Golden Thoughts

I'm going to admit that the only sport I've ever cared about in the Olympics is figure skating. I challenge all the nay-sayers who say it's not a sport to get out there and do a triple lutz and triple toe loop.

But regardless of sport, I have to say I do love the idea behind the Olympics--fight your country's battles in frilly, skin-tight dresses. Okay, so that's figure skating again, but the same idea applies to them all (just with different costumes): make sport, not war.

It made me so happy to see Kim Yu-Na and Joannie Rochette win even though neither are from my country. Mao Asada is a beautiful skater, but she didn't try to hide her disappointment, so it was a little harder to feel as good for her. What kind of person pouts after winning a silver medal? Of course, I considered the posibility that she's going to get a lot of critisism when she gets home. I certainly hope they don't abuse the poor girl, but I know the Asian drive for excellence can be quite hard-edged, so I don't completely judge her reaction. It was just easier to feel happy for the other two because they were clearly happy, even if Rochette's triumph is bittersweet.

But commentary aside, I think the most important message here is Asian chicks rule! Yeah, and French-Canadian ones too. So as a half-Asain girl who speaks French, I'm quite pleased with the results. Clearly, even though the US didn't win, I'm on the right team.

Beautiful Figures

In honor of the Olympics I thought I'd honor Johnny Weir as my favorite current male figure skater ("current" because Scott Hamilton's probably my favorite of all time. Yay, backflips!). The above video is fun to watch, but I first fell in love with his style during a much more traditional performance that I can't presently recall. He's easily the most attractive man on the ice. Before anyone else comments, I'm well aware that his personality would lead to some obvious assumptions, but he doesn't like speculation on his sexuality, so out of respect, I'll just say that whoever's with him is a lucky person. I just read an excellent article about people's speculations about Weir and men like him. All that really matters to me (since I'm not likely to have a chance at him either way) is that he's a beautiful man and a beautiful skater.

EDIT: The clip is now in Korean because the English one was taken down. But it also made me notice a fascinating difference between the two. I actually watched the Korean one again after having watched the English one (several times) and I suspect the way both the countries video edit the performance says a lot about their different attitudes towards Johnny's sexuality. Forgive me, Johnny (yeah right, like he's reading this), but if you are reading this isn't me speculating on your sexuality so much as it's an observation about the magic of video editing. Take the same performance, but the angles in the English one highlighted sillier aspects of the performance while the Korean one highlights sexy ones. I think it's because, in Asia, they have a very different definition of "appropriate" male behavior, and while Johnny is still considered a little out there, he's actually quite a bit closer to at least one example of an Asian ideal sex symbol.

EDIT2: Okay, here's the English performance for now (until they take this one down) so you can compare the two.

Beautiful Pixels

To most my friends it's no secret that I think Link from the The Ocarina of Time and The Twilight Princess is the world's most beautiful composition of pixels ever created. So I'm adding him to my list of beautiful people. I also wish Nintendo would take note that Ocarina and Twilight Princess were two of their top sellers and both featured hot Link instead of the horrible chibi Link. It's not just girls who prefer the realistic Link. I've talked to guys (well, at least one guy) who would far rather play the manly character pictured above instead of some embarrassingly cute monstrosity. So take note, Nintendo. Link should be the man that every woman wants (the fact that he's mute helps) and every man want to be (serious weapons and serious graphic).

This is a Man...

...who is very secure in his masculinity.

So True

I read this book last month but hadn't had the chance to review it. Right now I'm listening to The Girl Who Played With Fire on audio. But I'll just focus on the first book for this review.

Summary:

Mikael Blomkvist, a Swedish reporter, stumbles into the secrets of a corrupt financier, but his evidence falls through, and he's convicted of libel. Facing the ruin of his career, Blomvkist is talked into humoring an old company mogul by investigating a long cold case involving the disappearance of the old man's niece, Harriet Vagner. At first Blomkvist does not expect to find anything, but his investigation of the Vagner family leads to growing suspicion of dark secrets. Along the way, he enlists the help of an enigmatic expert investigator, Lisbeth Salander. Together they find information that puts them on the trail of a serial killer.

