Final Count: What I Read in 2008

I have been meaning to update this for the past week, if only for my own benefit. It has been quite interesting keeping track of all the books I read (or listened to)this year--it's amounted to a lot more than I imagined.

Alrighty, here are the books I read from my last update until December 31:

The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
This book was FANTASTIC. I luv Neil Gaiman even more after this (side note--you should all go see Coraline when it comes out! If you recall, I read it earlier this year and it's made of awesome!). This book is the story of Nobody Owens, a boy whose family was murdered under mysterious circumstances when he was a baby. He escapes and ends up living in a graveyard in the care of ghosts. Interesting story ensues.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, by JK Rowling
This is, of course, the book that Dumbledore left to Hermione in Deathly Hallows, and which JK wrote and illustrated by hand for a few close friends. The stories included are in turn funny and creepy. The book was a bit shorter than I would have liked, but it was still an interesting addition to the Potter canon.

Day of Tears, by Julius Lester
This is subtitled 'A Novel in Dialogue," and so it was appropriate that I listened to it on audiobook. It's the fact-based story of the largest slave auction in US history, told from the plantation owner's, auctioneer's, and slaves' perspective. It was pretty interesting and well-done.

The World According to Bertie, by Alexander McCall Smith
It's no secret that I love Alexander McCall Smith, and that the 44 Scotland Street series is my favorite by him. So it will come as no surprise that I LURVED this book since it's the 4th in that series.

My Custom Van, by Michael Ian Black
This is a collection of short essays, most of which have been previously published elsewhere (see: McSweeney's). Though a few were familiar, most I hadn't read before so I enjoyed the collection. I mean, how can you go wrong with Michael Ian Black?


Books Read in 2008:
The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
The Tales of Beedle the Bard, by JK Rowling
Day of Tears, by Julius Lester
The World According to Bertie, by Alexander McCall Smith
My Custom Van, by Michael Ian Black
Hattie Big Sky, by Kirby Larson
Laughter of Dead Kings, by Elizabeth Peters
Holiday Princess, by Meg Cabot
Angel, After the Fall, Vol. 2: First Night, by Joss Whedon, et al
Buffy Season 8, Volume 3: Wolves at the Gate, by Joss Whedon, et al
Midnight for Charlie Bone, by Jenny Nimmo
The Cay, by Theodore Taylor
The Game of Sunken Places, by M.T. Anderson
Down the Rabbit Hole, by Peter Abrahams
Paper Towns, by John Green
Downtown Owl, by Chuck Klosterman
Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart
Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyers
Once Upon a Time in the North, by Philip Pullman
Queen of Babble Gets Hitched, by Meg Cabot
Heroines, by Eileen Favorite
Suite Scarlett, by Maureen Johnson
Airhead, by Meg Cabot
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by JK Rowling
Angel: After the Fall Volume 1, by Joss Whedon and Brian Lynch
Fly on the Wall, by E. Lockhart
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
Portuguese Irregular Verbs, by Alexander McCall Smith
Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult
The Boy Book, by E. Lockhart
Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl
Pretties, by Scott Westerfeld
The Boyfriend List, by E. Lockhart
Size 12 is Not Fat, by Meg Cabot
Night Fall, by Nelson DeMille
Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld
Thornyhold by Mary Stewart
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
River Secrets by Shannon Hale
The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
A House of Tailors by Patricia Reilly Giff
Princess Mia by Meg Cabot
Looking for Alaska by John Green
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Mister Monday by Garth Nix
Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson
Devilish by Maureen Johnson

Total books read: 57

Not bad considering I'm a slow reader. Granted, several of them were audiobooks and many were books for teens or grade school kids, but whatevs! :) That's still more than a book a week, and almost 5 books a month, on average, so I'm happy with it.

