In which I get on my high horse about "school appropriate" books.
*sigh* I have been pining after a paid LJ account lately. The 30 userpics [or 100 for an extra $10 each 12 months..!], access to the ScrapBook feature, syndicated accounts, and the ability to change up the layout manually.. I would love that. I have so many ideas for new layouts I could make.. Hmm, may have to talk to my mom about this. Though if my parents paid for it, would the link to it show up on their credit card bill or something? *skeptical* I, uh, really don't think they need to be reading this blog. Maybe if I had them buy me one of the gift card things for an account..? Hm..
Anyway. I've recently applied for two jobs - one of them is at this bar & grille place that Kelly works at. She answers phones, takes orders, and occasionally busses and stuff. She said it's really easy, and that quite a few people have quit lately, so I have a pretty good chance of being hired. That lots of people quitting thing may be a bad sign, but at this point I'll take what I can get. I at least need to have something I can put down on a resume. Preferably something that will teach me how to use a cash register. So I filled out an application and had her turn it in for me, towards the beginning of this month. Then last Saturday, she texted me and said that they were really slow right then [she'd just gotten off work], so it would be a good time for me to call in and check up on my application. I, uh, didn't even know you were supposed to do that. So I asked her what I should say, and she called me to coach me through it. I wrote myself out a script of things to say in big letters, then summoned all my courage, looking down at the ring Alice had sent me - take great risks in life, take great risks in life, take.. - and called. I think I did pretty well. My voice sounded self-assured enough. The manager I talked to said that they were low on something [though my fog of panic I didn't hear what, but it was probably "funds"], and so they weren't really looking to hire at the moment. She said she would make a note on my application that I'd called, though, and that if anything happened they'd give me a call. So. That's that.
I also applied at Barnes & Noble the other day. I think it was Tuesday that I was there, buying a new copy of Daughter of the Blood [more on that later], when I asked the cashier half-heartedly, "Do you happen to know if Barnes & Noble happens to be hiring right now?" And she said yes, they are. I blinked at her and said, "Oh. Oh, really?" It came out sounding a little like, "Wait, I wasn't serious". It's just that B&N is never hiring, so I was totally bowled over. She gave me an application, and said to turn it in soon because they were going to be hiring very soon. I thanked her and said I would. So Thursday - I think - I went back to B&N, with my application filled out. After sitting at the Starbucks area, summoning all the courage I could muster, I turned it in, and the old guy I gave it to smiled and said he'd make sure a manager got it. So. Cool. Also, the new Starbucks toasted marshmallow lattes aren't nearly as good as they sound.
So, about the Daughter of the Blood.. I totally love the new covers, and have been trying to find an excuse to buy copies of them for a while now. So the other day, I brought in my old, tattered copy of Daughter of the Blood for Book Club. I'd gotten it second-hand at a book givaway - fate, I think - years ago, so it's worn and musty and a bit yellowed. I tried to recommend it for the Book Club fantasy selection, but when out of a sense of obligation I warned the group that they were "a bit intense" and "not for the faint of heart", it turned the teachers right off. They want things to be "school appropriate". That.. that kind of outraged me. What kind of Book Club can it be if we worry about appropriateness? Also, um, how on earth can they consider Twilight school appropriate? The entire freaking thing is all about Bella giving up her personality, leaving her human family and human friends, and dying for a guy she met like a week before. Alright so she doesn't necessarily do this a week after she meets him, but she's ready to by that point. Also, it pretty much promotes teen marriage and teen pregnancy. And I was stunned by the so very thinly veiled Pro-Life propaganda in it. "OMG DON'T KILL MAH BABY, I LOVE IT, EVEN THOUGH IT IS KILLING ME AND BREAKING MY RIBS AND MY SPINE AND IS A DEMON CHILD!" I mean, Meyer makes Carlisle and Edward out to be the bad guys for wanting to abort it to save Bella's fool life. And then when Renesmee arrives and is the oh-so-perfect little child [YET STILL CREEPY AS SHIT], they're all, "Oh, heavens, how could we ever have thought of aborting this angel? Woe, for we were wrong! All life is precious!" Seriously, I'm surprised I didn't get a concussion from reading these books there were so many *headdesk* moments. ANYWAY. My point is, if they consider Twilight, one of the most horrible influences for idiot girls who are prone to such influences, to be school appropriate.. I'm just baffled. If you need further evidence, I can point to a specific, actual, real-life event that was a result of Twilight and that gave me an aneurism. And when I recovered, I wept for the world. I give you an excerpt:
Renesmee Bella was this little girl's new first name. Now, I also get to see the first letter of the middle name and if I so choose I can go find what the middle name actually is. This particular name had the first letter S. Which I automatically decided stood for "sucks"...because really...it was all I could do to help keep my sanity. But no, this poor child's name was Renesmee Bella STEPHENIE....and that's when I think I blacked out for a little bit. Kid's mom? Like 15. And from what I found out from the doctor she hooked up with some guy based on his name (Edward) and orginally was going to give the kid up for adoption. Like, had these people paying all her bills because they were going to get the baby. Then, in August she suddenly decides having a baby WOULD be cool after all (a cookie for anyone who can figure out the twitard significance of that).
