"I can't believe you said that! Apologize to the entire continent of England!"

So I finally started reading The Keeping Place (Obernewtyn #4, for those not in the know) after having reread the first three books. I'm only a few chapters in, but I've realized something:

I am Miryum. No, srsly. For a while, I thought maybe the character closest to me was Garth, because he is immensely fat and obsessed with the past. But no. Miryum is large, violently seasick, tactless, afraid of heights, and starts a band of Robin Hood style "knights".

Not to mention that if I had a Talent, it would almost certainly be Coercing. Teknoguilding would probably be a close second, I admit, which is a rather bizarre crossguilding... But yes, Coercing. How else to explain the way that I continually got people to believe batshit crazy ideas and to follow me on doing stupid shit in my younger years?

Honestly, when you were seven or eight, if the chubby girl with a rat's nest of hair, sweatpants, and a souvenir t-shirt told you she had a secret lab (with a baby black panther cub) hidden under her porch, would you believe her? And yet, I had at least three people believing it. And let's not talk about the time I convinced Chris Mack (a truly feeble mind, I'll be honest) to walk almost five miles out of our neighborhood via the ditch.

...we also won't talk about how, ending up two neighborhoods over, it seemed to be a completely different country to me, but I was fine with moving halfway across the country.

But back to Miryum. As far as the creating rogue groups of justice... I had the army. In which I organized all the kids from my half of the street (look, I live on a very long street!) into a medieval-style (ish) army, armed with fallen tree branches stripped to be staffs. Honestly, it was mostly fighting 'drills' (hitting trees with the staffs) and competitions (those things hurt when swung at the head, damn it), and 'mining' the ice build-up on the roads after snow storms.

(It also gave way to the marine corps - on rollerblades, where we mostly just raced - and the air force, on bikes, and the one area that I did not control because I had the least bike skillz - I eventually managed to make my way up from the very bottom rank via tutoring from the commander, Brian, on how to turn sharply and ride without holding handlebars.)



...this just in, I was not the only loser in my neighborhood as a child.

Okay, I get paid tomorrow. Good thing, considering I'm down to 20 bucks in my checking and savings and seven bucks cash (and seventeen bucks on my GameStop card, whoo for trade-ins!). The problem lies in the fact that I will be using this paycheck to buy Christmas presents and the complete Obernewtyn series (which comes out Tuesday).

On that note: I'M FINALLY GONNA GET TO READ ALL OF THE OBERNEWTYN SERIES, GUYZ!!!! Oh man, anybody else remember when I totally had, like, my entire LJ themed after Obernewtyn stuff? Good times, good times.

In other news, I just finished my last class of the semester. Finals next week, and then I'm free for almost a month! It would actually be longer than a month, but I'm a genius who decided to take a winterim course - two weeks of five hours a day class in international relations, whoo!

And now, I shall bundle back up in approximately twenty pounds of winter clothing, so that I may walk half a block to work. Yay Colorado!

This is mostly for my own reference. There's two books that I always forget the name of, and loved. The first one is usually easier to find - Robin's Country, by Monica Furlong, in which there's a mute amnesiac boy who falls into (literally) one of Robin Hood's lairs. Damn I love that book.

The other one I just found after a rather grueling search - given that all I remembered was that it was in a Slavic country, there was possibly a knife that was important, and the MC buttons his shirts randomly in order to ward off the evil eye... well, you'd think it would never be found. But I found it! The Circle Maker, by Maxine Rose Schur.

I have a shameful thing to tell you, my friends.

I recommended Cassandra Clare's City of Bones to someone.

In my defense, it was to an old friend who was obsessed with dragons and is now a Twilighter and - get this - hasn't read a book for fun since reading Twilight because no other book has the great character development of Twilight.

I'm pretty sure I actually started twitching in the middle of Borders. But hey, I got to babble about numerous book series that were actually good! She just looked confused by why people would want to read 'em, but whatevs. I tried... and then directed her to City of Bones.

