ALA Conference

You all behave yourself while I'm at ALA. From 23rd-30th there won't be any blog posts. Kinda like when I forget but planned this time.

Ha!

I forgot again and my sister's standing right there and didn't notice.

Going to Try Sleeping

My sleeping was knocked out of whack by being sick because I couldn't get to sleep a couple of nights and ended up sleeping during the day. But (inexplicably) I feel a bit tired now, so going to try to sleep. I feel like I have to sneak up on sleep too. Like, if I put a lot of effort into preparing for bed, I'll just wake up again but if I just curl up when I feel sleepy, I just might manage it.

Friday I Focused On Getting Better...

...And apparently not posting in my blog. On the upside I am much better. Plus, as much as my sister blames her early bedtime for not noticing my many recent missing blogs, she's not asleep now, and thus, I win.

Gone, But Not Forgotten

So I was pretty bummed I was still sick on Wednesday for multiple reasons but one of them was missing my book club, which only meets once a month. Sigh... But at least the book is reasonably good. I kept reading even after I knew I wouldn't make it.

Summary

Betsy Tannenbaum is a criminal lawyer on the rise when her biggest case falls into her lap. She is hired to protect the mysterious Martin Darius, a business mogul. When news of several heinous murders break, it seems time for Betsy to earn her retainer. But as Betsy learns more about Darius, her professional and personal ethics are placed on the line as a killer runs rampant.

Overview

There were too many characters, which was very confusing at the beginning and I only just got the hang of it toward the end and even then I'd still get confused. The central baddie, Martin Darius is a pretty loathsome piece of work. I get where the author is going with the ethical dilemma of whether you protect someone like that, and I don't doubt that there are people like that, unfortunately. But it just made me think all the more how I prefer the complexity of someone who's not so downright evil to what seems like a straw villain.

Book Club

Spoilers!

Still, even though I guessed that Sloane was Reardon, and that Darius was obviously a murderer (if not the only murderer) I was fascinated enough to see how the author would explain what would happen. So, less of a who dunnit and more of a "what do we do now?" story.

Dream Journal

I had a dream that I had started attending my old high school again which seemed to make sense because I recognized many of my classmates as being in my year. But then one day I slept in and panicked until I realized--wait a minute--I have a masters degree; I don't have to go to high school anymore! But I went in to the school counselor to try to understand why I felt like I needed to go to high school again and I had trouble physically speaking, as in opening and closing my mouth. But it seemed the reason that I and many of my classmates (who I also realized at this point had college degrees of their own) had returned to high school was simply for the familiarity of it.

I Fought the Cold...

...And the cold won. Sigh... To be so foiled by a virus.

Okay...

Day six or seven of being sick depending on if I count the headache I had Tuesday as indicator that something was amiss. But was definitely sick by Wednesday.

Colds, Giant Tortoises, and British TV

So I've been trying to shake a cold since Tuesday because there's some stuff I really want to do this coming Wednesday. My sister must either be taking pity on me because I'm sick or didn't notice I forgot to blog. She came out a moment ago, and I thought she might be about to tell me but I'd gotten into a massive coughing fit so she probably thought I was going to die. In fact, the coughing had nothing to do with my cold but rather the tea I had accidentally inhaled previously. That's what I get for drinking tea while partially reclined. Perhaps my self-prescribed lazing isn't as healing as I thought? Although, I'm not good for much else. Terribly hard to concentrate like this. I can't even talk, which anyone who knows me knows is one of my favorite past times. Well, I probably could talk but judged it best not to so that my throat could rest. Anyway, so what have I been doing while I'm sick? Well, other than reading my book club book (one of the things I hope to do this Wednesday), I've been watching this British game show called QI, hosted by the amazing Stephen Fry. I don't think the scoring's supposed to make sense which both bothers and amuses me but I like the concept. Being that an interesting answer is more important than a right or obvious one but at the same time you learn a lot because it's all very interesting mostly unknown facts. One that was quite amusing (if sad) was that giant tortoises didn't have a latin name for a long time because everyone was too busy eating them. Apparently, they're delicious. But nearly eaten into extinction so now protected and we'll never know. Alas.

Honey Overdose?

Can you overdose on honey? Because, in the past few days, I've consumed a pound of honey.

Sexy Snails

I've spent the day at home doing nothing much as I recuperate from a cold, so I shall share this clip with you from a film I saw years ago and quite enjoyed called Microcosmos.

The White Queen

I don't have the energy for a full book review right now, but I realized a few days ago that it's been a while since I kept track of the books I read, so I'd like to put this one down before I forget. I will say that I liked the Melusina parts, but the romance itself seemed a bit tired, just a lot of love at first sight seemingly not based on anything but both partners being hot. She did admit to rather a lot more fictionalization than usual, but I would feel better if she'd just call it embellishment to make the stories the wonderful tales they are. I love her writing, but I never read them like history books, nor do I think anyone should.

My favorite quote, by far was:

“She is Melusina, the water goddess, and she is found in hidden springs and waterfalls in any forest in Christendom, even in those as far away as Greece. (...) A man may love her if he keeps her secret and lets her alone when she wants to bathe, and she may love him in return until he breaks his word, as men always do, and she sweeps him into the depths with her fishy tail, and turns his faithless blood to water. The tragedy of Melusina, whatever language tells it, whatever tune it sings, is that a man will always promise more than he can do to a woman he cannot understand.”
― Philippa Gregory

The Hypochondriac in Me Wants to Know

Why so many sicknesses symptoms are like the common cold. How are we supposed to know the difference?

Read Both Sides of the Apocalypse!

Both Will and Elsie's accounts can now be read together at www.tweetofthelivingdead.com!

Don't Miss The Apocalypse

Will and Elsie will, safely asleep in their beds, but you don't have to. It's happening now! Take a look out the window. Retreat from shuffling or moaning sounds. And don't let anyone taste your brains. Even a little. If you survive this night, you'll get to see our intrepid tea-shop employees' reactions to a very different world...

Bicycling Again

Today I'm going bicycling with my sister and a friend.

Tweets of the Living Dead!

My collaborator and I are now openly advertising our Twitter project. It's a Twitter novella on two separate Twitter accounts: http://twitter.com/willhinzman and http://twitter.com/AnonymousElsie. Germaphobe Will and acerbic, customer-hating Elsie are two tea shop employees living on opposite ends of the country and completely unaware of the other until the zombie apocalypse and Twitter bring them together. So far they've been leading their normal lives, but on Monday, June 7th, the apocalypse hits!

You can simply read and enjoy or become a zombie yourself! Tweet something incoherent (like a zombie mashing keys), ex. "nvjkifenjk" with #zombieapocalypse. Or you could do the classic "brains!" with #zombieapocalypse.

And following us on Twitter makes baby zombies happy!

Trust me, you want them to be happy.

Cheating With Twitter

I confess I've been cheating on my blog with Twitter, but it's not what you think! A friend and I have been working on a Twitter project. Otherwise, I still prefer long-form medium. But that may be why my posts have been getting shorter and shorter. It's one of the reasons anyway. The other is I've been trying to make this blog into more of a personal diary but my life varies in interest and share-ability.

Congrats to My Sister

On getting her new job. Possibly why she didn't notice that I forgot to blog...

Does It Make Me Immature...

...If I still giggle when buying a bag of cotton balls that proudly proclaims "jumbo size balls" on the bag?

Happy Birthday Mom!

It was my mom's birthday today so I went out with her. She was curious about this unfinished mall so we went to go and see it. It might never be finished because they lost their funding. It was strange to see all these advertisements promising fine shops that may never move in. It looks really nice but it's empty except for a movie theater.