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This has been such a good book year for me! The first year as an adult that I've read 75 books! I'm definitely shooting for 100 books for 2015. Because I read so many books this year, I found some great ones along with some complete duds. I really want to sum up my favorite 12 books that I read this year (not necessarily published in 2014, but that I read in 2014). Also, you should be my friend on GoodReads, because I love getting book recommendations from seeing what my friends are reading! In no particular order, my favorite books of 2014: 1. Parable of the Sower - Octavia E. Butler I am so, so disappointed in myself that I only recently discovered Octavia E. Butler. So far I have loved everything of hers that I've read. I listened to the audiobook of Parable of the Sower on my long road trip from Arizona to Ohio, and it really stuck with me. It's a perfectly plausible dystopia that actually got me to look up recipes for acorn bread. It's terrifying and amazing at the same time. I also read the sequel, which is even MORE terrifying because it involves the Christian Right taking over America and enslaving "heathens." I'm so sad that she passed away before the third book could be finished. What I love best about Octavia Butler is all of her heroines are Black, strong, intelligent, and not afraid to be their own heroes. 2. Kindred - Octavia E. Butler Speaking of Octavia Butler....I just finished this story this month, and with all of the protests that have been going on around the country and the world in these last few months, it just really hit me hard. It's a time travel story, but the "present" is 1976, which is a little bit of a headshaker. Dana and her husband have just moved into their first home together, when suddenly Dana feels dizzy and comes to....in 1819. MARYLAND 1819. Slave state. After her first trips back and forth, she discovers she's there to keep her great-great-great grandfather, who is white, alive until he can father her great-great grandmother (by raping a slave). Dana is stuck in the past for months at a time, and while she's welcomed as a house-slave and has the perspective of modern day, she has to watch all the people around her who live this as their life, full time, with no chance of ever escaping. I've studied history, I knew slavery was pretty much the worst thing we've ever done, but reading it through the eyes of a modern Black woman was terrifying and stomach-turning. SO MUCH of what this book was about has direct links to what is going on in this country RIGHT NOW. HISTORY PEOPLE. So yes, please read this book. 3. The Diviners - Libba Bray Libba Bray is kind of hit or miss for me. I'm almost done with her first book, A Great and Terrible Beauty, and it's probably the weakest of her books that I've read. But The Diviners is a definite hit!! First of all, you have to listen to the audiobook. The narrator nails the '20s slang and diction. I wanted to start talking to my coworkers in '20s slang because of how awesome the narrator made it sound. Plus the book is kind of terrifying. I've gotten into horror a lot more in the last few years, and I will say that the supernatural baddy of the book actually really scared me. The only thing that I didn't like was the little love triangle -- SO OVER THEM. But I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel! 4. Wild - Cheryl Strayed Another one I listened to on audiobook. I didn't really know much about it, but I needed something to listen to. It ended up being a great personal story about the author's fight to find herself after losing her mother, her husband, and falling into a heroin addiction. Her story about hiking alone on the Pacific Crest Trail with absolutely no backpacking experience as a way to break free of her past really hit home with me and started my own obsession with hiking the Appalachian Trail. I'd never thought I'd want to thru-hike the AT until I read this book! Cheryl is honest with her past; I appreciate that she doesn't sugarcoat the bad things she did. I saw the movie last week, and while I think it did a great job of turning a book about a solo thru-hike in the wilderness into a movie, you REALLY have to read the book to make sense of what's going on. They fill things in with flashbacks, but it's hard to tell who's who if you haven't read the book. Reese Witherspoon was great, though! 5. Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Another audiobook, another one that you must listen to on audiobook because the narrator does such a great job with the variety of accents. Not my normal type of reading, but I picked it up because it was on so many "best of" lists that I thought I'd give it a try. I'm glad I did! It's a long love story of two Nigerians and how life takes them away from each other and they grow apart and rediscover each other. Ifemelu goes to America, and Obinze to England. A lot of the story is about Ifemelu's discovery of herself and her identity -- at first she wants nothing more than to fit in in America, but eventually she finds that she is proud to be a Nigerian and wants to return home and stop trying to force herself into the wrong mold. The author writes so beautifully and honestly about Nigeria, about being an African in America where you clash cultures with both white Americans and African-Americans and then returning home and not quite fitting in in your home country because your experience abroad has changed you just enough that you don't really fit in anywhere. 