Hello Fellow Readers,
This post of the Library was suppose to be of my readings from the O.W.L's readathon, but I ran into complications. One book gave me trouble, and I didn't have one of the books I needed to fulfill the Writer's Career reading requirements, and I wouldn't get any of those from the library till after the readathon was over. It was a mess, oh well there's always next year... Lord willing.
So let's get to our reads. This month we have another read in my Jane Austen reading journey, a trip to a magical land, and I believe the final books in my Sarah Addison Allen reads.
Mansfield Park- by Jane Austen
This was my first read for the readathon and the only one of my reading list I actually managed to complete. I had a little trouble getting into it at the beginning, but once I did I couldn't put it down, though I did loose focus frequently and found myself rereading parts.
Reading this made me think of how blessed we are to have our music anytime we want, back then you had to hope that someone not only knew how to play it, but could play it good.
This may be my 3rd or 4th favorite Austen work I'd have to reread Emma to make it a sure decision.
The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente
This was my second read for the readathon and this is the one that killed me. This one was a tough one to get through, though I don't really know why for sure. It was intriguing enough that I wanted to see where the story went, but I kept putting it down and loosing interest. I actually took a break from it to read Lost Lake.
One thing I did love about the book was this necklace that September gets that allows her to remember all her memories of her life to that point, I could use that!
I probably won't keep this in my permanent book collection, I don't look to be giving it a reread since it was so hard to get through the first time.
Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen
I had this one I think in my holds and I'd hoped it would be ready to read for the readathon for my contemporary, but no. It did come in May and provided a respite from the previously mentioned book I struggled through.
This was a beautiful, but haunting book. Allen really wove a magical tale, as she usually does. This I believe was her first book after her battle with cancer, it's also the first book of hers set outside of North Carolina.
I say the book's haunting, because they speak a lot of passed people, the main character is actually been dealing with grieving the last year.
The book takes place in the summer and her descriptions of the summer time, make you ready for the season, so I'd totally add this to a summer reading list.
First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen
This was the latest book Allen had written and the final one I needed to have read all her books. This is another tale with Allen's first characters from Garden Spells the Waverlys. We had a couple of them make a cameo in her book The Peach Keeper. We find that 10 years has passed for the characters since the first book and all dealing with growing pains be it being a teen, a successfully business woman, or a woman wanting a second chance at motherhood.
This was a bittersweet read, which is what I usually say with books were we see a dramatic time shift. Seeing established characters age always makes me a bit sad, but it's an anxiety trigger for me. so it's just me.
Another thing in this book, as happens with many of Allen's is the food she mentions makes you hungry. I'm actually quite curious to try that Fig and Pepper bread.
Well that's another visit to the Library. I hope you guys have a good weekend, get lost in a book, and God bless you!
Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer
Books, Music, Geekiness, Life... This is the blog of the Thrifty Geek.
Friday, June 14, 2019
Monday, June 10, 2019
All About Aladdin
It's another Monday friends,
Sorry this post was delayed, I wasn't well Friday my old foe the mental health hydra drug me down again. But were not here to talk about my health, this post is about Aladdin!
For my birthday I decided to see Aladdin. I know as with any remake there was a stink, especially about Will Smith as Genie. I understand, I mean I was raised on the original Aladdin, and the cartoon series. That tape was one of the frequent ones my sister and me watched when the folks played cards with the neighbors in the kitchen, included in this list was Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey and Beauty and the Beast.
I've enjoyed a lot of the live action remakes Disney has been making and after seeing all the trailers for it I got more excited to see Will Smith's take on Genie. I found myself quoting it before I saw it.
So what did I think of it? Amazing. It was beautiful, funny, with a dose of female empowerment. Jasmine was always a feisty and tough princess, but they added to that in some ways.
I'm glad they kept the musical numbers the same, though some words were changed. I'm glad some of the things from the cartoon translated to the movie. There was a new song not in the original that I thought was a beautiful addition.
My favorite scene/song was also my favorite one from the original cartoon the A Whole New World carpet ride scene. I had goosebumps and had to keep myself from singing along.
I hope you guys have a good week, behave yourselves, may God bless you!
Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer
Sorry this post was delayed, I wasn't well Friday my old foe the mental health hydra drug me down again. But were not here to talk about my health, this post is about Aladdin!
For my birthday I decided to see Aladdin. I know as with any remake there was a stink, especially about Will Smith as Genie. I understand, I mean I was raised on the original Aladdin, and the cartoon series. That tape was one of the frequent ones my sister and me watched when the folks played cards with the neighbors in the kitchen, included in this list was Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey and Beauty and the Beast.
I've enjoyed a lot of the live action remakes Disney has been making and after seeing all the trailers for it I got more excited to see Will Smith's take on Genie. I found myself quoting it before I saw it.
So what did I think of it? Amazing. It was beautiful, funny, with a dose of female empowerment. Jasmine was always a feisty and tough princess, but they added to that in some ways.
I'm glad they kept the musical numbers the same, though some words were changed. I'm glad some of the things from the cartoon translated to the movie. There was a new song not in the original that I thought was a beautiful addition.
My favorite scene/song was also my favorite one from the original cartoon the A Whole New World carpet ride scene. I had goosebumps and had to keep myself from singing along.
I hope you guys have a good week, behave yourselves, may God bless you!
Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
Birthday Haul 2019
A good rainy Wednesday to you friends,
I have had a busy few days here. I've been to a family reunion where you never know what will happen, like a sister acting like she's gonna knock out her brother with a prosthetic leg (my family y'all). It was also my birthday. So much geekiness. So I thought I'd share some of my haul from my birthday.
First up is these Five Star vinyl Harry Potter™ figures from Walmart. I got Harry, Ron, and Hermione the usual suspects:
Next we have also from Walmart and Harry Potter™ Collectible Wand it's a blind box and I got Harry's wand! Yay!
Beside that is a Chessex® Gemini™ Purple- Teal with Gold Die Set that I went nuts over during a visit to Hot Topic with Fangirl who got them for me and everything on my haul thus far.
Now we go to a couple things my parents got me for my birthday. The first made me excited as a Critter it was a Nott the Best Detective Agency T-Shirt from Critical Role. I just finished Campaign One, I'm watching all the one shot, then I'll start Campaign Two where this shirt comes from. Since I was one watching old shows and broke I couldn't ever get the cool stuff they offered, cause the limited stuff would no longer around. So I'm really excited to own a shirt now.
Lastly is a piece of jewelry that makes me smile. It's from Windsor® called an Over the Rainbow Ring. I love it, I can see a rainbow anytime I want now!
Apart from the gifts I had a good birthday. I had Chinese for lunch, we did a lot of thrifting, and went to see Aladdin, which I will talk about in Friday's post.
I hope you guys have a good rest of the week, geek out, and God bless you!
Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer
Friday, May 31, 2019
Alien Child, My Upcoming Birthday
It's another Friday friends,
It's also a few days till my birthday so I thought I'd go ahead and post something for my birthday. I've been putting together My Life Story playlist. You can view some of that list here. I'm dealing with the mental health hydra so I'll close this short post with a poem about my birth.
Alien Child
I was wonderfully knit together in my Mother's womb
Why the Lord decided He wanted me there ten months
I don't know, but who am I to question Father's reasons
As I lay on the brink of death
The mystical pool water of a Cherokee Reservation campground
Gave me the jolt of life
One harrowing car ride, and a C section later
I arrived a grey alien
Desperate for Earth air
Though in my cousin's eyes a demon
Just waiting for the horns to grow
Little did she know the demons that lay beneath the surface
Have a good weekend guys, may God bless you!
Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer
It's also a few days till my birthday so I thought I'd go ahead and post something for my birthday. I've been putting together My Life Story playlist. You can view some of that list here. I'm dealing with the mental health hydra so I'll close this short post with a poem about my birth.
Alien Child
I was wonderfully knit together in my Mother's womb
Why the Lord decided He wanted me there ten months
I don't know, but who am I to question Father's reasons
As I lay on the brink of death
The mystical pool water of a Cherokee Reservation campground
Gave me the jolt of life
One harrowing car ride, and a C section later
I arrived a grey alien
Desperate for Earth air
Though in my cousin's eyes a demon
Just waiting for the horns to grow
Little did she know the demons that lay beneath the surface
Have a good weekend guys, may God bless you!
Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer
Thursday, May 23, 2019
Weekend at Captain's
Hello fellow mowers of lawns (if you have no lawn to mow... good for you),
Well May has continued to be a busy month for me. Fangirl and I made plans to visit the Captain's neck of the woods this past weekend.
Thankfully the day was lovely as we embarked on our journey. We even saw where they filmed scenes for District 12 in the Hunger Games movie.
To better write about the weekend I'm gonna break this all up into sections so we can have some better flow here.
The Food
When we got there we were greeted with homemade brownies and Lembas bread:
They were both good, even the sugar free brownies, which surprised me cause I have had unfortunate experiences with sugar free baked goods.
We were treated to the Captains home cooking for supper all weekend. It was a yummy spread:
Friday Supper - Apple Pork Chops with Rice and shell mac n cheese
Saturday Breakfast- Scrambled eggs
Saturday Supper- Meatloaf with mac n cheese and corn (which I decided to avoid cause I didn't need to blow up Captain's toilet).
Lunches were eating out events. On Saturday we invaded a nearby Golden Corral, the Sunday as a farewell meal we unsurprisingly at a Chinese restaurant. We generally end up at one when we get together.
The Carnival
In a tiny section of the mall parking lot a carnival had set up, so on that hot Saturday we visited. Fangirl, who is very temperature sensitive had to seek shelter in the mall. Captain and I were gonna go on that mixer ride cause I love that ride and usually can ride it despite the fact I have a belly, but this one the safety bar cut of my hair practically, so I told the guy I couldn't breath, and then he had trouble getting the bar to release. I have a theory that this version of the ride was geared toward kids, cause even the Captain who was way smaller than me said it was tight on her.
The carnival wasn't a total bust Captain managed to win a cute, purple unicorn:
Video Games
There was playing of old video games that weekend. I learned they had Monster Party which they hadn't played so I showed it to them, but I seemed to be having more trouble than I usually did on level one. then it hit me I think this was one of those games I played with the Game Genie.
Then Amber suggested Super Mario World, which the First mate demonstrated how to beat the game in record time. The First mate is endued with great geek powers. He is capable of teaching math and science to high schoolers, he kills it on a Dance Dance Revolution machine, he can solve a Rubix cube like nobody's business, oh and he kept owning our butts in Munchkin all weekend. As we were watching him kill the fish with his spit fire we realized this must be how the Mushroom Kingdom does a fish fry.
He also demonstrated his video game prowess by playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. As we sat around conversing he flew through the first half of the game. He did get a little stuck with the castle on Doom Mountain, which I do too. I'm serious Ganandorf as he's known as in this game is a wuss compared to this armor plated worm.
Card Games
We played two card games that weekend, one was Cards Against Humanity. They have so many cards for this game that Captain has a special storage case for them. I like the way this game is played, but I wish there was a cleaner version out there.
The other game that was played was Munchkin which Fangirl hadn't played before. Since this in an RPG card game Amber brought out the Funyuns®, all we needed was some Mountain Dew® and we'd be Stephen Lynch's D & D.
The Captain ended up with the "Chicken on Head Curse". It made me think of the Weathercock and the chickens from Zelda, which I learned are called cuccos. When she was a cleric I called her Cleric of the Weathercock, when she changed to a wizard Wizard of the Weathercock. I then explained to them what happens if you mess with cuccos too much. This is what lead to the playing of Zelda.
Cat Antics
The Captian owns a tuxedo cat named Kara, who was I hope I'm saying this right being an unsociable sociable cat. She'd either be hanging out just outside our range or storming the table during Munchkin. We were like what level of monster is Kara?
A couple times she was attempting to jump from the kitchen table to the top of the fridge, but she'd get distracted like when Fangirl nudged her with the Funyuns® bag. I called Funyun® interference.
Other times she was content to sit in front of the door and what the world outside.
It was a fun time, it'd been a while since we've visited our friend. I hope we get to meet up more often.
