oh i certainly amuse myself as well!

:D Ah. I was reading some short stories from a collection called Curses Inc. by Vivian Van Velde. Her stories were so amusing! -w- Quality amusement.

sounds amusing!

xD hahahaha!

tee hee

i got my Murdoch Mystery from the library today. :)

:D Mysterious mystery book! Always a face-to-page gluer genre. -w- Very good.

eh, not so mysterious. i think the plot in this book was used as one of the episodes :)

oUo; oh..that's right! <x'D I totally forgot it was a show hahaha!

yep, on CBC

but i have a link to a website where i can watch it XD

I always saw it available on Amazon video. x} That's where I know it from, hehe.

yeah, i think it's available on amazon prime.

it's also on the channel Ovation on US cable. but i'd LOVE to be able to get CBC, CTV, and Space on my tv. but i'm not IN canada. *sigh*

Too many books! I'm doing my volunteer reading again this year, but no short list yet. I've looked into several library books but had to send them back when I ran out of renewals (or there were holds) because I had more books here!

Still reading Vas. It's still weird.
Started Moral Combat. It's not as academic as I would like but it's just the start right now. Geek/Nerd references already (chapter 2 is Star Wars referenced).
Leafing through an anthology of ghost stories (Ghostly) edited the woman who wrote The Time Traveler's Wife. I think. Her introduction was good.

That is all. For now.

i read and own two books by Audrey Niffenegger - the Time Traveler's Wife, and Her Fearful Symmetry. that one's kinda weird. XD

i'm picking up yet another Murdoch Mystery from the library today... i think i have like 2 or 3 left to read.

in the meantime, i'm still at the beginning of the Return of the King, but i'm not really reading it because i own it and have books coming from the library. XD

It's been so hot in my apartment that I haven't felt like doing anything beyond lying still under the fans. But I should do some reading again soon. I don't think I'll make my goal this year unless I just read a bunch of children's books...

eww, yuck for hot apartments.

children's books count, you're reading them, right?

I mean...no because I only actually own one children's book as it has mild sentimental value in that it 100% encompasses the experience of being a middle child.

But like...I could go to the library an blast through many in a short amount of time if I was really that desperate/ambitious.
And actually, I have been meaning to read some children's books as potential research for a possible future project involving Derpy...
>.>

oooh, the future adventures of Derpy! go for it. :)

My one friend and I are thinking of eventually doing a sort of Curious George style/inspired series with Derpy where I/the human leaves for work and while gone, Derpy gets into all kinds of shenanigans while playing. Stuff like an Indiana Jones type donut quest or playing cowboy and trying to tame/ride the cats as horses. XD

oh that sounds like fun!

The first challenge: actually writing something
Second challenge: making it into a (good) book
Third challenge: finding an illustrator
XD

Definitely a long term project.

i'm sure you'll surpass all those challenges! :)

I'm definitely not much of a writer. I used to think I wanted to be back in the day and it's certainly not impossible, I just need to do a little research before jumping back in. On the plus side, kids books can be much easier to write as the beginning, middle, and ending all happen in a usually fairly short amount of pages compared to novels written for teens and adults, so the chances of me losing the (probably fairly simplistic) plot are much smaller.
Honestly, I think the hardest part will simply be finding someone to make all the cute pages of arts. I'm certainly not an artist, so that will probably be a good amount tougher to look into and find someone. Especially for the first book or two, when there's no guarantee that a publisher will even be interested.

But honestly, just a lot of research into the processes of writing and publishing books, just in general, should probably be done before too much gets done on the project. This is definitely more of a "5 year plan" project than a "by 2020" one.

this is very true about a lot of research needs to be done for kids books. some time ago, i'd read somewhere that kids books have to be 100% grammatically correct with language and punctuation as well - it's not as easy as trying to get a novel published - which also isn't easy.

i've been writing since i was in middle school, and as of late it's only been in november for NaNo. and they're just all sitting in my google docs and various flash drives, so i do understand.

and i'm definitely not an artist in terms of pictures and drawings and pixels and shading.

I'm pretty sure the grammar and punctuation accuracy won't be a big issue gor me. But it makes sense that they'd need to be completely accurate.

On a more reading related note, I actually did start reading a little bit over the last couple nights. Haven't updated progess on the list yet though.

yaay for reading! :)

Yay indeed! I've also very nearly finished a shawlette from a few months ago and did a tiny bit of cleaning. I feel so productive!

oh nice!

i'm almost done another pair of socks.

and since june i've also straightened up my office, one of my file drawers, part of my room, some of my closet, and the table with my laptop where i sit and crochet. i figure i organize/straighten a little bit at a time and it'll eventually get done. :)

Lol...that's definitely way more than I've accomplished. Thinking of picking up some type of clear varnish today that I can use on my paint poured shelves to seal and hopefully remove the stickiness so I can actually use them without damaging the paint. Looks like mod podge has a hard coat variety that might be perfect actually.
Once those are done and reassembled, I can actually work on finding somewhere to put them for more storage. XD

I kind of need to figure out a better furniture layout tbh so I can optimize my craft space, but I am not good at that kind of stuff.

mod podge is good for a LOT of things.

yeah, i'm not the best at reorganizing furniture.... my younger daughter is much better. and she's off to college across the state next week! O_o

SEND HER HERE TO REARRANGE MY FURNITURE FIRST!
Lol

I actually plan to get rid of my bulky recliners and invest in just one smaller chair. Hobby Lobby had a perfect soft comfy one, but it went clearance in May and is probably gone by now... but that will make it easier to figure out a small livingroom layout and then I can work on figuring out where and how to make a craft area and storage.
Tbh, I almost NEVER have company/friends over, so if I could find 2 chairs, I could even get rid of my loveseat. And my old boxy tv and vhs tapes. And xbox.

LOL!!

i mean, i literally did LOL! XD i'll let her know. ;)

ah yes, big furniture does make a room seem smaller than it is.

Especially when you only have maybe 200-250 square feet at best per main room (living room & bedroom)

hmm, fair point.

I think my total apartment size is somewhere between 550-600 sqft. The measurements weren't super exact. Thinking of moving the bookcase into the bedroom and making the living room mainly just craft space but with a little sitting nook.
Or maybe just fully turn the living room into craft space (what with not really ever having company over) and make a little sitting area/book nook with just one chair, a lamp, and my bookcase, in a corner of the bedroom. Idk.

or move things around to see what works the best for you. :)

Yeahhh...but that takes time and effort and I don't have a lot of free floorspace to store stuff while I move the heavy furniture it goes on/in back and forth between rooms...

oh good point. you'll figure it out

I think if I buy some legos and construct a mock floor plan of my rooms... >.>
Lol

sure, that sounds like a plan too :)

And then Derpy can play with the legos when I'm done...lol