I worked for five hours. Meh.

I bought four books. Awesome.

I ate Chinese. Tasty.

I bought a shirt from NY&Co for 10 for work. Nice.

I bought myself a copy of Jak & Daxter because mine went missing. Woo.

I lusted after the Xbox 360s because the price is slowly but surely lowering itself. Rock on.

I am going swimming with my Heather and then to a softball game. Sweetness.

[Hopefully my cute boys will be there, but last time G had a soccer game at the same time so mom went there and took Joey with her.]

Tags: books, friends, games, life, work

If ever there was a day, or more acurately, a week, for twitter...it would be this.

Why? Because, in secret, in the secret secretness of my secret basement home, laboratory and dwelling, I have been projecting. Projecting? Projecting.

But what is this "projecting" that I have been doing?

While it is true that I have been projecting my voice while doing this [we all know the best workers sing while they work, or the best workers work best while singing], but I'm not using "projecting" in that sense. I'm using it in the special senseless sense that I just took the word and verbed it. Don't know what I mean? Ask Calvin. Verbify, word.

Either way, moving along. I have come to the conclusion that I am almost at the conclusion of my project and nobody else is actually awake so I can post this before I'm done anyway without having to worry much about you people finding out about it before I'm done. I'm on my last two boxes of books, and am kind of sad.

Not because I'm getting rid of anything--don't worry. And you sneaks out there, put your boxes away, you can't have them. I know you want them, but you can't have them. Not even when I die. [So there.]

But I've built, secretly in secret with the secrecy of my father's circular saw and his actual aid, a set of shelves that spans the back wall of my basement. The wall is now actually white--ceiling white, if you'd believe the paint label, but I'm not entirely sure that all ceilings are white, so I think they're just making stuff up--and the shelves are black. It's a rather nice contrast. I had a whole vision thing going on while I was planning. It was exciting. Heck, it still is.

So, like I was saying, I'm down to my last two boxes of books, and not only have I determined that I'm almost done but also that I need new/more books and I would absolutely go mad for having the entirety of the Redwall collection in full-size hardbacks. I have it on its own little shelf [since it doesn't take up the whole thing, it shares with my "borrowed books" section], and it looks...lacking. I have almost half of  them--okay, maybe a third of them--in hardback. The rest are in sad, dillapidated [spelling?] little paperbacks--except the two new ones. They're in paperback all right, but in really good condition because, unlike the others, they haven't been red four hundred times. My poor copy of Redwall [the titular novel of the series] has not only contact paper but also tape on its cover. I love that book.

...Martin the Warrior is better, though...

Anywho. I've been thinking how lovely it will be to have books and that you all will have to see it, and that I forgot how amazing it is to have books available and that STEVEN KELLOG IS ONE OF THE BEST CHILDREN'S BOOK AUTHORS/ILLUSTRATORS EVER.

What do you think Karla?

With classics like The Day Jimmie's Boa Ate the Wash under his belt, how could he not be? And I adore his tall tales collection--Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill. [insert happy sigh here].

Anywho. Back to my movie [101 Dalmations, live action--Glenn Close is an amazing Cruella de Vil] and unpacking. Then comes the alphabetizing.

ROCK ON.

[And that's how the story ends.]

Tags: books, friends, life, random

Tags: books, links, movies, video

So, I got an update from a friend who is off in grad school this morning [as in I recieved an update this morning, he's been off in grad school for a while], and was thusly inspired to post about my life.
Recently I:
-failed at gift-giving, as Greg thwarted me by already having had the book I got him and now I must try to regain my standing through cleverness and...other stuff. We'll see what I can find that maybe he doesn't already have. Stupid birthday presents. Stupid Greg for being so aware of all things Pratchett. Stupid me for assuming otherwise [or just not thinking].
-gained +1 xp in driving as I have now successfully participated in a caravan to a friend's home--though idiots tried to cut me off.
-primed Jamie's living room and helped her sort through and alphabetize her and Rodney's movie collection of 154 films. Technically 153, as I have one right now.
-gave in to the power of books and purchased a BN membership [haven't had one for a long time].
-read the first of the Spiderwick Chronicles books, The Field Guide, and resolved to give in and purchase the rest at some point.
-have not done any writing and gain two negative life points there. Poo.
-have heard good things from two friends who are having some hard times [BK seems to be a tad more successful in job searching and has a working phone while Heather's grandma is home from the hospital with a pacemaker and a heart [insert something technical here] and feels much better].
-SAW ALESHIA AND WAS HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY.
-spent way too much money on crap food and need to stop. Another two negative points.
-almost put on two different shoes because I had to grab my stuff in the dark what with a sleeping roommate.
-peeled wallpaper with Gerg and listened to *chord* commen-TARY. *chord*
-did other stuff.
-realized that it is about time to go to work and I need to stop typing.
-decided that I really didn't want to stop and kept typing senseless things because I know my friends love me and tolerate such things.
-debated on a quote of the day and an icon for this post.
-realized I needed to clean my glasses and thusly chose to end this missive [does it really qualify? I just like the word.] so I could clean them.

Tags: books, cars, dr horrible, friends, life

Found on my favorite blog to follow.