I hope you guys have an awesome weekend, beware the ticks, and God bless you!
Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer
Well May has continued to be a busy month for me. Fangirl and I made plans to visit the Captain's neck of the woods this past weekend.
Thankfully the day was lovely as we embarked on our journey. We even saw where they filmed scenes for District 12 in the Hunger Games movie.
To better write about the weekend I'm gonna break this all up into sections so we can have some better flow here.
The Food
When we got there we were greeted with homemade brownies and Lembas bread:
 |
| Nom Nom |
They were both good, even the sugar free brownies, which surprised me cause I have had unfortunate experiences with sugar free baked goods.
We were treated to the Captains home cooking for supper all weekend. It was a yummy spread:
Friday Supper - Apple Pork Chops with Rice and shell mac n cheese
Saturday Breakfast- Scrambled eggs
Saturday Supper- Meatloaf with mac n cheese and corn (which I decided to avoid cause I didn't need to blow up Captain's toilet).
Lunches were eating out events. On Saturday we invaded a nearby Golden Corral, the Sunday as a farewell meal we unsurprisingly at a Chinese restaurant. We generally end up at one when we get together.
The Carnival
In a tiny section of the mall parking lot a carnival had set up, so on that hot Saturday we visited. Fangirl, who is very temperature sensitive had to seek shelter in the mall. Captain and I were gonna go on that mixer ride cause I love that ride and usually can ride it despite the fact I have a belly, but this one the safety bar cut of my hair practically, so I told the guy I couldn't breath, and then he had trouble getting the bar to release. I have a theory that this version of the ride was geared toward kids, cause even the Captain who was way smaller than me said it was tight on her.
The carnival wasn't a total bust Captain managed to win a cute, purple unicorn:
 |
| *Insert a Despicable Me reference here* |
Video Games
There was playing of old video games that weekend. I learned they had Monster Party which they hadn't played so I showed it to them, but I seemed to be having more trouble than I usually did on level one. then it hit me I think this was one of those games I played with the Game Genie.
Then Amber suggested Super Mario World, which the First mate demonstrated how to beat the game in record time. The First mate is endued with great geek powers. He is capable of teaching math and science to high schoolers, he kills it on a Dance Dance Revolution machine, he can solve a Rubix cube like nobody's business, oh and he kept owning our butts in Munchkin all weekend. As we were watching him kill the fish with his spit fire we realized this must be how the Mushroom Kingdom does a fish fry.
He also demonstrated his video game prowess by playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. As we sat around conversing he flew through the first half of the game. He did get a little stuck with the castle on Doom Mountain, which I do too. I'm serious Ganandorf as he's known as in this game is a wuss compared to this armor plated worm.
Card Games
We played two card games that weekend, one was Cards Against Humanity. They have so many cards for this game that Captain has a special storage case for them. I like the way this game is played, but I wish there was a cleaner version out there.
The other game that was played was Munchkin which Fangirl hadn't played before. Since this in an RPG card game Amber brought out the Funyuns®, all we needed was some Mountain Dew® and we'd be Stephen Lynch's D & D.
The Captain ended up with the "Chicken on Head Curse". It made me think of the Weathercock and the chickens from Zelda, which I learned are called cuccos. When she was a cleric I called her Cleric of the Weathercock, when she changed to a wizard Wizard of the Weathercock. I then explained to them what happens if you mess with cuccos too much. This is what lead to the playing of Zelda.
Cat Antics
The Captian owns a tuxedo cat named Kara, who was I hope I'm saying this right being an unsociable sociable cat. She'd either be hanging out just outside our range or storming the table during Munchkin. We were like what level of monster is Kara?
A couple times she was attempting to jump from the kitchen table to the top of the fridge, but she'd get distracted like when Fangirl nudged her with the Funyuns® bag. I called Funyun® interference.
Other times she was content to sit in front of the door and what the world outside.
 |
| Kitty TV Time! |
I hope you guys have an awesome weekend, beware the ticks, and God bless you!
Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Games and A Question is Answered
Happy almost Thursday my friends,
I hope you all are doing well. My week has consisted of raging mental health hydra, seeing an old friend, watching Critical Role, and playing some games. That's about it. So I'm gonna touch base on the games and the gt together with my friend.
