Even though I had to work this morning, last night I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish The Time Traveler’s Wife. Loveloveloved this book.
Warning! Major spoilers follow, after the jump:
Posted: April 6th, 2008 under Bookworm.
Comments: 6
I hate even typing this, but I have to vent! I am still sick. 
This virus I’ve had for over two weeks just won’t seem to leave. I feel better than I did two weeks ago, that’s for sure. But my throat is still acting funny and I’m just hoping that I’ll be all healthy soon.
On to happier things! The weather today was dreary and rainy and I had to work this morning, but I went to one of my local libraries and borrowed a copy of The Book Thief for the April selection of the Ravelry Book Group. (My library where I work didn’t have a copy on hand.) I know very little about the book other than the summary on the Amazon page, so I’m excited to discover a new read. Also, I’m hoping I can keep up with the other book club members because I read pretty slowly. I’m also still reading The Time Traveler’s Wife, which has gotten really interesting (I found the beginning kind of slow to start). But I am definitely getting back in touch with my bookworm-iness (hehe). I go through phases when I read a couple books in a row, then don’t read for a long time. Lately instead of knitting in the morning before work, I’ve been reading TTTW and it’s so interesting that I’m ok with sacrificing knitting time temporarily.
Speaking of knitting, I decided to stay off the yarn diet since I’ve been doing so well on the book diet. I have not bought any books since January 1 and have reduced my book stash by ten titles thanks to Paperback Swap. Also, I’ll be mailing another book this Friday. Book destashing seems much easier to me than yarn destashing. Maybe I am less emotionally attached to books than to yarn? If you’ve seen my Shelfari shelf lately, you can see just how many books I own. My goal is to get rid of nearly all the books I’ve read but haven’t read more than once. And eventually, I’d like to read through my To Be Read list but that’s a long-term goal!
In other thoughts…there is yet another WordPress upgrade available, 2.5. Why do they update so frequently? And why can’t there be a one-click easy upgrade? Make my life easier, WordPress people! I will get to it eventually. I know if I upgrade right now, I’ll be staring at my screen for another hour or so, not because upgrading takes that long but because I’ll be clicking all the new buttons and poking around the new interface.
I have laundry to do but I also plan to cast on the Diagonale Shawl with my new Yarntopia Treasures rayon. I admit, I purchased the yarn out of curiosity borne out of the Ravelry discussions. i.e., is YT another incarnation of Mystical Creation Yarns? etc. etc. I think the consensus is no, the person behind YT is not the lady behind MCY (who allegedly has died, though again, the Ravelry consensus is no, MCY lady is not dead, just crazy). But I’m just amazed at the heatedness of some of the posts on Ravelry. I read the threads voraciously, of course, because it is the train wreck/soap opera effect and well, entertaining.
Do me a favor and send me some happy thoughts/get healthy wishes! I just want to feel 100% better, and can use all the positive juju I can get! 
Posted: March 30th, 2008 under Bookworm, Knitting, My So-Called Life.
Comments: 5
The other day I was planning how to pay for my textbooks for the upcoming summer semester. Luckily for me, only one or two of the required texts are actual “text”books–this being a literature course, luckily all the other books are novels and I think one might be a biography. So I caved and joined PaperBack Swap. I am going to save soooo much by getting my books from here! So far I’ve requested two and one is already on the way. Here’s my profile. If you sign up, put my username (sassenachtiff) as your referrer and I’ll receive a credit once you post 10 books. 
So far no one has requested any of my books, ETA: someone requested a book today! I’m hoping to post more once I READ more. I am still going strong on the no-buying-new-books diet, and haven’t bought any since before January 1. I also haven’t really read much since then since I am so busy with work and the hellish cold of death has overtaken me this past week. I am actually considering just posting some books that I haven’t read at all and don’t plan on reading, but I’m still debating.
Posted: March 18th, 2008 under Bookworm.
