Book Review 5: Suck it Up by Brian Meehl

I knew this was about vampires, and while I'm really into that since Buffy, Twilight, and True Blood now, I'm very skeptical of all the other vampire books there are. I especially am not a big fan of all the "special schools" for vampires. I liked how Buffy and Twilight and True Blood all have vampires out with normal, the first two keeping vampires in secret. Suck it Up is kind of similar to True Blood, in that most of the vampires are called "Leagers". They don't drink human blood, only animal blood, and they want to come out and live among "Lifers" or humans. The main character, Morning, was an orphan until a vampire killed his foster parents and turned him. He was found shortly after and taken to the school where he learned to be a Leager. He's never drunk human blood, not even animal blood, until this story, he'd only had a soy substitute. As his class graduates, one of the teachers, Mr. Birnam asks him to do a special favor, and be "the" first vampire to come out to the public. Birnam hires a PR woman, Penny, and Morning goes and lives with her and her daughter Portia. We learn about Morning's past, and some people in it who have more to do with the whole story than we knew at first. Morning's coming out is of course fraught with mistakes and craziness, and turns out there is another group of vampires, called loners, who don't want to change their ways of drinking human blood. And one of them, is really against Morning doing this, and so decides he will kill, him. But due to some of the original vampire laws, he is unable to do it himself, and so must hire someone else.

Good book, not as good as the others I've read, but still a good read. I can see that they left it open for a sequel, but I think it ended just fine. Of course there is a bit of flirtation between Portia and Morning, the problem being that Morning is stuck as a gawky 16 year old forever, and she is human.

Book Review 4: The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

The Boy Who Dared is actually a novel based on a true story of a German boy. He actually belonged to the Hitler Youth. He wasn't really a Nazi, he didn't agree with most of what they did, especially once he started seeing friends and neighbors being mistreated for seemingly no reason. The story begins with the main character named Helmuth Hubener in prison. He is waiting for them to come to his door and say it is time for him to go, which means he is being executed. As he waits in this prison he flashes back to when he was younger, the end of World War I. He wants to be a soldier because of what has happened. He is very loyal to his country, something that is supposedly one of the Mormon's 13 Articles of Faith. Helmuth and his family are members of the Church of Latter Day Saints. An interesting thing I learned in this book, and I assume it is true, I'll have to go look it up, but supposedly the 11th article says that all people have the right to worship how, where, and what they want. So it would seem Mormons are supposedly more tolerant of other religions? At least that was how Helmuth seemed to be raised. Not sure, they're also supposed to support their country, yet the Mormons I know won't pledge allegiance to the flag, and don't celebrate holidays. Wondering where that came from? If what is told about this religion in this book is true.

But I like how the book touches on the fact that he joins the Hitler Youth because you're expected to. He also wonders about why he and others keep quiet instead of doing things for the Jews. And in the end, he tries to take actions on what he believes, and he faces the consequences bravely, doing his best to keep his friends from suffering what he eventually suffers, death.

This will be another high recommendation for me.

My next book that I started this morning and I am more than halfway through is Suck it Up by Brian Meehl. I hope to have a review on that tomorrow keeping myself on track, almost a day ahead. I will also check out another book at work tonight to start after Suck it Up.

Book Review 3: Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

This is the 2nd book I've read by Laurie Halse Anderson, the first being Speak, a REALLY good book. This also turned into being a pretty good book. It is about a slave girl named Isabel and her younger sister Ruth. It is taking place during the time of the American Revolution. Which actually is a unique time for a children's book to be written about slaves. Normally you tend to read about the civil war time period. Isabel and Ruth's masters die. They had promised to set them free, but the lawyer who supposedly has these papers is out of town at the time, and so they get sold by a relative. The people who buy them are Tories or Loyalists to Britain. The wife is horribly mean to the two girls. Isabel is trying the whole time to find a way to get herself and Ruth their promised freedom, but is blocked at every door. When Madam gets upset with Isabel, shortly after she finds out that Ruth has fits, she drugs Isabel, and tells her when she's woke up the next day that Ruth has been sold. Isabel gets so upset that she runs off. She is caught, and branded. At this point, I was in tears. Isabel has been unsure throughout the whole book which side is the right one. The Loyalists seem to be better for slaves, yet don't ever come through for her. The rebels promise things in exchange for her help in spying on her master, but then they don't seem to be able to make good on what they have kind of promised. The book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, we haven't seen all the way through the Revolution, and so there is supposed to be a sequel.

