The Titan's Curse: Audiobook Review

So, as promised, here's my Titan's Curse review. I am breaking through the over-idle sludge that my brain has become. Anyway, it's funny because reviewing children's audiobooks used to be part of my job. Now I'm just doing it. Not like it wasn't always fun. But reviewing audiobooks is sometimes difficult, because unless the reader or company has done something spectacularly bad or good, there's not much to say other than what you would put in a normal book review. The reader Jesse Bernstien did all right, but I do have a few bones to pick with him.

First, though, the story itself. This will be a NON-spoilers review because I don't think anyone reading my blog has read the books. So, this third book starts a bit in the middle of things, so it took me a bit for me to catch up. But once I did I wasn't too confused. There are several new characters, none of them as likeable as the already established character. Percy has both a new friend and a new rival in the same person, and because you see this rival from Percy's eyes, it's hard to like her as much as Percy. Unless, you didn't like Percy. But I do. He's likeable enough. I did have sympathy for Percy's rival but never a great deal of liking.

The other new characters are still on notice in my opinion. Only one achieved a full story arc, the rest I'm still waiting to see what happens. Once again I guessed the god parent of the two new undertermined half-bloods long before the story revealed it. But I will NOT say who, of course. That would be a spoiler. (Another big sorry to my sister for my initial slip with Percy). However, I will say I didn't get as many clues from the writing this time. It was more a literary hunch that was deepened by a fan picture I saw of one of the characrters. There was nothing obvious in the picture to give it away, but something about the way the character was drawn did it for me. And that's all I'll say. Here's the picture for anyone curious who isn't afraid it might spoil them.

My favorite part of this book was the role Dionysus got to play. A small but integral one. I have to confess, Dionysus, the real Dionysus from Greek myth, is one of my favorite gods. Yep, I've never touched alcohol and my favorite god is the god of wine. Weird I know. But Dionysus is also the god of insanity which I've always found intriguing. Anyway, for most of the Percy Jackson books Dionysus is shafted and portrayed as pretty useless. But he actually got to do something in this book and show why you shouldn't mess with him. So that made me happy.

Once again I felt some things that happened in the real world, particularly toward the end, were too unbelievable for me, but I did think the character development by itself was quite good. I liked Annabeth's family. Probably the major beef I have with this book is that it's unresolved at the end. It's true the series has a running thread which remains unresolved, presuably until the end of the series, but this one was more so. I wouldn't exactly call it a cliff-hanger, but I always feel like stories like this are just interesting space fillers to the next story. They're dependent stories. Whether they're good or not depends on the events of the rest of the series. So I have to withhold judgement about the end of this book.

However, I don't have to withhold judgement on Jesse Bernstien's reading. Mostly it was fine. No qualms with any of the major characters which is the first thing one looks for in an audio version. He also does both genders all right which is another important feature. But I had a huge problem with how he portrayed Dionysus and Luke's voices. Dionysus sounds like Homer Simpson, which almost ruined his moment of glory for me, and Luke sounds like some kind of deranged surfer dude. Bernstien also has some weird fixation with making a lot of periphial characters sound mentally challenged. It might be because I already read the first two books and formulated certain voices in my head, but once again, not all the voices were off. The only other problem I had was Annabeth's step-mothe,r who is described as Asian. But--and this is important-- she is NOT described as having an Asian accent. Just because you look Asian, doesn't mean you sound Asian. Or, more specifically, a non-Asian's impression of Asian. Usually I'm not overly sensitive about these things. Quite the opposite actually. I generally roll my eyes when people make a big deal out of it. I have to admit it's not like it was over-the-top. It just felt unecessary and rubbed me the wrong way.

Well, that's all I have to say about it. Hope it was interesting.

Last Minute Post

10 minutes to midnight and I realize no post! I had wanted to do a book review of the 3rd Percy Jackson which I finished recently but that will have to wait. For now, here's a great interview with Neil Gaiman and his girlfriend Amanda Palmer. Yes, they're both in a bathtub.

