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July 27th, 2008
02:56 pm - Book Meme! This year so far...
So, I was going to do this at the end of the year, in an attempt to make a stack of read books that reached the ceiling from our bedroom window ledge, but, then we had to go and get a house and now we're moving and I have to put them all away, and so I'm doing it a bit early. This just means a shorter list and fewer books to "review," but there you have it.
I'm sure most everyone on my list is familiar with these sorts of memes. Same thing, only it's with all the books I've read up to this point. And I'll also try to do a little blurb on each one, and what I thought, eventually in the next month or so and hopefully start some discussion, because yaaaaaay books. I might just get lazy, though. Probably that. XD
Anyway, I'm interested to see what else everyone on my FL (and maybe beyond!) has read. Below the cut is the list and the "rules". I look forward to hopefully seeing this on your FLs!
( It doesn't quite have the 'oomph' it used to )
All and all, if I had to recommend any of the above books to absolutely read, it would be Murakami's Kafka on the Shore (one of the most magical, mystical, engrossing books I've ever encountered), Sijie's Mr. Muo's Traveling Couch (I love Sijie soooo damn much), and Atwood's The Blind Assassin.
If I had to choose three to say away from? Both of Anthony's Adept books that are on the list (there's a reason the third isn't there...), and then Card's Ender's Shadow. Don't get me wrong, I love Anthony and I love Ender's Game, but Blue Adept was like pulling teeth and Shadow caused me to hate a character I previous loved. Not too pleased with those ones, especially considering I'm not one to tell people to veer away from books...
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July 11th, 2008
08:12 am - Raindrops.
Almost as a rule, as a novelist, with her heart eternally bound to length and deeply entrenched and engrossing descriptions and developments in the never-ending hunt of the sluggish tl;dr, I have never been one for flash fiction. I have an incredible admiration for those who can do it well; I have a pretentious dislike for those that dedicate themselves to it when what they put out isn't very good at all. I always figured myself to be a part of the latter category if I ever attempted, but I said just yesterday through the lips of ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) not_a_mused, "The Muse works in mysterious ways."
For, alas, this morning, I wrote a flash fiction. I might be throwing myself into a third category of people I dislike who write a flash fiction and think it's good when it's actually quite droll, pretentious, or even ridiculously abstract and impenetrable, but I think this one is far too simplistically beautiful to fall into the second two categories. I know the inspiration for this one, too. It is the delicate weaving of my brain to mush together the works I'm reading right now, Haruki Murakami's delightfully magically surreal Kafka on the Shore (read it, read it, read it, good God, read it now. Or not now. I still have 100 pages to go, read it when I finish otherwise you'll likely beat me to the punch) and Lance Olsen's puzzle-piece flash-fiction-y novel, 10:01.
Anyway, this introduction is longer than the piece itself. Please, take a peek, give me some feedback, tell me to, srsly, STFU and stick to the novel writing.
( Cut for language )
~~
In other news, the house hunting search is going well; I feel like I shouldn't mention too much out of fear of a jinx but there's this rather nice house on the most gorgeous lot you can imagine (wonderful view of the bay, even, in our price range!). The only issue I found with it is that it needs a very bad de-old-person-ification, but that's easy fixed.
Current Mood: inspired
Current Music: She & Him -- "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
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July 2nd, 2008
03:30 pm - Just a filthy pane of glass that I was looking through.
On one side of the apartment, it is bright and warm and I hear the sounds of sea gulls and smaller, chirpier birds through the window.
On the other side, it is dark and cool and I hear distant thunder gathering outside.
I find this surreal, beautiful, and exceptionally noteworthy.
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June 26th, 2008
07:30 pm - Can your science explain why it rains?
OH LOOK. A bookmeme. I've been wanting to do one lately for some reason. I usually avoid them because they make me look REALLY bad (especially for having a degree in English and History), but with all the reading I've been doing lately, I want to. Plus, they'll give me ideas of what to read soonish. =D
( Insert Clever Book Quote Here. )
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07:09 pm - Well, shit.
So I just found out that Steve Buscemi (and possibly Michael Cera, but who cares? BUSCEMI.) are actually in Traverse City right now for a movie they're filming.
HUH.
