So I managed to score my first and only interview so far in the ever-elusive job hunt, a full-time position at a local bookstore that I was super excited about and received a lot of great, positive feedback for from the interviewer -- but I finally got word back from them tonight and it turns out I didn't get in.  It was a really crummy day of stress and anxiety and waiting, and no dice.

It's depressing more so that I was really wanted this job.  I think it would have been a great fit for me and something I could have enjoyed and been good at, and I was still beat out by someone better.  It's pretty discouraging, especially when independant bookshop positions like that are already few and far between.  *Slumps sadly in chair while she stuffs her face with handfuls of comforting chocolate chips*

C'est la vie though, right?

Anyway, on to other things, still book related but less depressing -- that whole concept where I post recaps of the books I've recently finished sort of fell by the wayside, huh?  *Sweatdrop*  Bad Brenna.  Note to self: do better.

Well, the good news is that I've definitely finished a few books since the last time I posted in September (so SO much fail.)  The bad news is that I no longer remember all of them in detail so the reviews are going to be shamefully short this time around (which, depending who you are, may actually be a blessing if you don't usually enjoy reading my never-ending book ramblings.  Well poo to you.  The books don't want you reading them anyway.  They shun you!  That's right, you've just been paperbackhanded. HA.  Get it?  HA!  HA!)

Anyway.  Here's a very quick recap and rating of my last six months of reading material -- the awesome, the ho hum, and the agonizingly awful.

• The Fourth Hand by John Irving
  I just finished this one yesterday, and I almost didn't finish it at all.  A television reporter gets his hand bitten off by a lion while on assignment and through a series of following events sets out (somewhat half-heartedly) to change his life for the better.  Very boring plot accompanied by equally unrelatable and unlikable characters, and be forewarned that the way the author tends to write every one of his female characters will make even non-diehard feminists cringe.  1/5

• Catopolis by Janet Deaver-Pack
  A collection of cat-themed short stories by different authors.  This has been my backup reader for in between books or when I've had nothing else to read, mostly because very few of the stories in it were good enough to keep me going for more than a couple minutes at a time.  Lots of the same recurring themes in each -- magical cats, cats using doting humans as servants, lots of reference to the Goddess Bast, yada yada.  Part of the problem for me is that short stories are simply never long enough to ever feel fully developed for me.  :P  2/5
  
  
• The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
  The tale of The Odyssey, only told from the viewpoint of Penelope; toted for being another one of Margaret Atwood's apparently more feministy works.  (I've only ever read one other of her novels, so I can't really comment all that.)  The book was okay, I guess.  It was entertaining enough and had some funny bits, but lost me a little near the end.  I was a little worried going into it since I'd never read The Odyssey, but it turns out you don't really need to for this version of the story.  3/5

• The Boof Thief by Markus Zusak
  This one was a very good read.  Set during Nazi Germany, it follows the life of a young foster girl who gains an appreciation for pinching books from here and there, in addition to helping hide a Jewish man in her family's basement.  Did I mention that the entire novel is narrated by Death?  The Grim Reaper in this book reminds me vaguely of Terry Pratchett's version, though obviously less hilarious at times and sadly lacking the bacon-greased apron and cats curling around his ankles.  An interesting story style too.  Highly recommended.  4/5
  
  
• Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
  A pregnant 17-year-old girl is dumped at a Wal-Mart by her asshole of a boyfriend and with the help from some kind strangers-turned-friends she builds a life for herself in the small Oklahoma town.  Meh.  I'm ashamed to admit that for whatever reason, any story set in the south tends to immediately turn me off.  It's stupid, I know, there's just something that I instinctively find boring about them.  This was a pretty slow read at times, and I swear the names for half the characters in this book made me physically cringe at times.  2/5
  