Aaaaaaaauuuuggghhhhh! Luckily, the same person who reported this Random Act of Idiocy updated us on the drama. Basically, the prospective adoptive parents ended up getting the child, because they were prepared to go to court, and they also got to fix her name - which is now Lily Ann. Thank fuck.
What was I talking about? Oh, yeah, Book Club and Daughter of the Blood. So the advisors basically nixed that, and then everyone was throwing out so many suggestions that naturally, no consensus had been reached by the time the bell rang. Which pissed me the damn hell off. Because if the officers had gone onto Facebook and discussed the book choice on the Book Club group on there like they were SUPPOSED to, we wouldn't have had this problem. But no. So the teacher advisors ended up picking four book suggestions and are having people vote on it by emailing one of them. Which, um, like three people will do? So I'm pretty pissed off about that. At our next officer meeting, when we choose the book after the fantasy one, I will make sure nobody leaves the room until we reach. A. Decision. I might have to go out and buy that South Park shirt featuring Cartman saying, "Respect my AU-THOR-I-TAY" just so I can wear it to Book Club meetings. And because I love South Park.
Back to Daughter of the Blood. Despite it being shot down, Kelly saw me with it and was interested. This may have had something to do with me waving it around with a crazy gleam in my eyes as I announced, "These books OWN MY SOUL. They are my BIBLE." So she started to read it. By the end of the hour she was 20 pages in, and hooked. So I let her borrow it. By our next class together, she said she would definitely want to read all of them. She said she'd been thinking about telling me that someone stole the book so that she'd never have to give it back. I laughed and told her about the fact that there were new covers that I loved, and I'd been looking for an excuse to get new copies. So she could keep my old tattered copies if she bought me new copies with the new covers. And she said okay. I blinked and asked if she was serious. She said totally, that she owed me a birthday present anyway. And since there were three books, they could count as my birthday present, Christmas present, and graduation present. I grinned and told her, "Deal." So when I went to Barnes & Noble with Rachel last Saturday, I found only the first book there in its new cover. I told Kelly about this, and she gave me five dollars, "as a deposit". She said she'd pay me the rest when she got her next paycheck. So I went and bought the new edition of Daughter of the Blood. When I find the next two [will have to check Borders, or even just order them online], I'll get those as well.
So, yes. Last time I checked with her, Kelly hadn't finished the first book yet, but was getting there. She didn't like Daemon at first, but after the snowball scene she said she sees why I love him and asked if we could share. With a possessive growl, I said quite simply, "DAEMON IS MINE." In the second book she'll see more of Lucivar, and hopefully turn her attention to him. Otherwise.. we may have problems. Because when it comes down to it.. she doesn't get it. From the way she talks about the books, I can tell she doesn't get it. She asked if Saetan was perving on Jaenelle, and I assured her he wasn't - that's just their culture. Warlord Princes need to touch their Queen - it's important for both parties, soothing on both ends. It's.. I can't really explain it. It just seems natural to me, the way things should be. You see why I'm so attached to these books? I feel like their world makes far more sense than mine, and like I'm more attuned to it..
Anyway. I'll stop before I go on another crazy "I was meant to be born in this book" tangent.
Kelly invited me to a slumber party on November 8th. Not really for anything, like a birthday, but just because. It's going to be a group of maybe four or five people I guess. One of the other girls I get along well with, and then another one of them I know vaguely from last year's Creative Writing class. The others I don't know. Not sure if she's inviting me just to invite me, or for my PS2. Because she mentioned perhaps a week ago that she and her group were trying to find someone with a PS2, so that they could play Guitar Hero. I told her I had one. Soooo.. *shrug* Oh well. I'll probably end up going anyway. Maybe bring along DDR, too. I guess they have the Guitar Hero disc and controller or something, because I certainly don't. She hasn't actually asked me to bring my PS2 yet, but it's probably only a matter of time.
