We got another foot or so of snow today -- nothing to compare to those of you in the east, to be sure -- but enough that I was worried that tonight's Sons of the Desert meeting might be cancelled! At the end of my work day, I checked my home email to see if there was any news, and sure enough, there was an email from our Grand Vizier titled "tonight's meeting". I was SO bummed, thinking that surely the snow had foiled our plans, but thankfully the email said that the meeting was still on and that she hoped that we would all be able to make it!
( Laurel & Hardy FTW! )

While it WAS enjoyable to finish reading(?) two books while I was still at the library, I would have to say that if these two are any example, it's going to be a bad year for graphic novels for me. 

( book 13 )
( book 14 )

I went to a community college for a year and got my certificate in the field of dental assisting.  I lasted less than 2 years in that field, and now I've worked for the home office of an insurance company for just shy of *19* years -- it was just meant to be a temporary position until I figured out what I really wanted to do. 

Looking back, I had *always* wanted to be a librarian, but support from my family and the "guidance (yeah, right) counselor" at school was discouraging at best. 

Most friends tell me that I *should* go back to school now and get a degree in library science, but I chatted last night with a friend who understood the drawbacks of that idea without my even having to go into it -- a) where does the money come from for tuition?  b) where does the time and energy come from for going back to school?  I'm tired at the end of a work day as it is.  And c) where do I get a job if I GOT the degree?  Cities and states and the federal government are cutting library budgets every way from Tuesday, and when I have searched online for information about colleges with library science degree programs, they are rare.  And when you search for librarian *jobs* (not volunteer), it seems that most positions are corporate.  Near as I can tell, a corporate librarian is in charge of searching publications for articles pertinent to the company they work for and being in charge of the 'law library', as we have in my insurance company. 

The happy part about this is that the reason I always wanted to be a librarian was to be around books and be around other people who loved books and loved to learn.  I have found that with my friends here on LJ.  And now when I go into the library, I encounter people chatting full-volume on their cell phones and not paying attention to their wild, screaming, bratty children.  I think if I had become a librarian, I would be one of those old, cranky ladies with my glasses on a chain around my neck, going around telling everybody "SHHHHHHHHHH!" (I'm tempted to do that in libraries as it is, just to see if it would work!

Maybe winter is just not a good time to read a book by Anne Tyler.  That may seem like a strange idea, but when it's cold and gray outside, and it's still the beginning of February, and it seems like winter is going to last for several more months instead of just six more weeks (prediction thanks to one Puxatawney Phil, groundhog), it might be a good idea to read a more cheerful book with happier characters. 

I used to really love Anne Tyler's novels -- in fact, her "Ladder of Years" is one of my top ten favorite books to re-read.  Unfortunately, her last few novels -- well, they have not touched my heart in the same way. 

Still, I'd been looking forward to reading her newest book, "Noah's Compass", if for no other reason than I can't seem to give up hope on certain writers.  Some of them can write well even if I didn't like their books (Elizabeth Berg and Lorna Landvik are two other examples -- some people say that about Stephen King, too, but I can't help loving his books - except for 'From a Buick 8' and a couple others that I won't be re-reading).  

Anyway, as I read this book, and got more and more irritated by the main character Liam Pennywell, I began to recognize the similarities between him and many other male characters in her novels.  (Don't ask me why the book is called "Noah's Compass" -- nobody is named Noah in it, and there's just one reference to the Biblical Noah where Liam is talking to his grandson, Jonah.) 

So many of her characters -- but mostly the men -- are oblivious and self-centered, never understanding why their friends and family members are so exasperated with them and their odd behavior.  In those cases, where the man is the main character, the women that surround him are well-meaning but intrusive caregivers, trying their best to help the person.  They generally end up dating the strangest women -- see for example the characters in "The Accidental Tourist" and "A Patchwork Planet".   

When the main character is a woman ("Ladder of Years", as much as I love it, is a great example of this, and so is "Breathing Lessons"), she is portrayed as quirky, flighty, forgetful, and always creating a mess of the situation.  The author means them to be cute, but right now the memories of the situations that are created by their carelessness make me want to close my eyes and shake my head and wonder why they can't get their act together.  Maybe when I re-read some of Anne Tyler's other novels I will find myself liking them in spite of myself, but for now I'm going to return this one to the library and hope that her future books will turn out to be new and different and exciting, as unlikely as that possibility may be.

It was an extremely long week, especially at work. And today wasn't payday.
And it's been snowing outside all day, not enough to be worrisome (or to keep people off the roads), but just enough to be annoying and wet and cold (and yes, arouette, I wish I *could* move there).

BUT --

I was at the grocery store, almost done, and went around a corner and nearly walked right into a whole rack of seeds, all ready for spring.

I didn't buy any, not yet, but I was happy to just stand there for a moment and look at bright colorful pictures of the beautiful flowers and vegetables and imagine a big, fruitful garden this summer.

This year I WILL grow peas and beans, even if I have to stand guard in the garden 24/7 and wave my arms and yell the moment a bunny puts one fuzzy toe near the plants!

