Favorite Author

Stephen King is my all time favorite author.  I began reading his books when I was a small child (I had some fairly irresponsible parents).  One rainy day, stuck inside the house and driving my mother crazy, she yelled at me to go 'FIND SOMETHING TO DO'.  She told me to go read one of my books, to which I replied, 'I've read them all!' (without any whining at all, I'm sure).  She told me to go get one of HER books, just to shut me up I'm sure.

I went to her bookshelf, full of paperbacks she had read and re-read (my father, who is a brilliant man, is not a reader; I rarely ever saw him read for pleasure) and began scanning the shelves.  One book caught my eye.

She had the paperback of The Shining, colored bright bright yellow.  I was 8 years old.  I came skipping back out of the bedroom, this book triumphantly clutched to my little chest and proudly proclaimed:

'THIS ONE.  I'M GOING TO READ THIS ONE.'

Any good parent would look at their 8 year old child, desperately holding this book, which is just slightly terrifying and full of very adult themes, ruffle the hair on top of their head, chuck them under the chin and marvel at how cute their kid is, then go find them something suitable to read.

Not my mom.

Nope, she simply said, 'If you run into words you don't know, come ask me.'

I.  WAS.  EIGHT.

I read the whole book.  Cover to cover.  It terrified me.  It thrilled me.  It made me feel like a grown up.  I rarely had to stop to ask what something meant or what a word was.  I was a very, very strong reader, having tested at a high school level in 3rd grade.

Good, bad or otherwise, this book began my lifelong obsession with Stephen King.  I've read them all.  The Darktower series is one of the greatest stories told; each book a rich and wonderful story in its own regard, but truly brought to life when read as a series.  I love them all.  The terrifying ones (Pet Semetary is the only book that ever scared me while I was reading it), the subtle horror (The Stand?  The shit could actually happen, yo....that's scary) and the out and out true pulp horror (Werewolves?  Silver Bullet.  Ghosts?  Bag of Bones.  Vampires?  'Salem's Lot).  He's written complete non-fiction (Danse Macabre), he's written pure fantasy (Eyes of the Dragon) and he's written about time travel and the overwhelming need to redeem oneself from a past mistake (or stop another from a horrible event about to happen.  11/22/1963).

I have decided to re-read every single book King has released, in the order they came out in.  I have finished Carrie.  I forgot what a quick, easy read that book is.  It's terrifying in its simplicity.  Loved it!  Next on the list is 'Salem's Lot.  I don't remember this one a lot, so this is like getting a whole new book again.  :)

What author do you love?  Which one out there is one that you can read over and over and will buy every book they put out?

So, Last Night Was Weird

I think I got engaged last night.

Hear me out.

I live with my boyfriend.  I love him dearly and fiercely.  I am in no hurry to get married however.  I have grown children, hell, I have a grandchild, so we are not young and starting our family.  I have known him for over 20 years as friends, and we've been romantically involved for 4 years this month, and we've been living together for 3 1/2.  As much as I love him, I still just do not want to get married.

Yesterday was his birthday.  After having several cocktails while playing Final Fantasy X at home last night (home made pizzas for dinner....this was all his idea), we went to bed and discussion turned to his age, my age, and just what are we doing here.  Well, sir, we are living.  We are happy.  Why fuck it up?  I don't know.  In the end, I agreed to get married, but under some super fantastical conditions that should never ever be possible.

(Me:  Hey, let's get married on a cruise ship - the captain can do it - but your mother cannot come and spend a week on a boat with us.)

(Me:  Let's go to the Bahamas!  Oh, your mom won't fly that far?  Bummer.  Oh wait....she's legit concerned about the Bermuda Triangle???  Is she 12?)

And it got stupider as we went along.  The conditions just got more silly and more ridiculous and we ended the night giggling ourselves to sleep.  Because THAT is the key - be with someone that can make you laugh, all the time.  It's the greatest gift!

This morning, I rolled over and he smiled at me and called me 'fiance'.   I guess I got engaged last night.  I would go to the ends of the Earth with this man, forever, so maybe we should just do it.

I Also Do Crafty Things

I'm a craft junkie.  You'll see photos of that stuff and funny things related to it here every once in a while.  Like, hmmmm, now.  :)

FYI, I love this show (Ancient Aliens) mostly because of this guy's hair.  It's magical.

Good Afternoon

Good afternoon and welcome!!

I am S. and I am completely addicted to Diet Coke.  That is not the sum totality of my existence, but it is pretty close.  Nah, just kidding.  It's but a sliver of my daily life.  An important sliver, to be sure, but just a piece.

This will be a place for me to put it out there.  What is "it" exactly?  Well, I don't know.  Whatever I feel like, I imagine.  Some days will be happy, cheery or even upbeat.  Some days will be slow and low and depressed.  Because I'm normal and have ups and downs like everyone else.  There may even be more than one post a day!  We can only hope.

My day to day life at work is rife with blogging opportunities, and I think it's about time that they finally get out of my head.  :)   Living life in a giant corporation is some times better than working at Dunder Miflin, with people 12 times as stupid.  Makes for great topics.  :)

So, going forward, look for silly stories, angry stories, fun stories, pictures, meme's, etc.  It's my page so I'll pretty much put what I want out there.

:)