It takes less than a week to make one obsessed with the Twilight Saga.

I thought that I would be able to resist the siren's call of Twilight, but I was wrong. Here's what happened: Patrick and I had to go to Missoula for a concert that he really wanted to see. It is a three hour trip and I get really anxious driving through the mountains. Twilight (the movie) had recently been released and his mom loaned us her mini-DVD player. Patrick had brought a long plenty of movies for himself, but nothing for me (lol - so this is his fault). His mom included Twilight in the bundle thinking that it would be something I would like.

So I decided to watch it. It was difficult with ear buds to hear what was going on with the sounds from the car and Ariel Pink blasting on the stereo (Thank god for subtitles), but I got the gist of it. I found myself getting all wrapped up in the movie and like so many girls before my my hear was all a-flutter with the electric and frustrating relationship shared by Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. I finished the movie at the hotel and we went off the the show.

We were there about 40 minutes early and no one was there - nothing even set up. There were no signs that the band was going to make it. We waited for and hour and still nothing. No one knew what was going on. I had never been a fan of Ariel Pink and all this waiting was annoying for me. So finally Patrick took me back to the hotel and went back to the bar where Ariel was to play. I should have stayed at the bar because all I could do was worry, worry, and worry some more. I decided to watch Twilight again..... not because a new addiction was forming, but because I needed something light to watch (that's what I told myself anyway). The movie was just as nice the second time around....

Sure I noticed some things that frustrated me. The sometimes very weird shape of Robert Pattinson's head. Kristen Stewart's slightly flat character. The oddly formal way of speaking that popped up at random (Do you not know what I am talking about. I am sorry, Do not do that, I do not know, etc. Why can't contractions be used? No one talks that way). But none of these things kept me from realizing that this was a very good story. The movies are never as good as the books and I was wrapped up in the movie even on the second watching in less than 12 hours. Patrick wasn't back yet so I listened to a bit of commentary. Interesting stuff... kind of.

I resolved that I would have to get Twilight before we went home the next day. At Hastings I decided to get the first two books. They would surely last me awhile... wrong. The books are great and I flew through them only wanting to know what happens next. By Wednesday is was necessary to go back to get the last two. Now I've finished all four books (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn), read all the 'outtakes' for them on Stephenie Meyers' site and also read her partial draft of Midnight Sun (Twilight from Edward's POV). Being so thoroughly done with everything that is available at this point it slightly depressing. Now what? I loaned out Twilight to my friend/boss, but I've still got the other three books. I am working on a way to convince my husband that I need the audio books. (lol) and that's that really.

Le Sigh. (I'm French now of course)

Also

I just looked back at my December post and wanted to say that Maude's name is no longer Maude. After a week we realized that Maude didn't fit the new kitty and in the interest of keeping with Buffy references we changed her name to Miss Kitty Fantastico. We have since realized that the shortened versions of the name boil down to Miss Kitty or Kitty which are quite generic and Dru responds to them as well. Not a day passes where one of us says "we should have called her ... instead". The names suggested are quite random: Butters, Yoda, Darla, Attention Whore, etc... I can't even think of all of them, but we'll stick with Miss Kitty Fantastico for the time being. Plus... there's always room for a little play on words. My favorite invention is: I'm going to Miss Kicky your Asstico. Which can be used in any situation where Kitty is being insane... which is all situations aside from the ones where she is being cute and super-clingy.

Here's a couple pictures:
First, Miss Kitty on top of the fridge in the wok. No idea how she got there, but there was no punishment because she was so freakinging cute.

And second is Dru. Her coloring is so dark that it is nearly impossible to get a good picture of her, but I managed it. She's such a pretty girl.

I should change the name of this blog to Eternally Absent and Occasional Posts

But I'm not going to. Even though I don't post enough I still like my blog.

Right now I am re-reading The Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. It is great.

Here are a couple little stories about the first time I read it:

1. I was working in a factory at the time and I feared my brain was turning to mush because of the monotony so I always brought a book in to read on my break. Well when I brought in the Guide I got a lot of funny comments. Someone actually asked if I was reading the dictionary... never mind the large print on the spine saying The Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Loved it.

2. I left the book lying on the table at my mom's house. She came out with it completely dismayed. "You're reading a book on hitchhiking?!?" Of course she thought that I was going to take up hitchhiking and because I read everything I was reading a book on how to do it properly. She calmed a bit when I told her it was fiction... but seriously... hahaha.

I understand the mistakes (I guess)... it really is a monster of a book, but still.

