One Girl Revolution

I swear, I need a heat rock or something. It's bitterly cold up here, and even though I've stayed inside all day, I'm still chilly. I'm also inexplicably drained of energy and sleepy - I don't know if this is because I didn't get much sleep during the week, because of the cold, or both. Suffice to say that I got nothing accomplished today outside of reading. Amazingly, I don't feel guilty.I suppose it's ok not to. My only fear is that all of this relaxed, "blah" feeling is the precursor to illness. Lots of people at work have been ill recently, and given my track record of always being the last to get whatever everyone else had (only now in a bigger, meaner, mutated form), it's enough to give me pause. I'll find out tomorrow, I suppose.

The Bookcrossing Zone at work is a go, so I'm all sorts of excited about that. I've put out a general call for books over at their forum, I've asked people here, and now I'm going to do something that I rarely, if ever, do.

I'm going to sit back, relax, and wait.

This seems totally counterintuitive and against my nature, I know. That's because it is. Normally I fuss and worry and pester and scrape and flail and generally meddle when it comes to these sorts of things, trying so hard to get people involved that they soon want nothing to do with it. I realize now that that has a lot to do with my fear of failure. I have lots of ideas, but I'm often afraid that they won't work, that I'll look foolish, and that people will think less of me for overreaching. However, since 2008 officially rolled around, I've felt myself changing. I'm no longer as scared, and I'm a lot more willing to look into myself, figure out how and why I hold myself back, and gently discontinuing the behavior. I don't know if it's in the stars, the numbers, or just something within me that's decided it's had enough. All I know is that I'm growing, taking responsibility, and coming into my own. I'm glad for it. I still maintain that theycallmeboy has played a big role in it all, but however it came about, it makes me happy. And it's about damn time, isn't it?

Looks like 2008 may be full of very, very good surprises. Like the one I got a few minutes ago - since when did itslittlethings end up with 65 members? That's amazing!

But then, the world is pretty amazing, so maybe I shouldn't be too surprised.

So the Shepherd's Pie went well last night (except when some of the mashed potatoes bubbled over and ended up splattered at the bottom of my oven), but I'm not having any for dinner. Instead, I think I'm going to do a quick run to the store for some...red meat.

I feel sort of hypocritical - I'm all about the environment and cutting down on my carbon footprint, and reducing meat consumption can go a long way toward realizing that goal. I think I have done better at that when I cook at home, but about once a month¹, I really find myself craving the stuff. I want a hamburger, which is fairly doable, though I'm ashamed to admit that I still don't have a George Foreman grill. This means I'm going to have to go for some top of the line, super lean ground beef. Preferably organic, free range, grass fed beef. I have no idea if they sell stuff like that at the box store where I'm headed, but here's hoping. I'll have some salad with it, and maybe the apple I bought for lunch but didn't eat. I do need to do more of the fruits and veggie sides thing.

I'm pleased and surprised by the apartment cleaning. Instead of worrying about who may or may not show up this weekend, I focused on getting the job done so it was not only off my mind, but also because it would make it easier for me to invite people over. Once I settled on that, the work came a lot easier. Granted, Saturday and Sunday are scheduled to be ridiculously, bitterly cold, so I doubt anyone is going to want to leave their houses at all. Ah well - a clean apartment will afford me more time to work on projects, if that ends up being the case.

theycallmeboy  hasn't updated in a while, but that's because he's busy looking for a job; he's actually had a few decent leads already, and that makes me very proud.

I found some paperback books that I was originally going to sell, but I think I might Bookcross them instead...right after I get done reading them. I'm sick of buying books and then not reading them! Good intentions count for nothing at that point. My only problem is with three of the books, which were given to me by my high school boyfriend. I haven't read them for years, and I really don't need them anymore, but I'm torn about giving them away. I was thinking about it earlier today - I have a tendency to live in the past, reliving past glories and hurts, and it's time for me to break that cycle. Passing the books along to others would be a very bold, symbolic gesture for me, especially given my pack rat tendencies.

