A few more things crossed off my lists

I've finally finished listening to the Librivox recordings of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. That took... a while.  Five volumes, each with 40-70 recordings.  Yowza.  As I listened to it, I remembered why it took me an entire summer to read the book while I was in high school.  It wasn't that I'm a slow reader.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), Hugo tends to be more of a historian than a story-teller, which results in a book that isn't particularly interesting to me for large chunks.  There were, like, nineteen chapters on the battle of Waterloo.  And three on the history and anatomy of the sewer systems of Paris.  All I really needed to know was that Jean Valjean was in the sewers.  It didn't make any difference to the story that he was in the section that was built under... um... someone's reign.  See how much it mattered to me?

But the heart of the story was good, and when he got on a roll with story instead of history, I was captivated.  There were times that I would sit in my car for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes after I got home, just to hear the rest of the section.  I think, though, that it will be another fifteen years before I reread it again.

I also finally finished the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.  Wow.  I've been working on this series since I picked up the first book almost fifteen years ago.  I reread the series every time a new one came out, up until the last three.  At that point, I knew that the series would be wrapping up, so I waited until it was finished to read the whole thing once more.  I started again over the summer, and this weekend, I finished the last book.

I'm feeling a bit, well, ambiguous about it.  The ending fit the rest of the books.  It worked out well, and it tied together whole chunks from the beginning that I was wondering about.  There were some bits that didn't make sense, and all of the characters have a tendency to deliver monologues rather than actually having discussions with one another, but aside from that, I enjoyed the series.  It wasn't nearly as over-written as I found the Wheel of Time series to be - I stopped reading at book 7, and I've had no desire to pick it back up.  At the same time, it's sad, because I've waited so long to find out what happens, and now that I know, well... hmm.

Can you tell I've been making up for lost reading time?  I also finished Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella.  It was in the cupboard at work, so I picked it up and read it during my lunch breaks.  It was okay.  It wasn't as if it were poorly written.  It was actually the story that I didn't like.  She wrote it well, don't get me wrong!  Rebecca (the MC) just made me uncomfortable.  I think it was the situation that she had managed to get into that didn't sit well with me.  Please, don't skip this book just because I didn't enjoy it - as I said, it was very well written, and the characters were nicely developed, and it is clearly a book that many others have enjoyed.

I've started reading Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire.  I read Wicked years ago, and loved it.  Of course, I also loved Confessions of an Ugly Step-Sister and Mirror, Mirror, so I'm expecting to enjoy this one.  I'm only about 50 pages in, but I'm liking it.  I'll give you a final verdict when I'm done. :)

I was going to start listening to another audiobook, but I found the most random-ass mix cd in my car, and I can't stop listening to it.  I'm pretty sure that Otter made it for me - it's labeled "Princess/Disney Mix," and I was expecting a few songs from The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast.  Instead, it's got the standard princess songs, mixed with the soundtrack from Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet, Shrek, Peter Pan and some other craziness, all in one.  There are 148 tracks!!  So I'll be listening to it for a while before I switch back to a book.

And that's what I've been up to!  (Well, partly.  But you have to wait until Friday to hear about the secret I'm keeping.)

Plot twisting!

So last night I was lamenting how much I didn't want to write my NaNovel. And today, I've taken Ray's advice and thrown in a bomb. Well, not a real bomb. A tablet of Rohypnol. Boy, that's made things fun! And the one being drugged? An unattractive sixty-something man. Betcha wanna read my story now, dontcha??

In other news, I've been playing with Pandora, and I'm really enjoying it. I've got an 'Old School Boy Band' channel, full of NKOTB and their ilk. Love!

Operatic goodness

Tonight, I saw my very first opera. And actually, I saw my very first performance at MLT! Yes, despite having been involved in a whole crapload of shows there, this was the first time I'd actually seen something from the audience. It was an odd feeling.

But the opera was fun! The Peach State Opera performed two short operas (operettas, I suppose) - 'La Serva Padronna' and 'The Old Maid and the Thief'. Both were done in English, as this was MLT's first foray into opera and they didn't want to scare anyone off. I preferred the first - it was more what I expected from an opera - but I enjoyed both! And I think that, next year, when they come back, I'll go again.

Yay, opera!

A rock sort of evening

I was in the mood for heavy music tonight.  Heavy music and fast driving.  Unfortunately, the speed limit was 45, so the driving didn't get very fast.  But the music was heavy and loud.

