Oh what a beautiful day!

I love winter weather. Where I live, however, we hardly ever see it. Most of the time, the weathermen promise big things, but then it never happens. Well today it's snowing!!! For once it was really coming down! All the schools got let out early and everything. We're supposed to get ice of all shapes and forms (freezing rain, sleet, etc.) throughout the rest of the day and tomorrow. I'm not holding my breath, but it made for a great photo opportunity.

23, 24, 25...

A word of warning to all those who read this blog, the posts might be a little short and clipped and some not at all after Wednesday. I have to work Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and I have to close on those days too. That means that I'll probably be too tired to post anything long. But enough about problems.
Writing wise, I've still been working on Zhivtor, but as of yesterday it came to a standstill because of college applications and work. But my writing didn't stop. I have the coolest teacher in the world for an English teacher, and he has set aside three days a week for the entire class to write. I just finished one short story that took me a week to do, and I've got an idea for another one. I'm hoping to find a magazine to sell them both to.
Reading wise, I'm halfway through The Outstretched Shadow book one of the Obsidion Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. It's pretty good. It's a little slow at the beginning as it sets everything up, but now it's going at a fine pace and I find myself having a hard time putting it down. After I'm finished with that I want to finish The Elf Queen of Shannara by Terry Brooks.
In movie news, I really want to see the new movie The Number 23. Not only is it a really interesting suspense movie, but it has Jim Carrey, famous comedian, playing the serious role. I love it. And all the info they present is interesting. According to the movie, our lives seem to revolve around the number 23. Examples: Julius Caeser was stabbed 23 times, it takes the heart 23.4 seconds to pump blood through the body, and if you add up 2+3+4 it equals 9. 23 is the nineth prime number. William Shakespeare was born on April 23, and died on April 23, and one famous American basketball player--Michael Jordan--had the number 23 on his jersey. It's interesting, and I might look into it further, just to see how many coincidences I can find.
In tv news, I want to rent the first season of 24, because I hear that it's really good. I don't want to start watching it now, because I usually need to see things from the beginning, and I'd probably be missing out on something. So the next time I go to the movie store, I'm going to rent 24.
So that's it for now. Wish me luck on the job.
Jason

What kind of blogger I am...

You Are a Snarky Blogger!

You've got a razor sharp wit that bloggers are secretly scared of. And that's why they read your posts as often as they can!

What Kind of Blogger Are You?

A meme!

Okay, let me explain: I'm doing a meme because 1) everyone that asked PBW a question on her Friday 20 thing got tagged and 2) because I needed something to post, and I'm too tired to type out the entry that I had in mind.

We got slammed over and over and over, and I had to wait on the customers. I usually cook, so I'm exhausted, and next week doesn't look any better. Tomorrow: 6-close. Then I have to work Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday: 6-close, and Sunday: 5-close. Add in school, college applications, essays, and Murphey's Law, and you've got a recipe for trouble. All it needs is to have heat applied to it for a few minutes.

Okay, so, no more rambling, it's time for the meme!

Womens Fiction Book Meme (Also for men if you've been roped into it)

Contemporary, Historical, or Paranormal? Paranormal, most definitely. Historical is the equivalent to a faceful of Chloroform.

Hardback, Trade Paperback, or Mass Market Paperback? How do you mean? As a weapon? In a no-holds-barred grudge match between me and my bitter rival (Yosemite Sam) I'd want the Hardback. Or did you mean to read? Oh, well in that case Hardback for collecting and Mass Market Paperback for easy reading.

Heyer or Austen? Sadly, I haven't heard of either, but now I'm going to look into them.

Amazon or Brick and Mortar? I prefer brick and mortar, because I love the feel of walking into a bookstore and seeing all those stacks of books. It's like each story is calling out for my attention. However, I haven't seen a brick and mortar in years, because there are none in my area, so I'm forced to use Amazon.

Barnes & Noble or Borders? I've never been to either. The closest I've come to is Books-a-Million.

Woodiwiss or Lindsay? Sadly, I've never heard of these two, either.

First romance novel you ever remember reading? It was a book called The Goats by Brock Cole. It was about two kids who were stranded on an island in the middle of their lake at camp. Neither are very socially evolved--they're both loners--so they don't understand, and they run away. But as they travel all over the state, they grow closer to eachother as time passes. There are no fiery love scenes, no passionate romance, but you can see what begins to develop after a while. It was very subtle, but still very nice.

Alphabetize by author Alphabetize by title, or random? By author. I alphabetize by the author's last name, like a library, so that I can find what I'm looking for.