So, I've reached new levels in Nano procrastination - it's up to you whether they're high or low levels. I'm at 2k words (not a typo), and have in the past 24 hours: watched lots of TV, gotten two new games (Advance Wars: Days of Ruin & My Japanese Coach), started a Sims 2 legacy challenge (The Lulzacy), spent too much time on Encyclopedia Dramatica and TV Tropes, and, oh yeah, organized my bookshelves... by creating a spreadsheet.

Books by number in genre (this, by the way, is just the books that were on the shelves, i.e. maybe a fifth of my collection):
Manga - 2
Unknown (defy genre) - 5
RL (fiction about the real world) - 6
Mystery - 10
Media tie-ins - 10
Historical fiction - 11
Classics - 13
Science fiction - 21
Nonfiction - 42
Fantasy - 77

Oh yeah. Random other info: I have no stand-alone manga or mystery books, only one stand-alone scifi book (Shade's Children), and six stand-alone fantasy books - of which two are Diana Wynne Jones books and two are short story collections (the other two are Good Omens and Ella Enchanted).

Too...much...stuff...

Okay! Here's my list of things that I totally gotta buy and should therefore save money for:

16 September: Harvest Moon for the Wii
23 September: Lost in Blue for the Wii
8 October: Ender's Game, the comic #1
1 November: Ender in Exile, the latest Ender book
9 December: The entire freakin' Obernewtyn series finally hits the US
5 February: The Escape, book one in the Henderon's Boys series
4 April: Sims 3 released (maybe)

Add in maybe hitting Mile Hi Con again this year, and my entertainment costs spiral out of control! Even with my mom's new Best Buy employee discount, man. Plus, there's another CHERUB book out now, and another coming out at some undetermined point, and those aren't on there.

Oh, and apparently there's some work being done to make a CHERUB movie. I would flail wildly screaming if this happened, and it was released in the US. Srsly. I would. I would spaz.thefuck.out. I love that damn series, man. Sadly, Nick Hoult is way too old to play James (what, I've loved Nick Hoult since he was in that episode of Keen Eddie!).

Also, I totally got inspired to start a HP RPG. Somebody shoot me, put me out of our misery!

I am now the proud owner of the entire Sword of the Spirits trilogy by John Christopher. I read the series when I was about seven, maybe eight, when we were visiting my grandmother in Florida, and I adored the books (although it did make me a little confused on early Christianity, but no more so than smearing fake blood on a Ken doll at church did).

Oh, had my first history quiz today. Six true/false questions. I love going to a crappy university.

And apparently my new story is much loved in the universe, because it's getting way more attention than I have ever gotten: Genius Does What it Must, a smart(ass)!Harry fic. Go, read! I've actually plotted this out and know what the fuck I'm doing! It's a first!

Guys, guys, problem, guys! I may be getting sucked into Anita Blake. *cries* Why'd I have to find that crossover fic? I should know by now, do not read crossovers with fandoms you're not already in. That's how I got into Buffy, damn it!

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who’ve read 6 and force books upon them.


( Read more... )

The narrator of this piece is Bryan Stark, a closeted and extremely sarcastic Drama Geek (and also not a fan of the Renaissance Faire). He has been thrown into the pillory for using a cell phone while in period dress, even though he isn't in period dress, by Marq, who is extremely flamboyant, the first boy to play Queen Elizabeth at the Faire, and also totally hitting on Bryan (as Bryan says, "Figures the first time I get cruised by someone my age, he's dressed as a girl.").

Drew is Bryan's former best friend, and current somewhat-friend, Sam is Bryan's current BFF (and dating Eric, Drew's current BFF), and Hope is Drew's ex-girlfriend and BFFs with Bryan and Sam.

Drew hopped up on the platform beside me to get a better view. He also leaned an elbow on the back of my neck, which was quite annoying. "Looks like they showed us guys," he said.

