It's Web Wanderings Time!

I've accrued enough cool things on the web over the past 2 days that it's time to share. Here we go:

1. In Orson Scott Card's latest review column, he mentioned a new dictionary that is available. It's called Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction. Yeah, it's cool. It's a whole dictionary dedicated to words that have been invented thanks to science fiction books, movies, etc. Orson Scott Card is credited with braintape, vid, and -verse. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this. It's a geek thing.

2. Lisa Snellings-Clark has a couple of cool things up on eBay which may be gone by the time I post this. But go check anyway. Just back from Balticon, she decided to post 30 little red poppets and 10 little pinks. I got a little pink last night and I'm so excited about it!! Little pinks are $40 and are 4 inches tall. She's holding a bunny. So excited about that one. As of right before this post, there were 15 little reds left and 3 little pinks, so get over there fast!

3. On the PoppetPlanet forums, there are some great pictures of the PoppetPlanet launch party in the Spare Parts section. Check them out!

4. Quixotical's latest post led me to find some incredible handmade journals/notebooks. They're made by her friend Stormfilled. Her website has quite a few for sale and she has one up on eBay right now. I highly recommend supporting her! I love supporting these wonderful independent artist types who make such wonderful products.

5. Carl posted a great interview with Colleen Gleason on his blog today about her new book, Rises the Night. He's also doing a giveaway for the 3rd book in the series, The Bleeding Dusk, which won't be out until February of 2008. If you take a picture of yourself between June 5th - June 10th buying a copy of Rises the Night, you will be entered into a drawing to win an ARC of The Bleeding Dusk. What a great contest! Great interview as always there from Carl!

6. Dark Orpheus wrote a post on Vesak Day. I had never heard of Vesak Day, but apparently it's today! It's the day when Buddhists around the world honor the Buddha's birthday. His parent's are "going vegetarian in honor of the Buddha's birthday," so he posted a link to a website where you can vote for the world's sexiest vegetarian celebrity. I was surprised by the number of celebrity vegetarians! There's so many of them.

I think that's all I've got for now.

Getting Settled Back In

Today's been a day of playing catch-up...settling back in to normal life. I think I've about caught up on everyone's blogs. If I haven't, I'm getting there, I promise. Lord, you people write too much! :)

Lets see. I've gotten most of my thank you notes done today and mailed off which feels good. I hate that feeling of things left unfinished. Vice-versa, I love the feeling of checking things off of a list, so...check!

Had to go to the post office to get some stamps and while I was there I got a sheet of the oh-so-cool Star Wars stamps. I'm in love! If you haven't bought a sheet yet, I highly recommend that you go get some while they're available. They're every geek's dream.

While at the coffee shop writing thank you notes, I also decided to start on my Tiny Story for Carl's contest. This is going to be fun, but much more challenging than I thought. I have the idea. I've got the first line and the last line written and just those two lines constitute 20 words of the 100 word story. I'm in trouble. I would love to share it with everyone when I'm done, but I realized that I can't because one of the judges is Colleen Gleason and she occasionally stops by over here. Oh well..when the contest is over!

Speaking of Colleen, just a reminder to everyone that the new book, Rises the Night, comes out on June 5th! Very soon. I'm so excited about that one and it looks like there's going to be yet another "bonus read" added to the Once Upon a Time Challenge. I really need to start plowing through A Game of Thrones. I've barely read any of it. Maybe 130 pages on the plane. I got no reading done at all during vacation. At this rate I'll never finish the challenge. I'm loving what I've read of it so far though. Favorite character so far is Jon. We'll see if he remains a favorite. I'm enjoying Martin's writing a lot more than I thought I would.

One last thing. Nattie is a blogger who is hosting the Newberry Challenge. She's such a sweet person and before I went on vacation she was complaining of feeling bad. When I got back I was catching up on her blog and saw that she was diagnosed with cancer and is now undergoing chemotherapy. Please keep her in your thoughts. She's an amazingly strong person with an awe inspiring attitude and I wish her all the best.

Back Home And Well Rested

Ah, the bed feels comfy and home smells sweet. I loved Mexico, it was beautiful, but there's nothing like being back home after a week. Where do I start? I could make this a really long blog post, but I'll make it a short on instead and just touch on the highlights.

The resort was beautiful. We were greeted with champagne and whisked away to our rooms with a king sized canopy bed and jacuzzi. Gorgeous pools and waterfalls all over the resort. Peacocks and iguanas roam the grounds. White sand beaches and the most beautiful water I've ever seen. Truly was a little slice of paradise.

We ate 5 star gourmet food every meal. Each meal was at least 4 courses and I took pictures of nearly everything I ate because it was all so beautiful. We swam with dolphins (and got kisses from them), went snorkeling and played with tropical fish, got pedicures (strange experience), visited Cancun and Playa del Carmen, ate at authentic Mexican restaurants, shopped in the Mexican markets, talked with the locals, painted on the beach, and so much more. It was the best vacation I've had.

The two downers: Number 1, I went swimming in the Caribbean Sea with my phone in my pocket on the first day so I had no cell phone until about two hours ago when I bought a Samsung Blackjack. Number 2, because of Miami's stupid airport, we missed our flight at 4:30 yesterday and didn't get into New Orleans until 12:00 last night and therefore spent a total of 14 hours in airports yesterday. Yuck!

It was a wonderful vacation and the memories will last a lifetime. I missed all you blogger friends and thought of you all :) I even brought a poppet with me to take pictures with, but I forgot that I had her with me and didn't take any :( I'll be playing catch up with everyone's blogs. In the meantime, I'll post some pictures from the trip below. Didn't get any reading done at all, so I really need to catch up for these challenges! I'll make it....still don't have a job after all.

It's Official!

Sorry for the very short posts lately, but I've been so so busy! Here's the proof!:

Followed by brunch at Brennan's which is one of the most famous of the fine dining restaurants in New Orleans which was awful and horribly over priced, but the ambiance was nice.

