Books that need reading...

So I went to Barns and Noble today and of course I picked up a book.

This really wasn't a good thing seeing how my book shelf is collecting books that I have simply not had the chance to sit down and read.

The book I bought was the second and latest novel written by Lauren Groff called Arcadia, I already own and have read her first novel Monsters of Templeton as well as her collection of short stories Delicate Edible Birds. I'm looking forward to the book but I have a stack of others waiting for me to finish or start including:

- The Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde (3/4 of the way finished)
- John Connolly The Gate (1/5 in) and it's sequel The Infernals
- Steven Hall The Raw Shark Text
- Tana French The Likeness
- Jo Nesbo The Snow Man (few chapters in)

These are all REALLY good books that I either have read/own several more of by the same author or are the next book in a series of books I want to read. But where do I start?

Oscar Wilde is amazing and I'm very close to completing the collection. I've also read John Connolley's Book of Lost Things and his short stories Nocturne so I'm really excited to finish his next two books.  The Raw Shark Text has been recommended to me by the same person that recommended Mark Z. Danielewski House of Leaves, which was dark and interesting and I read in less then a week (look at the size, that's impressive). The Likeness is the next in a sudo-series that started with In the Woods (a great mystery story about Dublin's murder squad) and the rest of the series looks just as riveting. I've also heard that Jon Nesbo's work compares close to that of Stieg Larsson, The Snow Man being just one in a series of mysteries.

And yet there's still more I want to own! I just finished my boyfriends copy of Neil Gaiman's/ Terry Pratchett's Good Omens and want a copy of my own in addition to his two collections of short stories Fragile Things and Smoke and Mirrors. I'd like Nesbo's second book The Lepord as well as Tana French's Faithful Place. I feel so overwhelmed because I know now that I'm working full time I'm going to have even less of a chance to read.

I guess I just have to start chipping away one at a time... people always wonder about different super powers they'd like to have. I always thought an ability not to need sleep would be wonderful, I could get so much work/ reading done with time to spare. Anyways, maybe I'll start doing book reviews with each one I finish. If you are interested in any of the books I've listed they are linked to their amazon counterpart. Most are what my profile defines as my kind of book: a little mystery, a little romance and a touch of the fantastic.

Keep it Covered

Good morning :)

So there is something a made the other day that I'd like to post. Its a little buttoned cover that can be used for many things but I made to keep personal items personal. I really was in the mood just to sit down with a thread and a needle to sew so as much of it as I could, I did by hand.

In order to make this I hand basted the materials in place before machine sewing them. I slip stitched the cover closed, I used a blanket stitch to close the pouch and do a decorative trim around the flap, I hand made a button hole with a button hole stitch and then finished by adding a button. It was more time consuming then if I had used my machine but it's fun doing small projects well. For a more indepth how-to please see my CO+K

Job vs Career

So I was just hired at my first full time position at a good company since graduating college this spring. Before I can start working I had to go to a clinic to have a physical and drug test. The process took almost 3 hours due to constant mistakes and just a plain disregard for others time... it's funny because every doctor tells you to make an appointment and yet non of them ever keep it. You're the one paying them and yet you sit half naked in an exam room for almost an hour for a process that takes two minutes while they are constantly "running late".... To get back to the point, the doctor examining me asked what position I was just hired for... I told him "Credit Collection Representative". He gave me a look and said "So you're going to call people to be mean to them".  "No" I said, "I'm going to make sure people pay for what they have been using". He finished the conversation by giving me another all-knowing look and saying, "Sure, we'll call it that".

I have no shame in my job, people make a promise to pay in exchange for goods, I don't feel like a bad guy for holding them accountable to their agreements for goods they have already been using. Not to mention this is a good job, I will be working full time plus overtime and for once I will have benefits (something I really need). I am more then happy with this job, I am STOKED. I will be able to pay off my student loans, save some money, become a more independent individual and hopefully work my way up in the company. This position has absolutely nothing to do with my degree but honestly I wasn't expecting my first job to. I have a degree in humanities, something I thoroughly enjoyed learning about and would not take back, but I knew going in my area of study that it was going to be a hard sell to potential employers. Short of working in a museum (which I applied and interviewed for) or a school (no thank you, not my temperament) my degree does not apply to many careers other then the sheer well rounded ability to learn. Turns out that was all I needed in order to get my current job.

My brother once asked me what career I hoped to have. I told him honestly, "I don't really care what I do. So long as it's a decent job for a good company all I care is that I make enough money to freely enjoy my time with the people I love when I'm not working". He was absolutely shocked. My brother is of the mind set that his career, a teacher, is his obligation to better the world and gave me a long speech about how his job is his life. I appreciate teachers enormously, especially here in California where their responsibility is so great, their resources so little and their compensation even less. I admire all those who have a fulfilling career that makes them and the world better for it... I just don't want to be looked down on for not having the same. I may not be able to change the world in a significant way through my work but I hope to improve the lives of my friends, my siblings, my boyfriend and maybe my own family one day by truly being able to focus on us and our well-being over that of a career.

Maybe that will all change and I will also find my own "career" but I'll still be proud of where I started, where I am today and be proud of those who are able to succeed in at their own jobs, what ever they may be... because their is no shame in working.