TwentySevenLetters / B

Odds and Ends

I haven’t been blogging much, and I thank my small but loyal audience for your continued patience. Rest assured that I’ve been doing things! ... just not much that I’ve blogged about.

First, the afore-mentioned triangulation essay. Sure, I had to write it in two hours, but I spent a lot of time thinking about it before trashing my entire first essay. (Hey, Joe Zabel! I almost wrote you two essays!)

Second, moving. Moving like a big movey thing. We’re finally moving down to Providence, now that I’ve been working there for just over five months. We’ve been lugging stuff down (who knew we had so much crap?) and throwing stuff out and purging and purging, and sadly (for the wallet) binging on new stuff we need, like throw rugs and furniture. Our new apartment will be big and spacious and bright and happy. (All those placing bets on how long before we start complaining how cramped we are: line forms to the right, folks.)

Minor point of no consequence: MS Word is insisting that I change the above sentence, because my grammar is all wrong. It believes I should have written “how cramped us are.” Is there any universe in which that’s correct?

Third, content. Still thinking on my spiffy new booklist of underrated titles for upper-elementary readers (grades 3-6, really). ONE person responded to my plea. Aren’t the rest of you ashamed of yourselves? Surely you must have a favorite book from childhood that you’d like to share.

Fourth, the Teen Summer Reading Program. Yesterday I ordered 40 board-game keychains from Playthings Past—30 as participation prizes, plus 10 Clue keychains as prizes for the Murder Mystery program. I link Playthings Past because they’re the most awesome company ever. An hour after I placed my order, I got a phone call that they were out of stock on some of the ones I’d picked, but they found an extra few Boggle ones; did I want them to swap them in? Why, yes! And today—today!—a box arrived, packed with 40 keychains. Did I mention that I placed the order yesterday? And that they arrived today? And their customer service people called me? And that I think this company is awesome, and you should buy stuff from them? Because you should.

Fifth, reading. Because I can, and I want to. Current audio book: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, in preparation for Book 6 (shipping from Canada). Ink-on-paper book: um… also some of the same Harry Potter, since I won’t have time for all 23 CDs in the car before the big move, but I think I’ve been able to skip far enough ahead. Today I started Terry Pratchett’s The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, but I’ve only read the first 10 pages or so. I have no opinion yet, since I wasn’t paying that much attention anyway. (Stupid doctor’s office waiting rooms.) Jonathan Carroll’s White Apples, which is what happens when Neil Gaiman and Sean Stewart get spliced together into a new race of superhuman überwriters. (I mean that in a good way.) And Jules Feiffer’s A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears, which will take you all of a half an afternoon to read and you’ll laugh the whole way through it, so make sure you find that one.

I think that’s all my reading for the last two weeks or so. I may have lost track a little.

Sixth: I’ve had a couple of ideas for lengthy blog posts that I just haven’t gotten around to writing yet, but rest assured that they’re cooking in the back of my head, and you’ll see them soon-ish.

Seventh: Back in March, I was given a blank purchase order to go to New England Mobile Book Fair. I was finally allowed to go last Friday. I hope I spent less than what I was supposed to ($1500 YA; $1500 kids), because if I went over budget I’ll be in trouble. But there’s lots of very cool stuff coming, most of which I can’t remember. Comics-wise, several of Summer’s manga recommendations. (Thanks, Summer!) When I get around to picking them up and processing them for the library, I’ll post some of the highlights, but after picking out about $3000 worth of paperback books, my brain gets a little funny around the edges.