There's always been a definite connection between music and mood for me.  When I get frustrated, especially over things I can't control, I turn to one of two types of music - heavy rock, or showtunes.  Yeah, I realize they're on completely opposite ends of the musical spectrum, but they both work, depending on the day.  Showtunes are great for belting out at the top of my lungs in the car, with me being much louder than the song (and I'm pretending that cars are soundproof so no one else hears).  A bunch of good, upbeat showtunes can turn my mood into something much more chipper.

The heavy stuff is good for when I want to savour a bad mood, if that makes sense.  Sometimes, I just need to feed the irritation, the frustration, the anger, until it dissipates on its own.  The music can make it go faster.  I play this stuff as loud as the stereo can handle it, and instead of belting along, it's almost a growl that I have going on.  And after about three songs tonight, I felt better.  And then I was just listening to the music for the sake of enjoying it, which was nice.  Plus, I rediscovered some tracks that I haven't heard in a while, by Jet Set Satellite (whom I hung out with once upon a time almost ten years ago) and by the Fleshtone Rockets (whom I also knew, but they have since disbanded).

Of course, I'm a fan of most music... except love songs.  You've read that, I'm sure.  (I was going to link back to the post where I ranted about how creepy love songs are, but I can't find it.  It's around here somewhere, I'm sure.)  I was in surgery this morning with a different doctor than usual, and I LOVED the music - the first three cases were with the Elvis station playing, and the last three had swing/jazz music.   It was all very peppy and upbeat and singable.  None of this "I love you so much I want to die if you even think about thinking about leaving me!" crap.  

Being a fan of most music, however, means that I like a lot of crap, too.  But I recognize that the Spice Girls are not high quality music, and neither was NKOTB... but I still love listening to them sometimes.  There is music for every occasion, and there are occasions for every song.

Much driving...

Tonight shall be a short post, because I'm exhausted.  I drove to Marietta and back tonight, so I could meet my dad for dinner.  It was great to see him again, and I wish we could have had more time.  Luckily, he's coming back in about two weeks, and this time, it will be for a visit with me, instead of just passing through on business.  Yay!

The most important part?  I drove through Atlanta, by myself, and made it home in one piece!  Yay!  I've heard horror stories of Atlanta driving.  Granted, I was driving on a Sunday night, but still, I managed to make it, so I'm proud of myself.

I listened to my "iPod mix" on the trip (that's what the playlist is labelled, I'm not just using quotation marks for fun), and I heard a lot of music that I haven't listened to in years.  I basically went through my entire music collection, and added my favourite song or two from every cd I own.  I decided that I need to re-listen to Jet Set Satellite in the next few days, because I love the title of one of their songs, and I want to write a short story with the same title.  I want to listen to the lyrics, to see if there's anything else I can incorporate.  Does anyone else do that?

My head exploded

I had to listen to love songs again.  Bits of my brain scattered around the room, and I managed to collect most of them into a pretty little jar, which is now sitting on my desk.  I stapled the skull bits back together, so that my head wouldn't be too lumpy.  But it sounds hollow if you hit it now.

If I hear Olivia Newton John's "I Honestly Love You" one more time this week, I think my head might pop off and fly around the room (since clearly the explosion didn't do anything to reduce the love song content of my morning).

I wanna puke.

I think that the genre of music referred to as 'love songs' needs to change its name.

I work as a surgical scrub technician, which means I'm the gal who hands instruments to the doctor in the operating room ("Scapel!"  "Yes, doctor!").  It also means that, once I'm sterile, I can't touch anything or leave the OR.  With some doctors, it's not that bad.  With the one I'm usually with, it's torture.  Why?  Because he insists on listening to the "Love Songs" XFM station during surgery.  The two operating rooms (and in fact, the entire ambulatory surgical center) are all on the same sound system, so everyone has to listen to his choice of music.  All morning.

After listening to four hours (yes, four straight hours) of love songs today, I realized that very few of them are the sort of song that you would play for someone with whom you are in love.  If you start listening to the genre, you'll realize that these 'love songs' should really be called 'creepy stalker songs.'  At least half of the songs that played this morning were from the point of view of someone who had been dumped and couldn't manage to get over their 'true love.'  It was just... ick.  If I played any of those songs for my SO, he'd have a restraining order against me in a heartbeat!

And on a related note, do you remember, several years ago, there was a big controversy over the song "How Do I Live (Without You)"? (Big is a relative term, of course.)  The question was whether the LeAnn Rimes version or the Trisha Yearwood version should be included on a movie soundtrack (bonus points if you know which movie it was!).  The folks in charge decided that Trisha's version should be included, because at 15, LeAnn was too young to understand the emotion behind that song.  As I listened to it at work today, I realized that LeAnn's version should have made it!  Why?  Because that horrible, desperate love is totally typical of a fifteen-year old!

And that's why I wanna puke today.