I have an awesome brother. Well, two awesome brothers, but one lives on the other side of the world so I don't have as many opportunities to brag about him. Gordon, the one who still lives here, and I have gotten much closer in the last two years. There are many reasons for that, but one of the big one's is that we both deal with major health problems and end up spending a lot of time at home and on-line. And, while on-line, we chat about things all day long. Sometimes it's the mundane ("I got a great score on my game") and other times really serious ("I'm really frustrated/angry today.") It's built a really tight bond between us.
Last night, in particular, Gordon was entertaining me. Mo and I had joined my parents out at a restaurant for dinner. They were doing a special deal where everyone who ordered a meal got a free slice of pie. So the waitress had bused our table and brought us new silverware.
Well she didn't manage to get all the original silverware. The end result was that we had several extra sets that Gordon started collecting at his end of the table. He almost had enough knives to make "Wolverine" claws! In fact, he would have had enough if we cleaned off a dirty knife, but that's when the pie showed up, so he put them down.
Now comes the best part. He had so many forks and spoons gathered around him, that he decided he wasn't going to use any utensil twice! He was pretending to be a snob. He certainly managed to collect a sea of silverware and keep us all laughing!
My only regret from last night? I forgot my camera and I didn't think to ask my brother if I could use his to take pictures of him. *sigh* Oh well, I guess that will teach me to carry my camera more often!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
DS9 - Season 3
Deep Space 9 Season 3 was all about the relationships for me, well that and the development of different characters and the concept of identity. I'm sure other people would probably see the season differently, but that's what stuck out at me the most. Odo finding his people, Bashir and O'Brien's friendship, Kira and Vedek Bareil, Garak and Bashir, and they even have an episode all about relationships called "Fascination!" It's a fascinating episode (pun intended) where person after person starts hitting on some one you would never expect! Vedek Bariel on Dax, Dax on Sisko (ok that was expected), Kira and Bashier, and the list goes on! It's a highly entertaining episode.
They also, like I said, spend a lot of time on the concept of identity. The season starts right off the bat with Odo finding his people, and that escalates his turmoil about who he is, a concept he spends the rest of the series exploring. Is he defined by his physical heritage, or who he's made of himself, or a mixture of both?
One of my favorite episodes was one called "Facets" where Dax asks various residents of the station to join her in the Zhian'tara ritual. The Zhian'tara ritual is traditional for joined Trills because it gives them the chance to meet the former hosts through a process where their identities are temporarily psychically transferred into another person. Sound confusing? It is a little, but it was also histerical! It was fun to watch the different actors getting to play different roles, and of course I enjoyed learning more about Dax!
How can I talk about identity and relationships with out mentioning the episode where Kira is transformed into a Cardassian, Bashir's trip to the alternate universe, and Bashir's aging episode? Well..there...I've mentioned them and now you'll have to go watch the season to find out more!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
Buy It Now!
"Blood Bound" is the second book in the "Mercy Thompson" series by Patricia Briggs. Once again she's written a great book full of magic, adventure, and even a little bit of romance! Whereas the last book delved deep into the world of werewolves, this book takes us (and Mercy) into the secret lives of vampires.
Mercy knows that vampires are, by definition, evil. She makes an exception for her friend Stephen though, so when he goes missing, she's more than willing to investigate! Plus she has the advantage of being semi-immune to vampire magic, which has lead to the queen of the vampire coven calling on her for help, because they are dealing with a rogue vampire.
Along the way Mercy learns a lot about vampire society that she never knew, and a lot about her friend Stephen. Including that he seems to care for her a bit more than just as a friend. How complicated can her love life get? She already has two werewolves vying for her attention...
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Imaginary Menagerie: A Book of Curious Creatures
Buy it Now!
Poems by Julie Larios, Paintings by Julie Paschkis
"Imaginary Menagerie" is a wonderful book for any parent who wants to introduce their children to fantasy! There are fourteen different poems, each one dealing with different creature from myth, and each accompanied by a beautiful painting on the opposite page. This book is not only an interesting (and easy) read, but a feast for the eyes!
I also really appreciated that they have a couple pages at the end of the book that give you more details about each of the fantastic creatures in the book. So, depending on the age of the child, you can go into more detail or not as you wish. This would be a great book to read to your child, or to give them to read if their old enough!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire
Buy it Now!
"A Lion Among Men" is the third book in his series "The Wicked Years" that started with prize winning book, "Wicked." The first book, Wicked, told the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. The second book, "Son of a Witch," told the story of Liir, Elphaba's son (we think). In this book we learn the story of the Cowardly Lion and the oracle Yackle.
I actually didn't like the story of the Cowardly Lion that much. I'm not sure if that's just because Maguire did a good job of portraying him as cowardly, or if it was something else, but I didn't enjoy this book as much as the last two. I did enjoy learning more about Yackle and her origins though!
Throughout the first two books Yackle is a mysterious character who hovers on the edges of the story. She shows up in some of the oddest places, and you always wonder why she's involved with the story. In this book we finally learn why!
From looking on-line, there are no more books written yet in this series. I'm curious to see where he's going to take the Oz story next, and I'm hoping I like book 4 better than I did book 3!
Friday, October 2, 2009
A Look at September
As I sat down to write this post I was feeling a little bummed. I really didn't get any writing done this month, and since that's part of the purpose of having this blog, I didn't really want to write up my "month in review" post! Then I stopped and thought about it. I dealt with about two weeks straight of migraines because of the paint fumes around my apartment. On top of that I had to move in with my parents temporarily. So, basically, life was pretty disrupted this month. Last time I had this many migraines back to back I completely dropped out of the blogging world. but this time I still managed to get 26 posts up! I've decided, based on that, I'm happy with the month :) now lets hope I can get more writing done in October!
Personal Stuff:
My Writings:
Book Reviews:
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Septembers Winner!
Can you believe it's already October? It feels like September went by so fast! But another month, and a new winner in my top commentator contest! And that winner is...
Yunaleska is a fellow book review blogger, and I love reading her reviews! And now for the fun numbers :P
Top Commentator: This month - 17, Last month - 15
Total Commentators: This month - 32, Last month 27
Total Comments: This month - 105, Last month - 93
Want to win your own $10 Gift Certificate? Just comment on this blog!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)