Here's me and Meg (at Brennan's) who supported me along the way:

And me and the wonderful woman (my mom) who made so much of this journey possible:
And my crazy sister, doing things that only crazy sisters can do at fine dining restaurants :p :

The Honors Ceremony

So tonight was the Honors Ceremony for graduation. The "big news" that was talked about in the comments section last night was that there was a rumor that I was going to get an award. I did in fact get an award for excellence in research for the research I did that I presented at the National Rehabilitation Counseling Symposium in Albuquerque last year. The research was entitled "Extent of Rehabilitation Values in News Articles of the Hurricane Katrina Crisis." Basically, I found that there were absolutely no rehab values and the media played it very neutral when they could've been more of an advocate for the public. So it was nice to have my research recognized with a plaque and some applause. I was just upset that my partner that I did the research with wasn't recognized as well, but they said they could only give the award to one person. So yay for me! Here's a picture of me and Megan at the banquet afterwards. The best award of all is that she's here with me for the next few days :):

I Will Be Disappearing For A Little While

Megan's coming in town today which makes me very happy :D Tonight is the honors ceremony, tomorrow is graduation. I leave for Mexico at 6:00 AM on Tuesday and return the following Tuesday (May 29th). So I'll probably leave the occasional blog post from now until May 22nd, but they won't be as frequent as usual and will probably be short. And from May 22nd through the 29th I shall disappear from blog land. But fear not, my friends, I shall return on the 29th and resume my normal blogging schedule. Do not feel that I've abandoned you ;) I'll miss you guys, but the laptop's staying home.

Sandman: The Dream Hunters by Neil Gaiman

The Dream Hunters is the first book I have read this year that I would recommend that everyone should own a copy of. What a special book. It's quite a beautiful tale told through the lustrous words of Neil Gaiman and the amazing oil paintings and charcoal sketches of Yoshitaka Amano. Both are among my favorite artists of today, Neil being one of my favorite authors and Amano my favorite artist.

The Dream Hunters is Neil's version of a Japanese folk tale called The Fox, The Monk, and the Mikado of All Night's Dreaming. It is the story of a solitary monk who tends a temple on the side of a mountain in Japan. One day, a fox and a badger decide to fool the monk into leaving the temple so that they may make it their home. Though they fail in doing so, the fox falls in love with the monk in trying and transforms into a woman.

While back in fox form, the fox one day over hears a group of demons speaking of plans for the monk's death. The monk will have 3 dreams. In the first he will dream of a box, in the second, a key, and in the third, the key will open the box. When the box is opened, the monk will be caught in the world of dreams and will therefore starve and thirst to death leading to his death. The fox goes to the King of All Night's Dreaming to try to help her monk.

This was one of my favorite Neil Gaiman work's that I've read. The whole book was such a moving experience. The tale was beautiful. Neil was able to keep the feel of a traditional Japanese folk tale. Amano's artwork never ceases to amaze me. There's no artist like this man. So much emotion and detail captured in his paintings. Amano and Gaiman work together perfectly. As I mentioned earlier, I can't imagine anyone not enjoying this tale. It's a fairly quick read at 126 pages and is a pleasure to read. This one pulls at the heart strings and paints a world that the reader can get lost in. Enjoy.

The Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde

This is actually the first time I've read Oscar Wilde. I started The Picture of Dorian Gray a long time ago, but never finished it for some reason. His compete fairy tales were wonderful! I loved them all. They were all quite unique, but revisited common themes seen in children's fairy tales. The moral lessons were the same.

The book is broken up into two separate collections. The first is called The Happy Prince and the second is A House of Pomegranates. Wilde must have loved pomegranates as I think they are mentioned in nearly every fairy tale in the book.

The Happy Prince consists of 5 tales:

The Happy Prince: A statue of a prince asks a bird friend to deliver precious gems on his body to people who are in need in the town so that they may survive and in turn is deemed to be no longer beautiful.

The Nightingale and the Rose: A Nightingale makes the ultimate sacrifice in the form of a song so that a a boy may win the heart of a maiden.

The Selfish Giant: A grumpy giant closes his courtyard off to children so Spring refuses to come back leaving Winter to constantly blunder him. This one has a very bizarre ending in my opinion.

The Devoted Friend: A friend accepts a small favor and is expected to do entirely too much in return.

The Remarkable Rocket: A rocket (firecracker) who is quite arrogant ends up being the bottom of the bunch.

and A House of Pomegranates consists of 4 tales:

The Young King: A King has a series of dreams which lead him to no longer want the royal treatment once he sees what it costs others.

The Birthday of the Infanta: A dwarf who performs for the Infanta on her birthday becomes obsessively in love with her and is disillusioned on his way to finding her.

The Fisherman and His Soul: A fisherman gives his soul to be with a mermaid and learns the hard way the price that he has paid for doing so.

The Star-Child: A Child falls from the sky, is taken in by a family, and grows to have a horrible attitude. When he tries to redeem himself, he finds that it may be too late to do so.

Wilde's writing was remarkable and a pleasure to read. Fairy tales from this era are my favorite! The tone, the setting, and above all, the language is just perfect. The English language was at the perfect point for fairy tales at that time. Many of the stories had Christian themes to them, something that I didn't expect from Wilde. I found that interesting. This is definitely a collection that I hope to one day be able to read to my own children as they fall to sleep. Beautiful stories with classic lessons.

I've Been Tagged Again

So I've been tagged again by Literacy Chic, but I like this one and it requires no brain power :).

You simply have to grab the book nearest to you (no cheating here), turn to page 161, and post the text of the fifth full sentence on the page along with the body of the instruction on your blog. Then you tag 3 people. Fun huh?

I just wrapped up The Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde for the Once Upon a Time challenge and my review is coming shortly. In the meantime, it is the nearest book to me, so here's the line:

"When the captain of the guard saw me, he wondered."

How BORING! Oh well.

So...I'm tagging Bookfool, Quixotic, and Nymeth for this one :)

Ahem.......

It seems that someone diverted me away from my plan to not buy any more books this month. I was sitting at home minding my business when all of a sudden my phone rang. Two friends informed me that they were heading over to Barnes and Noble and that I should meet them. I suddenly found myself in my car with my hand moving the gear into drive and my foot pressing down on the gas pedal...my mind guiding me on that oh so familiar drive to the bookstore. I awakened in that familiar place filled with books. My eyes fell upon John Connolly's Book of Lost Things with a 50% off tag on it and at the same time it remembered that my member card would give me an additional 10% off. John Connolly's Book of Lost things hovered into my arms. I was not surprised to then find myself at the Sci-fi/fantasy section. Hmm, what would I find there but Wizards, a new collection that I have been looking forward to which collects never before published tales by authors of the likes of Neil Gaiman, Orson Scott Card, Garth Nix, Peter Beagle, Gene Wolfe, etc, etc, etc. Into my arms it goes. As I hover towards the elevator I spot Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi on sale for $5.98 and remember that I have to read that for the Newberry Challenge. Yep, in the arms. As I scan the psychology section upstairs I come across a book that seems to call to me that is entitled Adult Children of Alcoholics. Simple enough title. I scan through the book and find myself in it's pages. This may be important. I buy it. It will help me, it will help my clients. That's enough, I decide. The cashier steals my American Express, I lose money but gain books...everyone wins in the end!

