Christmas has come and gone, and remarkably, somehow our tree has remained in one piece this year.  I think my brilliant tactic of spritzing the tree down with smelly perfume each day helped convince Iroh that maybe he'd forgo climbing through the branches and breaking all of my pretty ornaments this holiday season.  *Gives kitty a warning look*

I hope Santa was good to everyone.  I, for one, must have made it somewhere on that nice list, as I received all sorts of shinies, such as a very badly desired clothes steamer (no more ironing, hurrah!); several awesome paintings commissioned by Sister, courtesy of her lovely friend, Jill; and a wonderfully obscene amount of chocolate.  Also, wonderful husband is wonderful -- he ordered me my perfectly perfect new Miche purse, as well as set me up with a year-long subscription to both Batman and Detective Comics~  X3  The timing couldn't be more perfect, what with the whole DC reboot, which I've been meaning to give a try; admittedly, I'm not thrilled from the snippits of Harley Quinn's head-to-toe revamp I've seen floating around online -- and when I say "not thrilled", I actually mean a little piece of my fangirly soul has been ripped out, gored to death, and left to shrivel up and be picked at by scavenging wild dogs *twitch twitch*  D:{ -- but aside from that, I've been told that it's still more-or-less the same Batman I've come to know and love.  I eagerly anticipate glossy pages chock full of caped crusaderdome to begin arriving monthly in my mailbox~  *Squee!*

Speaking of a certain Dark Knight, what's with DC's complete lack of officially licensed Batman art?  In an attempt to spruce up the walls of our depressingly bare basement, I geeked out and ordered a couple of great Doctor Who prints to hang up -- namely, this one and this one -- and have also been trying, without success, to find something awesome and Batman-themed to hang over our shuffleboard table.  Unfortunately, it seems that when you do a search for Batman wall art, all you get is the same dozen poster prints over and over again.  Don't get me wrong -- I schmooze over Jim Lee's sexy drawings as much as the next comic book fan, but is it too much to ask for a little variety?  You'd think with all of the different artists that DC enlists, they would release a steady stream of for-sale prints for fans to plaster their homes with, but there's really not much to speak of at all.  ;_;

Ideally, I would pee rainbows of joy to have a copy of this magnificent canvas print mounted on my wall:

Sadly, it is a tad more ridiculously expensive than I'm willing to pay, so unless an unlikely $20 clearlance copy pops up on eBay, I'm out of luck.  Like all *coughcough* highly illegal *coughcough* fan produced prints, they're hard to find copies of in the first place -- and when you do find a nice one, they're usually pricey.  It's so very unfair that finding pretty Batman art for sale should be harder than going out and purchasing a bag of crack cocaine (this is a guess, obviously, as I actually have no idea how hard it is or isn't to buy crack, or any type of drug, really -- however, I stand by my assumption, as evidenced by the fact that I have met a depressing amount of people who seem to walk around permanently stoned, yet I have met a total of zero people who sport any type of fashionable Batman artwork on their walls.)  Sigh.

Sad fangirl is sad.

Oh, my poor, poor neglected blog.  What has full-time schooling done to you?

No fear though, I have successfully survived my first semester!  Bring on the Christmas holidays, coo coo ca choo~  I'll try to give my blog a little more love during my two weeks off, maybe post some more book reviews -- but for now, here's the entirety of what little you've missed of my life for November and December:

