So I've decided that I want to read 52 books this year. Mostly because I used to read voraciously, at least 52 books a year, usually more like 100-200. No, I'm not kidding. And then I grew up and moved out and could be online whenever I wanted, and that became my time-passing strategy.

Now, I'm not saying the internet's bad, just that I miss reading as much as I used to. So I've decided that I will read the equivalent of at least one book a week, this year (yes, starting from January - I've got a pretty good start, so it's all good) and write a review of each book here.

That does mean I'm behind on reviews - I have probably about 12 or so to write. On the upside, however, most of these were books I've read before, so I'm familiar with them and what I like and don't like about each.

This is going to be my master list - both books I've already read and the books on my reading list, with links to the reviews. This project of mine doesn't require the books to be books I haven't read, and a lot of the ones on here, especially early on (almost all the Tortall books, for example) are books I've read and loved for a long time. This is just encouragement to read. And if I top 52 books... well, I'm doing pretty good for myself. So, without further ado, I present to you...

The List

( The 52 Books Project )

I've managed to kickstart my stalled Nano! :D I had to skip the rest of the scene I was on, and now there's a whole new set of characters and some accidental time-travelling going on, but I'm not exactly disappointed with the results so far. I've had to force myself to not read any more of the brilliant "Stealing Harry" series that copperbadge wrote back in the day until I've written a good chunk of my Nano. The series, by the way, can all be found here - it's a brilliant AU that I highly recommend, especially to Sirius/Remus fans. :)

My Nano kickstart has forced me to create, as I said, a new set of characters, including re-imagining my MC a bit. ( More on that under the cut if you're interested, and easy to skip if you're not! )

I have put in a couple more online applications. I'm sort of hoping desperately that someplace will CALL ME, but no luck yet. Don't these places need seasonal employees? *sulk*

DOCTOR WHO "WATERS OF MARS" REACTION POST. MY CAPSLOCK IS STUCK ON. :|

( What, you think I'm going to spoil you lot? )

Mostly Nano icons. Which... probably won't get much use. THAT'S OKAY! :D




...yeah, this icon is the epitome of my life at this moment. *shifty*

ETA: Yeah, sorry LJ folken, but I don't have a paid account over on starletfallen. You don't get to see them. Come to ordinarygirl to see them!


ETA2: Also, I've started trying to learn Welsh in earnest. Because... dude. I love Wales. I love the Welsh language. I want to live in Wales one day. So... Dw i 'n siarad Cymraeg! :D Well, a little. A tiny bit. But SOON! More.

• The NaNo is coming... oddly. I'm not doing so bad as I'd hoped, but I'm starting to think I'll need to either tack on an extraneous plot at the end or start the next one just to make my quota. My story's almost done, but I'm only halfway to winning NaNo at MOST.
  
• I will not divulge my word count (though it's much lower than Chris or Ai's), for fear that my fiancee may kill me.
  
• "Castle" makes me happy. There should be more shows on telly that make me this happy. Here's to hoping it runs for at least a couple more seasons. *crosses fingers and knocks on wood* Also Dominic needs to NOT BE ON OTHER SHOWS. At least he was still a skeezeball murderer, but STILL. It startled me so much I actually shouted.
  
• Though our plumbing was broken for the better part of a week, it is now fixed and we can bathe and use the toilet again. Huzzah!
  
• I am suddenly anxious about the same-sex marriage bill that the state senate has promised to vote on by the end of the year. It's going to be a very close vote whichever way it goes, and I'd really like it to pass, if only because it would cost nearly $1,000 for Aub and I to get to Massachusetts to get married.
  
• Still have not heard back from Collegetown Bagels. Or Borders. Am applying to Best Buy later today, and calling CTB. I'd much rather work for CTB, despite the food service thing.
  
• Today I need to write upwards of 6k words on my NaNo and go grocery shopping. And do dishes. It's going to be a busy day.
  
• BUY BATTERIES.
  
