Testing Something - Good Reads

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I've read this twice and I would read it again!

View all my reviews >>

2009 - Books I've Read This Year

I used to keep track of every book I've read. I hated when the list started dwindling. I thought I had lost some part of my identity since I've always been "the reader". I just couldn't focus enough to sit and read. I was looking through my old lists and decided I'd try to remember what I've read this year so far. Doubt I'll get them all but so far off of the top of my head:

The Time Traveler's Wife -
The Rule of Four - Ian Caldwell
Twilight - Stephenie Meyer - all 5 in the series
Angels & Demons - Dan Brown
The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown
Flood - James Heneghan
The Little Friend - Donna Tartt
Last two books of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - Ann Brashares
(a few books I grabbed from the library and forgot the titles to)

That makes at least 12. Better than I thought but not as many as I used to read. In 2003 I read 30 books.

Oh My Goodness!

[7:18] Bane Bracken: seeing my real av
[7:19] Bane Bracken: thats rare
[7:19] Bane Bracken: u should write it down
[7:19] Bane Bracken: lol
[7:19] Talulah Munro: lol it's going in my journal :P
[7:19] Bane Bracken: oh i feel special now ^^

That's right, I saw Bane in his real av!

Second Life: Pirates....

...don't wear dresses! Okay, so tonight I'll be wearing one :x I've been invited to a tea party in honor of the Baroness of Antiquity. I hope I know how to behave. It's been so long since I've been in proper society, though being raised proper, it might all come back to me.

AAE Adventures v.2

Erzsebet Aya and I were out exploring with 12 Clarence. Who knew we'd get into this type of trouble!

'Twilight' Was Horrid

I watched Twilight to see what the big deal was. My sister loves it. A lot of my my friends loved it. I just had to take a look for myself.

The acting was really bad. I know it was fantasy but some fantasy, you can get into it and believe for those few hours you are watching it. This was just so unbelievable. There were maybe one or two semi-redeeming moments but, otherwise, just, bad. On a positive note, the second movie looks promising!

I read the novels. The first book was just as horrible as the movie, but I was compelled to read the second novel. There was so much improvement and it only got better. I wonder if there were ghost writers involved considering the contrast between how awful the first one was and how awesome the rest were.

AAE Adventures... Take... One

I've been wanting to do a few comic pages but I wasn't sure how to go about it. Tonight, my friend Pogue Mahone (or Pogue Thibedeau on SL), told me about a program called Comic Life. I didn't put too much thought into this one but I wanted to see what the program could do, really quick.

AAE is short for All Aboard Excursions. It's a travel/excursion/boredom group that Erzsebet Aya and I started on Second Life. We never did anything with it and only have 3 members. We've been thinking of getting a group going for small excursions. Nothing planned, just map hopping, Showcase searching and so on. If anyone is interested, search for "All Aboard Excursions" and join the group!

And now... the comic...

A Night At Home, Second Life Style

Last night, I couldn't sleep so I opened Second Life. None of the friends I usually hang with were on so I thought I would redecorate my rental. I had some people over earlier in the night and there really wasn't anywhere to sit because, well I sometimes just rez there to change or catch up on messages. I put out a lounge area outside that I had worked on awhile back. Nothing fancy, just a bench with some pose balls near a fire bowl.

I went inside and changed the color of my walls, added a few pillows from Pillow Talk, put out my low prim aquarium and it was starting to feel homey. I found a freebie couch I had from The Loft too. It's a really nice couch. I don't remember how I got it or if it was in a Lucky Chair or not.

So, to see how it all looks, I sit on the couch and hit the Video play button. I always forget I have a TV in my place. It's part of the rental. I think it's one of those freebie TV's because the stations are free stations that don't have copyright issues. A movie was just starting, an old one called Road to Bali. Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, it was great. I haven't seen one of those movies since I was a kid! I sat there for 2 hours watching this movie, admiring the sets, the costumes, laughing at all the old pop culture references.

I'm sure anyone who doesn't get on SL will think this sounds strange but, I think I'm going to have a movie night one of these nights. I can break out a bunch of pillows and cushions and just invite people over who aren't busy. Wonder if that channel has a TV guide somewhere...

Avast me hearties!

On Second Life, those who know me will have noticed that I've been wearing a different hat lately. I love my hat!

