I CAN'T STOP POSTING ABOUT TWILIGHT.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE'RE YELLING ABOUT!

Oh wait, yes I do. Twilight. Ahhh. (That was a contented sigh, not more yelling, in case you were wondering.)

First: New Moon, the movie. Pam and I stupidly both waited in line for overpriced foodstuffs and the messiest Icee I've ever encountered instead of dividing and conquering to save ourselves some seats in our designated theatre. We were thus forced to sit in the very front row, all by ourselves, despite the obnoxious smattering of single seats containing nothing but coats and that comforting feeling of being a safe distance from strangers. Though the theatre was mostly full, it wasn't as rowdy as we'd hoped. Maybe the other screens, the theatres that sold out weeks ago with excited fans who wanted their tickets early, just in case, were more rambunctious than ours. But ours was definitely lacking in any sort of audience participation, which normally pisses me off but which had been my hope to experience during the midnight showing. I wanted to see the movie in a theatre full of people just as excited about it as I was. Instead, we were surrounded by people who, like us, had waited until almost the last minute to buy tickets, and thus were lacking in the enthusiasm we had so looked forward to.

But they are not the point. The movie is the point.

And let me tell you, the movie was good. Don't get me wrong; it was not good. But it was so good.

Let me esplain. ... No. There is too much. Let me sum up. (Name that movie, anyone?) Er, anyway....

Seriously, now. New Moon was, without a doubt, better than Twilight. And I love this story so much that, no matter how good or bad they made it, I'd be enthralled with any visual depiction of it. (This one, for instance, really gets me. Spoilers abound!) I'm not thrilled with many of their actors; they just don't look like the people in my head. But when is casting ever spot-on for a book-turned-movie? Though I must say that the actor that plays Charlie, Bella's dad, makes the perfect Charlie. So, ignoring the casting, and taking into account that it's simply impossible to include everything from a book in a movie, they actually did a really nice job. I will obviously own it, when I can. And it was so, so worth it to go to the midnight showing instead of waiting for my one measley day off this week.

Listening to the teenagers that surrounded us talk while we were standing in the Icee line, on the other hand... That's not worth anything. *shudder*

Now that I've bored most of you out of your skulls, let me move on to a new topic.

The Twilight books. Ha! I totally fooled you. This'll just take a minute though, I swear. Maybe. I've read them all twice before, but that didn't stop me from racing through them yet again. I get so sucked in to the story that I just cannot bring myself to stop reading, even if it means severe sleep deprivation. I was wondering at how stupid that is, considering I know what happens and I should be able to take a breather, when it occured to me that that's exactly why I can't put them down: I know what happens, and I just can't wait for it all to happen, already! Sure, I've read it happen before, but it's all so good that I just can't wait for it to happen again! They're that good. Seriously.

I know most of you don't believe me; but some of you do. And you understand. You know exactly what I'm saying.

Unless I really am insane, which is always a possibility.

November 19th.

Most days, I face a dilemma as I stand in my closet, trying to decide what to wear. My work uniform is not very flattering, to say the least, so I like to make an effort to feel as cute as possible at all other times. Sometimes that involves dressing up a bit, sometimes it involves a little more comfort; it's all about what I'm feeling cute in that day.

Today, I faced an exceptionally difficult choice. Which shirt should I wear: my black I ♥ Vampires shirt, my Team Edward shirt, or my very innocuous Forks High School Athletic Department shirt?

I settled for Team Edward. I figure he can use all the help he can get; poor Edward won't even be on his own team tonight.

Twilight spoilers!

You've been warned. There are spoilers to follow. Also, hilariousity.





It's pretty ridiculous how much I love these books. But I'm not ashamed. Mostly.

Wild-Eyed Bibliomaniac

Yesterday, I got an email coupon (say: KOO-pin) that I've been waiting a long time for: 40% off any one item at Borders.

Remember my Twilight obsession? I've been wanting to buy/read Stephenie Meyer's The Host ever since I finished Breaking Dawn (the second time), but ever the cheapskate, I didn't want to buy it at full price.

So I rallied myself (long story short, I had to call in sick for my trip that was supposed yesterday afternoon) and headed out.

My email koopin had also mentioned that all bargain books were buy two, get the third for free. I fully planned on ignoring that sale, as it just reeked of danger. But there were bargain books galore on shelves right in the door vestibule area as soon as I walked in, and obviously, I couldn't just ignore such a blatant display. I ended up with three books that I was super excited about. Sometimes I'll buy a bargain book just because it's a bargain, but these were books that I would have considered even at full price. I grabbed The Host, and I was out of there with four new, hardcover, awesome books for the low low price of $30! And there was much rejoicing.


The Host, Stephenie Meyer (author of Twlight); A Spot of Bother, Mark Haddon (author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, which I loooooved); Flush, Carl Hiaasen (who I've always meant to read); Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathon Safron Foer (author of Everything is Illuminated).

Score.

Today, I went to lunch with my sister, and after a meal filled with much coffee and much sugar, I was too hyped up to just go home. We settled on the most dangerous place ever for the two of us: Half Price Books.

I'll save you the story this time and jump straight to the climax: for just $32, I got nine books, a movie, a magazine, and a reusable bag.



Score of scores. I am not allowed to buy another book for at least a month. At least a week, anyway.

While I'm on the subject, I'd like to recommend Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games. It's young adult fiction (my favorite genre), an easy, fast read, and it's fabulous. I read it in a day. Also, Christopher Moore. I love all his books, but I always recommend starting at the beginning and going in order, not because you need to, but because he likes to reuse characters, and it's more fun if you already know them. The beginning is Practical Demonkeeping.