:: happy sigh ::

I've had extremely good luck with the last few books that I've read -- just not nearly enough free time for writing about them! ;-)

( book #9 was just fine! )

( Book #10, recommended by a new friend! )

( Book #11 -- I don't want to say *heaven* )

OMG, guess what? It's almost time for RevelCon 2010, and they're doing a vid show again this year! (I wish I could go and see people watching my vids in person, but financially speaking, it's just not a good time for traveling right now.)

Unfortunately, I just discovered tonight that I missed the deadline for submitting vids to Escapade Con 2010, but there's always next year for that, right?

Anyway -- so the question remains, which vids should I submit? Last year I did a poll and ended up sending three of my songvids (New Math, Jolene, and Still the One), and one of them (New Math) won best in show for humor/gen!

Thanks for your help! (And of course, if I'm forgetting one of my vids that you'd like me to submit, please leave me a comment and suggest it.)


Poll #1520484 Catyah's vidding poll 2010
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6

Which songvids should go to RevelCon 2010?

Swiped from elmyraemilie:

( This way to the great <s>egress</s> meme )

Happy birthday dear elmyraemilie , happy birthday tooooooo youuuuuuuuu!

Wishing you the most wonderful of birthdays and lots of happiness with good friends and family all year long!


:: HUGS!! ::

SO many horrible songs to choose from, but the one that really makes me cringe as I change the radio station is "The Christmas Shoes". There's a little boy waiting in line at the store in front of the guy singing this song and he doesn't have quite enough money to buy some pretty shoes for his dying momma so she'll look pretty when she meets Jesus tonight, and he gives the boy enough money -- at least I assume so. I can't make it very far into the song before I turn it off, wrenching the knob hard enough to nearly rip it off the radio.

Just... WTF???

ETA -- Oh, I forgot the second part. It would take a LOT of money and I would be in a HORRIBLE mood for days and days afterward, but if somebody would pay off my loans (car, house, piano -- and any medical bills from banging my head against the wall during that 24 hours period), I might could do it.

Inspired by the wonderful(ly) oddmonster:

The first TEN people to comment in this post get to request that I write a drabble of any pairing/character of their choosing. In return, they have to post this in their journal, regardless of their ability level. (If you absolutely can't write, maybe find a creative alternative?)

ETA: Inspired by hardboiledbaby's codicil to this meme, I am going to agree with what she says -- I am not the meme police. If you want a meme from me but don't feel the ability to take part on your own LJ right now, that's okay with me.

This was a book that I probably wouldn't have checked out for myself, but on one of our recent trips to the library together, my Mr. Catyah happened across "Pearls Sells Out - A Pearls Before Swine Collection" by Stephan Pastis.
( Book 7 )

Wow, what an unexpected disappointment! Of all the books I currently have checked out from the library, the one that I really expected to be great was "The Gates" by John Connolly. After all, when I read "The Book of Lost Things" last year, I was both intrigued and enchanted, and ready to read more. When I saw at Borders that he had this new one, "The Gates", I knew it was the next one of his I wanted to read. Now I'm not sure if I'm going to bother with any of his others.

Just reading the book jacket makes you want to learn more about what happens next -- young Samuel Johnson and his dachshund Boswell are trying to show initiative by trick or treating a full three days before Halloween, which is how they witness the strange goings-on at 666 Crowley Rd.

Sounds interesting, right? Unfortunately, the best part of the book is the dust jacket copy. Alas. You'd think an author could take a premise like a young boy and his dog discovering that the married couple next door found a way to unlock the gates of Hell, loosing a hoarde of weird demons on the world, and really run with it.

It looks to me like the author read "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett, and said "Hey, I can do that." Seriously, John Connelly even uses footnotes and a small group of enthusiastic young kids with a dog and funny demons attacking the suburbs of England. The trouble is, it's not *funny*. And it's not scary, either.

Maybe if I hadn't read "Good Omens" yet, this book would seem entertaining... nahhhhh. That's not it.

This book is not even bad enough for me to rant about, so I'll just end here by giving some good advice. Skip it. And if you haven't read "Good Omens" yet, do.

Special thanks to little_tristan for making the picture above into an icon for me!

I happened to remember that sign (a coworker of mine has it in his office, and it makes me grin every time I see it) when I read this post at (fantastic writer) Meg Gardiner's blog: http://meggardiner.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/so-much-for-my-attempt-to-give-up-snark/

I don't think that "The Wet Nurse's Tale" by Erika Eisdorfer will make my "top ten books of the year" list, but it was a pleasant read and will fall somewhere in the upper middle range of good books for the year.

This is an excellent read for fans of historical fiction, particularly those who enjoy stories of Victorian England. Susan Rose is the daughter of a lower middle class family whose many children find jobs working as servants of the nearby manor house. The father's skills seem pretty limited to making more babies with his overworked (yet still kind and maternal) wife and then spending any money that's brought in on trips to the pub. Soon the mother finds a job as a wet nurse (breast feeding babies who won't or can't feed their own children).

After the birth of her illegitimate son, Susan follows in her mother's footsteps.