• I need to get in touch with a dermatologist, but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to find one to call in my prescription. Am considering calling my dermatologist from AZ to call in the prescription and then calling the Humira people to tell them I'm "travelling" or some such shit to get them to send it here. And then I'll have more time. Incidentally, I also think they need to up the dose or something, because I am still having some issues, mostly on my scalp and face. Which means that it's better than it was six months ago, but I'm also only right back where I started a year ago.
  
• I need to bite my nails less. Much less. OW.
  
• We think there may be a ghost in our woods. I've had odd rapping on the door (the proper wooden DOOR, mind you, not the outer "thin metal and glass" door), and last night I swear I heard someone walking (someone on TWO LEGS) through the woods just outside our front door. In the pitch black. With no flashlight. And then a few hours later, there was a really loud bang on the front door. The WOOD, not the outer door, I know what the outer door slamming/being thumped on sounds like, and that was NOT IT. This freaks us out somewhat.
  
• Note to self: BUY WARM CLOTHES. Or at least an extra few long-sleeved shirts, maybe a couple jumpers! Also, take coat to dry cleaners to hopefully get the coffee out.
  

RIGHT! That was the State of the Beka, and probably woefully lacking in SOMETHING interesting. Ah, real life, how boring you are sometimes. *wanders off to sleep for a few hours*

WE HAS YOU. :D



...yes, ladies and germs, the dykes have internet service as of now!

I am so happy. ^_^

I'm sure not many people will notice, HOWEVER. I'm not going to be online tonight, because Aub and I are going to try to build up a nice Nano word cushion. So when the inevitable busy day or "day we can't get the writing going" or "day we spend all our time doing 'research' in our awesome new crime books" comes, we won't necessarily fall behind.

Speaking of nano, if you'd like to read mine, friend inthemortalcity and I'll friend you back when I'm online next.

Be warned that it WILL suck and probably won't make much sense. But it's a first draft. Hell, it's practically a rough draft that will be trimmed down to an OUTLINE if I ever edit it. But still.

Anyway, off to supper and then back to writing. Have a good night, y'all.

Oh, also, Aub and I may or may not be online tonight - I have yet to know what she'd like to do, but I know she wanted some alone time for at least PART of today. So if we don't show up until tomorrow, don't worry. We're not dead.




...probably. :D

So today I was going to go get a NY state driver's license and hopefully an NYS registration for the car so I could stop getting pulled over by cops on my way home at night, and not worry about getting towed if I'm parked on the street.

Except.

New York apparently requires proof of identity out the fucking WAZOO these days. Like, when I transferred my stuff from Florida to Arizona, I needed my Florida driver's license and my credit card.

Here?

I need proof of DOB (aka - Birth Certificate, which I still have to get ordered - anyone here in Ithaca know where I can fax things?) and SIX POINTS of proof of name.

Out of State driver's license: 2 points.
Aforementioned Birth Certificate: O POINTS. AUGH.

So basically I need my birth certificate, my AZ driver's license, my credit card, a utility bill, a computer-printed pay stub, and a W-2 form, because getting any of the other things on the list is NOT happening. Then, once I get my NY Driver's license, THAT will count for ALL THOSE THINGS when getting the registration. *headdesk* And I'd be able to get out of the pay stub and W-2 form if I had my social security card, but I've never had one of those.

But. Since I'm not yet employed and haven't gotten any bills yet, not to mention my birth certificate order has to process, I can't GET a new registration for at LEAST a month, if I get employed in the meantime.

I. Hate. Everything.

So we're still alive! We just have no internet yet. I should be getting in contact with the cable company in the next couple days, and after that it's just a matter of getting the install scheduled. UNTIL THEN, we will be spending a lot of time either at Julie/Pat/Caroline's house, or at places with free internet. XD YAY PLAGUES!

So we're going to stop being creepy and stealing Pat's internet from the street outside their apartment and take our groceries home, where I will make hamburgers for supper and we will watch Dollhouse.

LOVE YOU ALL.

