Arrrr Cubed

The Friday 56, Part the Sixteenth

2011-03-18T18:36:00.003-04:00

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

I found this via Shiloh Walker's blog. She found it at The Bookaholic Zone, who found it at Storytime With Tonya & Friends, which - as far as I can tell - is the originator.

“Her family is not only in charge of the Pop Cops, but work closely with the Controllers, as well.”

Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder

I was going to go sit out on the back porch and read for a bit, like I did yesterday, but then I found out the temperature: 80! Too hot for me. So I haven't actually started the above book yet, but I have it here beside me because it's the book I was going to take outside.

The Friday 56, Part the Fifteenth

2011-03-11T20:01:00.000-05:00

“I see,” Nathan said.

From Amazonia by James Rollins

The Friday 56, Part the Fourteenth

2011-03-04T17:16:00.003-05:00

When he passed through Thrace on his way to Greece, the god was insulted by one of the kings there, Lycurgus, who bitterly opposed this new worship.

From Edith Hamilton's Mythology.

Isn't It Ironic (Don't Ya Think)?

2011-01-08T15:38:00.002-05:00

Unlike the song referenced by the title of this post, I have some sad news that is actually ironic.

You may remember my previous post about Bark for Life, the American Cancer Society's cancer walk for dogs and their owners.

Yeah, Ginger, who I walked in Bark for Life is the subject of yet another post here. But it's not a funny post or a serious post.

Well, it *is* serious. Also sad. Mostly sad.

Ginger LOVED doing Bark for Life. She enjoyed meeting new people and dogs. She loved the mile-long walk in the heat.

The rest of August, all of September and most of October, Ginger was her normal, happy self. In late October or early November, though, something changed.

She stopped eating. The dog we used to call part-goat stopped eating. We couldn't figure out why. She would sometimes eat her kibble, but not always. She ate less and less often as the month wore on.

When we went out of town for Thanksgiving, we took her with us. She was more active, and more perky, for those few days than she had been the entire rest of the month. Her energy and exuberance made me happy. She was happy for the first time in weeks.

And she was eating. Mostly people food, as I think everyone gave her some turkey (because she was so skinny and pathetic and cute), but she ate a little bit of dog food, too. (Not her dog food, mind.)

In December, she ate even less. We knew we needed to take her to the vet, but we couldn't afford to do so. Money's been tight since I lost my job last January. (Yeah, I still don't have another one, though I do have some promising leads.)

Again, we took Ginger with us when we left town for Christmas. She ate people food while we were there, but would not eat any of her dog food, not even snacks.

When we received a goodly amount of cash for Christmas, we knew we had to use it to take Ginger to the vet.

On 28 December 2010, we took Ginger to The Pet Vet on Patton. She really liked the vet and her assistant, despite the assistant having to take her temperature - always a traumatic experience for a dog.

They ran multiple tests, and finally diagnosed her with lymphoma.

That's right, cancer.

We'd known something was wrong with her, of course, but we thought it was pneumonia - she had all the symptoms.

The diagnosis of cancer came as a shock.

Of course, we couldn't afford the chemotherapy and radiation it would take to put the cancer into remission. So we got what medicine we could afford.

She took her medicine fairly well the first few days. Until this past Tuesday (4 January 2011), when she refused not only her medicine but people food.

We talked her into eating a little bit of food, and got most of her medicine into her. Later that night, I wished we hadn't; it all came back up. Every last thing she'd eaten that day. So I had to clean it all up before she or one of our other dogs ate it.

That was about 3 or 4 am on Wednesday. I found another spot when she woke me up whining a little after 9. I cleaned that up, too, and let her out.

Since she was acting like she felt better - excited over everything - we decided to go out and do our normal Wednesday activities (bowling, roleplaying, etc. with a group of friends).

We came home to 6 or 7 more spots on the carpet, some of which were old enough to be dry by then. (Eww. Also, not easy to clean.)

Obviously, she was not feeling better.

She couldn't walk straight, and her eyes weren't focusing either. She was just pathetic.

I spent the night on the living room floor with her, trying to keep her calm. About 8 am Thursday morning, I could no longer stay awake.

My hubby, Frank, had gone to bed about 5:30. I woke him up, and managed to stay awake while he called the vet.

At least, I think he called the vet. I don't really remember much from 7:30 am until 1:30 PM, when I woke up to Patch barking. Inside. He knows not to do that.

But he kept barking, so I finally got up to check on Ginger (Frank had come back to bed at some point).

Yeah, Patch isn't as stupid as he wants us to think.

Ginger wasn't moving. At all.

We buried her out among the trees, near the small animals she so loved to chase.

That was two days ago.