• Exams are finished!  Grades are in!  I finished my classes with three A+'s and one A so far (though we haven't officially received our final grade for English, but based on my prior assignment marks and the final exam, I'm going to go ahead and assume I'll end up with an A for that class as well.)  I'm looking forward to the start of second semester with its early morning classes (leaving more time to spare in the afternoons and evenings) and having one less class in my course load; I opted to drop a class in both second and third semester, in favor of taking them during the summer and hopefully lessening my stress over the next two terms.  *Crosses fingers*
• I'm a mere hairs-breadth away from finishing my Christmas shopping!  This is an improvement over last year, considering I only began my shopping two days ago; however, once again my procrastination when it comes to ordering gifts online has left me fretting if any of them will even arrive before the 25th...  =_=;
• My temporary four month page position at SAPL has been extended to a permanent one!  Hallelujah!  It's still only one day a week, but it'll be on Thursdays instead of Saturdays which will free up my weekends nicely to breath a little and keep up with homework.  Besides, a tiny one-day-a-week library position looks better on a resume than no library position at all.
• After exercising a considerable amount of will power for the last two months, I've finally broken open my copy of Batman: Arkham City!  *Gibbers excitedly with fangirlish glee*  So far, the sequel is just as much fun as its predecessor -- though I hate the new take on Harley, and for whatever reason I'm feeling much more inept this time around when it comes to executing all of the different button combinations...  There has been a frustrating increase in accidentally falling off roofs when I'm trying to ground pound goons, and inadvertently exposing myself headlong into enemy fire when I'm trying to sneak around all ninja stealthy-like.  I'm a sorry excuse for a gamer, but it's Batman and so I shall persevere.  *DETERMINED FACE*

Oh yeah, and obviously I'm back from our cruise!  I kind of forgot to get around to writing up a whole vacation recap post in the midst of looming project deadlines and exam havoc.  Rest assured though that the vacation was very awesome, despite this Carnival ship being especially rocky for whatever reason -- we heard someone say that the Carnival Dream didn't have "stabilizers" or whatever the crazy boat magic is that's supposed to keep the ship from pitching back and forth wildly under your feet in crazy 16 foot swells.  So a slightly dizzying trip, yes, but still awesome.

Did I mention that we swam with sea turtles?   WILD SEA TURTLES.  They swam up for air right next to you!  If not for the strict rule we were given beforehand of "no touching, no hugging, no licking" (no lie)  of the wild life, I could have kissed those sea turtles right on the nose -- that's how close they came!  So amazing~

:3

</melodrama>

Seriously though?  The combination right now of school, homework, and working part-time is all kinds of unpleasant.

I spend my entire day walking around in a constant state of fretful anxiety, worrying and strategizing on how I'm going to get the current class assignment finished and how little time there is to finish all of the rest of the assignments following afterward.  It's not that I'm doing bad in my classes -- I am, in fact, doing pleasantly well grade-wise -- but trying to stay on top of my course load and maintain my marks while at the same time not completely neglect the rest of my life is becoming... problematic.  I think we can all agree that I hit an especially low point last week which involved me having a mini meltdown while cleaning the kitchen at 10 p.m.  Let me explain: in our house, the chores are split up and one of my jobs is washing the dishes.  It's pretty safe to say that for the past two months since I started school, the dishes have not been clean.

"Why can't I do the dishes?!" *Sob sob sob* "Why can't I even keep on top of something *sob sob* as simple as keeping the kitchen clean?!" *Sob hiccup sob*

True story.  Somewhat pathetic (and hilarious in hindsight,) but true.

I know I'm not the only one in my class suffering from a severe case of November burnout, and it's a little bittersweet to think that there's only nine days until I escape for a much-needed week away in the Caribbean.  On the one side, YAY VACATION YAY OMGINEEDTHISSOBAD.  On the other side, I now have even more assignments I need to get finished before next Thursday to make up for the time I'll be away.  As it stands, I will already be bringing a backpack full of school work with me on the ship.  Nothing dampens a day at port in the Bahamas like spending it in your stateroom doing homework.  :P

All right, no more whining now.  Suck it up, princess.  *Brushes the angst off her clothes*

In other somewhat belated news, Toby finally has his glass door!  It's fantastic.  Toby once again gets to see what's going on outside his room, we get some natural light in our hallway again, and Iroh gets hours of endless entertainment and frustration.  Everyone wins.

It is, at times, hard to physically pry the cat away from this spot now.

