+This might be the most terrible thing I've ever read. Like, how can you be so nonchalant about forgetting to take care of your pet? I admit that I sometimes neglect the dogs' teeth, or they don't get to play outside as much when it's muddy, or I haven't been giving tick medication to them since we moved here because we don't really have ticks in Colorado...but to say the last nice thing you ever did for your dog was when you let him smell your newborn's hat before you brought the baby home from the hospital, years ago?. I really (like, really) hope this is a satire.
+I deactivated my Facebook. Part of me is ready to give Instagram the boot too. The fact that filtering is encouraged gives everything a rosy glow and I don't know how I feel about that.
+Maybe I'm just bitter.
+I'll tell you what I am bitter about: The Newbery Medal. The winners were announced this week and, while I don't have a better suggestion, 2014 had to have a more substantial contribution to children's literature than this:
Maybe I just believe that the genre of children's literature is being funneled into cultural subsets. But I would never, ever read this book. It's too narrow. I mean, I've read Roll of Thunder, I've enjoyed The Watsons Go to Birmingham, but those are about historically important time periods. I'm not going to read a book about basketball. I'm just not and I won't buy it for my classroom because, unless I (as a teacher) really push a medal winner on the kids, they're apt to just choose the same old I Survived or Geronimo Stilton books for themselves. I just cannot believe that out of all these contenders, a book like Crossover won. It's a crooked, crooked system.
And one of the runners up, reminded me of another current gripe I have.
I HATE books that are written in stanzas. I've ordered 3 books (including this one) from the book order in the last few months that I thought would be really interesting and they're all written this way. As soon as I see that, it goes on the shelf and maybe a kid will read it. Maybe this is because I also hate poetry, but that is neither here nor there. Though Brown Girl Dreaming, a Newbery Honor book this year, looks like it could be slightly more interesting than that basketball thing.
If you're looking for a "winner" amongst the winners, I haven't read any of them. I contemplated Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin but I'm iffy about animal stories and I've already ordered The Family Romanov by Candace Fleming.
+I broke my laptop yesterday and no, I don't really want to talk about it.
+I had a mocha from Starbucks on Tuesday and I suppose I just hadn't had one in awhile, but it was so sweet that I could hardly drink it. I have no idea what they put in it. It was just my standard "non-fat, no whip" but the lady apparently had some trouble pumping the syrup. I felt ill the rest of the day. Back to Americanos.
+I sincerely hope that things are going well on your end. Truly. I hope the first week of February has treated you well. One more work day. After today of course.
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