Nothing else matters ...

As is my tradition on New Year's Eve, I watched a few movies. Hailey and I started off the evening with Resident Evil: Afterlife which was pretty much just like I remembered it from the theater except without the 3D. The opening scene in the rain in Tokyo is still gorgeous. The fight scenes are fun and brutal. There wasn't enough one on one zombie action. Of the fighting variety. In my opinion. After REA, we popped in the first Resident Evil. Hailey has now abandoned me and I'm watching Resident Evil: Apocalypse (which, crap, is also REA) by myself. I cleaned the bathroom through the end of RE, though so it's not like I've been mindlessly watching moves all day.

Speaking of Resident Evil, I made a webpage for the movies. It's pretty much all the same stuff that used to be on my Zombie movies page, but that page was getting HUGE and I decided to break it up into smaller, more manageable sections. If anyone has an account (or whatever you'd call it) with Squidoo, I'd love you forever if you could pop over and rate it for me. Rating is easy now, you just click on the thumbs up in the upper left hand corner and you're done. So, please?
The Resident Evil Movies

I also made a page for Southern Arcana by Moira Rogers the other day. That's a paranormal romance series about werewolves, warlocks, shapeshifters and psychics that's absolutely amazing. Same goes with that page- for anyone who can, a rating would be fabulous.

I have a bunch of year end books things to post but first I want to throw out a few numbers.

In 2010 I read 311 books according to Goodreads. By my count, which doesn't include most of the stand alone short stories that I included at GR, my total sits at 289. The goal I set for myself at the beginning of the year was to read 100 books. I think I did pretty darn well.

I wrote 165,295 words, which consisted of one full length novel, 2/3 of a second novel and snippet of a story that fizzled out. I'm working on finishing novel #2 before I dig into some serious editing for novel #1. The goal I set for myself with writing was to write more. I can say with confidence that I accomplished that.

I wrote a fucking book, guys.

Anyway. The book stuff.
Book #289 - Impetuous by Lori Foster - Enjoyable but nothing earth shattering. Although the price was very nice.
Follow Friday - Some of my book blogging resolutions for 2011.
Kelly's Favorite Books of 2010 - Pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Some new-to-me books that I found fantastic.
Year in Review - Pretty much all the stats I gave you above about the books I read, but a little more in depth.

Tomorrow: My 2011 resolutions!

Have a safe and Happy New Year!

The kiddo is still sick. I think he watched every movie on AMC yesterday starting at Terminator, winding through Predator and Predator 2 (which is a movie I really dislike, btw) and finishing up with... I actually can't remember the last one. He was in bed all day. There was a lot of TV on.

Randomly, I had the 4th episode of The Walking Dead on my DVR waiting patiently for me to watch it and Cole asked if he could watch it with me. Now, my boy isn't the biggest fan of Zombies. In fact, when the 1st episode aired, he freaked out on me and wouldn't let me watch it until he'd gone to bed. Yet now he was voluntarily choosing to watch an ep? Okay. He enjoyed it enough to watch last night's ep (ep 5... it's almost over. Boo.) also. Go figure.

So, I'm caught up on that.

Amb had to take today off work since Baby Ry has his nasty double ear infection. We went Christmas shopping. Because that's what you do when you're playing hooky from work. Isn't it?

And some quick book stuff:
My Vampire Academy re-read is completed. Just in time for the final book in the series. Here's my rambling review where I talk about the things I enjoyed and not much else - Spirit Bound
30 days of books... Day 77 - I love it when the free Kindle downloads are books I've been wanting to read!

I'm done now.
Later.

The kids had an inservice day today so the teachers could, I don't know, get ready for conferences, I guess. You'd think they'd already by ready, but I'm not a teacher. What do I know?

Despite the fact that they were home all day, I managed to get my giveaway up and running at my book blog. It has a banner and everything! Look!

Celebrating 200 posts with a Giveaway! - A signed copy of Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampires: Volume 1 and a signed copy of Cherie Priest's Boneshaker. Two vastly different books, both of which I adore. Vampires and Zombies: all the things a girl wants as a gift!

Since I'm already talking about book stuff:
30 days of books... Day 64 - Umm, I just posted this and my brain is fried to the point that I don't remember what it is. Oops.

NaNo stats:

The story is still flying along. I'm definitely seeing it moving towards a resolution, which is a good thing. I've written down all the loose ends I need to tie up and I'm maneuvering myself to make pretty little bows.