Comments: 4
It’s a good thing I’m going back to college, right? Because I might just be the worst English major ever! (In my own defense, I went to a Christian high school where our study of English Lit was basically limited to Pilgrim’s Progress and other Christian-friendly reads. No Lord of the Flies for us! I bet you probably read most of these in high school, no?)
A book meme, found on Minnie’s blog.
Bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you’re interested in, and leave the ones you don’t care about.
1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner(Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91.The Skin of the Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)
Posted: March 5th, 2008 under Bookworm.
Comments: 2
…first, do not post any spoilers, as I just started the book this afternoon! (Acquired before the Great Book Buying Fast of 2008. Thanks again, Annie! )
…second, if you haven’t read it, don’t read the rest of this entry because I might spoil something for you!
Posted: February 21st, 2008 under Bookworm.
Comments: 6
On this New Year’s Eve, I just made one more knitting resolution:
Go on a combined yarn/book diet for (gulp!) SIX MONTHS. 
As possibly IMpossible as that sounds, there is a strategy behind it. With the help of my second income from the library, I will be able to pay off my Citi credit card in six months–if I adhere to a pretty strict budget (I’m talking grocery shopping rather than eating out every day, seriously cutting back on impulse buying, etc.), a budget that doesn’t allow wiggle room for random, impulse, “oh it’s so pretty” yarn purchases and “I’ll read this eventually” book buying. Since coming off the previous yarn diet (which lasted three months), I’ve acquired plenty of stash to last me through the six-month fast upon which I’m preparing to embark. Do I think I can do it? Heck yeah! I lasted three months, why not do it again, x2? It’s totally doable…and the thought of paying off that credit card and only having ONE credit card left is sooooo tempting. I’m gonna do it! Wish me luck pleeeeease!
As far as the book buying goes, I’ve done really badly in recent months. I know that I don’t have the time to read all these books, but I’m a collector and I just keep buying more, with the intent of reading them “eventually” and “someday.” My book stash is pretty close to rivaling my yarn stash, actually. So, the thought of abstaining from yarn AND book buying for six months isn’t insane. It’s actually a smart idea. And through all this budget madness, I’ll still have the chance to put a *little* (and I mean a little) into savings every month. Still, it’s something.
So, as I hop back on the yarn sobriety wagon, it’s time to knit from my stash again…and honestly, I have some Dream in Color Smooshy already in the mail to me because I ordered it Sunday night and received the shipping confirmation this morning. So I’m glad that purchase happened before I restart the yarn diet! But other than that, and the stash I’ve recently acquired from my LYSes, it’s no more buying until…er…July. Realistically, there’s no way I can knit through all my stash in six months. My stash isn’t as huge as it used to be but it’s the time factor that will make it last–I simply won’t have enough time to knit through it all. So I’ll have plenty to last me through the buying drought. July, by the way, is my birthday month, and I can celebrate with yarn when the Citi card is paid off. phew. Again, please wish me luck!
oh, and happy new year again, and here’s to the long road toward being debt-free!
Posted: December 31st, 2007 under Bookworm, Knitting, My So-Called Life.
Comments: 5
This week was a loooong one. I had fun (the TAPS event), but work? yeesh. Let’s not go there. I try to take it one day at a time but it’s tough when the work crap from yesterday bleeds into today and tomorrow.
But let’s focus on pleasanter things!
I’ve been on a quest to destash, as you likely already know. Recently I’ve managed to sell several stash items via Ravelry, which is great! So far I’ve only swapped once since being on the yarn diet–I traded my pink RubySapphire yarn for some camel colored Louet Gems Opal, which arrived today. These will be perfect for future work socks. Other than that, I have not acquired any new yarn. I can hardly believe that I’ve managed to remain true to the yarn diet and not buy yarn for almost three months. I know I’ve saved so much money by abstaining (hehe) and that’s a good feeling. I wish I had destashed more to date, but when I look at my “tossed or traded” page on Ravelry, I realize how much yarn I’ve unloaded in recent weeks, so I’m not doing too badly.
