Kickstarter
The Doubleclicks - $10
Oh Joy Sex Toy - $20
We're Alive: Lockdown - $20
Clothes
Amy Pond Jacket - $58
Spider Gwen cardigan - $50.17
New Normal Apparel shirt - 57.92
Balloon Dress - $40
Surplice top - $32
LOC Pride and Prejudice tee - $28
MISC
eshakti shipping - $13
Kristyn Hippe EP - $8
In App expansion for Bonza - $3
Sold
Selling books - $38.44
With the offset, that brings my total spending to $301.65 for the month of June. Since I'll be sharing a closet with someone, I have no need to acquire more clothes. I will need to figure out how to share space and I don't know what the dress code will be for the next job/temp gig I have so there's no point in dropping money I don't have on clothing I'm not sure I'll use.
The Kickstarters I funded this go around were all ones I'd planned to invest in once I knew they were going to happen. I wanted to be a part of Oh Joy and have a personal investment in the other two.
I saw the Amy Pond jacket when I went to look at something I saw in the store window. I talked myself out of a lovely but impractical polka dot dress but I could use the jacket as a lazy Amy Pond cosplay since I already have a navy and white striped tank. As for the cardigan, I've seen 2 different designs on We Love Fine and watched them sell out. Not this time.
The New Normal Apparel I have no excuse other than it allowed me to wear leggings as pants. I just found out I had a new temp assignment that would pay the best money I've ever made and it should go on for a couple of months. Imagine my disappointment when it stopped after 3 days.
To celebrate unexpectedly getting another gig, I acquired a customized dress on sale from eshakti. With the customizing fee, it was about $40. Because I got more than one item, the top was 30% off and is enormously practical. After that gig ended abruptly, I went to the Library of Congress. It is one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen including the Vanderbilt mansions. They had a Pride and Prejudice tee exclusive to them that I couldn't resist picking up. I managed not to buy any books but that doesn't feel like quite the badge of honor I want it to be after looking at these numbers.
My big lesson from this month is that no matter how long they say a temp gig is for, it could end tomorrow. I can no longer trust what I'm told for the duration of any future assignments. No more celebrating. I'll celebrate by saving money since I'm moving in August.
On the upside, most of the major birthday I've got for the rest of the year are taken care of and I've got a head start on Christmas. I also got an influx of cash from selling books back. I've discovered 2 new apps that I'm hoping will allow me to sell books and clothes for cash. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. I'm hoping I won't be idle for too long but there's no guarantee that I won't be out of work for the next month.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
PopSugar Reading Challenge Book 23 or Bedtime Stories for Adults
For a book of short stories, I read something I've had since Borders went under: Stories for the Nighttime and Some for the Day. I now officially love Ben Loory.
In his collection of fairy tales, Phillip Pullman talks about how characters in fairy tales are very one dimensional. They're there to move the forward without needing the depth and development of regular characters. So it is with Loory's short tales.
While many do not have the moral of fairy tales, they are powerful tales that resonate deeply within all of us. The haunting monster from The Swimming Pool, the simplicity from The Shadow, the message from The Afterlife Is What You Leave Behind, the faith from The Magic Pig, the wisdom from The Poet, and the tale of love from The End of It All. These are bed time stories for grown-ups.
Because the stories are both simple and complex at the same time, I read it in short bursts over a month and a half. It allowed me a chance to digest all of what lied in each story and appreciate before consuming more. There are tales of love as well as fear and can think of few who would walk away with nothing to appreciate from this small book.
In his collection of fairy tales, Phillip Pullman talks about how characters in fairy tales are very one dimensional. They're there to move the forward without needing the depth and development of regular characters. So it is with Loory's short tales.
While many do not have the moral of fairy tales, they are powerful tales that resonate deeply within all of us. The haunting monster from The Swimming Pool, the simplicity from The Shadow, the message from The Afterlife Is What You Leave Behind, the faith from The Magic Pig, the wisdom from The Poet, and the tale of love from The End of It All. These are bed time stories for grown-ups.
Because the stories are both simple and complex at the same time, I read it in short bursts over a month and a half. It allowed me a chance to digest all of what lied in each story and appreciate before consuming more. There are tales of love as well as fear and can think of few who would walk away with nothing to appreciate from this small book.
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
PopSugar Book Challenge Book 22 or Why I'm Too Old for Some of This
For 'takes place in high school,' I knew there was only one place I was going to turn. John Green is an amazing writer. He could probably make the calorie information on a cereal box into compelling prose if he was so motivated. With Paper Towns due to be released very soon, I wanted to read the book before the move colored my idea of the book.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead.