Overview:

I love this book. The beginning was admittedly a bit slow because there was a lot of talk of corporate financial things that went over my head a little. The Swedish names were also a bit overwhelming at frst in a tongue-twistery sort of way. I also had to look up the references to Swedish literature, even Pipi Longstocking because I knew the name but nothing about the character. But once I got past that, I really enjoyed it. The characters are so real, and in spite of the cultural divide, I found myself able to personally relate to many of them, particularly Blomvkist. Salander is harder for me to relate to personally. Not just because she's a computer expert, but also her antisocial nature. This is a trilogy so you don't really understand Salander by the end and you're not supposed to. But I still cheered for her throughout. Larsson does a beautiful job of making Salander into a real life avenging angel. She sees the wrongs in the world and is determined to personally right them herself. He also does a good job of creating reprehensible but believable villains that you root strongly for the heroes.

Film

I was very excited to see a trailer for the Swedish movie up on IMDB the other day. I had known there was a Swedish version, but it hadn't been officially released in English yet. You could downlooad an English version illegally off the internet (ironically fitting for Salander's character) but you couldn't buy a real copy! Now finally, it looks like I'll be able to see it either dubbed or subtitled (impossible to know which they're planning. Personally, I hope it's subtitled.)

This isn't the official US trailer; it's the original Swedish trailer, but I liked it better, and it's subtitled in English, so you can enjoy and understand! :)



Rating

I would give this book 10/10 stars: * * * * * * * * * *

Book Club

This is where I discuss my thoughts on specific plot points in the book so scoot if you haven't read it.

I'm serious; this is a really good mystery and I don't want to ruin it. Go read it.

So the characters themselves are often a mystery. I think Salander wouldn't have so much trouble if she would just trust authority. The rape scene was really difficult for me to read and I've read plenty of really violent things without blinking. I wanted her to either turn that guy in to the police or kill him. But I have to confess I was very satisfied with what she did to him. I just didn't feel it was permanant enough and wished she had simply killed him. I guess I sound rather murderous, but it's just a literary fact that villains you don't kill always come back. He's also such a nasty person (though the tattoo she gave him helps to prevent him troubling other women). But it makes sense that Salander would feel she needed him to help to get the declaration of her incompetence revoked.

Blomvkist, in my opinion, is exactly the opposite of Salander. He's not exactly an everyman, but his quirks are understandable and even lovable. He might sleep around, but he respects all the women he's with. He manages to be sexually open while still being a very stable and responsible person. It also wasn't a mystery to me why he got propositioned by women so often. It was a believable mix of luck and his likable personality. I sincerely felt sorry for him when he fell out of favor with Salander in the end because I really liked them as a couple. But it's possibly the first time when I'm not angry at either party. Salander knew about Blomvkist's relationship with Erika Berger. He never lied to her about that, and Salander was the one who came onto him. All the same, I can see where, while Salander may have consciously understood about his running affair with Berger, confronting it when she's realized she's in love with him was much harder. And Salander isn't the type to talk those type of things out.

I thought that Harriet was alive the whole time. I didn't think anyone else would send the flowers (although the wall of flowers still always gave me a chill). But her owning a ranch in Australia did seem a bit out there. Still, the characters were so real that even some of the more bizarre happenings seemed credible. Some of the more complicated clues in Harriet's case also swished right over my head, but I was so into the drama by then that it didn't really matter to me.

Delta King

Today I'm going to my first dinner theatre with my mystery book club. It's on the riverboat pictured above.

EDIT: I won the murder mystery guessing game! The play was interactive and you had to guess the murderer and the murderer's motive. My book club helped me interpret the clues a lot so I don't think I would have won without them but it's still cool that I won. They even gave me this nifty plaque:

Skirt of Floodlights!

So I'm reading Extras by Scott Westerfeld and I got really excited when I so this line: "Clouds of insects danced in its skirt of floodlights." Personally I'd call it a beam, but that's not why I'm excited. The reason I'm so psyched is because I finally know what book Westerfeld was writing when he asked the question in the video above. I don't know why I think that's so cool, but I do.

Another fun thing is that his friend Maureen Johnson asks if he needs the bugs. He says no. But they're in there. Which proves either proves the stubborn nature of writers keeping things they don't need or the forgetful nature of just forgetting to take it out. Both of which I can relate to.

If I Don't See this Movie Today...

Then I probably won't see it. I have a pretty bad track record of seeing movies when they come out to DVD these days. Even if I'm interested in them. Since I generally only see movies once, I prefer the experience of seeing them in the theatre. I'd like to see it with someone but I seem to be the only historical fiction nut I know, so I'll have to see it by myself. We'll see how I feel in the morning.

Senility?

