Something on Sunday, 2/25

Sunday hoorays:

School vacation ends!  Sadly, not tomorrow in our district (THAT is a whole story), but Tuesday! So soon!

Bad Dates. Not, like, actual dates, but the play at the Huntington.  Sometimes you just need to laugh and cheer and feel happy, and darn if this wasn't a feel good play.  I am buoyed by having seen this play. The actress, Haneefa Wood, was a delight. 

I am reading so much!  Not blogging yet, but reading!  All hardbacks, weirdly, but gift horses can't be choosers, as the poet says.

We saw Jo and Tom and Oliver! It had been months.

This past week (and the next two) have been so incredibly full of drama that it's not even worth talking about. Sorry to be vague; it's mostly boring.  I appear to be politically active in my community now and it's kind of exhausting. But I am well and the drama is not going to hurt me, and in two weeks my responsibilities will be over and I will faint dead away. 

Until that day, I remain yours faithfully,
s

Something on Sunday, 1/21

A busy but uneventful week around these parts, except that I actually wrote two reviews for the blog this week! 

The guy from How Did This Get Made? did a solid to the world of romance novels this week.  After he got called out for mocking a cover on Twitter, he decided to read the book. It's a really great apology; check it out. (Also check out the blog this is from, SorryWatch.com, which is worth reading.) I guess when you're the guy who watches bad movies, you learn that there's something to appreciate that's worth looking for in surprising places.

My volunteerism is piling up these days, and my alma mater is having a donation drive they're calling the Teach It Forward Impact Challenge.  My understanding is that I donate money in the next couple of weeks and then a matching donor will multiply my donation by however many hours of charity work I do during a specific week.  Joke's on them--they picked the week when I have a Friends of the Library board meeting, a Friends event I'm working at, working in my son's third grade classroom, and just signed up to help do taxes for low-income people.  That is gonna be a heck of a donation!

Let's see how the rest of the week treats us. Tally-ho!

Something on Sunday, 1/14

I keep thinking I'm going to pick back up with the blog posts and I keep not doing it.  I don't know why my word well is so dry these days. I'm reading good and mediocre and lovely books, ARCs that I want to share and fun kids books that my son is enjoying.

But I'm kind of mentally cocooning right now.  Maybe it's the job change, the change in my day-to-day patterns. I often stop chronicling my life just when I'm busiest living it, which means my journals are often REALLY boring.

Anyway, this week! I got my transcription project off the ground, and I'll link to it when it becomes a Real and True Thing, because I'm excited about that. Stay tuned for details!

I'm technically doing a friend-read of The Stone Sky, which I'm enjoying but SO SLOW about, so I'm the only one who's not done. I am determined to spend fully half of my time tomorrow reading it; I believe I can get close to the end by the end of the day. (And apologies to L and E for falling behind!)

Today is my mom's birthday, which is lovely, though I have not yet gotten her a gift.  I will think of something grand and glorious, make no mistake. She likes to travel; I'll find a way to put something toward her next trip.

I'm going to kick some serious butt in the upcoming week. I'm starting to feel like I have a handle on things, and I expect that I'm going to get some stuff done this week that convinces me I'm right.  Wish me luck!

Something on Sunday, 1/7

Welcome, 2018! Nice to have you here.  I suspect there will be some nutso craziness in store for us, but I'm optimistic that the good people of our world will start to stomp out the garbage fire.

My happiness for the week:

1) I finished a proof-of-concept for a project I offered to do for someone six months ago and then ghosted on.  It's been a busy six months (quit two jobs, etc), but I am determined to put in time every week on it now.  So that's tomorrow's goal: finish the next transcript and send two and a reassurance that I'm still here.

2) A really nice snow day.  Often I feel trapped, but we had a great time.  Baked a pie, rearranged Adam's room, played a new game, read our books, etc. 

3) Sledding AND skating today!  A winter sportstraveganza!

My other goal tomorrow is to write a couple of book reviews and get back on that horse.  New year, new you, right?  Right!

Welcome to 2018, everyone!  I wish you the best.

Something on Sunday, 12/17

The thing that made me happiest this week, hands down, was Alabama electing Doug Jones instead of Roy Moore.  Never mind the valuable Senate seat, which is not to be discounted; I am just heartened that there are limits to partisan politics, and that Alabama did the right thing by anyone's standards.  I really wasn't expecting that. I know it was close, and I know Moore is still calling for recounts and contributions or whatever. But I had believed Moore had it in the bag, and I've never been so glad to be wrong.