The only thing I wasn't thrilled about was the chapters having the dates on them. Some chapters were part of a day, the next chapter was still the same day, and then other chapters were several days. That was an annoying way to bother with labelling the chapter. At least in my opinion. But I will highly recommend this to kids, as well as teachers looking for a good book about the American Revolution with a new, unusual viewpoint.

I started my 4th book today, The Boy Who Dared. About a German boy during the time of Hitler. I didn't remember by the title, but it is also a book I had really wanted to read when I saw it at the bookstore. I hope to have it finished tonight, and then I'll really be on track.

Still on track with book number 3

This is going to be a quick blog, because tonight I need to finish book number 3 to stay on track. But I have less than 100 pages left, so shouldn't be a problem. This is also turning out to be a really good book. Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson.

Got to have dinner with a sorority sister who moved back to Missouri this summer. It was nice. I haven't gotten together with this group in a long time, so I hope now that she's back I'll get to see her more. And I definitely hope to go visit her for a girls' weekend in Columbia.

Tomorrow I get to go see Final Destination 3D, I'm so excited! Tried WW tonight, couldn't find my little book. So that means that Saturday morning I intend to do some cleaning and find it! I won't be able to walk at Macken, because there is some charity walk. I walked 2 miles tonight. I'm going to try hard to get 5 miles in tomorrow before movies, and then 5 on Sunday. I'm still only at having lost 24, my goal was 25 by when school started, but I've been stuck on this last pound for several weeks. Not being able to walk every day is I'm sure a big part of the problem. Don't know how I'll take this.

Book Review 2: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Well, when I finished this book I have to say my opinion improved. I still like Hunger Games better though.

The book starts out with the man Jack who has just killed a mother, father, and child, and is looking for the baby of the family to finish the job. Somehow the baby crawls out of his crib, down the road, and into the graveyard. In the graveyard, the local ghosts decide to take care of the baby. And they realize the man Jack is dangerous when he comes by to look for the baby and so direct him away. Since the name of the baby is not known, he is named Nobody Owens. Owens for the ghost couple who become his parents. He grows up in the graveyard. The ghosts teach him for most of his life. There is one person who lives there who is neither ghost, nor alive. His name is Silas and he gets food and other necessities for Nobody, or Bod, as he is called, that the ghosts cannot get, and that Bod is not allowed out of the graveyard to get. When he is young he makes a friend, a young girl whose family believes he is an imaginary friend. This is because they never see him, because the ghosts have taught him to "fade". They know someone is out to kill him, and so they teach him what they can to protect him. As he gets older, he tries actually going to school, which doesn't work out so well. Instead of staying out of people's minds, he sticks up for kids getting picked on, so he starts getting noticed, and soon school is not an option.

In the end, the man Jack is back to search for Bod, and Bod must deal with the situation to save his life, as well as to hopefully end the whole plot on his life. I guess I can see why this won the Newberry award, and I can see it will probably be on the Truman list next year. While I've only read 2 full books so far, both have been really good.

I'm now reading Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson. I'm in chapter 9, on page 60.

Second book almost done

I checked out The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman last night at the bookstore, one of the Truman list. Didn't get a lot of time to read it last night, and so wasn't quite "feeling" it. Well, today, between waiting in the doctor's office as well as using every other "opportune" moment to read, I'm almost done. I figure I'll finish it tonight and blog about it tomorrow. Now that I'm close to the end, I am liking it better. I still like Hunger Games more, but I like this one too. I also went ahead and stopped by the MidContinent Public Library, and checked out a whopping 40 books. I think that means there are 7 more that I'm waiting on there. And there is at least one more I planned to check out at the bookstore, although when I was working last night, I don't remember seeing it in hardcover, so I may have to go ahead and add it to the library list.

