Listening to Jason Mraz "The Dynamo of Volition". Right before 2:00 the chorus kicks in - awesome.

I wasn't much interested in Mraz's music since the "I'm Yours" single isn't much of a stand out to me... My mother bought the We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things album and I'm really surprised that most of the other songs are quite good. They have a completely different sound - funky, jazzy.

"Dynamo of Volition" is extremely catchy. Plus, it name drops Kid Icarus. Ahh, many hours of playing that game only to hear the squeaky sound of his death by sneak attack eyeball monsters.

Love, love the sound of this song.

Woohoo, listening to Whitney Houston's "Whitney" album. Ahh, the 80s.
I have to love a song that actually has the lyric:
"Well, all this talkin', worthless chatter, just don't matter.
Time for stalking. Come get next to me"

Stalking!? That's not the kind of contact sport I want to play.

In misheard lyrics, I always think the real line, "Cut the formalities, cause you've got a few things to prove"
Is instead, "Cut up the manatees cause you've got a few things to prove." !
Yikes. And I always wondered what the poor manatees ever did...

(Listen to the song on this YouTube video. Do you hear manatees or what?)

I just finished reading a book in which the characters visit William Faulkner's home. I was a bit puzzled by the sentence: "She couldn't resist pointing out the stack of paperback potboilers on display in Faulkner's bedside bookshelves..."

I have actually never heard the term 'potboiler' before, but now I know. :)

Potboilers, page-turners, pulp fiction, or airport novels.

Well, the idea of a potboiler is a bit silly since I think most authors would like to imagine their work being a bestseller. I don't think all potboiler-type novels have to be of poor quality.

I enjoy reading potboilers (of at least decent quality). Sometimes "quality" literature is just so heavy that I think, "why would I want to even read that!?"



When it comes to books, I've read the good, the bad, and lots of the mediocre. Still, I rarely regret reading a novel. The more I read, the more I truly appreciate the best.

Plus, I can honestly say when I think a "classic" is a terrible read. For instance, I recall disliking Kerouac's On the Road. I read it because it's just one of those books you have to read. I guess I'm not the type to appreciate books about drunk/high young men wandering around the United States. Or maybe I've just never hit that point of total irresponsible youthful stupidity.

On the other hand, I greatly enjoyed books like Lolita, Wuthering Heights (the more you re-read it, the better it gets), Invisible Man (Ellison), Heart of Darkness, The Great Gatsby, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Good Earth, 1984. Most of the Toni Morrison books - and it feels like I read them all during high school's AP Literature.

Truly disliked The Crucible and not much of a fan of dying-in-the-snow Jack London (which mostly remind me of 7th grade and how it was the first year we were seriously taught grammar - and I was very, very lost/bored)... but classics nonetheless.

The first time I read Lord of the Flies was on my own and it was fascinating. Once it became something we read in school and dissected to no end, I really began to dislike it.

Jane Eyre was another favorite but I first read it when I was about 10 so I'm sure I skimmed through it. Later I re-read parts and realized I had no idea what was going on. Lol. One day I'll have to read it again...

I went through a major L.M. Montgomery phase. I read all of the Anne of Green Gables books (8 in total) and most of her other novels. I spent most of 7th and 8th grades re-reading those stories. Another case of having "read" them around age 8 and not realizing I missed half the plot. Probably the same case for the Little House on the Prairie series but I never felt the desire to read them all again.

Some kids have major growth spurts, I had a major reading spurt. Between the ages of 8 to 13 I read so many books, in such a broad variety of genres, that even today I sometimes stumble across something and think, "have I read this before?"... but I can't even remember.

Somewhere between 8 and 13 I developed a brain and started to think. Even today I don't read nearly as much as I read then. (Scary when you think about that...) I read horror, thrillers, a ton of sci-fi, fantasy, romances, poetry, action adventures, classics, children's books, adult books, banned books, books on astrology and astronomy, art, science, the Black Death, Catacombs, world religions, ancient Egyptians, volcanoes, colonial America, making rock candy and paper-mâché, and basically every other quirky topic imaginable.

This also explains why today I'm still curious about art and artists, the Black Death and Catacombs, bog people, fashion and its history, ancient civilizations, civilization in general, globalization, architecture, photography (more looking at it than taking it!), mythologies, and the meaning of people's names.

I had an excellent evening. I met my sister in town at the movie theater and we went to see The Hangover. I was a bit iffy about the movie but it turned out to be hilarious. Yeah, guy humor but hilarious. Probably if you hated something like Old School you won't care for this one, but I think this film is less goofy and the 'mystery' is engaging.

After the film, we walked over to an Applebees. Mmm, fiesta lime chicken. ;)

I dragged Kelsey to the mall for a half hour but since everything closes at 9 p.m. it wasn't too thrilling. She had to get back home so we parted and I went to the bookstore before heading home.

Ahh, she gave me my awesome birthday gifts. Two hair towel wraps - seriously, those things are great. Also, the DVD for Slumdog Millionaire. Yay!

Crazy story:

Tonight I decided to wear a beaded necklace/earring set that was given to me as a Christmas gift. It's the sort of one-of-a-kind item.

As I'm walking down an aisle in the book store a woman stops me and asks if I received the necklace as a gift or purchased it myself. She then goes on to tell me that she made the necklace and that it's the first time she has ever seen someone wearing one of her creations.

It made me think about how long she must have worked on this necklace that she remembers it after such a large amount of time.


And when I got home I found a mysterious large envelope addressed to me. I won a giveaway for a book from ProQuest Database (used in the school system) on accessing critical standards for a library media program.

If only I could channel this power to win weird little contests into winning the lotto jackpot.

I enjoy listening to my favorites from Sly and the Family Stone's Greatest Hits album from time to time. I prefer the faster paced/funkier tunes.

Lalala, "Different strokes for different folks". This song is as relevant today as it was during the 1960s. ( 'Everyday People' Lyrics )

I had a very nice birthday. I received a lot of wonderful birthday wishes from friends and relatives. I slept late, read, and played an unhealthy number of hours of Sims 2. Late in the afternoon, my mother and I met my father in Ocala for dinner at Chilis.

I spent $10 to buy a copy of Lumines Plus for the PS2. I have very few casual games (and far too many 100+ hour RPGs). My mother will likely hijack the game but that's okay. My only problem is that I keep thinking of Tetris while playing it... Just now it occurred to me that I should look for Katamari Damacy on sale too.


I thought of using my birthday gifts to help finance the purchase of a Wii, but honestly I don't have enough time as it is to keep up with the games I've got. Better to save any money.

...Especially since my financial goals include buying a new computer some time next year after Windows 7 launches. I'm not sure it will happen since it depends on a full salary and a good no interest credit offer. And uh, the fact that I hope to move away from home and I have very little furniture. :)