My sister just pointed out that I forgot to blog for two days straight! But we've both been so busy even she didn't notice until today.

Percy Jackson: Film Review

Last night I saw the Percy Jackson movie and very much enjoyed it. It did leave a few things out that I wish had been left in. But, overall, I felt it stayed true to the spirit of the book, and that's always the most important thing to me in movie adaptations.

In the first book Percy finds out he is the son of Poseidon and accused of stealing lighting from Zeus. Percy must find the real thief before war breaks out among the gods.

The movie follows this basic storyline. The first Percy Jackson book is very campy with a lot of pop-culture. Since this is usually how I feel Hollywood ruins books, I didn't have to worry about it with Percy. They actually made the gods slightly more serious than they are in the actual book. But I suppose they felt the need to give them a certain amount of gravitas, so this didn't really bother me. And there was plenty of campy adventure and action to enjoy.

I was both happy and sad to see that this movie is clearly self-contained. They dropped all the running storylines from the series. I feel this means they probably don't expect to make the money to do a sequel which makes me sad. If they really can't do another one, I would prefer this one be self-contained. But I plead with you all to see the film so that they do make another!

I give The Lightning Thief: 8 / 10 stars! * * * * * * * *

Oh, and in completely unrelated news: Happy Year of the Tiger!

Now beware the spoilers all ye who read below!

The Good:

Grover: I didn't think he would match the Grover I had imagined, but the actor did an excellent job. They honestly even made Grover more satyr-like than he is in the book since he was more interested in flirting with women. They didn't overdo it, and Grover's more charming personality traits are more prevalent, but I think a healthy interest in females is actually more accurate to the satyrs of Greek myth.

The Minotaur: Ack! That thing scared me! I'm almost never scared of monsters in movies so that's pretty good.

The fast pace: You do not have time to get bored.

The chemistry of the actors: I think the kid who played Grover was actually the best actor, but together they made a believable team of friends.

The Lotus Hotel: This was a pretty spot-on representation and probably the best use of Lady Gaga's Poker Face song.

Persephone: She actually gets pretty shafted in the books, but I liked their portrayal of her in the movie. Once again, even though she's not the same as in the books, it was in impovement to flesh her out.

The humor: Even jokes they added were very similar to the jokes in the books and very in keeping with the characters. My favorite added joke was probably Grover complaining about Medusa's head in the sink of their hotel. I was also pleased that they kept the part from the book where Smelly Gabe gets his comeuppance...

The Not-so-good:

No Dionysos: My favorite god in general and he plays an excellent role in the books as their unsupportive camp counselor. I do understand where they probably didn't have time in the movie. But, alas. I would have happily watched another hour if they'd added Dionysos.

Luke's depth: The actor who played Luke was good, and I felt his portrayal was accurate. But I felt they lost a lot of character conflict by making Annabeth indifferent to Luke. His betrayal in the end has less punch.

Hades as a baddie: I rather like the fact that Hades isn't necessarily bad in the books (at least, not any more than the rest of the gods). But I get that they had to drop Cronos for time (and probably special effects) reasons. Having Luke as the primary lightning thief was also fine. Like I said, I just would have preferred he have a bit more of a relationship with Annabeth.

Stupid lady: Medusa sorta explained it, but why is it people in movies always do stupid things. Like look at the gorgon even when they know what will happen?!

But you'll notice that the things I liked is a longer list than the ones I didn't! And all the things that made me sad could be fixed if they would make another film! Sigh...but with the economy being what it is, I don't have high hopes.

Percy Jackson

I saw Percy Jackson today and I liked it a lot, but I'm running close to the blog deadline so review to follow later!

North Dakota Blog Hiatus

I'll be in North Dakota tomorrow Feb 11th - Feb 12th so no blog posts for those days.

Cherie Vs. Sleep



Dude, I close my eyes for like a few minutes and suddenly this guy's sucking on my face!

I don't know why, but whenever I'm actually doing work, I feel sleepy. When I have nothing to do I'm an inveterate insomniac. I think this just proves that my brain likes to weasle out of thinking but it shan't win! Although, I may have to drink some tea....

Um...Shock

Okay, so Avatar's not anywhere near my favorite film of all time, but it's 3D effects make it worth seeing. Still, I guess people are even getting tired of the 3D because last weekend Dear John made more money than Avatar (not the gross, but just for that weekend). I get that you can only see 3D blue people so many times, but I have to confess I'm surprised that this was the most popular alternative last weekend.

EEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Okay, so fan girl squealing aside, I had a great time seeing Neil Gaiman at UCSB. Thanks again to Tim and Mag for letting us stay with them. The one sad thing is I lost the hat pictured here. It was my Denison hat so I was rather fond of it and it's a bit tricky to replace. But if I had to lose a hat to see Neil Gaiman, that's more than worth it (plus, I didn't really lose it while seeing Neil, but a few days later).

Highlights From Neil's Lecture:

He read 2 excellent unpublished stories: one about being murdered at sea and the other was called Cassandra and was a creepy story about about imaginary friends.

He answered MY question! I was thinking that it would be really unlikely because we wrote our questions on index cards and he had a huge stack and kept tossing half them aside without reading them. But he still did mine! I got so excited I started jiggling in my chair. My question was: "Did you base the graveyard in The Graveyard Book on any specific graveyard?" His answer was: Stoke-Newington, Glasgow Necropolis, and Highgate Cemetary.

He answered my sister's question which was "How many drafts do you usually write?" The answer was: as few as 1, and average of 2-3, and as many as 11.

Someone asked if he ever felt like his characters wrote themselves. He said no, but that would be awesome. He would just sit there and drink tea. Then he pointed and was like "You, write yourself faster!"

Someone said they were getting a PhD in super-herology. He didn't answer their question but said he "loved living in a world where you could get a PhD in super-herology."

When we got our books signed I thanked him for answering my question and when I told him which one it was, he said it was a good question and no one had ever asked him that before. Yay! Watching and reading every Neil Gaiman interview I can get my hands on has finally paid off! I know every question he's ever answered!

My sister mention she liked "Crowley's green-thumb" in Good Omens and he said he thinks he wrote that bit. I said how much I've always loved how Crowley "didn't so much as fall as vaguely saunter downwards." Neil says he think Terry wrote that bit.

All in all he was very nice and very gracious. Pretty much everything I had hoped for (aside from, unreasonable hopes like having his awesome radiate onto all of us making us into super-writers.) But everything else was great!

Here you see me groveling before the master as he draws an excellent mouse in the copy of Coraline I bought that night to be signed. I was a little sad he didn't look up in any of our pictures. I'm sure he probably would have since he was so nice, but I was too shy to ask him to. Some people went right up to him and put their arm around him, but I was too shy for that too. Still, he'd been looking into a lot of camera flashes, so I'm glad we could give him a break from that and not make him completely blind.

This is the signature in my book. Mouse drawn by Neil.

This is the signature in Chrissy's book. Excellent quote by Neil that summarizes Good Omens.

Santa Barbara Blog Hiatus

Tomorrow my sister and I are going to Santa Barbara to visit my awesome friends Tim and Mag and see the amazing Neil Gaiman speak at UCSB! This means no blog posts Feb 2nd - Feb 6th.

This is hands down the best fractured fairy tale picture book I've ever read. It also unquestionably has the best representation of a fairy tale female that I've ever seen. After randomly picking it up in the library, I wanted to write the author a fan letter based entirely on this book alone.

In this version of Rumplestilskin the miller's daughter falls in love with Rumplestiltskin and they both escape the greedy king together. But, years later, their daughter is kidnapped by the same miserly king. Instead of calling her father for help, Rumplestiltskin's clever daughter hatches a plan to save, not only herself, but the whole kingdom's economy.

I was delighted to see they actually made a play out of this book. Here's a link to the website for that. Unfortunately it's only in Richmond Virginia, so I can't see it. I also think it might already be over. But it's cool just to know they did one. This book certainly deserves it. Heck, I'd love to see a movie based on this book if they did it right.

Book Club

This is the spoilers section.

What, you say? A spoilers section for a picture book? That's right. This one was so cleverly written I'd rather you read it before you read this part.

Okay, are you done? C'mon, it's a picture book, it doesn't take that long. Go to the kids section of your library (only cowards feel embarrassed there) and pick it up. If they don't have it, demand that they get it!

Okay, done with that? Here it is.

I LOVE that Rumplestiltskin's Daughter got to be prime minister. I was inwardly cringing the whole time, worried she would marry that icky king. Because, no matter how reformed he is, it's still creepy. Plus it would have only reinforced the message that women have to get married to live fulfilled lives. Now, I do admittedly like romance. But this story had that with the miller's daughter and Rumplestiltskin. That was so cute, and Rumplestilskin was a cutie. So it this story has it all!

