And another

And for the second birthday of the week...MINE!

Thank you so much to all you internet peeps who already wished me a Happy Birthday on Facebook, Twitter, and email. I love you guys.

I think I'll go put on my tiara and eat some chocolate, just because I can!

Images

For some reason I'm thinking in images today, not words. I borrowed these images from Flickr's "explore" feature, here:

http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/

All images link to the photographer's pages.

I love these, and they express my mood. What images are in your head today?

I'm reading...

I just started LAMENT by Maggie Stiefvater. I only had time to read a couple pages last night, and then for half of lunch today before I had to run off and do errands.

Damn you, Maggie. Now I want to spend the afternoon reading your book instead of working on work and thesis.* ARGH.



*Because so far, it's really really good. Tempting good. Maybe I could just read for a little while? Please?

Birthday Thoughts

When they handed my newborn daughter to me, I was probably the least experienced mom in the whole hospital.

I was the youngest in my family. I had no related kids nearby to pseudo-parent. There were no little kids in our neighborhood, really. My one foray into babysitting--in college--resulted in 3 hours of tears, screams, and hurled toys, and me bolting for the door the minute the parents arrived home. No, thanks. I wasn't even sure I wanted kids--I was awkward around them, I didn't know how to hold them, I had no idea how to change a diaper. I was hopeless.

But there she was. In my arms, tiny, beautiful, heartbreakingly fragile. And my responsibility.

I was pretty sure the hospital people would figure out the horrible truth that I'd never be able to swing it, that I'd completely mess up this perfect little person if they let me take her home. I was half-expecting a conference with the nurses and doctors: "We're sorry. We'll have to take her back and give her to a real Mom."

But they didn't (thank God), and that was 7 years ago today. And you know what? We've kind of figured it out. Hell yeah, I've made mistakes, lost my temper when I shouldn't have, made poor choices about clothes or leniency or what to buy. But she's still there, my big girl. And she's a sweet, smart, funny, good kid, who I love to be around.

Happy Birthday, little one who is not-so-little anymore. I love you more than I thought possible to love anyone. I'm so grateful to have you in my life.

Take the buttons AWAY.

Last night I got to see Coraline in 3D. I'm one of those few who hadn't read the book (yet), but I was completely entranced by the story.

And creeped out of my wits.

The buttons. Oh, dear God, the buttons.


I now just might suffer from koumpounophobia:

Neil Gaiman on koumpounophobia

Twitter

Still here...you know, still doing my Thesis Thang. Once February is over the load should lighten a little. I *think*.

Anyway, I know I've mentioned Twitter a few times, but have never linked my address. It's the only place I really still hang out when I'm swamped, because it takes such little time to update!

If you're a fellow writer interested in joining the dark side following me, I'm there at @susan_adrian.

Back to work!

Show Time

Still head-down. I pop up occasionally to breathe, blog, and tweet. :)

And this month, to go to shows.

In the past 3 weeks alone, we've been to live performances of:

• The Pajama Game (50s-style musical: think Doris Day)
• Annie
• New Shanghai Circus (Chinese Acrobats: AMAZING)
  
• To Kill a Mockingbird (last night)

There are at least 2 more this month. Craziness! To Kill a Mockingbird was very good--but it did make us need to rent the movie. Sorry to anyone else, but Gregory Peck OWNS that role!

Happy Tiara Day!

A bunch of us on Twitter are wearing our tiaras. Are you?

Winner!

The winner of a copy of CRACKED UP TO BE is...

Carolyn!!

Congrats, Carolyn! Please send me an email at susan dot adrian @ yahoo.com with your mailing address!

Also, this is your official notice: tomorrow is TIARA DAY. If you want to play, slap a tiara on your avatar (or take a pic of yourself with one!) and wear it on your avatar all day. Girls AND boys invited. It's fun to be royal for a day. :)

Your turn

Y'all know I don't have a lot of "free" time right now. With thesis writing and classes etc., I shouldn't even be taking time to read for fun--but when I do it's excruciatingly slow, dribbled in little 20-minute increments whenever I can steal time. It can take me a month to get through a book, even when I really love it.

Which is why you know it MEANS something when I tell you that I devoured Courtney Summer's CRACKED UP TO BE in 24 hours, start to finish.

Wow.

Parker Fadley, the main character, is compelling and real and true. Even when it was uncomfortable, disturbing, I felt like I was right there in Parker's head for the whole bumpy ride. The plot is well done, the writing is fabulously spare--just enough.

READ THIS BOOK.

In fact, I believe in this book and Courtney so much, I'm gonna help you out. Last December I did an interview with Courtney and a contest, where she gave away a copy of CUTB. This time I'm going to spring for it.

If you don't yet have a copy of CUTB, post a comment below sharing a painful high school experience of your own, and you'll be entered to win a brand-new copy, shipped to you from Amazon! This contest will be open for 48 hours, until 10 AM MST on Thursday February 5th.

Edited to add: I'm not doing a value judgment on your posts or anything--it'll be a random draw. The sharing is just for fun, and to get you in that highschool frame of mind. :)

Ready? GO!