When Life Gets Dark

Get Pratchett. This is a fan film made about one of Pratchett's most well-known characters. It was shown at a convention that Pratchett attended and ultimately posits what would happen if said character were ever to meet his maker....

Run Rincewind Run! (Part 1 of 2)


Run Rincewind Run! (Part 2 of 2)

我 愛 你 爸 爸

My Little Brother's Computer

I'm currently on my little brother's computer due once again to flaky internet. So just a short post before they want it back. My little brothers currently have a fascination with Pirates of the Carribean. I know because they've been watching all three movies non-stop since I got here. Mostly the older one. Although, I saw Curtis skip one of the mushy scenes. Guess he's not yet old enough for Keira Knightly to be interesting.

Even More Metaphorical Jars...

Yesterday I talked about a hypothetical ideas jar and my opinion of the usefulness of such a thing. My friend Brian commented by referring me to a different metaphorical jar--that of a possible online tip jar for literature. The article Brian referred me to is here, but this is by no means the first time I've heard this idea.

I have to say that I'm firmly on team skeptical. It's not that I'm completely against the idea. Obviously, as a trained librarian, I believe you should be able to read books for free. Clearly, libraries also haven't killed the book during the course of their existence, so the ability to read something for free isn't the primary issue. I just don't see this business working, at least not for people like me, and there are many reasons for this:

1.) Marketing. For this sort of model to work for beginning authors, they would need some way to market their work. If you're reading this blog, you're probably computer savvy enough to know that you can't just putting up a random website in the abyss of cyberspace if you want people to notice you. If I started serializing a novel on this blog, for instance, I'd probably get nothing unless one of you was feeling particularly generous.

I actually did try to sell my artwork online once from my own website. It admittedly wasn't every well set up, but I never even had any inquiries. The authors in the article Brian found are also already established fantasy authors and, therefore, probably would not need to work as hard at marketing themselves in this sort of endeavor. They may even have agents helping them or a core group of fans following them. Some writers, like Scott Sigler, might even have the necessary background in marketing, or just innate skills, that allow them to know the best and most effective ways to promote their work.

I am not one of these people. It has always been my plan to send my work to an agent. The idea that the agent would have a percentage of my earnings has never bothered me because, if they are doing their job properly, I believe they completely deserve that money for a task I do not desire and am not personally equipped to do. If they're not doing their job properly, they'll suffer more than me. As long as they aren't a complete criminal and run off with all my money or more than was agreed to, I will probably love my agent, or in the very least, appreciate them immensely. I believe an agent is necessary for any writer who just wants to be a writer and not a businessperson. And I know there are plenty of those out there. J.K. Rowling is a very prominent example of an author who looked for an agent first because she said that the marketing always sounded like a lot of trouble to her. But really nearly every successful author I've personally read has an agent, so I take that as a sign. It doesn't mean every successful author needs an agent. Not everyone needs them or wants them. But all successful authors do need SOMEONE marketing them, whether that's themselves or a mommy and daddy who own their own publishing company (*cough*cough*Christopher Paolini*cough*).

2. Computer literacy. Those who are reading this blog are all privileged in computer literacy. This is not the case for everyone. It's also not just old people, contrary to common belief. Working in the library, I encountered people of all ages who struggled with computers. Certainly, it is often older people, but there are plenty of others who have, for whatever reason, not had the inclination or the resources to educate themselves in computer use. I do not believe this is a generational problem, instead simply a case of people all being different. Are these people all stupid? No. Do they read? Yes. There are also plenty more who may be able to operate a computer but would never do it for anything outside absolutely necessary tasks. I could probably go on for ages about my theories on the social and economic reasons for this, but that would be another argument. Here it's enough to say that computer literacy is not yet universal enough for me to view online publishing as viably lucrative. Could it be in the future? Maybe. When? Heck if I know. One of my favorite authors and people in general, John Green, predicts the face of publishing will change in the next ten years. I can't say I feel as certain of this, but maybe I'm just too old fashioned at heart.

