Survived camping in bear country, hurrah! \o/ Next week I'm off again for our biennial Road Trip of Sisterly Win to visit equally awesome Brother of Awesome and Sister-In-Law of Rad over in B.C. This involves our traditional 12 hour drive through the mountains, the same ones I just returned from this past weekend; the only difference being that if we encounter bears, I will already be safely in our car traveling at 130 km/h on the highway. Ha HA! How do ya like them apples, bears?! *Smug*

Still no interviews. *Sad face* In the mean time I've begun taking on contract work again to at least bring in some sort of income aside from my EI. Last week through word of mouth I managed to pick up a couple new web projects, so that's keeping me nice and busy during the day when I was formerly just laying around watching episodes of Secret Diary of a Call Girl and napping.

In addition to contract work, I've started volunteering at the St. Albert Public Library! :3 (I've also put in an application at the EPL, but they haven't contacted me back yet.) It's great because it'll finally give me a little experience to put on my sad, library-lacking resume; plus, I'm really enjoying it. The people there are super nice and I find the shelving work very relaxing. They have me for a couple evening hours each week, though I'm hoping that I can eventually increase my hours -- then the next time they have a part-time page position open for hire they'll be all "Hey, that Brenna girl sure is a hard-working, enthusiastic volunteer! She's just the lady we're looking for, yes sir!" and BAM! Hired. That's my brilliant plan anyhow.

Over the past week, Mason and I have paid a couple of trips to various home hardware stores in an attempt to start planning out a tentative budget to remodel our very sad, ugly kitchen. No huge construction renos or anything, mostly just aesthetics -- painting the cupboards, new countertops, hardware, light fixtures, getting rid of ugly apple-print drapes, maybe a fancy shmancy new faucet~ I would love a new dishwasher as well (because it's getting to the point that our cat could lick clean our plates and utensils better than this silly machine) but that's a whole different time and budget all together. We've also picked out some paint swatches and have wonderful plans for when we eventually want to spruce up the upstairs walls. Very excited. (For the work to be finally done and finished, that is -- I am not looking forward to the actual physical labor of remodeling at all.)

FYI, the sexy Old Spice guy has managed to somehow defy the laws of awesome and become EVEN MORE AWESOME. They're putting out new spots (some of which that are quite hilarious) on their YouTube channel in which he personally responds to comments and questions from fans. This man is so awesome, in fact, that I have added him to my Hug Bucket. I bet hugging him would be like hugging every awesome person in the world at the same time, while listening to Journey, while standing in the the most beautiful sunny and grassy panorama, among the grand scenic backdrop of looming mountains made entirely of chocolate, immediately after being rescued single-handedly from a hoard of ravenous bears. Ooh. Not to mention my Hug Bucket would forever carry the wonderfully manly fragrance of Old Spice scented body wash.

Being an avid, long time lover of hugs myself and one who is of the strong opinion that there can never be too many hugs in the world, I've compiled my own Hug Bucket. A Hug Bucket, I have been enlightened to learn from one of the recent Vlogbrother videos, is similar to a "bucket list" (ie. things you'd like to do before you kick the proverbial bucket) only in this case equate "things"="people" and "do"="hug the bejeezus out of."

And so I decided it would nice to create a list of individuals I would like to hug before I die in a little Hug Buckety sand pail of my own. I think it would be pink. With perhaps, bunnies and rainbows printed on the side of it. Yes. And these are the people who would be in it:

• The Old Spice body wash guy
• Simon Cowell
• Colin Firth (as Mr. Darcy)
• Natalie Tran
• J.K. Rowling (in leu of Severus Snape not actually existing)
• Robert Downey Jr.
• Felicia Day
• John Green (sorry Hank, there wasn't room enough in the bucket for both of you)
• Alyson Hannigan
• The Doctor
• Toby Ziegler and Ainsley Hayes from West Wing
• Gregory House
• A lion
• An armful of bunnies
• Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon
• This robot
• This guy
• This girl
• Oh and this guy too
• Colin Mochrie
• A velociraptor

My Hug Bucket also obviously already has Mason and Sister and my wonderful family and friends and Iroh and Toby and Velcro-Cat already, all who thankfully I can hug any time and as hard and for as long as I want until they eventually untangle themselves from my clutches (or in the case of Iroh, bite me.) Does this mean I have to take them all out of the bucket now? I'm confused on that part still. I prefer to think of them all as extra special and infinity doomed to reside in my Hug Bucket.

