2008 Challenges

Here is a list of my current challenges. If it's underlined, I've read it. You can click on the title to see my review of it.

Classics Challenge
5 classics July 1-December 31 + 1 "modern classic"
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne

Graphic Novel Challenge
3 Graphic Novels June 1-December 31
Sandman: World's End by Neil Gaiman
The Absolute Sandman Volume 1 by Neil Gaiman
Maus I & II by Art Spiegelman
Watchmen by Alan Moore
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol 1 by Alan Moore

Short Story Challenge
10 short stories or 5-10 short story collections or combination in 2008
Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman (collection)
The Overcoat by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (story)
Araby by James Joyce (story)
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (collection)
Eminent Domain by Dan O'Brien (collection)
Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese (collection)
I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon by Philip K. Dick (collection)

Young Adult Reading Challenge
Read 12 YA books in 2008
Feed by M.T. Anderson
House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
The Messenger by Lois Lowry
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Breakout by Paul Fleischman
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation Volume 1: The Pox Party by M. T. Anderson
Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

My Year of Reading Dangerously
Read 12 books in challenging categories in 2008, 1 per month
January: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
February: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (African American)
March: Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood (Atwood for Atwood's sake)
April: Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney (Poetry)
May: The Watermelon King by Daniel Wallace (Southern)
July: Breakout by Paul Fleischman (adolescent)
August: Maus I & II by Art Spiegelman (Graphic Novel, Pulitzer winner)

The Sci-Fi Experience
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Feed by M. T. Anderson

Margaret A. Edwards Award Challenge
Read 3-5 books by winners of the Margaret A. Edwards Award Feb 1-June 1
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
Messenger by Lois Lowry
The Giver by Lois Lowry

Royalty Rules Reading Challenge
2-4 books about royalty (real or imaginary) Feb 1-April 30
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor

Once Upon A Time Challenge
5 fantasy books March 21-June 20th
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Fables: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham
Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney
Fables: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Sandman: World's End by Neil Gaiman
Stardust by Neil Gaiman

R.I.P. III Challenge
Read Scary Stories September 1-October 31
Vampyres of Hollywood by Adrienne Barbeau
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon by Philip K. Dick
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Mythopoeic Award Challenge
Seven books from Mythopoeic Award (winners or runners up) in 2008
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

In Their Shoes Reading Challenge
Read memoirs/autobiographies/biographies in 2008
Eat, Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Nickeled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Candy girl: a year in the life of an unlikely stripper by Diablo Cody.
Life is So Good by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman
Marie-Therese, Child of Terror by Susan Nagel
Maus I & II by Art Spiegelman

The Chunkster Challenge
Read 4 books of 450 pages of more in 2008
Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
The Absolute Sandman Volume 1 by Neil Gaiman
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Some People's Parents

She’s a superstar singer, and a regular high school student. She is Hannah Montana and Miley Cirus. She is every tween girl’s idol.

Watching a friend of mine who is the parent of Hannah Montana-idolizing tween try with her best grit and determination to buy tickets to HM’s most recent concert, I was not surprised to learn that 80% of tickets were sold to ticket brokers, who resold them for sums anywhere from $350-$2000.

There were few measures my friend did not attempt. She tried using a Hannah Montana fan club code, went to work early so she could use the broadband internet to pull up the Ticketmaster website, and called the Ticketmaster phone line so she could be assured of at least a seat. Within 2 minutes, it was all over, and she was still ticketless.

However, I am comfortable in the knowledge that she did not go as far as this mother. Yes, that’s right, she helped her 6-year-old daughter write a fake essay to score a set of tickets and a blonde wig. Her reasoning? “We did the essay, and that’s what we did to win. We did whatever we could do to win.”

The essay apparently caught the attention of those judging the competition with an opening line carefully calculated to manipulate that one heartstring all Americans love having tugged, that one topic that sends all of us running for our hankies: “My daddy died this year in Iraq.”
Maybe the mother isn’t quite as crass and calculating as I first suspected. She is just teaching her daughter life skills, after all. When precocious little daughter goes to college and the professor accuses her of plagiarism, she’ll know exactly what to say.

I copied the essay, and that’s what I did to get an A. I did whatever I could to get an A.
Really, for many people that’s an attitude that takes years to develop, and this daughter will be so far advanced beyond her peers in it that really I can almost understand the reasoning behind it.

Gag.

Confessions

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” – Arthur C. Clarke

As I am trying my hardest to wrap my (non-technological) mind around all of the possibilities in blog design, I was reminded of that quote by Arthur C. Clarke. I’m viewing the dizzying array of templates, widgets, add-ins, and because I barely understand how they work, much less how someone comes up with the idea on their own, they seem… well… yes… magical. I guess this psychology major is just never going to understand javascript.

I have a lot of “umm… this may be a dumb question but….” moments when it comes to computers and technology, but I used to have a wonderful coworker who always made me feel like such a computer smarty. She was having anxiety because she couldn’t open this extremely important document. Alright, said I, show me what you’re doing. She opened Word, clicked on Open, and scrolled through to find the document in question. The file was labeled file.xls. Ta da, opening an Excel file in Word is your diagnosis! Solution: open Excel file in Excel. And I come out looking oh so smart. Other incidences like this have led to my (I hope) permanent status as somewhat of a “computer genius”. Or “computer magician”, I suppose.

Testing... testing....

Welcome to my blog. I’m glad you’re here, because without you this would be nothing more than a journal for future archeologists to learn about what life was like in the early 21st century. Hmmm… better start collecting random facts for aforementioned archeologists: Price of eggs=$1.39 Cost of gas=$3.00/gallon Most obnoxious celebrity=toss up between Brittney Spears and Suri Cruise.

Or you can read this blog and bookmark it, thus justifying its existence. I had a xanga blog before and just quit updating, so what am I going to do differently this time? First off, I’m starting with a much better format. Anyone can leave comments, for starters. So if you find a post interesting, funny, note-worthy or utterly repulsive, leave me a comment.

Alrighty so that’s the formatting stuff. What can you actually expect from Bold Blue Adventure? Here’s my description so far:

“Start with stories about the random things that happen to me, mix in profiles of interesting people I’ve met and a pinch of book recommendations; as an added bonus toss in some short stories, stir briskly and you have my blog.”