Sloth Watch: Update

It’s 2am. Instead of starting ‘Minx’ I just finished a couple of Lorelei James short stories. ‘Babe In Woods’ and ‘Wicked Garden’.

I’m off to start ‘Minx’ now. Doubt I’ll get much read before I fall alseep, but I gots all day tomorrow. Oh yes.

Sloth Watch: Update

Finished ‘It’s In His Kiss.’  Although it’s a bit of a cheat because I was already halfway through it.

‘Minx’ is up next!

Sloth

I’m off for the whole weekend. I plan to lie in my bed. For the whole two days. I’m not even going to get up to go to the loo. I’m going to rigg something with a jerry can and plastic tubing a la the A-Team. Srsly. The  junk food is piled next to the bed along with the books.

I figure I can get through two and a half Julia Quinn’s (It’s In His Kiss, Minx & The Lost Duke Of Wyndham.) and my Book Club book this month which is Virgin River by Robyn Carr. I might even squeeze in a few Blazes.

Sayonara dudes. I’m off to kill myself with words and sloth. It’s times like this I love my life.

Showing off my crazy

I have many obsessions hobbies. They come and go, ebb and flow like the tide. Some months I’m knitting like I have to clothe the entire population of Edinburgh in stylish Noro beanies, the next I am watching entirely too much TV. I’m always reading. I go on music binges. I live a life of excess. *g*

But my longest and strongest obsession hobby has been the band, a-ha. What can I say? I love the music, I love the guys, and even after being soured on the fan community by a spiteful minority, most of all I still love the fans. Some of my best friends are a-ha fans. I might not see them every day. I might not talk to them every day or even for months on end, but I know they will always be there when I call, when they’re needed just as I would be for them. I’m lucky. I could travel to almost any country in the world and have a bed or floor I could kip on for the night.

Some of my most fond memories, memories that I’ll still remember in my dotage are what I class as ‘a-ha’ memories. Travelling to New York on my own to see them play the Irving Plaza. Queuing all day long in heat, in rain, in snow. Running a German assault course to get front row at an arena gig. Playing ‘Private Eye’ and tailing the tour bus only to lose them at 3 in the morning, on a deserted stretch on motorway. I suck at tailing people. Going to the Wembley Crowne Plaza to discover it’s infested with fleas. The running joke that I watch every concert through a camera lens (I have around 200 pictures per concert. With nearly 40 concerts attended that’s a lot of piccies.) The excitement of finding out the band were using two of my pictures in their ‘Analogue’ tour programme. Four of us, sleeping in my tiny car, at a motorway services ioutside Cardiff, in the middle of winter cause we hadn’t booked a hotel for that night. Going to Oslo for the first time and discovering what a insanely amazing city it is. Working on the website with an amazing bunch of fellow fans, each one a star. And the joy of just hearing the music I love, live. Sharing it with people who have the same connection with it that I do. It’s humbling.

I haven’t really blogged about my boys though since I left the community. I needed some time away. To gain perspective. I still love the music and my peeps.

What set off my wee ramble about my boys? Three years ago we decided as fans to produce a calendar for the fans, made from fans concert piccies. It was a massive success and it was purdy. They did another one last year and it was so successful again that the band have decided to produce one themselves this year. They were asking for submissions on flickr, so I flooded them with all my concert pics and they are going to use some.  YAY.

And it got me to thinking and looking through old photos and I realized something. Two years is too long not to hear ‘The Sun Always Shines On TV’ live. I think I need a concert. Like yesterday.

See! Stiff nips!

Twenty years on and they’re still pretty.

Hello mama! How’s that for a crotch shot. Heh.

BTW Morten just became a dad again for the fifth time at age 49! Oh yes… Hmmmmmmmmm Morten!

RIP

Our budgies died today after a prolonged illness. I’m totally gutted.

RIP

To read or re-read…..

Jen gave me a row and told me to get my arse in gear and get a new post up, asking about what I have been reading in the interim.

To be honest I had a couple of shaky weeks. I have still been reading, but not really enjoying it much. I’ve been kind of twitchy. I want to re-read some old comfort reads and my eyes keep lingering over the BDB books (but I just re-read them all in June…) or Marjorie M. Lui’s Dirk & Steele series.