I finally made it to the municipal center to fill out my paperwork for my second job at the library. Originally I had an appointment to do this on Tuesday afternoon, but the HR lady canceled that morning (which ended up working out really well because I was able to drive up to the TAPS event earlier than I would have, if I had gone to the appointment). So this morning before going to my regular job, I went down and filled out probably a dozen different forms–employee info sheet, W-4 form, direct deposit form, release for criminal background check, and several others I don’t even remember now. When I thought I was finished, I took them to the HR lady and then she said, “ok, now I’m going to send you down the street to the police station…”
Me:
“…where they’re going to fingerprint you…”
Me:
“…just so we can make sure you’re not an axemurderer!”
Seriously, she actually said that. Granted, she was joking, but wow…so after driving up and around and down the street no less than three times in attempts to find the police station, despite the fact that she had given me a map of the whole area, I finally found it, parked across the street, and walked to the police station (in the rain–drizzle, more like), where I was FINGERPRINTED. All ten digits, then the eight main digits (everything except my thumbs)…yikes! It was a little weird. I’ve never been fingerprinted AT A POLICE STATION, just for a job! But then again, it’s at the library, which is a city job, so…I understand. And now I can say that I’ve been fingerprinted like a common criminal or something, sheesh. 
Then I had to go back to the HR building to finish more paperwork, yay. When all that was finally done, the HR lady said, “oh, and there’s one more thing…” to which I said, “oh…?” (mug shots, mayhap?) And then she said, “You get a shirt and a lanyard, as our way of saying welcome!”
Now that’s pretty cool. And it’s a nice polo shirt with the VA Beach Library logo embroidered on the front. sweet! 
Turns out that I’ll have to go back one *more* time to get my photo taken for my ID badge–I’m not sure why we didn’t do that today, but she said I would come back after I “get going” at the job. Maybe to give me a little bit of time in case they decide I suck at the job and they want to can me. 
phew! What a process, and I haven’t even worked my first shift there yet!
After that, I went to my normal job, which wasn’t too bad today. Maybe the people who usually bother me over email were relaxed since the weekend was near.
After work, I went to Barnes & Noble to use a coupon they emailed me–I swear, B&N owns my book-loving soul. They send me coupons once every week/week and a half, it seems. And actually, I think the more I shop there, the more coupons they send. Just the other day, they sent me a 50% off coupon (!), which I used to buy 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders for eight bucks! The way I see it, not only are knitting books allowed on the yarn diet, but I’ve built up such a pattern library that I have NO excuse not to use up my stash. I’m trying to be strategic about the yarn diet, really I am!
Anyway, I’d been wanting to read The Celestine Prophecy, so that’s what I used my 10% coupon on today. One of my sisters read it years ago and recommended it, plus I’d heard other good things about it, so I figured I’d give it a shot.
I know I should patronize the library instead (maybe once I start working there I’ll actually use it?), but I must be one of those people who has a “thing” for new books. And not just the smell of them (though new book smelling is definitely one of my quirks).
Speaking of books, can anyone recommend a good reference to start reading up on existentialism? I found one at B&N (it’s cheaper on Amazon) but I’ll check if the library carries it before I buy it. I’ve been on a quest to read up on that, but am unsure where to start. Wikipedia isn’t really helping me much.
This week has been so rainy and autumnal, but still warm most days. I’m waiting for the weather to turn completely and be cool or even cold. Even so, the rain is a nice change…it’s challenging to drive in, especially on the interstate–I passed yet another accident today on the way home. But I think this weekend, as it’s my last “free” weekend before my second job begins, I’ll spend it relaxing inside, re-watching my Ghost Hunters DVDs and The Number 23 which arrived from Netflix today (kc, have you seen it yet? I remember you mentioned you wanted to!), working on my Secret of the Stole (I’m behind one clue–I think #4 was posted today but I’m barely into #3), and just kicking back!
Posted: October 26th, 2007 under Bookworm, Knitting, My So-Called Life, Working Girl.
Comments: 4
