2 down, 48 to go . . .

I finally finished Anna Karenina yesterday, around 3pm. WHEW!

The reason it took me so long to read it (two months, the longest it's ever taken me to read anything except The Book of Mormon--including the 2 weeks it took for Little Women) is because I sort of had to psyche myself up to read it every time I wanted to sit down and do it.

See, the whole book is set in 19th century Russia, and is about people in the Russian aristocracy. The customs, clothing, cities, and even the characters' thoughts were all strange to me, so to understand even a little bit of it, I had to concentrate really hard on what I was reading. So, I couldn't really read before bed or anything like that--I had to be mentally awake. That severely cut down the amount of time I could read, and I couldn't read more than 9 or 10 chapters at a time for the same reason--it all just started to run together after a while.

I posted a review of the book at LibraryThing which is more of a rant than a real review, but read it if you like.

I've got 48 books left now, to reach the 50-book challenge posted a couple months ago on the Lois & Clark Fanfic Message Board. So, yesterday I decided that for the next book, I was going to choose one that was shorter, and more modern. That way, it wouldn't require too much concentration and I could read it faster. Not to mention, my brain needs a rest from all that cerebral-ness.

Around midnight last night, I realized that I hadn't yet chosen a book, and since it was so late and I just wanted to go to sleep, I didn't go down to the computer to use LibraryThing to figure out what I had. I just chose a book that I could see just by looking at the shelves upstairs.

I decided I was going to re-read my Harry Potter books. That way, I'll have books 3-8 out of 50 in the bag, and I'll be prepared when book 7 comes out on July 21 (two days before my brithday, yay!).

Busy Week

Monday was the usual craziness--I had to get my allergy shots after work, and then I had to wait until Jen R. was done with the machines so that I could do my laundry. I didn't get dry jeans until Tuesday.

After work on Tuesday, I stopped off at Fox's Sport & Bait store to get my bow re-strung. It was pretty cool. The guy there had this machine with four wheel things on it. Two of the wheels went on the outside of the bow, at the ends, and then the other two went in the middle of the bow, right where the arms join the handle. The two wheels in the middle got pushed down as the guy turned a crank, and that bent the bow enough so that he could get the string into place.

I also bought half-a-dozen Venture carbon arrows, and got to watch while the guy cut them to the right length (26 inches, as opposed to the 29-inch arrows I got before) and put in the inserts to hold the tips. I bought tips, of course, and a target.

It was about 6:30 when I got home, so I got some dinner and sat on the computer for a while. Then, a couple sisters from the Relief Society presidency came to welcome me to the ward and give me a list of all the sisters in the ward.

Yesterday, I actually managed to get home on time and managed to get in two rounds of archery practice before I felt hungry enough for dinner. The target kept jumping around whenever it was hit though--I think I'll grab a few bricks from my parents' back yard to help keep the target steady next time.

A while later, Anna showed up so that I could look at and beta read the next chapter of her story. But first, we went to Auto Zone so she could buy some new wiper blades, and to Wal-Mart so she could get a few other things.

When I was almost done beta reading the chapter, Kimba called Anna asking if she wanted to go to Kohls and get some new shirts. So, Kimba came over, and the three of us then went to Kohls. I tried on about five shirts, but none of them looked right, so I ended up just getting a new set of black sheets, so that I could put them on my bed when I wash the red ones.

Tonight, Smallville is a new episode, so I'm going to watch that. Other than taping two episodes of Phil of the Future though, I don't have much else to do.

Maybe I'll actually take some time and type up one or two of those fanfics I've been meaning to write. Or I could use the time to get even closer to the end of Anna Karenina, because seriously, it's taken almost two months for me to get through the first six parts, and that's just ridiculous!

Snow Day

It's been snowing off and on today. I hope the roads aren't too bad by quitting time.

I added a recent picture of myself to my profile. Last week, I had Anna take a picture of me with my digital camera (I got it for Christmas) while I was sitting at my desk in my new place.

I've been thinking about writing a fanfic for The Class, and I even have a plan for one, but haven't really gotten around to typing it up. I should though--it's making me unable to continue the Lois & Clark fanfic I've been writing for a while now.

YES! We just got an e-mail from our HR person at work here--we're all leaving at 3pm, instead of 5! WOOHOO!

I'm kinda bored though, and will be for the next 50 minutes. I don't feel like reading any more of Anna Karenina right now (I just finished part III earlier, and I don't want to start on part IV yet), and I've played all the games on my Palm Pilot so often, they're not even addicting anymore. Not to mention, my e-mail inbox for work is completely empty.