6. The Emperor's Soul - Brandon Sanderson It's a novella? A long short story? It's only 175 pages. Which is why it's SO FREAKING AMAZING the world building that Brandon Sanderson created in such a short amount of time! All the magickal rules and history of the realm just fit in so nicely as part of the story, instead of having to slog through chapters of backstory. This was the first book by Sanderson that I've read, and it really impressed me. I have many more of his books on my "to-read" list :-) 7. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller Audiobook! Which I'm not sure if it helped or hindered me getting into the book at the beginning. It took me a while to understand the rhythm of the story, which is everything. If you try to read it without understanding the cadence, it's a terrible book. Which is why I hated it at first. But I kept pushing on -- I'm trying to read a few classics every year, I also read 1984 and did NOT like it -- and was rewarded with a pretty funny book. I laughed out loud at some parts. And it's good to see where the phrase "catch-22" originated and why it's so completely nonsensical. The main character is an ass, but you don't have to like him. The story is more about absurdity than loyalty to a character. 8. Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes - Cory O'Brien This is NOT a literary examination of mythology. Imagine if Tumblr and SnapChat wrote a book about mythology. That's what this is. It's HILARIOUS. Laugh out loud hilarious. A snippet from the first story: "So everybody knows Zeus is the king of the gods, right?
WRONG.
I mean, he is the king of the gods
but first of all, not everybody knows that and second of all he wasn't always the king of the gods.
Because, see, for a while there was this guy Uranus
who was a total asshole
(haha, Uranus)
anyway he was the king of the gods, born out of the sky
or maybe it was the aether?
but either way he was definitely married to Gaia
who some sources say also gave birth to him
so...awkward."That's pretty much how each story goes. I loved it as a quick read that could make me laugh. 9. Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman Another audiobook, read by the author, another one that I recommend listening to the audiobook because Neil Gaiman does the different accents so well (well, they're his characters!). It started out a little slow, but once it got into the heart of the story, I was totally hooked. There were times when I was driving, listening to it, and thinking, "HOW HE DOES WORDS SO GOOD?" The writing is just magical. Whether you're a fan of Gaiman or not, this story is definitely worth a try. 10. Hark! A Vagrant - Kate Beaton You can read Kate's webcomics at her site, but I loved this first published collection of her historical comics (with a few never before seen comics added in!). Really, the whole book is worth is just for this one:  ALSO, it is worth following her on Tumblr and/or Twitter because she posts a lot of funny family sketches and last year she posted a great series about the time she worked at a mining site. 11. A Tale for the Time Being - Ruth Ozeki Again, audiobook. Again, read by the author. Again, accents. Also, I should note that Ruth Ozeki is pretty much my favorite author, so I was really going to like this even if it stank. Which it did not. The main character is very similar to the author, named Ruth, a writer with writer's block living on a small Canadian island in the Pacific, who finds the journal of a Japanese girl named Nao wash up on the beach a few years after the tsunami in Japan. Nao uses the journal to tell the life of her great-grandmother, but also to describe why she is planning to kill herself and why life in Japan is not as idyllic as American anime fans seem to think. Ruth gets sucked into the journal as life on her small island continues around her, and eventually tracks Nao down through the internet to see if she's still alive. It's beautiful, heartbreaking, shocking, disgusting, and tranquil all at once. 12. Cheap - Ellen Ruppel Shell I promise, not every book I read on audiobook was great. But this one was an audiobook. And it was great. Not required to be an audiobook, though, no accents or amazing narration. I just process non-fiction better on audiobook. So this book, it is great. I have always known that the time we're in now is a product of our history, but this book and Kindred really opened my eyes and made me want to read more history books and even had me looking into a Master's in American History. Because this book tells about how awful our quest for the cheapest STUFF really is. You'll never be able to shop Ikea again. I'm also reading this book at a time when I'm trying to downsize my life, so that definitely made it more likeable for me. But I think everyone should give it a try to see where your desire for "the best bargains" really comes from. Those were my favorite books of 2014!! What were yours? What are you planning to read in 2015?! Tags: books, daily, eoy, lists, year in review