Here's some more bookporn for Quixotic:Speaking of Quixotic, she seems to be the "it girl" of blog land lately. I've noticed two mentions of her on the Friends of English Magic website in the past couple of weeks (the same FoEM that Neil Gaiman often mentions in his blog) and Carl's latest post has quite a few Quix wannabe's (me included) in the comments section. We all love her poppet paired with book photos!

In fact, part of the reason that I changed the header of my blog was because I wanted to copy off of Quix :p Quix and Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings both recently changed their headers and I love them both. So I decided to change mine as well. Mine is taken from one of my favorite Dave McKean pieces. The full version is shown below and is actually the wallpaper on my laptop.

Why Is Everything A Fight?

It's looking like I'm not going to be working at the hospital now. I'm so pissed off. Everything's a fight these days. I feel like everything's spiraling down right now. There are no jobs out there right now and I feel more for the people in need of mental health care than for myself. There is nowhere for mental health professionals to work in New Orleans. There's nowhere for people in need of mental health services to go. This city has become a joke. What's it going to take to fix this? Is anything being done. I read about it in the newspapers every day, polititcians complain about it every day, I've signed petitions for things to get done, the city has a budget surplus of millions, but NOTHING is being done!

So back to the issue of me not having a job at the hospital. The hospital gave me their "offer letter" today. Now keep in mind that they left a message on my answering machine saying that they had hired me and I just needed to come fill out all of the paper work before they had even asked me if I wanted the job! So I assumed the pay would be decent. The offer they gave me today was 75 cents less an hour than what I'm getting payed now as a PCA. A PCA requires a high school degree. What I do as a PCA is assist people with physical and mental disabilities in their daily care and any other emotional or physical needs they may have. With a Master's degree, this hospital wants to offer me 75 cents less. I told them that considering I have a Master's now and that the job is on the weekend, I couldn't accept anything less than 75 cents more than what I'm making now an hour and she basically told me that's not possible.

My salary now is nothing huge, trust me. I never expect to be rich in the counseling profession. I know it's not a lucrative career and I'm not in it for the money. But what these people want to pay me, I cannot live off of. I think that it's ridiculous that with a Master's degree I could make less money than what some people at McDonald's are making right now in New Orleans. It's pathetic. Something needs to be done with the state of mental health care in New Orleans. Salaries need to be improved for the workers, more facilities need to opened, services need to be more readily available to the public, and the whole system just needs a basic makeover. At this rate, I'm going to have to leave the city that I've come to love and look for a job in other states. I'm only looking for something in the $35,000/yr range. In New Orleans, I'd be very lucky to find anything around $30,000. And that would be on the high end.

8 Things About Me Meme

I was tagged by both Stephanie AND Jenclair, so here it is:

I wanted to take this meme as an opportunity to let my blogger friends get to know me more on the level that my “in person” friends know me…so here’s some of the personal stuff:

We’ll start off with the shocker:

1. I was kicked out of my high school for using drugs. Yes, this is a shocker to everyone who knows me because of how much I’ve changed since high school. I think that getting kicked out of high school is the best thing that ever happened to me. Why, you might ask? It changed my life. It is the moment in my life where I stepped aside and looked at myself and saw that my life was heading nowhere and needed to change. That day led me on my path to becoming a counselor working with other adolescents who are going through problems and I have been drug free for 9 years now!
   

2. I used to be a goth kid. In certain ways I still am. Deep down inside I still hold vampire novels and certain musical bands close to my heart. I just don’t wear all black like I used to. But boy oh boy, I used to wear all black, eye liner, long hair, everything. I was never the depressed goth. I’ve had depression, but I’ve always been happy go-lucky Chris.
   

3. I love Asian art and Asian culture. I love the music, I love the art, painting, brush work, tea ceremonies, anime, jrock, movies, all of that stuff. I think that they just have a fascinating culture and I’d love to do an Asian tour one of these days.
   

4. On a similar note, I collect Buddha statues and Hindu god and goddess statues. I don’t think that Katrina took any of those. I have a nice little collection, and I’m always keeping my eyes open for them. One of my teachers was from India and she gave me an antique lamp (the genie kind) with a little Ganesh in the middle of it. It’s my favorite piece.
   

5. There’s another one! Katrina took away a lot of stuff. I live in Metairie, Louisiana which is a suburb of New Orleans. Katrina brought us 4 feet of water into our house, took all of my stuff, shipped my girlfriend off to Texas and we are now broken up after a 5 year relationship. We’re still friends though and she will be going to Mexico with me a week from today. I’m really looking forward to that!
   

6. I have Grave’s Disease. Sounds bad, doesn’t it? It’s really not all that bad. It’s hyperthyroidism. What’s strange is that it’s normally found in women over forty and was first found in me at the age of 19. My doctor said it was the first time he had ever heard of a male under the age of 20 having Grave’s. Strange, huh?
   

7. I’ll have a Master’s degree on Saturday!
   

8. I buy too many books, I smoke even though I know it’s a bad habit, and I get horrible migraines every 4-5 days....wonder if there’s some weird connection between those 3…..

I don’t know who’s been tagged and who hasn’t, so if you’d like to answer this one, go ahead. I’d love to read your answers!!

New Pile-O-Books

Like Quixotic, I got a new pile of books in the mail today, so I wanted to do a quick post to show them off. I'm especially excited about Charles Vess' Book of Ballads which is beautiful and Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling's collection, The Faery Reel which has some illustrations by Vess. They're all wonderful and my bookshelf welcomes them warmly.

I've been sweating all day over detailing my car and I'm officially done with it. It seems I've been "officially" doing things lately, but I only do things if I make them "official." I have to tell myself that they MUST get done, or I will not do them. I'll say "later". But no more later. At least not for now. So now that I'm done detailing the car and entering the new books into LibraryThing (yes Jessica, I used the scanner), I'm going to put together the 3rd and final bookshelf and then I will OFFICIALLY be done putting together the bookshelves. My, those bookshelves put me in a bad mood. They're such a pain to put together and I tend to snap at people if they're around me while I'm doing so. Stay away from me for the next couple of hours....

Fablehaven: Rise Of The Evening Star by Brandon Mull

Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star is Book 2 in the wonderfully magical Fablehaven series. I loved it! Even better than the first one in my opinion. For those who haven't read the first one, Fablehaven is the name of a refuge for mythical and magical creatures. It is one of five such preserves in the world. Fablehaven is owned by the grandparents of Seth and Kendra, our two main characters. Common characters in the books are fairies, brownies, naiads, trolls, imps, golems, and satyrs. Great fun!