  
• The Fionavar Tapestry: books 1 - 3 by Guy Gavriel Kay
  This trilogy was my Secret Santa assignment for book club.  Five college students from Toronto are transported away to the mystic world of Fionavar, where each has a destiny and role to play in the upcoming war.  The first half of book one, The Summer Tree, was, let's face it, not great.  The concept that I had to finish another two-and-a-half books worth of what I initially was beginning to think was a badly written fanfiction was not thrilling.  But I'll tell you, the last half of that first book really started to pick up and by the time I started The Wandering Fire and then The Darkest Road I was hooked!  I especially enjoyed the way the whole Authurian triangle was woven in to the story, and in places there were some really heart-wrenching scenes.  I wasn't huge at first on the author's Tolkein-esque writing style, but you just sort of get used to it after a while.  But yes, overall, surprisingly enjoyable.  3/5 for book 1; 4/5 for books 2 & 3
  
  
• Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult
  Another classic cookie-cutter Jodi Picoult story that I can't really explain why I am such a fan of.  They're the same thing again and again, but they always lure me in!  ^^;  This time around it's about a family torn apart by the molestation of their five-year-old son, the ensuing legal drama, and without fail twist ending.  I don't know what it is about Picoult's writing, but I just really enjoy it.  The subject matter is particularly disturbing and hard to read at time in this one, but still a very enjoyable book.  4/5
  
  
• Dog Boy by Eva Hornung
  A story set in late twentieth-century Moscow, about an abandoned boy who's taken in and raised by a pack of feral dogs.  (Think The Jungle Book and Tarzan, but set in Russia and replace the crazy apes with dogs.)  I'm a sucker for tales like this involving the unique relationships that can develop between people and animals; mix in a bit of your classic survival against the odds plot and you've immediately secured my rapt attention.  A very interesting and at times emotional read if you're an animal lover.  4/5
  
  
• I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
  I would imagine everyone's probably familiar with this story about the last lone man trying to survive in a world where a horrible disease has turned everyone else into rabid, blood-hungry vamps.  As a big fan of the movie rendition already, I went into the book very optimistic, but pre-warned that it differed from it's Hollywood counterpart.  Verdict?  To be honest I enjoyed the movie more.  The book tended to drag in some places, especially when Neville becomes obsessed with the whole scientific aspect of the plague; Will Smith definitely delivered a fuller, action-packed, horrorific romp than this original telling.  3/5
  
  
• Geisha: A Life by Mineko Iwasaki
  A personal memoir from a real world former geisha, exploring the truth of the world and traditions surrounding the geisha profession in Japan.  I've always found the Japanese culture fascinating, and it was interesting comparing this biography to popular fictional accounts like Memoirs of a Geisha -- the author repeatedly debunks the Western perception of geisha as prostitutes and popular concepts like patrons bidding for a young geisha's virginity.  For a non-fiction memoir it was an enjoyable enough read, though obviously lacking the emotional drama that kept me riveted in Memoirs of a Geisha.  3/5
  
  
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Car
  Another book club pick, this science fiction story about child geniuses being recruited to train as galactic soldiers to fight against a hostile alien race fell drastically flat for me.  I'm not a huge sci-fi fan as it usually stands, but I found this novel really boring and repetitious, with unrealistic characters that were impossible to relate to or feel anything towards.  The concept was there, but the execution was poor in my opinion.  Bah.  2/5
  
  
• The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror by Christopher Moore
  I've been trying to get my hands on a copy of this book for a year or so now, but it's always out of stock at most book stores (I finally just buckled and ordered it off Amazon.)  Staying true to Moore's typical bizarre and hilarious plots, this one is set during Christmas in the little town of Pine Cove when things start to take a turn for the crazy after a little boy watches good ol' Saint Nick take a shovel to the head; and when an inept angel from on high bungles up the kid's Christmas wish to have Santa come back from the dead, chaos and flesh-eating zombies predictably arise.  Not as awesome as some of the author's other work, but still laughs and deep-bellied gufaws all around.  4/5
  
  
• The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
  The first Hunger Games book was selected for our book club, and I have to admit that I went into it a little skeptical, all hoity-toity and "What's that?  A YA novel?  Poo poo to that, I say!" because a little part of my brain can't help but automatically equate any young adult novel these days to Twilight.  :P  However, that's the part where I'm stupid.  The Hunger Games is really good.  So good that I immediately proceeded to read the next two books in the trilogy, Catching Fire and Mockingjay.  The trilogy is set in the post-apocolyptic, slightly futuristic nation of Panem, which used to be North America.  All twelve districts of Panem are overseen by the Capitol and every year one young boy and girl are selected from each to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death broadcast live on TV.  The trilogy centers around sixteen-year-old Katness Everdeen when she volunteers to take her little sister's place in the games.  It's an awesome series, I highly recommend it.  4/5
  