Games Galore:
Since it's been a slow week I thought I'd spend a portion of this post talking about some of the games I've been rocking lately.
Tablet Games:
xStreamer and Epic Band Clicker
I think xStreamer was in the suggested games on my tablet, then I located Epic Band Clicker through it. They are made by Tapps Games. The have really laid back game play, mostly tapping your screen repeatedly. Reminds me of Cookie Clicker. These are fun little games to have when you need a quick game to kill time maybe like in a doctor's office.
Eternium
I've been playing this RPG lately on my tablet. This has some really nice graphics and music. I also get a kick out of the little quips that emanate from my character's mouth.
Computer Games:
Farmville
For the last couple nights I've been getting back to playing Farmville. I can never hope to catch up in their expansions, but I'm still gonna play it here an there. I love that you have all the unusual plants and animals to have on your farm. But it's nice to play while I'm binging Critical Role.
The Sims 3
Yes I still rock Sims 3. I recently finished putting together yet another Summery themed family. I'm currently playing one of my Geeky sims named Tracey Bearden (Game generated name). She's an inroverted sim who has like three degrees (it was her Lifetime Wish), she works at the Bot Arena, and she's penned a few comics. You guys got any cool sims you're playing?
Chinese Restaurant Conversations:
Tuesday Fangirl, Captain, and I got together for a lovely meal of Chinese food. I think all our fortunes fit us. Mine was technically coming to pass at that moment. Yeah it was crazy. Anyway, during our meal we started talking Captain Marvel, we had to be careful with Endgame cause Captain hadn't seen it yet. Our conversation revisited a question Fangirl and I had after we saw Captain Marvel, why is is the cat called Goose. I've mention this in a post a few days ago. So after I got home, I forgot again, and remembered it right as I was going to bed. So I did a search and found this ScienceFiction.com article that revealed the answer, I was right it was after Goose from Top Gun. I get a Pocky stick!
And there we have it. Fangirl and I will be hanging with Captian this weekend, so that should be fun, and I'm serious I have seen the ad for Godzilla King of Monsters so many times on Youtube. I hope you all have a good weekend, have fun, and may God bless you!
Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer and Vampire >vv< Kitty
I hope you all are doing well. My week has consisted of raging mental health hydra, seeing an old friend, watching Critical Role, and playing some games. That's about it. So I'm gonna touch base on the games and the gt together with my friend.
Games Galore:
Since it's been a slow week I thought I'd spend a portion of this post talking about some of the games I've been rocking lately.
Tablet Games:
xStreamer and Epic Band Clicker
I think xStreamer was in the suggested games on my tablet, then I located Epic Band Clicker through it. They are made by Tapps Games. The have really laid back game play, mostly tapping your screen repeatedly. Reminds me of Cookie Clicker. These are fun little games to have when you need a quick game to kill time maybe like in a doctor's office.
Eternium
I've been playing this RPG lately on my tablet. This has some really nice graphics and music. I also get a kick out of the little quips that emanate from my character's mouth.
Computer Games:
Farmville
For the last couple nights I've been getting back to playing Farmville. I can never hope to catch up in their expansions, but I'm still gonna play it here an there. I love that you have all the unusual plants and animals to have on your farm. But it's nice to play while I'm binging Critical Role.
The Sims 3
Yes I still rock Sims 3. I recently finished putting together yet another Summery themed family. I'm currently playing one of my Geeky sims named Tracey Bearden (Game generated name). She's an inroverted sim who has like three degrees (it was her Lifetime Wish), she works at the Bot Arena, and she's penned a few comics. You guys got any cool sims you're playing?
Chinese Restaurant Conversations:
Tuesday Fangirl, Captain, and I got together for a lovely meal of Chinese food. I think all our fortunes fit us. Mine was technically coming to pass at that moment. Yeah it was crazy. Anyway, during our meal we started talking Captain Marvel, we had to be careful with Endgame cause Captain hadn't seen it yet. Our conversation revisited a question Fangirl and I had after we saw Captain Marvel, why is is the cat called Goose. I've mention this in a post a few days ago. So after I got home, I forgot again, and remembered it right as I was going to bed. So I did a search and found this ScienceFiction.com article that revealed the answer, I was right it was after Goose from Top Gun. I get a Pocky stick!