Went back to the doctor today. No Celebrex left today, so started back on Ibuprofen, and actually until I was sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office, I wasn't noticing it at all. But I was a couple hours late, and sitting all that time in the office I think made it worse. Because I'm kind of in pain again. The doctor said let's try a week with just ibuprofen, then go off that and if it doesn't go away, then we may have to do an MRI and physical therapy. I'm pretty sure once I stop taking any pain stuff, I'll be in horrible pain, may not even be able to go into work. I also was able to show her the stuff on my thumb that I'd been told was shingles. She says it isn't shingles, but is the same kind of virus that causes my cold sores, and so she gave me a prescription for Valtrex that I can have ready when they show up again. But said right now it won't do any good to start since it's already full blown. All I know is that I've had it for a week, I hope it really goes away soon.

Went to see my Uncle Mario tonight. He's deteriorated so much since I saw him just a couple months ago at the birthday/skating party for my cousin's kids. They're saying he most likely has Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. I guess he'd had lots of company today, and so by the time we got there he was pretty much unable to stay awake. I thought we were going too late. I hope I get time to go visit him again before he slips too much more. I also hope I'm not going to be going to another funeral this fall, but I'm afraid it might come to that.

Book Review 1: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

So, I finished the first book I chose from the Truman list in 2 days, which is about the time I have to read each book in order to get it done in time to meet the deadline. The book was Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The main character is named Katniss. They live in a futuristic world where there had been some kind of rebellion, and now many people live in districts that are controlled by the Capitols. Once a year each district must choose 2 kids to compete in the Hunger Games. There will be only one survivor, the rest either die or get killed by the others. Katniss goes when her 12 year old sister's name is called and she volunteers to take her place. She goes with another boy, one that it seems may have had a crush on her for a long time. But she must fight her way to live and get back to her family, which means she will have to kill her fellow District 12 participant along with 10 other kids. They're thrown out in to the wilderness, in kind of a killer survivor type situation. They must fight for the things they need and hide and hunt. Katniss has a bit of an edge with hunting because she's had to do that to take care of her own family since her father died in a mine explosion. I really, really liked this book. And I was shocked when it ended, but glad to see it said "end of book one" so that means I will get to find out what happens next! In fact, I actually sold the book to a customer tonight and it is possible I may make it my next staff rec at work. I turned it back in and checked out The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman for my next read. I also plan to go by Mid Continent tomorrow after my doctor's appointment so that I can get the ones they've got on hold for me. I have to finish this one by Wednesday night. Hope I can do it, things are getting really busy.

1st book on the lists

I picked the first book to read from the Truman list because it is actually one I'd been thinking about reading for awhile, and it was one I knew we carried in hardcover at the bookstore so that I could check it out last night. It is called Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It is really good so far. I just started Chapter 11, and I'm on page 150. I intend to for sure update what page and chapter I'm on of what books every day. I've added a countdown clock to my blog to show how much time I have left to read my 50 books. It looks like I have approximately 2 days per book. We'll see how that goes!! I also intend to come up with some kind of either slide show to show the books I've finished, or else a list as I complete each book I'll add it. Didn't post yesterday because I wasn't sure what book I would start and I was tired when I got home.

So keep watch! So far Hunger Games is really good and I do want to read it whenever I'm doing something else. I think it goes with me to eat, go to the bathroom, as well as during commercials, or a half hour before bed each night. Okay, need to do some other stuff tonight.

I know, I know, I missed again AND a movie review: The Inglourious Basterds

Well, I was really tired last night when I got home from the party at CeeJay's house, so I just went to bed. First week of school down. Yay!