Also, right now, I think Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine is one of the best albums ever made. Cannot. Stop. Listening.
That is all. At the moment.
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June 15th, 2008
09:22 am - Or I really used to love him; I sure hope that's it.
Ahhh, nothing like a meme to stave off the moment of boredom before when you have to leave for work that really isn't long enough for doing much else!
( This meme has been like the village bicycle at this point... )
Current Music: Raising Sand -- "Nothin'"
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June 7th, 2008
10:34 pm - Oh, Mr. Darcy.
Me: *reading a comment from this ONTD post* "My dad cries at BBC Jane Austin adaptations..."
Brian: "That chick was weird."
Me: *headtilt?*
Brian: "I think she just wanted to fuck a bunch of monkeys."
Me: *looooooong pause* "What?"
Brian: "Yeah, isn't sh-- Oh. That's Goodall. Nevermind."
Me: "Wow. Just...wow."
♥
ETA: That post got my thinking: What movies make you cry?
The first one I cried at was The Little Mermaid. I was maybe five and it was the first movie I saw in the theater, so the whole thunderstorm/ginormous Ursula scene scared the crap out of me. And then the next one I remembered was Anastasia, at the end, and I refused to accept that I cried at it.
I cry really easy now at film. The Exorcist when I first saw it at age 16 has me nearly paralyzed with tears of fear and Big Fish, OH GOD DAMMIT, BUCKETS.
I cry with books, too. I've read The Westing Game more times than I can count and I always cry at the end. And the entire last book of Chrono Crusade was read with great big wrenching sobs. Lordy, that book was heart-wrenching...
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03:30 pm - Shakespeare, and make it ten dollars.
I need to take a moment, in the small slot of time where my brain seems to have refused to do anything before I get up and get dressed to go into work early, to bitch.
I know I'm working a piddling little shift job at a coffee shop run by a man who probably doesn't have much of a reason to actually own a coffee shop due to his relative immaturity and incompetance, but, holy hell, I am really kind of annoyed with my coworkers right now. Which sucks, because I really do love the job.
The lists of offenses, though small, are as such:
1.) What the hell is up with calling someone to come in early to cover the tail end of your shift because you're "just not with it today"? I understand bad days; I have them quite a lot myself, but that just seems so ridiculous. "I can't handle this last hour; come in for me, please?"
2.) I am going to just say it: I am far too good of a worker for all these low-level shift jobs. I had to close last night with a new hire; it was her first closing shift, so, technically, although still being fairly green myself, I was the one "training" her. My orders from the powers that be were simple: have her shadow you, and have her focus mainly on back and the dishes. Which I relayed to her. About fifty million times. So, I'm doing my thing. I explain this and that. I bring dishes back for her to wash, her only main objective for the night.
They sit for a half fucking hour while she plays with her phone, and she only bothers coming back to do them after I, having nothing else to do and annoyed with her lack of observation (and, admittedly, containing a bit of a lack of ability to tell her what to do, because, who the fuck am I to order her around), go back to do them, and she's all, "Oh, did you want me to wash those?"
NO I JUST BROUGHT THEM BACK FOR THE FENG SHIU.
3.) Also regarding last night: Jon, who is technically our second manager and generally a nice guy, was to arrive to "help." This help really wasn't needed because we were so dead and we were very far ahead of schedule, but he comes in anyway. Fine. Except for the fact that his "help" turned into "sitting in the empty lobby with the new girl as I shamelessly mack on her, because my girlfriend just dumped me and I am seriously the biggest male slut in the world." Which is a shame, because I do like the guy when he isn't hitting on everything that moves and isn't DISTRACTING THE PERSON I"M SUPPOSED TO BE SHOWING HOW TO CLOSE from LEARNING HOW TO DO HER JOB.
4.) I close with her again tonight. I am not looking forward to having to go through all the same bullshit as before. I'd almost rather just close alone half the time.
5.) Did I mention that we had to call the new girl up because she actually forgot that she worked yesterday?
I just fucking hate closing, and I'm so glad that they might actually start giving me the morning hours I was hired in to take, but, at the same time, I feel like they're keeping me on some closing because they know I'll actually do a good job, and, no matter how hard I want to just say fuck it and slack off like every other person who works at that place, my boss included, I CAN"T DO IT, because my father RAISED ME RIGHT.