And there we have it. Fangirl and I will be hanging with Captian this weekend, so that should be fun, and I'm serious I have seen the ad for Godzilla King of Monsters so many times on Youtube. I hope you all have a good weekend, have fun, and may God bless you!
Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer and Vampire >vv< Kitty
Friday, May 10, 2019
Free Comic Book Day 2019
Happy Friday Friends,
In today's post we'll be talking Free Comic Book Day (FCBD), I may have mentioned it before but this is one if not my favorite geeky holiday.
Prep
I prepared for the day by painting my nails as close to a comic book yellow as I could get ( I used a wet n wild® yellow). Then using a technique I learned a long time ago somewhere on Facebook I guess I added newsprint to it. This is achieved by soaking your nails in alcohol and laying a piece of news print over your nail briefly and the words will transfer. Sadly you can't see the news print well in this picture.
On to the day itself, the morning which smelled so good. We went to our usual first FCBD stop Hero Hunter comics, which had moved and seemed to be closed. We learned from a guy later that they'd closed the week before. I don't know if it's permanent or what.
Morgan's Comics
We headed to Morgan's Comics, and ran into the guy who use to own Not So Old Toys and Comics, he may still he said he might come back so not sure. A lot of unsure on businesses on this day.
It was sensory overload as it usually at comic shops during FCBD. There were free comics, figures, and an old NES system. Saw a really nice Batman costume and a woman with I assume her kids who was dressed in a cute TARDIS dress. I ended up picking up a couple d10's to add to my collection:
I've done named them so that'll be part of a dice naming post at some point.
Comic Envy
Our next Stop was Comic Envy where Captain Sparrow was manning traffic yet again, he had a few helpers later encouraging people to stop by.
The Wayvern's Tale
We popped next door at The Wayvern's Tale, a cool gaming store that has become part of our FCBD rounds. So many games and stuff I wanna purchase, but then I'd be broke. I did get couple dice. One as a gift, and this cute little one:
We popped next door at The Wayvern's Tale, a cool gaming store that has become part of our FCBD rounds. So many games and stuff I wanna purchase, but then I'd be broke. I did get couple dice. One as a gift, and this cute little one:
For some reason this dice reminds me of Big Hero 6's Baymax.
I also saw the TARDIS Mom again, so nice to know we weren't the only one's making rounds to the nerdy stores that day.
Avengers: Endgame
We then headed to the movie theater for lunch and to see Avengers: Endgame. All I can say is wow! It was an epic movie with epic feels. I may have actually shed a tear or two. *warning channeling Captain Malcom Reynolds* I got goosbumps during this movie. If you haven't seen it, see it before it gets spoiled for you if you can.
And can I just say what Stan Lee says for his final cameo is good words, though I think "Excelsior" would have been more perfect. I just hope they find ways of honoring him in other movies.
Other Geeky Haul
After the movie to move around a bit, and maybe a bit of retail therapy, we did some shopping. I came across the entire first season of Angel which I happily purchased given I have yet to get any Buffyverse episodes yet.
Geeky Inspiration
As I was out I found myself being inspired by what I saw, so I crafted a poem:
FCBD 2019 Observations
The floral scents of morning
Sweetly kiss the nose
Are we saying goodbye
To the one who introduced us to this day?
The Wendy's worker in the mascot's clothing
Dances on the roadside with balloons tied to her arms
A sidewalk traveler spontaneously busts a move
While at a stop light a driving woman sings to the music
A familiar face pops up at a new place
Someday he might return to us
A stop sign has become a vegan's message
"STOP eating animals"
A band jams under an overpass
Beneath the flying squirrels
The purple bus zooms by
Proclaiming someone's done weirder
The afternoon rain drenches the world
As an epic battle plays before our eyes
So did you guys have any favorite comics from this year? I'm still working through mine. Right now no surprise my favorite is Doctor Who. I hope you have a good weekend, geek it up, and may God bless you!
Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer
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