FYI, today is the halfway mark of NaNo. We should be at a minimum of 25K words. I am thrilled beyond belief to be where I am. It's really helped me having a defined daily goal and having someone that I'm feeling competitive with.

Since it's freakishly hot right now (seriously, November, enough of this already!) and I'm sweating into my chair, I'm going to sign off now.
Later.

I love Halloween. I really, really do. But by the time it swings around I've had the decorations up for a month and I'm ready to clean them up and put them away. That's on tomorrow's to-do list.

I wasn't sure if Cole was going to go trick or treating this year. He really couldn't decide on a costume. He wanted to go out with his friends but I kinda said no to that. He ended up putting on the costume he's putting together for a project at school on Egypt and being a Pharaoh. There isn't all that much to it since he decided to do this at the last minute and we hadn't made the headdress yet, but I think he looked pretty cool.

Oh, and the two of us went to the houses in our complex. I wore my wings. We were awesome.

Since Cole fell asleep a few minutes ago and I have free time on my hands until midnight -- WHEN NANOWRIMO KICKS OFF -- I think I'll post my bookish stuff and then watch The Walking Dead.

Book #231 - You Are So Undead To Me (Megan Berry #1) by Stacey Jay - Hilarious book! Zombies and high school kids make for some wacky shenanigans. As a plus, I met Stacey Jay at that book signing I went to last Thursday and my book is signed! Yay!

30 days if books... Day 49 - Vampires and murder. What could be better?
In My Mailbox - I didn't buy many books this week. And with NaNo starting up, I'm going to be pulling back even more so I can concentrate on getting my 50K words. That's a good thing. I have so many books sitting here that I haven't read yet it's getting ridiculous.

Okay. I have to roust the boy from where he fell asleep on my bed so I can start my Zombie love!
Later.

I have an hour until I'm being picked up for the great birthday extravaganza planned and executed by the fabulous malkovich03. I've picked up an extra copy of Boneshaker to have signed. I think I'll give it away on my blog. And if they're selling copies of Dreadnought at the bookstore (which I can't imagine why they wouldn't be) I'll buy one and get that signed also to give away. This is on top of my personal three books, mind you.

Anyway. I have a few book things to clear out.
Book #218 - The Bite Before Christmas by Heidi Betts - A fun collection of Christmas-themed vampire stories of the shorter variety.

On My Wishlist (week 6) - Delilah Street, naughty covers and the awesome Morgan Kingsley. Oh, and I don't think I've managed to put up a short wishlist post since I started this weekly meme.
30 days of books... Day 34 - The ghost of Jane Austen takes up residence in a young girl's head and helps her with her romantic life. I know. It's not my usual type of book. Just go with it.

For the record, I froze my ass off this morning during Zombie watch. I could barely type. (That's my excuse if you come across any typos. *nods*) No, really. It was very cold. And foggy. And slightly damp. Hailey scored a goal. Yay!

Okay. I do not promise that I won't be dong any drunken tweeting tonight. I also don't promise that I will.
Later.

Oh, Twitter. You and I have become such good friends since I bought my smart phone. Now I can post stupid and annoying pictures of myself doing things that no sane person would normally do at all hours of the day and night. I can take pictures of my shoes and socks and fingerless gloves. You never mock me for doing this, Twitter, and for that I thank you. You take my pictures and you put them up on your website and let the entire internet gasp in awe at my over-the-knee socks.

Now that it's almost Halloween I can post pictures of me decorating my house. Like this:

If you can't tell, that's a heart dangling on the side. Oh, man, I love Halloween. I glued all those spiders on by myself. There was a whole glue incident and I've been peeling glue off my fingertips for the bulk of the day. Maybe I'm down to skin now. I don't know. Does it really matter?

One thing I've learned from all this, dear Twitter, is that the bulk of authors I follow are all as sadistic as hell and they like to torment their creations. This is somewhat like a mad scientist, I think. Which is interesting since it's October and I've just hung a heart from the table outside. I kinda feel like I've found my place in the world. And that's all thanks to you, Twitter. You've made me realize that wearing at least one piece of skull-adorned clothing everyday and liking tattoos on men and saying "fuck" often and loudly are normal. Well, normal for people who talk to themselves and write about imaginary people.

Yep, I fit right in.

Speaking of which, tomorrow's Zombie Watch should be starting around 10:30 or so. Bring it!