So. I've wanted, off and on, to put my hair in dreadlocks since I was in high school. Various things (parents and the potential job market/current job, not to mention the fact that I didn't want to be perceived as the privileged white kid pretending she's got a connection to "the brothas" or whatever horrifically racist sentiment people might attach to me because of them) have stopped me from doing this, and while it's always been in the back of my head, I've never actually done it, or thought seriously about doing it in the near future. The thing is, I'm now living in a place where most places I might potentially end up working would not have a problem with a white chick in dreads. Having dreads would give me one less thing to worry about in the long run (despite them being high-maintenance in the first few months), and I'd be able to go for a couple weeks without washing my hair and not have it get gross, which would be nice because regular washing irritates my scalp and makes it itch more than it already tends to, even when my psoriasis is mostly under control. I mean, I wouldn't be able to do it right away, my hair's not quite long enough, but in a few months I should be able to, if I so wanted.

So I mention that I'm thinking about dreads to a friend, and she gets upset, because she finds dreadlocks on non-black people to be offensive and racist, because it was something adopted by many people to show black pride, and now it's gotten appropriated as an "edgy", "alternative" white kid thing. And when I point out that they're low-maintenance and that's a big reason why I'm thinking about them, her first thought is "wow, wave that white privilege around a little more".

Now, I'm not saying she has no right to be upset, nor that I don't think she should be upset. I get where she's coming from, and I actually agree that the appropriation of dreads by white kids who want to look "edgy" IS actually pretty racist. And, I will admit that a lot of my initial rebellious high schooler motivation was because it was "rebellious" and "alternative". These days, though? I want something that will let me go without washing my hair for longer periods of time, so my scalp won't itch. I want something that's low-maintenance (in the long run, like I said) because I have enough to worry about as it is. And it doesn't hurt that I know I could use an exercise in patience and perseverance within a single project, and the first six months to a year of having dreads would definitely provide that.

So I'm left here with two sides of the issue. On the one hand, I've got a perfectly rational and medical reason for wanting dreads: less annoyance from an existing medical condition, one small stress that I can actually remove (as opposed to the bigger stresses, which I generally can't) and control, and a way to not look grody (especially at work) if I hit a streak of not having the motivation to do anything like wash my hair. On the other hand, I know that dreadlocks are a symbol of cultural pride to many black people, not to mention being an aspect of many African, Caribbean, and Indian religions, and the sheer fact that I'm a white girl means that, to some people at least, my having dreadlocks would be shoving my privilege in their face, and I don't want to do that.

When does the desire to lower my stress and minimize my physical discomfort have to give way to my desire to be sensitive to the fact that I have privilege and don't want to flaunt it any more than my sheer existence does on its own? Should it always? Should it never? Am I just overthinking my damn hair?

So, my dear readers, what do you think? As a white girl, would me getting dreads be racist? Offensive? Would you think less of me if I did? Do you think I'm trying too hard to be politically/socially "correct" and should just do whatever the hell I want? I'd actually like honest responses from you, so I've screened comments so that you don't have to worry about other people judging you/getting on your case/whatever. I've also kept anonymous commenting on, in case you're not really comfortable telling me directly. I think I have my stance pretty firm in my mind and I'm pretty okay with the stance I have now, but I really would like to know what you guys think.

FIRED. SO VERY TOTALLY FUCKING FIRED.

Also, one of Jae's neighbors is apparently some kind of neighbourhood watch control freak DOUCHE or something because there was a jeep with a u-haul parked on the street for a week. While parking in a couple different places, so clearly it hasn't just been abandoned or something. So they CALLED THE FUCKING COPS. WHO SHOWED UP AND SET THE DOG BARKING JUST AS I WAS DOZING OFF AFTER A NIGHT OF INSOMNIA. Thankfully the guy just had me move it, and seemed sympathetic enough with my sleepy self after I told him we'd just moved up here from across the country. Still. I was wary enough that I made a SIGN TO PUT IN THE FRONT WINDOW OF MY CAR letting everyone know I'm only here until Thursday, and that I'd like to NOT be towed, and what address I'm at if there are any complaints.

