6 posts tagged “a little friendly advice”
I wish that someone of the proper age would come in, so that I can sell it already and not even have to bother about where it goes, but, unfortunately they haven't. I have been spoiled, working holiday weekends, so now the normal slow days feel even slower than usual. ::sigh::
Today I had a cup of coffee and a cup of tea in quick succession and am now feeling all jittery from the caffeine (which is weird, I guess I am not used to it? Because I've had far more without problem). It's a bit better now, but the fact that I'm drinking a Diet Coke can't help. I also have a tuna sandwich for lunch but I'm not hungry, which is weird and inconvenient because my dad went to a lot of trouble to get said sandwich for me, and I really ought to eat it.
Five hours until I see Juno again!
Molto Liebe,
Charlie
I was going to post this yesterday, but by the time I got on the internet all motivation had drained away. Sorry! Anyway....
If you are curious about the book (which you should be!), then head over to Siobhan's totally awesome, newly revamped website and check it out! I highly recommend it! Or just head over to your local independent bookstore and as them about A Little Friendly Advice by Siobhan Vivian. If they don't have it? Have them order you a copy, and tell them to get a couple for the store, too. If you must get it online, then I humbly ask you do buy it from Powell's. Powell's is probably the most amazing bookstore in the US and is in Portland, Oregon. It's totally independent, and has the best (and most huge) selection of used and new books. I love going there, because they buy your books from you and give you yummy store credit. And, even online, though you don't get the experience, it's still miles better than soul-sucking Amazon.
What was I talking about, again? Oh yeah, ALFA. Another reason to read it? On Siobh's site there are Polaroids of some of the places in the book. How awesome is that? Do eeeet!
OK...moving on! Let's see...ah, yes...
I may have mentioned this before, but the boys were on the front page of Wednesday's New York Times! Both the New York and National editions (no idea if there's usually a difference). There was a little picture of Bill, and then, on the Arts section? Totally monopolized the front page, with a continuation (and Tom picture) inside.
I'm going to have to send StrongBad in to Apple to get my ethernet port and disc drive fixed. It will be days without my laptop, I'm not at all sure how I'm going to survive! Seriously, the idea of being without my laptop for a week + is really freaking me out. At least the band doesn't have anything scheduled until the Europatour starts on 3 March. Which is not that far off. ::chews nails:: I am going to have to back the whole HD up on my external tomorrow (which means clearing more space off, dang), just in case the Apple guys completely murder my baby. ::glares menacingly at Apple::
Ha! Speaking of Apple, on this week's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! they mentioned a study that found that Apple computer users are more egotistical, arrogant, etc, than their Windows using fellow humans. (I can't find a link to the actual study). And even more so? Apple users who vote for Barack Obama. My response? "Well, we are better." Heh heh heh.
Also on Public Radio, I was listening to Studio 360 and, not only did they have on the ever-lovely Ellen Page (I need to see Juno, like, yesterday), but they also had a rather talented young lady by the name of Thao Nyguen, who plays pretty brilliant indie rock. You should head over to her website and check her out, it is definitely worth listening to! You can pick up her band's CD, We Brave Bee Stings And All here for a mere $12. There is a helicopter on it!
Ooh, I saw 27 Dresses today! (With my mum, both Hanna and Natalie were supposed to go with, but couldn't manage it.) It was really good, very fun, funny and sweet. But then I am a sucker for fancy dresses and Katherine Heigl so I would have loved it regardless. If you are looking for a good movie to see, and that is playing, it would be a good choice, I reckon!
Sorry I am being spazzy and skipping around a lot, but I told you I have a lot of random stuff to say!
Tomorrow I am going to an Italian conversation group/class thing. I'm worried that it will be all awkward and weird and that I'll be bored out of my flipping mind, but it probably won't be too bad. And then, after, it's Oscar time! Are you going to an Oscar party? (or the real thing?) I'm going to the one at the theater, got my dress, shoes, bag, and sunglasses all picked out already. I will definitely post a picture, if one turns out. Though, crap, it just occurred to me that it might be raining. Damn. Oh well!