I hope you all like pink. ♥

Two more books down, 130 more to go (though that number is constantly growing the more time I spend on Goodreads.)


His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

Dragons! War! Oceanic battles! Dragons! Napoleon! Did I mention, dragons? It is exactly as it sounds, and if by that you think awesome then you, sir, are correct.

Sleek and proper English navy captain, William Laurence, finds himself wrenched away from the life and career and everything he adores when his crew captures a French ship carrying a rare dragon egg. Sure enough, poor ol' Will inevitably winds up with the obligation and responsibility of said dragon (named Temeraire) and is thrust into Britain's Aerial Corps to meet the fight against Bonaparte's advancing forces in the sky.

The book wastes no time with preambles of any sort. I have to admit that I had my doubts leaping right into the plot in the first chapter, much less the first six pages, and it all felt a little rushed before we had even left the starting line, what with trying to digest the whole alternate reality dragon quirk that doesn't get explained at all before you're thrust into it head first. That aside, it's an interesting concept of taking real historic events and putting a fantasy swing on it, and you get the feel for it pretty quick. I really loved Temeraire himself and the sort of naive but insightful view he has towards everyone and everything. I also really enjoyed the relationship Novik created between the dragons and their handlers; it's very obvious that Will and Temeraire's closeness is built on mutual respect and genuine affection on the half of both parties (which is something I felt lacking from other similar series' like Eragon.) By comparison, the neglect of one of the other dragon characters, Levitas, was heart wrenching. I don't ever cry reading books, but I came fairly close in the case of his small side story. ;_;

Since His Majesty's Dragon is based in a time of soldiers and war, there are a fair amount of battle scenes. I am not an action buff and I'm not particularly interested in the details or dynamics of warfare, so the parts where the story fell short for me were some of the especially longer battle or strategy scenes. I think it's especially difficult to read action sequences since they don't come across on the page as they do watching them on a screen, but fortunately the aerial battles were easier to follow here than a lot of other novel fight scenes I could mention. What I did find pretty nifty, however, were the creative crew systems and gear setups Novik dreamt up for the dragons -- it wasn't as simple as the hero just jumping on the back of his valiant draconian steed and shouting CHARGE! It added a sense of realism -- or at least as much realism as you can create when you're talking about more or less replacing fighter planes with mythical flying beasts.

I'll most likely dip back into the series for more in the future, if anything just for the possible chance for a scene with Napoleon Bonaparte whooping around in the sky ecstatically on the bag a giant flying lizard. :D As a footnote, the author of this series was apparently a fanfiction writer/LiveJournaler who lived in Edmonton for a winter (her biography remarks upon a "truly alarming coat" she now owns from her stint here, LOL.) I'd be interested to learn which fandom(s) she wrote for.


House Rules by Jodi Picoult

Picoult's newest book is about an eighteen-year-old boy with Asperger’s Syndrome ( which is a high-functioning type of autism for those who are not familiar) and an obsession for forensic analysis, who is arrested for the murder of his social skills tutor.

My only familiarity of Asperger's up to this point had been the character of Jerry Espenson from Boston Legal, which is one of the reasons why this book initially piqued my interest. It's one of those conditions that a lot of people rarely hear about and it's always a bit fascinating getting a bit of a deeper glimpse into the day-to-day rituals, complications, and struggles an individual and family touched by something like Asperger's lives with. According to various reviews I've read, Picoult's portrayal of AS here doesn't always necessarily ring true (though who am I to say); but despite that, I greatly enjoyed House Rules, with the exception of the ending which I thought was way too sudden and failed at really tying things up. I hate the ambiguity, it leaves me sitting there forever just craving for closure! D: That, and I and every other reader figured out the "twist" ending barely before the mystery of the crime had even been established. No surprises in this one.

Picoult's books are always a bit of a hit and miss, which is strange when you consider the plots are always the same: Family becomes entangled in a high stakes legal drama centered around a thought-provoking ethical or moral dilemma! Enlists the help of a charming lawyer who becomes emotionally entangled with his client and/or client's family! Cue some sort of angsty romance or affair thrown in for kicks that the parents use as an excuse for coping with the drama! OMG TWIST ENDING!