Just... JESUS. It wasn't even as if I were a) parked in front of their house (FYI, I was parked directly in front of Jae and Caroline and Pat's house), b) taking up parking spaces that they desperately needed (I've been out there at ALL hours. That street has not ONCE been devoid of parking in ANY sense of the word - just not parking me and my bigass trailer could get into), or c) going OUT THERE AT PRETTY REGULAR INTERVALS to, oh, get things out of the trailer, or feed the dog or some shit. (hint: the last one was sarcasm.)

And I wouldn't even be so cranky about it except I had JUST FUCKING LAID DOWN after not being able to sleep all night. And now I'm too cranky to sleep. Grrr...

So yes. Today is fired

So, we MIGHT have a house! :D!

It's not, y'know, a permanent solution, but it's only a 5-10 minute drive away from central Ithaca (depending on where you're going), and it's got a yard, and allows pets, and is... cute and cozy! The downsides of it are that there's no dishwasher, and no washer/dryer (or anyplace to PUT a washer/dryer), but a couple hours at the laundromat once a week won't KILL me, and we can deal with hand washing for a while longer.

We're not CERTAIN we've got it, as the guy is showing it to one other person... about now, and he'd like his girlfriend (who's a vet) to meet Ace to make sure she thinks there won't be problems (as he trusts her judgement on animals) if he decides to potentially go with us, but if he does, I don't foresee any problems, as any vet we've ever seen has LOVED Ace, once she got over the "RUN AWAY!" portion of her response.

So cross your fingers, folks - we may be able to not have to get a temporary place in Syracuse after all!

(Apropos of nothing, it was SNOWING on top of the hill when we went to see the house. Just... WHAT? SNOW? AUGH! TOO EARLY! TOO WARM! And then we followed it up by getting stompy boots. I had to get brown ones, 'cause WalMart is stupid, but since they're for function, not fashion, it's not a big deal.)

Also, if I can find my skirt, I have my halloween costume in the BAG. Though I should start on bleaching my hair. Which means I need to start by showering, as they require your hair to be clean. Oh, my hair, it is a good thing I will be shaving you all off come the day or two after halloween, because I will have to... SHAMPOO YOU! *GASP!* dun dun DUUUUUUN! Yeah, I know, "ew, grody, you don't shampoo your hair???" but to be honest, shampoo does very little but strip the natural oils off of your hair, which both a) dries your hair out, making it less healthy, and b) causes your oil glands to go into overdrive to try to replace it, often resulting in c) oily hair. And yes, when you first stop shampooing, especially if you have much length at ALL, it can get really oily at first, because your glands are still over-producing when they don't need to be, but in 2-6 months, usually, it's all evened out, and you're left with gorgeous, soft, shiny, healthy hair. And ironically, even before I started taking Humira (which I think I need a stronger dosage of, sigh), as long as I washed it (read: rinsed, scrubbed under the water, and conditioned) every couple of days, I was flaking and itching way less than when I shampooed, even with medicated shampoos.

Clearly I like to abuse mine. XD My poor, put-upon hair.

ANYWAY, that lovely tangent aside, we're hearing back from the potential landlord as early as tonight about whether or not we can possibly have the lovely little house! :D :D :D :D! And if we can, then I will fucking write him a check (after I find my checkbook, erm) the moment his girlfriend gives him the okay, and will beg his bank to put it through like NOW so it won't bounce and he can give us the key and we can be both rid of Ushas (the trailer) and out of Julie and Caroline's hair! (I'd say Pat's, too, except a) his sleeping arrangements are not at all compromised by us being here, and b) I don't think he minds a couple extra quiet people, especially when we haven't eaten any of their food or anything) Not that they're making hatefaces at us going "ZOMG OUT OF OUR HOUSE" but I'd like to fix this ASAP. If we DON'T get the house, we get a storage unit tomorrow and unload everything and return Ushas. I think U-Haul is getting a little tetchy. *sheepish*

So yeah, that's the state of the Cavanaugh household at the moment. Thrilling, isn't it? :|



ETA: WE MIGHT HAVE A HOUSE! He's meeting us tomorrow at noon to see Ace (which I'm a TAD worried about, since she's shy of guys, but if she's not putting off actual aggressive signals, which I've NEVER seen her do outside of playing, we should be okay) and then if that goes well, we get to the "write a check"--*makes a note to dig out the checkbook*--"and make sure it doesn't bounce" stage, and THEN?