Man, I really suck at this whole book reviewing thing.  (When was my last one...?  June?)  Good thing I don't actually do this for a living, because I'd have fired my lazy ass months ago.  To be honest it's been so long that I don't actually remember most, if not any, of the salient details I wanted to touch upon from the following books, so some of these recaps are going to be composed of very half-assed "I think I may remember this book possibly being awesome!"  Let's face it though, how many people actually read through my rambly thoughts anyway?  Right?  All set?  Let's go.

• The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicle #1) by Patrick Rothfuss
  Book one of a very promising looking fantasy trilogy chronicling the life story of a young boy who grows to become an extremely badass wizard.  This was a really fantastic read.  The story, the characters, the writing -- all very engaging.  There were a few lulls, but not many.  As we speak, newly published book 2 is waiting on hold for me at the library and I'm pretty damn excited about it.  Also, the somewhat slashfesty-at-times relationship between Kvothe and Bast cracks me up.  4/5

• The Valley of Horses (Earth's Children, #2) by Jean M. Auel
  Sequel to Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear, this book picks the story of clanwoman Ayla up where the first novel ended -- banished from the Clan with a death curse on her head, Ayla must survive entirely on her own while she searches out her own people.  Includes some new animal sidekicks and a very Edward Cullen-like male lead who is apparently so brazingly beautiful and talented and perfect that it really just makes you want to gouge someone's eyes out with a spoon.  I really hated this character, which is unfortunate since he appears to continue to be a central figure through out the rest of the series.  Aside from the introduction of the annoying Gary Sue character, both the dialogue and plot this time around were not as strong as its predecessor, though the story did still have its moments, giving it a 3/5.

• Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
  A mother gives birth to a daughter in a remote village in India, and the only way to save her child's life is to give her away.  The book follows the story of both families -- the one who gave the little girl up, and the one who took her in half a world away.  Have to be honest, I don't remember much about this one.  *Fail*  I like reading about different cultures, so the half of the novel set in India appealed to me more than the half with the adoptive family in America.  I remember the story itself being... good?  *So much reviewing fail*  3/5

• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
  Muh ha ha, I'm really starting to become an Atwood fan.  Her books always find a way to grab me.  Set in a post-apocalyptic world where mankind has been veritably wiped out by plague, our protagonist tells the story the past, his best friend, the end of the world, and of a new breed of humans.  Very creepy and disturbing at some parts, Atwood seems to have a talent for weaving versions of the non-to-distant future that are compelling, horrifying, and unsettlingly possible.  4/5

• Throne of Jade (Temeraire, #2) by Naomi Novik
  Book 2 in the series where dragons fight alongside British soldiers against Napoleon Boneparte's French forces, only this time Laurence and  Temeraire find themselves shipped back off to China!  Oh noes!  I still greatly enjoy the concept of this series, but unfortunately the characters aren't as endearing this second time around as much as they were the first.  (The relationship between Laurence and Temeraire starts to get a little sap-happy for me personally, and Laurence drives me a little crazy -- for god's sake, just drop the prim and proper stick-up-your-ass act and punch someone in the face!  You are the most boring protagonist personality-wise ever.)   More than half the book is spent sailing to China, and while it does include some awesome sea monster ass kicking, at times you have to wade through some pretty dull chapters to get there.  It's a toss up on whether I'll continue on with the Temeraire series or not.  Goodreads doesn't allow ratings of 2.5 so I upped it to a  3/5.

• When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman
  The book summary says this is a book about a brother and sister, but to be honest for most of the novel the brother seemed to be much more side plot to the sister-centered story and her eccentric childhood best friend.  Basically a coming-of-age story with a bit of everything: family, friends, tragedy, overcoming said tragedy, and lots of growing up.  It was okay, I can't remember many details from it aside from some well-written scenes centered around Elly and her pet rabbit; the symbolism and metaphor surrounding the rabbit were great.  3/5
  