So, my blogging plans for 2009...well, obviously I haven't been updating lately. I imagine that trend will continue unless I'm suddenly inspired to do otherwise. As I've said, my need to announce what I'm thinking to the world (or the 4 of you) is pretty much satisfied via Facebook and Twitter these days. I do think I'll keep doing the book update thing for my own benefit, but I may be so lazy that I don't even provide links to the titles. (Pathetic, I know.)

Oh yeah, one thing of note: I hit my 5 year mark at my job on Monday...! Shocking.

Twitter

Twitter is almost as addictive as Facebook status updates, and I have been sucked into its tangled web. You can follow me here.

I don't update as much as some people because I don't do it from my phone, and I'm still hooked on FB status updates, but I'm using it more and more. Clearly Twitter and FB are what have sucked any will to post over here away. Why spend the time to write a whole blog about Psych when I can just tweet to let everyone know there was a special Christmas epi on Friday? (Well, I could tweet that if I had any Twitter friends who cared about Psych...which is where you guys, i.e. Jaleh, joining Twitter comes in.)

That's all I have to say, really. Just join so I have more friends to tweet to and to follow in return.

Book Update

Getting close to the end of the year! Eeee!

A few more to add:

Buffy Season 8, Volume 3: Wolves at the Gate, by Joss Whedon, et al
Buffy's a lesbian now? Only she's not? Oh well, whatevs--Xander gets to make with the funny.

Angel, After the Fall, Vol. 2: First Night, by Joss Whedon, et al
Goes back to the night of the apocalypse to see how each character handled it and came to be where they are now. Sort of fun, but felt a bit like filler.

Holiday Princess, by Meg Cabot
Apparently this has been out for awhile, but somehow I hadn't read it. It's Mia's guide to the winter holidays. Sort of cute, sort of skippable. Doesn't advance the Princess plot at all, it's just a side-book written by Mia and her friends.

Laughter of Dead Kings, by Elizabeth Peters
I adore Elizabeth Peters. The Amelia Peabody series is much beloved by me, but really my absolute favorite is the Vicky Bliss series due to the awesome anti-hero John Tregarth/Smythe/Smith. Dead Kings is the 6th and final in the Bliss series (sniff), and it's fantastic of course. Le sigh. So very sad it's the last one!!!

Hattie Big Sky, by Kirby Larson
Almost done listening to this one on audiobook. Listening to it for work--it's Young Hoosier Book Award nominee--but it's actually fairly good. A little heavy handed and, as usual, I hate the voice of the person reading it, but despite all that it's a good story.



Books Read in 2008:
Hattie Big Sky, by Kirby Larson
Laughter of Dead Kings, by Elizabeth Peters
Holiday Princess, by Meg Cabot
Angel, After the Fall, Vol. 2: First Night, by Joss Whedon, et al
Buffy Season 8, Volume 3: Wolves at the Gate, by Joss Whedon, et al
Midnight for Charlie Bone, by Jenny Nimmo
The Cay, by Theodore Taylor
The Game of Sunken Places, by M.T. Anderson
Down the Rabbit Hole, by Peter Abrahams
Paper Towns, by John Green
Downtown Owl, by Chuck Klosterman
Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart
Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyers
Once Upon a Time in the North, by Philip Pullman
Queen of Babble Gets Hitched, by Meg Cabot
Heroines, by Eileen Favorite
Suite Scarlett, by Maureen Johnson
Airhead, by Meg Cabot
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by JK Rowling
Angel: After the Fall Volume 1, by Joss Whedon and Brian Lynch
Fly on the Wall, by E. Lockhart
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
Portuguese Irregular Verbs, by Alexander McCall Smith
Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult
The Boy Book, by E. Lockhart
Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl
Pretties, by Scott Westerfeld
The Boyfriend List, by E. Lockhart
Size 12 is Not Fat, by Meg Cabot
Night Fall, by Nelson DeMille
Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld
Thornyhold by Mary Stewart
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
River Secrets by Shannon Hale
The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
A House of Tailors by Patricia Reilly Giff
Princess Mia by Meg Cabot
Looking for Alaska by John Green
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Mister Monday by Garth Nix
Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson
Devilish by Maureen Johnson

Book Update

It's been over a month since my last post, and I'm sorry to report that this is just another Book Update. I'm gonna do it blurb-style--one to two sentences, tops. And no pictures, I'm too lazy.