"Maybe we should help by shouting encouragements," I suggested.

"A noble suggestion, old chap," he said, getting off my neck and steeping to the side of the platform. "Heave!"

"Ho," I added.

"Heave," he repeated.

"Ho," I said again.

Drew turned to me. "Are you calling my ex-girlfriend a 'ho'?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said. "I guess you'd prefer to do that."
( More here. )

There's also a bit earlier, when they enter this tent with a placard saying, "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here", and Drew and Bryan immediately go, "Bye Hope," and walk past her. So yeah, I totes ship Bryan/Drew. Which is creepy, considering the Bryans and Drew of my high school...

"The family members of an ex-marine who is wanted for the murder of a serial killer are taken hostage by a gang of thieves in the military."

...way to be convoluted, NUMB3RS summary.

In other news, Galax-Arena is an awesome book, so I am totally trying to get the sequel via the one used book available on the Amazon marketplace.

Achilles knew Bean was right. He had miscalculated grossly. He had forgotten that when Bean said for Poke to kill him, he had not just been showing respect for Achilles. He had also had been trying to get Achilles killed.

This was just not working out very well.

..omg, guys, the book How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? The one the toddlers loooooove to read, and I find quite amusing as well?

Yeah. Written by Jane Yolen. Who wrote things like the Young Merlin trilogy, and the Pit Dragon trilogy, and Wizard's Hall, all of which were staples of my childhood.

I found this out because I've had a sudden wish to re-read books of my childhood - or early adolescence, really. Preteen-hood, almost. By this, I mean the following books: Ender's Shadow, the Hero and the Crown, the Blue Sword, the Pit Dragon trilogy, and the Queen of Attolia (I already have the Thief and the King of Attolia checked out from various libraries). I'm hitting up Tallyn's Reach library today after class to get all of those, because I am a glutton for punishment. I also just checked out Welcome to the Ark from the college library, and that book's just gonna make me sad, because the ending is messed up and then there's not really an ending.

But man, the Hero and the Crown/the Blue Sword... I love those books. I was reminded of them because I'm reading McKinley's latest book, Dragonhaven (which is quite brilliant, and makes me want to read the Pit Dragon trilogy again). And Ender's Shadow? My most re-read book. I've read it even more often than I've read any other book, including In the Hand of the Goddess and Witch Week, both of which I have worn out multiple copies of. And every time I read Ender's Shadow, I get something new out of it, which is kinda bizarre when you think about it.

...ahem. This just in! Everything above was written around noon; it's now, oh, 11pm. Yeeeeeah, I kinda forgot to post it during Legacy, and then during history we kinda separated into Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists (I was part of the anti). And then I went to Tallyn's Reach and got all those books I mentioned above, and then went and bugged my mom at her job, and organized a bunch of stuff because I'm crazy like that, and then we went out to eat. And then I came home and finished reading Dragonhaven. Damn good book, btw.

...War and Peace.

That's the first book we're reading for my honors class. WAR AND PEACE. And we're also reading some Einstein later on.

On the upside, we're also reading Sherlock Holmes and Nietzsche, and Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, which I've always sorta meant to read.

(But still! War and Peace! *flails*)

EDIT: Hm, it looks like it might be easier to read in etext form! I shall copy/paste the book from the Gutenberg Project, and then delete as I read in Notepad. Yessss, this is do-able!

So, I started the latest release in the Ender-verse, A War of Gifts. And I'm sorry Crazy Tom, I still love you, but... I may <3 Zeck Morgan more. I know, I know. It's the crazy religious-cult aspect! I can't help it! You'll always be my favorite of the jeesh, you know that. I just have a new favorite crazy.

(Bcuz rly, you weren't too crazy. You were just not a fan of stupid. Which I can so relate to. But I need my real!crazy.)

Now, as a present:
( MOAR PICS OF MY NANO CHARAS )

Plumber just left, tho we're still waiting for people to come and drain the water so we don't get mildew.