Keep, Throw Away, or Sell? I always either give my books away to other people or keep them until they fall to pieces and I have to get a new copy.

Read with dustjacket or remove it? I read it with the dustjacket removed because I like to keep it pretty and preserved. It'll hide any ugliness that might happen to the cover. I put my dustjacket's on a high shelf to keep my dog from chewing them up.

Sookie Stackhouse or Anita Blake? Seriously, I need to read outside my box more often. Or you need to ask better questions. Why not something philosophical like, "How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? I stop reading when I'm tired if it's late at night. I prefer chapter breaks if I've got lots of luxury time, but my life almost never offers me the chance to end my reading on the ending of a chapter.

It was a dark and stormy night or Once upon a time? I'm more of a "Call me Ishmael." kinda guy.

Crusie or SEP? SEP? The Southwestern Enigmatic Poppyseed-pickers? I thought they were just stories made up to scare the kids, but if they're real, the IRS better watch out. And I don't know who Crusie is, but she might need to start thinking of relocating if she's going up against the SEP.

Buy or Borrow? Buy, unless I can't find it anywhere and I've exhausted all search efforts and called off the crack squad of rare book smelling drug dogs. Then I'll borrow.

Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendation, or Browse? A combination of all three. Book reviews can be usefull, but can't be the sole thing you use to decide. Recommendations, especially ones from my friends, are almost always golden, and browsing has allowed me to find some great gems as well. Survey says...all three!

Tidy ending or Cliffhanger? Tidy-ish ending. They don't have to resolve the problem, but it makes me crazy having the story end and then have to wait 6 months to a year just to finish the story.

Morning reading, afternoon reading, or Nighttime reading? Reading. I don't care where, what time, and with whom...unless you're one of those perpetual gum chewer, lip licker, butt scratcher, nose picker, paper rufflers. And then I just beat you into unconciousness and continue on with my business. Anyway, reading. Anytime, anywhere, I love to read.

Series or standalone? That doesn't matter to me. I like both. Talyn was a stand alone, the Heritage of Shannara books are part of a four-part series. I liked them all. I'm not picky.

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? Most of my favorite books have been heard of, so I dug through and found two books that inspired me to try to write outside the box: Cujo and Harry Potter. Almost nobody has heard of them...oh wait. Wrong titles. I meant: Toy Trouble and The Weird, Weird West by Engles and Barnes. Both are kids books, but are so unique that I was enthralled with them for several weeks.

And I'm tagging anyone who wants to. Just post in the comments if you volunteer. I"m too pooped to name anybody. Maybe I'll change that later...

Life (Not the Game or the Cereal)

I have good intentions. I really do. I try my best to do good, and to be the best person I can be, but sometimes, life gets in my way. Life tries to get me to do things I know I shouldn't. Like the other day, I was trying to get to work early.
I've been trying to step up my speed. I was already named employee of the month last month, but I wanted to get even faster. So I tried to get to work earlier. My car wouldn't start, and then I got stuck in a mudhole. Then, on the way through town, I hit every stinking red light on my way through. Then, someone flew around me on the highway, and slowed down to 5 miles below the speed limit. Life was tempting me. Life was tempting me to destroy my car, disconnect all the traffic lights in town, and jump from my moving car, take that person that was driving the car in front of me, throttle them, take their car, pull off the side of the road, flatten all of its tires, commadere another vehicle, get back to my moving car, get in it, and get to work in a fair amount of time with a skill that could put Chuck Norris to shame.
As Jennifer Unlimited once said: Every time I close the door on reality it comes in through the windows.
I agree. Everyday for the past week, I've found myself saying "after school I'm gonna sit down and write until my brain is a bubbling goo." Everyday, I get packed down with homework. And do you know what else is piled on? Scholarship applications, college applications, applications for grants...it all makes me crazy. On the plus side, the last two essays I've done for my applications have been easy: "Name a novel you've read recently and tell why you consider it noteworthy" and "write an essay about yourself." Doesn't get much easier than that. (I wrote about Talyn for the novel essay.)
But, life does throw me a bone every now and then. Yesterday, I got my Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of Lynn Viehl's Night Lost. It was one of the coolest things I've ever gotten.
So how has life been treating you? Any aggrivations you wanna talk about?

Blog Stealing and Yes, I'm Alive

I stole a few quizzes from Jaye Patrick's blog, to let you all know I'm still alive:
I am:
Olaf StapledonStanding outside the science fiction "field", he wrote fictional explorations of the futures of whole species and galaxies.
Which science fiction writer are you?

Your Personality Is Like Acid
A bit wacky, you're very difficult to predict.One moment you're in your own little happy universe...And the next, you're on a bad trip to your own personal hell!
What Drug Is Your Personality Like?