Despite the redundancy, I admire the way she's always almost able to make all of her characters endearing and relatable on some level, and I can't help but keep going back for more. There have been ones that I've loved such as Nineteen Minutes and My Sister's Keeper, and ones that fell flat with me like The Tenth Circle. Her upcoming 2011 novel reportedly centers around a lesbian couple and gay rights in regards to starting a family in America, which I hope will be another gooder~


Next up on my list is Homeland, the first book in the popular Dark Elf trilogy, but I got as far as the prologue and then somehow became distracted with reading my favorite General Grievous fanfic again for about the fourth or fifth time. (I keep a copy of the whole massive thing printed out that spans across two Duo-Tang because I enjoy it that much. And also, because I'm a giant nerd.) It's one of those stories that hasn't been updated in years and will probably never be completed, which makes me all sorts of sad because we all know about me and closure. :C <-- Epic sad face.

I finally finished watching the 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series with Jennifer Ehle and the fabulous Colin Firth. It wasn't all the fireworks and earth shattering amazing that I've heard it praised as, but it was enjoyable. Definitely something I liked to sit down to with a plate of tasty chocolate cake while watching and grinning each time they showed a closeup of Mr. Darcy. What a scowly bear. X3 I have to admit I was slightly disappointed with the infamous wet shirt scene. From all of the hype it's garnered over the years, I wound up with this when I was really expecting more of something like this. On the note of wet shirts, I never realized how many wet, white shirts Mr. Firth has actually donned over the years. I think P&P unintentionally type cast him and wet shirts everywhere. There should really be some sort of Oscar award for it all it's own.

P.S. I was dismayed to witness Jane Austen's obviously discriminatory view on red-heads. On behalf of gingers everywhere, I am hurt, Ms. Austen. Hurt and dismayed! :C

I joined in on the fun and signed up for a Formspring account and will probably check it regularly until the novelty wears off. Until then, ask me anything!

A new season of America's Next Top Model has begun, full of high-pitched screaming girls, cat fights, crazy clothes, crazier hair, and of course some makeover tears. Bring it on! For reasons I can't fully explain I just love ANTM. It's my guilty pleasure show, best when combined with tasty chocolate cake. Apart from just loving to see the finished photos, I'm ashamed to say that I think one of the draws is being witness to the insane all-girl drama that erupts in the Top Model house each season from the safety of my living room. You'd have to pay me a helluva lot of money to lock myself in a penthouse with twelve spastic young women under the eyes of nation-wide television cameras for three months.

Three books checked off my to-read list over the last month: Part of the Pride by Kevin Richardson and Born Free by Joy Adamson, both about human-animal bonds with wild lions in particular. The stories and the people in them and how they're able to form relationships with big game predators like this are fascinating to me~ I also finished The Pact by Jodi Picoult, about two families torn apart by the apparent suicide pact of their two children. It was more or less the classic Picoult child angst/parental grievances/courtroom drama plot that I've come to know (and love) her for, which I still end up enjoying no matter how many time she does it. My only complaint with this one is that the ending and outcome of the trial itself was, in my opinion, completely unrealistic. }:P Her newest novel, House Rules, about a boy with Asperger's syndrome accused of murder sounds like another typical Picoult book, but like always I'm eager to read it anyway.

I went out the other day and made (what is for me) a rare venture to purchase some new cosmetics. I bought some new sheer foundation, some mascara, a couple new swatches of eyeshadow (which according to my Google researching should be ginger-flattering), and two new facial moisturizers (the sales associate that helped me was scandalized that I used Vaseline lotion on my face as it is apparently a big no-no and does more harm than good.) This is why I hate shopping for cosmetics -- I have no earthly idea what I'm doing or what I'm looking for, which leads to me inevitably having to ask a makeup associate for help, which in turn almost always ends up making me feel exceptionally stupid and embarrassed. I walk through the beauty section aisles paranoid that every other woman is staring and judging me on my complete lack of innate female prowess with makeup.