At the same time, I have very fond memories of the trilogy, unsophisticated as they may be. The high school boyfriend and I are still friends, and I feel a little bad for "throwing away" something he gave me. I'm sure he wouldn't be upset (I don't even know if he remembers giving them to me), but it's still enough to give me pause. I could always buy new copies afterward if I really decided I missed having them, but it wouldn't be the same, you know?

Suggestions?


¹I know why this is, but I won't burden you with the details.

There's all this stuff I should be doing, so how am I starting off? By writing a LiveJournal entry. Class.

I am making a certain sort of progress, though. I slept in today, having had a rough couple of nights on account of my legs. It started on New Year's Day, when I decided to walk to the nearest box store to buy some provisions. We had a heavy snow the night before, and in keeping with a New Years Resolution (more on that in a sec), I decided to walk rather than drive. After all, walking through deep snow is good exercise, right? You bet your ass it is, and by the time I got back, mine was damn sore, along with the rest of my legs. I was wiped out, but the next day I felt good, if a little sore. So I thought it would be perfectly fine for me to start on the beginner level of this video, which my mom and her friends rave about. It relies on a lot of leg work, but that's ok, right? After all, my legs are big and chunky for a reason - muscle!

I cannot accurately describe the pain I felt the morning after, which continued and actually worsened yesterday. I felt like I'd been bludgeoned by midgets. I sincerely thought that I'd somehow managed to rip apart muscles to the point that my legs would be covered with bruises (they weren't). It hurt to stand up, hurt worse to walk, and sitting down? Well, that was just utter agony. I did some upper body stuff on Thursday, but last night I just crashed. Seems like that's just what I needed, though - the legs are still sore, but feeling much better today. I think after I'm done here, I'm gonna wash yesterday's make-up off my face, brush my teeth and head down to the fitness center. I'm hoping it'll be a little less crowded during the day.

I'm trying my best to start anew with the exercising and nutrition because of a resolution - to lose at least 40 pounds or go down at least two sizes, whatever comes first. Make no mistake, I'm happy with the progress I've made over the past few years. I've gone from a size [I'M NOT SAYING] in college to a more acceptable size today, but I want to keep the momentum going. It the very least, I want to tone up; I look in the mirror and know that I can do better. Besides, I'm really enjoying feeling stronger and more energetic - guys, just imagine if I was, like, twice as peppy by December 2008. There'd be no stopping me!

To that end, I've joined fortylbs, a community founded by maggiesox. It's invite only, I believe, but if anyone is interested, I can let the mods know. It's pretty awesome, as support groups go - we're all irreverent and snarky, and I think I've become the comm's unofficial DJ when it comes to workout music. You should see the list I put together Thursday - it's just the tip of the iceberg, too. It reminded me of the time I made a list of roller derby music for jumpinjessflash, if that gives you any idea. I bring the rock! Or something.

I'm also planning to start a Bookcrossing Zone at my office, if I can get a good collection of books together. It should be fun to see if people contribute - we're an office of music, film and video game geeks, so things should get nice and crazy. I'm looking forward to having my mind expanded. I'm putting together a list of books I'd like to read which will eventually go into the Zone at work; I'll post it here and in the forum of the Bookcrossing site. Of course, I'll need to scrounge up some books to trade, since most of mine were shuffled off to Goodwill during the move. If any of you want to get the employees of the Best Damn Office on the Planet reading, let me know. I'll give you my address and you can send 'em my way. I'm thinking that I may periodically take some of the copies that have been sitting in the Zone unread (or have made the rounds at AMG) and cross them over at my favorite Ann Arbor store, Wazoo Records. The people in there are fantastic and knowledgeable, it's a store with some actual damn atmosphere, and leaving books there can only increase the amount of people who stop in, as it talks about On the Bookcrossing Zone page. It seems to be holding its own, but I've seen too many cool stores back in Ohio close down when the corporate juggernauts roll in. Consequently, I'm very protective of the place and want to do all I can to make sure it thrives.

I mean, come on - I met the Rollins there. Right there. How could I NOT want to see it do well?

I guess I should probably wrap it up here. The day isn't getting any younger, after all, and I've workin' out to do! Here's hoping the legs keep up.

Here - watch this while I'm away:

I just got a co-worker to sign up for Bookcrossing! I think that's pretty neat.