For a year now, I've been wearing a top hat about 90% of the time. It's been part of my SL persona. I've been wanting to try something new so, I went to the place where I got my top hat, called *~*Illusions*~*. There I found a bunch of demos that I took home and tried on. My two favorites were the Indiana Jones hat and the pirate hat called, *~*Cap'n Jack Hat. My friend Erzsebet Aya knew how I had been looking for a pirates hat and she bought me the Cap'n Jack! (she's awesome btw)

She's been wanting to do some pirate role-play and we came across a sim called Antiquity MarieGalante. The people there are very friendly. They let us wander around, but told us to watch out for the Navy. The Navy and pirates just do not get along. I've been kind of anxious about the RP thing. I think I have performance anxiety, I don't know. Anyway, it's been fun searching for clothes to buy and putting an av outfit together.

Some suggested that we watch some pirate movies to learn some lingo and last night, I came across a movie on Hulu that looked interesting. It was called Anne of the Indies. It was great. In this movie, the main character was a female captain, and she was tough *nods*. I'd definitely recommend it. Blackbeard's character had a part in it too.

Anyway, I now have my avatar together. I have my pirates hat, a telescope, a cutlass, a ripped shirt I found, and some awesome boots that were on sale for 50L. When I'm not feeling lazy, I'll take some snapshots and post them. Right now, I am in desperate need of a nap.

Tonight? I'm going to learn some pirate lingo *nods*

Second Life: The Hunt is On

I could have said "the game is afoot" but, yeah, didn't go there.

Erz and I are doing some of the grid-wide hunts on SL. We seem to be doing them in no particular order or sticking to any particular hunt. We came across 4 of them tonight and just bounce from one to another. Anyway, while I fell into a dead end in one hunt, I decided to look at the info in some of the others, and I came across this link:
The Hunt Locations

It has lists of some of the hunts and a few helpful but not totally revealing hints. Definitely one to landmark. I just thought I'd share it with anyone who reads this stuff through my profile.

Also, I'm thinking of reviving the All Aboard Excursions group. It's a group that Erz and I wanted to use for tours. I'm thinking that now we should just add whoever wants to explore and maybe pick a few nights during the week where everyone in the group who could, could come on, and we could find something to do together. I love exploring and seeing who built what and what they did with it, and sometimes, I end up doing it alone. So, why not?

Some Enchanted Evening...

This is a dream that I had right before I woke up this morning.

My car broke down, during my road trip through the national forest. I ended up stranded with these 3 brother who owned a small lake off of their family property. They were great guys I felt safe with them. The youngest one, was disabled, didn't walk well. I talked to him the most. we had a lot in common. We both knew of a lot of the same things. Nick was really young, around 9. My car was almost done. I was there a week already. the older brothers kept telling me that Richard, the youngest, liked me a lot and thought nick was great. They wanted me to come visit again, when I had some time off. They hadn't seen their brother so happy to before.

One night, the night before I was to go home, they walked with me out to the lake. It was nighttime, but there were so many stars out, and the moon was so bright. If I could, I'd have stayed there forever. The two older brother's jumped in and Richard was coming along. I can't swim and neither could Nick, so I didn't let him wade in. There's a platform about 20 feet into the water. You can get there by taking a small boat, or swimming in and then climbing a ladder. I can see that there's a bench on it, facing the lake and the mountains. It looks really lovely out there.

I turn around and there he is, looking at me, gauging my reaction to the lake at night. The other guys get out, and we all stand there looking at the night sky, away from the edge, on the rocks. He starts telling me a story. His brother's have heard it before of course but they love hearing it again.

His parents were always sort of bickering over the platform because the mother couldn't swim, and he built that deck for her. He thought she would love the view, and the alone time. She could bring her books out there and get a break from the kids once in awhile. He had a small boat for her to use, but she wouldn't use it. He didn't realize that she had a deep seated water phobia. She'd always ask him, "Why couldn't you build a pier to get to it? You know I can't swim!". Nothing he could do would get her out there because she was just THAT afraid of the water, but she really longed to be out there. Then one day, he found a way.

They walk with me back to the edge and I look up at the moon and stars and it's beautiful. They're all looking at me smiling, like they have a secret but I don't get it. I wait patiently for him to finish the story as I look out. I see nick wanting to inch his way down into the water and I tell him to stay back, because if he goes in, I can't rescue him.

...And then I see it. There's no water in the lake. It's all pebbles and mud! I look at Richard, and he's smiling big and says, "my dad's peace offering". He takes my hand, and walks me towards the deck, then turns around, and limps back to this thing on the ground I hadn't noticed before. It's a block of cement with a hatch. Richard lifts the hatch and there's a key above a switch, and he locks it. It dawns on me that that's what his father had built to "turn the water off". It was the switch for a dam and pump he had built.

