Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tales

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Rating: Liked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
(Book received free for review from Random House.)



The good: I loved the author's writing. Her world was detailed and interesting, and she quickly drew me into the story.

The bad: This was a "chapter sample". I've never been given one of those for review before. (Thus the short review, how much can you say about a chapter sample?)

The future: I already bought a copy of the complete book, which I'll read and review next.

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RL happenings: Like many people who live in an apartment, I hate my upstairs neighbors. Oh but I have really good reason to. They're the kind who cannot wake up when their alarm goes off. They let it sound for many minutes before they turn it off. This is a problem as they get up at 2 AM, 3 AM, 4 AM, or 4:45 AM. Every morning. Weekends included.

Once they're up, they're VERY loud. Stomping and yelling to each other. Run the dishwasher at 4 AM? Sure! This morning, Sunday morning, they were using their washing machine at 5 AM. But hey, I was awake at 4 AM thanks to them already, so no big deal?

I'm the type who, once they wake up, they're awake -- there's no going back to sleep for me. That means I tend to be very, very tired.

This morning they were especially loud, including what sounded like them throwing everything they own down the stairs. Turns out that was basically what they were doing. Looks like they were moving out, YAY. Sleep! Perhaps tonight I'll get a full night's rest!

Seems like everything I've heard today has been really dark and disturbing. It started with the radio. I love love love This American Life. It's a show on NPR where they tell three stories all along the same theme. I listened between doing shopping and lunch, so I missed a few bits of it. The theme of the week was pets.

The first story bothered me a hell of a lot. David Sedaris told a "funny" story about how many pets his family had and how they kept dying. He told how his mother put a puppy in an oven to keep it warm after it "died" (turned out it wasn't dead). In a 150 degree oven. Story ("joke") after story about how all these animals of his died, all told in a way that was supposed to be "funny". It made me want to cry or throw up.

Then I went into a store and so missed the middle story (though looking at the website, it did look to be a lighter one). I also missed the first minute or two of the final story, which turned out to be a big issue. The story was about a man and his mentally ill brother. The two lived together because the brother couldn't live alone. Somehow the brother got an armadillo as a pet. The story told about how he took care of the animal (badly, scaring it on purpose and crap). The story went on, the brother died because he ran out naked in traffic. The healthy brother found the armadillo and took it into his own home. Then he described, in great detail, how he would hold the armadillo under water for minutes at a time, closer and closer to drowning it and in detail how it fought to get up to the air, how it reacted when he pulled it out of the tub. I wanted to throw up. In the end, the host mentioned it was a fictional story. At first I was relieved (I was so sick at the thought of someone doing that -- it was written in such detail I thought it had to be real, first hand experience). But then I got mad. Even fictional, the story made me feel so bad. So angry and hurt and sick and mad. Never before have I wanted to write an author to tell him he shouldn't have written about something. (Which I suppose means it was well-written, that it affected me that much. Still.)

If you want to hear the whole This American Life show, click here The armadillo story is Resurrection, the third one. I can't recommend it.

Then I got home and heard this song. I liked it a lot. I suggest listening to this version first, with just the lyrics and not the official video:


It's a sad but beautiful song with interesting lyrics. Then I watched the official video. Warning for hate crimes:

Oh my god, I could barely watch that! D: Knowing that that sort of thing happens in real life, that it happens now... gah. It's powerful, I think it's worth watching, but man was it sad and hard to watch.

After all that, I think we need a teddy bear to hug. This might not be the bear we're looking for:

After Phil Robertson, star of Duck Dynasty, said awful things about homosexual people (saying they're the same as terrorists and other such hate-filled things, see my post about it here), A&E rightfully kicked him off the show.

But now they've changed their minds.

They're going to let him back on the show because: “While Phil's comments made in the (GQ) interview reflect his personal views based on his own beliefs, and his own personal journey, he and his family have publicly stated they regret the ‘coarse language’ he used and the misinterpretation of his core beliefs based only on the article. He also made it clear he would ‘never incite or encourage hate.’"

"Coarse language" makes it sound like a 'damn' slipped out in front of small children. And he'd never incite or encourage hate? Isn't it just a bit too late to make that claim?

Sigh.