For a while now, I've been telling myself that I need to read more books. I read plenty of magazines, but until recently I hadn't really read any books from beginning to end since college. theycallmeboy has been a wonderfully positive influence in getting me to read long things again - before he came along, I was pretty much confined to magazine and online articles. And there's really, truly no excuse for that, since the reading glasses have solved the whole, "Why do I feel crappy when I read for a long time?" mystery. He's been wonderful and bought me some very wonderful books for Christmas and my birthday; I'm currently loving every second of 31 Songs by Nick Hornby, and I can't wait to read the books he got me for my birthday before I get to some of the other books he's sent along (including a signed Pat McCabe novel!). However, I would like to read a Bookcrossing book in between, just so I have something else to drop or trade.

So basically, I want to start using Bookcrossing more and more. I love the library, but ours sucks, and thanks to my schedule, I usually need more than two weeks to read a book. (I always forget to renew the damn things.) I may even use Bookcrossing to get the book I need for my Rock Hall docent class, if I can find it. It'll be a lot cheaper than buying the thing, that's for sure.

Since I've been out of the book reading loop for so long, I have no idea what to read, what authors to check out, and so on. I know a few names I like - Neil Gaiman, Pat McCabe, Hunter S. Thompson, George R.R. Martin, Dave Barry - but beyond them, I'm sort of lost and overwhelmed by the vast amount of reading material out there. So I'm turning to the flist to see if they can help. Can you guys recommend some "must reads" for me? Feel free to link this page - the more, the merrier. Once I have some names and titles, I'd like to make an entry that's basically a list of all the suggestions. I'll put it in my link bar and use it as a checklist. I'll also let you guys know when I've finished a book so you guys can recommend another, if you like.

There's no rush on this - I have plenty of stuff I'd like to read first - but I would like to get some suggestions. I consider it a self-improvement project, and I'd like to thank you all in advance for making me a more well-rounded person. :)

So last night, I made a big mistake.

I had an idea.

You see, I was listening to NPR on the way home, and they were talking about a group of soldiers over in Iraq who spent their downtime playing dominoes because there was nothing else to do. No Internet, no TV. Apparently it's dangerous enough in their area that providers don't want to come out and set that stuff up. (And really, who can blame them?)

So as I rode along in the car, I had that subtle feeling in my chest that I get when I want to help someone out. This immediately prompted my brain to start generating ideas until I hit on one that I was sure would work.

I have books. I bookcross. Why not send a book or two over to a couple of soldiers, along with a note encouraging them to share the book when they're done, maybe send it on to a family member, whatever?

It seemed like a good, foolproof, "Why would anyone want to mess with this?" sort of idea. But of course, nothing is ever as easy as it should be, especially when you want to make a small, simple gesture.

As it turns out, you can't just send a letter or package to "any soldier" anymore - there used to be a program for that, but it was discontinued. These days, you have to have a specific name and address - and I know no one who is currently deployed overseas.

Ok, I said to myself. I'll go online and see if there are any organizations that will allow me to send a book to a specific soldier, that he or she may read and learn and share and all that good stuff. Because everyone loves that.

Someone recommended this website. On first glance, I was heartened. It looked like three simple steps. After all, how hard should it be to send a book to someone?

But then I saw Step Two. Did you see Step Two?

A notarized application. That's more documentation than what I need to get my passport renewed.

So I checked out this website, since it didn't look like you needed a notarized application to send anything through them. And I was cruising along quite happily when I stumbled about the following message at the bottom of this page:

WARNING!!

If you use this site and send anything prohibited or illegal to any of our Soldiers, you will be hunted down, caught and prosecuted! I can tell you for a fact that the F.B.I. is and will continue to investigate any and all violations. The Soldiers and Any Soldier Inc. are fully cooperating in this effort.

Needless to say, this gave me some pause. There's something about the thought of being "hunted down" and "caught" that makes me a little nervous about the prospect of sending anything along. The illegal stuff is simple enough to avoid, but what's that about "prohibited"? What, exactly, would be prohibited? Sure, there's a list on the site already, but I doubt it's exhaustive. Are used books prohibited? For that matter, are there particular types of books that are prohibited? I had images of one of my books being detained as it's checked against the Official United States Armed Forces Approved Reading List, which I imagine would look something like this...

