Once a year (or so) I post

Apparently!

So being as this is a new year, I guess was bound to start thinking about things I had neglected and nothing could be more neglected than this poor blog. I log in to find that, lo and behold, the last time I posted anything was on this same date. Just, um...two damn years ago. lol.

Rather than get all guilty and make resolutions that I can't and won't stick to, I guess I'm just going to use this space as an occasional free-flowing online journal rather than a review site. I still read a lot but I don't have a big book buying budget and tend to get stuff from the library, paperbackswap, and snag any free kindle deals that look worth the effort. So I can't really comment on the latest hot trends, but whatevs. Books are books and I like reading them. Since I have to write a fair bit now in my "real" life (moar grad school!), I can't promise actual reviews or any coherence. It makes it too much like work and ergo procrastination ensues.

Anyways, on the book front....I spent the last week going through the entire Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. Yay library! And yay on waiting to read a series in which each book ended in a cliffhanger. Going through the story in one go was definitely entertaining. I don't think it would been nearly as much fun dragged out. That said, it was a pretty good story, albeit a little repetitive. I can see why there are those who are pro/anti Barrons. Mark me in as a pro-Barrons. What can I say? I like them growly, taciturn, and assholish sometimes. Probably it's the fantasy that the hard-shell guy can and will be saved by the love of a good woman, and all that. I read the first four books within two days and then listened to the last one (Shadowfever) on audiobook. All 20-odd hours of it. Sometimes I dig (narrator) Phil Gigante and sometimes he's a little over-the-top for my tastes, but I have to say that his Barrons definitely worked for me. Yum!

Another holiday library find was Nalini Singh's Kiss of Snow. Which was totally yummy even if the will-they-or-won't-they sexual tension between Hawke and Sienna was dragged out just a wee bit tooooo long. This is a series that I had written off after the first book but have since come around on. Having spent the entire series waiting for Hawke's story, it was delicious when it finally arrived. No regrets here. In fact, I may have to reread it before returning it.

Speaking of the library, I just got an email that they have some of the Moning highlander books waiting for me to pick up. Cuz there is nothing like glomming a backlist once you get going on a series. Going to head over right now and snag them.

So that's what's up chez sula for the moment. Stay tuned or don't. I'm hoping to not wait another two years to post again. :)

my fav things

Updates!

I took my last final exam in my last class to complete my MBA degree. woot! As readers of this blog will know...it's been a slog - 2 courses each semester, 3 semesters a year (no summers off) but it feels great to be done. :) I will walk in our summer graduation ceremony and am quite looking forward to balancing that mortarboard on my head.

DF and I were housesitting for our friends at whose house/backyard we will be having our wedding. It's out in the country, wide open fields and mountains in the distance as well as a gated English garden. The great news is that I was able to get some of my artistic helpful friends to come over and we planned out where the ceremony will take place, the reception, etc. I am feeling much better about the status of the whole event. Mainly because I have such awesome talented friends. Thank gawd they have cute ideas and can decorate cuz I surely cannot.

On the reading front, I plowed through a couple of books from the library. One was so awful it was a DNF, Kat Martin - Heart of Honor. But the other two were delightful and easy to zip through in an afternoon. Jacquie D'Alessandro's Love and the Single Heiress reminded me why I continue to pick up books with her name on them (even when I have been burned before). She's hit or miss with me, but when it's a hit, it's quite good. And of course Julia Quinn is always a safe bet for an enjoyable read. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheaver was a lovely little book with a successful childhood crush turned adult romance storyline. Nice.

Now I'm hitting my own shelves for some re-read material before I get to the library. Currently, I'm working my way through the Elizabeth Hoyt Prince books. The Leopard Prince is on my table at the moment. I'd forgotten how funny it was. I just hope the heroine doesn't annoy me as much this time around (I recall her pulling some serious TSTL action near the end).

And now, I am to share seven favorite things. Super Librarian Wendy awarded me with the Kreativ Blogger award, and I think I'm supposed to come up with seven more people to bequeath. Thing is, I am so late on this, I bet all the bloggers I know have already done it. lol.

Anyways, here are some fav things.

1. U2. Love them, every album they have done, every b-side and outtake, every passionate save-the-world speech that Bono gives. Did I mention that I have flown to places and camped out in parking lots just to be up close at the concerts? um, yes. And I joined the Peace Corps and worked in Africa as a tangental result of having my conscience spurred by them. Who says music doesn't change things?

2. Reading a deliciously good book. Well, duh. Reading is the one constant in my life and I can barely remember a time in my life when I wasn't curled up in a book. Finding a real keeper, a book that keeps you glued to your seat turning the pages, staying up till 3am to finish...that's the stuff I keep coming back for.

3. Travel. I was lucky in that my parents choice of work had us trotting around the world from the time I was 3. My own wanderings as an adult have brought me to several more continents. And now for my job, I get to jet off to places on official business from time to time. As exhausting as it is, I do love it. Getting on planes and stepping off in totally different, new, exotic places is a thrill. You never really know what to expect. So far I have visited more than 30 countries and I intend to keep adding to my list.

4. Coffee. Gotta have it in the morning to start my day off right. I guzzle down my first cup like it's a tall glass of water. The second one is enjoyed more slowly.

5. Cooking. I enjoy spending time in the kitchen, experimenting with recipes, planning menus, etc. DF and I really don't eat out anymore. Not only do we save money, but we can eat healthily. Of course, I don't know if the hand-made pizza I baked last night counts as healthy....but it was good.

6. Lazy rainy (snowy) days. You know, the kind when you just curl up on the couch or in bed with a good book or a good movie (north and south! pride and prejudice!) Then there is a baking project (cookies!) and maybe some hot chocolate or a big simmering pot of soup. mmm.

7. My fiance's scent. Ok, I know that sounds kinda weird, but really. No matter what he wears cologne-wise or even if he's been outdoors or working out, when I hug him or cuddle up to his neck, he smells fantastic to me. Makes me feel all cozy.