  
• The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks
  The first book in a fantasy trilogy about a poor street kid named Azoth from the slums who apprentices himself to the most renown and dangerous assassin in the city, Durzo Blint; turning his back on his old life, he has to embrace a new identity and name as he learns to cultivate a flair for death.  The story sort of flip-flopped between being really entertaining and really dull.  It sort of feels like you're thrown head first into the author's world without warning -- lots of terms and slang are never really explained fully, and it doesn't help that the plot is a convoluted tangle of characters, politics, and scheming that are hard to all keep straight.  I still haven't decided yet whether I'll be delving into the rest of the series or not.  3/5
  
  
• Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
  I picked this book up after seeing previews for the newest movie rendition of the same title, and trust me, this is one of those cases where the book is infinitely better than the movie.  It takes place in Sweden where a young bullied boy named Oskar happens to befriend the neighbor that moves in beside him -- a little girl, who unknowingly to Oskar, just happens to be a vampire.  (Only without all that prissy sparkling and much more blood.)  If you're a fan of (real) vampire stories, this is a good pick with a unique twist on the monstrous legends.  Be warned though that there's some pretty disturbing and gruesome content here as well, and it's not just restricted to the bloodsucking fiends.  4/5
  
  
• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
  A penniless young man lucks out during the Great Depression and finds a job with a traveling circus where he falls in love with the lead star of the equestrian act (which puts him in a dangerous position considering who her husband is) and forms a bond with the circus' newest attraction, Rosie the elephant.  To be honest I can't remember a lot of details from this book, but I do remember that I enjoyed reading it.  Apparently they're making a movie out of it which, like most movie adaptations, will probably take a good story and rip it all to shreds.  4/5
  
  
• Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
  Another quirky Christopher Moore concoction about a woman who wakes up in a dirty alley dumpster with a sudden hankering for a good bite.  (Ha ha, I see that pun you just made there, ho ho.)  That's right, she's a vampire!  And the moment she walks through those sliding doors, a certain grocery night clerk's life will never be the same.  Like all Moore's stuff, this is a great book to pick up if you're gunning for a funny read.  (Honestly, there's not much by him that I don't thoroughly enjoy.)  4/5
  
  
• The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
  When the narrator of this story, a drugged-up, morally ambiguous porn star, gets into a life-changing car crash in the opening chapter he suffers from horrific burns over most of his body and the end of his former life and livelihood.  Lying in the hospital burn ward, he meets a bizarre and compelling woman who insists that they were once lovers in a past life he has no memory of.  Over the course of his recovery, she spins the tale of the man he used to be.  This was am enjoyable enough book that jumps around in time a bit; a little slow in some parts, but really engrossing at other times.  Some of my favorite chapters admittedly didn't even have anything to do with the plot itself, but were sections where the book went into detail about the narrator's recovery process and burn treatment (because for some reason I'm weirdly interested in stuff like that.)  3/5
  
  
• Carnivores of Light and Darkness by Alan Dean Foster
  Ugh, I'm sorry but I couldn't finish this one.  This was actually my second attempt at making it through this book and I just can't.  It's apparently the first in a series about a herdsman from an isolated tribe that makes a promise to a dying man he never knew to rescue a woman he has never met.  He proceeds to set out on this bizarre quest and that's where the story gets a little intolerable.  It's weird, the only thing I can compare it to is an early morning cartoon -- the story is a never ending repetition of the same thing: tribesman walks a bit, he stumbles upon someone who needs his help, he solves the problem or defeats the antagonist of the day, and then moves on again.  Ta da!  *Repeat over and over*  It's as if the author didn't have any actual plot to fill up the book with so he substituted it instead for a bunch of mini guess-the-moral-of-the-day shorts that don't actually do anything to help move the story along at all.  Blaaaaah.  1/5

There.  Whew.  I'm definitely going to try to keep on top of this better in the future so as to avoid another two dozen book pileup.  :P  I should probably go to bed now so I can wake up tomorrow and once again continue the job hunt.  Blarg.  =_=

Mood: Mysteriously absent from her blog

Am I the only one who's glad the Olympics are finally over and no longer have to wade through all of the sport play-by-plays on my Twitter and Facebook feeds? I swear, I think my Twitter feed doubled while 80% of the rest of the country was watching the Canada/U.S. gold game.