***

The Official United States Armed Forces Approved Reading List:

1) The Bible
2) The Very Hungry Caterpillar
3) My Pet Goat

***

So imagine if I sent along something by Richard Bach or Hunter S. Thompson or Michael Moore, or even something a little more sedate and mainstream that was nonetheless "prohibited." What the hell would they do to me? Would I walk out of my office one day, only to be thrown to the ground and handcuffed while FBI agents barked out orders to stay perfectly still or risk getting shot? Would I be dragged from my home, screaming in the night, whisked away to some interrogation at the hands of federal investigators because I'd dared to send along reading material to an unsuspecting man or woman in uniform? What would they do to me?

I get the feeling it would involve me missing Electric Picnic.

So - any ideas on how to smuggle a paperback?

I've been trying to figure out new and better ways to promote Forever Fifteen, and I suddenly realized that I have one big marketing scheme right in front of me. Or should I say, a bunch of small ones.

So, I'm a bookcrosser, right? And my books (presumably) go bunches of places and meet bunches of people. And in the process, they spread whatever messages are contained between their pages. Well, what if there was a message on their back cover as well?

I'm going to buy five stickers from the store to start with. Those stickers will go on books I want to cross; I'll write the URL of the shop at the bottom of the slogan, then hope for the best. I'm also going to post about this in the LJ bookcrossing community and the Bookcrossing.com forum to see if anyone else wants to help out.

And if you want to help, that would be awesome. Just write www.cafepress.com/foreverfifteen on things. Viral marketing and all that. Just don't get arrested. Or caught. And whatever you do, for god's sakes, don't use flashing, blinking Lite Brites placed underneath bridges or near highways. That's the last thing we need.

You have your orders. Now, go forth!

I've made it a goal to read more (and spend a little less) in 2007, so I thought I'd ask if anyone was interested in trading some books for books. There are a few specific books I'm looking for, and then just some authors whose works I'm curious about. I've provided some links to some of the books as well:

1) Reallivepreacher.com by Gordon Atkinson.

2) New Poems of Oriel, edited by Mary Kearns. I own a copy of this, but I'm unwilling to part with it - theycallmeboy wrote two of the poems featured in it, so it's in my permanent collection.

I'd also like to read some poetry by Patrick Kavanagh, Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsburg. Also, I'm ashamed to say that I've never read Walden, so if someone would like to help me remedy this, I'd be greatly appreciative.

My list of books is here. I'm hoping to start a Bookcrossing Zone, so that's why so many titles are "reserved." However, disregard those labels for now - if you see a reserved book that you're interested in, let me know and I'll send it your way.

Why must this be so expensive?

I really, really want to bookcross this - both because it's good and because theycallmeboy has two poems in it. I have a copy of my own (and you should all buy one, since proceeds go to this fine organization), but I'm not willing to part with it, for obvious reasons. At the same time, $21.90 is a wee expensive for a book I will be giving away. And I can't seem to find any used copies floating around.

Oh, what to do? What to do?

Well, first I'm gonna look at this:




Yay! Closer and closer!

And now, Ima go get some food.

Well, it looks like 2007 will see me do something else I've wanted to do, but told myself I couldn't.

theycallmeboy and I talked tonight, and we're going to set up bookcrossing zones. Hopefully what will happen is that we'll get them started, and then get people interested enough that they'll continue without the need for us to supervise. This is important, because...

...well, because the second part of the pact is that when we're together, we'll set one up in a new place, that being wherever we end up.

I declare 2007 to be the year when I stop second guessing and just do it, whatever "it" happens to be. Bookcrossing, getting a new job, getting my own place, being with the one I love. I'm going to stop worrying about the "how" I'm going to get things done, and just leave that up to The Powers That Be. It's so liberating, just declaring and knowing.

I know I keep saying it, but 2007? Is going to be an awesome year.

And those of you who aren't bookcrossers? There's no time like the present. www.bookcrossing.com