Another 50-Book Challenge Update

I'm back, with more books!

14. Opening Atlantis: A Novel of Alternate History by Harry Turtledove
15. The United States of Atlantis: A Novel of Alternate History by Harry Turtledove

The two books above weren't all that great, in my opinion. I picked them up while I was browsing through the library's audio book section last month.

All Turtledove really does is retell the discovery (in Opening) and independence (in United States) of America, only he sets it in Atlantis, which in this series is somewhere between what we call America (Terra Nova to the characters in the books) and England.

Turtledove could've made it so much more interesting than just having some weird species of flora and fauna unique to Atlantis, but he didn't.

I'm not even going to try and get my hands on the third book of the trilogy, which will probably cover an alternate version of the Civil War, because the first two books were so boring.

16. Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber
17. By Schism Rent Asunder by David Weber
18. By Heresies Distressed by David Weber
19. A Mighty Fortress by David Weber

Technically, I haven't even finished #18, but I'm going to within the next couple days, and then I'll be going straight through #19, so I figured I'd put them on now, in case I forget later.

I also picked up Off Armageddon Reef when I was on my browsing trip in the library's audio section, and saved it for last when I listened to the audio books I'd checked out. Considering the disappointment of Harry Turtledove's Atlantis series, I'm glad I did.

Of course, I already loved the Honor Harrington series (I'm still eagerly awaiting the release of Mission of Honor in June), so I had some good expectations for Safehold, and I haven't been disappointed yet.

Pictures!

I'm not going to tell the story about what happened when Dylan was born, because it's not my story to tell. I will, however, post the three pictures that Tim pix messaged to my e-mail when I went to visit on Thursday afternoon. Those of you reading this post on Facebook, you'll need to go to my actual blog to see the pics.

I'm an Aunt!

Dylan Elliot T.
Born: April 15, 2010, 12:13 a.m.
Length: 21 inches
Weight: 8 lbs. 2½ oz.

Strangely Rested, Considering

Last night, I was feeling really blah. I had muscle aches/cramps from my rib cage to the middle of my shins.

Around 9-ish, I took some meds, but for the couple of hours it took for those to kick in, I was pretty much miserable. I decided to listen to one of my favorite Discworld novels (Going Postal), to keep my mind off of it, but I couldn't sleep.

Once the meds kicked in, I thought I'd get to actually sleep, but I couldn't find a comfortable position to lay in. Every time I'd find a position that seemed comfortable, there was either an aspect of it that was uncomfortable (due to residual mini-aches that the meds couldn't take care of, or the stretching out of muscles I'd bunched up to try and stop the hurting), or I'd be completely fine for a few minutes before I needed to move again, thereby destroying the comfort.

I had my eyes closed pretty much the whole time, in hopes of getting to sleep. I was still sort of half-listening to Going Postal too, but that helped. I knew if I couldn't remember hearing long stretches of the plot (though I knew I'd heard them while they were playing) I was at least getting some rest, though I couldn't get to anything better than a light doze all night--it was brutal. I kept thinking to myself that it's a good thing I don't have work today.

When I finally got up around ten this morning, however, I felt surprisingly well-rested. That is definitely a good thing.

Whew! (50-Book Challenge Update)

Huh.

I thought I'd posted a list of this year's reading so far on this site already, but it turns out I hadn't.

Considering I have just finished an 11-book (so far) series which took weeks to do, I have decided to remedy that now. So far, the only book on this list I've actually read in book form is number 3. Books 4-14 are the first 11 books in David Weber's Honor Harrington series. Book 12 doesn't come out until this June.

1. Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett (book 37 in the Discworld series)
2. Dune by Frank Herbert
3. The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum
4. On Basilisk Station
5. The Honor of the Queen
6. The Short Victorious War
7. Field of Dishonor
8. Flag in Exile
9. Honor Among Enemies
10. In Enemy Hands
11. Echoes of Honor
12. Ashes of Victory
13. War of Honor
14. At All Costs

My next reading projects are more paper-based, since I had this idea for an RPG campaign based in the world of Temeraire: In the Service of the King, a series by Naomi Novik. The only problem with that idea is that the series is set during the Napoleonic War, of which I know next to nothing. So I have decided to remedy that by checking books out of the library on the subject and taking copious notes.

Considering how At All Costs ended, I can hardly wait until Mission of Honor comes out.

Inkwells Updates

I realize that my Inkwells posts haven't been as regular the last few weeks as usual. I've updated through last week's prompt response (which is actually as far as I've written stories for right now).

I will also be replacing the Personal Challenge prompt response with a different story--once I have written it, that is.

For those of you who don't know, I usually back-date my stories/poetry/whatever to January 1, 2007, so that regular journal entries don't get interrupted by fiction. With anything except Inkwells stories, I usually post a notice that the story has been updated with the current date.

However, Inkwells are updated weekly, and I don't want to have that many update notices clogging up my regular journalling area. So, please feel free to bookmark the page of Inkwells stories, and check back regularly (or irregularly, if you wish) for updates. The URL for the Inkwells page is http://dsdragon.blogspot.com/2007/01/inkwells-stories.html.

I Miss Sev Trek

I just (and by "just," I mean about twenty minutes ago) found the Sev Trek site again. I actually forgot what it was called, and hadn't had a bookmark to the page in years, so finding it again was difficult. Unfortunately, the artist has stopped drawing his parody cartoons, and the archives cost money to view now, but here's a link to the website, at least! I'm thinking I might buy a tee in a few months (or maybe a poster or the book), just as a reminder of all the great laughs.