But then, my eyes fall on the TBR pile and I can’t. I little voice inside my head says, ‘You can’t re-read those books, look at all those books you’ve bought and you haven’t read yet.’ I start to feel really guilty that I have spent all this money on these books and haven’t looked at them twice since bringing them home and hoisting them up to the summit of the ever-expanding pile.

This friggin’ pile of books is starting to loom over me like some kind of gigantic monolith casting its cold, dark shadow over my reading pleasure. It’s such a silly thing to feel guilty over, but there you have it. Every time I start to glom a new author (This week it has been Laura Lee Guhrke – Thanks Sarai!) I think…YOU HAVE ENOUGH! NO MORE UNTIL YOU GET RID OF THIS LOT!

It’s even more difficult keeping track with the e-books. (Probably because I can get my hands on almost anything and if you know the right places, it’s free! *cough* )

It just keeps growing and growing and growing….it’s starting to remind me of the Trapper Keeper on South Park. One day I’m going to wake up to find it has absorbed me into it’s hellish bowels.

With all this guilt hanging over me, I haven’t been enjoying anything much, so I think, ‘Fuck it, let’s just read ….’ but I. just. can’t. make. myself.

Am I destined never to re-read anything ever again? Will my frugal Scottish roots forever barr me from re-visiting the wonder of Matt Farrell or what about my favourite Dakotan ranchin’ family, The McKays! Or my favourite gay bookseller, Adrien?

I want to have a happy relationship with my TBR pile, but it seems I will have to bear the emotional blackmail and the many recriminations it sends my way when I look towards an old friend. It’s not cheating, is it?

Is there a twelve step program out there for people like me? People with an obsessive need to keep. reading. new. books.

HELP *whimper*

Noooooooooooooooooooooo!

Can you feel my pain?

It’s here. It’s finally here, after an interminable wait and I can’t AFFORD to buy it!

FUCK!

Of course all of you who know what I’m bemoaning are laughing your asses off right now.

For those of you who don’t Josh Lanyon’s ‘Death Of A Pirate King‘ is finally released and I have to wait a further two weeks until I get paid before I can purchase me a copy of this fine, fine book.

Ahh Adrien, Jake, I’ll be pining over you, waiting impatiently, sobbing uncontrollably, feverishly trying to avoid spoilers.

I hate myself and my inability to budget right now. *pout*

In other unrelated news, catch me guest blogging over at DIK.

Pooter hates me

I have been having pooter problems. So I did my usual, took a hairy fit and decided to re-format my hard-drive.

Everything is back to normal except for my internet access which is non-existent at the moment and my Cybook has stopped working altogether. (Damn updates!) I’m so frickin annoyed.

However, there is a silver lining to all this. We updates our computers at work and I now have internet access. At work. While on the till! I can serve someone and surf the web at the same time. I know this may be small potatoes to all you veteren work surfers but it’s completely exhiliating for me. Woot. A new way to waste time at work. YAY!

Now I can keep up with blogs at work and save my precious free time for other things!  JOKE! But it’s so cool!

I might not have access at home but at least I can keep up with everyone at work! Heh.

What a week

So last week kicked my ass.

Work is hectic at the moment. We have a new boss and while I am feeling energized and focused, I am annoyed at some of my colleagues and their less than professional attitude towards him. I always like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt when coming into an established team. Having been there myself I understand the stresses and pitfall of trying to integrate and facilitate a positive change in the process.Until he does something to prove to me he is TSTL he has my support. It’s how I am.

Retail is an ever-changing beast. It never stays still. Processes, tasks etc are always changing. Companies are always looking for the fastest, cheapest way to hoover money from their customers. So I always find it irritating when colleagues hold on like grim death to a certain job or function saying ‘We’ve always done it like this.’

What they really mean is, ‘I have always done it like this.’ There really is no place for inflated egos in retail and I am sick of trying to manage other peoples. ARGHHHHHH! Being obtuse and obstructive. Always seeing the negative first. Never bringing anything useful to a conversation. Maliciously gossiping about a man they don’t even know, just because he wants to change a few things. Things that will bring in more money and enable these people to keep their frickin jobs.