And in writing news:I've been writing and planning and plotting and scheming and reworking and a thousand other construction terms for fixing and rebuilding (hey two more!) my fantasy Zhivtor! I'm pleased with the progress.

Blog Stealing and Yes I'm Still Alive

I stole a few quizzes from Jaye Patrick's blog, to let you all know I'm still alive:

I am:
Olaf StapledonStanding outside the science fiction "field", he wrote fictional explorations of the futures of whole species and galaxies.
Which science fiction writer are you?

Your Personality Is Like Acid

A bit wacky, you're very difficult to predict. One moment you're in your own little happy universe... And the next, you're on a bad trip to your own personal hell!

What Drug Is Your Personality Like?

And in writing news:

I've been writing and planning and plotting and scheming and reworking and a thousand other construction terms for fixing and rebuilding (hey two more!) my fantasy Zhivtor! I'm pleased with the progress.

A Story About Teachers

Well, I've completed another day of school. Barf. But it's almost over. As a friend of mine said:
"Soon we will be thrown out into the harsh cold world!!! A world where we have to fend for ourselves. Where we make car payments, electric bills, house payments, food payments, full-time job, college, homework, horrible bosses who scream at you when you drop a packet of ketchup. Won't that be awesome?!!! Wait...never mind! MOMMY!!!!! DON'T LEAVE ME!!!!"
I know how she feels.
On the much brighter front, I've written close to five pages on Clairvoyant today. I don't know what that translates into wordwise, but I'll get it typed and find out soon. Right now, I'm trying to let my mind recover. I've had to close twice in a row, and I'm still really tired. On the plus side, we passed the audit, so I won't lose my job. That's a good thing...I think, ha ha.
And now, something that came to my mind while I was in the Art room yesterday:
With a quirky smile she swaggered into the high school classroom. The room was noisy and a few crumpled balls of paper narrowly missed her head. Her smile faultered momentarily before she sat at her desk.
"Alright, shut up! That was the bell," she said, "let's get our books out and read."
Obediantly, the students stopped talking and pulled out books and began reading.
A girl with straight black hair and a Hello Kitty shirt raised her hand.
"May I go get a book, I left my book at home today."
"That's it! Detention!" the teacher shouted, slamming her hands on the table.
"What? How am I supposed to read if I don't have anything?" the girl cried in outrage.
"I don't care! Get out of my classroom!"
The girl bitterly grabbed her purse and stormed out.
Several minutes passed before another sound was made. One guy in the back of the room, Kevin, who had been sick for a week, sneezed. He had a terribly stuffy nose, and the sneeze broke whatever barrier had been keeping it in. As his nose began to drip like a faucet, he held his hands cupped in front of his face, his eyes wide in horror. He leaned over to his friend.
"Suzie, help. Do you have a Kleenex?"
Suzie chuckled silently and started to reach for her bag and her small package of Kleenex, but her hand never made it. From across the room, all the students heard the teacher rise to her feet. Legs pumping, she flew across the room and tackled Suzie. Suzie went down in a crumple, crying out in shock. Then the teacher went after Kevin.
Kevin let out a cry of shock and scrambled to get out of his desk, but the teacher was too fast. She grabbed him by the neck and hurled him across the room, letting out an animal-like growl. A group of girls screamed and scattered as Kevin crashed through the table.
"Now class," the teacher said coldly, "I said READ!!" Her eyes rolled wildly in her head and she snarled at every guy and girl darkly. All of the students trembled in terror.

The Teacher From Hell

Rated C: Common everywhere

Coming soon to a classroom near you.

Has anyone else ever had a teacher that infuriates you to no end?

Pooped...

That's the only way to describe my current feeling. Usually I don't tire easily. No matter how hard I work, it's like I have reserves of energy that I can tap into if need be...except at school, but that's because school sucks the life force out of me like a Dirt Devil sucks up crumbs.
My work is having an audit today, and sadly, we had to clean it from top to bottom yesterday. If we don't pass the audit today, my job will be shut down and I'll have to start applying elsewhere, so naturally the place had to be spotless. For some bizarre reason, they scheduled 4 high school kids to close, knowing all along that it would take hours to clean the store as thoroughly as they wanted it cleaned. Work closes at 10. I worked from 5 when I went in to 1 in the morning. We finally finished and I got to go home, but I was so tired I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned for an hour, and finally tried to read to make myself fall to sleep faster. Nope. When I finally fell asleep at around 3 in the morning, I had nightmares all night about being trapped at work, and random bad things happening. A few I can recall were people setting off firecrackers in the building, a 3 foot tall demented clown with two inch long fangs chasing me, and then an entire flood of zombies trying to break down the door. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well. Then I had to get up at 6:30 and get in the shower and then I had to go to school. The worst news? I have to close tonight too! So I'll be working until 10:30 PM, I'll get home around 11, and I'll be so tired that I'll barely be able to more.
Here's hoping that I survive. Tomorrow is my first day off since Sunday.

