richlayers

Behind the Curtain by Peter Abrahams
The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Lucifer: Crux by Mike Carey
The Storyteller's Daughter by Cameron Dokey
Lucifer: Morningstar by Mike Carey
Lucifer: Evensong by Mike Carey
The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo
Fire by Kristin Cashore
The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Forest Born by Shannon Hale
Ice by Sarah Beth Durst
A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn

Current Mood: sick

I don't wanna be sick. :(

I work in the library computer lab four days a week. I have my "own" computer and table, shared with the other lab monitors. It has it's own computer with a sign reading, "Reserved for Lab Monitor," a bottle of Germ-X, a stapler, and a box of Kleenex.

The library director (my mom) bought about 50,000 purple pens that have the name of the library stamped on the side. They're very nice pens, and there's a mug of them sitting on my little table with the other supplies for students' use.

And every time I come in here, someone has taken out the highlighter, the pencil, and the one non-matching pen, and set them on the table next to the mug. This is just beyond my comprehension -- because what's wrong with keeping all the writing utensils together in a place where they can't roll onto the floor and get lost?

Yet it never, never fails -- as soon as I get here I gather them up and put them back with the rest of the matching pens. It's not a major annoyance so much as a constant slight peeve. And then I have to turn around and wonder -- am I driving someone else crazy? What is with my need to have the desk tidy? Why do I have to MIX THESE PENS TOGETHER??

So I ask you, unknown OCDer: Why must you segregate these pens???

Go on, spread a little love!

Mom got me a box of chocolates, which is sitting downstairs tempting me to ignore all healthy food. Chocolate for lunch is perfectly fine, right?

Chris wrote me a really special letter. :) And we're going to see The Lightning Thief later, because that's totally in the spirit of the holiday...

Some Lovely Links:

yuki_onna's fabulous essay on feelin the love.

A fun article on OKCupid's statistical analysis of dating--what works and doesn't, and other strange facts about online dating sites.

And my favorite, SurLaLune's Valentine's card for the internet.

photo by Angi Unruh from Wikimedia

Photo by Angie Unruh from Wikimedia

The printer in the computer lab finally shut down. It spent the last 3 weeks gasping out its dying breath, convinced that it had a paper jam every time someone wanted to print more than one page in a row. So the school is ordering a new one, and printing is being rerouted to the main library computers.

And the lab is so QUIET these days.... I'm enjoying the peace and quiet!

I passed all my 80 word per minute tests last week. Celebrate! Now it's onto 100 word a minute tests. Blah. That was a short celebration; I suck again.

In the meantime, I'm having a rough few days. There's some stuff going on that I can't really talk about, with a few of the people in my life. It's been a hard week and all I want to do is crawl into bed until the sun comes out and the weather warms up. No wonder I can never lose weight in the winter....

So anyway, I'd appreciate some happy thoughts if you've got 'em to spare!

Today's writing exercise comes (in essence) courtesy of Gail Carson Levine: Write a scene in which two people are upset with each other, and reconcile by the end of the scene. Use no more than ten words of dialog for each of them. Flying by the seat of my pants....

***

Libby's back went rigid when Sean came into the room. She didn't turn to look at him.

He sighed. She always did this.

He sat down on the sofa, put his feet up on the coffee table, and waited.

After a long moment of tangible tension, she turned to him and said, "You--"

"Yeah?" He crossed his arms and glared at her.

She stalked across the room, glaring at him. He wondered how long she would keep it up. He stared at the books on the table in front of him; from the corner of his eye she could simple be wandering around the room, not too hurried but ... looking at things, perhaps, or just pacing off extra energy.

A glance up showed that she was still staring at him; he averted his gaze again.

"Sean," she said at last, and there was that resigned note to her voice that crumbled his resolve. How did they always manage to give up at the same time?

He slid sideways and patted the seat next to him. She sat, just shy of touching him, their bodies lined up. Finally he met her eyes.

She gave his shoulder a light but deliberate push. "Stupid head."

"I know."

She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Don't do that again, okay?"

"Okay." He put an arm around her and gave her a squeeze.

***

Well, no idea what's going on there, but they seem to have come to some understanding....

http://gailcarsonlevine.blogspot.com/

Current Mood: tired

Some of you may know that my new year's resolution is to write more letters. You know, the kind that come in the mail and have a stamp on them and take up more than a note card. So if anyone wants a pen pal, (even if you're overseas, I don't mind the air mail rates for letters), now would be a good time to tell me.