Okay, enough about my Twitter love.
Books. Things that go book in the night. All things bookish.
Book Blogger Hop - I posted this last night but I'm kinda in love with the banner I made and I want everybody to look at it and tell me how utterly awesome I am. No, really. Tell me. I won't mind.
30 days of books... Day 19 - A series I wanted to read but couldn't get into. Yet I still have one of the books. Go figure.
An awesome contest held by one of my favorite authors! - Moira Rogers and Vivian Arend are teaming up to give out a virtual ton of books. You don't have to do anything but tell them you're interested. Free books, guys. Free books. That is all.

Okay. Enough babbling. I have to get tomorrow's early morning post put together so I can go out and make sure the Zombies don't invade Morgan Hill any more than they already have with a clear conscience. Which reminds me: I'm writing motherfucking Zombie Apocalypse fiction with the outstanding oddmonster. That girl has some mad writing skillz.

I'm out.
Later.

Damn, it was hot today. There was sweat. And a blazing sun. I didn't enjoy it. Tomorrow it's supposed to be up over 100F. Fuuuuuck.

I did do some Zombie watching when I dragged the kids out to the Taste of Morgan Hill this morning. I looked for Zombies, but I only found Hailey and Cole.

Oh, and I might have gone shopping at the Halloween store ...


I have so many damn ideas for how I'm going to decorate for Halloween. Be afraid!

Anyway. Book stuff:
Book #192 - A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle #1) by Libba Bray - Not quite what I was expecting, but still enjoyable.
My Fall Catch-Up Read-A-Thon Final Wrap-Up! - 6 books! Yes!
30 days of books... Day 14 - What do you do when you accidentally buy the fourth book in a series? You let the book sit there and percolate.
In My Mailbox - A recap of the books I bought and won this week.

Uggh. Is it really almost October? When did that happen?
I'm out.
Later.

Yo! Tomorrow, Hailey has a soccer game at 10 AM. That means that I'll start tweeting around 9:30 or 9:45. That's right, guys, I'll be checking for the shambling Zombie horde and fending off signs of the apocalypse as I duck and cover while those around me scream "ATTACK!" Don't worry, I've managed to evade the Zombies thus far, I'm sure I'll make it out alive this weekend as well.

Randomly, while debating which book I was planning on buying next on Twitter (the choices were Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce, White Cat by Holly Black or Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane), I got a tweet from Jackson Pearce telling me that I should totally go with her book. So I'm going with Sisters Red. More or less. I'm also breaking down and getting Unholy Ghosts. The point of all this is that in this day and age I love how authors, actors, etc can jump in and converse with their fans. It's just ... neat.

So.
Book #191 - Devil's Due (Red Letter Days #2) by Rachel Caine - Surprisingly good. Especially for a Silhouette Bombshell book.
30 days of books... Day 12 - The Dragonriders of Pern is a ginormous series. No fooling.

Okay. I'm off to read A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. Gothic mansions are love!
Later.

Today I got up early, cursed on Twitter (Fuck you, 6:30!), went to Hailey's soccer game, went to the new Halloween store, finished a book, wrote up some bookish things, napped, got dinner for Cole and his friend, went to two more Halloween stores and checked out the costumes at WalMart. Whoa. That was a lot of Halloweening.

Now Cole, Hailey and I are watching Resident Evil 3.

Randomly, after using LJ for so many years where I put in my own coding for italics and such, Blogger kills me because I automatically do the < > tags while typing without thinking about it.

Bookish stuff:
On my wishlist (week 2) - Zombies, Werewolves and Alien Princes
30 days of books... Day 6 - It's a red letter day!
Book #184 - Guns Will Keep Us Together (Bombay Assassins #2) by Leslie Langtry - Where I liken finishing that book to Frodo's quest for the ring. My precious ....

I haven't picked out my celebratory Kindle book yet (for finishing my novel by the deadline I gave myself) but I did start reading The Hunger Games. I'm only a couple of chapters in but I can already see why people are so enraptured of it.

After several good writing days, today was a bit of a letdown. A couple hundred words. Boo. And it wasn't because I was having any problems with the writing, it's just that I'm so damn tired. I guess that'll teach me to only get 4 hours of sleep and no nap.

I have a book I finished last night (the reason I stayed up way too late) and one that's almost done and I'm too wiped out to do anything as strenuous as writing a review.

Perhaps I'll go watch something soothing and brainless. Like, Resident Evil or something. What? Zombies relax me.

I'm done in.
Later.