I redesigned my book review blog and gave it a new name as seen in the snazzy new banner above. You can see the whole blog by clicking here.

No worries. I will still post in this blog. I'll explain my reasoning for wanting a second blog below, but this blog will continue to be updated as usual so please keep reading!

I changed the name of my book review blog because I didn't think people would know what the other name (The BitterSea Review) meant, and I'm trying to generate a sort of online brand. Before you laugh, the Domain of the Jade Empress was number two on Google when I typed in Cherie Lee. It's not now. After I saw that, I made this blog supposedly unsearchable (not entirely true, as I found, but quite a bit trickier now than it was), and I stripped my name from almost everything. I'm debating changing the url but didn't want to confuse my few regular visitors, and it doesn't contain my last name at least.

The reason I did this is, while I am always careful not to post anything embarrassing here, I'd rather not be represented by my random mishmash of thoughts. If anything associated with me comes up second on Google, I want it to be just a little more focused, coherent, and show off at least a little of my design and writing skills.

So I've put my name on my book review blog and, hopefully, several years down the line (because that's how long it took with this one) that blog will be second on google under Cherie Lee.

TMJ? Nerves? Infection? Hypochondria?

This is me mostly rambling. Feel free to offer advice if you want, but don't feel like I'm actually using you all as doctors (or dentists). Don't worry, I will and can see one if I decide I need to.

Right, so in the middle of lunch today it started really hurting to chew in the far back right side of my mouth. Okay, at first I thought right away it had to be my wisdom teeth. I have an appointment to have them removed, but I haven't had that yet and it won't be for another month.

Weird thing is, my actual teeth don't hurt. The pain feels a bit like having pulled a muscle and is very hard to pinpoint but hurts the most only on the right side when I move my jaw. The pain radiates to part of my ear and a very specific localized place on the upper right side of my throat.

Okay, probably more info than you needed but it helps me to logic these things out.

Now, since my teeth don't actually hurt, I thought maybe one of my errant wisdom teeth began pushing on a nerve. But then I also remember another condition I would continually see on dental forms called TJM. I looked it up and I won't hash out all the specipics here, but basically it boils down to pain in the joint of the jaw. It has very similar symptoms to my current problem except it says most people have a popping or grinding along with it. The side of my jaw that doesn't hurt has this (and always has) but curiously, the side that does is completely pop free--more than it's ever been.

So I began to wonder if maybe I had an infection in my throat or ear. But I tried one of the TJM treatments (appling heat to the area) and it helped immensely. I do not believe this would help relieve the pain of an infection. But I don't know for absolute certain.

Anyway, sorry to bore you with my raving hypochondria. Hope you're all well.

Today I Have Not Gone Outside At All



This is the nature reserve near my house. It's on the list of places I didn't go today.

It's a bit of a shame since it's been sunny recently, but I've been cloistering myself in the house so I can focus on the work. I'll open the blinds, let in the sunlight, but I don't go out and play in it. Then, when it gets dark, someone (usually my sister) closes the blinds, and it'll be another day when I've had no direct contact with vitamin D.

Word Count Woes

A letter to all those who've dealt with my writing.

Just to defray any concerns, this is just normal depression. I just feel like venting. I'm still going forward with my novel, and despite the tone of this post, I have no intention of stepping in front of a truck on purpose.

You've all been more supportive of my writing than I deserve most the time. You know who you are. I appreciate your support more than I could ever say. But sometimes when you reassure me, that just means I feel like you're too wonderful a person to understand the cruel, cruel world of publishing where great works of literature lay in the bottom of waste bins because publishers refuse to pay for paper to print them.

Every time I whine about my word count one of you dear sweet angels reminds me of the successful authors who publish tomes to rival my own. But the trouble is that some of those people already had connections in the industry. Even some of the first time writers. Still, I do have good days.

Some days I just tell myself that there's a chance that I'll be that one in a million bright shining star that gets published regardless of word count. I laugh and say "take THAT Crime and Punishment!" I remind myself of all the contemporary first time authors I know who went wildly over the industry's acceptable word count for what they were writing: Terry Goodkind, Terry Brooks, J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer... I know at least Rowling and Meyer had no previous connections.

Most importantly I remind myself that I believe in my story. I believe it's ready because, for the first time in 14 years, I am truly happy with it. I truly believe it is how it should be. Are there small edits and clarifications that could be done? Of course. There always are. But I feel this is finally the story in its true form.

