Just when I had nothing to post

I had a post written and then I deleted it.

I just about to go to bedn sad, because I knew my blog would be empty tomorrow (today because it will be posted at 7:30 in the morning) when BAM  John Green gave me THIS:




Dear Great Geek god Green I thank every day for the student who introduced me to your awesomeness which I adopted and make a critical part of my own life. 

If your firewalls block it, sorry and go check it out at home, before all the good TV comes on.

Road Trip Wednesday- Best Book of September

Road Trip Wednesday
What's the best book you read in September:
Yeah sorry for the long post but yeah I read a lot of books this month.

Gone- See my review for a complete rant and rave. 10 out or 10

I am the Messenger --- cool book, very different from the Book Thief.  It's interesting because if you liked the Book Thief you may NOT like The Messenger. I have to say I TOTALLY did NOT see the ending coming. 8 out of 10

If I Stay- it was beautiful heartbreaking completely uplifting as well. 9 out of 10

The Duff-  Totally wonderful, totally entertaining. 8 out of 10

So Yesterday- The origin of cool and what happens when the pyramid of cool has a terrorist in it.  8.5 out of 10  Lots of VERY VERY COOL History bits. 

Leviathan- World War 1 with Steampunk tech and a flying whale as a weapon...throw in a prince and a cross dressing girl and BAM you have one AWESOME book.  9.5 out of 10

White Cat- Ok it took me 200 pages to figure out this book was taken place in my home town.  Seriously.  I spent 200 pages thinking it was happening in England.  So yeah. Um. yeah.  That being said, there were some mistakes with the setting that threw me off obviously.  But the characters were interesting and I dreamed about the plot... although my dream totally predicted the ending of the book.   Its the first of a series and I"m not sure if I"m going to read the rest of it.  6.5

Candor- Awesome premise-- a town controlled by messages and the one kid trying to stop it...  I got about 100 pages into it, predicted the ending, read the last three chapters and knew I was right.  I won't review it because I don't review books I didn't technically read all the way through.

But BY FAR the hands down winner was Little Brother. 

Have you read this book yet?  It's about a kid who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and is picked by Home Land Security minutes after a terrorist attack.  HLS assumes he's a terrorist because he refuses to unlock his techy phone.  The theme of the book is privacy verses safety.  It's really interesting.  It's a tough read.  It's SUPER techy. And sometime the back story of the tech slows down the plot.  But it was the first book I've read in a LONG time that I needed to take a break from, but then I had to pick it up and keep reading.  It's geeky and important and wonderful.

You can buy it on amazon or you can download it the author's website for FREE!!!!

Go forth and read this book.  10 out of 10.

memories from Virginfest from years past.

WARNING THIS BLOG ENTRY CONTAINS MATURE CONTENT-- And a snarky tude too. 



This my account of what happened during Virginfest 09

I went to VirginFest this weekend.  Richard Branson the owner of Virgin Music puts on these huge festivals.  This year it was free.  Totally free.  You paid $5 to have the tickets printed and mailed to you, which is VERY cheap for ticketmaster fees.  Anyway Jet, The Bravery, Public enemy, Weezer and Blink 182 among lots of other bands no one has heard of, were there. 

As great as the show was, the PEOPLE at the show were even better.   This one is color coded to help you with all the characters.

   In front of Hubby and I there was a group of college students.  The night started off with me just watching Gray Tank Top Girl hitting on Green Shirt Guy.  Gray Tank Top Girl was saying how she needs to dump her boyfriend because he's gotten all Pycho on her.  She leaning in very close to Green Shirt guy.  Green Shirt Guy listens very intently to everything she's saying, nodding along, smiling, and basically working  WAY too hard to get into Gray Tank Top's pants. BTW She's bl@wing him with every word that comes out of her mouth.  If they could find an excuse to get out of there, they would be having crazy car $ex. 
    The guy in front of them, but still in their group, isn't wearing a shirt, we'll call him No Shirt Guy.  A girl shows up from the crowd, says something to No Shirt Guy, dumps HIS beer on him and storms away.   Grey Tank Top girl jumps up to help No Shirt Guy,.  No Shirt Guy starts screaming at Grey Tank Top girl and Green Shirt guy jumps up to defend her honor (see he's working WAY too hard to get her to touch his dick)
Then Overly Concerned Girl calms everyone down and acts as the go between for NO Shirt Guy and Chick Who Poured Beer on him.   No Shirt Guy is SO upset he's crying ANGRY tears.   Then they all get up to get beer, a very logical choice and will clearly SOLVE all their problems.  They leave one guy, White Shirt Dude to defend their spot of invading concert goers.  White Shirt Guy hasn't moved the ENTIRE time of the event and it's a good possiblity he's dead, drunk or asleep sitting up.
Overly Concerned Girl and Gray Tank Top Girl vanish in  the crowd and these three girls step up camp in the open space.   White Shirt Guy tells them the space is taken and modestly defends the area. 
Green shirt guy starts chatting it up with the new girls and I was convinced there was going to be another fight between Gray Tank Top girl and Green Shirt guy, but alas,  she didn't see his flirty transgression.