3. Donations. When you get right down to it, I'm probably the worst person to talk about the economics of donations, particularly those for artistic endeavors, because I don't donate to the arts. I mean, about four years ago, I dropped a handful of change into the violin case of a small string orchestra playing in the metro in Paris. That's my only donation to the arts in recent memory. I rationalize this by the fact that I don't have a lot of money myself. Could I still donate a little. Yeah. But when I do donate to others, it tends to be for things like food or medicine. This is not because I don't believe that art is important. Okay, maybe some days I waver on that, but as an artist myself, I have to believe that what I am doing is important and not just something that makes me happy. But when it comes right down to it, if I was in need, food would be the first thing I'd want.

Now, you'll probably say that's mostly what the artists you donate to are going to spend it on. Feeding themselves and whatnot so they can continue to do art. Yes, but the other part is my own personal preferences. The idea of anyone giving me anything like charity has always chaffed at me. And the idea of people donating money to support my writing would probably never be one I'll be comfortable with (though I'd consider it if I honestly thought it would work. I just don't). This feeling is probably because I have such a tumultuous relationship with the utility of my craft. I feel if art is turned into a charity, that is devaluing it. I'm not saying money is everything, but it's the standard tool by which we value goods. Some art may be priceless, but that usually just means people would pay a heck of a lot of money for it if the museum would just give it to them.... Many of you are probably going to disagree and think that's horrible. You might be right, but hear me out. Yes, I believe in libraries, but libraries buy books. If they're any kind of charity, it's one to the people, and not the authors. If art is important, why shouldn't we expect people to pay for it? I won't debate a fair price here, but look at it this way. Would you expect a farmer to run on donations only? Would you expect a computer engineer to run on donations only? A mechanic? A teacher? A carpenter? If art is as important to life as these things, shouldn't artists be able to work in the same economic world?

Of course, if art's not as important, a lot of us are going to have to reevaluate our lives....

Anyway, you can probably tell this is a subject I've thought about a lot. I have plenty more thoughts on it that I'd be happy to share if any of you have questions about what I've already said. But I'd also love to hear your thoughts on it. Leave them in comments or email, whatever your preference. Oh, and Brian, you never answered my first question!

Ideas

Yet another random picture from the nature reserve near my sister.

The internet is working. For now. My step-mother has very kindly humored me twice already and restarted the devil machine. The restart seems to boot the router into recognizing my computer again. I want to learn this process myself so I don't have to pester her every time. Although, ideally, it doesn't happen again, but that seems like it may be too optimistic. Hopefully it works for at least as long as it did last time which was roughly 24 hours. In any event, before my internet stopped working yesterday, I meant to post about this article from China Miéville about ideas that I found while reading Neil Gaiman's blog.

Essentially Miéville thinks it would be great if we had some online forum in which to share ideas we're not equipped to do justice ourselves.

Hank Green recently had a similar idea which he sorta took from a former high profile vlogger named Zefrank. Except Zefrank seemed to think we should go out and accomplish all our good ideas, I agree with Hank and Miéville that sometimes we're not the right people for the job.

On one hand I would LOVE it if people would go out and accomplish my ideas that I do not have the time or resources to do (like a GOOD film version of Ella Enchanted that actually stays true to the tone of the novel or a quasi-fictional biography of a famous book, like Machivelli's The Prince, and how it's affected people through history). This also might work better for giant coorporations, particularly film companies and maybe publishers and other distributors of creative work. It could be like a giant suggestion box and people could toss ideas they want to see at these companies and then these companies can decide which ideas seem the most popular (thus earning them the most money).

On the other hand, this is a situation where the givers aren't as useful to the process as the takers, and I see myself as primarily a giver in this type of situation. I have plenty of ideas to give, but the idea of taking another person's idea holds no appeal to me. It's also just not necessary. I barely enough time or inclination to accomplish the ideas I CAN accomplish. I guess I have met people who ask writers and artists where they get their ideas. These people puzzle me. A life where you don't have at least ten perfectly viable ideas for your own particular craft simmering somewhere in the back of your mind is completely unfathomable to me. I also get really annoyed (and know I'm not the only one) when people begin any conversation with the words "You should write..."

