We're off to have dinner somewhere (still undecided) and maybe find a local game to visit. Everyone have a nice Saturday night!

.: 22 words at 08:41 PM in Daily Ramblings, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Today marks the one year anniversary of the day that Steven and I adopted Bella kitty from Christine.

I can't believe it's been a year already! Thankfully she's been potty trained in that time except for the occasional "my box isn't pristine, so I'm going to pee on the floor" incident. She's a wonderful cat and I love having her in our little family. Happy anniversary to all of us!

.: 71 words at 03:29 PM in Kitty Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (8) :.

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Russell and two members of his band - John, their singer and guitar player, and Greg, another guitar player - have been over tonight just hanging out, drinking, playing guitar, and singing. (You can see all the pictures Russell's been taking with my camera phone over at Neurotic Fishbowl Moblog. Some are quite silly.)

I can tell it's been good for Russell to have all of us around and I could listen to John sing for days on end.

I won another $50 playing poker too, so it's definitely been a nice evening. Shame it's not Friday and I can't be drinking and sleeping in tomorrow too!

.: 108 words at 12:54 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Red by Jack Ketchum: justice is meted out by a wronged pet owner in this novel.

Jack Ketchum is know for his graphic and disturbing novels. I've only read one other of his novels - The Lost - and I definitely found it to be disturbing. Nothing positive happened in that book at all. With Red, however, I found it not to be nearly as heavy and really enjoyed reading it.

The Red in the title is Av Ludlow's old dog. While out fishing with Red, three boys come along and try to rob Av. When he doesn't have any money on him, they kill Red. The rest of the novel is about Av's quest for justice for Red's murder and the escalating violence that this leads to.

I certainly couldn't recommed this for all readers. It's definitely not a light book and the subject matter could be upsetting to a lot of readers. If you like horror novels, though, it's a damn good one. There's also a novella included called "The Passenger", about a kidnapped defense attorney, that I really enjoyed as well.

(Finished on August 7, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 195 words at 11:28 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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My brother, Russell, and his girlfriend of almost six years just broke up. Please keep him in your thoughts since it goes without saying that he's really upset.

.: 28 words at 12:42 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel: what a wonderful book this was! It was very short (I read it in one day), but absolutely engrossing from the start. A fabulous mixture of love, romance, fairy tale, and recipes.

The book tells the story of Mama Elena and her three daughters - Rosaura, Gertrudis, and Tita, the youngest. When Tita turns fifteen she wishes to be married, but family tradition dictates that the youngest daughter must never marry and look after her mother until the day she dies. Pedro, the boy in love with Tita, in turn marries Rosaura so he can be near the woman he loves. This leads to all sorts of complications and events that no one could predict.

The novel has the same sort of feel as Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic. For example, the sadness of that Tita feels while cooking causes an entire wedding party to experience longing and unhappiness simply by eating her food.

I also enjoyed that included in each chapter was a recipe for the dish that was being prepared. I'm not a cook, but I found it fascinating nonetheless.

Simply put, this is a fairy tale of life in Mexico that anyone can relate to. It's simply delicious and should be read by all.

(Finished on August 5, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 224 words at 05:54 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (7) :.

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Brian's new CD swap The Quintessential Burn (inspired by my Burn It exchanges, btw) is ready to go! You can get the details and the dates there, so go sign up already!

.: 32 words at 11:44 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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I've mentioned Book Crossing, a read and release program for books, before, but today I found out that there is a forum where you can sign up for different bookrings. A bookring is just like it sounds - someone reads a book, sends it to the next person on the list, and so on. So far I've already participated in three rings.

What this means is there are free books to read for the asking! The only requirement is that you leave a jounal entry about the book and send it to the next person. This would be perfect for anyone who doesn't have a lot of money to spend on books. The forum for bookrings can be found here.

If you're not already a member, feel free to use this link to sign up and don't forget to add me to your friends list!

.: 147 words at 11:40 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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How to Murder a Millionaire by Nancy Martin: the first book in a new detective series featuring the BlackBird sisters.

When this novel starts out, we find that the Blackbird sisters - Nora (our heroine), Emma, and Libby - have been left the family estate, art, and furniture collections, respectively, by their parents who have skipped off to a nice sunny land to avoid paying back money they've borrowed.

This has left Nora with a $2 million estate tax (though why her parents didn't just let her live there while they were on "vacation" bothered me from the get-go), so the solicialite is forced to take a job at the local paper as a society column writer. Unfortunately, the family friend who owns the paper and got her the job, ends up dead pretty quickly. Nora decides to do some investigating of her own along with the handsome reputed mobster who bought some of her land.

For the most part I found the book a little far-fetched, but I still enjoyed it. I never really got into the characters as much as I would have like to, but I could see how over another book or two I could probably get into them more.

The book's definitely not as good as one of Janet Evanovich's or Carolyn Haines's female mystery series, but it was a pretty fun read. If you're looking for a breezy beach book that has the potential to work itself into a good series, this is perfect for you.

(Finished on August 4, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 262 words at 08:34 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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I finally finished my own Burn It CD today. They're about half way done burning and all the CD covers and booklets are printed, so I should be completely done pretty soon. If you're interested to see what music that I consider make-out music, keep on reading for my track list.

.: 182 words at 10:07 PM in Burn It, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (2) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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