After all the drama ended with that group a WHOLE NEW set of drama happened behind us.  The girl was crying and her boyfriend was attempting to make her feel better.  But she was yelling, "Stop talking you're only making it worse."   He keeps talking.  They're having this HUGE emotional talk (possibly a breakup) in the middle of the concert about 20 minutes before Weezer is supposed to go on.  Neither one of them make any motions to LEAVE the concert.

Look if you're going to have a fight with someone PLAN it out, you still have HOURS left of the show AND the drive home. 

When Weezer takes the stage, we find out WHY they didn't leave.  HE LOVES WEEZER.  He wants to marry them and have their babies.  I know this because he was singing IN HIS GIRLFRIEND'S FACE,  "If you want to distory my sweater..." Like the sweater was really a metaphor for their relationship.   By the end of the act, they're kissing.  Moral: Weezer will fix your relationship.

Lastly there was a guy who wanted to leave but he drove everyone.  No one wanted to leave,  and he "didn't even want to be there in the first place. He had to get up at 6 in the morning for work." For the record, Hubby gets up at 4 and I get up at 5:30.  This guy was SO pissed he started crying.   They left the same time Hubby and I did and he was STILL complaining about it.


Clearly there was very little Virginfest 10 could do to impress me as much as 09 did. 

VirginMobleFreeFest

Saturday I went to the VirginMobleFest--- two years ago they had Bob Dylan and The Police, this year it was free and it was sort of lame.

Hubby and I left our house at 11:30, the concert is about ten minutes away.  I won't talk about the asinine parking cluster frak at the mall.  But I will say that the planners VASTLY  overestimated the situation.

Here's the thing. 
Two years ago the headliners were the Police, The Killers and generally HUGE names.
Last year the headliners were Public Enemy, Weezer, Blink 182--- again huge and recognizable names
This year.... drumroll please.... LCD Soundsystem.

WHAT?
You went from THE POLICE ( a reunion tour- BTW that was NEVER EVER going to happen)  to LCD soundsystem.   Really?

Here's the thing.  I know music.  I know more about it then most 31 year old mom living in suburbia and yes while I know LCD Soundsystem and yes, I know a few of their songs and I know they've been around for years, they are NOT main stage closers.  Sorry.

You can see the line up here --- BTW Ludacris wasn't even the closer for the second stage,  WHAT?  They put MIA there.  WHAT? HUH?  REALLY?  

Jimmy Eat World played at 1:30.

Jimmy Eat World created an entire genre of music and has had muptile hits on every CD they've put out since Bleed American (renamed after 9-11 to Jimmy Eat World).

Yeah.  Needless to say, Hubby and I saw Jimmy Eat World, walked around and left.  It was a free concert afterall.

I know I should be complaining about a free concert, because you know it's free and virginmoblefest is designed to be a charity event.  But I'm predicting that this year will be the last year it's free, if they do it again next year.

Since we left early we didn't get too much people watching in.  But we did see "Orange Shirt Guy, who was a HUGE Jimmy Eat World fan, he had hand gestures to the songs.  He was the kind of guy who drives around with the stereo blasting, banging on the steering wheel for the drum solos.   He rocked the  hell out during EVERY radio hit... the instant they  played something obscure he sat down.  Watching him I knew EXACTLY which albums he had and how often he listened to them.

He was highly entertaining.

I think he left a few minutes after we did.

When we walked out, the cops stopped us to help us get across the street to our car.  "You guys are leaving so soon?"

I didn't have the heart to tell him, "Dude like 90% of the people are going to be gone by 8:30."

Anyway what I did see that was SUPER nice.  It was 90 degrees and a guy working dropped a create of bottle water, people swarmed and HELPED pick up every bottle.  Not a single bottle was stolen.  I cheered LOUDLY for the people who helped.



Very cool contests going on at Adventures in Children's Literature.    It's a Giveaway for NEW BOOKS coming out this week!!!!  <--I just read a post about the awesomeness of explanation marks so I had to post it,

YAY!

Awesome Music Month Winner Week 4

And the winners of Week 4 of Awesome Music Month are

Cid and Cindy.

