Less Than Stellar Beginning

Being Lazy:  The first week of class was a bit hairy which is really sad. I didn’t have anything big due this week but I was still doing everything last minute. Not a good beginning in the least. Do I have a good excuse? Hmm. Umm. Let’s see. Err. Nope, not really. Yeah, I was busy with the kids’ homework, my work, we’re still only about half way unpacked, I had to sweat over my bills a couple times this week, I finally finished RA’s book for August and started September’s, and my mail is still screwed up but all of that didn’t consume all of my time. What did then?? SPORE!! and THE SIMS 2 APARTMENT LIFE!! Quite possibly the worst time ever to buy new games is the first week of the semester, BWAHAHAHA!! So, don’t let my whining sway you to feeling sorry for me. I made my own bed.

Reading:  Weirdly enough, I was reading Rebecca Stott’s Ghostwalk, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and Beowulf all last week. Do you know how odd it was to go from one to the other? They are three totally different works. Different times, different characters, different themes. The most shocking thing was that of the three, Beowulf is my favorite. Luckily I got to read it in translation and not in the Old English style, heheh.

The Weekend:  The Mister had to work both Saturday and Sunday as I mentioned last week. We did our best not to let it spoil the entire weekend. When he got home Saturday, we stopped in at our neighborhood block party. I say, “block party” and shake my head. There weren’t that many people there and those that were, were mostly old people. No offense to old people. They had a “band” that played gospel music and I guess it would be called bluegrass? Totally not my cup of tea in the least. The only good thing about it was that we got to meet the other Ohio State fans in the neighborhood. They have an OSU garden gnome in their front yard, heheh.

After putting in an appearance, we went to Jacksonville so that I could buy stuff for the bathrooms at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Yay! I love buying bathroom stuff. I got new towels, shower curtains, and floor mats for both bathrooms. I also got some accessory/deco stuff for the hall/girls’ bathroom. Both look very nice if I do say so myself. We also checked out new DVD players at Best Buy because ours isn’t working properly. I’m not sure if it’s broke or just needs cleaned.

Gas Prices, Again:  OH!! And I totally almost forgot to mention the gas craziness here. After Ike, our gas prices went up to $4.34 from $3.66 overnight. One gas station still had gas at $3.66 and cars were lined up into the street. We went in for gas and they were out of regular and the mid-grade so we had to get premium at $3.90 which was still cheaper than the cheap gas everywhere else. People were blowing their horns and behaving like lunatics while we were there. I saw online this morning a couple different news articles about how people were filing gouging complaints about the prices. It’s just craziness. Is it like that everywhere? I talked to my mom in Ohio who was shocked at our prices.

Okay. I figure that’s enough for one day, lol. I gotta see how my civilization in Spore is doing before it’s time for bed.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

People seem to be saying things before they think about them lately.

Over the weekend, the Mister and I were watching a news report on the drug raids in San Diego at SDSU. One moron said something to the effect that he felt sorry for the accused students because they didn't sell the drugs with the intent to kill people. Wth kind of thing is that to say?? So, it's okay for drug dealers to sell drugs as long as they intend for their customers to live long lives? Umm. Okay. That makes total sense.

Lastly, Stephen King. I'm sure everyone heard the bonehead comment he made about reading and the Army. Here's a link in case you missed it along with his remarks regarding the backlash:

Stephen King Story

First off, for him to make the statement in the first place was appalling. I get so sick and tired and fed up beyond belief at all the implications that if you join the military it's because you had no other prospects and were too stupid to do anything else. People who think that are prime examples of ignorance and yes, I take it personally. It's an insult to my husband, my father, my brother, uncles, cousins, and some of the best friends that I've ever had or will ever have in my life. I'm not saying that every person who has been or is in the military is a Rhodes scholar. I've seen some of the greatest displays of idiocy from a few of the Marines, sailors, and soldiers (I've only known three people in the Air Force and they were all family members and they were pretty smart ;)) that we've known over the years. But you know what? The military doesn't own the rights to having idiots working for them. Idiots are freaking everywhere.

Furthermore, for King to defend what he said by replying that he meant that children should learn how to read, is insulting. That, in itself, is implying that we are all idiots. This statement: "I don't want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don't, then you've got the Army, Iraq, I don't know, something like that. It's not as bright, " and stating that we misunderstood it, saying that he really said this: "That a right-wing-blog would impugn my patriotism because I said children should learn to read, and could get better jobs by doing so, is beneath contempt," is also contemptible. That is not what he said in his first statement. And I'm not the only one who thinks so. Check out Laurell K. Hamilton's May 6th blog entry: LKH Blog Does anyone ever stop to think, when they're insulting our men and women in uniform, that the freedom that they possess to say these ignorant and offensive things are defended by the same people that supposedly aren’t smart enough to do anything better with their lives?

I’m disappointed. Stephen King was one of my favorite authors and I have always been impressed by his abilities. Being thoughtless and then unwilling to own up to what he said doesn’t take away from his talents in the least, but I’ve lost all respect for him. I know that I’m just one small and insignificant person ,but I won’t be buying anymore of his books and I’m trading in the ones that I currently own at my favorite used bookstore for something better. For me, it’s the end of an era.

Thursday Meme

Here's our Thursday meme courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

I said in August, when we talked about fan mail, that I planned on expanding that to live meetings when the time was right. Well, that time is now!

• Have you ever met one of your favorite authors? Gotten their autograph?

I've never met any of my favorite authors in person...yet. I will be remedying that situation next month when I go to Nora Roberts' book signing. And it's not just a book signing. She's going to be giving a talk too. Woohoo!

• How about an author you felt only so-so about, but got their autograph anyway? Like, say, at a book-signing a friend dragged you to?

I had the opportunity to meet Nicholas Sparks. Turns out, he lives about a mile from my house. Small world, right? Anyway, he was having a book signing at our local mall to promote his newest book. While I've read and enjoyed The Notebook and the sequel, he's by no means a favorite author of mine. I think his books are a little too...sappy for my tastes. Anyway, I was going to go to the book signing just because he was an author but changed my mind at the last minute. I just didn't care enough to go out of my way to meet him.

• How about stumbling across a book signing or reading and being so captivated, you bought the book?

As for the last question, I have to answer no. I've never even seen a book signing at this point in my life. But like I said, that will be changing next month, hehehe! Can you tell that I'm excited??