But this is not one of the good days. This is one of those days where I read the industry standards and think about the agents that automatically reject based on word count. (There was actually one that had a program on her computer that would pick word count out of query letters and send a form rejection for books too long or too short without her even reading it!) This is one of those days where I ask myself if I'm wasting my time even sending this out. Part of me says it's perfectly sensible to shelve this story and try one of my shorter ones. When I have more credits to my name I can try again. But I'd have to edit a shorter one, and I would just feel like a failure and a coward for not sending this one out. I would worry that I would somehow talk myself out of ever sending anything out. I remind myself that I'll never know if I never try.

I guess I'm fine with being rejected based on my writing. That's too subjective for me to feel like one person (or even 100 people) can tell me what everyone will like. I have actually sent short stories out before and gotten rejections. I was fine with getting rejections, even excited because it meant I was trying. But I stopped sending out short stories because I personally stopped liking them. Not just short stories (which I've never liked), but the ones I had written as well. This wasn't based on the rejections at all because they were all form rejections.

But the thought of being rejected based on word count just makes me feel so hopeless. I keep thinking that even if I'm lucky enough to get someone to ask for the full manuscript, they'll reject it the moment they see it, no matter how much they like the idea or the writing.

Sigh... but moping never solved anything. So instead of crawling into a corner in a fetal position, I guess I'll go eat a pizza bagel and then get to work on my synopsis.

Utterly Devoted? The Psychology of Love

La Belle Dame Sans Merci - By JW Waterhouse
Literally translates as The Beautiful Woman Without Mercy,
Belle dame can also mean witch.
All of this relates pretty well to my rant.

While listening to a book review podcast they mentioned a character telling his love "Everything I do, I do for you." Other than being cliché, this sentiment gives me the heebie jeebies. If anyone said that to me I would probably be like "OMG! You need to get a life!" Okay, maybe it sounds harsh but hear me out. I'm not saying it isn't noble to put someone else before yourself. But if your life is so centered around one person that everything you do is for them, then what happened to your personality? Who were you before you met this person? Don't you have any desires of your own? When you can't fulfill this one person's every need, do you just sit in a corner and stare?

I think love should be about a partnership. To be in an equal partnership, you both have to have to be your own separate person. I don't want a slave (well, maybe sometimes I do, but I wouldn't marry one). I want to be able to have vibrant and dynamic conversations. I want someone who can disagree with me, who has thoughts and opinions of their own. You can't have that if you define yourself entirely through another person.

This is probably why I have a low opinion of so many romances, from Romeo and Juliet to most contemporary fare. I do like romance, but I think the type of mentality that goes into a lot of these romantic stories is disturbing and unhealthy.

Dentists, Agents, and Human Ducks

This duck seems to be saying "What are you looking at?"

I had hoped to wait on posting until my brain felt less like sludge. But I woke up early and it has remained sludge, so in fear of forgetting to post entirely, I shall summarize my day. I rode my bike to my dentist appointment in the pouring rain. Despite being decked out in rain gear (which my sister and I like to compare to being human ducks) water still soaked through to my sweatshirt. But my pants were dry at least. Rain pants were most definitely a good investment. Except I didn't invest in them, my sister did. So thanks to my sister!

At least the dentist appointment was good. The dentist and I actually agreed on procedure! Joy of joys! If I'm going to have a tooth pulled out of my face, I like to agree on how it should be done (i.e. I should NOT be sedated. I only want local anesthetic). He also seems to be taking the wait and see approach to my other wisdom teeth which suits me fine. All of mine are full bony impactions which can be just as much trouble to remove as leave in. Only one tooth is partially erupted and he will be removing that one because of risk of infection.

They also told me I had low blood pressure at the dentists (he's actually an oral surgeon, so it makes sense for him to take blood pressure). I've been told this before and no one seems particularly alarmed about it but I'vew always been curious what it means. Particularly since, with my personality, I've always worried I might have high blood pressure.

I am continuing to research agents to decide a list of ten who will be my first rejections. Hooray!

(And now it's raining some more but at least I'm inside!)

Literary Agents

It is my hope that a literary agent receiving my work does not have the above reaction. This picture is also a perfect representation of how I feel whenever I realize I've forgotten to post.

While looking for literary agents I forgot to post! Again! So my sister gets another free treat. But I'm deciding on a rule change since my sister has enough free treats and will still likely have a chance for them in the future.