Also, I'd hoped to go to the zoo and the tea cafe with Rachel this weekend. But she hasn't been online, and she doesn't have a cell phone. I hate when people are so difficult to contact. It drives me mad, and sends me into a spiral of "oh, well, they probably don't want to hang out with me anyway" depressive crap. Fnarr.
Anyway. I've recently applied for two jobs - one of them is at this bar & grille place that Kelly works at. She answers phones, takes orders, and occasionally busses and stuff. She said it's really easy, and that quite a few people have quit lately, so I have a pretty good chance of being hired. That lots of people quitting thing may be a bad sign, but at this point I'll take what I can get. I at least need to have something I can put down on a resume. Preferably something that will teach me how to use a cash register. So I filled out an application and had her turn it in for me, towards the beginning of this month. Then last Saturday, she texted me and said that they were really slow right then [she'd just gotten off work], so it would be a good time for me to call in and check up on my application. I, uh, didn't even know you were supposed to do that. So I asked her what I should say, and she called me to coach me through it. I wrote myself out a script of things to say in big letters, then summoned all my courage, looking down at the ring Alice had sent me - take great risks in life, take great risks in life, take.. - and called. I think I did pretty well. My voice sounded self-assured enough. The manager I talked to said that they were low on something [though my fog of panic I didn't hear what, but it was probably "funds"], and so they weren't really looking to hire at the moment. She said she would make a note on my application that I'd called, though, and that if anything happened they'd give me a call. So. That's that.
I also applied at Barnes & Noble the other day. I think it was Tuesday that I was there, buying a new copy of Daughter of the Blood [more on that later], when I asked the cashier half-heartedly, "Do you happen to know if Barnes & Noble happens to be hiring right now?" And she said yes, they are. I blinked at her and said, "Oh. Oh, really?" It came out sounding a little like, "Wait, I wasn't serious". It's just that B&N is never hiring, so I was totally bowled over. She gave me an application, and said to turn it in soon because they were going to be hiring very soon. I thanked her and said I would. So Thursday - I think - I went back to B&N, with my application filled out. After sitting at the Starbucks area, summoning all the courage I could muster, I turned it in, and the old guy I gave it to smiled and said he'd make sure a manager got it. So. Cool. Also, the new Starbucks toasted marshmallow lattes aren't nearly as good as they sound.
So, about the Daughter of the Blood.. I totally love the new covers, and have been trying to find an excuse to buy copies of them for a while now. So the other day, I brought in my old, tattered copy of Daughter of the Blood for Book Club. I'd gotten it second-hand at a book givaway - fate, I think - years ago, so it's worn and musty and a bit yellowed. I tried to recommend it for the Book Club fantasy selection, but when out of a sense of obligation I warned the group that they were "a bit intense" and "not for the faint of heart", it turned the teachers right off. They want things to be "school appropriate". That.. that kind of outraged me. What kind of Book Club can it be if we worry about appropriateness? Also, um, how on earth can they consider Twilight school appropriate? The entire freaking thing is all about Bella giving up her personality, leaving her human family and human friends, and dying for a guy she met like a week before. Alright so she doesn't necessarily do this a week after she meets him, but she's ready to by that point. Also, it pretty much promotes teen marriage and teen pregnancy. And I was stunned by the so very thinly veiled Pro-Life propaganda in it. "OMG DON'T KILL MAH BABY, I LOVE IT, EVEN THOUGH IT IS KILLING ME AND BREAKING MY RIBS AND MY SPINE AND IS A DEMON CHILD!" I mean, Meyer makes Carlisle and Edward out to be the bad guys for wanting to abort it to save Bella's fool life. And then when Renesmee arrives and is the oh-so-perfect little child [YET STILL CREEPY AS SHIT], they're all, "Oh, heavens, how could we ever have thought of aborting this angel? Woe, for we were wrong! All life is precious!" Seriously, I'm surprised I didn't get a concussion from reading these books there were so many *headdesk* moments. ANYWAY. My point is, if they consider Twilight, one of the most horrible influences for idiot girls who are prone to such influences, to be school appropriate.. I'm just baffled. If you need further evidence, I can point to a specific, actual, real-life event that was a result of Twilight and that gave me an aneurism. And when I recovered, I wept for the world. I give you an excerpt:
Renesmee Bella was this little girl's new first name. Now, I also get to see the first letter of the middle name and if I so choose I can go find what the middle name actually is. This particular name had the first letter S. Which I automatically decided stood for "sucks"...because really...it was all I could do to help keep my sanity. But no, this poor child's name was Renesmee Bella STEPHENIE....and that's when I think I blacked out for a little bit. Kid's mom? Like 15. And from what I found out from the doctor she hooked up with some guy based on his name (Edward) and orginally was going to give the kid up for adoption. Like, had these people paying all her bills because they were going to get the baby. Then, in August she suddenly decides having a baby WOULD be cool after all (a cookie for anyone who can figure out the twitard significance of that).