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Well, yesterday the fever was mostly gone, so I called work and asked for a trial 3-hour shift to see how I felt, knowing I could come home and sleep afterwards, and they said fine. I felt well enough to change my sickbed laundry, but not well enough to put fresh sheets back on the bed, so last night I just passed out on the bare mattress and coverless pillow. It worked. On my way to work this morning, I was I'm the middle of an intersection when a lady in a Kia sports car just plowed through and hit me. Took my license plate off the front bumper, where it was then run over several times by other cars.  She admitted fault, to me and the officer, thankfully, so hopefully her insurance will pay everything out, but it was just not the fright I needed!! Thankfully no one was hurt, and my dad came to work to get the insurance information and deal with all that. That's a nice thing about being home. People right there to help me deal when I can't. Cyber Monday yielded a super good deal for a flight from Cincinnati to Tucson, so I jumped on it, so now I am definitely going back to the Old Pueblo in March! Now that I have worked and been in a car accident, I'm going back to sleep. Tags: accident, car, daily, flu, health, my life in pictures, tucson, work
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I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a month. Work is stupid busy, I've barely been able to see my friends. Now I've worked myself into the ground -- I have the flu. I was feeling sick yesterday (when I worked 12 hours!), but I took some cold medicine and felt better. Then this morning I woke up at 5am just FREEZING, despite being under four blankets. My fever at that time was 101.9.
When mom woke up, she made me get up and go to the Urgent Care. I was SO COLD, I was wearing two sweaters, a hat, gloves, scarf, and fuzzy socks, and I couldn't stop shivering. Temp at the doctor was 102.5, and they confirmed I have the flu. I really meant to get a flu shot...oooops. I haven't had the flu I'm over 15 years, but it's just as miserable as I remember.
I'm really pissed that I can't work tomorrow - that was going to put me at 42 hours for the week; the whole reason I worked 12 hours yesterday was for overtime!!
I could really, really use a few days of sleep, though.
Well, I'm stuck in bed for the next few days, so hopefully I'll be able to update more.
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Keep Calm and Eat Cupcakes! 2 people like this. "Ugh, lame, everyone's seen that one." Keep Calm and Call Me Maybe 6 people like this. "Lol!" Keep Calm and Sparkle On! 11 people like this. "Seriously, Casey, give it a rest with this stupid meme." 4 people like this comment "it's not stupid it's fun you're just a spoilsport ;-p" 2 people like this comment -------------------- A dark figure crept through a forgotten back door into the school. Footsteps echoed down the empty halls. A hand reached out from beneath a cloak, swiftly turning the dial on a student's locker. The name "Casey" was spelled out in glitter stickers on the door. The lock opened with a "click," and the hand reached in, selected an item, and closed the locker door. Soft candlelight flames lit the girls' locker room in dancing shadows. A series of words were murmured over the possession stolen from the locker, repeated over and over in a chant. "Yolo, yolo, yolo," the voice whispered to the flames. A clap of thunder rumbled outside. The ground shook. The spell was done. ----------------------- "RIP, Casey, Keep Calm!" "OMG Case I can't believe it, we miss you so much!" "Bulldogs 4eva, RIP girl." "This is Casey's mom. Our family thanks you for your kind words since the loss of our daughter two weeks ago. The doctor's still aren't sure why she fell into the coma, but at least she felt no pain. Bless you all." ------------------------------- Deep underneath the Earth, in the realm of the MemeDemon, a pretty blonde cheerleader toils forever correcting misspelled and grammatically incorrect Facebook statuses. ***This is my entry for week nine of  therealljidol. If you like it, please take a minute to vote for me in the weekly poll! Please all take the time to browse the other entries!! Tags: lj idol, memes, writing