A Non-Lazy Saturday

Yup, I actually did stuff after I woke up at 11:00 this morning!

When I got up, Tim was organizing the basement, but I hadn't had breakfast yet, so I went to the kitchen to get something to eat. I ended up having a glass of Kool-Aid, because I didn't realize that there was cereal in the pantry again (as of 1:00 this morning). He mentioned the need to organize my music better, and that got me to thinking about the movies we have in the laundry room, which are duplicates to ones we have on the movie shelves already.

Tim also mentioned that I need to get my un-read books out of the shed. I was originally planning to wait until the weather got warmer, and then having a yard sale, but today I decided against waiting.

Instead, I got the boxes of books out of the shed and went through the books on my brown shelves. I put all of the books that I'm never going to read (or read again) in bins, and rearranged the books I'm keeping onto one of the small shelves. Somewhere in there, I ate a really great, homemade salad.

Then, I went to Wonder Book & Video to try and sell the books, but they stop buying books at 4:00 p.m, and it was already 4:10. I'll try again tomorrow, since I won't be able to make it to Wonder Book during the week.

I then stopped at Music & Arts Center to see if they bought used instruments. They don't, and the guy didn't know anywhere in town that would. He did recommend Craigslist though.

My last stop was to get gas at Get-Go.

When I got back, I took the empty shelf down to the basement, and organized my music onto it before putting as much of my loose sheet music as I could into sheet protectors and putting those into the binder I use for that. I also put my recorders, my music stand, and my trumpet on the shelf, and put the shelf between my keyboard and the basement door.

Finally, I went upstairs to place an ad on Craigslist to sell my clarinet.

After that, I decided I was done for the day, and after I fed the animals I watched Smallville while playing Scrabble on Facebook.

New Stories!

I've begun posting more stories here--this time originals. (Don't worry, those of you waiting for installments of my fanfiction; they'll get written eventually.) They're actually stories written in response to prompts from the Haven's writing group, the Inkwells. I've added these stories to their own section of the Original Fiction section here on my blog, and you can also just read the stories by visiting this link to the Inkwells Stories page. Enjoy, and please feel free to leave reviews in the comments section for each story page.

Updating While Snowed In

There's about two feet of snow on the ground outside, so I figured now would be a good time to update.

I've been working at my new job for exactly four weeks, and I find that I actually kind of like it better than any of the other jobs I've ever had. Over the years, I've figured out that I prefer jobs where I can be "behind the scenes," and don't have to deal with disgruntled customers.

At my new job, that's basically the idea. I'm in the stockroom, pulling parts for the various jobs everyone in the production area does, and management talks to any customers who actually come to the building.

The dress code is good too. I can wear jeans and sneakers, but I also have to wear a static jacket and heel straps to ground me so that electrostatic discharges don't damage the electronic components. So the clothes are comfortable, and the static jacket is actually warmer than it looks, so I can just wear a tee-shirt underneath it and be comfortable, temperature-wise.

My first paycheck was only half of what I'd usually be getting, since I came in at the middle of the pay period. I was really worried at the time, because that meant I'd still be about half-a-month behind on paying my bills. Luckily, around that time, all three of my W-2s from last year's jobs came in, and I was able to file my taxes in the last week of January. I got the state return back ($618) on Friday, January 30th, and my federal return ($655) came early this past week.

I got caught up on the bills that were overdue, and then held the rest for when I got my first full paycheck (plus 2½ hours of overtime, since they'd asked me to stay late last Friday to help finish a project) yesterday.

I wasn't able to completely pay off what's left of my car loan, but going off of the payoff amount posted online, I was able to get about half of what's left paid. I also helped with this month's rent (though I couldn't afford the whole rent, what with knowing I'd have to pay my whole portion in two weeks again), paid my portion of the utilities, and paid all the bills that are due before my next paycheck. I now have about $70 in the bank, and $15.16 in cash (for snacks while I'm at the Haven) until February 19th.

I'm only going to use what's in the bank to fill up my gas tank when I start to run out--I've got half-a-tank still--and then save the rest to go toward bills with my next paycheck. It'll also be used for emergencies, if there are any between now and then.

Tomorrow, Anna and Tim have been planning to have people over for a Superbowl party, but we're not sure if they're actually going to be able to get here, what with the snow and all. Whether they do come or not, it's all good to me. I'm not even going to watch the game (I don't like football), but the three of us are already starting to go a little stir crazy from being stuck inside, so it'll be nice to have some visitors.

I've joined another RPG at the Haven. It's a game called Nobilis. It's totally dice-less, and looks/sounds really interesting. I already created my character, who is completely different from any character I've ever played before.

I usually play characters who are a lot like me (female, relatively good, interested in a lot of the same things I am . . . makes it easier to stay in character that way), but since I know the GM-ing style of the person running the game (I'd been in his Vampire: The Masquerade game for a little while a couple years ago) I decided to try something different. For one thing, my Nobilis character is a guy. For another, he's not all goody-two-shoes at all, but rather devious. It'll be a challenge to play this character, and I'm looking forward to it.

The game itself will have about 30 or so players, but we're not all going to be playing at once. The way the GM is running it, there will be set gaming sessions, and there will also be random, "Okay, who's here from the Nobilis game? Anyone up for a one-off?" sessions. We players just have to participate in only one session every two months, at the least, to be allowed to stay in the game.

Not bad, considering that the weekly Serenity game is pretty much the most regular gaming I can handle. It cuts into my sleep time on Thursday nights, so Fridays are a bit rough, but it's worth it, since the game is so frickin' awesome.