In other news - I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but I was diagnosed with PCOS in 2008. Having babies is something that I have always wanted and the fact that I have failed to become pregnant after years of not preventing is frustrating. I got complete blood work done today and will hopefully get some answers about what exactly is wrong with my and confirm my diagnosis in the next week. Then I will receive active treatment as opposed to being popped onto a birth control pill and sent on my way. (Honestly - who says 'Oh, you want to have babies, but your cycles are messed up? Take this birth control and never come back... it will all be fine'.) I really like my new doctor. :)

I Lied

In my last post I was all like "I'll be better." But I lied. I am horrible when it comes to keeping on top of journals. That's all right though. So updates: I've been reading a bit less obsessively because I am now taking a transcription course which my employer was nice enough to pay for. Medical terminology is exciting. It is a daunting task as I haven't done any schooling in about 5 years, but I feel pretty good about it and I am doing well. We got a new kitty for Christmas. Her name Maude (inspired by the movie Harold & Maude). She's the cutest little puffball. Right now we are working on getting her and Dru accustomed to each other. It is going pretty well. Dru has done some growling and hissing, but when we let Maude out of the bedroom this morning they nudged faced. That is an awesome sign and we were pretty excited about it. Since I last posted I re-read the Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris, Neil Gaiman's Coraline, and George R. Stewart's Earth Abides. I participated in a book club for my friend & coworker's Ecopsychology project so I read most of Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver as well. The book was okay. It isn't really my kind of book, but I enjoyed it at least a little bit. Earth Abides was our last book and the member's seemed to enjoy it. What else.... Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs was pretentious and kind of fun too. Something for the dork in all of us. I skimmed the Wicca Handbook and the Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca. Turns out that even though I am a total dork I am not ready to go out hugging trees and casting pretend spells. It was worth a try but also, you know, ridiculous. Way to hokey for my tastes. I went through a Harry Potter audio book phase and then devoured Tales of Beedle the Bard when it came out. It was a little disappointing because it was so tiny... not to mention the Warner Brother's assholes deciding not to release the Half Blood Prince movie until July (as opposed to November) so that they could make a few more buckets of money. Good for them and bad for the fans who were looking forward to seeing it last month. Now Patrick and I are on a Buffy the Vampire kick. We started at season 5 and are now into season 6. Last night I watched the musical episode which was just as awesome as always. Okay.. so I think that is all for now. Here a couple pictures to wrap all this up:
Maude - this is the first picture that we were able to get of her that isn't just a blur. Turns out it is pretty difficult to take a picture of something that moves constantly.

This is Dru (Drusilla - inspired by the vampire in the Buffy series) at around the same age Maude is now. Never name your kitty after something that is totally evil unless you want her to turn out totally evil... well she's not really evil she's just crazy like the character she was named after. :)

Okay that's all we need to go to the store for kitty supplies.

Still absent,

I suck, I'm still reading, but not posting. what's up with that? I swear I'll try to be better.

Right now I am trying to win a bed. I'll have a better chance of winning a bed if you and all your friends click the following link:

So please do it. I need some rest. :)

I've been absent

Well, Patrick and I found a new place to live so much of the past month has consisted of packing, throwing things away, donating things, and squabbling with each other due to all of the stress. We are now officially out of the cave that we lived in. It is clean and we don't have keys to it anymore. Good riddance!

I have been reading and I will update that as soon as I find my bookmate that has the two Buffy books that I read before the move. I've got to keep things in order after all.

Regarding bookmates. They are absolutely amazing creations for those of us who would like to read as we do other things. Check them out: Reading will never be the same.

Here's a link to a new site I found out about: Literary Illusions. There's one for kids too!

I don't know a whole lot about them yet, but the site looks great and I plan to spend a significant amount of time there.

I'm a Dork and I Don't Care

25. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Little Things - Moesta
26. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Power of Persuasion - Massie

Still going on with that little Buffy obsession. These books are really guilty pleasures. They are really corny and quite teeny-boppery, but I really enjoy them.

Little Things was really fun because the villains were faeries that are vampires. Buffy and friends have to think small in order to defeat the baddies. This one took place after Spike had been implanted with the chip that hurts him if he hurts humans. Spike is one of my favorite Buffy characters so it was nice to see him playing a good sized part. I had forgotten how protective he was of Dawn.

Power of Persuasion was fun too. I really love mythology and this book took well known Goddesses and put them in the Buffy Universe. I won't reveal too much here because that's no fun, but there is some pretty sick stuff in this book. haha.

One of the things that I just really love about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel (On TV and in Books) is that the writers often take a well known story and twist it so it is something vaguely familiar. And then when you realize what is going on at the end you want to kick yourself because you should have known all along. I still have quite a collection of Buffy and Angel books left in my pile of books to be read and so I'll probably keep going with them for awhile until I get sick of them or I finish them.

Now it is time for a bit more about the Ben Folds show. I am so sad that it is over because I'm sure that he'll never be back to Montana. He played a huge variety of stuff. Army and Not the Same were great because they are the major audience participation ones. As soon as he started Zak and Sara things got a little more wild and so everyone was standing. We were like ten feet from him. It was awesome. The audience sang Bitches Ain't Shit word for word which is hilarious because it is actually a cover of a Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg song. I don't know. It was just awesome - the whole experience, and now I want to do it again and again. I feel a little depressed though. I've never experienced that after a concert. I think it is because it is going to be one hell of a long time before anyone really worth seeing comes to Bozeman again. When I lived in Michigan it was different because everyone goes there. There are actually large cities in Michigan, but Montana... well no one really thinks of Montana.

C'est la vie