Do you ever feel like music is stalking you?

Music has been a apart of my life for as long as I remember.  I can't read without music in the background, I can't be in my car without my iPod, I have lots of exercise playlists and there is music I love to listen to while I sleep.  I like to theme my life and music is one of those ways I help carry out that theme.  There are certain bands I only listen to in the summer, there are certain songs I can't stand to listen to if it's sunny out.  I'm weird about music, it's okay cause I know it.  But music is something, like the books I ready, that I think guides me.  Music helps me let go of things and music most definitely reminds me of other things.

Whenever I hear Hard Candy I'm transported back to the summer before my senior year.  I can't listen to Hard Candy in the winter or fall, it just seems wrong.  There are other Counting Crows albums that perfectly fit the cooler weather.  Monte Montgomery only makes sense to me in the fall.  The first time I heard him play was at Krost Symposium at TLU in 2003, so I will always associate him with the fall.  Drive By Truckers should be listened to in the Spring and Summer, they're all wrong for December.  Muse, Radiohead and No Doubt are seasonless and can be listend to year round. 

I remember where I was the first time I heard a song.  I can remember what I was wearing and who I was with.  I can remember the lyrics to songs I was exposed to as a child and maybe only listen to once a year now.  Cat Stevens Ruins will forever remind me of waiting for my dad to pick me up on Wednesday nights in Middle School and while I haven't heard the song in years I still know every word.

Some songs follow you around, they stalk you.  Like that Fun song.  Seriously I couldn't eat lunch at Chili's at UTSA without that song coming on at least once, if not twice.  I don't listen to the radio so songs have to go extra out of their way to stalk me.

Then there are certain songs when you hear them you start looking around to see if a certain person is nearby, cause you could never hear that song without them being close.  Some songs immediately transport you from your body to a completely different time and place.

Some songs just take over your life, you emotions, everything that you're going through and claim you. Songs that so completely capture what you're going through it seems impossible.  Songs. Lyrics. Music. Just one chord.  All I have to head is one chord of one of those songs and immediately my world stops.

Goodreads Update

So I hit my first goal.  50 books.  I'm glad I hit this goal before December first as well.  I hit the ground running during the first of the year but then slacked off here and there and even had two whole months where I didn't finish a single book.  So now I'm working on my second goal- some could say my real goal of 60 books.  I'm at 51.  Last December I was able to read 5 so I'm optimistic if I put my mind to it I can complete my goal by December 31st, since I've already more than doubled my annual reading goal from last year of 20 books.  What's really fun for me is looking back on the year and the months and thinking about what I read when, how much I read when and so many other things.

In January I read 12 books, 8 were Charlaine Harris Southern Vampire Chronicle Books So very light reading, I could usually finish one of those in a single day if I tried hard enough or was super super lazy.  I read the first of the James Potter books, it's Harry Potter fan fiction and I'd never read fan fiction before, but I'm not ashamed to admit I've read the first two of these cause they were GREAT! Seriously loved them.  Then I read a couple other light bubble-gummy books.

In February I read 8 books, more Charlaine Harris another of her mystery series, the Shakespeare ones, I read 4 of those, read the second 800+ page James Potter book, the second Dragon Tattoo book (I'd read the first one on the Cruise in 2010), a totally guilty chick read Beautiful Disaster and the new Orson Scott Card Ender's Shadow sequel

In March I finished the Shakespeare series and finished 1Q84, the 1200 page monster that I'd been working on since December.  Written in 3 parts after the first one my brain was already becoming mush and I decided to take a month to recover before finishing the second part, but after finishing the second part I jumped immediately into the 3rd and was so sad to finish.  This was the first book of the year that I could say was in the running for my favorite book of the year.  A beast to read, but I loved it, I didn't even feel  bad that I only read 2 books in March cause this was one of the two.