[/rant]

On the plus side we had an AWESOME cherub event this weekend in the kids dept. Around 40 kids attended although 70% drifted off before or during the event. Some were shy and some were a little too old. We did gear the tasks for the younger end of the spectrum, not expecting the older kids to come. I thought it would be too unfashionable for them. My bad. However, we sold a ton of books, recruited more kids to our monthly bookclub and generated a lot of interest in next weeks event which is Roald Dahl day.

I had a blast. Cat and I (who are both massive Cherub fans) had such a laugh and chatted and gossipped with the kids about the books and what character they loved best and what their favourite book was and why. Some of them were lucky enough to attend the Cherub event at the Book Festival this year and we managed to persuade them to write a little piece for our monthly newsletter. Fantastic fun.

I have been watching ‘That 70’s Show’ to fall asleep to this past week. That show still makes me laugh so hard. DUMBASS!

On the book front, I have picked up a little more speed again. Read a heap of Blazes.

Amorous Liaisons by Sarah Mayberry. Set in the world of ballet this time (her last one was female boxing!) it’s the tale of Max and Maddy. It a ‘friends become lovers’ story which I love. The twist is that it’s Max who has the unrequited love and Maddy who is clueless. I loved this. How can I not, it’s Sarah Mayberry. Even though it’s a Blaze and it’s law that 40% of it must be sex, she always manages to get the emotional impact across. Her guys are always great and her heroines are not usually TSTL.  Bliss.

Lethal Exposure by Lori Wilde. After a shaky start with the other two installments of this series, Lori Wilde managed to finish with a bang. It was hot and sweet. Although I did figure out who the big bad was well before the end. There is such a thing as TOO much foreshadowing.

Ms Match by Jo Leigh. Sublime, sublime, sublime. Great concept, great hero, great heroine. Horrible family. Paul is pretty but shallow and Gwen is smart but plain. Sparks fly. Misunderstandings are had. Sweet love is made and they all lived happily ever after. *sigh*

At Her Pleasure by Cindi Myers. Ridiculous tat about uncovering a female pirate’s buried treasure (I SHIT YOU NOT) and canoodling in hammocks on a desert island. It wasn’t as fun as it sounds. Trust me.

Next up was a Silhouette special edition by Susan Crosby called..wait for it…’The Single Dad’s Virgin Wife.’ Awesome. Title aside I loved this book. I adore it when the kiddies conspire to get the adults together. (Not one for you Jen though, I know.) Noah was great as the dad who was struggling to connect with his kids after the death of his wife. It gets me right here. *thumping chest* I just can’t resist a man who loves his kids. It’s part of a series called ‘Wives For Hire.’ The first one was good too. (It had a cute kid in it too….stay away Jen!)

Following that was ‘Mad Dogs‘ by Robert Muchamore. Gang warfare and teenage romance. I loved it. I’m not saying too much more because I do intend to wax lyrical about this book and the rest of the series in the not too distant future.

And Finally this week ‘Hostage To Pleasure‘ by Nalini SIngh. It was everything all the reviews said it was. I finished it with a sigh of satisfaction. Dorien was a great hero and after having doubts about Ashaya while reading excerpts, I was glad to be disabused of my worries. One niggle. I think Amara was wasted. The conclusion of her storyline was somewhat anti-climactic. There was so much more scope for terror there. She was set up as this horrific spectre and failed to deliver on the final push. But other than that…loved it. Nalini says there is going to be a pregnancy in the next book, anyone taking wagers on who is going to have the first set of pups? Sascha and Lucas? Faith and Vaughn? Judd and Brenna? Clay and Tally? Dorien and Ashaya? maybe even Mercy and Riley?

AND I won a book from Nalini Singh over on DIK. How cool is that. Plus Ann Aguirre took pity on my fangirl squeeing and sent me a copy of Wanderlust as well. LUCKIEST WEEK EVER!

Weak

Work is kicking my ass at the moment.

Can’t. Post. To. Tired. And. Sweaty.