Then we get the keys and move in to our NEW HOME. And call for cable. 'Cause damn, we NEED cable.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Okay, so. We were supposed to stay in Salamanca, NY tonight, and then have only about a 3 hour drive tomorrow to get to Ithaca. Well, we crossed the state line into NY and decided "hey, we're less than half an hour from Salamanca and we're not tired, and we could totally drive three more hours and have this DONE WITH", which is all well and good, except Jae and Co. weren't expecting us until tomorrow. So we decided "well, we'll see if they're online when we get to the hotel, and if they're not, we'll stay the night anyway.

We decide this around exit 10. For those of you who don't know how freeway exit numbering works (I didn't until VERY recently, I'm sad to admit), the mile marker closest to the exit is the same number given to it. So exit 10 was 10 miles from the start of the interstate we were on. Our hotel was at exit 20. That should've taken us about 10 minutes.

NOT THIRTY SECONDS AFTER WE PASSED EXIT TEN, I shit you not, we passed exit 21.

There were no possible diversions that we missed. There were no signs. We apparently just... hopped through space and time to be 11 miles further than we'd been in 30 seconds.

There is a tiny space-time rift to the west of Salamanca, NY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. See you in a few hours when we get to Ithaca! :D

Due to my lack-o-sleep last night, we're staying an extra day in Alliance, putting our arrival in Ithaca on Monday.


Icon is completely unrelated.

So I can't sleep. Which, given the fact that I've been completely BEAT every night this trip, is weird. Thank gods I only have to drive about 4 hours tomorrow. I'd say it might be the slight adrenaline rush I got from hitting 70 for the first time on WoW, but that was over an hour ago, so I highly doubt it.

However, Criminal Minds is a show I haven't seen enough of, so I'm glad A&E is showing it.

Meeting Ai today was FUUUUN. She's adorable and scritchable and cuddleable, and we did not rape her. :D



Apropos of nothing but the lyric I used for my subject line, Aubrey is adorable when she sleeps. She looks... more relaxed than I usually see her. And so very very young. I love her more than words. She's like an angel. The kind that looks so peaceful and darling when they sleep, and will rip your spleen out through your ass if you tell them.

Oh my god, you guys, I LIIIIIIIVE!

My pants are so very very bankrupt, and have been for a while. I've just failed EPICALLY at following both my DW and LJ reading lists, so if something important has happened since... September? Link me, or email me, or IM me, or comment here and tell me all about it. :D I really do want to know what's going on in y'all's lives, I just apparently fail at having the presence of mind to read about it.

It other news, the cross-country move is going well. MUCH less stressful than last time, surprisingly. On the other hand, last time our game plan was "get directions from destination A to destination B (usually at least 15 or 16 hours apart) and drive as FAR AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE before passing out for a few hours at five in the morning when checkout time is 10:30", and we had to smuggle the animals in sometimes because we couldn't find a pet-friendly hotel and I was literally about to fall over. This time, I actually took the time to look up pet-friendly Holiday Inn locations, and take into account our speed and how tired we'd probably be when figuring out how far to drive each day. Not only does this mean that we're not getting completely worn out by driving 8-12 hours a day on 5 hours of sleep (instead going for 4-6 hours of driving and 8-10 hours of sleep), but I knew in advance the days that we're getting to various places, including our destination. Granted, the schedule got thrown off a bit by Simba* but that's not too bad, and I can adjust the anticipated arrival dates accordingly.

* What happened with Simba was a couple days ago, when we were getting ready to leave the hotel in Shamrock, TX, we realised we couldn't find him anywhere in the room, and assumed he got out somehow when I'd left for breakfast. This prompted much worry, many tears, and telling the front desk we'd stay another night. In the end, it turned out he'd somehow squeezed between the TWO INCHES I SHIT YOU NOT between the bedframe and the edge of the box spring, and was INSIDE THE BOX SPRING. We still stayed the extra night, though, given how wound up we were from the whole thing. Moral of the story: Whenever Simba has disappeared, before panicking, check inside EVERY PIECE OF FURNITURE, no matter how unlikely it seems that he could've gotten inside.