These last few weeks while everyone else in Canada has been glued to their winter sports (and thus, as I'm been told, are apparently more "truly Canadian" than myself), I have had a lot more exciting wedding planning going on~ I've bought my dress *check!*; have a meeting set up next week to book our photographer *check!*; and both ceremony and reception venues should be chosen and booked by the end of the month *check!*. Here that, To-Do list? That's the sound of me kicking your ass! *Flex*

Also, exciting news -- as their wedding gift to us, Mason's parents are paying for us to go along on one of their family vacations next year, another cruise! Honeymoon + family vacation = double the cruising for 2011! XD (The two of us are going down a day early to check out the new Harry Potter world at Universal as well, it's going to be geektastic.) We're going to have to start saving up our vacation days.

We had the not-so-fun task of dealing with water leaking into our furnace room downstairs this week. D: The drainage we neglected to fix before winter came back and gave us a little nip in the ass to remind us, "Hey guys, I'm still here!"; turns out the majority of snowmelt from the roof was draining down one side of the house so much that it was flooding out from the "weeping tile" (which I learned, despite the name, is not actually tile shaped in any way. How very misleading.) We spent a couple days repeatedly mopping up water and running fans to dry up new spills we found until we could make a run to Home Depot to pick up some stuff to redirect the drainage temporarily. Ta da! No more leaking! YAY, disaster averted! We'll have to do a proper job with fixing our drainage in the spring after the snow's gone.

Speaking of... wow, next month is April and I'll be turning 25 and will officially be a quarter-century old. Craziness. Half the time I still don't even feel like an adult yet, and the other half of the time -- well I know it's too early to say I'm over the hill or even approaching something remotely hilltop-ish, but I feel old. I don't know, maybe it's because I work in the same building as a high school and work on a site filled with teenagers all day who wear skinny jeans so tight you can't breath in them and plastic aviator sunglasses you can't actually see out of. Seriously? WTF is wrong with this generation? (Look, I'm becoming a crotchety old lady already. The big 2-5 will do that do you.)

Mood: Worried, stressed, but a bit better now.

Bunny drama.

To everyone who's been text messaging and FBing me regarding my somewhat cryptic tweets last night: Toby is doing okay now. Yesterday morning and early evening, he was fine; eating and running around and being completely silly like usual. Then in about a span of two or three hours he did a complete 180. I went to give him his dinner just after 9pm and all of a sudden he refused to move at all, he wouldn't even touch his food or react at the sight of his favorite pineapple juice or raisin treats. He seemed to just lay in a corner of his room and only moved every couple minutes to change position as if he couldn't get comfortable, and I found what looked like watery stools on the carpet.

Two different bunny health signs signaling immediate vet attention, so at 10pm I rushed him over to the Emergency Vet Clinic downtown. There was a lot of waiting when we got there, but eventually a doctor came to do a physical inspection. She noted that his temperature was too low and did a lot of feeling and prodding of his tummy which was a bit descended but she said was hard to tell what it was filled with, whether it was a blockage or food from earlier that day still. She originally wanted to keep him overnight to give him IV fluids, but came back after a while after consulting another vet and they decided that since: a) they weren't extremely versed with rabbits, and b) having him stay overnight and being handled repeatedly by strangers would have put too much extra dangerous stress on him, she said the best bet was to take him home for the night to watch him and take him to his regular vet in the morning if he hadn't improved.