Are you still reading? Wow, you got courage. A few last things before I wrap this up—
I've been working on my passages this week! I've got about three pages of really rough first draft done on my script (which I might post up here, looking for input), and I've got a few pages done (or kinda maybe done. ish) on my zine! In fact, on the hearth in front of our fireplace are spread out about a zillion words cut out from magazines. It looks kind of rad, but the slightest breath of wind will send the whole thing into a tizzy. Which no one wants.
Speaking of zine, though! Our neighbour across the street let me some zines to look at, and one of them has a card on front that was shot (literally, with a gun) by Hunter S. Thompson, which is pretty much very cool. That reminds me, at my old high school we had one of Hunter's Sheriff posters, signed by the good doctor himself. That high school had its high points.
I'm kind of obsessed with my tattoo...though I'm getting tired of having to put on the lotion crap, and having to take showers in stages. My hair doesn't dry right if I wash it upside down, it looks silly. Oh well, soon it will be all better and awesome! Yay!
Gosh, I've probably put you to sleep. Heck, I've nearly put myself to sleep!
Good night,
Lotte
P.S. You know what is a really good movie? The Departed. Holy crap I love that movie!
OK, I'm really going now. Bye bye!
What's the best book you read this year?
A Little Friendly Advice, by Siobhan Vivian!!
::starts dancing around the house to the Dropkick Murphy's:: FTW!!
More books when I am not on my way to bed.
Yep, I told you I'd write it!
My Wednesay was your typical, not too exciting Wednesday, up until 2pm, when I, armed with a max pack (large popcorn w/ butter and brewer's yeast, large diet coke, m&ms and milk duds) and accompanied by Spencer, Aubrey and Hanna, finally saw SUPERBAD! I have been dying to see this movie for ages, but haven't gotten the chance, a torture that was made all the more difficult to handle as anyone who is anyone saw it in August.
Sometimes, when you look forward to something for a long time, it disappoints you. SuperBad did not do that. Holy cannoli! It lived up to and surpassed the hype in a big way! But, then, when you have Michael Cera and Seth Rogan (my two favourite Canadians...and on the Top 5 Hottest Guys list - guess the other 3) in it (and writing, in Seth's case), how could you not? If you are often offended by teenagers this movie might not be your cuppa, but if you are a normal person who has not seen it yet, do so immediately. It will change your life. (And check out Knocked Up on DVD as well, if you haven't already. Seth R. + Katherine Heigl = Genius!)
When I got home, I finished Blankets, which I had been reading all day, through as many classes and breaks as possible. Oh Em Golly. That is so hardcore an amazing book! If you haven't already, read it. It is definitely being added to my list of the Best Books of my Lifetime (that is, books after 1989 that I adore. There are a lot of books that I love but sometimes it's deeper and more connection than that). Thank you so much, Siobhan, for bringing two amazing books into my life. Speaking of ALFA, I'm getting tired of lending it out because I want to read it again.
Something else was waiting for me at home, besides the end of Blankets. A genius box from Keith @ Fred Flare! Um, Hello, I love you! Inside was the crazy awesome Good Life Mix that K sent out to peeps that shot him a B-day Mix (like me!). I put it on the stereo immediately, and it totes started rocking the house. Thanks for the tunes, Keith! I should post the playlist of the mix I sent him...it is a pretty neat selection, I have to say!
The other thing that was in the box ('twas a very large box) was a pair of roller skates! (I wish I could find the BFF post about it, Jen looks TOTES cute in them!). Now, I knew that they were there, but still, opening the box and actually seeing them was definitely a thrill! It was even better when they fit (buying shoe-type things online is sketchy). I immediately put them on, of course, and went rollerskating about my house all day. I mean that literally, I didn't take them off until I went to bed, after midnight. It's somewhat surprising that I even took them off then, as my mom pointed out, I'm just the type to sleep in my skates. Just because I'm awesome... Anyway, I haven't tried them out anywhere that is not my house yet, but I did pretty well on them there. It helps that my house is mostly carpeted, though going up/down stairs was somewhat harrowing. Heh heh heh. I'll try to get a pic of me 'n' my skates today, and get that posted up. Because they made my life.