This fact had a lot of competition for my Happiest Thing this week, because last night was the holiday party for my former/semi-current job.  It might be my last one ever, since I will be switching from "very part time" to "contractor maybe sometimes" in a few weeks.  My feelings about the job are big and complicated, but so many of my best friends were there, and so many people I admire and like in so many ways. Leaving hurt on a lot of levels, but the joy of that party and of dancing with all these beautiful, brilliant people, dressed to the nines and laughing, was just a beautiful thing. 

So much holiday happiness to you all.

Something on Sunday, 12/10

I actually wrote a real post, a review, on TUESDAY--stayed up late to do it--and it disappeared into the ether.  I wrote it, posted it, closed the computer, went to bed, and in the morning, the link from my Blogger management page didn't work and the post was not on the site.

Enormous Sigh.

So I'm going to rewrite it, but I still has a sad.

In nicer news, the week has been exhausting but good.  I went to see then Christmas Revels, which was, as always, dorky and delightful. Indirectly related, here is a post from Blair Thornburgh that I love about what makes a good Christmas Carol--spoiler: Latin, food, and Satan are the keys. Here is one of my own favorites (a former Revels singalong).

In other news, the amazing and wonderful Kelly is in town, so I stayed up way too late playing games with Kelly and Lily and Lanya, which was delightful fun and I want to see them all of the time and then more than that. 

I got my first paycheck from my new job and checked out a bunch of exciting books from the library. The new job is pretty delightful; it's just what I wanted it to be, and I really like all my coworkers, and the patrons.  I have a LOT to learn, and there are a lot of personalities there, but I feel like I'm in a good place where my skills will fit very nicely.

A good week for me. Time to knuckle down on the holidays, though!

Something on Sunday, 12/1

Okay, so I failed at my resolution to write a review this week, but it's a new month and I have high hopes for myself.  I've been pretty bored by my own writing lately--I feel like the spark is gone.  I just kind of ramble.  I guess I've been reading without really thinking about it very much lately. Not sure how to shake that off--I'm not sure "be funny and lighthearted" is something you can brute force. Advice welcome.

But, as for some things to be happy about this week: there are many.

1) Started my new job.  I work in a library! And it's lovely!  I still feel like a foolish simpleton because I can't do three things at once, but I know I'll learn, so that's okay.  Which is weird on its own; usually I feel like I'll NEVER learn and everything is HOPELESS. But I really like some of my new coworkers, which is just lovely.

2) Adam's ninth birthday party was today, and I think the kids had fun, and I know we all made it through alive.  Plus, hours spent cleaning ahead of the party and the house actually looks pretty nice after sweeping up all the popcorn and crumbs.

3) Hugely successful book sale yesterday; go Friends of the MPL!  It was fun and relaxing and so nice to just chill with Tamar and Sarah and Jan, help folks out, be in my place with my people doing my thing. 

4) It is an incredible month for fanfiction; I am following new fics that are posting weekly on all different days so my list is PACKED, and I'm so enjoying chatting with some authors I love on a forum and it just makes me feel love for the world.

There's so much more--a friend is in town for THREE WEEKS, which will be amazing, and my sister's coming to help me purge the craft cabinet this week, which gives me hope for my future.

And maybe this week I'll finally review a book or two!

Something on Sunday, 11/26

I have been lost in a private fog for weeks, but this is the week I emerge.  Non-optional; new job starts on Tuesday.

Per my normal system, I have been pretending it's not real and getting obsessed with a really inane video game, rather than using my free time to catch up on actual things I mean to be doing, like blogging, or taking a yoga class, or certain more time consuming forms of shopping.

But soon life will have structure again, and I'll be an official Library Employee, and I'll be able to manage my time better, I'm sure of it.

So that's my something this week; new job, new plan, new goals and ambitions. In honor of this, a statement of intent: I will post one book-related blog post this week.

You heard it here first!

Something on Sunday, 11/19

Sunday again! If this is to be my only blogging habit, then let's do our best to at least maintain it, shall we?

As the Sunday before Thanksgiving, it was officially Cider Day, and we spent the day at the farm pressing cider and eating donuts and gazing upon the miracle of the loaves and the crock pots.  I brought the rolls, so I knew there would be more than enough, but lo, there were crock pots by the dozens, and though more and more guests did arrive, still there was chili and macaroni and cheese for all.