Aaaaaaaauuuuggghhhhh! Luckily, the same person who reported this Random Act of Idiocy updated us on the drama. Basically, the prospective adoptive parents ended up getting the child, because they were prepared to go to court, and they also got to fix her name - which is now Lily Ann. Thank fuck.
What was I talking about? Oh, yeah, Book Club and Daughter of the Blood. So the advisors basically nixed that, and then everyone was throwing out so many suggestions that naturally, no consensus had been reached by the time the bell rang. Which pissed me the damn hell off. Because if the officers had gone onto Facebook and discussed the book choice on the Book Club group on there like they were SUPPOSED to, we wouldn't have had this problem. But no. So the teacher advisors ended up picking four book suggestions and are having people vote on it by emailing one of them. Which, um, like three people will do? So I'm pretty pissed off about that. At our next officer meeting, when we choose the book after the fantasy one, I will make sure nobody leaves the room until we reach. A. Decision. I might have to go out and buy that South Park shirt featuring Cartman saying, "Respect my AU-THOR-I-TAY" just so I can wear it to Book Club meetings. And because I love South Park.
Back to Daughter of the Blood. Despite it being shot down, Kelly saw me with it and was interested. This may have had something to do with me waving it around with a crazy gleam in my eyes as I announced, "These books OWN MY SOUL. They are my BIBLE." So she started to read it. By the end of the hour she was 20 pages in, and hooked. So I let her borrow it. By our next class together, she said she would definitely want to read all of them. She said she'd been thinking about telling me that someone stole the book so that she'd never have to give it back. I laughed and told her about the fact that there were new covers that I loved, and I'd been looking for an excuse to get new copies. So she could keep my old tattered copies if she bought me new copies with the new covers. And she said okay. I blinked and asked if she was serious. She said totally, that she owed me a birthday present anyway. And since there were three books, they could count as my birthday present, Christmas present, and graduation present. I grinned and told her, "Deal." So when I went to Barnes & Noble with Rachel last Saturday, I found only the first book there in its new cover. I told Kelly about this, and she gave me five dollars, "as a deposit". She said she'd pay me the rest when she got her next paycheck. So I went and bought the new edition of Daughter of the Blood. When I find the next two [will have to check Borders, or even just order them online], I'll get those as well.
So, yes. Last time I checked with her, Kelly hadn't finished the first book yet, but was getting there. She didn't like Daemon at first, but after the snowball scene she said she sees why I love him and asked if we could share. With a possessive growl, I said quite simply, "DAEMON IS MINE." In the second book she'll see more of Lucivar, and hopefully turn her attention to him. Otherwise.. we may have problems. Because when it comes down to it.. she doesn't get it. From the way she talks about the books, I can tell she doesn't get it. She asked if Saetan was perving on Jaenelle, and I assured her he wasn't - that's just their culture. Warlord Princes need to touch their Queen - it's important for both parties, soothing on both ends. It's.. I can't really explain it. It just seems natural to me, the way things should be. You see why I'm so attached to these books? I feel like their world makes far more sense than mine, and like I'm more attuned to it..
Anyway. I'll stop before I go on another crazy "I was meant to be born in this book" tangent.
Kelly invited me to a slumber party on November 8th. Not really for anything, like a birthday, but just because. It's going to be a group of maybe four or five people I guess. One of the other girls I get along well with, and then another one of them I know vaguely from last year's Creative Writing class. The others I don't know. Not sure if she's inviting me just to invite me, or for my PS2. Because she mentioned perhaps a week ago that she and her group were trying to find someone with a PS2, so that they could play Guitar Hero. I told her I had one. Soooo.. *shrug* Oh well. I'll probably end up going anyway. Maybe bring along DDR, too. I guess they have the Guitar Hero disc and controller or something, because I certainly don't. She hasn't actually asked me to bring my PS2 yet, but it's probably only a matter of time.
Also, I'd hoped to go to the zoo and the tea cafe with Rachel this weekend. But she hasn't been online, and she doesn't have a cell phone. I hate when people are so difficult to contact. It drives me mad, and sends me into a spiral of "oh, well, they probably don't want to hang out with me anyway" depressive crap. Fnarr.