Midnight for Charlie Bone, by Jenny Nimmo
First in a series. Harry Potter-esque.

The Cay, by Theodore Taylor
All the kids read it in school. Shipwrecked boy lands on island and must survive.

The Game of Sunken Places, by M.T. Anderson
Two boys must make it through a real-life board game. Pretty cool.

Down the Rabbit Hole, by Peter Abrahams
Girl idolizes Sherlock Holmes and finds herself entrenched in a mystery.

Paper Towns, by John Green
MADE. OF. AWESOME. Clearly.

Downtown Owl, by Chuck Klosterman
Chuck's first novel (as opposed to humerous non-fiction). Follows 3 people in a small North Dakota town. Funny.

Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Honestly, I am still not done with this book. It was our last Book Club book and I have been reading it for over a month. Do plan on finishing it soon so I'm putting it on here. My analysis--interesting, well-written, but freaking long and a bit scattered.

Books Read in 2008:
Midnight for Charlie Bone, by Jenny Nimmo
The Cay, by Theodore Taylor
The Game of Sunken Places, by M.T. Anderson
Down the Rabbit Hole, by Peter Abrahams
Paper Towns, by John Green
Downtown Owl, by Chuck Klosterman
Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart
Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyers
Once Upon a Time in the North, by Philip Pullman
Queen of Babble Gets Hitched, by Meg Cabot
Heroines, by Eileen Favorite
Suite Scarlett, by Maureen Johnson
Airhead, by Meg Cabot
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by JK Rowling
Angel: After the Fall Volume 1, by Joss Whedon and Brian Lynch
Fly on the Wall, by E. Lockhart
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
Portuguese Irregular Verbs, by Alexander McCall Smith
Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult
The Boy Book, by E. Lockhart
Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl
Pretties, by Scott Westerfeld
The Boyfriend List, by E. Lockhart
Size 12 is Not Fat, by Meg Cabot
Night Fall, by Nelson DeMille
Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld
Thornyhold by Mary Stewart
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
River Secrets by Shannon Hale
The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
A House of Tailors by Patricia Reilly Giff
Princess Mia by Meg Cabot
Looking for Alaska by John Green
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Mister Monday by Garth Nix
Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson
Devilish by Maureen Johnson

Book Update

I'm sorry I have nothing more interesting to talk about. Really. I've been trying to think of things but eh. But for those of you who claim to be interested, here is a book update.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris

I love me some David Sedaris. This is another great collection of previous works, but thankfully they were mostly new to me. David's stories are the sort that make the reader feel just a little (or a lot) less weird, because he'll always be weirder--in an awesome way, of course.



The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart

I also love me some E. Lockhart--The Boyfriend List, The Boy Book, Fly on the Wall, Dramarama...all great. Lockhart has a gifted way of making the girls in her books incredibly realistic and identifiable. They think about things the way YOU (if you're a girl, anyway) thing about things. They aren't ridiculously blind to the obvious at all times like Meg Cabot's characters often are (which, as much as I love her, is my biggest complaint about Cabot's books). Instead, they're smart and relatively aware while still retaining their teenagey angst and misunderstandings. I just think Lockhart is fantastic, and I really liked this book a lot. I'd put it after her Boy books but before the rest.


Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyers

Welp, I finally finished it. It was loooong. And good. I actually really liked it. I don't know why all the uberfans were bitching about the ending, b/c it was a pretty decent one. The book itself certainly takes a leap from where the other three were and enters an entirely new territory, but once you get past that it's generally pretty good. Classic literature it'll never be (and talk about whiny heroines), but addictive.