(Seriously, it was a potluck, but we were starting from the baseline of the 10 crock pots my sister owns herself.  Literally ten.  And she uses them, regularly.  It's amazing.)

It rained, but this is what greenhouses are for (in the fall, when they are empty.  There is lots of delicious cider, Mike's family came up for the weekend, my mom's recovering very nicely from her knee replacement, and all's right with the world.  If I can eventually shake this cough, we'll all be golden.

(You know, in fiction, mentioning my cough at the end of an otherwise positive blog post would mean that I had the tuberculosis and was probably doomed.  Luckily it's real life and I will eventually recover from the head cold that wouldn't die.  NOTHING OMINOUS TO SEE HERE, FOLKS.)

Something on Sunday, 11/12

All my good things happened last weekend, which made it such a busy weekend that I didn't even post.  So, Sunday Something rollover!

First, our annual Friends of the Library meeting went swimmingly--the mayor, the trustees, several city council members, fun times, good mingling, yummy food, a good time was had by all.  That party stresses me through the roof (will they have fun? oh please let them have fun!) so I'm blissed out that this happened.

Second, after not hearing back and pretty much giving up, I got offered the job I really, really wanted.  I'm going to be a librarian! Well, a circulation assistant, anyway.  I'm going to work in a public library, checking out your books! 

This is the beginning of a big dream, and I'm hoping at some point I'll go back to school and other things will happen.  But for right now, I have a part time job, just the right number of hours, 10 minutes from my house (with traffic), at the library that I called home for almost 10 years.  I am through the roof!

I have also been reading some great books (at least in October; November has been mostly fanfiction), and I hope to get back to posting reviews very soon. And though NaNoWriMo didn't happen for me due to lack of preparation and a terrible cold, I am feeling pretty all right about life right now.

Happy Sunday to you all!

Something on Sunday, 10/29

I keep thinking I'll be back to blogging on the regular and I truly will.

But for today's Something on Sunday, I want to talk about two amazing plays that I've seen in the past two weeks.

I saw the Broadway in Boston touring cast of the musical Fun Home, based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel. It was gorgeous, and such a pleasure!  I didn't actually love the comic when I read it years ago; the collection of scenes from the author's uncomfortable childhood didn't try to come together as a story, or even as portraits exactly. The book almost deliberately refused to draw conclusions, only presented things as they occurred.



The play, though, focused on the throughline of comparing her experience with her father's, and examining her father's character.  It added charm and humanity that the book often lacked--even in the happiest moments of the book, no one smiles--probably because in real life, they did not.

The score breaks down the emotional complexities and gives her father's character an inner life that is invaluable in this story.  I tried listening to it before I went and I couldn't click with it--there are large chunks of dialogue on the cast album, and out of context they didn't catch me.  But now that I've seen it, I listen over and over again.  It's sweet and sad and funny (go listen to Changing My Major!) and I loved it a lot.

The other show I saw was a premiere of a new play called A Guide for the Homesick, by Ken Urban.  It wouldn't have crossed my radar, but the playwright was Lily's professor in college, so we decided to go.  All I knew was that it was about two men who meet at a hotel in Amsterdam; one is on vacation, the other on his way home from working in Africa. A tense encounter, etc. 

Two guys talking in a room is always the kind of description that makes me nervous--are we just going to learn about their souls and nothing will happen?  But no, a lot happened, and in the best way. It was tragic and horrible and I loved--LOVED--every character.  The acting was incredible; the character switching that was required was intense and done flawlessly.  There was a lot of darkness, but there was also a lot of connecting, and healing. 

I don't know, there are a lot of reveals and I hope this becomes a famous play that you'll all see someday, so I don't want to spoil anything.  And if you're in Boston, you have another week to see it--you should, go, do that ASAP (the Huntington, at the BCA).  But I think what made it amazing is that the playwright is so deft--there are moments that feel kind of like, ugh, theatrical device--in real life the guy who says "maybe I should go now" would just actually leave the room, but it's a play that won't happen unless he stays, so he does.  But as the story unfolds, you realize, no, this is EXACTLY what this character would do--this is him.  There is nothing forced about this.

It was so damned good, and such a wonderful surprise.  God, I love good theater. 

Something on Sunday, 10/22

Did anyone besides me and my sister grow up on live action Disney movies like Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Escape to Witch Mountain? Do any of you remember the sublime spookiness that was Bette Davis's last role in Watcher in the Woods?  Wait, don't answer that.  I'm horribly afraid you're going to say no.