On a related note, holy jeeze I had no idea there were so many shades of black mascara. Classic black, very black, emerald black, black brown, soft black, and what I'm sure is the king of all black -- blackest black. o_O How different can one black mascara look from another? I'm glad I opted for the much harder to find (yet with a much less intimating range of selection) brown mascara. Among all of the leagues of various blacks, there is just... brown. Straight, safe, simple brown. Much less work in my opinion.

Pretty sweet trailer for The Last Airbender is finally out! XD


I am so excited and at the same time so dreading this movie. Excited beyond all reason in the fact that they're bringing this wonderful series to the big screen; dread because they're already RUINING IT with all of the blatant whitewashing they've done to the cast. D:{ Instead of keeping with the original feeling of the show being richly multi-cultural, they've thrown Caucasian actors in all of the protagonist roles with the token stereotypical colored villain. The hell, Hollywood?

Don't get me wrong, I think it's unfair for people to say that twelve-year-old Noah Ringer is not deserving of the role of Aang. I'm sure he'll be great, but I'd just like to know what put Ringer's audition tape over and above someone like this kid who actually IS Asian and has some amazing skills (I swear, he copies some of the exact moves Aang does in the show.) Admittedly, the white cast all look better once you see them in costume, but they're still very obviously white -- most noticeably I find in Katara and Sokka. It's jarring. The guy they have playing Zuko (who I'm sure will still make a very good Zuko, all you need to play Zuko is BUCKETS OF ANGSTY LULZ) would have made an amazing Sokka appearance-wise, in my opinion. For different non-race themed reasons, I'm also disappointed at the change to Iroh's character who's gone from the jolly old fat man we loved so much to a slim, if not sinister-looking soldier (...with dreadlocks...?) I just can't imagine Uncle Iroh's obsession of tea and evening sing-a-longs coming out of this guy. It makes me sad. ;_;

I would promise that I'd boycott the film by not watching it... but that would be a horrible filthy lie, because just as with the horrific HP movie adaptations, despite how awful they are, I watch them each time anyway because I am an obsessive fangirl and my fandoms demand no less of me. I can't help it, the trailer looks so good! >_< (Damn you conniving Hollywood production studios and your sexy special effects!) I may, however, scowl furiously when I see Shyamalan and his casting director's names scroll across the screen.

I'm sorry, but WTF? Australia bans small breasts in an effort to safeguard children?
That's right, apparently if you're a woman with small breasts, you will induce pedophilia.

I honestly don't know whether to be outraged or just boggled. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally on board with pedophilia = BAD; however, when you take a fundamentally logical concept like that and then translate it into a ridiculous law like this, you lose all rationality points you once had. You can't ban certain adult publications simply because of breast size. It's incredibly offensive to declare that just because a woman sports an A cup she should automatically be suspected of being a minor, or that she's automatically spurning insidious new pedo lust in anyone watching. Child pornography should fall under the illegal category only if it ACTUALLY involves minors. I don't care if someone looks like they're under 18 -- if you can verify that they're an adult than it's not illegal. This whole things sounds a lot more like a government grasping at straws because they're all out of actual ideas.

Oh, and hey Austrialia, while we're at it -- what?
Female bodily fluids are apparently considered illegal and "obscene". (Possibly NSFW.)

Seriously? It seems the land down under *ba dum CHING!* has a lot of crazy sex laws. So Rule 1: no golden showers or similar urine fetishes at all; Rule 2: on the grounds that it may possibly have itty bitty traces of urine in it, so also is a no go for any depiction of the rare "female ejaculate". So let me get this straight -- watching a film where some dude lets go all over some woman's face is fine, very good, a-okay; if the woman has any incidental bodily fluids though then that's obscene. I'm sorry... what? We're now holding each genders' fluids to different standards? That is the stupidest example of blatant sexism I've ever heard. Basing a ban on the theory that there may be urine also does not count as justifiable reasoning in my opinion. (The whole idea that they're banning any sort of sexual fetish in the first place -- within non-violent limits obviously -- seems ludicrous to me to start with.)

So clearly I learned some new really dumb things about Australia today. Reading it back now it actually feels like a strange and slightly uncomfortable version of a "The More You Know" segment. To be honest I'm not one for usually baring my teeth at this sort of thing, but these are some of those really ridiculous types of laws that make me want to rip my hair out from both the standpoint of a woman and also just a general society viewpoint. I guess it was just one of those sorts of days.