more book reviews for books no one but me would be interested in

i grabbed a couple books when i was home in massachusetts; at the very barnes and noble i used to work at after i graduated from college! i had wanted to pick up one of stephen fry's novels and a book by bernard cromwell that an intellectual, currently studying english at oxford friend of mine suggested. however, the B&N didn't have the particular cromwell book (the winter king) and had NOTHING by stephen fry, which i took as a personal affront. i also saw a girl working who had been there when i worked there, and who i am pretty sure was my age. i felt all sad for her, and then like a jerk for pitying her (maybe she LIKES working a steady job in a nice town and didn't want to be working as a 'comedian' in new york, eh!?) and ultimately fled away from her, and towards the fantasy section.

WHERE i happened to see that 'son of a witch' had finally come out in mass market paperback (it first came out over 3 years ago, so it took awhile) so i decided to grab it. it is the sequel to 'Wicked' by gregory maguire, which still stands as one of the most intensely epic novels i have ever read. i am sure that makes me sounds like a prattling idiot; 'omg they made a musical out of it so sexy i love singing omg LOL OLOLLll'. well, the book manages to be about civil rights, the gold standard, genocide, love, family, aids, and the process of growing up. not to mention trauma and friendship and magic and 1930's middle america. and all those themes are in one, generally cohesive story. i've never seen the musical, and i understand it's WAY simplified, but it's an instance of the source material being GREAT so i am not surprised it's been fucking huge. anyway, i haven't read it since 2005, in part because it's an intense and emotional book for me. i definitely cried in public while reading at least one part. not as much as i cried during the last 1/5 of 'the dark tower' though. and i was on a chinatown bus. and i am pretty sure some girl i went to college was sitting across the aisle from me. sigh.

ANYWAY, i just started 'son of a witch' and i am looking forward to finishing. i am kind of regretting not rereading wicked before starting it, but i think i've remembered most of it now.

the other book i got was 'the alchemyst' by michael scott (lulz). i'd seen the damn things every where for the past year or so, but had avoided picking it up because on suspicion of it sucking balls. unfortunately for me, it was, indeed, pretty terrible. similar to 'twilight' in that it's a GREAT idea hacked to death by a sub-par writer. it's like if harry potter was written by whatever abortion wrote the babysitter's club. i was hoping that the young adult / children's authors coalition would realize, once and for all, after harry potter that they don't need to write as if they expect their audience to be mentally handicapped guppies with 3 second attention spans. i was wrong, it seems. the author's irish too...disappointing. i don't really feel like describing the plot, but it's kind of like... american gods written by the babysitter's club in 2008. yeah, that's pretty much it.

Reading! It's FUN-damental!

stuff from all over (my brain)

cleaning is awesome. well not really, but afterwards, it is awesome.

my starbucks totally fucked my drink up today, but the cashier told me 'i like you. you're smart. i can tell you're real smart and i like that.' so i said back to her that i thought she was also the smartest since she always knows my drink and says it when i am like 2 people back in line automatically. in conclusion, now i won't go complain and try to get a free drink out of the deal. to be fair, i probably wouldn't do that even if she hadn't picked today to compliment me.

damn. most of my blogging seems to relate to starbucks. gerrrah. i am pathetic.

um, my apartment is almost clean and cat ready for marower (? i don't know) to spend 3 days alone. i need to get one of those water dispenser things. he finally learned about water dishes in the last month or so, i hope a new gurgling model won't freak him out too much. but fuck him anyway, asshole kept biting my toes last night. WHAT A DICK. good thing he's fucking adorable and also mostly sweet and friendly.

i finished 'dragon haven' yesterday and mostly liked it, except that it was a little too 'journaly' and 'make up words-y' for me to really get into it. i really like robin mckinley a lot, obviously, but i did think this last attempt at writing a modern young adult perspective fell a little flat. i also had an improv-type note for her: "DO THE STUFF! DON'T TALK ABOUT THE STUFF! KEEP THE ACTION PRESENT". it was told in a journal style, which she definitely prefers after 'sunshine', but at least much of sunshine happened in the present. basically, i wanted the action to be happening 'now', as opposed to being told about it. which is insane, because it's a damn novel and i can only be told about the action. um. but i wanted to be told about in the present, 'as it was happening', and not from a 'oh man, you want to know what happened next? i know what happened next and whoo-weee was it crazy!' perspective. um. but i still liked it. i place it above deerskin but below robin hood. which is actually not that great, since i kind of hated deerskin but whatever, it was better than that. 'chalice', which just came out, looks like it's set all old-timey, so that's awesome.

i still need to pack. going to try to do that tonight, because if i don't it means i will be doing it at 4 am on wednesday morning.

also, this story.

all the wine is all for me

what's happening, internet?

an iffy weekend that ended on a high note. in other words, i had fun group games, and solid third beats, but the 1st and second beats of my weekend were definitely really rough.

