It's time for another installment of "Posting About Random Things".
There's a long post in the pipeline, but I'm too lazy to finish it, So here is a bunch of random unrelated things.
Pottermore. I got my email yesterday (finally! I did the whole magic quill thing on day one) so I went to check it out. It's actually pretty cool. There's a lot of reading, basically background information and insight into the writing of the books. The graphics are amazing, but the lack of sound is kind of weird. Here was my thoughtprocess as I went through it: Stuck in diagon alley... can't find my shopping list. Picking a pet is hard... black or Siamese. The Siamese icon looks cooler, and Black cats are cliched. Real-life Siamese cats look creepy (thanks wikipedia!). Black cat it is. Wand: Hazel w/unicorn core. 10.75 inches, hard. (that's what she said.) Time to be sorted...Ravenclaw (just like I've always said). Yes! I kind of suck at potions and really suck at spells.
I finished going through all of the material for the the first book, but after a while I was just doing the work and not reading everything that popped up. Now I can go back and read all of the extra stuff. What I did read was really interesting, so I have high expectations for the rest of it.
Books! I went with some friends to the used book store today with 16 dollars and "I will only buy something if I see something I really, really, really want." I ended up spending 12 bucks. What did I get? This stuff.
I Me Mine by George Harrison, which I have been looking for for years but could never find. There used to be a copy at the library, but it seems to have vanished before I could ever check it out. (Semi-related. I am very excited about the Martin Scorcese documentary about George. I thought it was going to be in theaters, but turns out it's on HBO. That means I will actually get to see it sometime this year. Awesome.) It's not a standard autobiography. It has a few chapters of "this is my life" stuff, but it's also got tons of pictures, transcripts of conversations and printed lyrics to all of his songs (at the time) with handwritten notes. Not bad for $8.
The Stand - Complete and Uncut Edition. Another "I've been looking for this forever!" find. I loved the original book, even thought it was one of those creepy things I'd read at night and get all paranoid about. I loved the miniseries, even though it was like 20 hours long. It was just scary enough to make me go "Oohhh... better not read it with the soor open!" but not so scary I could not finish it. I went through a phase of reading abunch of Stephen King books back in the 1990s. It lasted as long as there were cheap paperbacks and the used book store and the titles were not things that I knew were too scary for me. The Stand ended up being my favorite, Needful Things (great book, bum movie) was second. Cost: $1.05.
(The hurricane must have hit land because something pretty big just blew over somewhere outside. I just need it to cool things down. This heat+humidity is killing me... and poofing my hair up. Ugh.)
I thought I was done, but then I ran across something I did not even know existed. When I came home, I was showing Ma what I'd bought, and I was like, "Guess what the last one is! It's something I already have multiple copies of already. Guess!" She goes, "Alice In Wonderland?!" (That's the easy guess. I have 5 copies) "Nope? "Not A Christmas Story?" you know, because there is no book version of a Christmas Story. Wrong! There is! And I got it! 3 bucks.
I also picked up a few things from the FREE book shelf. I got The Fountainhead. I don't know. I hear good things. I hear terrible things. Mostly terrible. I got a free copy of Atlas Shrugged in a box of FreeCycle books once, but I never read that either. Again, I hear things... both good and terrible. Cost: nada.
The last thing I got was I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Max Tucker, which I know nothing about except that I've heard of it. It looks like it might be pretty funny. The paragraph on the back says "My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole. I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging dickhead. But, I do contribute to humanity in one very important way: I share my adventures with the world." Just from that I think I'll like it. Again, it was free, so even if it sucks, at least I'm not out any money.
Work. I remain unemployed, but I had an interview the other day that went really well, and they called me in today to bring my ID and fill out some paperwork for a background check. I am not sure if this means I'm in, or if this was something I was supposed to do before. In the interview the lady kept going, "We have a machine that does ____, we'll teach you how to use it" and stuff like that. That seems like a good sign. Also, I was in there for an hour. I don't know. It pays so much more than my last job that even though it is part time, I would only be making 80 less a week than I used to. I know people don't get excited about less money, but it's less hours, a shorter bus ride and something that is actually interesting and not "I work in a store full of idiots". Plus, they close at 5 and are not open on weekends. Now I am getting excited so I should shut up before I jinx myself.