In April I had lost some of my momentum and read only 5 books.  I finished the Dragon Tattoo series and was upset, angry and sad.  I wanted more! So for some reason (cause my mom told me to) I read the Fifty Shades of Grey books. I hate myself. They were awful. Having read all the Twilight books since theses are fan fiction and very parallel you know what's going to happen! Bondage aside the stories were so predictable.  Bondage not aside, I frequently found myself embarrassed to be reading these books and had to quickly turn the nook pages to make myself stop blushing. I ended the month starting the Alphabet Mysteries,  I'm in for the long haul! She's only written up to V so I've got some time to catch up.  These are great bubble gum reads too and I can usually knock them out pretty quick, whenever I can't decide what to read next I just download one of the Alphabet books and fill the gaps.

In May I read 4 books, the newest Southern Vampire Chronicle Book, Deadlocked which was over way too quickly! One more year till the final book.  In the Woods the first of the Dublin Murder Squad books that I will not be continuing with.  I can't remember the last time a book pissed me off so much.  The Rook I am in love with this book.  This is the 2nd book in the running for my favorite book of the year.  Surprise Science Fiction! Seriously had no idea this book was gonna be all crazy x-files-y mystery-y.  It was great! Then I started another Charlaine Harris series the Grave Sight books that I also have no desire to continue.

In June I read 5 new books.  All good books but nothing to write home about.  Graveminder, You Know Your Way Home (a free goodreads giveaway), Amped (second book by Robopocalypse guy), Eat Pray Love, and The Girl on the Dock.  Amped should have been better than it was since Robopocalypse was so good, but it was too short and rushed, cool ideas just not enough of them.

July Was an amazing month for my reading.  I read 8 books and loved 5 of them! The Magicians and the Magician King. Next two in line for fave books of the year.  Another Goodreads giveaway win and I'm so glad I did cause they were fabulous.  An Object of Beauty which I'd been meaning to read for years was amazing.  Great story, great art world history and great characters- love.  Gone Girl a book I read at the right or wrong time depending on how you look at it, a scary crazy book about people in a marriage who destroy each other- uh so good.  Then I read the second alphabet book, Music for Torching and then Rebecca.  Is there anything better than a great Gothic Mystery? Loved Rebecca and while you know the whole time who the bad person is, seeing it come to fruition is intense.  Then my sister talked me into reading the Anne Rice Sleeping Beauty book-uhg.  I didn't think it could get worse than Fifty Shades...I was wrong.

In August I read 4, well 1 and listened to 3.  I found this great site online with audiobooks of The Chronicles of Narnia and listened to Prince Caspian, Dawn Treader and Silver Chair.  I'd never read them and they were really great.  The actual book I read was Looking for Alaska.  I really enjoyed this book, enjoy is the wrong word though because it's kinda dark, but I enjoyed it none the less.  I finished the book the day before I left for College Station and it was the last book I finished before November.

In November I finished 3 books.  The 3rd Alphabet book and two books I am so disappointed in! A Super Sad True Love Story UHG! Such a disappointment.  I'd heard such great things about it and then it ended up being crap.  No plot for 200 pages then annoyance the last 150.  So sorry I wasted my time reading this book and I rarely say that.  Then Divergent I'd heard so many positive reviews and I just don't get it.  The book wasn't bad by any means but it certainly wasn't better than the Hunger Games or have an upsetting ending like I'd heard.  I don't get it, I didn't connect with the characters, the story was predictable, so meh.

So now it's December and I'm in a race to finish 9 more books before New Years.  All my Goodreads reviews are at the links above. I wrote about Goodreads and stuff earlier this year too.  So the books that are my fave of the year so far are-
1- 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
2- The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
3- The Magicians by Lev Grossman
4- The Magician King by Lev Grossman
5- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Runners up
6- An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin
7- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest
8- Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

Review: Divergent

Divergent by Veronica Roth

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Eh. I didn't hate this book but I most certainly didn't love as much as other people and I in NO WAY want Four to be my new book-boyfriend. I just didn't find anything intriguing about him at all. But about the book...

So dystopian America (yes again, I'm in a rut, or writers are in a rut, or both) in the future people are divided into "factions" based on their traits and talents. At 16 students are tested and get to chose which factions they'll spend the rest of their life with- if they can make it through initiation. Most students chose to stay with the faction they were born into but sometimes there are "transfers" those who chose to go against their family's and transfer to a new faction. There they go through initiation which tests and challenges them physically and mentally to see if they really do belong in their new chosen faction. This is where our protagonist is Tris (formerly Beatrice), she has decided to change factions and is going through initiation.