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"Mommy." The little girl tugged hard on her mother's pants, distracting her from peeling the vegetables for dinner. The mother sighed, wiped her hands on her apron, and looked down at her four-year-old daughter. "What is it?" "I found a new friend in my room," the girl stated in her most serious high-pitched voice. The mother looked at her quizzically. "A new friend?" The girl nodded. "Yes, and she doesn't like coocumpers, so we can't have them for dinner." Her mother smiled. "Well, I'm sorry that your new friend doesn't like cucumbers, but she doesn't have to eat them. You do." The girl considered that with a frown. "My new friend doesn't like you!" she declared and flounced back to her room. ****************** "Mommy." The insistent voice woke the mother from her sleep. She opened one eye and saw her daughter's face peering down at her. The girl had climbed into bed between her parents and was patting the mother's face to wake her up. "What is it?" "My new friend that lives in my room. She's hungry." "Oh, is she?" "Yes, and she says if we don't feed her, she might eat me!" The mother stroked the girl's soft blonde hair to comfort her. "Your friend will just have to wait for breakfast-time. You tell her to go back to sleep." The girl gave her mother a solemn look. "She doesn't sleep," she whispered, and fled back to her room. ********************** "Mommy," the girl whispered, taking her mother's hand as her friends crowded around the table, waiting for her to blow out the candles on her cake. "What is it?" "My friend is jealous she can't be here," the girl whispered in a frightened tone. She looked at her school friends with suspicion. "Your friend can be here, but I wouldn't tell the others about her," her mother whispered back to her. "Now make a wish and blow out your candles!" "Yes, but…" the girl hesitated, closed her eyes, and blew with all the strength in her little lungs. The candles went out. The lights went out, flickering for a moment, then coming back on. The other little girls screeched and giggled. The birthday girl looked at her mother, her face stricken. ********************** "Mommy," the girl croaked from her room. "What is it," her mother whispered, terrified. The last time she'd seen her daughter, before the door had slammed shut in her face and various growls had come from behind the door, had been two days ago. Two days she'd sat at the door begging, pleading, and crying to come in, to save her daughter. "It's my friend. She's come to take me away now. Goodbye, Mommy." "No!" the mother screamed, slamming her hand against the door in desperation. "No, I won't let you take her! I won't!!" "Yes," said the little girl, but her voice was echoed by a deeper voice, an ancient voice that had lived so much longer and knew so much more than a simple anguished mother. "And we thank you for her sacrifice. She is with us now." A light brighter than any flash of lightening lit up the spaces behind the door and then darkened. The door swung open. The room was empty. ~~This is my entry for week eight of The Real LJ Idol writing competition! If you like it, please take a quick minute to go over and vote for it later tonight! Check out the other entries, and vote for them too! :-) Tags: daily, lj idol, writing
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**Trigger warning for rodent phobias. It was dusk on a warm summer evening in the city. The number 10 bus pulled up to the curb and released a dozen commuters. Pearl paused on the sidewalk, to double check that she had her purse and computer bag before crossing the street to her apartment. The building was grey and dingy, to make it stand out from the neighboring buildings which were brown and grimy. Pearl fumbled in her purse for her keys and let herself in the building. She set her bags down and checked the traps she had placed around the house. In one of the kitchen traps she found a large brown rat. Its neck was snapped and its fur was matted with blood. "Damn, I just put that trap down this morning," Pearl groaned. The infestation was getting worse. She made a note to leave another urgent message with the landlord as she grabbed two plastic bags from the cupboard. She fashioned them into a glove, picked up the trap with the rat, and let it fall into the bag. "Not like they're gonna do anything about it," she muttered. There was a reason the rent was so cheap, and it wasn't for fancy things like maintenance or fumigation. She dumped the bag with the dead rat in the dumpster outside and returned to the apartment, setting another trap in the same place before making herself a small dinner, watching some television, and going to bed. She awoke several hours later to the sound of a trap snapping in her bedroom. She closed her eyes tighter and pulled the covers over her head, not wanting to deal with it. But then she heard another snap and then another from the kitchen. "Oh, for the love of –" she muttered, throwing off the covers and switching on the light. She started to put her feet on the floor and screamed in disgust and yanked her feet up when a large rat ran out from under her bed. She sat on the bed, watching as two, no, three rats scurried out from under the dresser, under the bed, and