adjudicated and pinkfinity are asking about personal theme songs. I don't have mine available for downloading thank you, lauriegilbert! "Extraordinary" by Liz Phair:

I am extraordinary, if you'd ever get to know me
I am extraordinary, I am just your ordinary
Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho

---

Our home modem died. That was not fun. But I have a new one, yay! Only now I'm behind on email, boo!

---

Work has not let up, and on top of all that I have to do on a daily basis I had the Office Plague last week. I will be very happy as of July when one of my biggest time-sucking commitments will come to an end. Normally I'm one of those people who isn't happy unless I'm way too busy, but this is kind of ridiculous.

---

fasterthanlight asked me if I was still writing fanfic and the answer is YES! A more detailed answer is, "When I have the time, which is not as often as I'd like for it to be."

---

Been following the fap over Orson Scott Card winning the Margaret Edwards Award and I have to say...I agree wholeheartedly with the Edwards committee. Card's personal views should have no bearing on receiving the award. Ender's Game absolutely fits the criteria of the award. Applause to the Edwards committee for doing a great job this year. I know one of the members fairly well and I know how hard she worked and how much serving on that committee meant to her.

Like this, only it's not Amy Winehouse.

---

Reading:

Prey by Lurlene McDaniel. I wanted to read this the minute I heard about it. Basic plot: A high-school freshman begins an affair with his thirty-two-year-old history teacher. It's done in three voices: The boy, the teacher and the boy's best friend, who is the one who breaks the secret. It's a great premise and fabulous fodder for discussion written with terrible dialogue, superficial character development, and a predictable ending. Too bad, really. I didn't expect it to be Boy Toy, which was my favorite book of 2007, but I did expect that the teacher wouldn't sound like some professional seductress/evil overlord, and that the best friend would at least be likable (and not in the way where you like a person because you feel sorry for them).

Tyrell by Coe Booth (coebooth). DAMN. This book is STUNNING and I suggest that everyone go out and read it right now. This is easily one of the best first-person novels I've seen in a long time. Normally I like well-done first person because they show how unreliable narration can really drive the story, but in Tyrell's case I liked the first-person narration because it voiced not only Tyrell, but his friends and family and even his physical environment. I love that Booth didn't try to make Tyrell into some kind of Upstanding Teen Novel Hero, whose greatest aspiration was to go to Harvard and Make Something Of Himself. Tyrell wants to be a DJ like his dad and protect all the people he loves. More than anything Tyrell is honest and vigilant, and that makes the reader want to see him succeed at what he sets out to do. The only thing? I wish this were available on audio.

A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz. I should have read this book when it first came out. I avoided it, I confess, because it's historical fiction and really long, and I'm no good at history. Doesn't matter with this book. Schlitz's writing is sublime. She has this incredible gift for writing settings so that the reader gets a clear view of what's going on but never once does said reader get bogged down in adjectives. Basic plot: a girl is adopted to help with the schemes of women who make their living as fraudulent psychics. But it's more than that. There's an overlying theme of morality and moral ambiguity, and cruelty and love. Melodramatic? Sure! But it's supposed to be, and it's amazing.

Airhead by Meg Cabot. Dead people and famous people are all the rage in YA lit, so how long was it going to be before we got a book about a dead famous person? This is a different turn for Meg Cabot. It's got her breezy, fast-paced edge but it's not fun and fluffy. Basic plot: Completely average high school student Emerson Watts takes a blow to the head while saving her sister from a falling plasma TV at the opening of a Stark Megastore. When she wakes up, she can't figure out why she's got a manicure and a craving for wasabi peas, and why everyone is calling her Nikki, as in supermodel Nikki Howard. This is definitely a fun and intriguing read, and I'm curious as to where Cabot will take the rest of the series. She's set us up to know that all is not right in Nikkiland, but we don't know how not-right, or who's behind it.

Next on the pile: He Forgot to Say Goodbye by Benjamin Alire Saenz; The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart...which I've had for seven months and still haven't read because I suck...and also I can't find mine :( ; Debbie Harry Sings in French by Meagan Brothers (good so far, but I'm only on page 10); Skin Deep by E.M. Crane, lots of others.

--
and now...back to work

Tags: books 2008, books i'd pay retail for, memes, ya

I stole this from the YA Authors Cafe because it was so damn cool.

[Reader] bloodymandy suggested we ask everyone about their favorite characters who have certain characteristics. We think this is a great discussion topic. Sometimes favorite or memorable characters are not the main characters or even ones from favorite books. We've created five categories. Let's hear who your favorites are. And how about trying to give us a male and female character in each category if you can?