NEW RULE: If I post BEFORE someone notices (and tells me verbally, by email, or comment) I have not posted, I will NOT be punished. Not by me or by anyone else. Otherwise, I'll go broke buying treats for my sister because this doesn't seem to help my memory at all.

Laser Tag

Today I played laser tag for the first time. I wasn't great at it, but it was lots of fun and I was better at it than my sister so that's good enough for me.

Beautiful People: Anime Edition

I'm a big fan of Kyoya from Ouran High School Host Club since he's the evil one. But deep down inside...okay, he's still evil there too, but he likes to use his evil for good. I like characters like that. I like to say that I don't have a thing for bad boys--and I don't. I have a thing for villains. Bad boys just do stupid and reckless things. Villains plot. Plotting's hot.

As for his looks. Kyoya's certainly not bad looking, as anime characters go, but it really is his personality that attracts me to him.

The World's Most Depressing Street?

While riding my bike today I passed a place called Macario Ct. For those of you who never took Spanish Literature in school (or had a sister who did) Macario is a great and clever story but on a depression scale, it's a bit like The Little Match Girl. Though it's far better written and actually features Death as a character. Click here for the story of Macario. I couldn't take a picture because it's been pouring rain all day. But put in "Macario Ct. Roseville California" into Google Maps and I guarantee you'll find it.

Happy Birthday Henry Green!

The Made-of-Awesome, Award-Winning author John Green has just become a father! Here's a video of his brother Hank congratulating him. I thought the video title might be confusing so, just so everyone's clear, this is HANK'S brother. NOT my brothers. My brothers had better not be having babies since the oldest one is 11.

Mice Are Nice

I did a mouse themed storytime today. I told Frederick by Leo Lionni and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff. Both are great, and the kids seemed to like all of the stories relatively equally, but I enjoyed the other two stories I told the most. I've never told Mouse Count before but had seen another storyteller use Mouse Paint by the same author. I think I like Mouse Count the best because it manages to be, simple, cute, and clever all at once. I like stories that have a little bit of conflict so the snake is great. Probably the best counting book I've ever read. I love the snake's refrain describing the mice "little, warm, and tasty." And the pile of mice in the jar is irresistably cute.

This second story I have done before. It's in an anthology of mice stories, but my favorite is about a hive of bees landing on a mouse's head and how he climbs into a muddy swamp to get them off. I miss the awesome beehive hat that I borrowed from a storyteller where I used to work. But it's still fun to do the bee voices.

Reading and Really Enjoying

So much that I almost forgot to post!

Dinosaurs, Bears, Fruit and Storytime

I did another storytime at the local Whole Foods today. I got to use my booming voice and read the book shown above. Usually, I dislike children's books with obvious moral agendas (like being polite or doing what your parents say). But this one was cleverly done. And I was pleasantly surprised to see it was written by Jane Yolen, a notable fantasy author from my youth.




And this one was the simplest children's book that I've ever personally enjoyed.

No Longer...

I paid off all my student loans the other day. Part of me would have preferred to have to work them off. I know it sounds crazy but it would have been an excellent motivator and I would have felt more like I earned it. I'd also prefer not to have the money for the reason I have it.

But it is good not to be in debt.

In Search of Fox

I went in search of a fox puppet for my storytime today but to no avail. It would seem foxes are not in vogue. I don't have time to order one before the storytime, so I guess I'll just have to make one this time around.

Mmm... Delicious Sparkles

A friend of mine gave me these to me. These candy hearts actually sparkle and have flavors like "Orange Obsession," "Tempting Apple," and "Secret Strawberry." That last one's my favorite as it makes me want to laugh every time. Go on, show them your "Secret Strawberry." It sounds so wrong.

But I have to confess these candies actually taste really good--a lot better than normal candy hearts, which I've always thought taste like chalk. Maybe they're supposed to taste like what Bella would taste like to Edward. There should really be a Bella flavor -- Bella Berry anyone?

Erudite Conversations?

Today my sister and I were in a temporary Border's Bookstore in the mall. They had only been there for the Christmas season, so everything was on sale. I overheard this conversation at the register:

SALES CLERK [talking about all the great sales] -- "We had Gray's Anatomy on sale for a dollar."

CUSTOMER -- "Oh, really? I've seen the TV show but never read the books."

And then a little more of my faith in humanity was lost.

Hooray!

I actually attracted a crowd to my storytime today. They liked Where is The Green Sheep? so much that one kid even asked for an encore.