Since I'm too lazy to hit all my favorite blogs and see if anyone hasn't yet done this list, I will just open it up to everyone. Share some fav things if you want. Or don't. Or whatever. :) The floor is yours.

moving on...

once again, blog suffers from neglect. it's like a disease. sad really.

So the wedding plans are progressing. We spent tonight hand writing addresses and checking names off lists. I think we've got our food plans and table and chairs plans down. Still working on flowers and cake (looking more and more like Costco). Oh, and we bought wedding bands for both of us from a pawn shop. woot!

Work has been crazy busy this week, but sometimes that's a good thing. Keeps me focused I think when I have so many things to do with tight deadlines. We're nearing the end of our cycle and my numbers are up this year. Thinking about asking for a promotion. Even if no raise is possible due to the economy, I would settle for a better title. Gotta think about the resume. ;)

One reason I think I ought to ask for this is because in less than a month I will be receiving my Master of Business Administration degree. That oughta count for something, right? Yes, after two long years of evening and weekend classes and homework to come home to after work, I have three more class sessions to go. Graduation is mid-August. I'm feeling pretty happy. And ready to take more classes...maybe Spanish? heh.

I have a book to read. Yay library! So far this is intriguing. I wish I had read the previous books more recently because I get the feeling there is some tie-in with the characters, but oh well.

RWA is happening over in DC, which is not too far from me. I'd like to drive over to hang with the cool kids on Saturday but we'll have to see. So much to do, so little time.

final note: DF had his first viewing of that totally classic film, "The Sound of Music" and he loved it. Now we are singing the Do-Re-Mi song and others. So funny. He'd never seen it before.

insert clever title here

Well, another weekend has come and gone. How they manage to do that so quickly...I'll never know. lol.

Good news! I was able to get my two bridesmaids together at one place at one time and we shopped for dresses. After trying on a bunch, we quickly decided on a style that flattered them both and in the color palette I'm going for (burgundy and chocolate and no it's not the color of the photo), ordered dresses, paid for dresses, dresses will be delivered to their doorsteps within about a month. hooray. Check another thing off the wedding to-do list. Unfortunately, that list just seems to get longer as more things that I ought to be doing crop up. le sigh.

DF and I finally got back to Target to use the little zapper thingy and choose stuff for a registry. It was kind of weird to be going around picking stuff we would like people to buy for us, but after a while it become kind of fun. We tried to keep it reasonable and practical and not extravagant. And s'rsly, it's TARGET, not frackin' Crate and Barrel or anything. lol.


I'm trying to read this book at the moment. Picked it up at the library because I had enjoyed some of the previous entries in this series. But now I'm wondering if my memory played a trick on me. There's lots of mental lusting and "oh I should not be attracted to this lower class dude" (on the heroine's part) and "oh I am so beneath this upper-class chick" (on the bow street runner hero's part) that I am fast becoming weary. But every night I pick it up and read a few chapters before bed. I have a hard time giving up on books.

I did enjoy Lover Ahvenged although it contained far too little of the central romance plot for my taste. Not that I wasn't expecting it though. I am totally skeeved out by the villain. Just ick. Really. I skipped his bits (har) whenever possible. John Matthew is making me a little annoyed but I'll cut him some slack for the moment. It's like his emo teen years. He best not keep carrying on with the poor-me stuff for much longer tho. As for the rest of the gang, I only wish that we got to see a bit more of the internal stuff between couples featured previously. Like the focus on Wrath and Beth and their relationship...that was nice. Can we have more of that but with RHAGE next time? k'thx.

And with that, I think it is time for me to find DF and start our evening stroll around the neighborhood. Weather is nice (finally no rain) and time's a wasting. Then it's homework time!

It's still snowing

Well, the weather forecast was right, and I woke up to snow on the ground and a snow day called. woohoo! After a little sleeping in, I woke up and made myself a healthy breakfast and curled up with a cup of coffee and my last library book, To Wed a Wicked Prince by Jane Feather. I'm not in the mood to do a proper review, but in a nutshell, I would say it's an average read. What I like about Feather is that she does give her stories a lot of detail and depth; it doesn't feel wallpaper. But the pace is also quite languid and slow and the book runs a bit long (almost 500 pages).

Prince Alex comes from Russia to England to do some undercover work for the czar, a childhood friend. Or is he on the other side? To be honest, I never did quite figure that bit out. hrm. Anyways, his mother was English but he was raised in Russia and never met her. One of his goals in coming to England is to claim some property owned by his father which includes the house his mother lived in for the rest of her life. She willed it to a strong young lady named Livia for reasons not quite explained in the story. One gets the impression that this book is part of a series and that some of the backstory is contained elsewhere. Alex sees Livia and decides that rather than kick her out of his house, he'll just woo and marry her because he needs a wife as part of his fly-on-the-wall spy scheme. He's very charming and kind of autocratic. Livia is no spring chicken but like any normal woman, she is flattered by his attentions. After their marriage, she begins to wonder about the strange Russian friends that drop by the house at odd hours and Alex's tendency to be peculiar now and again. But at least the sex is still hot. N'stuff. Like I said, the book runs long. It could have used some editing, imo, just to tighten things up. But I have to say that I did like Alex and Livia and enjoyed getting to know them. So overall, not a bad read.

As much as I would have liked to have stayed indoors curled up all day, I did have to venture out to pick up a prescription. This led to a little grocery exursion in which I also brought home some new ingredients to play with in my baking hobby. Flax seed and buckwheat groats. I worked them into a yummy WW recipe for rosemary oatmeal rolls. Very tasty and the house still smells great. I put my radiator units to good use with the bread rising phases. Did I mention that I really like my new place? yeah.

I'm back on WW after picking up a gradual 7 or so pounds over the holiday season. While I'm not anywhere near the danger zone, I don't intend to let things get out of hand. After all, I have a wedding to plan and a dress I want to look and feel good in. So back in the habit and it's a good thing. Paying more attention to what I put in my mouth and eatings lots of fruits and veggies. It works too because I'm already down almost 4 pounds, so yay! Now if I could just get myself to the gym....