Excuse me? I should write? What about YOU should write? You thought of it! Why are you dumping the work on me? I should write my own ideas! Plus, using another person's idea for me is usually about as appealing as wearing someone else's underwear. Of course, I've been inspired by things people have said before. And sometimes I respond better when people jokingly say I should do something but clearly don't think I will. But there has honestly been only TWO times someone actually seriously said "You should write..." and I agreed with them and wrote it. In both instances this was only because the idea was already banging around in my head anyway, so it wasn't really their idea, just their suggestion that I write down my own idea.

But everybody's different. I'd love to hear what you think in the comments. Would you actually want to take other people's ideas from something like a giant spare ideas jar?

Shoddy Internet

Busy day and, of course, the internet decides to flake out on me. The internet is really the one thing keeping me going right now, so this is a little like having my air supply cut off. Sigh... And it just seems to be my computer too. I can get it to run on wired internet but the wired internet's in a really inconvenient place. Once again proving that if you can rely on one thing in life, it's for computers to be unreliable.

Rough Day

But there's really not much else related to that subject that I feel like putting in so public a forum right now. That may change in the future since I usually hate being cagey. I realize mostly only my friends read this blog, so I'd be happy to talk to any one of you individually. It doesn't have to be about what I'm going through. Most the time I think it's better if it's not. I may actively avoid it at times and hope no one thinks I'm crass for just wanting to talk about things that make me happy (usually my writing). Or I may just ask about you. But I'll never be upset if you ask. It helps to talk to people, period.

Having said that, as Monty Python would say, now for something completely different.

Here is a nice but completely unrelated picture, since the stubborn video doesn't allow you to embed it and we must have something to look at. This is a tree at the end of the nature reserve near my sister's apartment.

I was cruising the internet for Neil Gaiman news, as I am sometimes wont to do, and came across this reading of a short story he wrote called "Feminine Endings." (click the link in "Feminine Endings" and scroll down past the article, and click on that title in the video cue).

It's always worth hearing Neil Gaiman read. That man could read the phone book and it would sound good. But what interested me in particular about this reading was he seemed confident no one would have heard the story and said it wasn't published in any of his short story anthologies. Well, this is true but, being a dutiful reader of his blog, I signed up to get a "love letter" from Neil Gaiman (who in their right mind wouldn't, even if everyone does get the same letter?) and it was this story that I recieved in my inbox. Easily one of the best non-personal emails I've ever recieved. It is also in an anthology, though not one of his. It was put in: Four Letter Word, an anthology of fictional love letters written by several different authors. Anyway, it was great to hear him read it even though I had already read it contrary to his statement. I have one of those annoying personalities where I have to point out mistakes like this even though I know knowing this little fact that wasn't even worth it to the author to remember identifies me as a complete nerd and quite possibly a bit like the creepy character in the story he reads. I'm not stalking you, Neil, I promise! That's not me outside your window!

Happy Father's Day

To all the fathers starting with my own. Today I drew the above card for my father. And, yes, I know my hand writing still looks like a five year old's, especially when I write in print. Anyway, I feel an explanation of the picture is in order. I know my dad used to want to be a pilot. So that explains the plane. As for the turtle, when I was a little kid, I once asked my father some standard child question which was either "what is you favorite animal?" or "if you could be any animal, what animal would it be?" My father said it would be a turtle. I still have enough kid in me to know the important distinction between those two questions, but either way it's stuck with me for this long that my father had a penchant for turtles (or, in the very least, it was his idea of the best answer at the time). It's funny the little things we remember.

Horatio

I don't draw very much anymore, so it's worth noting when I do even if not everyone will get the reference. Any one of the beta-readers who've read far enough in my novel knows my character Horatio. He was devilishly tricky to draw and, as per usual, he's not exactly how I see him in my head. But there's definitely a Horatio-ish essence to his face and I wasn't satisfied until I at least got the expression right, which was one of the hardest things. I based it off the below picture of Hugh Dancy which, except for the curly hair, looks almost exactly like the Horatio I see in my head. Despite the fact that I actually envisioned Horatio as unconventionally attractive whereas Hugh most defintely fits many conventions of attractiveness. In a dreamcast film of my novel, Hugh Dancy would play Horatio and Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films) would play the Prince, whose picture I put up yesterday. The only trouble is the disparity in their ages because they're supposed to be around the same age in my book. Not like I'm ever likely to have to worry about a film adaptation, and I'm quite lucky if I do.