With the comment
Cid: Yea thirty minute call!

I think if you have a list, sort of like a guide for what TO SAY, you'll be more likely to stray onto things you shouldn't say.

Research the agent - which yes, I know you have. Come up with some questions about her or her work; including her in the conversation could help put her at ease and not so much the 'having to put up with a sales pitch'. Ask what she reads when she's not wearing her agent hat. What her favorite new book this year is.    PLUS MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MORE

 

Cindy:  Ask what should be deleted, should extra parts be added. Are there any insecurities you have about particular characters or particular scenes? Ask if she felt those were weak spots or did they come across to her in a different way? Maybe almost quiz her on your characters and anything that you were planning to infer to see if those inferences, character traits, etc came through. Ask about the title - you have changed it, does she think that was a good change? What are the next steps? What are the in's and outs of getting your book published? Should this be a one shot deal or should there be a sequel? Was she satisfied at the end of the book? As a mother (I am guessing she is one?) is this a book she would be proud to see her child is reading?

Why did I pick it?
I picked both of the because they CLEARLY UNDERSTAND WHAT A HUGE SPAZ I AM AND THAT I NEED A SCRIPT WHEN SPEAKING TO ANOTHER HUMAN BEING... when things go unplanned, nothing good comes from it. 

Congrats to the winners!

Please e-mail me  fussymonkey2 at gmail dot com

I also want to thank anyone who  supported me during my Phineas and Ferb Addiction.  It's a long road and I don't think a recovery is in sight. 

TEASER ABOUT THE CD:
53 songs 3.5 HOURS of music! 

There's A HUGE variety of music on the mix, from classic rock to music ruling the air waves now.

Trust me, you want this. 

You can INSTANTLY win a Mix CD if you run the same contest on your website.
 It's cheap, fun and easy.


Also if you like the music, please remember to BUY the full CD from the artist.  My goal with this contest is to spread the word about some bands I really like. 

Confessions: you'll resepct me less after this blog

Confession1:  I haven't been writing.

Confession2: I haven't been editing.

Confession 3: I love Phineas and Ferb.  Seriously I watch at LEAST an hour of the show a day.  I bought a Perry the Platypus for myself-- not my two year old daughter-- and I hide him around my classroom so I can hear my students say, "Where's Perry?"

Confession 4:  I read 8 books in the month of September.  That's almost as much as I read all summer.
When I finish reading this blog I will continue reading Candor.

DEEP DARK CONFESSION:  Due to my lack of writing/editing or doing anything creative, my brain did something terribly humiliating...

It came up with an idea for Phineas and Ferb Fan Fiction.
It blended all the YA books I've been reading and Phineas and Ferb.

It flashes forward 6 years and now the boys are teenagers, Candace is home from college.  Phineas discovers that Isabella is a girl and really wants to touch her, but after Vajgeets accidental touching of a girl resulting in 16 hours of meeting with the guidance councilor and sexual harassment training, Phineas opts to keep his hands to himself.

Ferb is devastated because despite finding dark matter and doing the impossible time and time again, the pesky age of consent law is keeping him away from Vanessa.   Vanessa decides she doesn't want to wait another two years for Ferb (after all she might be a little bit evil but some laws can't be broken because it's just creepy) she opts to marry Carl the Intern.   Ferb is horrified.  Carl has been an intern for six years, how can anyone work somewhere for college credits for six years and not get hired or get a degree.  Beside Ferb is British and that's way cooler than being American.

There's a whole subplot with Doof and Perry teaming up to stop the wedding.
Comedy ensues.

***hangs my head in shame***

I'm SUCH A LOSER--- this was BY FAR my geekiest moment on this blog ever. 

I REALLY NEED TO START WRITING.


In other news I'm going to the  Virgin Mobile Fest on Saturday.  Mostly because it's free and 10 minutes from my house.  There's really NO excuse not to go.  Jimmy Eat Work will be there.  That's all I care about.

Hubby and I went last year... we saw a fight between drunk preppy people---awesome.  We saw a couple breaking up in the middle of the concert but stuck it out because they needed to ride home together and he was REALLY REALLY into Weezer.

Maybe I'll post the exploits from last year on the blog next week and compare it with this years activities..

blog fail

Yep. 

I

Have

Nothing

To

Say.

My blog has been lame lately.

Sorry.

I am drowning in my real life.

This year teaching is much harder then it was last year.

Parenthood is harder this year and the it was late year.

Write isn't happening. 

Editing isn't happening.

I am not just drowning in real life but LAMENESS.

At least this makes me laugh.  Thank You FAIL Blog.