We are supposed to have another snowstorm some time in the next hours. All the meetings for tonight and tomorrow are being canceled, although nothing has started yet. I was hoping to go to Pittsburgh with Mom, because she had a meeting in Fort Scott, but that got canceled already, so that's out. I was looking forward to lunch with Michael and Rory, but that will have to wait for another trip.

I did have a nice lunch today with Mom and Judy, so that was fun and delicious.

I'm trying to get more practice time in for class and it's just hard and sucky to set aside the time for it. But I want the job so I'll keep at it!

And one final library note: Why do people come in to a completely open lab, and take the one seat closest to me? What makes them think that it's better to sit right up in my space when there's an entirely open row of seats just a little farther away?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnPUF8an-XE

Umm, yes please!

Some minor thoughts:
Matt Smith sure looks like a happy Doctor. Or maybe it's just that Moffat is a very happy writer? Anyway, the emo stuff can only go on for so long before a show starts to make me want to kill myself.

The thing that bugged me about the last 2 episodes ( ...spoilers )

Today I went to class where I failed to pass any tests. My computer is finally compatible with the school printers, until it randomly stops working again -- I don't have my hopes up. Spent about an hour trying to fix Lisa's computer, with promising results. Will turn the whole thing over to BoyfriendUnit tonight.

In commiseration of failures of the day, Lisa bought me a soda, which I dumped on my passenger seat while taking a corner. Managed to catch it after only minor spillage and switch broken Styrofoam out for empty coffee mug. Had to take the long way back to the turnpike because someone has decided to dump huge piles of dirt all over my road.

Got to the library outer door, opened it, walked through, promptly tripped on rug and went down on one knee. In a painful way.

Do not feel like practicing or doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

And it's only just after noon. :/

One of the cool things that happened to me last year, which I've been meaning to write about this year, is that I got published a couple times, once at the beginning of the year at Forge Journal, in their second winter issue.

Then, right at the end of the year, in an anthology of twisted fairy tales, called, aptly enough, Twisted Fairy Tale Anthology. The anthology has been out since the end of the year, but now it's also available on amazon.com, so if you're more comfortable shopping there, you can easily pick it up! It's also available for kindle at a smaller price.

Very fun stories for anyone who likes twisted tales, and since I have this banner to share, I'll put it up, too!

Twisted Fairy Tales

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: Makers by Cory Doctorow

I will! I will!

In the meantime, though, while I'm pondering an actual update, here is a link to

lilybook's book giveaway over at her blogspot book review blog:

http://lillybook.blogspot.com/2010/01/followerseries-giveaway.html

If you like the new wave of fantasy romance, or vampire books, or just like to read, check it out!

I had a pretty good day on Friday. I slept in, then slowly got myself together in time to go to lunch with mom. We went to the Mexican place and had chimichangas and margaritas. Then I went to the library to see if any of my ILLs were in (they weren't, but I have plenty to read).

I went home in the afternoon in time to meet Gregory and Chris at my house. B called to wish me happy birthday, which was fun. We hung out and played Magic until my grandparents showed up for dinner, when we had Dad's homemade pizza. There were some presents presented, among others: Got a gorgeous Blue Willow tea set from mom, as well as an iHome. Greg got me The Child Thief by Brom -- yay! Chris got me a nice hefty external hard drive and a cover for my iPod (which he got me for Christmas). Then there was The Greatest Birthday Cake in the World, which we consumed with mighty amounts of ice cream.

Then Gregory, Chris and I went over to Chris's to watch The Shawshank Redemption, since Chris works in a prison and he's never seen it. Only I wanted some wine, and there was no bottle opener, so we went to Walmart for that, a new lightbulb, and I found a copy of Tropic Thunder at a buy-myself-a-birthday-present price.

We watched Shawshank Redemption with wine for me to drink and pizza bites for us all to eat... and then decided to rock out with some rock band. Only... we didn't have enough batteries for the guitars. So another trip to Walmart and a $5 copy of Super Troopers later, we were back in the warm apartment rocking out.

Overall, it was a little too much Walmart for my birthday. Oh well.

Finally came home and crashed around 5, a little after Gregory headed back to Manhattan, where he had to be late in the morning to help a friend move.