Character Portrait

I saw some lizards today. I frustrated my little brothers because I'm incapable of waking before noon. But I didn't do anything that I think would make a good blog post. So here's a portrait I sketched back in high school of one of my novel's characters. He's younger in this picture than I currently imagine him, but that may have something to do with me having been younger at the time. He looks about the age in this picture that I probably was when I drew him (I'm guessing about 16). Now I see him as being around 21. Otherwise the expression of his face is very accurate to what I imagine if not all the features (his lips are a bit fuller than I see them in my head and a few other lines on his face don't quite match up). There's also definitely some artistic flaws that bug me in this picture, but I won't go into them because I've always been of the philosophy that pointing out a flaw in your own work to someone either forces them to comment on something they already saw or (far worse) brings something they didn't see to their attention. This way it only bugs me.

I already emailed this to some of the people reading my novel, but I messed up on the email with the picture attached, so after some deliberation, decided these are friends who loved me enough to read my novel and therefore probably wouldn't bite me if I sent them a follow-up email with the correct subject. The trouble was I forgot to attach the picture to the second email but it IS attached to the FIRST email with the WRONG subject. I decided NOT to send a third email. And now it's pictured above for people who don't like confusing emails.

Just so everyone understands the full scope of my incompetence.

The Sea of Monsters: Book Review

I finished the second Percy Jackson book yesterday. Unemployment is good for catching up on reading at least. So brief non-spoilers summary. Percy starts getting dreams that his friend Grover is in trouble, and he and his friend Annabeth have to find the mythical Sea of Monsters to rescue him. This book is like a contemporary sequel to/highlights version of the Odyssey which I thought was rather clever. I laughed more in this book as well and I started to really love that all the heroes in these books are dyslexic (there's a reason for this which I also find amusing but reasonably credible).

I would highly recommend this book to a parent looking for biliotherapy for a dyslexic child, or to a deslexic child if they might be interested in the subject matter. I'm personally getting to really like the characters even if I find some of the situations less than credible. I'm not talking about the Greek gods either. Once again, I won't give any spoilers, but just some things Percy claimed to have done when he used to think he was normal and some aspects of his mother's personality didn't sit right with me. With crossovers between fantasy and the modern world, I think writers sometimes walk a fine line of credibility. The reason being, the real world, in my opinion, should still feel like the real world, but when some writers mix in fantasy, they think they can get away with the real world seeming less real. Unfortunately, when the real world doesn't follow its own rules, you've just created two fantasy worlds instead of one, and the real world is pretty lame as a fantasy world. I think Riordan sometimes falls into this trap, but not terminally so. Just enough for me to notice from time to time. Still, since this second book took place more in the alternate mythical world, I think it was easier for me to accept all the happenings.

Anyway, to sum things up, it's a good fast read that I highly recommend, but start with the first book The Lightning Thief!

Weapons and Little Brothers

The trouble with chronicling my life, is even when I'm productive, that doesn't always make for that great reading material. I did manage to do some writing today. I'm nearing the end of the children's novel I'm currently writing. It's very exciting to me, but since I don't wish to share the story quite yet, I feel like it's not that exciting for others to hear about. I also did a little job searching today, but even I don't want to think about that...

You're probably thinking that, as a writer, I should be able to make anything interesting. It's possible that's true. But there's a reason I write fantasy. I have great admiration for writers like John Green who can consistently make the real world compelling. I think every good story is based on humanity's core values. But I just think those values are better represented with action, magic, dragons, fairies, and whatnot.

