It's Almost Time...

...though it probably already has been turning up in stores. I haven't personally seen any just yet, but then I haven't been looking.

Trying Not to Buy So Many Books...

I saw this today on Sandra's blog:

This is how I have felt lately. 

As for buying books, I have been trying to avoid that lately, though I did find a few books this month at second-hand stores that I just had to have. I was looking for two of the books in particular and had to get them while I found them. One in particular on the day I got it was half-off the price that the thrift store usually charges. So that was a good buy.

But for the most part, I've been trying to buy fewer books, if any. Only about three this month, so far. It gets hard to  want to read what I have purchased, as I like to get out and one of my favorite places to go is the library. It's hard to leave the library without checking out books, but I have been able to make this work when I want to. I went last Saturday to return some books and also to see the free movie that was showing that day. My county library shows free movies on Saturdays and last week they showed Poms. It was a good way to pass the time before my class reunion that same night. I left without checking out any books that day, deciding to read some of the stuff I have at home for a while. I've been trying to do this at least once each month, getting as many books as I can for my shelf at home for a while each month. Though I miss going to the library after staying away for a while. If I can't find a book at the library, and don't want to buy it on Amazon if it's not at any thrift stores nearby, I can get it through the library's promotion known as Zip Boooks. This allows readers to order a book not already at the library. The book is then shipped free via Amazon and mailed to the customer's address. The customer then has three weeks to take the book to the library, just as they would for borrowed books already at the library. I like doing this because it's free, but only one book can be requested at a time, and only up to five books per month.

One of the books I got this month I have just finished. It was Eat, Pray, Love which I'd been wanting to read and which is not at my library. When I saw it at the thrift store, I decided to get it so I could read it.  As I said above, it was half-off that day, which I was unaware of, so it was a good buy. I'm glad to have gotten it so cheap.

Readers Imbibing Peril XIV

Will be doing this one again, getting as many books as I can  while it runs in September and October.

Here is what I am reading:

1. Lady Midnight--Cassandra Clare
2. A Blade So Black--L.L. McKinney
3. The Bone People--Keri Hulme
4. Gemina--Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristof
5. Spoon River Anthology--Edgar Lee Masters
6. The Mothman Prophecies--John A. Keel
7. Diary of a Minecraft Zombie--Zack Zombie
8. Obsidio--Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
9. Twilight--Stephenie Meyer (reread)
10. Hollow Fields--Madeleine Rosca
11. Interview With the Vampire--Anne Rice
12. The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde--Robert Louis Stevenson

Challenge completed on October 19

A Busy Month

It has definitely been a busy month, with work, events (the picnic at work on the 16th and the class reunion last weekend) and doctors' appointments--still one more of those to come this week. Now this month is almost over and Labor Day is a week away. 

I like activity, but too much of it can be overstimulating for me. After so much activity, I can feel anxiety coming on. But I was still able to have fun. The key is to know how much you can take.

Today is my usual writing class at work, and on Wednesday for art, we are   doing scrapbooking. It actually started last week; the mentor conducting the class decided to have it for two weeks so those doing it would not feel rushed. For mine, I chose some of the things I have written. I am pasting them on a page, with images to go with the work. 

Next month, the writers' lab will be back. I'm excited for that to happen. At the reunion on Saturday, I met a classmate's wife who says she is into writing. I told her what I had been doing and she thinks I should try to get it published. I told her I want to, but am uncertain how to go about the process. I also invited her to come to the writers' lab when it begins again in September. She and I certainly talked for a while, and we barely met. I did meet her at the last class reunion, but that was a decade ago, so I barely remembered. But she seems like a nice person.

Now I have to decide what to work on next. 

Another 80's Flashback

Last night at the 30-year class reunion we were given these souvenirs. One was placed at each dinner plate.

Pixie Stix, Pop Rocks, Candy Cigarettes and Fun Dip--all stuff I did not know was still around. Definitely 80s! Some of the sets came with a mini Rubik's Cube, but mine did not have one of those.  But that's all right by me. I have a feeling I would never be able to solve one of those even today. Back in the day, I had a Chex and Fruit Cube, a promotion from Chex Cereal. It was a Rubik's Cube with Chex Cereal on one side (and the Chex logo in the dead center) and different fruits on the other sides. I know I had trouble trying to solve the cube back then!

And it was a great night, with lots of food, music, dancing and most of all, old faces from school.

1989 Flashback

Where has the time gone? Another decade is nearly over and it's been 30 years since the end of the 1980s. I graduated from high school in 1989, and tonight is my 30-year class reunion. Some schoolmates met last night at a local movie theater for a pre-party.

Below is the cover of my high-school yearbook from that year:

Here are some pictures form the 20-year reunion in 2009. Pictures to come from tonight's event. 

I'm in the middle of this one.

The image at the top of this post comes from this link. Remember any of the events listed? I recall most of them. And In October, comes the 30th anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake. It struck  just as Game Three of the 1989 World Series was getting underway. I remember what I was doing that day. More on this to come when the anniversary arrives for this one. 

Not Quite Time Yet

I don't really want to think about Halloween just yet, even though stuff is already in some stores. I was in Target last Sunday, but no Halloween there as of yet. Kids in the area went back to school this past Monday, so they were at Target getting school supplies at the last minute. While there, I picked up a pack of pens.

Yesterday, when I began looking for craft ideas for work next month, I looked up Fall crafts," but kept coming across Halloween ones. And I decided to try this one, though I'm not sure when just yet to do it:



And today I saw this on Facebook:

I agree to some extent with this. Though I feel September is a little too early to be thinking about Halloween, I often do start thinking about it then, often so that I'm not putting my ideas off until the last week before the holiday. And though I've been saying I don't want to be thinking about it at the end of August, I now am trying to come up with costume ideas (though no definite ideas just yet). I guess it's not too early to plan it, though.