Quick Tip from Your Friendly Handy Helper

So, if you’re out and about and need to jot down a note in your handy pocket notebook (which, of course you always have at hand, because electronic notes. . . well, we’ll just not go into that for now *heh*), but–*ack!* Pen’s out of ink! No pencil! *sigh*

Just eject a round from a spare magazine and write with the lead tip. You’re welcome.

(Note to NSA goons: Feel free to share this tip with HS thugs. I know you will anyway, so I’ll not get all torqued off about it. . . *sigh*)

Staying Current. . . for What It’s Worth

I try to stay current, but sometimes local laws, ordinances, whatever, kinda scoot on by me w/o really making any impact. So, I try to look ’em up from time to time and be “read up” as much as possible.

Discovered today that nudity is prohibited in the county’s churches and schools. Who knew?

*heh*

*head-butt*

head-butt

No, it’s not your eyes, and no, it’s not the camera, and nor is it my pathetic photog “skilz” (though pathetic is an accurate term *heh*). Caught this guy moving in for yet another head-butt. He’s the head-buttingest cat I’ve ever known.

A better pose (on the back of my Wonder Woman’s chair):

cat-chair

And another, same chair:

Cat-sit

Annnnd. . . in the bay window. No, the basket’s not really too small for him. He just seems to prefer crowding himself up into as small a ball as possible.

yet-another-nap-time

“Magnificent Devices”–Wow. Just Wow.

I allowed myself to get sucked into this four book collection the other day. Wow. So very well-written. Best “steam-punk world” I’ve experienced. VERY hard to put down. Engaging characters, good plotting, well-detailed descriptive narrative: just a Good Read.

Magnificent Devices

Now, if you saw my normal reading list, you might be surprised that I enjoyed this collection so much. Four short books (the whole collection doesn’t run much over 800pp) that were a really fun read. I immediately bought the next book, A Lady of Resources, and immediately devoured it. Yes, I enjoyed the entire collection and I will purchase the next book as soon as it’s available.

But why, pray, might you be surprised at my glowing commentary? Oh, well, these books are “juvies” (yeh, yeh, they call ’em “YA” books now, but since “juvenile” now extends to the late 20s–or later: most politicians are sociopathic juveniles, for example–and “young adults” are more likely to be 30-somethings anymore, I’ll just stick with “juvie” mmK? ;-)), and the ONLY reason I read juvies is because I enjoy sharing my Wonder Woman’s world. She’s a K-8 librarian and is very close with her readers. I suspect a very large portion of her enjoyment of juvie books is anticipation of interaction with her students about the books she reads WITH them. And I enjoy the well-written and well-edited ones for being able to share them with her. (Besides, they are invariably very, very quick reads and don’t disrupt my other reading hardly at all, so. . . *heh*)

OK, but these books are quite different. Yeh, yeh, I read the Percy Jackson stuff. *yawn* Well-written enough, but really quite pedestrian, boringly predictable. And yes, I read the J.K. Rowling things, despite being bored to tears after getting halfway through the first one. (Maybe I’m a bit picky, but then again maybe not. . . )

These books, though, are real gems. They’re just very, very well-written, with an excellent Victorian period feel melding well with the fictional steampunk universe, characters that are engaging and credible, ripping good stories, just. . . just Good Reads, regardless the genre or target audience. What’s even more surprising is that this very, very well-written prose and these very, very well-told stories are from the hand of a person with an actual B.A. in Literature AND an M.F.A. in Writing Popular Fiction–two things that, in my experience, tend to result in writers producing Suckitudinous Fiction. *heh* My hat’s off to Shelley Adina for developing REAL writing chops despite her academic credentials. 😉

“Very Unique”?!? *sigh*

Seriously. I have actually read and heard that nonsense combination of words–“very unique”. In fact, I seem to hear it more and more often lately. Are these folks dumber than a bag of hammers or just wagging their tongues (resulting in really icky keyboards, in the cases of those who’ve written the nonsense phrase) with no more consciousness than can be found in a rock?

“Very unique”?!? *gagamaggot*

Scylla and Charybdis: Finally Dhimmicraps Find Out How the “Stupid Party” Feels All the Time

Dems may have to admit Obamacare tax increase

If the Dhimmicraps take a legislative stance that the individual mandate is NOT a tax, wouldn’t that nullify the only leg Roberts manufactured for it to stand on? Hmm? And if they admit it is a tax–a tax that weighs unevenly on young, middle class voters–that would certainly have a strong potential to weigh heavily against them at the polls next year.

This is gonna be interesting. . .