Watcher in the Woods was a creepfest for 12-year-old me about a family that moves to a remote village and the two sisters start having odd things happen in their old house.  It turns out the the daughter of the house's owner (creepy old Bette Davis who lives in the cottage out back) disappeared years ago and no one knows what happened to her.  Younger sister Ellie keeps spacing out and saying things she doesn't mean; older sister Jan keeps seeing and hearing things.

The end is a little messy, and there's an extended release version with an ending that is explained a bit more thoroughly and is thus a true HOT mess.  Like, alien crystals on a maybe-spaceship?  I literally have no idea.  The original ends great; watch that.

OR! You could watch the Lifetime Original Movie remake! With a girl who looks like Jennifer Lawrence and Amanda Bynes had a love child, who hooks up with a guy who appears to be made of plastic, so smooth and pale is he. And a Welsh village where no one has a Welsh accent.  And with ANGELICA HOUSTON in the Bette Davis role!

You read that right; Angelica Houston is chewing the scenery, tipping her hat to Morticia Addams, info-dumping with her hand literally pressed to her forehead for the drama of it all, and giving us the best Welsh accent in this movie.

The plot is similar; the explanation is completely unrelated, the story is both boring and nonsense, and I have come to think that someone (possibly my sister) should do a podcast reviewing Lifetime Original Movies.

That's what I did with my Sunday.

Something on Sunday, 10/15

Sunday again, huh?  Well, it's been a surprisingly good reading week, given that I worked two jobs, attended a committee meeting, a kid's birthday party, and a small, casual get together.  I took the weekend to just sit and read, and now I'm going to dig into another week with a HUGE to-do list in front of me.

Quick review of one awful book I read this week will be my Something on Sunday: The Cresswell Plot, by Eliza Wass. I picked it up because it's about a reclusive family that functions like a cult and the main character is a girl who doubts they are the Chosen Ones.  Castella Cresswell wears homemade clothes and has been promised in marriage to her brother (as  all her brothers and sisters have been paired up).  Everyone in town knows they're weird.  But maybe she wants things to be different.

I love a good wacky cult.  I love an escape from the cult story, and I love a good not-sure-I-want-to-escape-from-the-cult story.  This was neither, and both.  Every single character changed everything they thought and felt from scene to scene.  You can't grow as a character if you don't have a character to begin with. 

And it wasn't just that they were full of contradictions.  Like "I want to escape, but what if Father is right and the rest of the world is going to hell, and also I love my family and don't want to leave, but god the abuse sucks."  Yeah, that's all okay.  But she will literally run away one minute and then start screaming in the woods, and then tremble with fear, and then wish she had blue jeans to wear and a boy to kiss her, and then threaten to hit her sibling with a club, and then, I don't know, join drama club? 

It made no sense, is what I'm saying.  Hard pass.

Something on Sunday, 10/8

It's been so long since I posted ANYTHING, but I wanted to get in on Jenny's plan and take advantage while coming back.

Since last I posted, I started a new job, realized it was not the track I wanted to be on, and quit said new job. I will have worked there exactly four weeks on my last day (which is this Friday). 

I am applying for more jobs in the world of librarianing, which I am nervously dipping my toe in.  I'm looking forward to a little time off while I job hunt, though.  If it lasts long enough, I want to do NaNoWriMo.

So I've made a mess of trying to do the career thing, but that's not me. What is me, and what's great, is that everyone in the whole process has been SO KIND. Everyone at my old job (where I'm still part-timing) was so supportive, and the person who replaced me is the literal best, and we now have a TV night with old coworkers and her.  There were hugs and tears when I downscaled my hours.  And the new job was patient when I freaked out a little, and nice to me while I calmed down and worked there, and unendingly supportive when I gave my notice.  They have also found a fabulous person to replace me, so really, everyone in this story literally comes out on top. 

I'm still figuring myself out, but I really feel valued by everyone around me right now, and even while the wider world falls apart, I continue to be so grateful for my good fortune.

In other news, I've read 100 books exactly so far this year; 42 of them have been in the "short works" category that I count as graphic novels, novellas, and children's chapter books (not YA or longer kids books, but the short ones, often with lots of illustrations). The other 58 have been book-length works--novels or nonfiction.  A good shot at making my 120 (which I consider a solid showing) by the end of the year.

If I end up with a month off work, I promise to read for at least an hour every day.  Cross my heart!