---

Also, since I'm posting, a totally unrelated topic. I got my latest Graze box!

salsa fresca: "tomato salsa fresca with cheesy sombreros" I really worried I wouldn't like this one, but once again I discover that I actually like salsa! Thanks, Graze, I found a new food I like!

cherries & berries: "cherries, lingonberries, cranberries and jumbo raisins". Not just a yummy mix of dried fruit, but it seemed like I got a lot more food in this packet than I get in most of the others. Overpacked by mistake?

banoffee pie: "fudge pieces, almond slices, pecan nuts and banana coins" Never heard of such a thing, apparently it's an English snack. The "fudge" pieces tasted more like butterscotch (maybe butterscotch fudge?). Surprisingly, it was too sweet for me -- a really rare thing.

fruit and seed flapjack: "rustic rolled oat flapjack with mixed seeds and dried fruits" The only one that I haven't tried yet. It's got these really big green seeds in it that scare me. Pumpkin seeds maybe? But those are usually white, right? I love flapjacks, but it has so many of those big green seeds in it...

Don't forget, you can click here to join Graze. $6 per box of four snacks, shipping included, first and fifth boxes free.

Edit: Bonus WTF. Esquire Magazine has named the Pope as the best dressed man of 2013. c.c

So my soda making machine is gone. Amazon sent three packages to me that day, and only two were on my doorstep. Plus there was the whole "it was delivered 24 hours in the future" delivery notice thing.

It would be easy enough for someone to steal it. There are three neighbors' doors within three paces of my door (one of them within two paces).

I'm going to put a sign up on my door that all packages must be taken to the office. It's easier and faster for it to be left on my doorstep, but not if it's going to be stolen.

Blah. Thanks for stealing my birthday present neighbor! (Or perhaps careless delivery person.)

aberdeen pointed out that there has been an update in the Great Homophobic Pasta War of 2013: Gay-Friendly Bertolli Makes The Most Of Barilla's Homophobic PR Mess.


(I think the dog might be the only smart one of that group. Why would pasta want to go into sauce, get cooked, be eaten?)

In much, much, much less amusing news, a Real Housewives of New Jersey cast member (Melissa Gorga) has written a book. Love Italian Style: The Secrets of My Hot and Happy Marriage. I'm not going to link to it on Amazon, I do not want to encourage anyone to buy it. (Though, on second thought, the comments are worth reading, so here's a link).

I've never watched any Real Housewives show, and quotes from this book do not change my opinion of the show or the type of people who are in it.

This woman tells men to rape their wives. Her exact words: “Men, I know you think your woman isn’t the type who wants to be taken. But trust me, she is. Every girl wants to get her hair pulled once in a while. If your wife says ‘no,’ turn her around, and rip her clothes off. She wants to be dominated.”

Just reading that disgusts me. The idea that some man might believe that and take it to heart...

Not all dog owners are bad people. If you are a good dog owner or if you know one? YAY! Thank you! This is about all the bad ones.

My apartment is on the ground floor. Our windows are nearly floor to ceiling. The bottom of the window is about knee-high. My cat's favorite place is sitting in the window.

Unfortunately, being knee-high to the ground, every damned dog sees her. In the two weeks I've been here:

1) A dog tried to climb through my window to attack her. The owner watched. Laughing. He didn't call the dog off until I went to the window and asked him to.

2) Countless owners use Ellie to test the sit/stay of their dogs. Bringing them closer and closer, making them sit and stay (or trying to). This usually ends up with them lunging at her.

3) So many dogs off-leash (all dogs are supposed to be leashed), who run right up to the window, barking at her.

Bonus #4: Parents who bring their toddlers right to the window to see the "kitty". Hello, I'm sitting RIGHT HERE. I don't exactly like you and your kids looking right in at me.

I've never seen Ellie puffed up and hissing until we moved here. Poor girl is going to have a heart attack. I feel like putting a big sign in my window: "My cat is not entertainment for your dog." I suppose that might be unfriendly of me though...

I know I'm generally preaching to the choir in my LJ, but this was just so horrible I had to write about it anyway.

I was watching the news when a story came on. Mitt Romney apologized for bullying gay people while in college. My first thought was "A horrible thing to do, but at least he's apologizing", but then the story went on. This only came out because FIVE people came forward about his acts of bullying gay people.

Here's a story on one case, Romney followed a classmate most thought was gay, and when the kid was alone, knocked him down and cut off his long hair. The school photo of Romney at the time make him look at least 20.

Good job, man. Apologize now, only after it comes out in the media. He claims he doesn't remember this happening at all. (Abuse so many gay folks that it all blurs together, huh?)

I wish I didn't know who I would vote for, so I could say this decided it for me, but I can't. This makes me so angry. It makes me sick to my stomach that this will make some people like him more.