Netflix had sent me a movie that I'd forgotten was on my queue. I think the only reason I put it there is because it stars one Gerard Butler. Title of the movie is "Beowulf and Grendel" and it has a lot of hairy men, rocky craigs, and hand to hand fighting. But did I mention Gerry Butler? Oh yeah. Worth seeing just for him and his ever-loving hair. *g* Oh and the extra stuff included some fun interviews with him talking about the movie and the role and I don't really know what else because I was just listening to the accent and not the words. In one part of the interview, it was obviously just after a scene wrap because he was taking off his chain mail and shirt while talking and being all casual and funny. Damn him and his prettiness.

So that's my day. Pretty lazy but that's ok. We all need a snow day now and again.

Gerard Butler and his really BIG sword. *snort*

Back to School

Well it is that time of year again. Not only is DF back to his dorm room and I have the apartment to myself, but today is my first day of classes for the spring semester. Four more courses and I will have that MBA. Two this semester, two in the summer. Come August, I should be graduating. And then a wedding in September. I have a feeling this is going to be a busy year.

It's been interesting to not only have my own place but to also have it to myself. DF will be spending time here on the weekends, but for now he's back on campus and super busy with what will hopefully be his final semester. Last night I found myself a little restless. I curled up on the couch, lit a candle in the fireplace for mood, turned on a CD...whipped up a batch of waffle batter to put in the fridge for the morning. Just did whatever struck me without worrying about running into people or getting in anyone's way. I am so happy to be back to a roommate free life.

In book news, I read a very satisfying story by Liz Carlyle. Never Deceive a Duke. After a string of so-so reads, I am happy to say that this merits at least an A-. If I have time tonight I may try my hand at a formal review, but for now I'll just say that the characters were well developed and showed growth over the course of the book. And despite some potential for Big Mis behaviour, there was no dreaded long separation to slog through (something that makes me really twitchy). So yay!

Now I need to go pack a lunch and tidy the place up before I go to work.

100 dresses later...

ok, so maybe it was more like 30 dresses, but anyways. Time for more random updates...

The wedding dress trying-on spree went very well. My cousin and I were able to narrow down which styles and cuts look good on me. Some of my favorites can be seen by clicking here and here and here and here and here. Your input, feedback, etc. is of course appreciated. Funny enough, I sent my mom pictures of about 30 or 40 dresses and the ones she picked as her favs were exactly the same as my favs. And my cousin's. And lisabea's! (woot!) So I guess that means my instincts are pretty good. hopefully. Now the great ebay search begins.

I'm officially on Christmas holiday aka time off work. I had hoped to take some half days off last week (particularly Friday afternoon) in order to use up some vacation days that I'd accumulated before they go away at the end of the year. Unfortunately, there were some crises that came up which only I could negotiate and I ended up spending my entire day scrambling around the office fighting fires. So much for that. pfft. Which left me feeling very grumpy and rather non-holiday-spirit-ish.

Bookwise, I'm halfway through Broken Wing. It's easy to read and while not ground breaking, a nice solid romance. It's nice to curl up with a book during the holidays and I'm glad I saved this one for that purpose. Very cozy. heh.

In major news, DF and I have put down a deposit on an apartment. Hope to move in around the first of the new year. If you've been around my blog for long you've probably read my ranting and whining at my roommate situation. I'm just getting too old to have to live with college kids and clean up after them. Anyways, we're really excited about the new place. It's in an apartment community that is not of the cookie-cutter modern variety. Mainly older and retired folks. Our apartment will be in a historic building, wood floors, big windows, closed-up fireplaces. Oh and radiator heaters!!! Best of all, it's within about a minute walk from the library and historic walking mall. The library is literally around the corner. And what a gorgeous building it is (as seen in photo here). I'm very excited to be able to just drop in any time and pick up books, CDs, videos and whatnot.

So that's what's going on in sulaland. Hope everyone is having a relatively low-stress holiday season. Now I'm off to go cook up an African meal for DF and one of our friends from Ghana. Tis the season and all that.

obligatory update

ack, poor wee blog. how i neglect thee.

Is everyone else full into the holiday swing of things? I've been at a few rounds of parties (coworkers, etc.) which is nice but has had the unfortunate side effect of bumping the scale up more than I would like. Back to the WW tracking thing. Gotta do it. But I had almost forgotten how many g-d points cheesecake is. le sigh.

I've been taking random days and half-days off work in order to use up my accrued vacation days before they vaporize upon the dawn of a new year. Tomorrow, I'm skipping to go try on wedding dresses. Yup. And so it begins. lol. My cousin is going to go with me which is good because I have no clue about this stuff. She's getting married in May and has already navigated the waters of "wedding dress shopping". Quite frankly, I wish we could do what men do and rent the damned things. Why shell out $$$ for a dress I will wear once? pfft. Anyways, tomorrow's expedition is intended to be an exploratory "what kind of style looks good on me and what kind should I avoid" trip. If I find the perfect style, I may just order it online from a Chinese vendor. (no really...I just might. lol)

In book news, I finished Adrien! I had had to put it down for a bit because Jake was making me twitchy. But I'm happy to say that although things were heavy, it turned out satisfactorily in the end. Um, the VERY end. Last page. Actually, last few sentences. Josh makes you work for it, dammit! Perhaps when I get over my lazy ennui, I will attempt something more structured in the way of a review.

But for now, I'm going back to curling up on the couch with DF (oh lookee, new acronym for new status of fiance) and watching movies.

getting started

Thanks to everyone who offered reading suggestions in my last post. Much appreciated. I now have some stuff on my PBS wish list, the library hold list and at least one book in my hot little hand. Oh and come December 1, I will have $15 in Borders Bucks to convert into more books. mmmm...books. Kristie, one of them will be that quest book, I promise. It looks like my cuppa. :)

So I am putting aside my fears of being hurt by evil Jake and have recommenced reading Death of a Pirate King. Of course it's awesome because let's face it...Josh Lanyon's writing just flows like a river and even though I see the way the current is taking me and that there are rapids ahead and omg, we just might capsize, i just can't help but let it whisk me along. le sigh. I'm almost halfway through. But I will say that I still hate Jake and want him to experience excrutiating pain. I'm vindictive that way. grrr.