Wise Man Quotes

I know Zen rock gardens are Japanese and the philosophies I discuss are Chinese,
but I believe a rock garden could put one in a philosophical state of mind.

I thought I'd post now since I have a meeting for my volunteer job and an interview tomorrow. I've also been scouring the listings for literary agents who will represent new fantasy authors. I've found several but now I'm and stressing out over how to write my query letter.

Also I've decided to start a new blog segment featuring quotes from my former Chinese professor who was both hilarious and profoundly wise all at the same time. This one isn't one of the more hilarious ones, but it is very good advice. He was talking about test-taking but it can really be appplied to anything that takes work to accomplish:

"Before you take the test, be a Confuscist, but after you take it, be a Daoist."

Basically, for anyone unfamiliar with these philosophies, Confucius advocated hard work while Daoism is a go-with-the-flow accept and be happy with things as they are type of belief. So basically, it boils down to, working hard but not stressing once you've already completed the work.

Ice Skating

First, I am beginning to seriously worry I'm getting senile. Although, I did remember my blog at several points throughout the day, each time I'd get distracted and didn't do it! My sister's not sure what to do for my punishment. Maybe I'll owe her indentured servitude...

Anyway, yesterday I went ice skating with my meet-up group. I found out that I was much better at ice skating when I was a kid. Never great. But I think a combination of really wanting to be a figure skater and my own desire to impress others meant I was willing to overcome my fear of falling over and cracking my skull open.

Now I've pretty much accepted I'll never be a professional figure skater and I'm no longer concerned about impressing people with my ice skating skills. Only the fear of cracking my skull seems to be left.

However, I did not fall over once yesterday and I went around the rink several times, so I guess that's a success.

P.S. In case anyone notices (and so I don't try to weasel out of my punishment later) this blog does say Sunday, but that's only because I opened an empty one at the time it says and blogger counts the time you opened the new post, not the time you posted it. Since my sister noticed the lack of post before I posted, that means I owe her a punishment.

When Do Restaurants Kick You Out?

This picture has nothing to do with anything but it was hilarious...

So our meet-up group went to an Italian restaurant called Buca di Beppo and we talked for a really long time after the restaurant was empty. But they never kicked us out. At about 11:50PM we decided to call it a night, but I wonder how long we would have had to stay before they kicked us out.

And, of course, this means I forgot to post AGAIN! OMG! But this time I realized it before my sister so I only have to buy her another treat.

Darn

I was trying to be good and do a job application but that means I forgot to post! And even worse, didn't notice until my sister pointed it out! But she's having mercy on me since she knows I was working really hard on this job application, so I only have to buy her two treats (instead of the standard one if I had noticed on time). Still, way better than baking anything! Thanks, Chrissy!

Attention Span

Today I gave a storytime to an audience of one kid, but she was really fascinated by the stories, the type of kid you want at your storytime if you can only have one.

Wow...

I admit I like to make fun of native Californians and anyone else raised in a climate where 40 degree weather is considered to be winter. But even I'm glad I'm not currently having the weather much of the midwest and east coast is having right now.

I Am a Beautiful Animal!

I FINISHED EDITING! And I am FINALLY happy with it. Unlike the many, many times before. I truly believe in my novel, even if no editor ever will. Although, I hope they will. Now for step two: find agent before I succumb to the ever-present temptation to tinker...

My favorite author, Terry Pratchett, has been known to say that he does not feel his novels are ever finished, they simply escape. Mine needs to make a break for it, and I'll do my best to help it. Bring on the rejections!

Editing...

The last chapter of my story. Is the tree beautiful because it is beautiful or because it is in the distance and, for the moment, unobtainable?

Let's find out.

We Are Wizards

This is the Harry Potter documentary about the fan movement that made me decide to watch Wizard People, Dear Reader.

Wizard People, Dear Reader

If you click the title above, you'll be able to enjoy a both hilarious and profound voice over of the Harry Potter movie by a fan named Brad Neely. The whole movie is in a playlist. It sounds like a mix of a preacher preaching Harry Potter and old time oral storyteller turning Harry Potter into Buffalo Bill. If you haddescribed it to me I would never have been interested but listening to it, I loved it. Particularly the scene with the Mirror of Erised, he manages to make his reinterpretation of one of the best literary scenes of all time, both funny and deep. I particuarly like Ron's (or Ronnie the Bear's) response.