Frustration on top of frustration on top of frustration.

There I was, standing peacefully at the Dal AH, when these two people ran in and started spamming. Each did one /emote, the same one, over and over at each other. I told them to stop or I'd report them for spamming. One called me a grumpy old fart before they both ran off.

A while back, someone gave me some recommendations for good RPers, so I friended them and kept my eyes open for them. Today I spotted one in SMC! Joy! So I hurried there and wandered the city until I found him. The person was already RPing, so I hung back a little to watch for a moment. Hmm, nothing but one sentence posts, often in /say. Well, maybe with someone posting longer at them, he might post longer? So I approached and posted at him. The other person he had been RPing with ran off while I was typing. Once I finished, he posted watching her leaving, then said "Looks like I need a new piece of ass. You DTF?". I didn't OOCly know what DTF stood for, and Thistle sure as heck wouldn't know ICly, so I had him ask. Down To Fuck. Sigh. First off, how IC is the acronym "DTF"? Not at all, in my mind. Secondly... this is a good RPer? Asking a complete stranger if he wants to fuck, then ignoring my posts when Thistle got huffy over the question? (Seriously, he didn't respond to a post of mine again after that!) Sigh.

Then I decided I should watch a movie. Or, well, I guess it was before the RP thing, but same difference. I don't know why I suddenly felt like I should watch one, but I did. So I tried out The Grey. Rarely have I watched a movie that annoyed the hell out of me from the very first moments, but this one did. I actually made it through the first twenty minutes of it (I think hatred was the only thing that kept me going). I hated every single character, from minor to main. The minor characters were the worst though, every time one of them opened their mouth, I hated them more. Then the main character killed a wolf. Why? Were wolves a threat to the oil fields? The diet of wolves is 100% humans, so I understand why he wanted to kill it. Then, as the poor wolf was on the snow dying, he crouched there, gun in hand, and put his hand on the wolf's chest, feeling as it died. No, mister, don't bother putting it out of its misery with a shot to the head, please feel free to let its last moments be in pain and fear! I really should have turned the darned movie off sooner.

And, since I'm already going backwards in time, this morning I heard a news story that pissed me off. Mitt Romney strapped his Irish setter to the roof of his car during a family road trip. The dog was in a kennel, yeah, but he drove from the US to Canada with it on the roof of his car! Why isn't this a bigger story? Who in the world would consider voting for someone who could be so cruel to animals?

And the night ended on a down note. We hit up AQ to try to get some mounts for folks. The four of them had dropped so easily for me! I swear, it didn't take more than a half-hour of resetting the first few trash mobs when I went, but tonight was a different story. Even with the higher level cap, 4 85s can't clear AQ40. (Or at least us four couldn't.) It was supposed to be an outing to cheer folks up, but instead it did the opposite.

The one good thing is that I'm off work tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. I'm trying very hard to concentrate on the positive, to notice and note good things when they happen (this LJ post aside...), because it feels like I could easily slip back depressed again. I can feel it lurking. There will be no more of that, thank you very much brain! Positive thoughts! Be happy!

Edit: Watching The Walking Dead right before bedtime is a bad idea, but I can never resist!

Sorry for multiple posts today! I haven't been gathering random images lately, but a few fell into my lap by way of my friendsfriends list.

I love this cat and bird picture -- there's a story there, jumping right out of the image!

I want this statue. I want it very much. It's so wacky! What does it mean? It's so interesting and cool!

Sexy image is NWS -- naked butt! I swear I've seen a Harry Potter slash fanart picture exactly like that years ago...

And lastly, the sad story. Jerusalem rabbis condemn dog to death by stoning. For being possessed. Seriously?

"A Jewish rabbinical court condemned to death by stoning a stray dog it feared was the reincarnation of a lawyer who insulted its judges, reports say."

Forgive my ignorance, but I thought Judaism was one of the more modern religions and didn't, you know, stone things to death anymore...

I visited the Bad Baby Names site (a collection of quotes from a board about naming your new baby) thinking it would be funny, but instead it's just so so painful and cringe-worthy. I worry about people with this little sense having babies.

Have three examples:

What is a nature realated name for a boy? I am pregnant with a boy and I already have four girls. My girls are Summer Skies, Autumn Night, April Shower, and Spring Flower. Please help I am due in November.


I am not pregnant yet but thinking about names...I just thought of the name Lourdes Solange. This baby will be 75% latina and 15% european :)


Which name do you think?
Brecklyn Kate
OR
Ridgely Mae
I'm torn between the 2.