This second book in the series poses a threat to Fablehaven. Each of the five magical preserves in the world holds a unique artifact with a magical power. The location of the artifact is kept secret even from caretakers of the preserve. If all 5 artifacts were found and united, they could be combined to unlock a prison that holds demons, devils, and monsters that are unimaginable and could quite literally bring about the end of the world. The Society of the Evening Star is after these artifacts.

Trouble is breaking loose when a strange new student arrives at Seth and Kendra's school. To keep them safe, Seth and Kendra's grandparents decided to have them spend the summer at Fablehaven and tell their parents that they could use the help around the house as an excuse. After all, there's a giant frog trying to eat Seth...how would you explain that one to mom?! When Seth and Kendra arrive after facing some strange circumstances, they find that help has been called in to Fablehaven. Three new faces are there: A potions master, a relics collector, and a magical critter collector. It soon becomes obvious that there's a traitor among the crowd. But who could it be? And how much damage could they cause?

This volume has ten times the magic and adventure of the first one. It was so much fun and I caught myself holding my breath at times. Seth gets himself into trouble as usual and Kendra has acquired some pretty cool abilities. There's tons of new creatures introduced in this book and it all climaxes into an amazing scene of magic and puzzelry! And the ending just leaves you dying for more. And it's coming in 2008.

Mull's writing is wonderful. Perfect for kids and yet perfectly enjoyable for adults as well. I didn't want this one to end at all. One of my favorite reads of the year so far. He also announces at the end of the book that he has another new non-Fablehaven book coming out in the Fall called The Candy Shop War. Looking forward to that one as well.

Brandon Mull is a promising author and I'm really looking forward to what this guy does with his career. This series will be the perfect one to get into with Harry Potter ending in July.

Phew!! And A Couple Of Web Wanderings

I'm officially calling this the "Get Shit Done Day". Because that's exactly what I've done all day. And I'm officially exhausted. I started the day with a shower, and I think that's where I'm about to end it.

I've had a lot of "other stuff" that's been needing to get done, so I decided to work on that today. Here's the list:

1. Pay the credit card bill: The bill has been staring at me every day and my lazy ass keeps saying, "I'll do it later". So I finally just did it. Done!

2. Apply for jobs: I posted my resume on hotjobs.com and on monster.com today. I also applied for a program counselor position at West Jefferson Hospital's Behavioral Center. I actually fit the eligiblity for that one! And lo and behold I got a job today!! Not a real job, but it's something. River Oaks (the hospital I've been interning at) called and asked if I would be interested in being a weekend counselor/social services PRN person on the child and adolescent unit. So I said sure! It's only 4 days a month, but it's fine by me. It's a little extra money and I get to work with the kids still. I loved it over there, so now I'm not gone completely. I work Saturday and Sunday every other weekend starting June 9th. Still looking for a real job though. Now I have to break it to the family that I PCA for that I won't be working with them anymore after 5 or 6 years :(

3. Walked 6 city blocks twice: Not really what the thing I crossed of my list was, but an accomplishment nonetheless. I had to drop off all of my internship time sheets to my professor at school in downtown New Orleans, but first I had to pick some stuff up from him that he signed and make copies of everything. So rather than going to Kinkos and paying for copies, I walked to my mom's office which is also in downtown New Orleans about 6 blocks away from school, right across from the Superdome. After making my copies, I walked back to school and up the three flights of stairs to drop the copies off to my professor. Now I think I'm really done with everything school related and nothing is holding me back from graduating. At least I hope so!

4. Got a haircut! Boy did I need one. I always hate the way my hair looks the first day I get a haircut, but it's growing on me...I guess literally...what a lame joke...OK

5. Put together a bookshelf: Put together bookshelf #2 of 3. This one was a pain for some reason. It took me forever to put this thing together, but I managed. I put my school books on it and all of my magazines and journals. It's the "academic shelf". I'll put the last one together tomorrow. I think that one's going to hold the cd's and dvd's.

As for the rest of the afternoon. I may still try to go to the gym even though I've probably burned about 1000 calories today and my arms are already sore from putting the bookshelf together. I'd like to wash the windows in my car. I'm going to try to finish Fablehaven...and of course...HEROES!

I also wanted to point everyone to two very cool links:

1. Bookfool started a new blog and it's the coolest thing EVER! It's a poppet photo blog entitled Poppet's Magnificent Traveling Adventures.

2. Endicott Studio has announced the publication of a new collection of fairy tales by a wonderful set of authors due out next year called The Cinderella Game. Can't wait for this one!

A Toast To Mothers

I am what you could call a Momma's Boy. I always have been. I couldn't ask for a better mom than what I have. She's inspired me in everything that I've done and continues to do so every day. I've grown up in a single parent home. Dad was...and still is..an alcoholic. While me and my dad's relationship is ok now, it wasn't always there, and my mom compensated for that. I never felt that I was missing a parent because my mom served the purpose of two parents.

She's been everything that a mother is and more. She's been a mom, a friend, a mentor, a teacher, a shoulder to lean on, and a confidant. I really don't know where I'd be without her right now. How many moms let their 26 year old sons still live at home while they just won't stop going to school! And she's still telling me I can keep going if I want and go for my PhD! Mother's Day is meant as a celebration for wonderful mothers like my own and all of the wonderful mothers out there. I don't know where I'd be without my own, but it probably wouldn't be where I am today. I thank her for all she's given me and only hope that she can get as much joy in return as she has given me.

I also want to wish a happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful blogging Moms out there. I've met so many wonderful women over the past few months who's sons and daughters are lucky to have them as moms. So happy Mother's Day to Literacy-Chic (known you way before blog-land ;), Lisa Snellings-Clark, Jenclair, Bookfool, Colleen Gleason, Aichaku, Booklogged, Bellezza, Stephanie, Nattie, Deslily! Oh...and Carl's wife Mary! If I missed you, please don't take offense. It's only because I didn't know you were a mother. Please let me know if you are...I like to know as much as possible about my friends :) Enjoy your day ladies!

New Additions To The Black Hole

So I seem to have acquired some new stuff and all of it is excellent :D. The birthday festivities continued last night at the casino where I lost $65. Yeah, that wasn't too much fun. What was fun though was this Tickle Me Freud that Chris and Angela game me for my birthday in addition to a Freud finger puppet:Isn't that great?! You squeeze his foot and he laughs and shakes. I've just about worn out his batteries already.

Today, even more stuff came my way. I was greeted this morning with a package from the one and only Lisa Snellings-Clark. In it was a little red poppet and 2 rats. Now my other 2 poppets have a new friend, and there are two rats to pick on them. The first rat is an evil little devil rat with a gold tooth and the other is a limited edition, numbered Edgar Allan Poe rat with a raven on his shoulder standing on a book of Tales. How cool is that! Now I just need to get my hands on a Neil rat.