Anyway, because of that, I'll just be an annoying older sister and talk about my little brothers instead. Above is a picture of one of their many self-designed weapons. It's a sword (whittled from wood or bamboo) with a duct tape scabbard. It even has a little tassle as you can see. Today I also saw a bayonet they had crafted to put on one of their toy guns. Even though it is a little disturbing, I've yet to see them walking around with any type of injury from these weapons, so I have to admit I'm actually quite proud of them. The design skill put into them is really incredible. They've also got several crossbows and spears, all made from some combination of wood, duct tape, and yarn. I can't get out of them where they got the idea, though. They don't watch TV or movies. I suppose they could have stumbled across pictures on the internet, but their inititive in actually creating these things is impressive regardless.

CSI Cherie

I was watching the above linked episode of CSI last night, and they determined that a man was left-handed because he wore his watch on the right wrist. I find this distinction puzzling since I am left-handed and I wear my watch on my left wrist. Of course, I'm willing to accept I may be a confused leftie. After all, it did take me several years to understand the difference between the right and left handed desks in school. I generally mimic the habits of those around me and don't think about how they're different for me.

Happy Birthday, Boris!

I'm posting this before I go to sleep so that I'll have something posted in case I don't get the chance. Nothing interesting is likely to happen to me today. And that's if I'm lucky. But hopefully Boris has a good day. As a birthday gift to him, I've decided NOT to put up any pictures of him without express permission to do so. But this is a picture of his that hopefully he doesn't mind me putting up...

I remember back in high school Boris said he thought I'd be good at blogging. I didn't think he was right and told him so. I may have been right to begin with. That's for all of you to decide. But the fact remains this blog owes its creation to Boris.

Plane Again...

I have to go on another plane tomorrow to go down and see my father in San Diego. I hate planes. But at least we can amuse ourselves with these cartoons.

Cupcakes!

Today I just found out how much I'm influenced by the power of suggestion when I saw a picture of a cupcake and, immediately after, desperately wanted cupcakes. Luckily, I have the nicest sister in the world and she made me chocolate cupcakes!

Zombie Vs. Vampire Debate

Percy Jackson

I'm currently reading the first book in the Percy Jackson series. I tried to get the second one from one of the five different nearby library systems, but it was not checked in to ANY of them. Usually it wouldn't bother me to wait, but I have to hop on a plane yet again for the 11th time in the past 8 weeks, so I need something before Monday. I might just buy the second book, because I'm almost done reading the first, and I didn't feel that one was a waste of money (I also bought it to read on the plane I took here), so hopefully the second's just as good. I won't do a full review right now since I'm not quite finished, but I think the story's compelling. The style of writing is not as much to my tastes, but it's not bad. It's just clear to me the book is meant to appeal to a slightly younger audience, but it's not dumbed down. I simply think the situation and humor are probably more relatable if you're a younger kid, specifically a young boy. Still, I'm enjoying it, and I'm also looking forward to the movie they're planning to make based on it.

I also managed to check out a digital audiobook of the 3rd Percy Jackson book from the Sacramento Library without leaving my house, but it took me an hour to jump through all the DRM hoops of flame. I feel the service needs to be a bit more user-friendly.

California Sunset

I spent all day unpacking and arranging my stuff so not much exciting news. Instead, here's a picture I took a while ago in the nature reserve near my sister's apartment. I suppose it's arrogant to compliment my own photography skills but I love the soft glow in contrast with the dark grass.

Dream Journal

When I was a lot younger I bought a beautiful dream journal that is currently still somewhere among my scattered effects. When I find it, I'll post a picture. One side was for night dreams and has the image of a little girl in a garden at night, standing in front of a hedge maze filled with strange things. If you turn the journal upsidedown, the other side is for day dreams with an image of the sun but I don't quite recall what else.