The last thing (yes, this is a long list) that was in there was another CD: Thinking of You, by The Kung Fu Girls. Now, the KFGs had been on the Fred Flare Blog recently, but I was so buried in homework and whatnot that I didn't really have a chance to check them out. Boy am I glad that K sent me the CD! I listened to it at least 3 times all the way through that night. They are super-cute and super talented sisters NYC who play poppy rock, kind of like a better, more B.A., chick version of the Plain White T's. ((I found out, on further investigation, that they share a producer with the T's, and are going to go on tour with them!)) I'm going to try to get one of the songs up here - my favourite is "Dance With Me" - but you can check the tunes out at their MySpace page for now, and friend them if you have the 'Space.
It's safe to say that they are my new favourite (non-TH) band!
As you may recall, I posted a couple weeks ago about this amazing book I picked out of the advance copies at the bookstore, A Little Friendly Advice ((that's the post that's also about spätzle...you'll have to scroll down)). It is a pretty dang awesome read, and after burning through it (twice!) I lent it to my friend Danielle and she loved it as well.
I thought that was the end of that, at least until March (when it is released), but then today I opened my email to find a message from Siobhan Vivian, the author, saying that she had read my post and wanted to send me some super-cute buttons! Wow! Isn't that genius? I've never emailed with an author before...it's kind of crazy to think because she wrote that book. Dang. I can't wait until it comes out so that I can tell everyone at the bookstore to buy it! ((And maybe even have it on the FFBC? That would be rad.)
A few more things that are rad about the book:
*The boyfriend's name is Charlie. Um, no wonder I kinda sorta really had a crush on him. Boys named Charlie are the best.
*The heroine, Ruby, gets a Polaroid camera for her birthday and a lot of the book has her taking Polaroid pictures of things. It totally gets me all inspired when I read it to go take Polaroids, the only problem being that I don't have an actual camera that works. I want to get one, because [a] that would be rad and [b] I could use them in the zine that I am doing for my creativity passage for CLS. The only problem is my dad doesn't think you can easily get film for them, though I say you can. Does anyone have any tips for me? And old camera they don't want anymore? Polaroid tales to share?
Wow...today is genius!
Love always,
Charlie
Kinda freaky picture of me, but whatever. This evening I made spätzle to go with dinner ((pork chops...gross! I wish I was allergic, like Gustav is)), and it turned out pretty danged awesome, if you ask me. I am pretty much a pro spätzle maker. It's insane, really. And it caused me to form a new plan for luring Tokio Hotel to the US: free, tasty spätzle! Ja. Because they so don't even have it in Germany. At all. Ever.
Speaking of Tokio Hotel ((when am I not?)), I had the weirdest dream last night. Let me set the scene. We watched La Jetée, which was this craze trip movie made up almost entirely of still photos and voice over. It was originally in French but our version was in English, except for these insane whispers in German. Anyway, the whole thing was about time travel, but in your mind. As fascinating as it was, I still fell asleep near the end, which probably caused the time-travelling nonsense to leak into my dreams. After the movie was over I crawled upstairs and into bed, and that is when the insanity began...
I don't remember exactly when the dream started, but I know that the K twins were there, along with Hanna's little sister, Julia, and two girls that I go to high school with but haven't spoken to since 8th grade. Random, right? So, apparently, Julia and I had known the K's since way back when (a.k.a. 2003-5 ish) but hadn't seen them in a while, so Julia didn't recognize Tom ((because he looks soo different)) until I pulled him down ((by his dreads, haha)) until he was way shorter. It was fun watching the recognition dawn on her face, because it was very much like "OMG, it's Tom Effing Kaulitz!!!" heh heh heh. Silly girl. I can't recall what happened next, precisely, but I know that we all ate chocolate ice cream from communal bowls, feeding each other with the long-handled spoons that they have in coffee shops. At one point, Tom's dreadlocks got wet for some reason, and completely unravelled, which amazed me, because I had thought that they held together ((duh, obviously they do!)). "I thought you said they could get wet!!" or some such thing was the rather accusatory sentence I threw at young Tom. I daresay his response was less-than loquacious.