Books Read in 2008:
When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart
Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyers
Once Upon a Time in the North, by Philip Pullman
Queen of Babble Gets Hitched, by Meg Cabot
Heroines, by Eileen Favorite
Suite Scarlett, by Maureen Johnson
Airhead, by Meg Cabot
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by JK Rowling
Angel: After the Fall Volume 1, by Joss Whedon and Brian Lynch
Fly on the Wall, by E. Lockhart
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
Portuguese Irregular Verbs, by Alexander McCall Smith
Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult
The Boy Book, by E. Lockhart
Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl
Pretties, by Scott Westerfeld
The Boyfriend List, by E. Lockhart
Size 12 is Not Fat, by Meg Cabot
Night Fall, by Nelson DeMille
Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld
Thornyhold by Mary Stewart
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
River Secrets by Shannon Hale
The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
A House of Tailors by Patricia Reilly Giff
Princess Mia by Meg Cabot
Looking for Alaska by John Green
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Mister Monday by Garth Nix
Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson
Devilish by Maureen Johnson

Shakespeare Has Added You As A Friend.

This might be the most amazing thing ever.

You know, if you're a nerd like me.

Hamlet and Facebook, together at last!

Some Stuff

Two posts in one night! Insanity. I know.

It's been awhile.

My latest food obsession: Homemade breakfast sandwiches. The past few months I've been letting myself stop and get various sorts of breakfast sandwiches. Usually it results in me being late to work, which is not good, plus I'm spending too much money AND it's not healthy either. The best of the bunch, which I only tried once because it's insanely expensive, was a sandwich from Starbucks--it was turkey bacon, egg, and white cheddar on a multi-grain English muffin. So yum! And so reproducible!

I decided to make my own version last week. A Thomas multi-grain Light English Muffin (provides 32% of your daily fiber intake with no saturated fat!) topped with deli ham and sharp cheddar cheese. I put it together the night before and then just pop it in the toaster oven while I finish getting ready. Wrap it in foil and take it on the road! It's fantastic. Friday morning I was at home so I had time to add an egg to that--even better.

Now, I just have to get back into the habit of drinking work coffee instead of buying Starbucks every day...

- - -

In other news, I added 3 more books to my Books Read in 2008 list. I just stuck them in the last Books post rather than copying and pasting again. They were Queen of Babble Gets Hitched by Meg Cabot (fun, of course); Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman (like Lyra's Oxford, it's another short follow up to the His Dark Materials trilogy, this time giving back story on Lee Scorsby--fantastic); and Heroines by Eileen Favorite (our latest Book Club pick, it was okay but not great).

- - -

In other news...yeah, I don't have any other news that I can think of. If I do, I'll get right back to ya.

Fall TV 2008

Time for my annual Fall What I'll Watch. So many shows have already started and even more are coming up!!!

Sundays
8pm The Amazing Race, CBS (Sept. 28)
9pm True Blood, HBO (premiers tonight) - based on a series of vampire books that's really popular with my co-workers. I'll give it a go.
10pm Entourage, HBO (premiers tonight)
10pm Feasting on Waves, Food Network (premiers tonight) - Alton Brown on a boat instead of a motorcycle. Yay!

Mondays
8pm Gossip Girl, The CW (premiered last week)
8:30pm How I Met Your Mother, CBS (Sept. 22)
9pm Heroes, NBC (Sept. 22)
9:30pm Samantha Who?, ABC (Oct. 6)
10pm The Hills, MTV (premiered a week or two ago)
10:30pm Exiled, MTV (premiered two weeks ago)

Tuesdays
8:40pm Gavin and Stacey, BBCA (premiered 2 weeks ago) - It's funny.
9pm Fringe, Fox (premieres this week at 8pm) - JJ Abram's latest.
9pm Greek, ABC Family (premiered 2 weeks ago)

Wednesdays
8pm America's Next Top Model, The CW (premiered last week)
8pm Pushing Daisies, ABC (Oct. 1)
10pm Top Design, Bravo (premiered last week)

