That Just Happened!

www.thatjusthappened.ca.  Now there’s an address I haven’t typed into
my internet address bar in a while.  I have effectively had 8 months of the worst writer’s block   laziness ever.  So why now?  Where did the inspiration come from to start writing again?  Well, a few places.

One, I have ideas again. Ideas about what to write, that is. I think most of my friends will attest to the fact I usually get ideas.  Dastardly, evil, revengeful, brilliant ideas, especially after a cocktail or two.

Two, my days and nights are reversed just like how it was ages 0-12 months.  My natural clock took over and all-nighters are occurring once again. Only this time they are less fun because I am; a) doing it alone and b) I have not had one or two of the aforementioned cocktails.  I have met a few women who are in the same boat as me, but they are menopausal, so they weren’t too interested in my circadian rythyms.  How can I compete with hot flashes and night sweats, anyway?  I just have dark circles and an internet search history that reads: “Girls Next Door Bridget Dogatonic Video” and “circadian rhythms”.

Three, my dear friend over at The Pond, Blond Duck, has written an awesome book that I said I would review for her.  I thought it would be weird to just throw out a review after months of silence, so take this as an introductory post and a promise that I will be reviewing one fantastic, whimsical book.  Her Halloween series  was a scary story that was actually scary.  It is supposed to be for young adults, but I got chills and it wasn’t because the a/c  is positioned to blow down my neck when I am at the computer, because it was cold outside when I read it and the a/c wouldn’t have been on.  So there.

Four, I have a stack of books that I have read and am hoping will reach the ceiling by the end of the year.  I have to review a lot of them for the Governor General Awards challenge that I made for myself.

Five, who else can I tell about my lusty thoughts about Paul Gross and I why I think he is everything that is sexy and Canadian and male?

Six, my hormones are a swingin’ lately and with the return of the cycstic acne on my chin came enough angst that I feel I have something interesting to write about.

Seven, MPW (my partner Will) is saying stupid things again.  Like, “Who are The Judds?  You mean it’s not just Ashley?”

Eight, someone left me a comment on my “about me” page that just said, “You can go F**K yourself” and I just want to say, “Well…F**k you too, random person who is probably spam. F**k you too.”

Nine, I am getting tired of entering into blog giveaways and not attaching a blog address to my name because I haven’t done anything new since January.  In addition, I am sure Blond Duck would like a new post to leave a comment on.

Ten, Stephtastic is in Derby and I go see her games, KB (my brother-in-law) is doing improv which I go see, MPW is going to start skiing before I know it and I’ll be left all alone and I’m craving some attention, gosh darn it.  What about meeeee?  Notice meeeee!

Well, there ya have it. I’m back.  I’m committing.  I really just want to talk about Paul Gross.

That Just Happened!

Well, folks, here it is.  My wrap up of 2010 challenges and status updates.

I started off the year with the best of intentions, but I just couldn’t keep up with the 2010 Social Justice Challenge. 

I think I got through to March and then I just abandoned it.  I really wasn’t able to give it the time it deserved, but I love the premise for this challenge and I like that there was more to it than reading.  I read about Religious Freedom, Water, and Domestic Violence and Abuse.  Pretty heavy topics, if I do say so myself.

I had much better luck with the 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge.  I had committed to reading at least 12 YA books and I read more, but I only counted 12.

 I would say the highlight to this was the introduction to the Hunger Games Trilogy.  What a great series! 

The TwentyTen Challenge was pretty cool because it forced me to read a wider range of books.  I think my favourite category was the Bad Blogger, in which I picked up recommendations from Jenners and Alyce.  I managed to complete this challenge with no problems at all.

I also kicked butt at the 2010 Support Your Local Library Challenge.  Especially because for most of this year I didn’t really have a library.  They closed my branch for construction and any book you wanted to borrow you had to put it on hold and they would call you when it was in.  Despite waiting 6 months for some titles I managed to go well over the 50 book pledge, but stopped counting at 53. 

For the last month and leading into 2011 my library is completely closed, so all the books I had on hold were going to be sent to another branch.  However, they have not called me once to tell me a book is in, so I think this year I will have to buy/borrow more books than I wanted to.  Especially since the next closest branch has no parking.  What library has no parking?  Isn’t that why I moved to the suburbs?  To drive my car around and be able to park it in ample lots that used to be green spaces?  Isn’t that my right?!

Anyway…

As always I am still working my way through the Governor General Award Winners for Fiction.  I managed to get quite a few read this year, but here’s the thing.  Some of them are boooring.  Some of them are no longer in print and very hard/impossible to find.  I’m going to keep plugging away at this in the next year.

Santa was really good to me this year and brought me a classic literature library with 52 books!!!!   I cried when I saw them.  I literally cried with happiness.  Some of them I have read and some of them I already have copies of, so I am probably going to be giving away the duplicates that I have.  Look forward to My First Giveaway!  in 2011 (and tell your friends).

I also wanted to briefly comment on the lack of challenges being hosted this year.  Is it me, or is there a little bit of a lull?  Are we all challenged out?  Maybe we just want to read whatever we feel like?  Maybe I’m missing something? 

I want to thank all of you for sticking it out through this year.  I can’t believe that after posting “The Grossest Story I will Ever publish on my Blog“  I didn’t lose a single reader.  That either means that most of the readers are my family, or  that you really like hearing about my vajayjay.  Weirdos. 

I hope that your New Years is filled with luck and cheer and you are able to spend time with loved ones. 

Yeah, That Just Happened!

Shulman, Polly.  Enthusiasm.  G.P. Putnam’s Sons (2006).

 “There is little more likely to exasperate a person of sense than finding herself tied by affection and habit to an Enthusiast.” Julie knows from bitter experience: her best friend, Ashleigh, is an Enthusiast. Ashleigh’s current fancy is also Julie’s own passion, Pride and Prejudice, and the heroine’s quest for True Love. And so Julie finds herself swept along with Ashleigh, dressed in vintage frocks and sneaking into a dance at the local all-boys’ prep school. There they discover several likely candidates for True Love, including the handsome and sensitive Parr. And Julie begins to wonder if maybe this obsession of Ashleigh’s isn’t so bad after all. . . .

Barnes and Noble.com

Last week I had posted a review for The Grimm Legacy   and I was looking forward to reading Shulman’s first book Enthusiasm.  I guess I liked the first one so much, I had expectations that were a little high for this one.  It’s not that I didn’t like this one, I was just expecting a little bit more.  This was a completely different book than Grimm.   There was no magic in this one, or fairy tales.  Just an age-old tale of two teens that had a crush on the same guy.  I did like that both girls were mature about it and there relationship didn’t end, and they didn’t fight over him.  I appreciated that both girls seemed to put a great emphasis on their relationship with each other.  I also liked how the book centered on Pride and Prejudice  by Jane Austen, one of my favourite books.  How often have I read it and wondered what doing a Quadrille would be like, or playing a game of Whist?  And these two get to do it!  Fun times!

I thought overall this was a well-written book about friendship, first crushes, and family relationships.  One thing I must say is that Shulman does seem to have a thing against Step-mothers…

I would definitely say this was a Read it if There’s Nothing Else.