Guess who got a new job?  That’s right; this awesome nerdy girl got a new job at a fabulous place.  The people are great, the job is great, and I’m seriously using the word ‘great’ too much.  Everyone has seen a difference in my attitude since I started working at said awesome place.  (Come on you should know by now that I don’t put my jobs actual name in my blog!)  It’s much closer to home, which means I save mucho money on gas, and I do a variety of things including part of their marketing that involves social media (their blog, FB, Twitter, etc).  It’s actually a lot of fun, great experience, and the people are very patient when it comes to me learning new things about the company.   Getting out at 5pm and being home before 5:30 means I have a lot more time in the afternoon to do the things I love, like read, catch up on nerdy news, and most importantly, spend time with the most awesome husband in the world.

I’ve also finished two out of my four classes for the semester.  I’m sad the fiction writing class is over.  That was so much fun, and my professor was just excellent.  I think sometimes the people who hate creative writing class take it as the be all end all based on what the professor teachers instead of keeping an open mind, seeing things from a different view point, and being able to add things to their writing.  Creative writing classes and workshops are excellent in my opinion.  You can’t break the rules until you know the rules.

I’m getting off track though.  I’ve finished two of four of my classes.  I’m losing my 4.0, but I’d rather be challenged and learn than go through school in a breeze.  Maybe I’m just weird.  That’s okay.  It’s fun.

With this new job I’ll be able to catch up on my book reviews not only for my own site, but for I Read a Book Once.  The end of the semester just coincided with my old job driving me up the wall with stress.  It’s so nice to smile again.  It’s not worth being at a job you hate. Find something you love – or at the very least don’t detest with every fiber of your being.

That being said, tomorrow is Friday.  Be safe, enjoy your weekend. 

PARTY ON NERDS!

Happy Hump Day Nerds! Wednesday leaves us two days away from Friday! HAZZUH! Since my extracurricular activities at work have been severely restricted, I’ve been doing more print book reading. It’s putting me behind on my book list, since I refuse to buy in print what I already have in e-format. It’s just not happening. However, I forgot how going into the bookstore and browsing the shelves, glancing at new titles and authors, as well as reading the blurbs on the back of the book without all the extra reviews and things on a website is so refreshing. No preconceptions, notions, or otherwise conditioned thoughts towards a book one way or the other. I read the blurb on the back and think, “Hmm this sounds interesting,” or “Nah, not really my thing.” If I’d been looking on line, I probably wouldn’t have found Little Bee by Chris Cleave. I’m realizing I tend to stick with my own genre, and maybe too heavily rely on reviews as opposed to forming my own opinion.

The moral of the story: Some people will love a book, some people will hate a book, but each of us are our own person and can only make the decision for ourselves. If I give a book a bad review, it doesn’t mean that someone else won’t like it. It just means it wasn’t suited to my tastes. Don’t forget to make your own opinions, and never let anyone speak for you.

All right, onto the review.

Little Bee by Chris Cleave was not something I planned on reading. It wasn’t a book or author I had ever heard of. The power of an artistically strong orange cover is what first grabbed my attention. Granted, I’m bias. Orange is my favorite color, but the silhouetted girl on the front, with a whited out woman as the eye, intrigued me along with the title. I flipped it over to read the read the blurb, and this marketing skill completely drew me in.

“We don’t want to tell you WHAT HAPPENS in this book.

It is a truly SPECIAL STORY and we don’t want to spoil it.

NEVERTHELESS, you need to know enough to buy it, so we’ll just say this:

This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have to face. Two years later, they meet again – the story starts there…

Once you read it, you’ll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don’t tell them what happens. The magic in how the story unfolds.”

- Chris Cleave

That was pretty damn clever. It hooked me. I wanted to read and learn the women’s story. It’s a great technique to draw readers in, giving them just a taste, but not really revealing anything. It works, and to stay true to the author’s wishes, I’m not going to reveal what happens in the story. What I will say, is that Little Bee is fantastically written. The author keeps a good pace, speeding things up when he needs to, and slowing them down to let the reader catch a breath at opportune times. Chris Cleave truly knew what he was doing. The characters are bold, sympathetic, and far from perfect. (I love flaws!) Chris Cleave is a British author, but it really doesn’t matter where you’re from. The message is more than clear, and it’s completely work the read. Put it on your book list, make time for this story. It’s worth it.

Chris Cleave was born in London and spent his early years in Cameroon. He studied experimental psychology at Balliol College, Oxford. His debut novel, INCENDIARY, won a 2006 Somerset Maugham Award, was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and is now a feature film. His second novel, LITTLE BEE, is a New York Times #1 bestseller with over 2 million copies in print. GOLD is his third novel. He lives in London with his wife and three children. Chris Cleave enjoys dialogue with his readers and invites all comers to introduce themselves on Twitter; he can be found at twitter.com/chriscleave or on his website at http://www.chriscleave.com

Little Bee by Chris Cleave receives five stars from me, but remember, take the time to make your own opinions.