Fantasies, Ghosts, and Tagged, OH MY!

I've recently had a rush of ideas for the fantasy that I thought I was going to put on stand by. I have so little time to write lately, that I don't know how I'm supposed to work on it, but I can't let these ideas die either. I'll figure something out, but I might just let the other fantasy cool, even though I have more written on it because 1) the characters are not acting like themselves. I missed a beat and now they all seem really off, and I don't know how to fix it, 2) this fantasy--Zhivtor--is a lot more originial (I think) than the first one and seems to have promise, and 3) I'm actually getting ideas for Zhivtor, while the other one has been starting to collect dust more and more often.
On other news, Clairvoyant is coming good. I've decided that the beginning needs reworking, but I'll fix that later. I need to keep writing now. I'm at the critical stage where, if I change one thing, I'll wind up circling the same two or three chapters and peck the story to death, and I really don't want that to happen.
Also, I've been tagged by S. William Shaw, so here are Five Little Known Facts:
1. I once worked at a saddle pad manufacturing plant. My job was to lace together the saddle pads after they had been sewn, give it back to the sewer(sp?) and then take those when they were finished and back them and ship them by UPs.
2. I haven't spoken to my dad in 6 years or more. It's hard to keep track.
3. My favorite band is Lemon Demon
4. I once wanted to start my own at home band called Sporatic. I was gonna do all the music by writing it in the Finale program, then record it using Audacity and then write the lyrics and sing to the music. It proved to be so much work that I gave up in frustration before finishing one song. Audacity was messing with the timing of the singing.
5. I nearly died when I was born, because I was born having an asthma attack, and one of the gasps blew out my left lung. I still have the scar on my chest where they had to stick a tube in me.
Um...I don't know if anybody will get these, or if they've been tagged before if they do get them, but here are the blogs I'm tagging:
Jaye Patrick
Rantings and Ravings of an Insane Writer
Writer's Lair

Long Time No Speak

Sorry I haven't been on in a while guys. New Years Eve was crazy fun. I went to a friends house to watch movies all night. First, we had to go to pick up a new TV, and then we only watched about half or a little over of Phantom of the Opera before pausing it and we never got back around to watching it. We stayed up until about 5 in the morning, and then we slept until noon.
In honor of the New Year, I've decided to plan out this year's writing projects. I've never done this, which might have been a contributing factor to my never finishing a project, but I'm going to plan this weekend. After I've got my plan all laid out, I'm going to write a lot. Okay, I don't know for how long but for as long as I can.
On other fronts, I finished Brother Odd today. It is as fantastic as the first book--Odd Thomas. The second--Forever Odd--was pretty good, but I felt it had something missing. I still loved it, but it didn't have quite the feel that the first one had. Whatever it was, Brother Odd has it, and it left me regretting that the story ended. I wanted to read more about Odd Thomas and his new dog Boo.
The Odd Thomas novels are about Odd Thomas--obviously--a young man who can see the dead. Each book is a new adventure that Odd goes through in his quest to aid the dead on to the Other Side. Each book is also packed with excentric and lovable characters. There is sharp wit that will make you laugh out loud, but also there is depth to the stories that will touch your heart.
And just to clarify, I've been seeing some blogs where people have been posting a disclaimer to prevent from getting in trouble and I will too: All of the authors I endorse, I endorse only because I love the book. I'm not paid, they don't bribe me, and I don't receive any kind of reconciliation for my endorsements. If Dean Koontz needed to pay a high schooler to endorse his books, I'd be worried about his career.
Anyway, back on topic, I urge you all to pick up the three Odd Thomas novels and read them. They're all worth it.
In other news, I've just won a contest on the blog Rantings and Ravings of an Insane Writer for a free copy of Holly Lisle's new paperback Talyn. I'll be telling you what I think about it after I get it and read it, but I've heard only wonderful things and I don't think I'll be disappointed.
So there should be more news on writing in the future, but I'm just glad to leave behind the chaos of relatives and gatherings and the mandatory facial-muscle-straining-false-smile as you pull out that horrible knitted sweater you get every year from your grandma made out of color patterns a blind person would balk at.
Jason