It was an awesome day.

And NOW the holidays are over.

Current Mood: groggy

119 books read - approximately 9.9/month

16 rereads - 13.4%
103 new books read - 86.6%
118 Fiction - 99.2%
1 Nonfiction - .8%
37 Graphic Novels - 31.1%
11 Children's (picture) books - 9.2%

Top Five Favorites*:

Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier
Juliet Marillier, historical fantasist, tackles Beauty and the Beast with stunning prose and originality.

Impossible by Nancy Werlin
Young heroine Lucy must untangle a family curse that is tied into the folk song "Scarborough Fair," before she gives birth to her daughter and goes mad like her mother. Wonderful writing, complex characterizations, magical realism more than pure fantasy.

John Dies at the End by David Wong
A horror spoof and horror story bizarrely blended in one of the funniest and creepiest books I've ever read.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Harry Potter for grown-ups, dark fantasy with nods to the Chronicles of Narnia, The Phantom Tollbooth, The House With a Clock In Its Walls, definitely a fantasy novel for the literary snobs among us. Disturbing and excellent.

The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard
A fascinating mystery about a long-unsolved murder shakes up a small town in Kansas. Compelling and intricate, with a tightly woven, incredibly satisfying plot.

*It's hard to compare a book I read early in the year with one I read within the last few months, so this is a pretty arbitrary list based on what I remember of them now. However, what makes them stand out is how much they kept me turning the pages and how likely I would be to recommend them to friends. The list of books I would not recommend is much shorter, and probably I could make a bottom five list much more easily, but that just wouldn't be polite....

I finished 119 books in 2009!

That was my third year of keeping a list. I love looking back over what I've read. I recommend it to everyone! Share a link here if you've got a reading list. :)

2010:

January 17

Lucifer: The Divine Comedy by Mike Carey
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D.
Lucifer: Inferno by Mike Carey
Lucifer: Mansions of the Silence by Mike Carey
Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr
Small Vices by Robert B. Parker
U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
Never Cry Werewolf by Heather Davis
Lucifer: Exodus by Mike Carey
Isis: A Tale of the Supernatural by Douglas Clegg
Lucifer: The Wolf Beneath the Tree by Mike Carey
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt
Black Hole by Charles Burns
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz* by L. Frank Baum (annotated)

February 13

Behind the Curtain by Peter Abrahams
The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Lucifer: Crux by Mike Carey
The Storyteller's Daughter by Cameron Dokey
Lucifer: Morningstar by Mike Carey
Lucifer: Evensong by Mike Carey
The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo
Fire by Kristin Cashore
The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Forest Born by Shannon Hale
Ice by Sarah Beth Durst
A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn

March 4

Torchwood: Almost Perfect by James Goss
The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To by D.C. Pierson
A Dissolving Ghost by Margaret Mahy
Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder

April 10

Bone: Rose by Jeff Smith, ill. Charles Vess
School Days by Robert B. Parker
Maddigan's Fantasia by Margaret Mahy
Where's My Cow?* by Terry Pratchett
The Ticking by Renee French
Out of the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst
The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White
The Gunslinger* by Stephen King
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Instructions by Neil Gaiman, ill. Charles Vess

May 4

The Drawing of the Three* by Stephen King
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Rapture of the Deep by L. A. Meyer
Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis

June 4

Betsy Who Cried Wolf by Gail Carson Levine, ill. by Scott Nash
The Tale of Custard the Dragon by Ogden Nash, ill. by Lynn Munsinger
Madeleine L'Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life compiled by Carole F. Chase
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

July 6

Favorite Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs
Preacher vol. 1: Gone to Texas* by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
Mirror, Mirror by Gregory MaGuire
The Wastelands* by Stephen King
The Fire Stealers: A Hopi Story by Ekkehart Malotki, Michael Lomatuway'Ma, and Ken Gary

August 8

The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente
When I Was King by Linda Ashman, ill. by David McPhail
Very Hairy Bear by Alice Schertle, ill. by Matt Phelan
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
To the Touch^ by Shannon Connor Winward
Blood on the Forehead: What I Know About Writing by M. E. Kerr
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson

September

The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, Eric Shanower, Skottie Young
The Sleeping Beauty by Mercedes Lackey
Castle Waiting by Linda Medley

*I have read this before.
^Unpublished work.