out of her closet. They ran out of the room, and she heard a snap from one of the traps in the living room. Pearl was nauseous at the thought of so many dirty city rats running all over her apartment, but she couldn't get back to sleep after seeing them scampering freely and setting off traps every few minutes. She grabbed the lamp on her bedside table, took the shade off, and used the base to hook her boots closer to the bed. She pulled them on and followed the rats out of the bedroom. The sight she came upon made her retch, and she grabbed the wall as her stomach heaved. There were dozens of them, the brown squirmy creatures, crawling all over themselves and all over her floor, her couch, her kitchen. The six traps she'd set were full of freshly dead rats, and their compatriots scampered up to them, sniffed them, and carried on. She heard a scratching sound and saw several of the rats at the front door, gnawing at it with their teeth. "Ugh!" she cried as she lurched forward through the swarm and yanked the door open, hoping to shoo them outside. The rats ran past her, through her legs, making her trip and nearly fall into a sea of brown. They moved singularly, as if being called. She watched the last of them disappear down the stairs. Pearl looked around the apartment. Except for the dead and injured rats, the apartment was empty. Against her better judgment, she took a step into the hall. She looked down the stairs. Nothing. She rubbed her temples and began to wonder if everything had been a dream. She closed the apartment door behind her and walked to the stairs. She couldn't bear to see the horde squirming and chattering and trampling each other, but she had to know. Were they gone? The two flights below her were empty. Not even any droppings to show that a rat had ever been here. She went down the last flight of stairs into the basement laundry room. It was dark, but she could hear them. They had all gathered here in the basement. She reached for the string that hung from the bulb in the center of the room, trying to turn the light on without stepping too far into the writhing mess. What on Earth had gathered them down here? Was someone feeding them? Unfortunately for Pearl, she found the cord and turned the light on. When her eyes adjusted, they were rewarded with a large, angry rat king. Eight of the largest sewer rats she'd ever seen wriggled and fought and snapped at her. They were connected to each other by the tails, some entwined and knotted, some matted with feces, dirt, and blood. They turned to her collectively and bared their teeth. Pearl had walked right into their trap. She screamed as the rat king jumped at her, knocking her to the floor. They feasted well that night. This piece was written for the Real LJ Idol Competition. Please feel free to vote for me and any other stories you like! Tags: daily, lj idol, writing
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One, two, three, four, Watch you crawling on the floor Five, six, seven, eight, It comes for you so don't be late One, two, black and blue Watch the past come after you Three, four, it's at the door Stand tall and proud, recall the lore One, two, three, four, Do you hear its whispers at your door? Five, six, seven, eight, Beware, my child, now stand up straight Five, six, look out for tricks Its eyes are red; its grin is fixed Seven, eight, look, it's waiting at the gate Climbs on your back and makes you hate Nine, ten, eleven, twelve Into your skin its claws will delve No more counting, no more rhymes Become the person you despise Demon wild fulfills your fate And now you stoop, and now you wait Your child is young, but soon he'll know How the prophecy learns to grow -------------------- This is my entry for week four of the Real LJ Idol. Please consider voting for me! :-) Tags: daily, lj idol, poetry, writing
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Claire hated the painting in the hallway. Grandmama Wynnie had purchased it two months ago at an estate sale in Chesnutt County. She the delivery men brightly as they carried the wrapped painting into their old house and fussed around them with a "Careful of the corner, dear!" and a "Do try not to scuff the frame!" She'd made them hang, rehang, and rehang again, looking for just the perfect spot. When Grandmama had finally declared the hanging acceptable, the men had tipped their hats, muttered "Ma'am," and left to finish their route. She had called Claire back into the hallway to admire her new purchase. Claire had no idea why she was so excited about this piece when she spent the majority of her free time at estate sales finding other equally dull treasures. Grandmama stood admiring the painting. Claire looked at the canvas and was immediately filled with a sense of dread in the pit of her stomach. There was nothing particularly special or interesting about the painting. It depicted an old chateau in the far right corner. The main space was filled with a winding grey river that flowed across the canvas. A black bird