So the majority of this book like 85% is about her going through the 3 stages of initiation. She has switched from a faction known for being selfless, calm and polite to one known for being dare-devils, risk takers and not polite- the Dauntless. So her first stage is all about being physically like the Dauntless, then mentally- after she makes it through to the final stage of initiation she realizes that something isn't right in her faction filled world and with the help of the supposedly ruggedly handsome and dangerous instructor 4 they set off to save the world (over simplified for sure).

Its interesting enough and moves really quickly, I just never found myself wanting more. Lots of reviews say they hate the ending, but I found nothing wrong with it, I think people just don't like waiting when a book blatantly set up for the sequel. And this one is blatantly set up kinda like in the movie version of Golden Compass where Lyra says, I'm gonna find my dad and help him, while they're in the sky flight thingy. Ugh.

And Tris' inner monologue was annoying. Not as annoying as say Bella in Twilight, but it wasn't revealing or important at all. So I was probably a little generous in giving this book a 3 star review, but it wasn't horrible, but it just wasn't my cup of tea and I don't really need to read the sequel, I'm not invested enough to where I have to know what happens like with The Hunger Games books. I've heard people say this book is better than Hunger Games to which I say no- not at all.



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Home for 43 hours...unless I did the math wrong

Friday after work I ran home gave the kitties an extra bowl of food and extra water and heading off home to San Antonio.  I got out of Bryan close to 5:40 and by the time I hit Caldwell it was perfectly dark.  The drive through Bastrop was scary, the road curved a lot and cause of the fires part of the road through the forest is closed.  Bastrop to San Marcos was completely dark too and after sitting in traffic for 20 minutes to get on 35, I was so relieved to be on a lighted highway I made it to San Antonio about 25 minutes later- ooops.  Got into San Antonio right around 8:45.

First stop Deirdre's house.  I think 2 months is the longest I've gone without seeing her since I was 16 years old and started driving. Crazy to think about but seriously never go that long without seeing her.  After Deirdre's I headed over to mama and mimi's and chatted for a minute.  Mama practically dragged me out of my car.  A little after 10 I headed over to Haley's house where I will be staying the majority of time I stay in San Antonio.  Isaac was sleepy so I barely had time to kiss his head before they swept him off to bed.  Chatted briefly with Hail and Greg and went to bed.  They have a super comfy temperpedic guest bed and it was like sleeping on a foamy cloud.

Woke up the next morning at 7AM when Isaac woke up.  My dreamy dreamy nephew sadly took a little while to warm up to me again.  It woud have broken my heart if I wasn't so excited to be home- even if it was someone else's home.  Mama came over around 9ish and the Swift's headed out around noon.

Haley left a binder full of instructions for Isaac.  When to feed him, what to feed him, how to change his cloth diapers, how to put him to bed, his morning rituals and nap rituals.  All in crazy detail.  I have put Isaac to bed on several occasions, mama had only once or twice.  Mama had taken care of him during the day time weekly for almost half a year and I've only watched him in the day time a handful of times.  So we both had our strengths.

Later in the afternoon daddy came over and we took Isaac to the park.  He played on the slide and played on the swing set, then we went home and napped.  Saturday mama also picked up BBQ since it was also a thing I missed from SA. Late in the afternoon Dr. Liz came over! She finally got to meet Mr. Isaac and of course got to hand out for a little bit.   Saturday night we got Isaac off his schedule a little bit and put him to bed too early, but he slept like a haus till 6AM close to 10 hours!

This morning we had breakfast tacos and played with Isaac in the house.  He took a good nap even though it felt like he'd slept forever.  Then we went and picked mimi up for lunch and went to La Hacienda so I could get decent Tex-Mex.  After lunch daddy came over again before I had to head back to SA. In true daddy fashion he cleaned my car before I left- he used to do the same thing when I'd go back to Seguin in college.  I ended up leaving around 3:30 and didn't hit too bad of rain till Bastrop.  Made it back to my apartment by 6ish.