1. Most Sassy, Attitude Overloaded Character

2. Most Unexpectedly Funny Character (As In You Snort Milk Out Your Nose)

3. Character You Would Most Like To Slap

4. Character You Would Most Like To Give A Hug To

5. Character You Will Never Forget

My answers:

Tags: books, memes, ya
780: You may tire of me as our December sun is setting

Links lead to iTunes.

Because I don't feel like reading. Or cleaning my bathroom.

( a music meme )

Off to write more of my reversathon fic.

Rush - Far Cry

Tags: memes
126: amused

An interview, from starrysummer

( 1. Since we're on the subject of prom, what was your senior prom like? )

( 2. Of all the places you've lived, which was your favorite? )

( 3. Who's your favorite Veronica Mars character and why? )

( 4. What are your top ten songs of all time? )

( 5. If you didn't read/review/work with YA books, but had to pick one other genre to immerse yourself in, what would it be? )

Leave a comment saying, "Interview me!" and I will.

Tags: memes
780: someday you never made it and maybe you never will

from praetorianguard: ( because it's either take the 30 questions meme or do the dishes )

Tags: memes

1. Happy birthday to one of the most fabulous people I know, fasterthanlight. Go check your email, Stellaluna.

2. As long as we've got the confetti out, everyone throw some at Mr. Cedar, who got a shiny new job and a near doubling of his salary that will now enable us to do wild things like make my car payments and pay off our credit card debt.

3. Rain. Pain bad, tree pretty. But sinus meds, Advil, and tea have taken most of the edge off. Fuck you, Advil and Sudafed. You don't do a damn thing. Problem: am nauseous and dizzy.

4. Meme, most recently from pinkfinity:

We all have things about our friends that make us slightly envious. Not in a bad way, but in a "Wow! I wish I had that person's hair, eyes, money, relationship, toe nails, whatever."

So tell me what about me makes you envy me, then post this in your LJ and see what makes me envious of you!

5. More interview questions, this time from til_midnight:

( In which I talk about books, the Oil and Petrochemical Refinery State, and Neil Gaiman )

6. No, I haven't forgotten it's Fandom Wednesday.

a. Morality 4: Draco, could you please stop talking like you're in a Mario Puzo novel? You're ruining the plot.

b. The pornish_pixies May Fantasy Fest: Am writing for deirdre_riordan and quite looking forward to it. Libraries are involved. A chance to be nerdy and write pr0n. It just doesn't get any better. Still in the outlining phases, though.

c. I am not dropping my Skyehawke account, because I have no personal reason to. I don't write chan. I don't care if other people write it; it's just not my thing. I find it infinitely more interesting to write and read adult characters and place almost all my fics out of Hogwarts. That's just me. Another good reason for me to keep my Skyehawke account is that I have a diverse range of fic, rated PG to NC-17, slash, femmeslash, and gen (I need to write het. I even have ideas for it! Just haven't gotten to it yet), and Skyehawke right now is the only site that allows me to archive everything I've written in one place. I understand why others might want to pull their accounts, and I support their reasons for doing so, but I'm staying. (Hey, aesc, can I play at your site maybe too?)

d. ( Distant Early Warning: We don't warn for books, so I don't warn for fanfic. Reasons and rants. )

Tags: memes, rants, writing
126: sick
780: one light, one mind, flashing in the dark, blinded by the silence of a thousand

I haven't posted much lately because work for the past week and a half has just sucked beyond the telling of it. Let's just say that it involves, among other things, my finding out that even though Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants contains a scene of what is technically statutory rape, it is somehow a less controversial novel than So Hard to Say, which contains one homosexual kiss. Don't ask. Just don't.

So instead of cranking on about work, I will answer some interview questions:

From endofhistory:

( 1. What is your favourite make-up item that you just cannot live without? )

( 2. What is your favourite scene out of the Harry Potter books? )

( 3. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? )

( 4. If you weren't a librarian, what would you be? )


( 5. If you could pick any other fandom to be in, what would it be? )

From jennycarolyn:

( 1. I've never been to Chicago, what's the coolest place in the whole town? )


( When did you first become a percussionist and why? )

( 3. (and the old standby) If you were trapped on a desert island, what three things would you bring with you? )

( 4. Best book you've ever read? )

( 5. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go and why? )

From tsarina:

( 1. What is your favorite BPAL scent? )

( 2. What are you reading now? )

( 3. If you had the opportunity to take three months of vacation, where would you go? )

( 4. What is the most difficult thing about writing fanfic for you? )

( 5. What makes a day a good day in your world? )

Tags: memes
126: anxious

Interview questions from ryf:

( Why did you choose to be a librarian and when did you decide this? )

( How did you first meet your husband? )

( Do you get along well with your sibling(s)? (Sorry, can't remember if you have one or two. )

( Who was your favorite teacher at school? )

( Who was your first kiss with? )

And now it's my turn:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will post the answers to the questions (and the questions themselves) on your LJ.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. And thus the endless cycle of the meme goes on and on and on and on...