It really is a shame I'm too lazy and afraid to find a job where I could actually put my work ethic to good use.
Tonight's goal, I think, will at least be to write a new section of that new book I've been hatching. I need to be writing, damn it, because that's the only thing that will make me happy.
~~~
On another note, the house hunting went incredibly well today. We're sort of eying two new ones, and one? IS LIKE A FORTRESS, IT"S AWESOME. In the winter, our yard will be, like, the best sledding hill EVER. XD If we go with that one, but I do rather like it. It's gorgeous.
Anyway, off to work. Joy. At least there's coffee there.
OH. And cookies to anyone who recognizes the Subject Line quote. =D
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/irate.gif) irate
Current Music: Lily Allen -- LND.
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June 4th, 2008
12:26 am - If there was a better way to go...
Note to self: Sleep. It's good for you. Especially since sitting here, staring at a computer screen and fighting off the most insidiously useless kind of tears over the stupidest shit will not do anything to help anything.
Get the fuck over it.
Remind yourself that you're being idiotic, that there are more important things in life, and that, this, too, shall pass.
And, when in doubt, that, if anything, you might not be able to just stand up and scream it all out like you'd like to, but you can post an LJ about it, let it out, and sleep it off.
z_z.
g'night, friends list. tomorrow's another day, and I even got it off. It's already looking better.
//overly cryptic release posting.
Edit: Why the fuck does my playlist always land on Lilac Wine when I'm in one of these moods? You know, the song that makes me bawl when I don't even pay attention to listening to it?
OKAY, I GET THE HINT.
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May 31st, 2008
09:03 am - The signs said stop, but we went on whole-hearted.
Oh, hell, I'll bite. As I idly sit around as if it will stave off the inevitable having to go work, I succumb. It feels like it should be a meme-ish day.
( Meme-ity Meme Meme Meme )
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May 20th, 2008
05:14 pm - I'll make the most of it; I'm an extraordinary machine.
After a highly scientific experiment today at work, I discovered that it takes a 7-shot latte to actually make me sick.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/drunk.gif) drunk
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April 23rd, 2008
10:02 pm - Because LJ is totally a good form of communication.
Hey, kleenexwoman! I'm gonna be in Mt. P. tomorrow (Thursday), afternoon/evening-ish. Wanna dooooooooo something? =D
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05:30 am
sdflhse lsdfjhles dfsldjrelsdfsdfxxxx....
I really hope that this half hour I've been up is not indicative of what the rest of my day will be like because, if it is, I might as well just crawl right back into bed now. x_x
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April 22nd, 2008
05:14 pm - Skylie's Random Thoughts for 04/22
Random thoughts, for the sake of continuing to post:
The thing with getting out of a spot of inactivity in LJ-age-ness is that you feel really awkward commenting people's journals again. At least I do. You feel all, "HI, I totally fell off the face of the earth, but I'm back for attention now!"
That said, I've wanted to respond to about 50 million friends posts, but am a dork about it.
I do this when I RP, even. "I know the post says 'open,' but...but...it's too random; they'll be all WTF."
I really do wonder how I manage to function in normal society at times when I'm this neurotic about teh intrawebz.
I'm surprised a didn't have a panic attack actually running into someone from work downtown today.
I still am boggling over the fact that I ran into someone I know today. I don't know anyone up here. I wish that could change. I do actually miss being social. Despite aforementioned neurosis.
I hate how some people are stupid little immature brats, but, when I see them, I think, "awww, cuuuuuute." (with a side-slice of "too bad you're a bitch")
I hate how I sometimes think I'm so over an attraction to someone, but then, when I'm around them, they still make me nervous. Although I know this is only because he's insanely nice. Insanely nice people are not natural, and something is wrong. ...Neurosis again.
I love that I'm getting soooo much reading done. I am both disappointed and insanely glad that The Last Town on Earth ended just like I thought it was (read: in a way that opens it up for me to app the main character in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) fandomhigh one day).
It's interesting how, half the time I read anything, I'm reading for potential fandomhigh characters (Owns. My. Soul.).
I'm also annoyed with the ending of The Last Town on Earth opening that option up for me because, really? REALLY? I don't need to have my Staple Character be The Crippled One. ♥.