In other news, I still have 2 or 3 pages of a group paper to write and submit. Actually I should have finished it last weekend but procrastination is my middle name. Tomorrow night. Yeah, that's the ticket. Only four more courses to go until I finish this MBA. I'll just keep telling myself that I can make it, regardless of how tired I am of the whole thing.

And finally, just for kicks I give you this photo that I took a few years ago in India. It never ceases to amaze me in all my travels and in all of the countries I've lived in, how ingenious and downright TALENTED people can be in transporting goods with only a bike.

Blogiversary

wow, how quickly a year goes by! Apparently, I have now owned this little corner of virtual real estate for a year. It's been fun. I've met lots of new friends, started reading a whole new genre of romance (yay m/m!) and fallen in lurve with Richard Armitage (*swoon*) and the loveliness that is North and South. So to celebrate, I am going to revisit the epic "white shirt" photo and try to read a few chapters of my shiny new Josh Lanyon book. mmmm. books.

Thanks to everyone who stops by this little place, and I promise that I'll be back in 29 days. *g*

i will find you

So tonight is my first night back on my own, so to speak. DBF moved back into his residence hall on campus. While I will miss having him around, it's not like we don't see each other every day during the semester. So it will be alright. I'll just miss having to roll over and shake him to stop his snoring. heh. Oh okay and I may just miss him for other reasons too. but enough of that. lol.

A friend of mine came over to hang out with me tonite, something that we rarely get to do. She's a filmmaker and documentary producer and has done some really cool stuff in her life. We get along great but just are both busy and have a hard time coordinating time to do stuff. So taking the evening to relax, catch up, watch some Olympics, eat some great food and then introduce her to the all-time classic film "The Last of the Mohicans"...was just too fun.

As we were watching LOTM, I couldn't help but think back to my first viewing. I was 12 years old just about to turn 13. It was the summer before I would make the big switch from our grade school to high school (both were boarding schools) which was on a completely different island. I was so excited to be going away to the BIG school but also nervous about becoming a teenager and starting that phase of my life. I remember seeing this movie and just being so caught up in the drama and passion of it. I was utterly enthralled. I think I cried. The movie was, to me, a Very Big Deal. I remember hunting through magazines by candlelight later on that night to find a one-page ad of the movie poster, ripping it out and posting it on my wall. That page was to follow me to school to be posted on my dorm room wall and back home each break. Eventually it came back to the States with me and was posted on my bedroom wall there. I think I finally retired it from my wall decor sometime in college, but it still lies in a storage box somewhere. Witness to my childhood obsession with romance, passion and adventure.

I got ahold of a tape copy of the soundtrack and played it incessantly. I taught myself how to play the main theme songs on the piano and would lose myself in the music. Whenever I had a chance to rewatch the film, I did so. I recall sitting in Biology class with a girlfriend and writing notes back and forth about how hot Daniel Day-Lewis was in the kissing scene. (come to think of it, this note-writing thing...was kinda like blogging and texting...back in the old days).

All of these funny little memories came back to me tonight as I watched the film yet again with my friend and witnessed her reactions to it. And you know what? It really is a great movie! It's not just my 12-year-old nostalgia apparently. She loved it and was totally drawn in. And she does this stuff (make films) for a living. heh. We had a good time.

I can't talk about LOTM without leaving you with the ultimate kiss. In retrospect, I still think it's an awfully HOT scene despite the fact that both characters are fully closed and nowhere near a bed. The total focus and absolute connection between the h/h is far more passionate than any bow-chicka-bow that I've ever seen. This is romance, folks! Enjoy!

Blast from the past - Princess Bride

So after that all-day study-a-thon, I came home last night totally wiped out. DBF and I curled up on the couch together, ate pizza and flipped through the TV channels. Turns out that Princess Bride was on, and DBF had never seen this class film! I had great pleasure in introducing him to one of my all-time feel-good favs.

I mean seriously...this movie is quotation heaven!
"As you wish!"
"No more rhymes now, I mean it!" "Anybody want a peanut?"
"Inconceivable!"
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
"My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father. Prepare to die."
"Your friend is not all dead, he's mostly dead....All dead and there is only one thing you can do....go through his clothes and check for loose change."
"Mawwiage...mawwiage is what bwings us togever today."
"There is a shortage of perfect breasts in this world. Twould be a pity to damage yours."
"Drop. Your. Sword."

*sigh*

I had such a teenage crush on Westley, although I didn't really want to be Buttercup. Even then I could realize that she was too much of a ditz (check out her lame reaction to the R.O.U.S. in the fireswamp.) But Westley...oh my little heart went pitter pat. I distinctly remember wearing out a hole in the VHS tape (remember those?) on the part when they rolled down the mountain and had their big reunion. AND being annoyed at Fred Savage's character for stopping all the good kissing bits.

Memories. Heh. Anyways, my BF really enjoyed the movie and now I'm sure to hear the Inigo Montoya line in the future.

Anyone else want to reminisce with me? Btw, if you are brave, ABC has this 20 year retrospective where they show then and now pics of the actors involved. My poor teenage crush...is seriously crushed. yikes!

Housekeeping

Whew. The DIK, it was long. heh. I feel as though I haven't blogged in ages. Oh wait, that's cuz I haven't. So I figure that even though I have a busy schedule of work and night classes today, I ought to at least blog a bit about the other stuff that has happened recently here in sulaland.

I won the pay-it-forward contest on RachaelfromNJ's blog and received a box of books in the mail! It was so exciting!!! Not just to win a contest (which as we know is pretty thrilling in and of itself) but to get a big ol' box on my poarch. mmmm fresh books. I'll post a list of the contents later, but upon my initial perusal, I don't think I have read ANY of them previously. Which is very cool because that means they are new to me. yay! Thank you again to Rachael for running the contest. And keep tuned, because I will be crafting my very own pay-it-forward some time in the near future.