She only lived one week and two days after being diagnosed with cancer.

It's hard to believe I'll never see her again in this world. I'll never hear her whine again, never get ninja licked by her again. After a while, I won't have yellow fur all over my clothes - and everything else I own - anymore.

Despite my tears, some things can still make me smile. This song was such a comfort to me on Thursday, I thought I would share it here.

"Goldie's Last Day" - PFR:

The Friday 56, Part the Thirteenth

2010-07-23T05:09:00.000-04:00

"Krystal was strung out. A crack addict."

That would be the main character, Cicely, taking about her mother.

Bark For Life (Cross-posted)

2010-07-16T14:52:00.003-04:00

The American Cancer Society does this cool event every year called Bark for Life.

The American Cancer Society Bark For LifeTM is a noncompetitive walk event for dogs and their owners to raise funds and awareness for the American Cancer Society's fight against cancer. (From the page linked above.)

Cool, huh?

So, I signed up. Like half an hour ago. The Asheville, NC event is on Saturday, 7 August. Luckily it's not until late afternoon, so maybe it won't be too hot. But it will be August, so it will be hot. Or raining. Or both. Probably both.

I'll be walking Ginger, my yellow lab whose mom was a beagle. She's the most laid back of the three dogs and, therefore, the best fit for this.

I think it will be fun. Plus, Ginger will get to socialize: sniff other dogs and lick their owners.

I'll get some exercise, too. Bonus! ^_^

Edit: Totally forgot something! I also have a personal page on their servers that y'all can visit. Please donate and help me raise money for the American Cancer Society. Thanks.

Hey Bird Dog

2010-07-10T07:42:00.007-04:00

I haven't slept well lately. Nothing unusual about that; I rarely sleep through an entire night.

However, this is the second night in a row that I haven't slept at all. (Though I did sleep for 4-5 hours during the day on Friday.)

This past night, I simply stayed up too late reading. (Darn you, M.J. Rose and Yasmine Galenorn! ^_^)

The night before last, though, my lack of sleep was all Ginger's fault. Ginger is my youngest fur child and the only female of the three.

She's also a bird dog. She proved that Thursday night.

We used to jokingly call her a bird dog because she seemed able to fly. A 6-foot fence could not keep her in the yard, despite her only being about a foot and a half tall at the shoulder. Dog can jump!

She didn't jump the fence Thursday night. I wish that was all she'd done.

Honestly, I told a fib earlier. My lack of sleep wasn't all Ginger's fault. Just mostly.

Unable to sleep - and with a growling stomach - I got back up not long after going to bed. (I think it was about 3 am.) Ginger pleaded with those lab eyes of hers to go out. Since I was up anyway, I opened the sliding glass door for her.

There was such a nice breeze, I left the door open but closed the curtain so we wouldn't get bugs. Ginger loves when we do this; she likes being able to come and go as she pleases. The curtain doesn't bother her, she simply goes under/through it.

A few minutes later, while I was fooling around on my computer, I heard something flapping against the curtain. It sounded like something fairly small, so I figured it was just a bug and would go away eventually.

Ginger, who was back inside by now, went to investigate the noise.

"Get it, little one. Get that moth."

She did. She chased something small and dark from under the curtain through the house. I could hear her wrestling with something near the front door. Dang that moth's putting up a fight.

It was no moth.

It was a bird. A small bird. And boy was it dead.

I choked.

I knew I had to get it out of the house so neither Ginger nor her brothers would eat it - who knows what kind of parasites the thing may have had!

I was crying by the time I picked it up in a couple of paper towels. I barely managed to open the front door and toss the poor thing into the yard before I broke down.

Yeah, after that, I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. I also couldn't focus well enough to write or I would have written this up right then.

The Friday 56, Part the Twelfth

2010-07-09T04:24:00.004-04:00

"I will eat what I deem fit."

A Couple of Contests

2010-07-08T22:56:00.004-04:00

I'm not ranting this Thursday. (Only because I'm too annoyed to control my language on the rant brewing in my head.) So, I'm posting about contests around the blogospehere instead. ^_^

Okay, I lied. I'm only blogging about two contests. I'm too lazy to go off in search of more...

Lisa Desrochers is hosting a monthly debut author contest on her blog to celebrate the release of her book later this year. Each month's winner is given the choice of one of four YA debut novels or asigned ARC of Personal Demons. (Guess which one I want!) You can enter July's contest here.

I'm hosting a simple little contest over on TuraLura's Picks. I'm giving away two prizes of a Forgive My Fins bookmark and two mer-mark temporary tattoos. You can enter here.