Thursdays
8pm Ugly Betty, ABC (Sept. 25)
8pm Survivor: Gabon, CBS (Sept. 25)
8pm My Name is Earl/Kath & Kim, NBC (Sept. 25/Oct. 9)
9pm The Office/30 Rock, NBC (Sept. 25/Oct. 30)
9pm CSI, CBS (Oct 9)
9pm Kitchen Nightmares, Fox (premiered last week, but I missed it)
10pm It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, FX (Sept. 18) - Finally, yay!
10pm Tabatha's Salon Takeover, Bravo (premiered 2 weeks ago)

Fridays
11pm Real Time with Bill Maher, HBO (premiered last week)


Also watching the following shows that are partially through their seasons already: Mad Men, Project Runway, The Cho Show, Burn Notice, Psych, Long Way Down...and probably others I've forgotten.

Book Update (Sort Of)

Up until yesterday I was reading, quite literally, 5 books at the same time. Yeah, it takes awhile to finish any one book when you're splitting your time like that. Thankfully I just finished a couple. Plus I finished a couple of books awhile ago.

No reviews b/c 1) most of you don't care and 2) I don't feel like writing about all those books. So here's the list (updated 9/7/08):

Books Read in 2008:
Once Upon a Time in the North, by Philip Pullman
Queen of Babble Gets Hitched, by Meg Cabot
Heroines, by Eileen Favorite
Suite Scarlett, by Maureen Johnson
Airhead, by Meg Cabot
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by JK Rowling
Angel: After the Fall Volume 1, by Joss Whedon and Brian Lynch
Fly on the Wall, by E. Lockhart
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
Portuguese Irregular Verbs, by Alexander McCall Smith
Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult
The Boy Book, by E. Lockhart
Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl
Pretties, by Scott Westerfeld
The Boyfriend List, by E. Lockhart
Size 12 is Not Fat, by Meg Cabot
Night Fall, by Nelson DeMille
Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld
Thornyhold by Mary Stewart
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
River Secrets by Shannon Hale
The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
A House of Tailors by Patricia Reilly Giff
Princess Mia by Meg Cabot
Looking for Alaska by John Green
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Mister Monday by Garth Nix
Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson
Devilish by Maureen Johnson

Nooooooooooooo!

Again, I say...nooooooooooooooooo!

Effing movie studios.

Grrr.

NRS: Boogie Burger

Went to Boogie Burger in Broadripple last night for NRS. Attending were Amber, Damien, and I, plus NRS Guests Jen and Jeff.

Boogie Burger is a tiny place--seating is available for maybe 15-20 diners who would need to like each other a lot in order to squeeze in. But the Monkey's Tale next door allows BB customers to use its patio, thankfully, and our group settled at an outdoor table with ample space on what was a beautifully cool summer night.

But most important, of course, is the food. Ber, Jen, and Jeff all got the "New York, New York" burger, BB's version of the old mushroom & swiss standard. All were impressed by the generous toppings and seemed to really enjoy their sandwiches. Damien got the "Blue Moon" burger, which was piled high with blue cheese. While he seemed to think it might be almost too much of a good thing, I for one was impressed by how generous they were with the cheese--most places sprinkle a few crumbles of blue cheese on a burger and call it a day.

I was in the mood to be adventurous, so I tried the Citrus-Grilled Ahi Tuna sandwich, which was topped with a spicy mayo. It was DE-licious. Really, really tasty, with a slight citrusy note, but not an overpowering one. Along side my sandwich I had the garlic fries. BB tosses their standard fries with freshly chopped garlic and parsley. The aroma from the bag was heavenly...but the fries, only slightly above average. For one, they needed salt (salt makes the fry for me); for another, the amazing smell of garlic and parsley doesn't actually transfer to the fries much because the garlic and parsley don't actually stick to the fries. Rather, it all fell to the bottom, no matter how many times I gave the bag a shake to redistribute. Sad.