THAT'S ALL THE RANTING/THOUGHTS FOR THE MOMENT. I hope everyone enjoyed that as much as I did.
ETA: Ha! I forgot the one rant that inspired me to actually post this. Y'know, I can understand days when you don't feel like RPing and set up a mod post, but when you don't even try to build a narrative and include in the narrative that it's a modding post because the mun's not there....it makes me weep a little. (Not that I'm referencing anything in particular *cough; is shameless, even in all her supposed neurosis*)
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April 19th, 2008
01:24 am - Always Low Prices; ALWAYS.
What the hell?
Did I honestly just app for a Wal-Mart RP?
...
...Why, yes. Yes, I think I did.
0.o
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April 18th, 2008
05:52 pm - THIS PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY....
I would just like to note to everyone that atoli is an evil, evil enabler.
And I love her so.
That is all. Two days in a row! I will continue to give this journal more love, dammit.
ETA: "Well, I was arguing for axe, and Dan was arguing for sword. Clearly, the best answer was mace, but that wasn't an option."
♥
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April 17th, 2008
11:44 pm - SHE LIIIIIIVES!
HOLY CRAP, HI!!!
For some inexplicable reason, I've finally gotten around to clearing a bunch of clutter from my personal journal and have been wanting to get back to posting here and commenting on my friends and...
Well, it's not entirely inexplicable. There's a lot of people that I've really gotten to start missing around these LJ parts and hope to get back into the swing of being in touch with them. ♥ So here's to hoping you're all even still interested. XD
A few notes of interest: fandomhigh still owns my soul (but I've recovered a little piece of it, clearly!), and, since I last posted anything here, I've since become engaged. LOL.
Also, my fiance just about nearly died in a hospital with the same thing that got Jim Henson. Not so LOL but he is better now and fully up to par, save for the whole blood vessel a'sploding in his eye and the yeast infection (which brings us back to the lulz).
And on a random question: Do you think I should be at all bothered by the fact that I was editing my book today and totally got all mushy-gushy fangirl over one of the most disturbing pairings in the entire thing?
...Screw you all. Taya/Esti is fuckin' adorable. Just very disturbing.
Current Music: Fiona Apple -- "Oh Well"
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February 14th, 2008
08:50 pm - ICON JOURNAL, holy crap!
Hey, since I'm going to start being "OMG SRS!" about my icon making now, all my icons are going to have a new home! It just got started up with a crap-ton of dorky fandomhigh icons, so, if you all wanna hop on over to skylicons and keep an eye on it, that'd be fuck fantastic.
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January 13th, 2008
12:02 am - Icon Dump!
I coming bearing lots of icons! Below the cut, you'll find 5 Project Runway, 15 Outlaw Star (all Harry and Jim!), 55 Jena Malone, 5 Zooey Deschanel, and then 5 completely random ones. Enjoy!
( 'For me, writing is 75 percent procrastinating and 25 percent actually sitting down and working.' -- Zooey Deschanel. )
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December 23rd, 2007
01:30 am - FH Secret Santa!
So, for the secret santa exchange over at fandomhigh, I got the chance to put together gifts for the creative force behind willbedone and repeterpetrelli (and others, but those are the only ones I really know x_x). Among the request (that I could complete because I don't know her fandoms enough to even touch fic) were icons for Willow and Peter as well as a Nathan Petrelli moodtheme. So that's what I've made and what are below the cut! There's also a link to about a third of a Peter Petrelli moodtheme because I'm an idiot and only realized until last week that, oh. Wait. She asked for the other Petrelli!
Also, I wanted to make a Willow/Peter (Pevensie) banner, but, I swear, GIMP crashed every single time I went to make one. Clearly, it does not approve of this pairing. XD Which is a damn shame!
So Happy Christmas and Hanukkah and Solstice and (insert other wintertime holiday[s] here), TBQ!
( If you think I'm going to put an LJ-cut with Christmas lyrics in it, you are so wrong. )
Of course, all the pretties under the cut were made with a particular person in mind, but they are, of course, all shareable. Also, she won't be receiving this until sometime tomorrow, so the post may change if I feel inspired before I link this and add more to it.
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