Anyway, I hardly ever used it for all its beauty. So today I'll share my dream with all of you. I have be having unsettlingly real dreams. These are dreams that it has been impossible for me to distinguish from reality upon waking. They are not scary by themselves, but I've never had dreams so normal that it would even be remotely credible to believe they really happened. For example, one dream simply had me speaking to my sister and mother in our kitchen and, upon waking, I had to ask them to confirm if it had happened or not. But last night I had a good old fashioned nightmare, and I'm actually quite happy because I know it didn't happen. I was just a monster dream. I was in a house with a monster that would roam around. Many other people were in the house, which was a mix of several different apartments I've lived in as well as a shopping mall. I hid in a bedroom that looked like my old bedroom when I was in high school except instead of the furniture I had there were many shelves covered in blankets. I presume the monster wasn't very smart because I was told that if at least 3/4ths of you was covered when the monster came, it wouldn't see you. I spent most the dream worrying my hiding space on a top shelf covered in blankets wasn't good enough but the monster never found me.

Waiting...

Today's picture is a cart full of Harry Potter 7 books that wouldn't fit on the shelf! I took this pic before I left the library. I have a theory that we got an overload because so many of the people who wanted to read Harry Potter 7, bought Harry Potter 7. Not that I'm saying we shouldn't have bought it or that we didn't need it for quite some time. I just find it fun to theorize on the economics of book circulation in libraries. Twilight, for instance, still had lots of holds on it when I left. True some of the renewed popularity was due to the movie but I also think it's because not as many people are as willing to buy Twilight before they've read it, whereas Harry Potter is more of a given.

Anyway, I'm waiting for the moving truck today. Then I'm going to unload all my stuff. I just wish I knew when of if I'll be doing that again before the year's out. I've been wanting to make more videos for the people who do like them but I haven't had the chance yet. I've also been making a lot of reviews because I've been meaning to for a long time and have a backlog, but also because I don't remember how to use the alternative movie making software that allows me to edit things I've made on my normal camera. But maybe I'll get around to tinkering with it.

Today I...

...Constructed a giant tent in my sister's living room.

This tent.



Why?

Because we can.

Angels and Demons and the Mysterious "D"?

I'm going to see Angels and Demons today with my sister, and I hope I have time for a more exciting blog post later but, just in case, I'm posting something now so I don't have to worry about it. The last time I had to do all the punishments was because I saw Prince Caspian and didn't end up getting back until after midnight. Of course, if I'm going to be punished for seeing any movie, Prince Caspian was well worth it. If Angels and Demons is even a quarter as entertaining as Prince Caspian, I'll be well pleased. This time I'll probably get back earlier since my sister and I are heading out earlier, but it seems wise to post beforehand anyway.

In other news I'm finally opening a bottle of maple syrup that's several years old. It's never been opened and is stored in a glass bottle. The research I've done seem to indicate that the worst that could have happened is it's lost its flavor. I'm of the opinion that it's edible until it turns to amber. We shall see...

And one last thing. I have a comment from "D" in my last post. I suspect I know who it is, but I do have more than one friend with a D name, so I would appreciate it if people were more specific. If you'd rather not use your name, than please use initials at least. Otherwise you could be a member of the Illuminati come to get me...

Star Trek Review

To boldly go where no short skirt has gone before.

Attack of the Lego Pirates!

It's no secret I'm a proud sister of two little brothers. And what better way to do a blog post today than to mooch of their content until I finally make another video? So here is the incredible Lego epic created by my brother, Curtis. He also made another video which amused me. It's pirates dancing to the song Peanut Butter Jelly Time. It gets pretty repetitive after the first 15 seconds, but if you're interested, here's his YouTube Channel.

Also, videos count as pictures, so I don't need another picture for this post.

Update, Update, UPDATE! Aaaaand, the return of PUNISHMENTS!

The above picture is a dinosaur skeleton replica taken during my layover in Chicago's O'Hare airport. Later I should make a YouTube video on what I think this skeleton is thinking (yes, skeletons think...)

Cherie News!

Hi, all! Sorry for my long silence. It was a mix of chaotic life and stress, but a few weeks back a friend mentioned to me that she missed my text blogs. I also know I have a whole of two fans of my text blog (at least of my friends). I have one "follower" as well. Unfortunately, I've not updated my blog to allow for followers, because blogger says the update will erase my template, and I've done a few things with it I'd rater not redo. But if this follower outs him/herself to me (the blog won't tell me who is following me until I update) and if they ask nicely, I could update.