I finished the sexy Vegas anthology. I enjoyed it muchly although some stories definitely worked better than others. The reason I haven't posted my review yet is because I haven't had a moment to sit down and give it the time and thought I want in order to make it a useful review. The goal is to have it up by this weekend.

On the reading front, I have to admit that I'm not really in the middle of anything at the moment. My bf has moved in to live with me over the summer and that has cut down on my free time. no no, not in the way you are thinking of (get yer minds outta the gutter). I see so little of him during the school semesters that I do try to squeeze in more quality time together in the summers. Usually this means sitting on the couch watching TV together. yeah, real quality time there. Oh but we did watch North and South from start to finish last Friday night. I had to explain a lot to him (English not being his native language and the intricacies of industrial British society not exactly a topic he's familiar with) but he caught on pretty quickly. At the end, he had a huge sappy grin on his face during the train scene. And he leaned over to kiss me. awww. *g*

I will be going to DC next week for my professional organization's annual conference. It's pretty big, couple thousand people at the convention center. I always like going because it's a chance for me to get out of the office and network with other people who do what I do. We can compare notes and best practices and get ideas for how to improve. Or just vent and bitch to each other and totally get what we're whining about. heh. Oh and staying in a hotel in downtown DC is fun too. DBF is coming with and will probably have a better time than me because he'll have free time each day to go see the sights when I'm in sessions.

So yeah, life goes on. I do want to say thanks to all of the fun and crazy gang that participated in the DIK. That was insanity. But very entertaining. I now have a much longer list of 'books I out to read if I could ever find the time, dammit!'. lol. And I am very pleased with my hut o' heros.

Now I must get going. Work awaits and I have an economics class tonight. The fun just never ends. See you round teh internets!

Books I'm looking forward to

As I've mentioned before on this blog, I'm a pretty thrifty reader. The DBF watches our expenses like a hawk, and I gotta be very strategic in my purchases of fresh new books. The library, paperbackswap and trading (read begging) from other bloggers supplies me with the bulk of my reading material.

That said, there are several books coming up in the next few months (or year) that I can't see myself waiting for. These babies...they're coming home with me. heh.

Elizabeth Hoyt made a huge splash on the historical scene last year with her Prince trilogy. I loved all of them (specially Serpent Prince) and I'm really looking forward to this one. Apparently, at least part of it will be set in Colonial America and the stuff in England is in the Georgian period. Hey look ma, no Regency!






The next two are by an author that has quickly become an auto-buy for me. Sam's Creed is the next installment in the Hell's Eight series. Clearly I enjoyed Caine's Reckoning quite a bit, and I've been waiting patiently for Sam's story. Awww, look at the pretty pectorals.








Speaking of waiting (and of pectorals)...how long have we been waiting for the Reverend's story? Ever since he showed up back in the previous Promise books, I have been curious to know what delicious passions are seething beneath the surface of this preacher. mmm. Is there something really wrong with me or is the idea of a buttoned up man of the cloth getting unbuttoned just really hawt? IDK. I just know I wanna read it. heh.





After reading the first three in this series in quick succession, I am ready for another installment of crazy Valkyries, vamps, shapeshifters and other whatnot. From reviews I have read, this story stars a heroine who is a ghost. Already. At the beginning of the book. And I think she gets to get corporeal later. So something like the opposite of Jane in LU. A ghost and a vamp? I'm willing to be convinced.





Well this goes without saying. Damned books are like crack. I'm not really looking forward to that spineless sad sack of a heroine Cormia, at least not as she was introduced to us in the previous book. But I remain in hope that I'll get to at least hang out with my fav BDB guys and also that we'll get to know more about Rhev in the run-up to his book. I've given up hoping that the best of the bunch (that would be Rhage) is going to get some serious face time. More's the pity because he's definitely my favorite brother and he never gets any good lines anymore. Bah!



Oh also, I couldn't find a picture but I can't wait for JL Langley to finish the next Regelence book, The Englor Affair. Hurry, JL! I need more Gay Regency in Space! mmm....Nate...


So what books are you looking forward to?

I'm here

Yeah, I'm still alive. After the excitement that was duel/dual reviewing with ms. lisabea, I was plumb tuckered out and too tired to blog. And since Tuesday I have been housesitting at a very nice place with a lovely view but with no internet. No internet you say? Sula, how do you do it? Funny you asked...apparently there are these marvelous inventions known as the book and the television. Also the boyfriend. All of which kept me suitably entertained.

I came home today to find not one but TWO copies of Pamela Clare's Surrender in my mail. I had ordered it from PBS and the first sender forgot to mark things correctly in the system, so I got an extra copy. So I'm giving it away. Put a note in the comments and I'll pick one lucky reader later this week. Why do you want to read this book? I haven't read it yet (obviously) but KristieJ has and she says it's good. And she has good taste in historicals. Oh and it's set in America during the French and Indian War. Did you know that historicals could be based in a time and place other than Regency England? Yeah, I know, that surprised me too. heh.

Last night I watched a plethora of Robin Hood episdoes on BBCA. Since stupid Comcast took away my BBC a few months back, I have been lacking in Torchwood, new Who and RH goodness. The housesitting gig did at least provide me with BBC-ness and I did enjoy it. I'm still agog that Marian would consider spindly boy-wonder Robin over the much hotter, deliciously bad Sir Guy. Richard Armitage is so smoldery and hawt, that I kept yelling at the television set in disgust when she'd blow him off. Am I shallow? Yes, maybe. But c'mon. We all know that reformed rakes make the best heros.

What else has been going on...

I finally finished Vanquished by Hope Tarr, but I'm not feeling all that inspired to write a review. Considering that I put the book down for long periods of time and on multiple occasions, I think it is safe to say that it just didn't do much for me. A shame, but there you have it. I also read An Irresistible Bachelor by Jessica Bird (aka JR Ward). Which also was ho-hum. I picked up Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas but have not had the guts to read it yet. From everything I've read about the book, it feels like something I "ought" to read but I don't yet have the courage to slog through a book in which the h/h have been suffering from major Big Mis for 10-odd years. I hate the Big Mis and I hate married couples who have been separated and said and done mean bad things to one another. Wahhhhh. *whine*

Oh here is one book that I did read (a week ago) and really loved. Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan. Thank you azteclady! Thanks to your review over at karen's, I got this book and I really really enjoyed it. Although the hotness quotient leaves something to be desired (soooo subtle, teh sexxoring is barely even there, *pout*), the world building was excellent and the characters felt very real. I was totally sucked in and could barely put it down. Can't wait to read the next one and the next after that. woot!

