Book Meme Day 27
Day 27 – If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
-supernatural stuff: see The Dresden Files books, by Jim Butcher, or the True Blood books by Charlaine Harris (recently started), Anne Rice’s vampire books and Mayfair Witches series, Neil Gaiman’s American Gods
-British mystery: see the Campion books by Margery Allingham, the Gervase Fen books by Edmund Crispin, P. D. James’s Inspector Dalgliesh series
-steampunk/genre-blending: see Tim Power’s The Anubis Gates, Paul J. McAuley’s Pasquale’s Angel, Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan
-dry wit: see P. G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster books, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series
-all of the above: Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series
Now, go forth and READ!
Long overdue camping trip picspam
So, we went to Rodanthe July 4th-7th with Erin and Stephen, and another friend of theirs, Tres. We stayed in a tent in…one of the coastal campgrounds, and it was pretty awesome. Except for the spider infestation – but the upside to that was, I learned I can *absolutely* “man up” and pick up some motherfucking spiders and ticks with my bare hands and carry them outside the tent. Of course, that shit all stopped once we got back to civilization, and now when I see a spider in the house, I either leave it alone (if it’s nice enough to leave me alone and go hide somewhere I can’t see it), or get Greg to handle it. But at least I’m not jumping on chairs and screaming in a high pitch. (No, really. That would happen.)
Camping was a blast! The Outer Banks are lovely, and I did not take anywhere near enough pictures to do them justice, because I was usually too busy *enjoying* them to remember to pull out the camera. Here is our tent – or, rather, Erin’s and Stephen’s tent, that we all slept in:
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Book Meme Day 26
Day 26 – OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Well, I’m pretty mad at how things stood between Alexia and Conall at the end of Changeless, but it doesn’t really count, since 1-I saw it coming (so it wasn’t a “OMG WTF?” moment), and 2-I do want to smack Conall upside the head for being so dumb, but that’s a character issue – it’s not like I found the *book* irritating/awful/annoying.
Oooooh – do plays count? Because I had to read Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal” for a class, and I hated that sumbitch from start to lameass end, with the fiery passionate loathing of a thousand raging suns. Maybe that doesn’t really count, since it wasn’t *just* the play’s ending.
Or…maybe…It’s not an “OMG WTF?” but more of an “omg, wtf?”: the ending to Jim Butcher’s latest Dresden Files book, Changes. I really wasn’t expecting Harry to ever die, but then I guess we don’t know for a fact that that’s what happens at the end of the book, and then even if it is, it happens in a world where magic is possible. And not just possible, but all over the place. So, he may have died, but he won’t be *staying* dead, that’s for certain. But it wasn’t a huge surprise, more of an “…..interesting.”
Happy birthday, Lovecraft.
You were a racist/ethnicist, classist, anti-Semitic son of a bitch, but I do love me some Cthulhu.
Book Meme Day 25
Day 25 – Any five books from your “to be read” stack
Boneshaker, Cherie Priest
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, Jonathan L. Howard
The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
The Winter Queen, Boris Akunin
Essence and Alchemy: a Natural History of Perfume, Mandy Aftel
FOTD: Kamikaze! (8/19/10)
I tried plopping/plunking my hair last night, to encourage it to curl. It curled – just not cutely. Hence the pigtails. Also, I really wasn’t going for a cut crease look today, but that’s what I sort of ended up with since I hadn’t swatched Kuroneko before using it (let this be a lesson to you, and to me), and even a smidge of it is BLACK. (“Black as midnight, black as pitch, blacker than the foulest witch!”) I blended it up as well as I could, but didn’t blend down towards my lid because I wanted Kamikaze to stay red. But then somehow, the black on my left lid crept down. I swear, when I finished my makeup this morning, they were both even; when I got home, the right eye (your left) was still red on the lid, black & blackened red in the crease and out; but the left eye (your right) was red only about halfway up the lid, and then the black started. Eh. It’s due to my faulty application skills. But I love, love, LOVE Kamikaze and Kuroneko – they are amazing and sparkly and GORGEOUS even without Pixie Epoxy. I think if I’d used Pixie Epoxy, my brain would have exploded from the awesomeness and badassery. 
Anyway, I wanted to wear red eyeshadow today, and I wanted the crease to be a smidge darker for definition, but got this, and…I actually really love it. And got several compliments. Win!
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Book Meme Day 24
Day 24 – Best quote from a novel
I don’t know about *best* quote, since I’m only giving myself like a day to think about the answer to this. But Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels are chockablock with quotes that make me laugh. Here’s one:
“Sodomy non sapiens,” said Albert under his breath.
“What does that mean?”
“Means I’m buggered if I know.”
–from Mort
And Sam Vimes never fails to please (speaking with a prisoner):
“I get it, good cop, bad cop, eh?”
“If you like, but we’re a bit short-staffed today, so if I give you a cigarette, would you mind kicking yourself in the teeth?”
–from Night Watch
I love Sybil Buck.
Just a random post, because I fucking love Sybil Buck, and have for years and years. (Can’t remember when I first came across her – maybe some special on MTV when I was like 14? I don’t know.) Anyway, she’ll fall off my radar for a while, and then I’ll be surfing teh interwubs and come across her again and just be all, “Oh yeah, I love Sybil Buck. Goddamn, she is awesome.” This is one of those times. And now I want to hit up some Manic Panic or Funky Colors even more, because her fiery red is just so, so, so gorgeous. I don’t know – I’ve been telling myself I’ll just stick with Feria Ruby Fusion, it’s bright red but probably a more “grown-up” shade I could live with. But I am so short attention-spanned when it comes to hair color. I’ve been itching to dye it black again for about a month, even though removing black is a real pain in the ass. And I still want to do the cupcake pink and aqua blue I’d considered months and months ago. And now it’s back to Ronald McDonald red? Or a dark blue? I’m so flittish. Will have to discuss this with my hair guru (Jess). I think my hair is actually in pretty good condition (I am ridiculously lucky with my hair dyeing, and am trying not to press my luck until it runs out. At the same time….fun hair is fun!) Check out this gorgeousness, though. How can you not fawn over a woman who is so beautiful and clearly comfortable with herself? I have days when I dither over my armpit hair – I tend not to shave because 1-feminist politics, 2-I’m lazy, and 3-I’m not really that hairy, so what’s the point. But every once in a while, I get insecure about my armpit hair – not about *having* it as opposed to not having it, but about it “not looking right.” How bullshit is that. Utterly bullshit, is how. Anyway, it pretty much looks like Ms. Buck’s pit hair in this picture, and it looks fabulous on her, so I should cut myself a break. Or at least switch the obsessing from “obsessing over whether my armpit hair looks right” to “obsessing over getting guns like that.” Let the snake arms drills commence, bitches. Anyhoodle, SYBIL BUCK, ladies and germs:
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It occurs to me that I could probably make this a more regular feature: posting about women (or men, people in general) that I love or admire or find inspiring in some fashion. Maybe I will. But anyway, for now, Sybil Buck Love. Yup.
Now to text Jess (my hair guru) about funking up my haircolor. Yeah. I guess the worst case scenario is, I end up having to cut off some frazzled ends and dye black over it to cover up whatever, and I don’t think that’s too likely. I am pretty flexible, and my hair seems to be pretty resilient, so…we’ll see. I’m leaning towards in-your-face unnatural red (which also gets Greg’s vote) – but am open to suggestions if you’ve got any.