There are plenty of other contests going on, though. I'm just not posting about all of them. ^_-

"Google is your friend; I am not." - Some guy on usenet years ago

Waiting on Wednesday: Mockingjay

2010-07-07T00:46:00.007-04:00

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My choice for the week:

Mockingjay

Book three in the Hunger Games trilogy. The first two books were phenomenal, so I'm sure this one will be as well!

Book blurb from Goodreads:

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what's worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss's family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins's groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

Release Date: August 24, 2010

Tuesday Quotes 3

2010-07-06T00:40:00.002-04:00

"Can we stop at the next exit. I want a peach milkshake." - Zane, riding in the back seat of a 15-passenger van

"You wanna pee on who??" - Jim, the driver of said van

Saturday Snippet #3

2010-07-03T01:26:00.004-04:00

Third snippet from Elika's Story. This one is still in Kregen's POV.

Soft humming drew his gaze. A hymn to the Mother, from the dawn service. The girl wore the pale blue of a priestess-in-training.

Just a child, then. He would never hurt a child. No matter his need. He would look elsewhere for nourishment, but perhaps she could answer a question for him.

He shouldn't even have to get too close. Just close enough to see her ears or eyes or, preferably, both. Elven pointed ears and metallic-hued eyes would let him know he had finally made it home.

The Friday 56, Part the Eleventh

2010-07-02T01:21:00.002-04:00

"But why not? I mean, you make up stories."

Tuesday Quotes 2

2010-06-29T01:17:00.001-04:00

"Dork" - Me

"I love you, too" - Frank, my then boyfriend, now husband

"Whenever you insert logic into a fantasy setting, God kills a catgirl" - Hill

Monday Raves

2010-06-28T08:55:00.004-04:00

On the flip side of Thursday Rants, we have Monday Raves... ^_^

Last week, I got to see Toy Story 3 in the theater. It was amazing. Toy Story 2 is my favorite in the series, but this one was still incredible. I do like it better than the first one.

That's not what I'm raving about today, though. Nope, I'm raving about the theater where I saw the movie.

Cinebarre at Biltmore Square Mall in Asheville, North Carolina does something rather awesome on Tuesdays. Every Tuesday, all day long, all movies are just $5.

Their regular prices are $7 for matinées, $9.50 for later shows. But not on Tuesdays.

I love that they do this. It's such a great idea. I wish more places did something like this.

Just one day a week, have reduced admissions prices. That would be so cool! It wouldn't really work for restaurants or stores. But it could work for museums, amusement parks, things like that. ^_^

Sunday Sunday III

2010-06-27T16:57:00.003-04:00

Mom (that is, my mother-in-law) sent these lyrics out in an email the other day, and I think they're very appropriate for my mindset today.

Thanks, Mom!

I Know Who Holds Tomorrow

by Ira F. Stanphill 1950

I don't know about tomorrow
I just live from day to day
I don't borrow from the sunshine
For the skies may turn to grey.
I don't worry for the future
For I know what Jesus said
And today He walks beside me
And He knows what is ahead.

Many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
Oh, and I know who holds my hand.
Oh, many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
Oh, and I know who holds my hand...

Every step is getting brighter
As the golden stairs I climb;
Every burden's getting lighter,
Every cloud is silver-lined.
There the sun is always shining,
There no tear will dim the eye;
At the ending of the rainbow
Where the mountains touch the sky.

I don't know about tomorrow;
It may bring me poverty.
But the one who feeds the sparrow,
Is the one who stands by me.
And the path that is my portion
May be through the flame or flood;
But His presence goes before me
And I'm covered with His blood.

Many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
Oh, and I know who holds my hand.
Oh, many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
Oh, and I know who holds my hand...

The Friday 56, Part the Tenth

2010-06-25T11:52:00.001-04:00

After pulling on the skirt and blouse from Quince's bag-o'-costume-fun, I found some accessories in the bottom of the bag.

Thursday Rant - Aloe

2010-06-24T11:38:00.003-04:00

Why is aloe everywhere?? I've been noticing it creeping into more and more things in recent years, mostly in soaps and shampoos and such. It's in those little strips on razors now. Every razor, it seems.

This is all well and good for most people.

If you're allergic, however, it sucks. Soap that makes you break out in hives? A razor that burns if you happen to nick yourself shaving? No thanks.

Even worse, the latex gloves used at our local health department have an aloe coating on the inside of the glove! That's ridiculous.

I hope no one who works there is allergic to aloe.