So, some good, but kind of crazy news. Last year I was a reader/selector for the Mark Twain books that are the current ones kids are reading at school. I didn't really sign up at the MASL conference for any this past spring, thinking I'd take the year off. Earlier this week MASL newsletter sent out a form asking for the Truman award to have student readers. Mark Twain is considered 4th-6th grade. Truman is for 7th-9th graders, and then there is the Gateway that is 10th-12th graders. There are also the Show Me Readers that are picture books. Well, I asked if they still needed teacher readers for Truman. They said sure, so I volunteered to do that. Then, today, I received an email saying "Thanks for volunteering to be a Mark Twain reader/selector." I don't remember signing up for that, but hey, why not. Sure, that's 50 books I have to read between now and December 1st, but I've decided that is what I can blog about. Tomorrow I'll hopefully be able to check my first one out from the bookstore I work at because they let us check out hardcovers. And I know a couple are ones we keep in hardcover. This afternoon I went online to the Mid-Continent Public Library and reserved all the other books that I don't think I can get at the bookstore. Last year I shortlisted some of the Mark Twain hardcovers in to the store, but they've really cracked down on that, so I'm not going to try it this year.
I want so bad to be on the committee for any of these 3 book awards. I belong to MASL, but they don't allow you to be on committees unless you are actually a librarian. And I'm still stuck in the classroom. So this is kind of my way of staying in the whole library thing. So anyway, starting tomorrow, all my blogs will at least be an update of what book I'm reading, and maybe what page/chapter I'm on.

Tonight we went and saw Inglourious Basterds. Now, I'm normally not a huge Quentin Tarantino fan, but I really, really, enjoyed this movie. It was a bit of an alternate history tale on the Nazis and people trying to fight them. Yeah, it was normal Tarantino weirdness and bloodiness. Like in the movie Burn After Reading, Brad Pitt played such an over the top character that I think once again he stole the movie. I love Pitt in those kinds of roles. So anyway, if you're looking for a good movie, that's the one I'd recommend right now.

Ready for fall tv to start

While I'm glad there isn't much tv going on, because I don't seem to have much time to watch it, I'm also ready for all my shows to be back. I got five miles in today. Worried if I would because the clouds just looked really scary all night, but we didn't get anything. Then I went to visit my step-mom in the hospital. She had a routine surgery, doing fine, but she's going to need help when she goes home because my dad has to go out of town for a few days right after. So I'm going to have to find some time to go visit her. Of course, in another week, my mom is having back surgery, so I'll be visiting her in the hospital too. I think I've set a goal to NEVER have surgery. I'm guessing at this point I'll probably never have kids, so I think I hope to not ever have surgery either. Although, my hip/back/sacroiliac joint keeps bothering me, who knows what we'll have to do about this. Plus, my shingles are acting up again. Probably the stress of the pain as well as being back to school. Today went the same as yesterday. Good morning, not so good afternoon. If only winning Powerball tonight could really happen. I'd be done teaching the end of this week. If they were nice, I might give them a couple weeks to find someone. If I won, these are the things I was thinking I'd do for other people: I'd give my friend Jo and her husband the money for a downpayment on a house, I'd give all 4 of my parents, my two sisters, and my brother 2 million each, I'd donate half a million to the cancer charity David Cook helps as well as the same amount to lung cancer research, I'd help lots of people. I'd also buy/build a house that I wanted. I want a ranch with a basement and a library with built in shelves. I want a flat yard so I could mow myself, and be able to fence the yard. In a nice neighborhood with sidewalks or walking paths.

Okay, I'll probably write more tomorrow, maybe, I've got a party to go to in Excelsior Springs, and I should try to go visit my step-mom, so I may not get to walk tomorrow. Which means I'll only have walked 10 miles this week. Oh well. I'll do better next week.

First REAL day of school

The morning started out pretty good. I actually felt after the first 2 classes that I could maybe do this for another year. Then, my 5th hour started. A class of 20 boys and 9 girls. That should tell you right there what the issue was. Boys with constant, stupid questions, just to be smart-alecs. God, all I can hope is that I win the Powerball tomorrow. Last hour of the day wasn't as bad, but with the crazy way we scheduled to spend extra time instead of going to Advisory was just a pain. Plus, I wonder when in the world will the buses get there on time. I'm so tired of waiting sometimes 10 minutes past when class is supposed to be over. Just add in the minutes to our classes and don't make us wait with nothing to do for that long at the end of the day. These are the things that reminded me why I do not want to be teaching anymore.

Wanted to play Sims 3, was really enjoying it, then my stupid Sim got stuck. I hope the hint on how to fix it will work next time I play. It's so addicting though, I was supposed to be watching my tv and not playing on the computer, and there I was.