I went to Whole Foods today to get my mom a wisteria vine. I decided on a wisteria vine and a pound of coffee from PJ's (a New Orleans coffee shop I used to work at) for Mother's Day. While I was in the checkout line, I saw Tori Amos' new CD, American Doll Posse, so I decided to pick it up being the avid Tori fan that I am. It's good...not great, but good. This may be one of those that I have to give a few listens to and I may be calling it the best album ever in a month, who knows, but right now I'm not blown away. To me, Tori lost something in the last few years. I feel like the last great album she put out was Boys For Pele. I'll even give her Choirgirl Hotel. That was a good album...but nothing's blown me away since then. But there are a few really good tracks on this album and I'd recommend it for Tori fans out there.

26 Years Of Chris

So 26 years ago, this blogger was born. I think that the best birthday present of all was waking up for the first time this semester on a Friday and not having to go to school or work. OK, I had to go to school but that was only to turn in some paperwork.

This birthday has been nice and quiet, just the way I hoped it would be. After going to school to drop off said paper work, I went and had lunch with my mom and sister at Taqueria Corona, one of my favorite Mexican restaurants and it was tres bueno! From there, I scooped my little brother up from school and went to the eye glasses place where mom bought me a pair of prescription sunglasses. Yay! I can finally wear sunglasses and not be blind! I can hear thousands of drivers cheering.

After that we made a trip to Whole Foods, one of my favorite places in the world! We picked up a pizza for dinner and got one of the best birthday cakes I've had which is pictured above. It's called a "chocolate eruption cake." It's chocolate cake with chocolate mouse covered in a butter cream icing with chocolate spooned over it. Yum! It was delicious. Dad and Grandma came over for cake as well, so it was nice to have the whole family over.

There's sort of a given in my family every year for my birthday. I always take the worst picture blowing out my candles. This year, they didn't catch me blowing out the candles (they were too late), but the picture was still pretty bad:
My sister bought me Children of Men on DVD which made me very happy and mom bought me the sunglasses, a shirt, some crocs, and gave me some money for the casino tonight! Going to the casino tonight with Chris and Angela. So that should be fun. Hope I win some money.... Until next time....

Time Well Spent With A Book

Quixotical wrote a wonderful post today about the lack of reading in the world today and I wanted to take the time to reflect on it.

Reading is something that I need in life. I need a fictional book to always be sitting next to my bed. Fiction offers an experience that nothing else can offer...imagination, release, escape. It's an experience that's in a league of it's own. You can get lost in a book. Any other entertainment medium may be entertaining, but the experience is forced upon you. A movie is experienced how the director decides it will be. TV is TV and tends to be ridiculous reality shows these days aside from the rare gems like Heroes *grin*. Music is a little different. People take music as a unique experience, but even that is not as customizable as a book.

The world seems to grow more and more fast paced and electronic every day. Everything is moving to more information all the time. I-Pods, Internet, TV, DVDs, CDs, Cell Phones, Laptops, etc, etc, etc,....everything is so instant, so busy, and everyone is so easily accessible. This also leads to schedule crowding. There's no time to do anything with all of these gadgets. Work, eat, play on the internet, and watch tv, and it's time to go to bed. I'm certainly not suggesting that I'm not guilty of obsessing over gadgets and the internet. I love both. But I like to still take the time to curl up with a book.

Books are an entertainment genre that have survived for countless years. They offer a unique experience to each reader. I'm thinking of all the varied reviews that have come in for Neil Gaiman's Stardust for the Once Upon A Time Challenge. Everyone takes something different from the same book. I think it's so important for everyone to set aside a specified amount of time each day to just sit or lay down and read. Even if it's only 10 minutes. Give your brain the exercise. Escape from the real world for a little while and enter the world of Faerie, or enter a crime scene, or enter a jungle in Africa, a winter in July, a world that you know nothing about. Find a way to fall into a story and let go of the day's worries. You'll find it works wonders.

As Quix said in her post, I'm shocked when I walk into someone's house and can't find any books. I just can't understand people not reading. I hear people say that they don't have the time, and I can understand that. But if you seriously don't have 10 minutes to put aside each day to read, then maybe there's something else that needs to be addressed. You're not being fair to yourself. Your body needs that time to relax and escape.

So I say with all this reading talk going on in blog land, we should make this "make people read month" :p What do you say? I'll get to work on my sister. Everyone should be able to spare 10 minutes. I'll have alot of time to spare now that I'm DONE SCHOOL AND MY INTERNSHIP!!!

Tying Up Loose Ends And A Website

This has been a repetitive theme of my blog lately and I apologize for boring people to tears, but I'm fitting in another "end of the semester" blog entry.

Tomorrow's the last day at my internship site and I'm so sad about it. I've loved it over there so much. I'd work there for free if I could. OK, maybe not, but I've enjoyed it that much. I'm going to miss the patients so much even though they're only there for about a week at a time and the crowd is constantly changing. I feel like I've actually made a difference in these kid's lives. I see kids come into the hospital in a really bad off way and leave with a smile on their face and it feels so good to know that they have that fighting chance.

I had a family session at the end of the day today and thought to myself "that went horrible, she's not leaving anytime soon." The reason she's not leaving anytime soon is that she's still a threat to her family. Basically, people come into the hospital because they're a threat to themselves or a threat to others. Usually suicidal or homicidal attempts or ideation. We don't discharge them until the doctor thinks they're no longer suicidal or homicidal. So when I realized that the girl wasn't going home because she was still a threat to others, I had this moment of awakening that all of the other people who do go home have actually changed and they're actually not a threat to others anymore (for the moment at least). It felt so good to come to that realization and to think that I may have had a hand in steering them towards the change that they need to make. I definitely think that it's the client that does the work and makes the change. I take no responsibility for that. But it's nice to think that I might've put a spark into someone's mind that ignited a fire for change.

So now I'm getting nervous about not being able to find a job. I talked to a girl today who works at a grief counseling center for children down here and she said she would give my name and number to her boss. That made me happy. I'd love to do that. There's really not a whole lot of places to work with children here in New Orleans. That's the population I want to work with. I love working with adolescents. I've enjoyed it so much this semester and I know that's where I belong. Just can't find a place that will pay me to do that. I can do that in private practice, but I need somewhere to work while I'm getting my licensure first. We'll see.