And finally, some really good news. It appears that I will be in SF for a work-related seminar in late July and the dates just happen to overlap the upcoming RWA shindig. Which means that I may be able to meet some of my awesome blogging buddies live and in person! How cool is that? I'm really excited! And just tickled about the great date/city coincidence. I'm not sure if SF is prepared for us. heh.

so much to do, so little time

I find that the more things that are dumped on my plate, the more I procrastinate. Instead of rolling up my sleeves and diving into the fray, I tend to shy away from even beginning the simplest of tasks. Partially because I'm afraid of failure and my effed up logic is that if I don't start something, then the final product won't be a failure. Ha. Great logic that. Also partially because I'm probably just plain lazy. IDK.

Anyways, I have a big stack of deliverables in my work and school lives this week and I'm trying to find the motivation today to really knuckle down and get to it. Then perhaps that focus will carry over into my blogging life and I'll actually finish some of the reviews I'm working on. heh. All part of my master plan.

How do you push yourself to finish things that you don't really want to do? Any great tips for self-organization? Time management skillz? Let's hear it.

at least it is friday

It's so pathetic when you have a blog and just have nothing of interest to be posted. Yes, that would be me. As you can see, I'm STILL working my way (slowly) through that book over there on the left. Vanquished by Hope Tarr. I don't know why it is taking me so long. I'm not a slow reader by any means. I think I'm just dragging my feet because the setup of the hero having been paid to destroy the heroine's public career as an advocate for women's rights (of course now that he knows her, he realizes he just can't do it!) is making me frustrated. It's the big secret, the big mis. The cloud hanging over the head of our couple's potential happiness. Even though I KNOW that all the barriers will be swept away by the last page and they will ride off into the sunset, I find that I really don't relish the process of getting there. Ugh. I'm an avoider.

I did read a hot m/m book the other day though, so apparently it's not my reading skilz that are lacking. Master of Obsidian by Jamie Craig. Assuming I can get my act together, there may be a review ready for Monday. I have mixed feelings about the book, so the review has been hard to write.

Here's some random mantitty to liven this entry up. Wish this dude was upstairs right now making my breakfast.


In other places around the blogosphere, I keep getting myself into trouble for being the lone non-Lara Adrian fan. lol. I should probably just keep my fat yap shut. Thing is, I really WANTED to like the Adrian books. I was totally psyched to read them, to find a fresh new series that I could glom. I'm a reader. I want to read books and I want to have a supply of good books available for my avid consumption. So when I do read a story that has such high recommendations, particularly when it's been so favorably compared to another author's work that I like, I wanna enjoy the book!! And when it fails to interest me, it makes me wonder what is wrong with me for missing what everyone else seems to get. Adrian may be a better writer in terms of technical skills, but I never felt emotionally connected to her characters. It's like my head could appreciate what I was reading but my heart was completely uninvolved. Ward on the other hand...hell, we all can point out the faults of the BDB writing style. Extraneous h's, stoopid bad guys, omg,she killed kenny...the list is as long as my list of blogs to visit on the sidebar. BUT. I love those books and I feel intimately connected with the characters. To me, that is why I read. Not to dispassionately reflect over a well-written book and say aha, yes, it is so well-written. But to lose myself in a world, in a story, and to truly believe that what happens to these made-up characters MATTERS. So yeah, in discussions about Ward vs. Adrian, it's Ward hands down for me. Quite possibly I am showing my lack of sophisticated reading chops. Then again, I probably never had them in the first place. Um, end of rant. Hey cool, it's my blog and I can say what I want!

And yay, my internet service is working again after being completely and weirdly on the fritz last night. I spent over an hour on the phone with a nice service representative in Louisiana who still couldn't resolve the issue but was really cool to talk to. This morning I wake up and voila, it's back on. Praise teh internets goddess!

Magickal Mystery Tour

So it seems as though the last week and a half has been my time for magick and mystics and all things paranormal-y. I began by finally cracking the CL Wilson book that dear katiebabs sent me many moons ago. Lord of the Fading Lands was definitely in the vein of fantasy with elves and fey and other such things. I devoured it very quickly. But upon reaching the end of the book, I did not jump into the sequel. I was a little bummed out that our h/h didn't even get together by the end and wasn't sure if I had the patience to go through another entire book waiting for this to occur. At least, not right away. So I took a break and entered yet another world - the world of Shana Abe's drakon. The Dream Thief worked much better for me than The Smoke Thief. I even woke up an hour early (on a weekday!) just so I could get in some extra reading time before work. Good stuff. Then, wonder of wonders, the mail came and a triple dose of books arrived from my blogging buddy, lisabea. Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark books 1-3. A Hunger Like No Other introduced me to this new world of magickal creatures. And boy, are there lots of them. Multiple species of vampires, witches, demons, werewolves, nymphs, the list goes on. The sheer variety of mystical beings sorta made my head spin. No Rest for the Wicked was super-good. I may have to skim it once more before sending it on to CJ. And today I read Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night, which was actually not as bad as I had been expecting (especially considering the awfulness of the cover art.)

whew.

So my ambition for this week is as follows. To write up a short review of each of these five books and to post one review for each day of the week. huh. We'll see if I can do it. The magickal mystery tour begins...

More stories from Africa

Apparently, I'm not destined to blog about books this week. In fact, it is national Peace Corps Week, so it's appropriate, I guess, that I'm thinking about my experiences in Africa and sharing them. You all will have to put up with another lengthy ramble from my journal...this time it is from my first month as a volunteer. To set the stage - I had finished my two-month in-country training period and been stationed in the capital city. It just so happened that I started my work during the month of Ramadan, and I decided to participate in the fast so that I could get a better feel for what life was really like in my new community. So here goes...