Overall, we were pleased with our meals. I would definitely get the tuna sandwich again, and would like to try a burger there. At the end, we girls topped the meal off with ice cream, which BB also serves. Can't beat that.

37 Things Meme

This is taken from John Green, who took it from E. Lockhart. So blame the YA authors for this one.


37 Odd Things About Me

1. Do you like blue cheese?

Like? Love. Mmmm.


2. Have you ever smoked?

A couple times in college. Got so ill from smoking and drinking too much one night in NYC that I haven't smoked since.


3. Do you own a gun?

A resounding no.


4. What flavor Kool Aid was your favorite?

Cherry. Grape was (IS) my second favorite.


5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?

Yes. I always expect the worst, no matter what I'm there for.


6. What do you think of hot dogs?

I think of summery grilled goodness...when I don't think too deeply about them.


7. Favorite Christmas movie?

A Christmas Story. No contest.


8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?

Depends on the morning. Often some variation of coffee, or possibly hot tea, or just water.


9. Can you do push ups?

What constitutes 'doing' push-ups? I can do at least one...probably...


10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry?

Probably the emerald ring I've had since Jr. High and still wear.


11. Favorite hobby?

Watching TV.


12. Do you have A.D.D.?

Not usually.


13. Do you wear glasses/contacts?

Yes and yes.


14. Middle name?

Lynn


15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment?

Ow, my back hurts. I should really stop doing this and get some work done. Ooo, I'm going to yell at that kid to stop running.


16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink?

Water, Diet Coke, coffee.


17. Current worry?

How I'm going to get this work project done when it seems like an insurmountable task.


18. Current hate right now?

The work project. See above.


19. Favorite place to be?

Hard one. Close tie between having dinner with my family and having drinks--preferably at a party we're throwing or at a tailgate--with my friends. Oh...or just on my couch. I like my couch a lot.


20. How did you bring in the new year?

See this.


21. Where would you like to go?

So many places. Greece 2010! London. New Orleans again. Italy. Back to New Zealand. NYC.


22. Name three people who will complete this?

Jaleh, MAYBE...I've got no other guesses.


23. Do you own slippers?

Yes.


24. What shirt are you wearing?

Pink shirt. Nothing exciting.


25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets?

Can't say I've ever done so.


26. Can you whistle?

Yup, pretty well. Got that gene from my gramps.


27. Favorite color?

In general...dark purple.


28. Would you be a pirate?

Sure.


29. What songs do you sing in the shower?

What songs DON'T I sing in the shower?


30. Favorite Girl's Name?

Bridget.


31. Favorite boy's name?

Eh, no real opinion.


32. What's in your pocket right now?

Chapstick, keys.

33. Last thing that made you laugh?

John Green's answers to these questions.


34. What vehicle do you drive?

Titanium Gray Mazda3


35. Worst injury you've ever had?

I hope I don't jinx myself here...a sprained ankle, senior year of HS, Nimes, France.


36. Do you love where you live?

Love is a relative term. :) I love my family, and I love my friends that live here. And Indy's not so bad. We find fun things to do...


37. How many TVs do you have in your house?

Three.


I'm not sure how some of the above can be classified as "Odd" so much as "Random," but whatevs.

HP and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer!

S.Q.U.E.E.!!!!!!

Go watch. Also, check out the set pictures. They're all getting so old!

ZOMG, I canNOT wait until November!!!

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Squee.

Clearly.

Clearly I have nothing to say lately. I guess I'm taking sort of a mini-break. (And since I'm a contradictory sort of a person, I'm sort of hoping that by SAYING I'm going to take a mini-break I'll suddenly think of 50 things to say and won't be able to stop blogging.)

Anyway, that's why you may not (...or may, see above) hear from me much lately. It's too summery to think of things to write about, and I have a new DS Lite to play with instead of blogging.

My new DS.

Oh, now see--just writing the above made me think of something. The gang and I went to Symphony on the Prairie again and had a blast. There, that's something...

The girls at Symphony on the Prairie.