I walked 5 miles tonight. Decided that was enough. It felt good though, I was worried it might be hard to get going, but no, that first mile was over before I even knew it!! Tomorrow night I'll get out and walk before I go visit my step-mom at the hospital. She's having a hysterectomy tomorrow, so she'll be in the hospital for a few days.

I got an email from MASL today, (Missouri Association of School Librarians), about the Truman selectors for next year's list. They were asking for student readers, but I emailed and asked if they needed any teachers to do it, and they told me to go ahead. So I'm excited so I can read another list. It's a lot of books, but it's so great to do. Makes me feel a part of the library world even if no one will hire me to do that.

First day of school, sort of

So today was kind of the first day of school. 6th graders, and new to the school 7th and 8th graders came for half a day. I was getting a lot done and on the road to being ready for tomorrow the first "real" day of school, until we had to meet about Greater Gator, a class which to me is a waste for all but those in the special CA or Math classes. But that's another story. Got kind of busy this weekend and forgot to blog every night. Well, part of the problem is that I opened my new laptop, which meant I got to play Sims 3. And of course, now I'm addicted.

Anyway. I still have 2 book reviews to do. I'll try to get them in tomorrow night. Hopefully the rain won't be when I get time to walk tomorrow night. I'm going to try to do 7 miles each day the next 3 days, that should get 21 miles in before I weigh in next. But my step-mom has surgery Wednesday, and I'll need to go visit her at the hospital Wednesday night. Then Thursday night there is a party at a B&N co-worker's house that I've planned to go to. It's supposed to start at 6, but I may get there a little later.

I plan to do another pork tenderloin in the crockpot while I'm at work tomorrow. Just putting it in the crockpot with a jar of taco sauce instead of salsa this time. After I get home from work, and then from walking, I'll be able to have a pork soft taco. They were so good last time, I'm hoping using the sauce instead of salsa will make it not so runny and messy. I need to see what kind of snacky food I would like to bring to the party Thursday night.

Okay, I'm going to finish watching The Big Bang Theory and go to bed. Oh yeah, got set up to record the Twilight Weekly update show on the Reelz channel tonight, so I can't wait to watch it!!

Two days gone!

Oh my goodness, what a waste of a weekend. Sorry no blog for two days. And right now, this is just a short update to let you know I'll try to write more tonight when I get home from the bookstore. Kids had a half day, and they're gone now, so I'm trying to get seating charts done among other things before the real "first" day of school tomorrow.

First Friday Post

Tonight was a favorite Friday night for me because I got to see two movies: The Time Traveler's Wife and District 9. So I'll now do my first movie reviews on this new blog.

The Time Traveler's Wife: This was a really good book. It's been a while since I read it, but I think the movie stayed pretty true to the book. They bill it as a love story, and it is. No matter what anyone says.

District 9: Pretty good as well. An interesting new slant sort of on alien type movies. A little of the camera work that makes me kind of sick, although I'm not sure if it was that, or all the cinnamon sugar powder I put on the popcorn. But I spent part of the movie feeling nauseated. Still kind of do. So I got a diet 7-up out of the fridge when I got home.

I walked either 9 or 10 miles today, lost track for sure. Didn't quite make my goal, I still have about half a pound, but I decided that I will go ahead and open the laptop tomorrow. I figure I've worked hard all summer. I've denied myself a lot to stay on my diet, and I've walked so much that while it was a good summer, and I enjoyed walking, I didn't get any days really to just lay around all day in my pj's, which is part of what makes a teacher's summer enjoyable. So I'm also thinking tomorrow I will take a day off from walking, even though I have the time. I'm going to pretty much stay at home all day, until I go to work, or possibly also to have lunch with a friend. I will probably do my Wii fit some though, and follow my WW diet still. But it will be nice to sleep in as well. Even though I still didn't get up as early as school will make me, I rarely slept in much really, so I plan to do that tomorrow. I wish it would rain tomorrow though, that would make a perfect sleep in morning.

The pain today was still enough to make me scream. And while walking didn't bother it, as soon as I would sit down for even a minute, I'd be in pain again. So I called the doctor's office to find out if I could take tylenol like my brother said. They said I could. So far, the extra strength tylenol is a miracle worker. Now, I wasn't calculating correctly the time to take my second dose, and so I took it a few hours early, which could also possibly be what led to me feeling sick at the movies.