Pottermore. I got my email yesterday (finally! I did the whole magic quill thing on day one) so I went to check it out. It's actually pretty cool. There's a lot of reading, basically background information and insight into the writing of the books. The graphics are amazing, but the lack of sound is kind of weird. Here was my thoughtprocess as I went through it: Stuck in diagon alley... can't find my shopping list. Picking a pet is hard... black or Siamese. The Siamese icon looks cooler, and Black cats are cliched. Real-life Siamese cats look creepy (thanks wikipedia!). Black cat it is. Wand: Hazel w/unicorn core. 10.75 inches, hard. (that's what she said.) Time to be sorted...Ravenclaw (just like I've always said). Yes! I kind of suck at potions and really suck at spells.
I finished going through all of the material for the the first book, but after a while I was just doing the work and not reading everything that popped up. Now I can go back and read all of the extra stuff. What I did read was really interesting, so I have high expectations for the rest of it.
Books! I went with some friends to the used book store today with 16 dollars and "I will only buy something if I see something I really, really, really want." I ended up spending 12 bucks. What did I get? This stuff.
I Me Mine by George Harrison, which I have been looking for for years but could never find. There used to be a copy at the library, but it seems to have vanished before I could ever check it out. (Semi-related. I am very excited about the Martin Scorcese documentary about George. I thought it was going to be in theaters, but turns out it's on HBO. That means I will actually get to see it sometime this year. Awesome.) It's not a standard autobiography. It has a few chapters of "this is my life" stuff, but it's also got tons of pictures, transcripts of conversations and printed lyrics to all of his songs (at the time) with handwritten notes. Not bad for $8.
The Stand - Complete and Uncut Edition. Another "I've been looking for this forever!" find. I loved the original book, even thought it was one of those creepy things I'd read at night and get all paranoid about. I loved the miniseries, even though it was like 20 hours long. It was just scary enough to make me go "Oohhh... better not read it with the soor open!" but not so scary I could not finish it. I went through a phase of reading abunch of Stephen King books back in the 1990s. It lasted as long as there were cheap paperbacks and the used book store and the titles were not things that I knew were too scary for me. The Stand ended up being my favorite, Needful Things (great book, bum movie) was second. Cost: $1.05.
(The hurricane must have hit land because something pretty big just blew over somewhere outside. I just need it to cool things down. This heat+humidity is killing me... and poofing my hair up. Ugh.)
I thought I was done, but then I ran across something I did not even know existed. When I came home, I was showing Ma what I'd bought, and I was like, "Guess what the last one is! It's something I already have multiple copies of already. Guess!" She goes, "Alice In Wonderland?!" (That's the easy guess. I have 5 copies) "Nope? "Not A Christmas Story?" you know, because there is no book version of a Christmas Story. Wrong! There is! And I got it! 3 bucks.
I also picked up a few things from the FREE book shelf. I got The Fountainhead. I don't know. I hear good things. I hear terrible things. Mostly terrible. I got a free copy of Atlas Shrugged in a box of FreeCycle books once, but I never read that either. Again, I hear things... both good and terrible. Cost: nada.
The last thing I got was I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Max Tucker, which I know nothing about except that I've heard of it. It looks like it might be pretty funny. The paragraph on the back says "My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole. I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging dickhead. But, I do contribute to humanity in one very important way: I share my adventures with the world." Just from that I think I'll like it. Again, it was free, so even if it sucks, at least I'm not out any money.
Work. I remain unemployed, but I had an interview the other day that went really well, and they called me in today to bring my ID and fill out some paperwork for a background check. I am not sure if this means I'm in, or if this was something I was supposed to do before. In the interview the lady kept going, "We have a machine that does ____, we'll teach you how to use it" and stuff like that. That seems like a good sign. Also, I was in there for an hour. I don't know. It pays so much more than my last job that even though it is part time, I would only be making 80 less a week than I used to. I know people don't get excited about less money, but it's less hours, a shorter bus ride and something that is actually interesting and not "I work in a store full of idiots". Plus, they close at 5 and are not open on weekends. Now I am getting excited so I should shut up before I jinx myself.