flew above one of the chateau's turrets, and a woman with dark brown hair looked up at it from a window. The sky was a hazy yellow against the vivid green of the grass along the riverbank. It was a simple painting, and Claire looked at her grandmother quizzically. It was not the sort of antique the old woman usually brought home. Claire shrugged, muttered something about it being very nice, and went upstairs to finish her homework. Nothing else was said about the painting that night at dinner, the next day, or the rest of the week. Claire occasionally passed it in the hallway, but after a few days she realized she'd unconsciously begun to leave the house through the back door off the kitchen, avoiding the front hallway altogether. One afternoon while her grandparents were out – Grandmama at an auction and Grandpapa at the club bar – there was a knock at the front door. "Delivery!" a voice called out, and then footsteps walked away from the door, down the porch, and a truck drove off. Claire rolled her eyes. They never waited to get a signature like they were supposed to. She went through the hall and opened the door. A small box addressed to her grandmother was sitting on its side; Claire could see the large "THIS END UP" stamp on what was supposed to be the top of the box. She sighed and picked up the box, meaning to leave it on the hall table. She glanced at the painting and the package dropped from her hands. All of a sudden she felt cold and there was an emptiness in the pit of her stomach. The woman in the turret was no longer watching the black bird. The bird had landed on the window ledge. The woman was looking out of the painting. She was looking at Claire. Claire stepped back and shook her head. When she looked again, the painting had changed again. From the right side, at the edge of the canvas, there was a giant red wing. Claire turned and ran from the hallway, up the stairs, and into her room where she slammed the door behind her. She did not go back to the hallway for many days. She saw the painting in the hallway only once more before her grandmother had it taken down and stored in the attic. It was late one night, when Claire had crept down from her room and into the kitchen for a snack. She heard a noise from the hallway, and paused in front of the open refrigerator. She waited. She listened. There was a flapping sound, like very heavy wings beating against a small enclosure. She didn't want to look. She didn't want to know. But her feet took her there anyway. She peered into the hallway and saw a flash of red move just out of her line of sight. Claire winced and forced herself to look at the painting. The original castle was barely visible, a small painted grey blur in the background. A new castle painted in oranges and reds loomed front and center. It was surrounded by a black thicket of thorns. An enormous red dragon took up the rest of the space in the painting. He was clutching the side of the new castle with his impressive talons. His long tail stretched across the canvas, obscuring the river in front of the first castle. Claire looked at the small castle for the woman, but she was not there. She was in the other castle. This is my entry for Week 3 of the Real LJ Idol. Please consider voting for me!Tags: daily, fiction, lj idol, writing
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Here's a joke. I grew up chubby and nerdy, not a winning combo in the '80s like it is today. I read a lot of "Taffy Sinclair/Sweet Valley High/Ann M. Martin" books that showed me what high school was "supposed" to be like, but for me it just seemed like a lot of the same. I looked forward to college as a chance to start fresh, to escape, to finally become a person with friends like the book said. College did not magically change me into a person who could make friends. I was isolated, depressed, manic, attacked, and made a public suicide attempt that landed me on my first of many anti-depressants. I took a medical withdrawal from the university and moved back home, ashamed and confused. I'd had a goal all throughout high school: make it through and get to college. So when college didn't work out for me, I was lost. So what's the joke? I grew up. It took longer than usual. I made mistakes, I allowed abusive people into my life, I learned, I moved on. I took a full five years of university as a non-traditional student, finally graduating magna cum laude with a B.A. in French. My goal was to live in France for a year. I worked hard to redeem myself for my past failures and spent many therapy sessions talking about the panic that attacked me at the thought of receiving a grade lower than a B. I got accepted into the French Embassy Teaching Assistantship program and moved to Bordeaux. All that I'd worked towards had been fulfilled. It was anticlimactic when I returned to the States and immediately moved to Tucson, AZ because the university there had given me a full scholarship for graduate school. I lasted seven weeks. I had panic attacks every day. I had decided that the only way out of grad school was to kill myself. I took my second medical withdrawal. I allowed more abusive people into my life. I lost myself. I was unemployed for a year and a half. Now I have no further agenda than "live one more day." I'm not saving for retirement. I'm trying to create as many positive memories as I can in this life. I removed the affectations from my life that I'd used to make people like me, and I try to be as true to myself as I can, even if it means sitting alone on the Internet. So...what's the joke? Don't you get it? The joke is my life. Tags: arizona, depression, france, life after school, lj idol
