Summer Winds Down

My summer at home is about to end: I move back to my school in about a week. And that'll mean course work and shows and all that sort of thing.

Anyway, I know I've let this blog slide this month-- there's been other stuff on my mind and, honestly, there hasn't been much worth blogging about. But I do have a couple of posts planned. They should be up soon. Ish.

I haven't been blogging, but I have been writing a little bit on something or other every day (except Sundays). If I come up with anything worthwhile, I might post some of it on here.

That said, I hope everyone's having a great summer-- even if it is almost over.

Cat-astrophe

This guy seriously must have the same cat that I do. My kitty does this not only when I try to watch TV, but also when I try to blog, read, use the phone, eat, sleep... well, I think you get it.

Summer Reading

I've always been a voracious reader. This summer, I've consumed even more books than usual.

Here's the list of what I've read since May. The ones that were being reread are marked with an "R."

Tennessee Williams--Four Plays (Summer and Smoke, Orpheus Descending, Suddenly Last Summer, Period of Adjustment)
Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss (R)
Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss (R)
Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz (R)
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz (R)
Forever Odd by Dean Koontz (R)
Brother Odd by Dean Koontz (R)
Odd Hours by Dean Koontz
Gone With the Wind by Margret Mitchell
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (R)
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (I know, I know...)
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
The Innocent Man by John Grisham
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
In Odd We Trust Dean Koontz and Queenie Chan

Currently reading: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

So, yeah. For not being busy, I've been pretty busy. Well, I've told you what I've been reading. What have you been reading?

This Would Be A Wonderful Thing

My competition piece has made zero progress in the last week or so. I love my characters, but I'm not sure where I want to take them.

I saw this little comic and made a decision.


Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Yeah. I totally need one of those plot devices.

The Coolest, Weirdest Thing Ever

So my YouTube account knows that I'm a Bette Davis fan.

It's not a difficult thing about me to find out, really.

Anyway, my "recommended videos" has this listed on it when I hit the site today.

And it is the coolest, weirdest thing ever.

Someone (who probably has more time on their hands than is healthy) did a speed painting of Bette Davis. With a tube of mascara.

Check it out.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sahHSNy_Uk&feature=rec-fresh

Cats

So my brother-in-law (who hasn't updated his blog in quite some time-- content, Josh, CONTENT) has said several times that he wouldn't like to own a cat. All of the reasons he gives, I've noticed, are tied to some form of diabolical action on the cat's part.

But you know what I think the real reason is?

Small children. Oh yes. Just take a look.

more cat pictures

So I think the real reason he's so anti-cat is out of fear for the life of his small ones. I can see the wheels turning in that cat's mind-- it's planning its revenge.

Jist a Girl Who Cain't Say No

(Yes, that is an Oklahoma! reference. I know you're all shocked-- I certainly am. I hate that show.

But I digress.)

Last night, while I was eating dinner, the music minister from my church at home called me to ask if I'd be willing to sing with an ensemble Sunday morning. It was a last minute thing--which I have a hard time with, since I like to over prepare before I go in front of people-- and the group was going to get together to rehearse Wednesday night.

My mind immediately created a list of all of the things that I'd rather be doing Wednesday night. And it wasn't a short list-- let me tell you.

"Well, I can still do it," I thought. "I probably won't have to go to rehearsal; it's never hard to find the alto part in that sort of stuff."

I agreed to do it.

She told me she'd like for me to sing second soprano.

Here's the thing-- I can sing soprano. I can. But I don't really like it, and I'm much better with alto. I'm more alto than soprano, and almost more tenor than alto.

I was working fast to come up with a reasonable excuse for not joining the ensemble when she told me that she was having a hard time finding someone willing to sing the part.

"Wow," I thought. "Guilt trip, much?"

So I'm singing second soprano in an ensemble this Sunday. It could be worse, I know.

But still, sometimes it would be nice to be able to say no.

More Mia

There were two more Mia Michaels routines in So You Think You Can Dance last night, so I'm obligated to make sure that all of you see them.





I really can't get enough of these dances. When they're done the right way, they're just beautiful.

The Royal We and Why I Hate It

I think most of you probably know what I mean by the royal we-- when someone says "We think/say/do/eat/whatever" when they're really only talking about themselves and ought, really, to be using the pronoun "I."

I have a problem with this pronoun (I have a problem with a lot of things, as you might have noticed): when used in emails and the like, it's confusing.

Like, really confusing.

At work, I handle (mindlessly easy) paperwork and arrangements. There are only two things that ever make my job difficult: when everyone needs something at once and when people don't say what they mean.

The first problem is pretty unavoidable. Things happen-- stuff sometimes comes up all at once; I can usually deal with that pretty easily, though it does stress me out.

The second one, though....

There's been a situation today (forgive me, I have to be vague) where one of the things I worked on needs to be changed. But the person who needs the change made wasn't the one who told me that the change needed to be made.

Take a breath; I'll wait for you to catch up.

Ok, the person who told me what needed to be fixed is working on a similar thing with the person that needs the thing fixed (wow, the gossip in high school didn't seem this complicated). Long story short (er...kinda), I thought that what needed to be fixed was what BOTH of them were doing, not just the one.

I was wrong. I was told I was wrong. That's fine, I don't mind being wrong. I asked what I needed to do to fix the problem.

I got a response that uses the we.

After staring at my computer for a few moments, trying to figure out what the hell was going on, I got it.

"We" meant just the one guy. Apparently, it had all along.

So things are getting fixed-- hopefully, they're already fixed.

But, man, that was a lot of trouble for me to have to go through just because someone else felt like being pretentious.