On a totally different note, I've sparked up quite a conversation in the comments section of a previous post about a website that Marina told me about. The website is bookcloseouts.com. Now, in addition to that, bookfool went on to tell me about currentcodes.com that has a code for bookcloseouts.com that offers an additional savings. The bookcloseouts.com website offers all kinds of really great books at, you got it, close out prices. I scored 10 books for $60.15 after shipping. All of the books were hardcover or trade paperbacks. Marina also told me that you can enter a wishlist and it lets you know when books you want become available as closeout books. WARNING!! This is a VERY dangerous website ;) Stephanie wanted to know what books I bought, so here they are:

1. Wyrms by Orson Scott Card
2. The Book Of Ballads by Charles Vess and others
3. The Faery Reel ed. by Terri Windling Illus. by Charles Vess
4. The Wood Wife by Terri Windling
5. Into the Green by Charles de Lint
6. Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
7. Tithe by Holly Black
8. What it Takes to Pull Me Through by David Marcus
9. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
10. Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser

Not a bad list, eh?

Random Thoughts On A Beautiful Day

The sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, and it's just gorgeous outside. We cherish these days in New Orleans. It tends to go straight from winter to summer here, so when we get a little bit of spring, we really appreciate it. And this day is very much appreciated. It sets the mood for a wonderful thing - my last final...EVER! I can't tell you how happy that makes me. The ethics final is at 5:30 and I'm thinking that it won't be a problem for me.

Upon walking around the garden outside, I discovered that we have all kinds of veggies sprouting. Lots of tomatoes, bell peppers, squash, and eggplants. I love growing veggies. Even though I tend not to eat them, their fun to grow. All of the vegetable that I like are either too much of a pain in the ass to grow or they just don't grow well down here. I'm a big fan of fruit, but fruit doesn't do to well in Louisiana either. At least we don't have the room to grow fruit properly.

I went on an online book buying spree last night. On a previous post, someone left a comment telling me about a website called bookcloseouts.com....dangerous!!! Amazing prices on books! And so many great ones. I bought 10 books last night from their website. I really have to stop. This is starting to get out of control. I'm going to have to start renting another house just to keep the books in. Oh well...I could have worse habits than buying books I suppose.

Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes

I was so surprised by this book. Flowers For Algernon was one of the best books I've read this year and I really wasn't expecting it.

It is the story of Charlie Gordon, a man in his thirties with mental retardation. Charlie is the subject of a psychological research project at a university that is examining the effects of a new surgical procedure on mental retardation. Charlie's estranged sister gives the university permission to perform the procedure on Charlie. The procedure proves to be at least a temporary success and Charlie goes from having mental retardation to having an IQ of 185 in a manner of weeks.

The experiment is initially tried on a white mouse named Algernon. Algernon is tested through a complex maze where he is rewarded by food after reaching the end. Charlie races Algernon with a maze of his own and receives a shock if he goes the wrong way. At the beginning of the book, Algernon beats Charlie to the finish line every time. But Charlie soon soars past Algernon and through the process grows close to the mouse.

The book is written in the form of journal entries kept by Charlie for the experiment. At the beginning of the book, words are misspelled, ideas are vague, and relationships are simple. As the book progresses, so does Charlie's thought process and so do his relationships. Charlie learns what true love is as he falls in love with his teacher, Alice. He learns what physical love is as he comes into contact with his artistic and eccentric neighbor, Fay. And he learns the pains of relational love as he relives memories of his family and friends.

What was most touching to me about this book were these flashbacks and moments of recognition. When Charlie was still mentally retarded, he didn't realize when people were laughing at him or making fun of him. He didn't realize that when his mother was crying it was because she was ashamed to have him as a son. But now that he has had this operation he is able to look back on these situations and realize what was going on. You can imagine the pain of this.

Charlie is initially excited about "becoming smart". He's been teased throughout his life for "being a moron" and has been the subject of people's amusement. What Charlie soon finds is that acceptance is a hard thing to come by. Charlie goes straight from mentally retarded to genius. As a genius, he is seen as arrogant and absurd and is once again estranged by his peers.

I've worked with people with disabilities for the past 6 years and a large number of the people I've worked with are people with mental retardation. I've always enjoyed it and I wouldn't trade those experiences for the world. It's the reason I'm in the helping profession. I've been in public with people so many times when parents allow their children to stare or to laugh or to point without taking the time to educate. In my opinion, there's nothing wrong with a child staring or pointing, because they do look different. BUT I do feel that it is the parent's duty to educate the child about differences so that the child doesn't continue to stare and point like the person with a disability is not human.

I think that Flowers For Algernon is a wonderful book that sheds light on the thought process and experiences of a person with mental retardation and should be required reading for everyone. Why this book was ever banned is beyond me and I think that it is absolutely ridiculous that someone would ban this book. I highly recommend this one to anyone who hasn't read it.

So Begins The Last Week Of School

Not only is this the last week of school, but it's my last week as a student. I have very mixed emotions about this. A part of me is so relieved that it's over and ready to move into the workforce, but another part of me wants to remain a student.

My graduate student experience has been chaotic to say the least. It started with Katrina. Since then, everything has been up in the air and constantly changing. But I made it through, and it will make that degree mean that much more to me. I've made a couple of really close friends and one in particular who I'm sure I'll continue to keep in touch with. I've learned tons! I feel like I've learned more in these past two years than I have in any other schooling. I've learned more in the practical sense...how counseling actually works. And I've really enjoyed it despite the huge amounts of stress and the having to fight for everything. The faculty hasn't been a huge help to me, nor has the administration which is unfortunate. I've learned the most from my supervisor at the hospital where I've been doing my internship.

Now it's time to find a job. I've sent out a few resumes, but haven't heard anything back yet. I'll just sit and wait for now. I'll start going at it full force after Mexico. Get in a little bit of R&R and then play hardball.

Plans for the rest of the week: Today I have my last clinic class, tomorrow is my ethics final, Wednesday and Thursday are internship days, and Friday is my birthday :) Then it's all over! A week off and graduation on May 19th. It's very surreal that I will have a Masters in a little over a week. Strange...

I'm sure this isn't the end of school for me though. I can definitely see myself going back for the PhD. If there were a degree above that, I'd get that too....well I guess I could go for an MD, but that's definitely NOT going to happen.

Breaking Out The CueCat

So I just got to use the CueCat scanner to enter books into LibraryThing because yes, I went to Barnes and Noble and bought more books. Even though I have way too much on my plate right now, I couldn't wait for the new Fablehaven book that came out this past Tuesday. So I bought that first and will jump into that tonight. By doing so, I'm breaking a rule I set for myself which was to read one book at a time. Oh well, I'll try to go back to that rule after this one.