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Joe the annoying roommate FINALLY moved out today (mostly annoying because he was a man in my space...he was actually an okay roommate). I have one glorious week to be naked all over the house and pee with the door open before my cousin comes to visit and then my friend Lora moves into the empty room for the rest of my time here. This weekend I want to do a really deep clean and get rid of all the boy funk. He didn't help clean at all, so the bathroom is a disaster. And I really want to use up all my bath bombs and bubble soaps and not move them across the country. Work continues to be customer service. My boss chose me as our store's representative for a district-wide supervisor meeting, though, so that's pretty cool. I am really going to miss the people at our store, but the dynamic is changing again; we just got a new Assistant Store Manager, and we're getting a new transfer who's 19. I think one of the reasons we all work so well together is because everyone at my store is over 21, so I worry about the new kid changing things. But it's all changing. Retail is nothing but change. I really, really, really want a Kindle, and I thought I'd almost hacked a way to get one for free (by watching a LOT of ads), but it didn't work :-( Does anyone know if there's any way to pay for an Amazon gift card WITH a gift card? I made something successful! This morning I dumped frozen chicken thighs, chicken broth, water, garlic, and lentils in the crockpot, and it was DELICIOUS! Hooray! HAVE YOU TRIED THIS YET??  It is CRACKTASTICALLY good, but I can only find it at Target, and they keep selling out, so when I catch it, I buy like 5 at a time and now my pants don't fit. I'm at my fattest in a long time. It does not feel good. Tags: apartment, daily, food, health, like a boss, roommates, starbucks, weight issues, work
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Eight truths and a lie. Can you guess the lie? 1. I'm currently awake because I'm depressed about being alone for the rest of my life. 2. I was temporarily homeless in France. 3. I'm Jewish AND Pagan. 4. I collect covers of The Cure's "Lovesong." I currently have 13. 5. I was featured in a magazine for losing weight with Dance Dance Revolution 6. I love to make mix CDs 7. I'm a nomad, never staying in one place for too long. 8. My twin sister died of a heart defect when she was six months old. 9. Once drove to Canada on a whim because I needed to get away for awhile (border patrol doesn't like it when you say, "I just needed to get away for awhile"). Tags: intro, lj idol
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I am...cycling? I have no idea? Since I'm not actually bipolar? But I'm going through parts of the day like "Yeah! Everything's okay! I'm gonna do everything I want! I'm gonna be successful!" and then at night I am crushingly depressed. I don't know. I am still sad about the breakup, but I feel like I'm not allowed to whine about it any more. I really, really, really hate the class I'm taking. I hate the program I'm in. I don't want to teach anymore. My therapist keeps asking why I'm still doing this, and I just say "Because my mom wants me to, and if I drop out we've wasted all that money." But I can't keep this up. I just have to get through this semester, because if I drop the semester, I'm pretty sure Pell will want their $2000 back, and I threw it all at my student loans from Wright State. Although, it is a grant and not a loan? Maybe they wouldn't want it back? I don't know anything any more. This past weekend was Festival of Books, and I have a DITL to post from Saturday. I'm 8 days in to a 10-days-in-a-row stretch at work, which is making me kind of rage-y. Saturday at the Fest was really good. Sunday my morning panel was canceled, so I wandered around and then got too people'd out, so I found a sunny corner in a quiet building and read for an hour before "meeting my friend." I kept popping lorazapam so I wouldn't be nervous at all, and then I just didn't care and it was a pretty good afternoon. I got Stephen Pastis's autograph for myself and my dad. My dad loves puns. I'm annoyed I have to give up like 4 hours this week to my practicum for this stupid class! Tags: breakup, daily, depression, ditl, life after school, meds, money, school, tucson, work
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