Sleepy, Sleepy
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Education, Fun, Geekery, Reading
Current Mood:
Happy
I stayed up WAY too late last night studying programming. Yes, for fun. That’s my idea of fun, anyway. I’ve been yawning all day as a result, and I should already be in bed tonight because I need to be up early tomorrow. So this will be brief.
I’ve been enjoying correspondence with a dear old friend over the last few days. Isn’t lovely how, with some people, you can be out of touch for a decade and pick right up where you left off as if no time at all had passed?
I got to visit both a bookstore and a library today. I’m a happy bibliophile 
Tags: Books, bookstores, Friends, Libraries
Last Library Visit
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Fun, Reading
Plinky asked, “When was the last time you visited a library?”
About a month ago, when I renewed my Gwinnett County library card so I could check out digital items from that library. Dekalb County’s library doesn’t have e-books yet, and they make up 99% of my book reading habits these days.
I adore libraries. I have good memories of them that go back to being 5 years old or so and visiting a Cobb County library branch that had a playground as well as a good children’s section. Mom was willing to take us there pretty frequently over the next three years, since the books kept me busy and the playground kept my sister, and eventually my brother, busy.
One of the first things I do when moving to a new place is find the closest library and get a card. Any time I see a new library, I want to stop, even if I can’t get a card. I’m just curious as to what THIS one will hold, what it’s like inside. I adore the peace and quiet, the reverence for learning in libraries. They’re lovely retreats, but most could use more comfy chairs.
Setting Up Shop
Posted by Cyn | Filed under NaBloPoMo, Needlework
Plinky asked, “If you were going to open up a shop, what would you sell? Food? Clothing? Books?”
Books and needlework items! My former partner and I used to dream about opening a combination book/stitching/gaming/coffee shop.
Of course, independent bookstores are nearly dead, and even Borders is dead now thanks to Amazon.
Little needlework shops have almost totally disappeared, because they can’t compete with the prices Michael’s and Joann Crafts can offer, or provide the same range of products that internet shops can provide.
I’d need a partner to run the gaming side, and I doubt there’s a whole lot of profit for that. The one gaming shop I ever visited regularly was The Warroom in Norcross, and it is long gone. The people who ran that place certainly seemed to know what they were doing.
Coffee shops have to compete with Starbucks, but that part was less for itself than as an adjunct to the rest. They only seem to have any hope of success if they have some kind of special draw, like live music (which I love anyway)
We talked about combining our passions knowing that any one of those things wouldn’t stand alone, and thinking that perhaps they could make it in combination.
We knew it was a dream, though — just a dream, nothing more. It would take a lot of capital to even start such a thing, much less keep it going. Then there was the little matter of me being 1) disabled, and not up to working even a part-time job, much less putting in the hours it takes to making a go of a small business; and 2) an introvert who doesn’t deal with a lot of people well.
It’s good to have dreams, though.
Review: Ghost Story by Jim Butcher
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Reading
Ghost Story: A Novel of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Of course I (along with all Jim Butcher’s other fans) have been absolutely dying to read this book ever since finishing Changes. Sam Chupp and I have been talking about how there could possibly be another book that occurs after Dresden’s death. Of course, the novella included in Side Jobs: Stories From the Dresden Files was very good and got along quite well without Dresden, but that probably wasn’t going to work for an entire novel.
Sam hasn’t even started Ghost Story yet, so I can’t gloat at home. I was actually right in some of my speculation! I’m being non-specific so as to not give too much away, even though I am hiding this review behind spoiler warnings on GoodReads in case he does read it and remember what I had said (which is highly doubtful). But I feel like bragging somewhere, so you, dear readers, have to put up with it.
Jim Butcher deserves major praise. Ghost Story is amazing. Dresden has become such a powerful wizard that few enemies are truly a challenge, and wiping out the entire Red Court with one spell was an amazing feat. What do you do for an encore to that? Having Dresden immaterial and operating without magic does seriously push him, and that makes for a fascinating tale. Being able to keep a series fresh in its thirteenth volume says a lot for Butcher’s talent. I think Ghost Story is the best Dresden Files book yet, and I’m looking forward to book fourteen even more!
Tags: Books, Dresden Files, Jim Butcher, urban fantasy
Maybe It Isn’t the Flu
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Family, Fun, Health, Reading, Relationships
Katie seems to be feeling a bit better. She slept through most of the day, and just got up a few minutes ago (right at the end of my and Sam’s date) feeling like she could eat something. Solid food, even! That’s progress. Since she didn’t have any antivirals, I don’t think this was really the flu. She should still be much sicker if it was. I’m not at all unhappy about that. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Books, brain fog, date night, Katie, library, Reading, Sam