Anyway, I am currently back in California after more traveling in the past month than I care to contemplate. But since I'm giving you all updates, I shall. I've gone to California three times this May. Only the last trip this Sunday wasn't a round trip. That equals ten planes in the space of 31 days (two for each journey because nonstop is not for the likes of mere mortals like me). My life began to feel a lot like the movie The Terminal. And, of course, whenever I tell people that, they haven't seen that movie. Seriously, you guys should see it; it's a good movie.

The Return of Punishments!

Previously on Cherie's blog (and for a limited time only) you were allowed to punish me if I didn't update every day. That's right, an update from yours truly, every day. I am bringing back that feature with a few adjustments. First I will be adding my YouTube channel to this challenge. So I will be able to either update in text or on YouTube each day (updating both is possible but never required). I know at least one of my friends isn't interested in my YouTube channel, but this friend and others who may feel the same need not dispair; it is easier for me to do a text blog, so there will be plenty of those as well. This is just so I don't feel an undue burden when I do YouTube updates. That way the frequency of both text and video blogs should increase.

The Rules:

1.) Starting today I must post a text or video blog at least once a day.

2.) If it is a text blog, it must include either news or information about me or a photo taken by me.

3.) All text blogs must always include at least one picture and some text, but the photos only have to be taken by me of I don't write anything about myself.

4.) If it is a video blog, it must be at least a minute in length. There is no maximum length save the restrictions on YouTube.

If (and ONLY if) I break one or more of these rules, any of you may suggest a punishment. But, unlike last time, I won't do all of your punishments. I will choose one for each infraction. So make them all good since you don't know which I'll choose. Punishments may not involve anything that will cost me more than $5, seriously physically harm me, or get me arrested. However, humiliation and difficulty of any other kind are fair game.

When will this end?

I wish I could say never, but I know better. My life is pretty up in the air right now, so I'm going to go with: until I move again. By this I mean actually move. Sadly, I feel my close relationship with planes is not yet over, but I don't want to let that stop me. In the process of moving there will, no doubt, be a disruption in my internet service which seems a good reason to cut myself a break. Part of me was tempted to say until I get too busy, but since that's a really subjective deadline, I didn't want to give myself too easy a way out. Moving is a soft enough deadline since I don't know when it will be. The only way I can miss a day before then is if I am in a location where internet is unavailable for a full 24 hours. As long as I am at my sister's, this will never be the case because she lives near places where internet access is available.

Why are you doing this?

To keep in touch with all of you. On a purely personal level, I forsee hard times to come in my life. It would be far too easy to withdraw entirely from the world and allow those troubles to consume me. Better to reach out now because it will only be harder later. I also want to prevent all of you, my friends, from becoming a distant memory. Currently I am happy to be reunited with my family, but I have no friends in my immediate vicinity.

On a philosophical level, this kind of action fits with my values. It often amazes me that the easier communication has become, the less we communicate with each other, or in the very least, the less meaningful the communication becomes. From one line emails, to Facebook, to 140 character tweets, technology seems determined to trim down our coorespondense all while it has the power and potential to enhance it. But is technology really the enemy here, or is it our own laziness?

Story Word Updates!

Three months. Yup, it's been three months since I've told you all how many words I've written in my current novel. I know you've all been on the edge of your seats not knowing. It's been pretty pathetic, but maybe regular blog updates well increase accountability and, therefore, productivity.

March: 4421 words (Ugh...)

April: 1235 words (My excuse is finals...but that's hopefully the last time I get that excuse.)

May: 4012 words (Moving stuff. But I still could have been more productive)

If I don't update my word counts once a month from now on that's also a punishable offense that does not end when I move. The only excuse from now on is if I don't have internet for the entire month. And what do you guys think of me tweeting my daily word counts? It's the only use of twitter that really appeals to me, but I'm curious what you guys think. It affects my decision if no one's interested.

Well, that's all for now! If you read all the way to the end, you deserve a treat. If you tell me you reached the end, I'll try to think of a way to honor you.