  
• The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant
  A non-fiction account of the true events surrounding a series of man-eating tiger attacks in Russia's far east in the winter of 1997.  I'm a sucker for any kind of man vs. nature story, I think because much like the concept of coming across a bear in the woods frightens the living bejeezes out of me, I'm also oddly riveted by those horrible true-life tales of bear-attack survivors they always have in Reader's Digest.  Why?  Because I'm crazy, and apparently love to torture myself with terrifying bear nightmares.  The just grab me, I can't help it.  In any event, this book could have been truely amazing if they'd just stuck with the tiger-centered story and facts and didn't waste half the book with history on the Sobolonye region and Russian government.  :P  3/5

• Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult
  Picoult's new novel, the theme this time centered around same-sex couples and the desire to have children, and what it really means to be a family.  I don't have to say by now how much I enjoy Jodi Picoult's books and the way her writing always touches me on a very emotional level, and this one was no different.  She has an amazing talent for exploring all of the messy gray areas and making you relate to all of the different characters in some way (even when you really, really don't want to.)  I wouldn't say it was as good as some of her other ones (Nineteen Minutes, or My Sister's Keeper,) but it still earns a ranking of 4/5.

• Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
  OMG it's dinosaurs!  And Alan Grant!  And people running for their lives from T-Rex's and freaking Velociraptors!  And loads of super confusing fractal geometry...!  Okay, and there's also that really annoying little girl that acts as the convenient plot device to get the protagonists constantly into life-threatening danger...  But did I mention freaking DINOSAURS and how they're AWESOME?  That's all that really matters.  This is probably my third or fourth time reading the books and they're still wildly entertaining.  5/5

• The Lost World by Michael Crichton
  Ditto.  Repeat everything I said above, only replace Alan Grant with Ian Malcolm and the fact the sequel doesn't in fact resemble the second movie in any significant way.  BUT IS STILL AWESOME.  5/5

• Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker
  At this point I was still deep in the throes of fangirly dinosaur obsession, so I broke out this little gem I originally came across years ago telling the story of a family of Utahraptors through the eyes of one of their own.  I hadn't read this book in ages, and I still thoroughly enjoyed it; except for the bits now and then that focused more on the herbivore species'... which were boring... because, hello, freaking raptors waiting over here.  (It's that whole horrible fascination with animals that could brutally maul me to death that I was talking about earlier.  I'm weird.)  4/5

• I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb
  He's an emotionally unavailable, tragically abused, divorcee with an anger problem and an identical twin brother who happens to be a paranoid schizophrenic.  Life can only get better at this point, right?  Wrong.  The story follows a man who's already pretty messed up life starts to unravel even further as he confronts the issues of far too many people in his life on top of his own personal dysfunctionality.  Wally Lamb's writing seems to be wildly popular with many readers, and while I think it was a bit overhyped (and not worth the whopping 900+ pages), I didn't not enjoy it.  My biggest beef with this novel was the protagonist himself -- he's not a very likable character -- one minute he's a well-intentioned guy trying to do the right thing, and then the next minute you think "wow, what an asshole."  (On that note, ironically enough the character I found most interesting was the stepfather... which is a little crazy since in a lot of ways both characters are mirrors of one another.)  In short, lots of messed up characters here.  Another 3/5.

• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
  La la la la, I adore this book, I really do~  The first time I read The Time Traveler's Wife I immediately loved it and awarded it a spot on my favorites list, so much so that I was itching to read it a second time.  It's a story about a man named Henry (who's a librarian!  Sexy!), born with a genetic "disease" that causes him to sporadically travel back and forth through time, and he has absolutely no control over when it happens or where he goes.  It's much more love story-esque than the sci-fi premise makes it sound, which is strange for me since I've never been a big romance reader.  Gasp!  It's like a romancey Doctor Who!  :B  Only Henry doesn't fight aliens... or fly around in a blue police box...  and unlike Rose, Clare never gets to tag along and has to sit alone at home watching The Price is Right until Ten Henry returns.  :c  But anyway, yes, the book is splendid.  (NOT the movie, the movie was HORRIBLE.)  I love the characters, I love the writing, I love the premise.  Next year, I'll probably read it again.  5/5

And now obviously I have no choice but to end off with a sexy David Tennant avatar.