Once again, John Green manages to create something that is absolutely wonderful. It's more than the story of a mysterious girl but of growing up and realizing there is more than one version of a person that exists. Q was a great narrator and I'm glad I got to see the story from his eyes. He was a little too obsessed with Margo for it to be totally healthy but I was able to enjoy the way he saw the world.
I couldn't like Margo. As a character in a novel, she's interesting, especially told through Q's eyes. In reality, she would be a melodramatic, self-centered pain in the ass who would care very little about the lives of those around her. I say this from experience.
She was bored with her life and need attention from her self-involved parents so she routinely went away leaving vague clues that weren't meant to be solved. She recruits Q before her latest disappearance and leaves some half-assed clues he wasn't meant to solve. When he does manage to solve them and they do find Miss Mystery, she ignores then before being a whiny little brat about it. She even admits to Q that she would have stolen his car had he not agreed to go along. Q wasn't a whole person to her just as she wasn't him. He was just an extra in the movie that was Margo.
The ending was absolutely perfect for both characters but even John Green wasn't capable of making me like Margo.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead.
Once again, John Green manages to create something that is absolutely wonderful. It's more than the story of a mysterious girl but of growing up and realizing there is more than one version of a person that exists. Q was a great narrator and I'm glad I got to see the story from his eyes. He was a little too obsessed with Margo for it to be totally healthy but I was able to enjoy the way he saw the world.
I couldn't like Margo. As a character in a novel, she's interesting, especially told through Q's eyes. In reality, she would be a melodramatic, self-centered pain in the ass who would care very little about the lives of those around her. I say this from experience.
She was bored with her life and need attention from her self-involved parents so she routinely went away leaving vague clues that weren't meant to be solved. She recruits Q before her latest disappearance and leaves some half-assed clues he wasn't meant to solve. When he does manage to solve them and they do find Miss Mystery, she ignores then before being a whiny little brat about it. She even admits to Q that she would have stolen his car had he not agreed to go along. Q wasn't a whole person to her just as she wasn't him. He was just an extra in the movie that was Margo.
The ending was absolutely perfect for both characters but even John Green wasn't capable of making me like Margo.
Saturday, June 20, 2015
PopSugar Book Challenge Book 21 or Surreality TV
I'm bending the 'love triangle' rules because I've been wanting to read this. Reality dating shows have been creating love polygons for several years and The Bachelor's been doing it the longest.
I've read several 'tell alls' that didn't tell much. This wasn't one of them. Apparently Adrian Grenier is well hung and Courtney and Ben had great sexual chemistry, among other dish. Robertson did not skimp on many details including ones that made her look bad.
Editing plays a big role in who the audience sees as a villain and a good girl. A good example was when Ben announced everyone was going to Puerto Rico. In the episode, Courtney immediately said "I was just there." In reality, it was part of a normal post-toast conversation.
I maintain you have to give the choice soundbites like calling another girl a stripper but there's always more than meets the eye. I didn't realize some girls had to share a bed or how cliquey the girls were toward each other (though I'm not surprised).
I felt like some of it was a public apology to some of the girls since she said some (not all) very nice things I doubt she meant. The rest of it was to tell her side, entertain the public, and improve her image. I appreciated her honesty about what was wrong in her relationships and the role she played.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
A Gilmore Girl's Good Reads
Today BookRiot speculated what Rory would have read once the show was over. While I think they did a good job with that list, there's no way Rory would have stopped there.
For fiction, Rory would have enjoyed:
Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan
Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan
The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan
The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Love Begins in Winter by Simon von Booy
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Wife by Meg Wolitzer
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
The Martin by Andy Weir
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
Rory would be a little late to discover Neil Gaiman but would make up for lost time. Sullivan is an amazing feminist writer Rory would love. Zafón and von Booy have beautiful, poetic prose she'd adore. Several of the others are popular fiction she'd want to see what the buzz was about.
Rory was no fiction loyal list, here are some of the nonfiction titles she'd devour:
Nothing to Envy by Barbara Dermick
How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
Moranthology by Caitlin Moran
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Life Itself by Roger Ebert
The Good Girls Revolt by Lynn Povich
Eighty Days by Matthew Goodman
Popular by Maya Van Wagenen
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
Notorious RBG by Irin Camron
Thank You for Your Service by David Finkel
Kerman, Hillenbrand, and Strayed would be the popular memoirs she'd want to judge firsthand. Poehler, Kaling, Fey, and Moran would be the brilliant funny women Rory would go for right away. Goodman and Povich because she's a fellow journalist. Ebert because her and Lorelai were such movie nuts.