I also picked up The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I'm really looking forward to this one, but I'm thinking I'm going to wait until the R.I.P. challenge in October to read it as it will fit in nicely with Dracula. It's the story of a woman who discovers that her father spent his life trying to track down Vlad the Impaler and I believe that she does so herself. At least that's what I gather from the bookflap. Sounds great! And it was a bargain book at only $6.98!

Next up is Dragons: The Greatest Stories, which is...you guessed it, an anthology of short stories about dragons edited by Martin H. Greenberg. I bought this one because there's a short story in it by Orson Scott Card called The Bully and The Beast which he is writing a novel based on. This is the only place I've seen the short story in print. There's also stories by Ray Bradbury, Anne McCaffrey, Roger Zelazny, Alan Dean Foster, and Ursula K. LeGuin among others. Great cover too! It's a bargain book too!

Also in the bargain book pile: A really cool version of Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman that I had to tell myself not to buy because I already had a copy. This one has a spider web on the cover and has a blue bookmark sewn in. It's $5.98. I highly recommend picking this one up if you don't have a copy. Also saw plenty of copies of Susanna Clarke's wonderful novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell left for $6.98. Everyone should own a copy of this book...and you can't beat that price.

I picked up the newest issue of Realms of Fantasy as well. There's a new short story by Charles de Lint in it called Companions to the Moon and it's illustrated by Charles Vess. Charles Vess is doing a series of illustrations for Realms of Fantasy and will illustrate short stories for the next six issues! How cool!

And finally, I wanted to mention that on Orson Scott Card's website, he is selling signed copies of his book, Magic Street, for $8.95. Magic Street is one of my favorite books by Card. It's an urban fantasy set in suburbia and is about a boy who finds a portal in between two houses that leads him to the world of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Much more involved than that, but that's the basics.

Ok, tired and dirty from work, so I'm going to take a bath and then start on Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star.

Spidey 3

Woooohoooo! What a ride! I took my little brother to see Spiderman 3 tonight, and boy was I blown away. As a child (and still as an adult) Spiderman was my favorite comic book. Still is to this day. Needless to say, it was this fanboy's dream come true when Spiderman first saw the big screen. With Spiderman 3, I feel that Sam Raimi is at the top of his game.

So many critics have shot this movie down. The main complaint is that there is "too much" in the movie and that the movie is "not real." OK, first lets address the last issue. Of course it's not real! It's a freaking comic book! There's not supposed to be any basis in reality. What is real however is the human side of this movie. The relationships of the characters are a huge part of this movie. Peter and Mary Jane, of course...Peter and Harry...Mary Jane and Harry (oh what a tangled web we weave...literally). They were all central to this movie. I can't really talk about any of it without giving anything away, but there are touching moments that choked this fanboy up, frightening moments, comical moments, and very frustrating moments. Lots of frustrating moments....

Then there's the complaint of "too much". I think that 3 villains worked fine for this movie, and it was very well balanced. The action scenes were absolutely incredible, and the special effects just don't get any better. Sandman was probably my least favorite of the villains, but he was still so frickin cool. Very interesting tie in to Peter with him.

I'm not going to say much about Harry. In fact, I think that's all I'm going to say :p But some very cool stuff going on there. He plays a huge role in this movie.

Venom. Is. Awesome. Venom was always my favorite villain in the comic book series. I used to love when they would do the little 3 issue runs of Venom mini-series. Such a cool villain. When Venom latches on to Peter, boy is the audience in for a treat. We get what I like to call emo-spidey. His hair falls into his face and is suddenly black, he has black eyeliner, and he's ruthless. This is where Peter Parker loses his heart. This is the Spidey that wants revenge, murder, and pain. This is also the Spidey that has fun in an oh so evil way and the audience can't help but have a little bit of fun with him. Just wait...But boy does it complicate things as you can imagine. There's more cool Venom stuff towards the end, but...once again, I can't talk about it without spoiling stuff.

There's a few extra actors that make this movie oh so much fun. Topher Grace from That 70's Show plays Peter's new competition at The Daily Bugle as Spidey's photographer and starts to move in on other grounds as well. There's the oh so talented and beautiful Bryce Dallas Howard who plays Peter's lab partner and complicates things a little bit. And a few other fun cameo's for all of us comic book fans out there, including our heroes creator and a very fun host at a french restaurant.

This movie was just all around a comic book fan's dream and I loved it from beginning to end. There's talk that Spiderman 4 won't be made, but I'm going to seriously challenge that. There's definitely reason to make a fourth movie as you'll see, and I don't think the fans are going anywhere. We'll continue to shell out the money for this series. So, boys and girls, do yourselves a favor and go see this movie as soon as you can! You won't be disappointed!

Moonheart by Charles de Lint

One of the things that I've come to love about Charles de Lint is his ability to capture the essence and spirit of the fantastic and to portray that perfectly to the reader in a way that brings out a glow like a child discovering magic for the first time. With Moonheart, de Lint once again has captured my heart and brought me on a journey that I loved every second of.

Moonheart is a very complex story. There are many interweaving story lines which works very well with the theme of Native American souls, spirits, and connectedness. It begins as the story of Sara Kendell. Sara co-owns a wonderful little antiques and book shop in Ottawa called The Merry Dancers. One day, while unpacking one of the boxes from an old estate, Sara discovers a painting of two Native American men, and a medicine bag which contains a gold ring, a bone disc with a quarter moon on one side and a stag on the other, and a feather. The contents of this box are what goes on to form a truly amazing and epic story.

Sara lives with her uncle, Jamie Tams. Jamie is more of a friend to Sara and is the co-owner of the shop. Jamie is also the owner of Tamson house where they live. Tamson house is a wonderful thing. The house is a character in itself. It's a giant house encompassing an entire city block and has had numerous occupants coming and going throughout the years. It's an old house with all of the wonderful features of an old house. There is a courtyard in the middle of the house that is more like a park with beautiful gardens. Here's where the twist comes in. The house exists not only in Ottawa, but in the Otherworld as well.

While at a diner one day, Sara is approached by a stranger, a musician, named Kieran Foy. What eventually ensues brings her to this Otherworld. The otherworld is a beautiful, rich forest untouched by mankind. It is inhabited by Native Americans who practice ancient magics and follow ancient ways. The contents of the medicine bag tie Sara to this world now, and we soon learn that fate had it arranged that way. When all of the inhabitants of Tamson House are spirited away to the Otherworld, the battle against an ancient evil, an ancient feud begins. The ancient evil is a being named Ma'lek'a and it's allies are the Tragg'a and both are truly horrifying creatures.

