...Fuck.

"After a frank discussion with the oncologist this afternoon concerning the extent of regrowth evident on his latest scan, Dad has opted not to receive any more chemotherapy. The cancer has grown significantly into new parts of the brain. He would rather be home, spending time with friends and family, than be making more hospital trips and incur all of the side effects more chemo would undoubtedly bring."

How do you even respond to that?

I'm such a dork

In a little over four months, my knitting has gone from having trouble with this:

To:And this:

It might not look like a lot to you, but trust me, I have improved in leaps and bounds. And yes, those are my Twilight mittens! I'm just as excited about them as you are.

I never thought I'd be a knitter, but I'm having a lot of fun with it. I know I still have a long way to go, but I like that fact that I can see progress with every project. And this is going to sound totally bitchy, but I met a woman that started knitting around the same time that I did (a little earlier even) and she is just now trying to figure out hats. Hats! (See, I told you it was going to sound bitchy.)

Just your typical spectacular Southeast scenery...

More commute pictures. My house sit ends on Monday, so I am trying to take advantage of my last weekend 'out the road'.Driving home at sunset, which is now around 9:30pm.

Tlingit/Haida bronze markers on a bridge.

Please keep in mind that all of these were actually taken from the car. I did stop the car, but if I had gotten out and walked around a bit, I'm sure I could have found a better shot.

So I Know I Can't Dance

...But that doesn't mean I'm not excited about the new SEASON of So You Think You Can Dance!!!! Best summer show ever!! :)

My commute beats your commute.

Normally, my commute is non-existant because I live less than a mile from where I work. But I am house sitting out the road and I must admit, I have been enjoying my 30 minute commute.

It's hard to see, but there's an island out there.Maybe if you live in like, Thailand or something your commute is also pretty awesome. But I know that my craptacular commute in DC wasn't even close.

I don't need your stinkin' book club!

When I first got back to Juneau, I tried to find a book club to join. I’ve never been part of a book club, but it sounded fun and I thought it would be easy to find a group in Juneau.

Wrong. The first group I tried to join actually said no. I’ve never heard of an exclusive book club before and honestly, I doubt I’d fit in with that kind of group. Pretentious book snobs can keep their elite clubs all to themselves.

I remember taking a Hemingway class my senior year of college that was filled with English majors. I was in it because I needed 3 more credits and I like Hemingway when he’s not writing about bull fighting. Anyway, the entire class was all about proving how snooty English majors must be before they can graduate.

Sample discussion:

Student A: “This passage reminded me of War and Peace. Tolstoy’s unique combination of naive objectivity and detailed realism really sets the stage for future war stories. Hemingway’s most notable literary accomplishments can be traced back to Russian influences.”

Student B: “While I respect your opinion, I must disagree. I find Hemingway’s prose more succinct; more along the lines of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writing. Hemingway embodied symbolism and bordered on surrealism in his writing.”

I hated that class. The one time I actually contributed to the discussion was when I got so fed up one day that I actually said:

“This story reminded me of the classic short story, Green Eggs and Ham. Dr. Seuss’ mastery of subtle imagery is the evolution of Hemingway’s sparse dialogue and meager structure. Dr. Seuss embodies all that Hemingway hoped writing would become.”

No one laughed.

Anyway, my point is that the most wonderful thing happened at the library the other day. Every month, I have to help out with a ‘Family Night’ event, which means I try to keep anywhere from 20 – 75 preschoolers from screaming and rubbing peanut butter into the carpet. I consider it my monthly birth control and I usually dread it. But at this last event, the librarian in charge of the young adult section asked me if I wanted to be part of the libraries book reviewers. I asked her what that was and she showed me a back room of the library where they keep all the advanced copies of books they get from publishers. And the book reviews can just take as many of them as they want as long as they bring them back and tell the library what they thought. She asked if I wanted to be part of the young adult book reviewers.

Anyone who has seen me devour the Twilight, Harry Potter, Uglies and Mortal Instruments series knows that young adult fiction is like black tar heroin to me. And I don’t have to read a specific book by a specific date. I can read 30 books one month and 2 the next. The reviewers don’t read the same books, we just talk about which books we did read and whether or not we liked them and think younger readers would like them too.

I felt like a kid in a candy store and left the library with, like 12 books. My first book, Bones of Faerie was pretty good too. It was nice to have a heroine not mesmerized by a sparkly vampire for a change. I loved the plot of this book. I think it's geared towards the younger end of the 'young adult' genre, but Simner doesn't skimp on danger or violence and the result is an enjoyable read for all ages. Sure, there are a few places that felt a bit rushed, and then a few passages that seemed to drag on a bit, but the plot makes up for that. I would love to see this book turned into a series. I don't know why I'm such a fan of series books. Probably because they rock. 'Nuf said.

Winds of Change Suck

Things aren’t looking too good at work these days. The end of the fiscal year is coming up fast and we were just informed that there will most definitely be job cuts and those cuts will be announced a week from Monday. I’d say I have about a 50/50 chance of keeping my job at this point. I’ve known this was coming for almost two months, but up until today’s official announcement of the impending layoff announcement, I think I was in a bit of denial. At least I don’t have long to wait now. I just want this limbo shit to be done with.

68 Degrees+Sun+Sledding=Great weekend

Beer, sleds, sun, friends. Yep, weekends are so much more awesome when it's sunny out.

It was an unbelieveably gorgeous weekend in Juneau. Any time you can play in the snow while wearing shorts, do it.