Okay, off to watch tv and go to bed soon. Tomorrow I may do my first book review on this blog as my main blog of the day.

A Thursday with no must-see tv

Summer has been weird with nothing to watch on Thursday nights. I mean, from September till May, I usually have so many shows on at the same time that I have to record 2 on the DVR and one on the VCR in my bedroom. Makes me want uverse, but I don't want to switch email and all that stuff. I'm so eager though, for fall tv to get going. Survivor, The Office, Supernatural, all the other shows as well. As soon as Entertainment Weekly puts out the new fall schedule, I'll post on here what "my" fall tv schedule will be.

Got quite a bit done at school today, but not near as ready as I'd like to be. So tomorrow I'll go walk, going to try to do 10 miles, maybe weigh in, lunch, and then go into my classroom for a few hours. Don't know if we're doing movies tomorrow night. I hope so, I really want to see The Time Traveler's Wife.

Got my hair done tonight. It looks really cute, my hairstylist took a picture, I'm just waiting for her to post it on Facebook, so maybe tomorrow night I'll post it in my blog.

My hip/leg hurts a lot. This morning it hurt so bad I wanted to just scream in pain. It still isn't doing great. So I think tomorrow I'll call my doctor and tell her the Celebrex isn't helping at all. I did some online research into the sacroiliac joint issue, and the prognosis is kinda scary to me. The physical therapy sounds really painful, although I saw suggestions of massage unlike what my doctor said. I see it could have something to do with driving long distances. And I think it first started bothering me after a couple long trips I made. Maybe next Memorial Day, if school gets out earlier like it's supposed to, I can maybe ride with someone else to Branson instead of driving myself.

Not sure what else to talk about right now, kind of a boring day. So I'll try to write more later.

Third time is the Charm

This is my 3rd official blog, and also tonight I saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for the 3rd time. Saw the movie this time on IMAX. I still didn't get to see the preview for The Lightning Thief, which I'm really wanting to see because I loved those books so much.

Convocation was good today, because I never saw the one person who would have made it bad. And, I skipped out of the speeches in the middle and went and got some shopping done at Target. The bad thing is that I forgot to do some balancing in my checkbook, and I think I'm about broke now!! Oh well, what will I do? I need Friday's paycheck so bad. But Friday I need to pay my water bill, so I'll be kind of poor for a week. No cooking next week probably, just will buy what I need for easy lunches.

Only walked 5 miles, just not enough time by the time I got home, figured out my money error and then got to park. Because I needed to take a shower before I met my dad and step-mom at the movies. Tomorrow night I'll miss out on the staff party at Lyn's house because I have a hair appointment at 5. I'm excited for the hair appointment, which is going to have to go on my credit card because I'm broke. So I hope that will be okay. I also have to figure out how to get to Jacque's new salon. I'm going to stay with the same colors, but not sure about the style. I've had so many compliments lately that I'm not sure about cutting it too much.

Last thing to talk about tonight before I go to bed. The celebrex my doctor gave me seemed to be working well last night, today, not so great. I hope it does better tomorrow. Also, the Juice Plus that my brother had told me about had a booth at Convocation. I may try it, again, I'm pretty broke. Okay, almost 11, need to go to bed.

Two for the money

Yeah, I don't know what the title of this blog has to do with anything. Just thought it was cute. Got quite a bit done in my room today. Went to the doctor and finally we may be onto something. She thinks it is my sacroiliac joint that is the problem. If that's the case I may need either physical therapy, or she says a shot of prednisone, but an epidural shot, which scares me. She had me do some blood work to check this hypothesis. She also gave me some Celebrex samples to try. So far, they seem to be working. I did have to call my brother, who is a pharmacutical (sp?) sales rep, and ask about the drug. I have heard on those lawyer commercials this drug name before and so I was curious. He gave me some info, said it was probably okay since I wasn't probably going to be on it long term. But now I can do some research into it and the injury on my own. The doctor said this didn't seem to be a muscular injury that massage probably wouldn't do any good.