This only begins to touch on the story. I could go on for pages and pages describing this wonderful book to you, but I recommend that you read it yourself. There are many wonderful characters in this book, and I came to love so many of them. Blue, Taliesin, Hengwr, Tucker, just to name a few.

I love the cover art for the book. It was done by David Bergen and sums up the feel of the book perfectly! Bergen also did the cover art for Greenmantle, I believe, another great book of de Lint's. There's also a highly desired version of this book with art by Charles Vess which was published by Subterranean Press. I'd love to get my hands on a copy of that.

It took me a long time to read this book. It's definitely not a sit down and read it quick book. It was much like reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell to me. Very rewarding, but I couldn't plow through it. I loved it though, and it has definitely secured me as a de Lint fan. All of the de Lint themes are here...magic, Native American folklore, music, the power of bonds and ties in humanity. De Lint's writing is wonderful. I'll leave you with one of my favorite passages that I feel sums up the feel of the book:

Tonight he stood alone, his back to the Bearstone and his gaze searching the shadows that lay in amongst the pines, waiting for the one he knew would come. A trembling touched the air, soft as a breath across the strings of his harp. The scent of pine resin and sea were swallowed by the heady odor of apple blossoms, rich and pungent as they are in the spring. Sometimes his grandsire came in the shape of Taliesin's own craftfather - old Myrddin, black hair greying, but still tied back at the nape of his neck, golden eyes deep with dreaming. And sometimes he was the green man in a cloak of oak leaves and mistletoe, face like a fox, narrow and brown. Tonight he came as a stag, brow heavy with twelve-pointed antlers, his reddish-brown coat gleaming in the starlight, his eyes heavy with riddles.

"Are you content?" he asked the bard.

Taliesin inclined his head respectfully. "Content indeed."

Truly Bizarre Side Effects

I've discovered a side effect to Topamax that is really strange. We're talking Michael Jackson strange here. I can no longer taste carbonation in soft drinks. I first noticed this last night after I went to Burger King. I ordered a Coke with my meal. Before I pulled a way, I took a sip and told the lady that it tasted flat, could she please give me another one. She went on to tell me there was nothing wrong with the Coke, but she could give me something else. So I huffed and puffed and asked for a root beer. That tasted flat too. So I told her. She tasted it from the machine and said it was fine, so I sped off in a dramatic fashion. Now...I noticed that I noticed the feeling of carbonation when the drink hit my throat, but not in my mouth...it just tasted flat when I first took a sip.

So today, I went to Subway with a friend for lunch. I got a Coke there and what do you know, it tasted flat! But once again, I could feel the carbonation in my throat. I don't know if the Topamax killed the nerves on my tongue or what, but it's a very disquieting sensation! Bookfool left a comment the other day saying that she tried Topamax for her migraines and that it made everything taste bad...maybe this has something to do with that. Needless to say, I won't be drinking Coke's anymore for now, because they all taste flat, which will definitely help with the 10:4 challenge! Isn't this one of the weirdest side effects?

The Dream Job...

Sometimes I want to be a famous writer. This thought flies through my head all the time, as I'm sure it does to many others. However, that thought just gets stuck there...in my head...it's hard for me to put it into action. I feel like I have so many great ideas that just don't translate well onto paper. Lot's of first chapters in my head with nowhere else to go.

I once read that a good writer should have their entire book outlined before they start writing it, but I can't do that. I'm much more of a go with the flow kind of writer. Unfortunately, what tends to happen with me is that I get a good 10 pages out of a story and then wrap it up and call it a "short story" because I'm too impatient to put all of the time into it. Any suggestions from you writers out there?

I think my problem is discipline and patience. I need the discipline to stick with a story, develop it, research it, and write it....and the patience to not get frustrated and give up on all that too soon.

I don't even need to be a famous writer...I'll accept just being a writer. I'd be so happy if I could get my "Great American Novel" done. It would feel great even if it was never published. I just need to figure out how to get there.

I apologize to those who have been reading this blog for awhile and have undoubtedly read a very similar post to this one more than once. I guess that's a sign that I should start putting my words into actions. Maybe I'll be able to do that now that I'm out of school. I know I'll feel writing withdrawals without all of those papers! Maybe I can channel that energy into writing what I want to write. Maybe.

A New Kind Of Challenge And A Winner!

Carl V. is hosting yet another wonderful idea for a challenge! This one is the 10:4 Challenge. Here’s the deal. This one’s not a book challenge. It’s a physical health challenge. The challenge is to lose 10 pounds in 4 months. What a great idea! Now I actually have someone to report to which will make me a little more disciplined and responsible in losing weight. I’ll finally put that gym membership to good use. So I’m in. I’ll lose the 10 pounds and hopefully more. The challenge goes from May 1^st (today) through September 1^st. The prize – feeling better about yourself! Can’t beat that. I have a friend, the author of Why Do I Need A Title?, who has lost near 100 pounds since August 2005 and totally turned her life around! So she’ll be my inspiration for this. So, starting weight – 195.8 lbs.

Brandon Mull’s new book comes out today. It’s the second in the Fablehaven series, a truly wonderful series. This one’s called Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star. I’m so excited about it! But due to a lack of money and reading time, I’m going to have to wait a couple of weeks L I highly recommend that any fantasy fan check out this series. You won’t be disappointed!

I got my book in the mail today from Bookfool and I love it! It’s The Tibetan Art of Positive Thinking and looks like something that’s right up my alley! Thanks Nancy :D

And finally, we have a winner for the Mirrormask giveaway! Congratulations to Deslily! I had never read Deslily’s blog before, but I’ve really been enjoying it. She seems to be a big fan of fantasy and a great person all around. Deslily, send me the address you want the book sent to and I’ll get it out to you ASAP. Hope you enjoy it. My email is chrisa511 at gmail dotcom.

*Sticky* I'm Thinking It's Time For A Giveaway

I've made this a Sticky Post. Scroll down for newer posts!

Ok, so I have had EXCELLENT book karma recently as can be seen in the post under this one :) In addition to all of that, the lovely bookfool is sending me a book that didn't work for her and Carl was kind enough to replace my Lord of the Rings set with an extra that he had. You blog people rock! So, to keep the good book karma going, I've decided that I'm doing a book giveaway. Subterranean supplied me with that wonderful signed, numbered, limited edition of Mirrormask: The Illustrated Film Script yesterday. So now I have an extra copy lying around (the one I bought from the store which isn't as nice as the Subterranean edition but still beautiful!). It's the hardcover version with beautiful art work and film stills from Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean. Who wants it? Leave me a comment on this post and Tuesday night around 9:00 P.M. I'll draw a name from a list of people who leave a comment on this post. Good luck!