For now, I'll leave you with this, a picture of the reusable bag I got for 98 cents (minus 20%, because it was extra-20%-off-everything day):

Good news and bad news.

Yesterday I did laundry and got ready to go to bed early in preparation for my early wake-up, because I was starting a 4-day this morning. I logged on to crewweb to check my trip schedule, as I always do the night before I start, and was surprised to find that I did not, in fact, start my trip on Friday, but rather on Saturday.

With my unexpected day off today, I did some more laundry, went to the grocery store and fully stocked my lunchbox, read some of New Moon, watched Twilight the movie with my sister, and went out to dinner with my parents. All in all, a very productive day.

I'm not in bed nearly as early as I'd like to have been tonight, but I'll survive. Tomorrow will be long, though, at a 13 and a half hour duty day. Ouch.

The bad news: I found out one of the turns on the trip is on the 900, my least favorite plane.

The good news: It's just two flights, and they're long, so I'll have plenty of time to do service for all those people. And there's a new rule that says probationary flight attendants can't work first class, so I know I'll be in back, which I prefer. Oh crap, except I just checked, and the other guy's seniority number is lower than mine, which means I HAVE to be the one to work the front, even though I'm probationary, I'm still higher up than him. Le sigh. But I do need the practice, I'm sure I'll survive. *crosses fingers* Anyway, my other good news point was that, since getting hired, my seniority number has gone from 821 to 552. Nice.

Obsessed.

I have something of an obsessive personality. I latch onto things easily and with an iron grip. Until, inevitably, I tire of them and move on.

As previously mentioned, I was the crazy cat girl. Proof scenario one.

Proof scenario two: Harry Potter. Those of you that actually know me in real life know the gravity of those words. Those of you who don't, well, you'll just have to take my word for it. As some convincing evidence, here's a picture of me and a friend at the midnight release of book 7:



Dressed in HP shirts, with Gryffindor-colored scarves (conveniently also my college colors) (though the scarf on the right can't even masquerade as college-wear, because it has a tag that says Harry Potter. I bought it in York, for five pounds.) (Yes, that means BOTH of the scarves are mine.), holding my lovingly hand-crafted wand and a framed polaroid of friend and I with a cardboard cutout of Harry (I still have that framed polaroid. It sits on my bookshelf, propped up against my HP books. I'm not ashamed.) I think I read book 7 in a day or two. I know when book 5 came out, it was around my birthday and my friend made me a "Harry Potter Survival Kit" that included bottled water, a book light (in case my electricity were to go out), chocolate frogs and acid pops and the frappuccinos that you can buy at the store (to keep me awake), a jump rope (in case I got too slothy and needed some exercise), some cheese-and-crackers (for sustenance, obviously), and probably some other things. It was awesome and well-thought-out, but I didn't end up needing any of it because I read the book in something like fifteen hours. Whatever. Next.

Proof scenario three: The internets. In general. I live on them, and have for years and years and years. There's no way to even explain the enormity of this obsession, this addiction, so I'll stop and move on before you think I'm entirely crazy (though maybe you wouldn't be wrong).

There are many, many more proof scenarios I could throw at you, but, again, I'll stop and move on before you think I'm entirely crazy (though maybe.. well, you know), and I'll jump ahead to my most recent obsession: the Twilight saga.

Oh, my friends, please don't judge. Young adult fiction has always been my preferred genre (remember Harry Potter, from a couple of paragraphs ago? Add to that author Tamora Pierce, trilogy His Dark Materials, and really, half the other books on my shelves.), and will probably remain so for a very long time. So Twilight comes out, and some people notice and read it. And then more people read it, and then more, and suddenly there's all this hype.

I like to try to resist hype.

I don't know why.

I didn't start reading HP until book 4 was almost out, because there was hype, and I didn't want to get suckered in. But then I caved and read it and immediately understood the hype. But apparently that wasn't enough to teach me, because I am still always resistant to hype. I can't help it, it's like a defective gene I've got, or maybe it's just because I'm friends with so many judgmental elitist snob types (love you!), and we are above hype. But no, not me. Take me out of that "we." I'm so below hype it's crushing me. What? Anyway.

The point, I think, is that I finally caved and read Twilight. Devoured it, even. And then, since it was a borrowed copy, within hours of finishing it, I went to the store and bought all four books. And then I read them, within six days. It would have been fewer, but I was on a trip when I finished book 3, and I hadn't brought book 4 with me, so I had to quietly suffer through two Twlight-less days. I seriously considered buying book 4 at the airport and returning the other copy later. The only thing that stopped me was knowing I'd get zero sleep, and I had something like seven legs the next day.

Are you beginning to sense the scope of my obsession?

I'm looking forward to re-reading all the books, since I probably missed quite a bit, having read them so fast the first time around. I want to finish the other book I'm working on reading first, though (Three Dollars, by Elliot Perlman. It's a little beyond me at times, but some of the lines are just so.. so perfect. I'm enjoying it.) (I already finished the other book I was in the middle of when Twilight seized me, which was Christopher Moore's Fool, which I will no doubt discuss another day.). And I need my sister to finish the fourth book first, so that there's no chance she'll still be reading it when I, once again, so desperately need it.

I don't think the point of this post was "whoa that girl's crazy and you should probably stay away lest she get obsessed with YOU next," but I fear that's what you've gotten from it anyway.

Alas.

Maybe the point was, when there's hype, it's generally deserved, and I should stop stupidly trying to resist it.

Or maybe.. maybe there was no point.