Got to walk 5 miles today, but kind of late, so still going to bed later than I planned. Tomorrow is Convocation at PVBC in Liberty. I hate Convo, it's a waste of time in my opinion. I don't want to see the person who got my library job, and I really don't want to go sit through the science curriculum meeting, it is an hour and a half this year. I swear it has always been only an hour. Oh well. I intend to go talk to some bank people about getting my finances in order so I can think about quitting the district at the end of the year. Other than that and my meeting, I am bringing my book to sit and read through most of the time I have to be there. I refuse to go sit at the stupid motivational ceremony. Maybe I'll leave for lunch or do some shopping at the Target during that time instead. Tomorrow night supposed to go see Harry Potter on the IMAX. It will be my 3rd time, my dad and step-mom's first. I'm excited to go, it was really good.

Okay, going to go to bed, or at least to go watch an episode of The Big Bang Theory and then go to bed. Driving to Liberty adds some time to my morning.

Day One

So, I feel it shows how dedicated I am to this because really right now, just home from work at the bookstore, I'd rather be up finishing the book I'm reading, which will in a day or two be my very first book review on here. I've got 4 books I've finished that I haven't reviewed yet, but I think I'll do those on My Space so that I can tell any readers I have over there, to come here for future reviews. But let's just say the book I'm reading right now is so good, I hardly want to put it down, and I will probably go upstairs and not go to sleep till I finish, EVEN though tomorrow is a school day again.

So, first, I wanted to talk about my dreams last night. For some reason I was in my grandma Viets's house. Now, it wasn't exactly the same inside, or what was on the land around it either. Not sure why I dreamed about that, and can't remember a lot of the dreams, just think it's weird that several dreams were in this same location over the last week.

This morning started out not so great, I got a little bit behind schedule before I could leave the house. The schedule we'd gotten in the mail said breakfast was from 8-8:45, so since I didn't plan to eat breakfast, I got to school at 8:30, which meant all the normal parking was gone, and my principal had started early. So I was kinda late. Oh well. I don't really care. At least we didn't have a really stupid icebreaker to do as normal.

I got through the annoying LMC presentation. Annoying because I really feel that it should be my job, even though I'm now kind of friends with her.

What else do I want to talk about tonight? Bookstore was about normal. Oh yeah, my back is bothering me even more, I was able to call and get a doctor's appointment for tomorrow when I told them the pain was moving farther down my leg. This may cut into my walking time, but I intend to still get my 5 miles done.

Okay, I'm going to watch The Big Bang Theory and then read and then go to bed! See you tomorrow. Boy, this was a pretty boring one.

Let's get this party started

So, as you will soon find out, if there is anyone actually reading this, I am a big fan of movies, and it is actually a movie that got me back to blogging again, Julie and Julia. While I'm too scattered to do a themed blog like the main character did in that, it made me want to do something. So for the next year, I am going to use my blog to help me make it. I am trying so hard to find a library job, yet can't seem to catch a break no matter how many times I interview, or what I do to be better each time. Because of the economy I can't just quit my teaching job and take my chance elsewhere. And if you've never taught, you may not understand that teaching is not really a job you should do if you don't want to do it. It's a very stressful job. I've blogged on more private sites, such as Xanga and Live Journal, and even for a short time on here for one of my classes. But I've never really kept up with it for long. Live Journal turned into a place for me to gripe about my life because I wasn't friends with anyone on there that was in my "real" life. I don't want to do this here. I'm not saying I won't ever post things about sucky stuff in my life. But I want this to be more of a day to day replay and review of my pop culture filled life. I did book and movie reviews on my blog on My Space, but again, I've kind of drifted away from that. So my year long goal is just to make sure I blog every day. The only time I won't would be if I was out of town and had no access to a computer. And I'll try to warn ahead on those days. Also some days may be more than one post, as I think it's best to do separate reviews for each book or movie so they don't get confusing.

Anyway, long story short. Tomorrow will be my first official day of blogging. It coincides with my first day back to school for teachers' meetings. It will be a really hard day, knowing I'm having to teach instead of being a librarian, and just little things can get me welling up with tears. So hoping this will keep me going.