My allergies are going completely banana’s.  Allergy season is crazy bad this go round.  Then again it hasn’t been particularly kind to me since I had my tonsils taken out when I was eighteen.  I’m currently laying in bed, watching The Golden Girls because for some reason my cable box is not displaying the guide at all. (Update: My husband is now working on it while reminding me before the days of the guide we used to just surf the channels – I can not dispute this.  Instead I shall put on my sickly, sympathetic face and hope for cuddles.) My face is red and puffy, my eyes are itchy and watery, and I’m up to be a candidate for the first ever sinus transplant.  That should be a thing. 
A lot has gone on this past week.  Though my brain doesn’t want to process it in any particular order of events.  I went to the book store and got some new books, since my job won’t allow ereaders anymore. I know, blasphemy!  Either way, I secretly enjoy print books over ebooks, but ebooks is a great commodity and easy for travel, or to switch back and forth from one book to the other.  I picked up Little Bee by Chris Cleave, a book of short stories by Flannery O’Connor, and the newest in the Dresden Series by Jim Butcher Cold Days.  I’m almost done with Little Bee so I’ll have a review for that shortly. 
Friday night Brian (hubby), my brother, and two of our friends went to the Shuck & Dive – a Cajun Restaurant with exceptionally good food.  I tried Buffalo for the first time.  Not as in buffalo wings, but as in actual Buffalo – the animal.  It was really good.  We also had some gator tail, crab-artichoke-and-spinach dip, deep fried pickles, and more.  We gorged ourselves just a little bit, but to be fair it had been quite a long time.  If you’re ever in the Hollywood area in Florida, look up the Shuck & Dive.  It’s completely worth checking out.  However, I’m waiting to try crawfish until I actually go to New Orleans.

Yesterday, I got a call from my mother.  Apparently my cousin was baker acted.  For those of you who don’t know what that means, it’s being forcibly committed to a mental institution for observation for a few days.  All in all, she’s lucky that’s what happened as opposed to going to jail.  Though I suppose running down the streets of downtown Ft. Lauderdale after smoking crack and being so high that you think your husband and his friend are going to kill you, is as good a reason as any to be committed.  I didn’t even know she was on crack.  It honestly surprised me.  Last I heard she was set to see a psychologist or psychiatrist at the hospital.  I’m sure when there’s an update I’ll get a call.  It’s really, sad, especially since she has a little baby girl to take care of.  Baby girl is with her grandma right now, so she’s safe which is a good thing. On that front, I’m going to have to wait and see what happens.  I’m hoping it’s a wakeup call and my cousin gets her life together.

Greetings Nerds! 2013 is moving right along! It’s already April, and I can’t believe that no one in my family pulled an April Fool’s joke!  My husband is notorious for those!  We’ve been so busy between work and school, that it completely bypassed us.  Not that I was ever great with pranks anyways.  I was usually the one who was on the receiving end, not the giving.  This year, there’s nothing to report.  We all forgot about it.  It’s amazing how life can slip up and make someone forget about things they took pleasure in doing.  Life has been trying to get me down lately, but I’m doing my best to stay positive.

It doesn’t help that Disney has opted to close Lucas Arts.  What?!  Are they out of their minds?  Several Star Wars fans got massive nerd rage just reading that headline – especially the ones who are hard up regarding the video games that came from Lucas Arts.  Even if a new brand picks it up, it’s not going to be the same.  Star Wars and Lucas – it’s like iTunes and Apple.  They sort of go hand in hand.  Making changes like this wounds fans, and makes them worrisome about what’s going to happen next.  I know I am.

Then, there’s Amazon, that’s taking over Goodreads.  I love both company’s so I’m not too worried about this change, but it’s yet another change.  Goodreads is a book reviewing site, and Amazon has their own area for reviews.  I’m not sure how his is going to benefit them, so I’ll just have to wait and see what pro’s this merger is bringing to the table.  If there are any fee’s to be implemented, this book nerd will be out of there!  I’m living paycheck to paycheck, and too many luxuries will make my bank less lucrative than it already is.

They’re also implementing changes at work – which I’m just going to glide right over. I don’t usually like speaking about my actual job in my blog.  In today’s world if you’re not politically correct you tend to get fired.  Still, IT’S MORE CHANGES!

I’m good with change, honestly.  I don’t mind it, I’m great at adapting, and can easily see both the pros and the cons of situations.  The problem is it seems like so many changes are just creeping their way up, and it’s somewhat putting me on overload.  Too much change makes me wary – generally because in my experience too much change brings a lot of bad with it.  

So what’s the best way to deal with change? I’m so glad I started journaling again.  I forgot how much fun it is to just rant, bitch, moan, and complain without the worry of anyone else having to hear it or read it.  Yes, I vent in my journals.  I’m not eloquent, poetic, or worrying about grammar in my journal.  It’s got scribbles and notes, jots and dots, ink smears and misspelled words.  It’s the best form of free writing, especially when I don’t have to worry about what other people think of it. 

In hopes of making the blog a little bit more interactive, I’m posing a question to the (few) readers who frequent Thirty, Nerdy, and Fabulous.  So how do you guys deal with a lot of change in a short period? Is there a mantra, a routine, lots of meditation and warm bubble baths? I’d love to hear from you.