Thursday, December 23, 2010

For Once the Cover Speaks for Itself

A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana I am not typically a memoir reader. I realize there are a lot of awesome people that have done legitimately amazing things and there are even a few that are actual heroes with stories worth reading, but for every one of those cool cats there's a few dozens crackpots whose wackiest life experience is thinking they are memoir worthy. And the second wackiest is that they have enough money to publish said memoir and trick people into buying it. (Notice I didn't say "reading"?)
Well my point there is that I just don't know where to draw the line. And I like made up stories.

After being lent Zippy's sequel, She Got Up Off the Couch, I had no choice but to look into the first book. My thoughts: I wouldn't go out on a limb and loan a random book unless is was pretty gosh darn spectacular, AND if she managed to publish a sequel about herself it must be pretty entertaining.
I was not let down by my friend or the book. First of all when I read the first few pages it was so odd and dare I say enchanting, I wasn't convinced Haven didn't make the whole thing up. By page 7 I decided I must continue reading to verify the authenticity of this "memoir". (It wasn't a tough decision.) Eventually I decided that the things that happen to Zippy are so random and hilarious they must be true (that sounds awfully cliche, but what can ya do? when it says what ya think...). Growing up in a tiny tiny town in Indiana, Zippy is a real life Ramona Quimby. Seriously. Read it. And then read She Got Up Off the Couch, it's equally entertaining.

She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana

P.S. Only managed glimpses of the eclipse through the clouds. Very. brief. glimpses.

Monday, December 20, 2010

yeah whatever, i came back, and it's my birthday

Ok I have been on accidental hiatus. AGAIN. I am sticking with that term though, partly because I made it up and partly because it's true. Mostly because I made it up. SO while I sit outside at 12:30 AM ON MY BIRTHDAY to watch the lunar eclipse that is happening ON MY BIRTHDAY I am going to binge blog. And then just to trick you wacky people I'm going to store them up in drafts and release them to the world when the time is right
I feel it is my duty to monitor this eclipse for several reasons:

ONE: Everyone else is going to fall asleep before it happens but I will stay awake since IT'S MY BIRTHDAY

TWO: The actual covered up, color changing moon part is supposed to happen within minutes  (MINUTES) of the time when I WAS ACTUALLY BORN

THREE: If ever one was going to have something life changing happen to them (alien abduction, visions of the future, sprouting of a third arm), it will be me. tonight. see number TWO for my reasoning

FOUR: I've never been one of those lovey dovey, oooey gooey, mushy gushy (ok you get the point) people that gazes upon the stars and thinks about my cats (well turned into my parents' cats) living without me but gazing up at the very same stars. BUT tonight they are looking at the very same ECLIPSE! Even better is that my big brother is watching the same eclipse. (Some day I'll bore you all with stories of how I idolized that dude from the day I WAS BORN!) The main difference here is he is watching it from a park. With friends. I am watching it from the driveway. With a computer. Drinking Christmas.

FIVE: I'll take any excuse to wake up the monster in the middle of the night ON MY BIRTHDAY to cuddle. And what's a cooler excuse than so I can tell him he saw the first lunar eclipse to happen on the shortest day of the year since the 1500's. (AND IT HAPPENED ON HIS MOM'S BIRTHDAY!)

Before I leave you all panting with the excitement of my return combined with your enthusiasm for this very special day, I must inform you that it is currently too cloudy to even see the moon. I am not typically a fan of abbreviations subscribing to the league of people who believe in grammar, but WTF.
mate.

Also, I have heard a few strange noises. I hope it isn't the aliens. I also hope the noises stop. I don't want to have to tell people I missed the eclipse because I went inside for fear of the aliens.

I think the noises are cats.