We got home just after 1am, I put a blanket on him to keep him warm (he squirmed out of it after ten minutes or so), scrubbed his litterbox clean, and put out some fresh veggies for him to eat during the night if he wanted; then stayed up till 3 buried in rabbit books and web health guides. When I woke up this morning he was in the exact same position he was when I left him last night, with no solid feces or eaten food, and his ears were really cold. For the first time I thought I heard the bunny teeth-grid sound of pain. I took him down to Tudor Glen as soon as they opened and he's been there all of today. I finally got an update from the vet office after lunch saying they'd managed to raise his temperature by putting him on a warming pad, and were force feeding him a couple times through the day with a syringe, though thankfully he was finally nibbling some hay on his own. He may be able to come home tonight.

I don't know how parents go through this sort of thing with human born-from-your-flesh offspring. I spent the entire morning trying to distract myself with whatever I could do to keep from being a anxiety-ridden, crying wreck waiting for the vet to call. I cleaned Toby's room from top to bottom and lugged away all of the extra rugs we were using on top of the regular carpet because I don't know whether or not he was ingesting the frayed edges of them or what. My sister phoned to check up on the situation and out of no where I just started sobbing into the phone, then a co-worker phoned with work-related questions and at the mention of how Toby was doing I embarrassingly started sobbing again. I have been completely useless today, and I realize there are people who will never understand the emotional attachment I have to Toby or why someone can get so upset over an animal, but I also know the other people who can relate to the feeling that they're not so much pets as they're members of your family. Much love out to Chelle who came over during her lunch to provide sisterly comfort even after I got the positive report back from the vet~

I hope to talk to the doctor when I go to pick him up and see if she knows exactly what happened. It seems like GI stasis, but I don't believe the watery stools and body temperature drop are symptoms of that so I'm not sure what the problem really was. I hope he's back to his chipper self when I bring him home. *Love*

Mood: Anxious

Toby's on a little vacation away from home right now. I was told that my bunny wasn't allowed to be here while a Realtor is showing our current place to prospective buyers, so we managed to find him a place to stay for an indefinite period of time at the Glory Hole (with much thankful appreciation to Mike, Dan, and Marc) either until the apartment sells or we move to our new house. Personally I don't see why people coming in to view the apartment, or some real estate agent, or anyone for that matter, should get to proclaim that my pet rabbit isn't welcome in our own home -- but apparently that's just the way it is.

It was strange waking up this morning and seeing the empty corner of the office and realizing I didn't need to feed him. I can still go visit him every day since he's only a five minute drive away, but I can't help but still be worried about him. There's a difference between us leaving for vacation and having someone come over to our place to look after Toby where he's comfortable -- and packing him, his playpen, and all of his stuff up and leaving him at someone else's house. He was still pretty stressed out when I went over to see him tonight with the completely new place, new people, and all the new noises. It's a bit concerning considering rabbits are such evolutionary gongshows in so many ways to start with, one of which being that their health is so dependent at times on their stress level. I'm going to try to go over and see him each day, to check he's okay and settling in and eating enough -- and I don't want him to think he's been abandoned. :c

I miss my bunny.

Mood: Tired

Dear angry teens:

If you would like me to post your anti-Twilight rants in the front page article section -- which I'd be more than happy to do simply for the uproar and fangirly angst that it would stir -- please try to make a half-decent submission that doesn't break every spelling and grammar rule in existence. (Despite what you may think, netspeak is not an acceptable form of English.) Also preferably a submission that is more than two sentences long. (Extra exclamation points do not count towards your word count.) I am always up for spreading more LULz at the expense of Stephanie Meyer and the Twilight series, but I can't do so when you don't put in any effort!

On the related note of Twilight fuckwittage: If Twilight Were 10 Times Shorter and 100 Times More Honest

So I've been badgered into taking a trip on the Twitter bandwagon. I made a deal that I'd use it for a week and I'm on my fifth day and am still not quite sure what the whole point of Twitter is. I'm trying, I really am. *Squints* Wait, is that... Nope. Sorry. Don't see it.