Since Rory wanted to be a journalist, we can't forget the addition of recent political memoirs:
A Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
Off the Sidelines by Kristen Gillibrand
Forgetting to Be Afraid by Wendy Davis
Hard Choices by HRC
Going Rogue by Sarah Palin
Rory is obviously liberal but she would want to know what Palin has to say because of her ability to produce choice soundbites.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
PopSugar Reading Challenge Book 20 or I Do
I've been curious about Jen Doll's book for a while and she seems like an interesting woman so I checked off 'written by a female author' and saved the date. I was honestly a bit underwhelmed. For all the weddings she attended, I expected more emotion, more drama, and a bit more cohesion to the story of the rest of her life. I felt like Doll was playing everything very close to her chest, not letting us see too far into her world.
This reserved feeling was aided by the formal tone she took. It didn't feel like I was getting someone's life story but reading an essay from the New Yorker. I didn't feel like she was confiding in me or telling me the whole truth. Maybe that was just the nature of a memoir told about pieces of someone's life rather than the whole story. Maybe Doll wanted to keep some of it for herself.
Despite how often I heard about Ginny and knew the importance of Doll's loss of that friendship, there was almost no information about it. Ginny's husband was a jerk and had even talked about divorcing him with her parents but the reader's have no idea why. Whatever crimes her husband committed against her, Doll never gave the reader any details, any reason to hate him as much as she did. This felt like a big apology to Ginny.
It was an entertaining memoir but not as interesting as I expected.
This reserved feeling was aided by the formal tone she took. It didn't feel like I was getting someone's life story but reading an essay from the New Yorker. I didn't feel like she was confiding in me or telling me the whole truth. Maybe that was just the nature of a memoir told about pieces of someone's life rather than the whole story. Maybe Doll wanted to keep some of it for herself.
Despite how often I heard about Ginny and knew the importance of Doll's loss of that friendship, there was almost no information about it. Ginny's husband was a jerk and had even talked about divorcing him with her parents but the reader's have no idea why. Whatever crimes her husband committed against her, Doll never gave the reader any details, any reason to hate him as much as she did. This felt like a big apology to Ginny.
It was an entertaining memoir but not as interesting as I expected.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
A Graphic Year Week 23
I knew this was the direction they were taking the movies but I have a hard time seeing how one will have anything to do with the other. One of the biggest players in the comics was Reed from Fantastic Four and I think the movies are trying to keep those universes separate, as evidenced by the half-ass film to maintain rights to the franchise.
This story is very powerful. Doctor Strange said it best when he said that there was no right or wrong side, just the one with the least amount of collateral damage. After hundreds of innocent people die, mostly children, people turn on superheros. They are tired of masked vigilantes and people they can't hope to control. Tony Stark becomes the new front man for a movement to make all superheros paid government employees (SHIELD specifically). It will make them easier to regulate and control. Civilians will feel safer.
Captain America is the first to oppose this decision and many others soon follow. They have no interest in sacrificing their freedom for what people fear will become a fascist system. Will they still be able to determine the villains or become criminals when they no longer agree with who the government thinks are the bad guys?
Rather than fighting to protect the people, the heroes begin fighting each other.
One of the things I wonder is if the movies will be able to add enough heroes to make this fight seem screen worthy. There's a few extras from the most recent films but if they want enough for Civil War, they need Joss Whedon to stop killing off characters.
It's a very powerful story and one many people will relate to. It makes me think of the quote, "Those who would sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither." But superheroes often work above or beyond the law. Are they losing freedom when we ask them to live by similar laws as our own police or military force? I hope they do a good job of showing the fine balance they must strike here.
One character dies in this story to show a point of no return. There's no going back and people start to change sides after it happens. Will there be enough heroes to join the fight? Who will lose their life to give this story meaning?
This story is very powerful. Doctor Strange said it best when he said that there was no right or wrong side, just the one with the least amount of collateral damage. After hundreds of innocent people die, mostly children, people turn on superheros. They are tired of masked vigilantes and people they can't hope to control. Tony Stark becomes the new front man for a movement to make all superheros paid government employees (SHIELD specifically). It will make them easier to regulate and control. Civilians will feel safer.
Captain America is the first to oppose this decision and many others soon follow. They have no interest in sacrificing their freedom for what people fear will become a fascist system. Will they still be able to determine the villains or become criminals when they no longer agree with who the government thinks are the bad guys?
Rather than fighting to protect the people, the heroes begin fighting each other.
One of the things I wonder is if the movies will be able to add enough heroes to make this fight seem screen worthy. There's a few extras from the most recent films but if they want enough for Civil War, they need Joss Whedon to stop killing off characters.
It's a very powerful story and one many people will relate to. It makes me think of the quote, "Those who would sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither." But superheroes often work above or beyond the law. Are they losing freedom when we ask them to live by similar laws as our own police or military force? I hope they do a good job of showing the fine balance they must strike here.
One character dies in this story to show a point of no return. There's no going back and people start to change sides after it happens. Will there be enough heroes to join the fight? Who will lose their life to give this story meaning?
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