A Day in the Life

My alarm clock begins beeping at 4:15. Crickets chirp outside my darkened windows and I can hear the murmur of voices in the courtyard outside my living room window. If I ignore the alarm and fail to awaken, inevitably in a few minutes there will be a rapping on the window and someone will call my name. “Koumba, Koumba!” I swing out of bed, slip on some sandals, wrap a sarong around my waist and stumble out the door. “Aw ni sogoma” (Good morning) I croak. Four or five men sit huddled around a common bowl, scooping rice and sauce into their mouths with the right hand. “Nba, I ni sogoma,” they respond. A woman sits beside a coal brazier, stirring a large pot of hot milk. I pull up a chair and someone hands me a plate of rice. After rinsing my hands in a bowl of water, I mix the sauce into the rice with my fingers. When it cools enough to touch, I use my hand to make a sort of a spoon and begin to eat. In another part of the courtyard, children gather around other bowls, quietly eating. It’s dark; somewhere in another part of the neighborhood the muzzein is reciting parts of the Koran. Mosquitos nip at my ankles. Sulieman turns on a small radio and the familiar Parisian intonations of the ubiquitous Radio France newscast flow over my ears. Each day I find I understand and can follow the rapid text more and more, if I care to pay attention.

I can never even eat half of the rice that is heaped on my plate, so whenever I feel like stopping I put the plate down and motion for the bowl of water to wash off my hand. The man next to me hands me a cup of hot, sweetened milk with a hunk of baguette balanced atop it. I chew the bread sleepily and drink the milk to wash it all down. I try to listen to the muted conversation of the people around me which is inevitably in Bambara with a few French conjunctions thrown in here and there. Between trying to decipher the French on the radio and the Bambara spoken around me, I’m quiet and don’t attempt to add much to the dialogue unless asked a question. At which point I respond in the best Bambara I can muster, resorting to French words to fill in gaps in my vocabulary. When I finish with the bread and milk, I thank them for the food and then go back into my house to crash into bed. It’s still quite dark outside and the mosque lulls me back to sleep.

After a few more hours of sleep and several rounds of hitting the snooze on my alarm, I shake myself awake around 7:30 or 8:00. I’m expected to show up at work sometime around 9, but no one is keeping track. I fill up a bucket with cold water and use a dipper to pour the water over me. My tiny bathroom actually has a shower but it never has enough water pressure in the morning to sustain more than a few pathetic drips. After choosing an outfit and dressing myself in Malian clothing, I tie a matching strip of cloth around my head and arrange the excess cloth so that it drapes casually around my face. I slip on my dress sandals, check to make sure everything I need is in my goatskin leather purse and head out the door to greet whomever is around. You and the morning, was the night peaceful, how is your family, may we have peace in the day, may Allah bless us during this month of Ramadan - are just a few of the things we will say to each other.

Finally out the gate of my concession I stride down the street to catch the little green Peugot truck that is my public transportation into the center of the city. As I pass clumps of people, women selling bananas, children playing, men sitting in the shade I nod and sometimes greet them. It takes about ten minutes to reach the place where I will pick up my ride and I have to dodge motorcycles, cars, trucks, bikes, and pedestrians in order to cross the street. The green pick-up swings around the corner and the man in the back jumps out to usher passengers aboard. I climb into the vehicle, ducking my head to avoid hitting it on the low roof, take a seat on one of the benches and say good morning to the other passengers. Occasionally they will want to chat a bit, but usually everyone is lost in their own thoughts during the ride. The boy bangs on the side of the truck, running alongside and swinging himself into the back as the driver puts it in gear and we begin to roll into traffic. The same pattern is repeated at each scheduled stop. We reach the hectic street of the market and the road is clogged with green vehicles, all ferrying people to and fro. I hand my coin to the boy and tell him which stop I need to get off at. As we reach it, he bangs on the side of the vehicle and the driver pulls over. I get out and say goodbye, heading down the street to one of my two different offices. If it’s Monday or Tuesday I will have another ten to fifteen minute walk to OMATHO. If it’s Wednesday or Thursday, it’s only five minutes down a different street to CNPA.

As I walk down the busy streets, beggars call for my attention. Polio victims with shriveled limbs, old blind women, young women with armfuls of children. I haven’t yet figured out how to respond to every case. Sometimes I drop a coin into their buckets, but most of the time I pass them by. It’s a helpless feeling and one that I doubt I’ll ever get used to. As I pass stalls and shops, people call out to me in Bambara “hey, white woman, your clothes are beautiful” or “your braids are lovely” or “you look like an African.” I smile and say thanks as I continue on my way. Every once in a while a persistent admirer will walk alongside me trying to engage me in French conversation. I try to be polite but continue walking and tell him that I’m busy. I actually think that I may get myself a ring to wear and tell these sorts that I’m married and that my husband doesn’t like me talking to strange men. But so far, I’ve managed.

I get to my office and greet the guards and whomever is hanging out in the gateway. We joke around and they tell me how much I’m becoming like an African. I tell them that I couldn’t possibly be Malian because I can’t speak Bambara very well yet. Well, that will come “dooni dooni” they say. Little by little. Yes, I reply, Insh’Allah. If God wills it.

Entering the office, I make the rounds of greetings with all who are there and spend time chatting with the secretaries. Usually this is a melange of my very clumsy Bambara mixed with my much better French. If the person I am supposed to meet with is in a meeting, I may spend the entire morning just hanging out and talking while I wait. So far, although this grates a bit against my American sense of being lazy and useless, here it’s considered very important to build strong social relationships with your coworkers. So I tell myself that and enjoy the time chatting. The reception area at OMATHO always has some tour guides coming in and out, so I talk to them about their jobs, try to learn some of their languages. I can already do the greetings in Sonhrai, the language spoken farther east and north in places like Timbuktu and Gao. I’m trying to learn a few phrases in Dogon, the language of the people group of the same name who live along a long escarpment of cliffs and still practice much of their ancient traditions. Dogon Country is one of the main tourist draws Mali has to offer. I can’t wait to get my chance to go trekking there.

