City of Bones

You know what? So far this book is craptastic.
I shouldn't have been surprised; check out the endorsement on the front...

Thirteen reasons why

I've heard about this book for years, but never picked it up until I went to the library the other day.
Premise: high school student kills herself, then mails a box of audio tapes to the people she blames.
It's really engaging. A mix of her retelling and the reactions of a recipient. I started it last night and am on page 53/288.

NaNoWriMo

I have won! I am doing the stupid cabbage patch dance of joy! Now I can put it aside for a month, then start the monstrous task of editing and revising...

Unreadable.

http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/83656377.html

An interesting comparative analysis.
I enjoyed a couple of the books being compared.

Hobbits have taken over Denny's

Was I just haunted?

I can't shake the dream I had last night.
In it, I talked on the phone to a guy I dated in high school. I didn't want to talk to him, but I kept saying polite things. (He was super messed up and actually committed suicide a couple years ago.) When I got off the phone I went to a bar for a drink. A friend (who also has major issues) sat down with me and told me that I have severe anxiety and depression. They thought I should be medicated.
Then in real life my alarm clock rang and I got up and ready for work. I get in the car, the radio comes on, and the song is an old 80's number that never fails to remind me of that guy I dated. It's not a very common radio song.
Hmmmmm.

A typical woe-is-me teacher post

I am a teacher. I love being a teacher. I went into teaching knowing that it would never make me rich.

But here's what I didn't realize about living on a teacher's salary:
I qualify for income controlled housing.
Even living in cheap housing, it's still a struggle to make ends meet every month.
I would shop at Aldi not because they have fun stuff, but because I can't pay what Walmart charges for milk.
I would feel like I'm drowning in credit card debt.
I would worry about affording birthday presents for my child.
I would feel guilty about taking dance classes to try and get into shape because dance class isn't super cheap.
I would tell my children they can't have a cat/dog not only because we live in a small space, but because I can't pay pet deposits/rent/vet bills.
We would eat a lot of pasta and eggs in my house because of how cheap those are.
Going to the movies (matinee) twice a year is extravagant.
So is a concert.

A teacher's salary is barely enough to live on.

Irritation

Google: you do many other things right. I do not understand why you can't make it easy to sign out of accounts on mobile devices! With the iPad it is really simple. Push the botton that says sign out. Then sign in as a different account. On the computer, same thing. But on my phone or my HTC tablet - no log out button? How hard could that possibly be to make? Seriously, fix this.

Awoken

Finished Awoken, liked it better than Twilight. Of course, in the normal scheme of things, that's not saying much. However, as this book is a send-up of Twilight (and the whole current teen romance genre) it is pretty amusing that I like this more.
1: Elder God, not whiny vampire.
2: Gods can carry off arrogance better than teenage vampires.
3: he is an ass, but... he is Cthulhu.
4: he doesn't socially isolate her
5: he doesn't injure her
6: more believable motivations
7: no pesky plot holes

Um. That's all the reasons I have to prefer the one over the other. Neither one is a very likable character. It's a bit... fast? as a love story. Kind of the R&J situation. I don't believe that real and deep love happens that quickly.

But, an entertaining read!

Nanowrimo

I only wrote 177 words last night before children interrupted me. I'm not gonna win this thing at this rate...