Frak it Friday: "Chemicals" by Elsinore

Oh man, so I miss Champaign-Urbana so much that I shouted when the Blind Pig showed up in this.

And I'm seeing them soon! Its a bit of a trek but I definitely can't wait.

Conesy Wonesy VS the CHIN

No matter how much we talk about it, no one ever explains this to my satisfaction: who are these people who like Jay Leno?

[some e-cards]

LOLcat roundup -- Stalker kittehs

So I have a cat. I try not to talk about him on the blog, because...well, no one wants to hear about the cat. So I'm going to try to confine him to this post for the next year.

He is a creepy, stalker cat. I turn to the left and there he is, in the doorway: staring.

I wake up in the morning, and there he is at the foot of the bed: staring.

I get out of the shower, and there he is around the corner: staring.

So I was ecstatic to find these two LOLcats:


see more Lolcats and funny pictures


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Both of them kinda look like my cat... maybe he's related and its all in the gene pool.

Cupcake adventures!

Made these. Recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.

They. Were. Delicious!

In Which I Admit To Enjoying Romantic Spy Mysteries

This book, The Betrayal of the Blood Lily comes out on Tuesday, January 12th.

(Picture of book for good measure)



And I want to read it. Even though its silly, unsubstantial fluff, set centuries ago with dashing spies and courageous women and corset busting...I want to read it. Mostly because I've read all the other ones and they are so delectable.

But: this means that it is coming out in the store. The DC library, which doesn't get books in a timely manner, probably will not own this selection for months. And months. This has been a problem. As I get more and more connected to book blogging, I want more and more new releases. But to get new releases, you have to buy them. Or wait four months while the DC library system gets their act together to send me hot tickets like The Lost Symbol.

So what is a girl to do? I recently read a new release series book while sitting in a Borders during my lunch, which seems kind of like stealing:



I no longer have as big of a soapbox to stand on when recommending books, so reading everything for free seems like I'm mooching off the system. But how different is it to read a book in the store versus check a book out of a library that dozens of people also used to read a story?

End of a Decade (but I'm only acknowledging 2009)

So everybody has decided to make a list about how they feel about the decade. I am not near that level of self reflection at this moment in my life.

I was only prepared for the end of 2009. I totally forgot about the whole decade thing. Seems kind of small potatoes after a turn of a century, no?

Last year I wrote that for 2009 I was going to stop re-reading books, start reading harder books, and write more.

I did re-read almost no books. (I cheated when The Time Traveler's Wife came out -- I reread some choice scenes before I went to see the movie.)

I partially failed though. I didn't really scale back the teen fiction. The only thing that I read that was massively out of my way was The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons.

What I did accomplish at the end of the year, as a result of being flexible with my reading, is that I really like listening to podcasts. I listen to This American Life, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, and various How Stuff Works.

So -- its kind of a draw. I read a lot of stuff, but not a lot of it was far outside my comfort zone. But I did push onto podcasts (with the help of Dan!)

This year I have only two goals:

1. Continue to use the Wii Fit for at least 30 minutes three times a week. (My weight has stayed stagnant since last New Years. Really, that's better than nothing, right?)

2. Keep track of all the books I read in a spreadsheet. (This will be nice if only so I can remember exactly what I read.)

So nothing too outrageous for the new year. Good luck you with your own changes.

WTF Christmas

see more Lolcats and funny pictures


I've been sick. I haven't gone shopping in a crowd. I haven't eaten until I thought I was going to explode.

I think this means its not Christmas?