Because it’s the month of Karem and people are fasting, what would be lunch time comes and goes. Not everyone fasts, so there are people going out to buy street food and they take a bit of teasing from those of us who are fasting. Every time I am offered food and refuse, saying that I’m fasting, there is shock and usually amusement. Then expressions of approval and sometimes questions as to whether or not I pray. Yes, I say, I do pray but I’m not Muslim. I pray in the Christian manner. Oh, they respond. You mean like this? While they make the sign of the cross. Not exactly, I explain, I’m not Catholic, I’m Protestant. How do you pray? They ask. Anytime, anywhere, I respond. Ahhh. They look amused and curious. They tell me I should come to prayers with them sometime. I say we will have to wait and see. Then we all laugh and move onto another subject.

When I finally get to meet with whomever I’m assigned to that day, we speak French and he or she explains what their part of the office is responsible for. I try to ask questions so as to better understand. The other day at CNPA, I asked if someone could take me down the street to the Maison des Artisans where all the artisans work and sell their crafts. We went there and I was given an informal tour of the place. It’s essentially a big market and workshop. Leather being stretched and cut into sandals and bags, wood being carved into masks and figurines, beads being strung, cloth being woven, silver being heated and hammered into jewelry. I think I would like to buy one of everything, it’s all so lovely and interesting. I can’t wait to start buying items piece by piece to decorate my house. I met with the president of the maison, himself a jeweler and he was very enthusiastic and happy to learn that a volunteer was being assigned specifically to help in the artisan sector. He wants me to come back next week to spend some time getting to know people there and talking about projects we might undertake.

By two or three o’clock things at the office are slow and I usually take my leave. I catch the same truck from the morning, on a different leg of it’s route and get off near the Peace Corps office. Sometimes I come into the office to check my mail, see if a computer is free to check email, or just to talk with the staff. Then I walk to my tutor’s house for my language lesson. We sit outside in the courtyard under the trees and talk. I try to recount my day using whichever language we are focusing on that day. If it’s Bambara, the explanations are brief and straightforward. In French, I am working on getting more nuances and verb forms to flesh out my conversations as I am already proficient enough in simple discussions. Abdoulaye pulls a blackboard against the wall of the house and writes examples in chalk as I ask questions. As people come in and out of the courtyard, we greet them and sometimes talk with them for a bit. Practical application of language, after all. We stop at four o’clock briefly so he can pray. Then continue till around five.

At this point, we are both ready for six o’clock to come and the fast to be broken. Often, we will go out to the store around the corner and buy juice and yogurt, preparing for the call from the mosque that signals the end of the day’s fast. As soon as it the call begins we start by eating dates. I remember that I have always liked dates, but for some reason at the end of a day of fasting they seem to taste better than any food I have ever eaten. We drink steaming bowls of an herbal infusion like tea. It’s amazingly thirst-quenching and is apparently very medicinal and good for you, as well as tasting really good. Other members of the household come out to break fast with us and we all tell each other “I ni baara ji” which literally means “you and your work” but is often used when someone has done a good job at something. After the dates, the tea, the yogurt and the fruit juice, I feel sleepy and content. We usually all sit around rather quietly and reflectively, Abdoulaye and his friend smoking as they haven’t been allowed to do so all day. They wash and prepare to pray and I sit and read. After their prayers, we sit and talk and people begin to arrive for the evening’s communal prayer time/Koran recitation. Then the men go onto the porch and the women into the house. I’ve noticed that the men take turns leading the recitation. The melancholy Arabic tones drift past me and I spend the half-hour thinking, reflecting, studying my language notes, and doing a little praying of my own.

Afterwards, we sit around a common bowl and eat supper. Usually by this time I am tired and ready to head back to my house. Since it’s dark outside and my house is about a twenty-five minute walk, Abdoulaye has his friend drive me home or finds me a cab. I arrive at my house and the little shop that faces out into the street is always full of men on the front porch, watching television or drinking tea. “Koumba, you’re back!” they call. Sometimes I take them up on the invitation to join them in sitting and chatting. It’s a good chance for me to practice Bambara. Then I go into the courtyard and greet whoever is there, usually some women and children. I cross the courtyard to my house, unlock the door and go in. I flip on the lights, always aware of how lucky I am to have electricity as most volunteers in this country do not. After changing and slipping into bed, I write in my journal about my day, trying to make notes of whom I spoke to and what their names are so that I can remember them in the future. I study French verbs. I read a bit of a novel until I’m tired enough to sleep and then switch off the light, lulled to sleep by the sound of the oscillating electric fan.

I'm alive

So the last week and a half I have been pretty much absent. I had this big team project/presentation that I had to give on Thursday night for my Finance class. Last weekend I spent pretty much every waking moment buried up to my ears in spreadsheets and numbers. Between work this week and putting together the powerpoint for the project, I just haven't had the time to read, let alone update this poor blog.

But now I'm finished! yippee!

In the reading department, I am still working my way through the Kresley Cole book Captain of All Pleasures. It hasn't really been doing the trick for me. Nothing inherently bad about the book, just nothing all that special. It feels somewhat cliched and redux. That said, I did sit down with it for a good hour this morning and now that I'm in the last 3/4s of the book, it seems to be picking up (finally).

I've been looking over the e-books I snagged from Harlequin during their daily freebie giveaway over the holidays. Funny enough, one of the ones that I did read during the time I was working on my finance project was set in New York and the protags were supposed to be big finance execs. haha. It didn't really inspire me to keep studying. I also started one by Hope Tarr called Strokes of Midnight. This one seems promising. The writing is decent anyways and I'm not rolling my eyes after the first few chapters. I feel like categories are so hit or miss. I haven't really read them since my teen years, but I'm trying to dip my toe back into the waters. Sometimes short and sweet is all I have time for.

Watched another episode of Torchwood before bed last night. I don't care if John Barrowman is playing for the other team; I'd do him. He is purty. And although sometimes you want to slap Captain Jack for being such a cocky self-assured bastard, you want to hug him at the same time.