Um... what else? Well, we're seeing Tracey (lionessvalenti) today! :D This is very exciting! And then tomorrow we're seeing Ai (yetregressing) and her anti-rape squad. Or possibly day after tomorrow. I'm not entirely sure how that's working, I'll have to ask her. Either way, we're going to be in Ithaca on either Sunday or Monday afternoon, depending on when we see Ai and (if it's tomorrow night) how tired we are after both her AND Tracey.


IMPORTANT: We will not have internet access tonight! We're staying at Tracey's grandmother's, and there is no internet access. Ergo, we will not be online. Please don't worry when you don't see us. If you absolutely MUST KNOW if we're all right, get in touch with yetregressing, kawaiispinel, or jaeled - they're the most likely to have information on whether or not we've arrived. Or, alternatively, you could call our cell! 480.406.1631 I can't promise we'll answer, but we'll definitely call you back if you leave a message.

Anyway, I'm going to go take advantage of free breakfast. :D

Yeah, so I hardly slept last night, and was driving for more than seven hours today. I was so ready to fall into bed and sleeeeeeeeep when I got to the Holiday Inn.

I have been laying in bed. For almost four hours. Trying to fall asleep. I have watched most of a Brendan Frasier film, an episode of Law and Order CI, and the second half of Charlie's Angels.

Incidentally, I'd forgotten how adorable I always thought Dylan was. With her boyfriendthing that calls her "Starfish".

But yeah. At this rate, I'm going to have to pay for a second night (checkout time is noon) and won't get home until the not-too-wee hours of the morning.

...I could also go get breakfast before sleep. That might help. WHY AM I SO AWAKE? AUUUUUGH. I JUST WANT TO SLEEP. *weeps* Stupid big empty bed. Stupid body. Stupid EVERYTHING. *grumps* I want my girls.

So.

I've been trying to get ahold of the Florida DMV for about, oh, two weeks, maybe three, so I could get paperwork to request a new title for the car, so I can get Arizona plates before we have to head out of town (I know, go figure, right?). The paperwork was SUPPOSED to be available online, and there was a link, but it didn't lead to anything. I called the office, they said if it was broken, I'd have to email them, and it took this long to hear back. Ugh. Not to mention that in the time between when I contacted them originally, and now, the price to request a new title has gone from $30 to $80. Fuck my life. And of course, I heard back on Friday night, when I'd be doing things Saturday, and today is a holiday so the post office is closed, so I'll be sending that with the quickest mail possible so that hopefully I can get this all worked out.

And I ALSO need to go to the nearest U-Haul place and get them to hook Koschei up for hauling - while the trip will take longer due to slower speeds, we've decided that in the end, it'll be easier and (probably/hopefully) cheaper to just get a U-Haul trailer for our shit. Especially since we're not actually keeping any of the big furniture. We're keeping the side table, the coffee table, and Aub's desk, all of which disassembles pretty compactly.

Guh.

There is so much I need to do, so I'm going to make a nice pretty list here for my own reference.

• Pay rent
  
• Mail title request (call for price check and address)
  
• Buy Rosemary & Rue for Megan, and mail
  
• Take Koschei to Midas for checkup and to fix air conditioning
  
• Get info on trailer rental
  
• Get Koshcei hooked up for hauling
  
• Find spay/neuter clinic for Ace & Michaelcat
  
• Call property managers in Ithaca
  
• Do dishes
  

Things to do today:

• Buy paper towels
  
• GET CAFFEINE
  
• Clean litterbox
  
• Bring dog food upstairs

Stolen shamelessly from allfireburns, because... well, why not?
Post a list of all your roleplaying journal names and explain what the names mean, if anything.
Not... ALL? But my active ones, and the ones I like/don't like/whatever.

( Cut because you might not give a shit. :D )


I can't think of any more. If you're curious about any other journal names not listed here, feel free to comment and ask. I'll be happy to oblige.