’t actually believe it, but it’s a funny thought, probably because I’m fairly certain that it isn’t true.

But now I wonder.  Bear with me here a moment…

In the last week I’ve had two zits, both quite obvious when you look at me.  One cleared up, but the other lingers.  It isn’t a whitehead.  Oh no, nothing so simple.  It’s one of those large, painful bumps so big that you can’t help but see it without even looking in a mirror because it’s high on the cheekbone.  As a woman with makeup close to hand, I can cover up the redness, and it is red.  It could surely outshine Rudolf’s nose on his best, glowiest day.  But though I can conceal the color, I can’t conceal its existence.  The best I can hope for is that people will miraculously believe that it’s a mole that has cropped up overnight.  A nice, innocuous mole that fortuitously blends well with the rest of my skin tone.  It could happen, right?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Now, this is the first I’ve blogged about this.  I haven’t even mentioned it anywhere online before this moment.  Or offline, for that matter.  I mean, who would?  So then, how did the spammers know to slam me with hundreds of acne-related spam comments?

The feds must have told them.

While the number of acne spams has finally begun to subside (and oh how I wish the pimple itself would do the same!), I have a new concern.  Because now the spam is trying to help me deal with my prostate cancer.

What do they know that I don’t?

Categories: Random Thoughts, Reading Room.

No Blood Required

8

January 15, 2009

By the time I toppled into bed last night, I had been up for something like 40 hours. I came here to post before going to bed. I stared blearily at the page, face as pale and my eyes as red as any of Meyer’s Volturi vampire’s after a meal. I stared and I stared, but nothing happened. I’m not sure what I expected to happen. What? Great wit and wisdom would pour forth? You know, I think I really did think that would happen.

Tells you how tired I was.

Anyway, I went to bed, slept for 11 hours and am now human again, at least in part. I’m still pale, but that’s my normal state of being; there’s nothing remotely vampiric about it.

I worked really hard on that application. I wrote, rewrote and wrote some more. I’m not happy with one of the essays in particular but I ran out of time. So be it. I met with Sharon (PTK advisor and faculty member who nominated me for this scholarship) to go over everything before submitting. We ran into a snag when we tried to upload the financial info as .pdf to submit online. We think we’ve figured out the problem and are in the process of trying again. No big deal, though. The work is done. I came home, sat on the sofa and relaxed.

For about 30 minutes, at which point Sharon emailed me another scholarship she wants me to apply for!

At least this one is simple.  It doesn’t seem like it’s going to require a copy of my father’s death certificate, as the last one did. I swear, by the time I was done with that one I was surprised they didn’t require a DNA sample, too.

I think I’ll go to work now.  It’s a much happier place than sitting here, filling out yet more forms.

And it’s only just beginning, isn’t it?

*sigh*

Categories: College Life, Reading Room.