The next bit of my dream is a bit fuzzy, but I know that we all ended up in my bathroom, with, and this is the weirdest part, Bill Kaulitz, 2005 Durch Den Monsun era ((random fact, he was wearing a red shirt, like this)), and Bill Kaulitz, 2007 18years old, were lying side by side on their backs in my shower, sobbing. It kind of freaked me out...I wasn't sure what to do! I could just stare with fascination, and all the while my heart was breaking. I can't stand to see them sad. And then one of the ((non-friend)) girls said something about always having a bar of soap with her ((um, wtf?)) and asked Bill ((the older one)) if he wanted her to wash off his make up, and he nodded through his tears. So she was washing his hair and make up so nicely off and that made me cry, watching that. I was angry at myself, angry at her for thinking of it before I did. I was the one that was supposed to be taking care of them. I was the one who was supposed to have thought of that. I tried to help but there was nothing I could do, and I just felt so useless and sad. It was awful! And then I woke up with the largest stomach ache I have had in a while.
Next up on the agenda was work! I didn't know what to wear, so I settled on my Geek Love Poem Tee, Paris dress, white tights, and Converse. Rawk! It was actually a pretty awesome ensemble, maybe I'll recycle it for school tomorrow, with different tights (I'm not feelin' the white too much). Or maybe not. Anyway...
One thing that kind of sucked was that I woke up with a cold and sore throat (not just the stomach ache!), which was more annoying than anything else. There was much nose-blowing through out my day! Speaking of which, if you'll excuse me.... Ah, much better. I go to work on time, and got the trash taken out and the best sellers all set up before any peeps came in. A best-seller I'd like to read:
I love the NPR series and really would like to check out the book. You should too! Pick up a copy at Powells.com or at your local independent book store!
That's not the only book that I want...seriously, working at a bookstore is effing hard. At the top of my list: Forever in Blue (the 4th Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book), My Secret (one of the PostSecret books), On the Road: The Original Scroll (Kerouac, FTW!), and, of course, I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, the genius Amy Sedaris book. I had even more time than usual to drool over the offerings today, because it was obscenely slow. Yeah, I know that there are a lot of slow days. But this was to your idea of a slow day like mercury is to molasses in December. In short, there ain't no comparison. It was kind of sad, however...
A rad thing about working in a book store (that is not hard at all!) is that you can get as many advance-reader copies of books as you'd like! I ended up with a whole stack of 'em (heck, it was me or recycling, and I have a really hard time letting books go to waste!!), including this gem, A Little Friendly Advice, by Siobhan Vivian. It had such cute, fun-looking girls on the cover!
And, as you may or may not know, I am le sucker for the name Siobhan. That's pronounces "Shove-on", not "sigh-oh-ba-hahn", as she explains in the author bio. The book was so amaze that I read the entire thing (just 248 pages) in a row. I love it! It is probably one of the best books that I have read in a while. The story is really sweet, though sad, and you definitely get a good feel of the characters' emotions and whatnot. Siobhan (ahahaha) also does a darned good job of describing the characters (their looks, clothes etc) enough that you get a perfect picture of them without feeling like you're getting bogged down in details. I highly recommend this book, and I daresay you should pick up a copy when it is released in March of 2008 (I'll try to remind you!).
Other than my exciting reading, work was pretty borester, and I'll be glad when Aubrey's back next week to keep my company! Natalie did stop in for a bit on her way to the gym (toting her Midwest Living magazine under her arm!), and that was nice.
After it was all over I was sitting on the curb waiting for my dad to pick me up, with a large stack of books (um, nerrrrd) when a fellow that I know passed by on his way home from work. I said hello and he responded, and I tried to pretend that I hadn't been speculating on a prospective relationship between him and one of my best friends the night before. I guess I looked innocent enough because he didn't question me besides to ask if I had dyed my hair. "No," I responded, "It just magically changed colour all by itself." (Sarcastic, much?) He said that he wasn't sure if it had been pink or red before, and I told him that it had been pink, but while I spoke all I could think was 'Seventeen years of friendship and this is how much you notice me?' I guess I shouldn't really care...it doesn't matter. I already knew that I pay more attention to others than they do me, but it still hurts to have it thrown in my face. I picked up a book before he drove past and pretended to be reading to make myself look less lonely. A little pathetic are we today, Charlotte? ::sigh:: Colds get me down.
Not much else has happened to-day, other than that! I reckon you know it all. Oh, crap. It's already 9:30 and I have an essay to write and some Romeo & Juliet to read.
Last red hair photo of the night:
Blowing her nose for the 8 trillionth time,
Charlotte