Sunday, February 5, 2012

Weekly Wrap-up for February 5, 2012: On Singing, Babies, Books, Shakespeare, and More.

I am tired this morning, but I did force myself out of bed to get some things accomplished this morning. I guess I have myself to blame.

Last night we went to a karaoke bar. Now, anyone who has been in a car with me, to a concert, or by me while I think I am alone knows that I cannot sing to save my life. My husband says I can't really call it "tone-deaf" since I can tune myself when I am playing my trumpet, but I cannot carry a tune (Yes, I play the trumpet. Matt and I play in a community band once a week. And yes, I am better than him. ;) Don't tell him that).

So last night was a little tortuous for me, since the friends we went with have not been graced by the beauty that is my singing voice. Needless to say, even with all their peer pressure tactics, I didn't get up on stage and sing. I stayed at our table and listened. Our friend Jay was a little scared of the stage as well, so we just pretended that we were way too awesome to let others hear our golden voices. ;)

It was a good time, and I am glad Matt forced me to go. I was ready to snuggle in bed with a book, as is befitting for a hermit like myself, but I had fun with everyone.

I also went to a baby shower yesterday for one of my oldest and best friends. I met Jenny in the first grade and we have been friends ever since (over 20 years?). She lives down in Knoxville now, but her parents live out in Ann Arbor (about an hour from me). It was great to see her and some other old friends. She doesn't know what she's having yet, so I am excited to see come April.

It seems like a lot of people I know are pregnant or just had a baby! There is baby fever everywhere! I was at one of the schools I worked in on Thursday, subbing, and discovered that three of their English teachers are pregnant! They are all due near the end of July/early August. They were cracking jokes at lunch about something being in the water over there.

Today I don't have too many plans besides recuperating from a busy day yesterday and selling back some books to my local bookstore. They only buy back used books once every couple of months, and the last time I was there, their used section was a little on the empty side (their new sections were also a little bare, which confused me). I still have all those books I culled in November (I missed the weekend buy-back by a week), and since this is the first weekend to sell back since then, I am ready to get these books out of here. 140+ books take up a lot of space when they are just sitting there. Hopefully they'll take most of them. The rest I am going to donate to one of the schools in the area. And, hopefully, I'll get some store credit to buy a few things I've been eying.

In other good, bookish news, I was accepted to be a giver for World Book Night! I don't know which book of my 3 choices I'll be handing out, but I am really excited. I am going to go in and give half the books to some old students (as long at the two teachers I worked for are okay with it), and the rest I am passing out in the area. I am going to hit up one of our local malls. It should be a great experience and I am so excited that I get to do this.

In regards to the blog, Shakespeare Month is wrapping up on the 10th (I extended it) and to be honest, I'm kind of excited to get it finished. I feel a little drained with all the posting, reading, and writing about Shakespeare. Don't get me wrong, I love Shakespeare, but I am burned out. I read 11 plays, so I'm allowed. I still need to go read all the posts everyone wrote as participants, so that will be my main goal this week.

I am also planning a Victorian themed event for June and July. I have a lot of Victorian books to read on my list, so it is a good excuse. I've already started thinking about some prizes (you're going to love them), as well as 1 or 2 challenges to offer something different to the challenge. I'm planning on hammering out all the details in the next two months and announcing it in April. If you have some Victorians on your TBR, save them for June and July! :)

Well, that's all I have for this week. I am planning on catching up on some reading. I am in the middle of Roots by Alex Haley for the readalong, so I want to get to our goal for Wednesday before diving into something else. I'm having a hard time deciding if I should read David Copperfield, Nicholas Nickleby, or one of the two biographies on Dickens. I was thinking of saving the bios (one is the Bicentenary book I showed earlier this week, the other is the Tomalin) for later, but now I am second-guessing myself...Any suggestions?

Happy Reading!!

13 comments:

  1. I've noticed the baby fever too (myself included, I guess). :) And thanks for the reminder that I need to register for WBN!

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  2. Yay for the Victorian Event!! I am halfway through the Tomalin biography on Nelly Ternan. It's very good...

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  3. I am a hermit too...my husband tried to drag me out Sat night but as it was only for a night of xbox gaming with his best friend, I passed!

    Congrats on getting accepted as a giver for World Book Night.

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  4. Yay for trumpet players! I played for 8 years and then stopped when I went to college. I finally got my trumpet back from my mom about a year ago, after it had gone through a couple of other siblings, and it's not in playable condition right now. So as soon as I remember to take it in and get it tuned up and refitted, I hope to start playing again. We'll see how it goes. It's been a long time!

    And I'm definitely looking forward to your Victorian event. I'll still be chugging along with my Dickens year so I'll be in the right time period!

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  5. I got my WBN email too! Yay!

    And I look forward to hearing about your DIckens event. I'm chipping away at Martin Chuzzlewit right now. At least it's better than Dombey and Son, though I'm not sure if it's worth finishing. Personally, I'd recommend Copperfield over Nicholas Nickleby. I have plenty more Victorians on the TBR pile, so no worries, I'm in!

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  6. Congrats on being a book giver!

    I love karaoke. :) My friends and I play all the karaoke games on PlayStation but haven't ventured out to a karaoke bar yet, though we've been wanting to!

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  7. Did you know that Powells.com buys used books? And they pay for the shipping?? It's a great way to get rid of books!

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  8. Oh, very excited about the Victorian Event! Sounds like oodles of fun. :)

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  9. I am reading David Copperfield right now. It's my first Dickens in a long time and I'm really enjoying it!

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  10. You play the trumpet! That's awesome. I played trumpet ages ago (like junior high) and I still remember how awful I was, so I admire anyone with musical talent. I also get the baby fever thing. It's everywhere! I have 4 friends due in March and my sister already has 4 kids, my best friend has two. It's unbelievable. Once you've beeen married for 2 year s(as you know) I feel like people start putting serious baby pressure on you... not cool.

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  11. Looking forward to your Victorian event this summer!

    I'd recommend reading David Copperfield. It's my favourite Dickens. Also, the biographies will probably be more meaningful to you if you've read more of his work beforehand. Just a thought. :)

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  12. Yay on the World Book Night! It sounds like you will have fun with that.

    I'm desperately trying to get caught up on Shakespeare by the 10th...we'll see how that goes! I'm looking forward to the Victorian event this summer, too. I have several Victorian novels planned for this year, so I'll save them for the summer.

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  13. Wow, 11 plays in one month is quite a lot! I really enjoyed the three I read and I hope to keep at least one Shakespeare SOMETHING in my regular reading this year... And yeay for the Victorians!

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