My visit was way too short, but got to see the most important people (minus my stepmom who's kids were also in town this weekend).  I'll be back home- Hail's home- in 9 more days.  But that drive SUCKS in the dark so I'm gonna have to see if I can leave earlier in the afternoon.

Taking day 10 off from writing

Okay last post till Sunday.  Tomorrow I'll be too busy with this special man watching him with my mom while his parents take a quick holiday for their 4th anniversary.  I promised them when they had Isaac that for their anniversaries I'd always watch him...of course this was before I moved, but they're still holding me to it which is fine with me.  So take a look at the cute and I'll write all about it Sunday!

Painting with a Twist...Painting with a Purpose

So a few weeks ago we got an email from TAMU about the MSC Galleries fundraiser at Painting with a Twist.  Bring your own wine.  The second biggest thing I miss from UTSA is the Gallery- I can't help it, it was such a cool thing I got to do and I know it was probably a once in a Student Affairs career type thing, so I was like oooh ooh I'll go!   So tonight two of my colleagues and I went yay! 

The night started out beautiful...

Then I remember I have to paint.  I haven't painted since summer camp in 2002, I suck at painting, but the instructor promises we'll leave happy- she doesn't specify if we'll be happy with our paintings or happy cause of our wine.  But people say it's "easy" cause "they walk you through it".  So we find out stations and we have 3 brushes and a paper plate with about 8 different colors on it, blues, yellows, black, white and a teal- that's how we're going to recreate Vincent Van Gogh's beautiful Mulberry Tree

The one we're imitating 

So at least it's a little blurry so hopefully I won't screw it up too much.

Step One, cover the white canvas with white paint...you can add some blue or green to it but we don't want it white anymore...now cover the top half with yellows and white cover the whole thing...

 Cool.  Step one- easy.  I like it.  It looks like water which a bright yellow sky!

Step 2ish, make your leaves like a bowl using the oranges and yellows...add some greens if you like...

Now do the rest...just kidding so next we painted the sky so we covered up ALL the yell we did in step one! Then we added white for "snow" to the bottom blue area, so that neither top or bottom resembled anything we started out with.  

Final painting..nothing like Van Gogh's, nothing like our sample either.  Oh-well.  It was a lot of fun.  I drank like 1/2 a bottle of wine so that helped, but it was relaxing and while I was doing it I was liking how the colors were mixing and it was super fun.  I enjoyed hanging out with two of my co-workers outside of work and I'm so glad I did it.

I'm going home!

So this is the longest I've been away from home ever.  Seriously 2 months is the longest I've been away from home in one stretch.  Summer camp was only a month sometimes 33 days, I went for 10 years as a camper and 3 years as a counselor for 33 days every summer (1 year off between year 2-3 as a counselor).  I can't believe at 7 years old I was okay going away from home for 33 days but at 27 it sucks and I'm a whiney baby about it.  So needless to say my excitement about going home this weekend is a little excessive.

I miss my family of course, it's weird not seeing them every week.  I miss Isaac of course most, cause I have not had any baby cheeks to eat since their visit the first weekend of October.  They need to be consumed regularly otherwise they get ridiculously cute and I go off on a scary tangent about baby cheeks.  I miss my friends.  I can't just go over to a friends house and have a glass of wine when I need to complain, vent or relax.  I miss the city- oh god the city, with it's breakfast tacos, traffic, people and patios.  There are no patio bars here! Or restaurants with patios! It's crazy, apparently they're afraid of West Nile here, so they don't build patios.  The weather is beautiful and no one can take advantage of it!

But maybe it's like certain friendships, a little time a part does you some good.  So now when I go home I'll appreciate it more and be able to just do the things I like.  Hanging with the friends and family, eating and drinking.  That's all I did in SA right?  Eat, drank and hung-out?  I think so.  This weekend there wont be too much hang-out time cause I'll be too busy enjoying every minute of Isaac time, but for Thanksgiving I'll be home 5 days and for Christmas 2 weeks.  I can't wait!