I don't understand why people are flocking towards this awkward and somewhat useless middle ground between blogging and Facebooky social networking. I particularly dislike the part of this week-long deal where I'm being forced in turn to follow every Tom, Dick, and Sally that randomly decides to follow me. I don't understand. I don't know these people. I don't care what they're thinking, doing, or saying through out the day. Why are strangers following my Twitter feed in the first place? D:

The only Twitterism that I've grown fond of is the handy ability to immediately update my Facebook status straight from the Twitter app on my desktop. That's cool. I also like the idea of being able to include a widget on the side of my blog that shows my recent updates. Basically I like and will probably continue using anything involving it that directly relates to updating or displaying my Facebook status, which essentially is all Twitter really is. Starting Friday though, I'm cleaning out my spammed-to-hell Twitter friend list.

I didn't get to play any Guild Wars tonight, which I'm very sad about. :c I really need to buy a cheap computer headset. Playing in a party that I can't talk outloud to directly is really hard; I don't know where people are, or what they're doing, or what I'm supposed to be doing! There's not exactly a lot of time to spare to type out game plans while you're being mauled by a fucking gang bang of vicious skale monsters, you know?

Mood: Less stressed than yesterday

Yesterday was piles of worry-filled stress. The original plan was Toby was going to go in for his neuter appointment at 8:30 yesterday morning; but when I woke up and went in to open up his condo, my spider-bunny sense started tingling. Usually Toby is really excited to be let out in the morning, and when I fill his food bowl he bee-lines straight for it and starts stuffing his face... but this time he just sat there at the door when it opened. He ignored his food. He eventually crawled out into his pen and just laid down in the corner.

Rabbits hide illness, it's in their nature as prey animals; changes in behavior is therefore very important to clue in on to indicate things may be wrong. 24 hours without food for a rabbit is extremely dangerous. I immediately started worrying -- G.I. Stasis! Bloat! D: -- and rushed him over to the clinic early. After checking him out, the doctor said she was pretty sure it was a hairball blockage and sent us home with some Oxbow Critical Care and a laxative to force feed him. The neuter surgery was thankfully canceled because Dr. Wilde didn't want to put him under with his stomach empty.

Hand feeding a bunny with a syringe? Not easy. Especially when your bun is already: a) scared out of his mind, b) is overly active and fidgety at the best of times, and c) already doesn't want to eat anything and definitely doesn't like having food squeezed into his mouth. I like to think of myself as pretty dedicated bunny Mom, but I am ashamed to say that when it comes to anything where I have to restrain Toby in some way, whether it's cutting his nails or force feeding him medication -- I JUST FAIL. Making a bunny burrito? FAIL. The times we did manage to snare him in the blanket, he completely freaked out when the syringe came near his mouth. I don't know how people manage to do this up to four times a day. And ever time we tried through out the evening, poor Toby just got more and more stressed, he'd just sit there shaking after each failed attempt. ;_;

Thankfully by the evening he had started nibbling on pellets and hay on his own. Definitely not his usual amount, but at least he was getting food in his tummy. I also got him to lap up 3mL of pineapple juice and persuaded him to nibble the corner of a fresh chunk of solid pineapple. I tried to trick him into taking the laxative by smearing it on some romaine lettuce, but my bunny is dastardly clever it seems and caught on to the trick because the lettuce was still in his bowl this morning.

Good news though today is that when Mason came home, Toby's food bowl was empty! After calling the vet and telling her about last night's attempts to syringe feed, they said to bring Toby over and they would give him the laxative which is more important to flush out his system right now since he seems to be eating pretty good again. Mason is a sweety and brought him over there when he got home from school, and this evening Toby's been munching on hay. His poops are still a little small, so that's something to keep watch on though... and he has a lot of cecals laying around again. I'll have to ask the vet what to do for that.

I'm so relieved he seems to be feeling better though, I was so worried yesterday. >_< I'm glad I stayed at home to work because I would have been completely useless at the office fretting about him all day. *Hugs Toby* We're starting on a much stricter daily brushing schedule now, and hopefully won't have to go through this again. I'm going to investigate to see if I can also start giving him regular amounts of pineapple or cranberry juice to keep his digestive system top-notch.

*Love love loves to her wonderful boyfriend who helped out and kept her sane all night from worry, and so much thanks to the Tudor Glen vet staff and especially Melissa who were all so nice and helpful!*

*Toby twitches ear in thanks.*