sorry, i'll never do that again.*

the lorelei had a great show last night, it really was a blast. good audience with a great line up and i wasn't a terrible host. i think my between show stories/bits went over slightly better, overall, which just serves to reinforce what i've found consistently throughout improv; that i almost always talk all the power out of my moves and lines, but if i just hold back and edit and... chose my moves and my words, i am way better. it was the same ting in writing college papers. i go on and on and on, and get excited about this sub topic or the other, and i lose sight of making the hard-hitting, well-reasoned points i was setting out to make. i'm working on it. taking my time. i am so impatient.

i kind of made myself tell some friends how i was actually doing, instead of the perennial katey mega-hit.. TELLING PEOPLE I AM AWESOME ALL THE TIME! it was good. talking is good. i also called my sister, which was awesome, as usual. she's pretty awesome you guys. and she has a wicked cool name. but mostly she's a good listener, a great audience, and i can talk to her about most stuff.

and i got paid out for my untaken vacation days at my old work and bought an awesome purse and wallet. and i went out to eat, TWICE. i went out to brunch with some lovely women, mostly friends of a friend, but it was nice. several had hung out with improvisors before, and it was funny hearing their perspective of them (us) has a social group to hang out with. most of us do have that strange combination of social awkwardness, combined with the need to be extremely social. and it was nice to just be girly. we went to UNI QLO, which was CRAZY. that place is awesome. and huge. and colorful. AND they will alter stuff you buy there, FOR FREE, same day. that is beyond baffling to me. plus they had reasoanbly priced stuff. i would have gone a little crazy if it hadn't been too humid in there. then i got caught in the rain and a guy waiting for the bathroom at starbucks complimented me on my glasses.

topics i wish to discuss what i have been thinking about... regarding those topics.

alcohol: i drank every night this weekend, and ate very poorly. and stayed up very late each night. my attempts at self-destruction are much like a kitten ravaging a foot under a blanket; vaguely annoying but entertaining for everyone watching.

improv: been thinking about it lately. SERIOUSLY. specifically how i write about it on this blog. i tend to keep my observations focused on my own stuff, and what i am working on. kind of weird. i guess i think i still don't have the 'right' to have opinions on improv in this semi-public forum. odd, because i have very definitive opinions about improv. i am going to try and write about them at least a little more often, and not feel like i am not 'allowed' to. i don't want to ever come off as mean or critical to someone about their show, because that isn't my place, but i am allowed to have an opinion and i want to focus and clarify my thoughts through the medium of writing. plus, while i have not been around improv for a LONG time, comparatively, i've seen A LOT of improv. in the last year and half, i've missed one harold night. i missed the first two harolds for 8 weeks when i had a tuesday class. otherwise, with the exception of few missed harolds here and there, i've seen them. i've seen almost all of bastian's shows, i think. i usually see new team harold and the 11 show too. and cagematch, another 2 teams. and i see an average of 6 teams perform every weekend. yeah, i get to have an opinion. DEAL WITH IT, SUCKAZ.

writing generally: i am going to start doing more. but for reals this time. i want to try to work on sketches, but i have a hard time concentrating on them if i am not immediately inspired, so i am going to start two other projects to work on concurrently as well; a collection of personal essays/stories and a novel. fuck. yes.

stand up: do more of it. streamline what i have. collect my best material and do it more often. in front of random people. simon was bugging me about it last night, and he's right. so's chris. i am in the process of seeing if i can get a second night at the parkside every month, just pushing it. advertising well, all that jazz. you know, being professional. oh yeah, you know, i can tell you know.

bits: i like them, and will do a fun bit until it stops being fun. sure there are times i DON'T want to be doing a bit because i want to be real for half a second, but i think sometimes people forget that we do bits to have fun.

relationships: i used to always want a relationship. then i realized i didn't, other, outside forces were telling me that i did want one. so i pursued a rigiourous policy of non-dating. the policy was softened a little over a year ago, and i went on 2 dates. a non-dating policy was reinstated shortly thereafter. recently, there has been stirring in the senate and house bodies to re: the total moratorium regarding all kissy-feely items the congress has formerly found reprehensible and icky. senate fillibusters have ranged in the gamit in topic, from the fact that perhaps earlier bills had been passed hastily, and with out all available information being processed and analyzed, to the fact that it might just be possible that katey is an immature idiot. this paragraph is fucked up, but i am not changing. also, sometimes you just want to be held until everything is alright. that's a thing, right? people want that? i don't know.

work: i still don't have a calendar, a tape dispenser, scissors, a filing cabinet, drawers or a lamp. i love it.

music: it's awesome. also, i am not sure if listening to music that resonates with your mood perfectly (and then obsessively listening to that song or album on repeat) is a healthy thing or now. i do know that i do it all the time.

also, 'flesh' by david gray is a truly phenomenal album.

tattoos: i am definitely in the process of thinking actively about what i want to get. i had a discussion with a friend about tattoo placement a little recently. but i have a couple of design concepts i want to think about more, and am excited by! pretty ink! all up in this bitch! DEAL WITH IT, SUCKAZ!

longest, ramblingiest blogpost ftw!

*will not be the last time i do that.