Waiting on Wednesday: Personal Demons

2010-06-23T23:17:00.003-04:00

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My choice for the week:

Personal Demons

Yep, another YA paranormal. First in a series of (at least) three. ^_^

Here's the blurb from Lisa Desrochers' blog:

Frannie Cavanaugh is a good Catholic girl with a bit of a wicked streak. She's spent years keeping everyone at a distance—even her closest friends—and it seems her senior year will be more of the same...until Luc Cain enrolls in her class. No one knows where he came from, but Frannie can't seem to stay away from him. What she doesn't know is that Luc works in Acquisitions—for Hell—and she possesses a unique skill set that has the king of Hell tingling with anticipation. All Luc has to do is get her to sin, and he’s as tempting as they come. Frannie doesn’t stand a chance.

Unfortunately for Luc, Heaven has other plans, and the angel, Gabe, is going to do whatever it takes to make sure that Luc doesn’t get what he came for. And it isn't long before they find themselves fighting for more than just her soul.

But if Luc fails, there will be Hell to pay…for all of them.

Yeah, this is totally my kind of book! I can't wait!

Release date: September 14, 2010

Tuesday Quotes (and Anecdotes)

2010-06-22T18:49:00.004-04:00

This week's quote is more of an anecdote. One my mother used to relate to me quite a lot. One of those "do as I say not as I do" things...

When she was in high school, her mother repeatedly threatened to buy her a dictionary.

Why?

Because shit was the only word she knew.

True story. Grandma corroborated it.

"My father was a sailor; my mother cursed like one." - Me

Saturday Snippet #2

2010-06-19T23:36:00.003-04:00

Here's a second snippet from Elika's Story. This starts a section done frpm another character's POV: Kregen, my male main character.

If you like it, please comment. Thanks. ^_^

Kregen stalked northward. The forest had never been this quiet before.

Now, though, birds and other small animals scattered before him. Even the insects left him alone.

Three days he'd been in the forest, Three days and only a single, stupid squirrel for food. Squirrel blood didn't even take the edge off.

The Friday 56, Part the Ninth

2010-06-18T00:07:00.002-04:00

"Oh, you're not crazy"

Very reassuring, Mr. man... *rolls eyes*

Certainly sounds like an interesting story. Of course, I've yet to read an Angela Knight story I didn't like. ^_^

Thursday is for Ranting...

2010-06-17T00:05:00.000-04:00

An Open Letter to Southern Living Magazine OR WTF, Y'all?

Subscription Department
Southern Living Magazine
P.O. Box. whatever
Where Ever, USA

RE: Your subscription offer of 2 April, 2010*

To whom it may concern:

Do you routinely send out subscription offers to dead people? I only ask because the nice little letter I received back in April was addressed not to me, but to my father. My father died on April 15, 1998. Let the man rest in peace.

Please remove his name from your lists. Thank you.

Sincerely,
TuraLura

Oy. Before this past April, it had been at least five years since I received anything addressed to my father. I thought his name had finally been removed from mailing lists. Apparently, I thought wrong.

There's got to be some way to keep this from happening again. Maybe some national register of the deceased, which companies would be required to check names against before doing mass mailings.

Had this happened closer to the time of his death, it would have been more understandable. It also would have been worse, as it would have served to bring the pain of losing him right back to the surface. At this point, after twelve years, it's a little easier to handle. A little.

*Took me long enough to write this. I had to calm down first. I was seeing red when I first got the letter!

Waiting on Wednesday: A Wild Light

2010-06-16T00:49:00.004-04:00

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My choice for the week:

A Wild Light (Hunter Kiss #3)

In the past week, I have read both of the first two books in the Hunter Kiss series by Marjorie Liu. I've had both since they released, but only just got around to actually reading them, which is both good and bad. It's good because now I don't have as long to wait for the third book, but bad because I missed so many opportunities to recommend the series to people. (Of course, when I worked in a bookstore, I recommended them just on my previous experience with Miss Liu. I could have done a better job of it had I actually read the books.)

What can I say about this series? For starters, it's incredible. The books are dark, but not quite horror, and full of luscious prose. Urban fantasy at its finest.

About the book (from Marjorie Liu's website):

For too long Maxine Kiss has felt an inexplicable darkness inside her-a force she channels into hunting the demons bent on destroying the human race. But when she finds herself covered in blood and crouched beside her grandfather's dead body with no memory of what happened, Maxine begins to fear that the darkness has finally consumed her.

Release date: July 27, 2010 (More than a month away! Ack!)

Other titles in the series: The Iron Hunt (book 1) and Darkness Calls (book 2)

Tuesday Quotes

2010-06-15T00:46:00.004-04:00

I've kept a notebook of quotes for years now.

Each Tuesday, I shall share a random one (or two).

"I wouldn't say such things if I were after me if I were you." - Jenni

"Who's having a cow about veal?" - Sabrina