In other news, I gots books. Drama: Everyone's a Critic (a gay high schooler + snark), Hood (Robin Hood legend + ancient Wales), the Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader book (trivia!), Forbidden Knowledge (how to do things that aren't entirely legal - such as cheating vending machines!), and Spud (South Africa + boarding school + crazy kid).

Good haul, dudes. Awesome haul, even. Plus Chuck tonight!

Dude. You guys all need to read Hero by Perry Moore. I mean, it's about a gay superpowered teen. And I sort-of-kind-of want to see a RPG based off of this world, because, um, yeah. Or at least a crossover with Sky High!

...just what I need, plot bunnies. Gah. Imma go make myself a pizza, and possibly do a little original fiction scribbling (no, not the cult one or the fantasy one).

Okay, so. What Happened At HP Release, plus the awesometastic (non-HP) dream I had last night that I should make into a book.

HP RELEASE:

I woke up at around 2PM, got dressed, and watched some King of the Hill while eating Cheerios and Toaster Strudel. Then I drove off to Tattered Cover (Highlands Ranch edition), where I sat around for a half hour until Julia showed up. We got pictures taken of us by some guy, and then decided to walk over to Qdoba to get some eats and tell her about the leaked book. Twas awesome.

Anyway, then we went back and leeched off of some free intarwebz at TC and used the power cord they had for the lights in the windows (yes, we both brought our laptops). Around 7 or 8, we decided to join the line that was forming - turned out to be a good time to join, too, because the people right behind us were totally awesome. We played some wizard rock until my laptop died (my laptop battery = CRAP), and then sat around and chatted for a while... and then played Bad Romance Popcorn Reading.

Basically, they each went over to the romance section and got a horrible, terrible romance novel. Then, one would start reading (this hilarious - and rather cute - boy, who read it in a dramatic British accent) a porn scene, until someone said, "Popcorn!", at which point the next person would start reading. We did this for at least an hour, and I got some hilarious video on my phone of it. (There was one book where the scene was between 'Darkwolf' and 'Junga' - we cracked up so hard at that one.)

Julia took her meds, and I was hyper, so I took some of hers too (her mom had included a pill that Julia hasn't taken in over a year; I decided to have it! It was a mood stabilizer, so it didn't actually do anything). Found some trivia books, read 'em aloud. Then the people behind us brought out Risk - ya, rly. So we watched them play that, and found out that one of the guys there was a major fan of Zacharias Smith, because his own name was Zachariah Smith. Hee.

Plus, me and Julia both had wands, which we got entirely so we could pretend!duel, and then go, "But I know something you do not... I am not left-handed!" It was awesome. And then the book was released, and we got our books, made our way through the HUGE MASSIVE CROWDS that wrapped around the building (ya rly), and then got some McDonalds cuz we were starving to death. Then we went back to Julia's house, ate our Mickie D's, and watched Family Guy. And then we went to bed. Hooray!

Ppl, remind me to never eat Mickie D's again, no matter how hungry I am: it makes me horribly sick. For a long time afterwards. Sigh.

( And now, my AWESOME dream )

Spoilers for the last Harry Potter book! DON'T GO NO FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANNA BE SPOILED!
( HAR B SPOILERZ... in chat form )

Someone, please, help me to shoot NBC's promo people. If I hear the promo "MURDER. INFIDELITY. BROOKE SHEILDS." one more damn time, I'm shootin' a bitch.

And then get thee to http://www.tamora-pierce.com/ and read the first chapter of the first Beka Cooper book. Because aside from some typos on the page, it looks BRILLIANT. I already feel closer to Beka than I have to ANY other of the main characters in all of her books - mostly because she's the equivalent of a rookie cop, but she's so shy that she can't speak to the people in charge of training her if she's looking them in the eyes. Hello, SO been there.

In other news, recieved inspiration for my next Ryan Galloway story. It involves a particularly... artistic serial killer.