Be aware that I will probably ask you to interview me if I interviewed you ;)

Tags: memes
126: busy
780: there is no safe seat at the feast, take your best stab at the beast

I need memes.

Not the ones where you fill in your name and your favorite cover of a Led Zeppelin song and press a gray button and it tells you how many times you'll hang mistletoe in the billiard room with the revolver. I need the ones where you're asked all those questions like "chocolate or vanilla" or "Have you ever been in love" or "what's your family like?"

Why I need memes:

I don't know how to write.

I've never bothered to do a character sketch for any of the characters in my fanfics because 1) I know how they operate; it's all in my head and 2) I didn't write them. J.K. Rowling did. I'm just having a little fun with them. But I'm running into problems with one of my characters and praetorianguard, who has now discovered that I don't know a damn thing about writing and write some of the worst first drafts on the planet, suggested I fill out a character sketch. I know there's one in a writing book I selected for the library, but the library's closed right now. The thing that's fun for us about memes is that it's a chance to tell the world your opinions on things that are a part of you, but that you normally don't think about, so I think the character in question might have fun answering the "favorite alcoholic drink" question.

Love and a bowl of Mr. Cedar's squash soup to all who contribute.

Tags: memes
126: restless
780: I'm addicted to you don't you know that you're toxic

My head. Hurts. So bad. Jenny's not here so I can't go for coffee, and I used the last of my Advil last night. Woe.

( Meme, because I'm procrastinating. )

There is no way I'm going to finish that online writing course I'm taking, mostly due to the ten days in Chicago which were worth it so I don't mind. I got really annoyed at the last set of questions on The Great Gatsby, which included, "Name one round character and one flat character, and give your reasons for describing each as such." Only not quite that wording. Now, I have either missed the point of the readings entirely or am very pretentious and sot in my ways, but I said that there's only one round character in Gatsby, and that's Nick. It's a first-person novel, therefore all the other characters are described as only what they seem to be to the narrator. There's no way we could get to know them in a way that I would consider round. There was another question, too: Why is there so little physical description of Gatsby? My answer: It's just not important to Nick. Also, no matter how Nick described him, I think that we would always see Gatsby as attractive because he a) has a lot of money and b) intrigues Nick.

I don't think I'm smart enough to read this book. But it's over now and we've gone on to writing.

I'm reading some of the student writing, and some of it is pretty good and some is downright awful. One student posted something that I would have rejected in two sentences had it been sent to FA, and another who was told by another student she was brilliant had four nouns and three adjectives in her first sentence alone. But there is also work that's fun to read, and it runs the gamut from fantasy to realistic fiction. I'm not going to make it through the class due to lack of time, I think, and really? I'll be damned if I talk to a stranger to make my writing more interesting. Strangers talk to me enough as is and I know how disturbing it is. Everyone has a line they draw and that is mine. Unless maybe said stranger has candy.

Got my performance evaluation yesterday and it didn't tell me anything I didn't know: I rock, but I tend to be disorganized, I don't like answering "How are you" when patrons ask me, because they don't care and neither do I, and I can't hide my annoyance at parents who think they can do my job better than I can. But at least it keeps me interesting. Goals for next year: get published at least once, apply to present at a convention other than TWH. Not that TWH doesn't count. This is an "in addition to," not an "instead of."

Reading: The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares. Yes, am procrastinating on all the other reading I have to do. Damn, this book is fun. It's not the greatest book ever, of course, and it won't change my world, but I love the story of friendship and what the four girls do to support each other. In the era of "Mean Girls," it's refreshing to read about strong relationships where girls encourage each other to be honest with themselves. Also Saving Francesca, which lots of people are saying might win the Printz. I dunno about that. It's certainly good, but The Realm of Possibility and Bucking the Sarge were better.

Tags: memes
126: cynical
780: I had some dreams they were clouds in my coffee, clouds in my coffee