He comes to me, takes my hand, tells Nick that he has to see this, and we walk towards the deck. He makes sure I don't slip on the mud. It feels good and squishy under my feet and there are enough pebbles for traction. We climb up the ladder, Richard first, to show me it's safe. When we get up there, I see there's a small tub of water, and he's rinsing his feet. Then he opens a small wooden cabinet with some towels in it and he waits for us to rinse our feet too. His father had thought of everything, I guess.

He takes my hand and brings me to the bench while Nick runs around looking over the edge at everything. I see him pull a remote out, and he aims it at a dark corner of the deck, and the TV from the house turns on! Electricity too? His father had it all worked out. That first night, his father had their stereo brought up here, and his parents danced in the moonlight.

On the TV, the time stamp says 12/31 11:59pm, and I hear a countdown. He whispers in my ear, "Happy new year". Suddenly there are fireworks, on the TV and over our heads! His brothers are firing them off. It's all so beautiful. I look at him and he's staring at me, smiling. Then he leans in, for a soft, wonderful kiss.

...and then I wake right up. Isn't that how it always is?

I <3 the library!

I just got back from the library. I LOVE the library! This is what I grabbed:

Pollyanna on DVD - This is the movie I watch when I want to think of simpler times.

Flood by James Heneghan - I was looking for his book The Grave. It was suggested by a friend who doesn't like reading *gasp*, so I thought I'd check it out. No The Grave but Flood looks interesting. It's a YA novel.

Main Street by Sinclair Lewis - This was the book that Colin Farrell was reading to Salma Hayek in the movie Ask the Dust... at least he was on the movie stills. In the actual movie, they were reading a children's book. I read some about it on Wikipedia and it sounded interesting.

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle - I know the guy has been praised up and down by Oprah. Because of that I almost didn't get this book. I'm kind of an anti-trend person... well when I'm offline. Online I'm all about myspace and twitter right? Anyway, I read an interview on this guy in a magazine at the doctors office and some of what he said really kind of blew my mind.

Creating Artists' Books and Collage Lost and Found - I'm still working on my collage and wanted to see if I could get any movitation from these books

Monks Hood by Ellis Peters - I love the Brother Cadfael mysteries. This is book 3. I was also interested in some of her other types of books so I checked out Flight of a Witch.

Maybe I'll write some reviews. I doubt it but, we'll see.

Keeping in touch from California to Northern Ireland

Sometimes I think I must be nuts.

Technology makes things easier. We chat, use the webcam now and then, email each other. I'm an online "dj" and when I'm on, he'll tune in and listen to me yap and play him his favorite songs.

Where the Sidewalk Ends Takes Me Back

This was one of my favorite books.

In 5th grade, I had a teacher who would read a few of the poems from this book, right after lunch recess. I guess it was her way of getting us to unwind.

I bought the book, and my best friend Tim and I would read it to each other and just bust up laughing. Of course I had to have the other books by Shel Silverstein too.

Zombies!

I know what I'd do. I'd fill my car with gas and head over to Kentucky. My friend Laz lives there. He's all studied up on the Zombie Survival Guide and has a stockpile of swords, axes, and whatever else will lop a zombie's head off.

He already told me that when the zombie apocalypse happens, I'm welcome to stay at his place. I have such good friends :)

Bye Bye - Breakup Songs

These three strong women know what's up.

Irreplaceable by Beyoncé

"So since I'm not your everything; How about I'll be nothing, nothing at all to you; Baby I won't shed a tear for you, I won't lose a wink of sleep; 'Cause the truth of the matter is replacing you is so easy"

I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor

"It took all the strength I had not to fall apart; Kept trying hard to mend the pieces of my broken heart; And I spent oh so many nights just feeling sorry for myself; I used to cry, but now I hold my head up high; And you see me, somebody new; I'm not that chained up little person still in love with you; And so you felt like dropping in, and just expect me to be free; But now I'm saving all my loving for someone who's loving me"

Bye Bye by Jo Dee Messina

"Bye bye love, I'll catch you later; Got a lead foot down on my accelerator and the rear-view mirror torn off; 'Cause I ain't never lookin' back, and that's a fact."

Gratitude Journal Entry

1. My kid is doing well
2. I can click the X
3. I have the luxury of sleeping in
4. I have me...