The author's writing style, or maybe it was just the style of this novel, reminded me of Sarah Waters, who has written some interesting books. But if anything, Erika Eisdorfer is an even better writer, not wasting a lot of bulk on descriptive passages, but simply by including it in the story in a natural way.

Well done, but probably not a novel that I'll need to buy or to read again.

Tagged by hardboiledbaby --

1) What car did you drive during high school? (parents' cars count)

THEN: A 1980 or so blue Dodge that I hardly remember, but I didn't get it until just before I started going to community college -- no school bus and too far to walk. But there's not much I remember about that car. When that one bit the dust, I had an burnt-orange-y-red Plymouth Turismo.
NOW: A cranberry colored 2007 Saturn Ion

2) What was your favorite song during high school?

THEN: I loved to listen to my dad's old Tom Lehrer records and the soundtrack to American Graffiti.
NOW: Tom Lehrer, just about anything on the oldies radio station, and just about anything that Mr Catyah is practicing on the piano.

3) Who did you have a celebrity crush on, other than Starsky or Hutch?

THEN: Thom Bray and Perry King from Ripide.
NOW: Thom Bray. *grin*

4) Were you involved in other activities in high school, and what were they?

THEN: I sang in the school choir, but that was a class, not an afterschool activity. I was definitely more of a loner than a joiner, and painfully shy.
NOW: Now I sing in the church choir. Wow, I've changed a lot since my high school days, huh?

5) What was the first name of your best friend in high school?

THEN: Pam
NOW: Pam

6) What was your favorite TV show?

THEN: Riptide
NOW: The Big Bang Theory AND Riptide. (Geeks RULE!)

7) Do you remember your favorite article of clothing during high school and what was it?

THEN: Not really, I've never been all that interested in clothes, and really wasn't then -- jeans and a top was my general costume of the day.
NOW: I'm still most comfortable in jeans and a top

8) Did you have a job and what was it?

THEN: I worked at the local Burger King, which was within walking distance, and I made burgers, fries, cashiered, worked opening and closing shifts, and cleaned up after what felt like everybody else. (One of my managers told me that I had a good future as a manager if I wanted -- the very idea made my flesh crawl.)
NOW: Commercial Lines Multi-Line Endorsements, New Business and Renewals Rater with the home office of an insurance company.

9) What career path did you want to follow after high school?

THEN: Librarian, or writer -- instead, I went to community college and got a certificate in dental assisting, because I didn't feel like I could do either of the things I wanted.
NOW: The job I have now is good -- the benefits are good, and we close at noon on Fridays, so I'll probably never leave. But I'm a *real* writer!! WOO-HOO!!!!

10) Describe your hairstyle during high school.

THEN: Medium length, not quite to my shoulders, heavy, and the despair of my mother, who insisted that I *do* something with it, and would spend entirely too long futzing with a curling iron to try to get it to have some style, no matter how much I reminded her that the curls would be gone by the time I got through my first class.
NOW: One length, in a short bob, and extremely easy to work with -- and I feel like it's the best I've ever looked in my life.

Compare your answers.

Were any of them the same? Most of them.
How much did they change? Not much. But I'm definitely happier.
Are you surprised? Not really.

Tag five people -- no pressure, don't do this if you don't want to, but -- sassyinkpen, little_tristan, arouette, sara_merry99, and fatorangekat

Edited to correct the answer for #6 -- thanks, Sassy! :-D

Aaaaaaaaand back into the darker side of books -- on the plus side, book #4 is easily the best dark book so far this year.

"The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman is another of his amazing books for kids -- I've heard that his take on spooky books for kids is that kids have an innocent and open acceptance that dark things can happen in life. In his experience, kids read books like this and say "Oh, that was cool." Grownups, with our wider experience of actual darkness, read his books for kids and have honest to goodness nightmares. Some of them, anyway. I have yet to have a nightmare from a Neil Gaiman novel, but then you might say that I still have a lot of the child in me. And you'd be right.

Anyway, this book reminded me of how much I enjoy his work and how happy I am to be a part of Book Mooch, which rocks (thank you again, little_tristan -- I have a big ol' stack of his books just waiting to be read when I catch up to the library books that are attempting to smother me (in a good way). "The man Jack", which is how he is referred to throughout this slim novel, breaks into a house and (behind the scenes of the story) murders the mother, father, and older sister of the family. A toddler of one and a half years escapes, thanks to his adventurous spirit and his skill at escaping from his crib. He crawls away and goes into a nearby graveyard.

When 'the man Jack' follows him, attempting to finish the job, the little boy is rescued by a man who lives (if you can say that) in the graveyard, and he is adopted by the ghosts there and is given "the freedom of the graveyard". He grows up there, but there is still someone after him.

I kept thinking that there was something familiar about this graveyard -- it's never specified what country it's in, but being that Neil Gaiman is from England, I pictured it as English (he lives in Minnesota now, but I've never seen him here). Anyway, at the end, in the author's acknowledgements, he thanks Audrey Niffenegger, and praises her work as artist, author, and graveyard guide to the Highgate Cemetery West, which made it all clear at last! This is the same cemetery as in my first book of 2010, "Her Fearful Symmetry"!

The connection between this two books is really very cool (to me, at least), and this was a very cool novel.