Tags: books, funny, links, video

X - THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
ULYSSES by James Joyce
X - 1984 by George Orwell
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller 
LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov 
BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
X - TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
X - THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce 
ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison 
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess 
GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster
LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding 
THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London 
DAVID COPPERFIELD by Charles Dickens
X - EMMA by Jane Austen
TESS Of The D’URBERVILLES, Thomas Hardy 
THE SCARLET LETTER by Nathaniel Hawthorne 
WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Bronte
THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte 
BELOVED by Toni Morrison 
ANNA KAREINA by Leo Tolstoy
THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad
HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford
HERZOG by Saul Bellow 
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS by Kenneth Grahame
U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos
FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce
AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser
WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence 
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton
THE WOMAN IN WHITE by Wilkie Collins
THINGS FALL APART by Chinua Achebe
TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather
LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
THE MAGUS by John Fowles
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving 
DON QUIXOTE by Miguel de Cervantes
TOM JONES by Henry Fielding
WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy
MOBY-DICK by Herman Melville
MADAME BOVARY by Gustave Flaubert
WINNIE THE POOH by A(lan) A(lexander) Milne
GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens
THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV by Feodor Dostoevsky
TRISTAM SHANDY by Laurence Sterne
X - LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa M. Alcott
VANITY FAIR by William Makepeace Thackeray
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen
IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME by Marcel Proust
THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James
THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
GRAVITY’S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon
X - THE AWAKENING by Kate Chopin (1851-1904)
DUNE by Frank Herbert
A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute
X - ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND by Lewis Carroll
CLARISSA by Samuel Richardson
X - THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO by Alexandre Dumas
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY by Henry James
X - OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck
ALL THE KING’S MEN by Robert Penn Warren
GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin 
CHARLOTE’S WEB by E. B. White 
ROBINSON CRUSOE by Daniel Defoe 
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Feodor Dostoevsky
THE STAND by Stephen King
REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier
I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster
TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald
THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence
BLEAK HOUSE by Charles Dickens
ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner
THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James
AUSTERLITZ by W. G. Sebald
THE TRIAL by Franz Kafka
WISE BLOOD by Flannery O’Connor
FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley

Tags: books, meme

does not adjust well.

Mr. P has been having some issues, friends, and it may be his age showing. One cannot imagine why, seeing as it's not like he's been around since freshman year [fall '03], or anything. For the time being, he is staying with Rodney for some personal attention [and hopefully a successful session of therapy] and will theoretically be back tomorrow night.

It's really driving me nuts--haven't been able to use him since Saturday! I keep thinking "oh, I'll just go get on Mr. P and check my--wait..." or "all I need to do is check Mr. P--wait..."

Depressing.

Oh yes, finished Inkheart. Katy was right. It's awesome.

Tags: books, friends, mr p

So I have a virus on my computer that is masquerading as an anti-virus thingy. It's beginning to piss me off, so Jamie told me about system recover. She has faith in it, and I faith in her...but yet I am dubious. I fear for my files. And did you know that I only need a 15-20 GB drive to back up my crap--including music!-- but the smallest available in stores is a 250? Good night! Poor Mr. P is behind the times! Ah, well, he's going on what...six? Poor thing.

Anywho, so my hours have dropped substantially so I'm going to have a lot of time on my hands...and with my newly painted work room [pictures will follow at some point], I plan to get back to the thing I claim to love. No, not socks. Writing. We'll just have to see. Today was going to be a big, productive day, but after it's faltering start, I think it'll be a "bleh" day and I'll be big and productive on Monday.

Faltering start, you may mumble curiously. What could I mean?

Well I mean waking up feeling like my head is fighting between being painfully dry in the sinuses and being so stuffy that I'll be blowing my nose for a month after the cold is actually gone. Stupid stuffy.

That and I woke up from a dream which really threw me off, mainly because a friend I haven't talked to in eons let alone seen or really even thought about, was a key player. Ian Grieve, compatriot through elementary and junior high was there, and some other kid was pretending to be his twin brother [my brain kept going, but he and Nolan [his little brother] always looked alike, why not use him?] for some kind of movie or commercial...but then they were ghosts...and then we were all playing some sort of bastardized quidditch and soccer where the goal was a ten foot doily-heart-thing, much like something we sell at Michaels. What. The. Frigging. CRAP.

Anywho...

Saw Inkheart yesterday...it rocks beyond expectations, and now I have to finish the book. I think I want the soundtrack too.

Ah well.

Off I go...into the wild, blue screen of death. We'll just have to see.

Tags: books, life, movies, mr p, random

I woke up. I took a shower. I decided to do some cleaning since I have some time before work [although it is now sorely diminished and I'll just have to grab a pack of ramen for lunch, oh well]. After packing up a box of books--not truly packed, just set in a box so I can find my desk for a while, I picked up an old notebook of quotes I started years ago, like in high school. It amuses me and makes me happy that though, on one level, I am a completely different person, I have not fundamentally changed in who I am...merely how I deal with myself. Inasmuch it shows me that there is hope for the future for me to be who God made me, as long as I don't forget who that is. That may be a wacky, off-the-beaten-path, mildly distractable lunatic, but I will always love creativity, life, laughter and joy. And I think that is honestly how God wants us to be. He wants us to love his creation, which suffers today from too many people who cannot appreciate life in its simplicity and choose to get hung up on stupid things [which I know I do occasionally, but I'm working on it]. I suppose that just means I am a work in progress.

Does that even make sense? I don't really think so. But I'm happy with the blessings God has given me. So there.

[The first quote in the notebook is one I claimed myself, though I am doubtless a million other people have said it before: Choose joy. Life is more fun that way.]

Tags: books, god, joy, life, stuff

I got to go into work early and come home early and spend time with my good friends and have a mini-Christmas with Jamie since she's with Roddykins for Christmas. It's awesome. And I got The Dictionary of Imaginary Places from BK and Scrabble Onyx from Jamie and Nicole.

A BOOYAH.

Tags: books, friends, stuff