Too Gigantic and Sleepy to Blog :-)

Hi everyone!

No, I haven’t had the baby yet — don’t worry, there will be photos here as soon as that happens!  :-)  I’m just a super-tired litany of late-pregnancy woes right now (I’m huuuuuuge!  I have no energy for anything, especially blogging!  tying my shoes is hard!  climbing stairs is hard!  I can’t breathe!  I can’t sleep!  I MUST have the ENTIRE BED why do I keep finding this HUSBAND in it as if he thinks he’s allowed to SLEEP HERE TOO?).  😉

But it’s all OK, because my suffering and whining has allowed me to finally fulfill one of my major life dreams:

 
ACQUIRE GLORIOUS CHAIR!

Yes, I have always wanted a ridiculously enormous, fluffy, snuggly chair for my office, big enough for Sunshine and me together, where I can sit and read (or fall asleep, if, say, I’m eight months pregnant and tired allllllll the time).

And now I finally have it!  EPIC WIN!

 
GLORIOUS CHAIR!

And all I had to do to get it was make a person, gain a thousand pounds, and complain about everything for eight months.  Who knew?  :-)  It is gigantic, and it’s taken over my new office, and I love it.  Not only that, but Sunshine loves it, so it’s got the most important seal of approval right there.  🙂

New office!  Dominated by Glorious Chair!

So that’s probably where you’ll find me for at least the next month, especially since once I get into the Glorious Chair, it’s raaaaaaaaaaaaaather difficult for me to get out again.  😉

But I did drag my vast giganticness out in the snow this morning (yes, MORNING! outRAGEOUS!) to do my civic duty and VOTE!  WOOOO voting!  Which, no matter what happens, will still for sure be more satisfying than the other thing I recently dragged my vast giganticness out for, namely: seeing Avatar in 3D.

First of all, in case anyone out there is still confused, this movie has nothing to do with my trilogy Avatars (although I wouldn’t mind if someone would like to make a movie of my books!).  😉  James Cameron is not even using the same definition of "avatar" that I am.  The only similarities are that my trilogy also has weird flying creatures and probably at least one blue-skinned person in it, but they’re not alien.

I don’t mind that the movie has nearly the same title; there’s also a cartoon called Avatar: The Last Airbender being turned into a movie, and they already fought it out between them.  It’s just a word, like "warrior" or "seeker"; in fact, it looks like there’s a movie (maybe two?) called "Warrior" coming out this year, and we’re not going to flap around claiming that only our cat series can use that word.  Right?  That would be silly.

So, I have no connection to this movie, and I went into it hoping to be wowed by the special effects and to love it as much as so many people apparently have done.

But…

OK, I know I’m a cranky pregnant gal, but I seriously couldn’t stand this movie.  I went in with such low expectations for the story (which I’d already heard was essentially FernGully/Pocahontas/Dances with Wolves in Space) that I figured it couldn’t possibly be as bad as I was imagining, but it WAS.  If I hadn’t been there with friends, I would have left in the middle, and I’ve only felt that way about three other movies that I can remember: Happy Feet, Alexander, and The Contender.  (I know, I have weird taste in Movies I Can’t Stand.)

And listen, I’m not a movie snob; I like a lot of dopey movies.  Death Race and Battle Royale were hilariously ridiculous and I loved them.  I have no problem with big goofy blockbusters; if it’s based on a comic book, I’ve almost always liked it.  I can happily be like, "OK, this isn’t supposed to make sense, it’s just a fun popcorn movie."  And I am easily entranced by shiny pretty things, like all the amazing special effects they used here.

But for some reason this particular movie bored me to tears.  Not one single surprising thing happened in the entire three hours; all the characters started as stereotypes and ended as stereotypes with no depth or development; there was a lot of very disturbing ponytail business plus natives looking all dim and awestruck and cliche; and it just made me wish I were sleeping instead. 

Verdict:  BORED.  Painfully bored.

Lots of people loved it, though, so don’t necessarily take my word for it; if you don’t care about story and characters, by all means it’s worth seeing for the shiny pretty special effects.  But if you do think story is a pretty key element, I suggest sticking to TV, where real innovations in storytelling happen all the time, hem hem. 

Or better yet, BOOKS!  :-)  Did you all hear about the Newbery Award announcement?  I am deeply ashamed to admit I haven’t read any of these yet, although I’ve been meaning to, and I certainly will now:

The Newbery Award Winner!:

I keep hearing amazing wonderful things about this book, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

And the Honor Books:

Yay!  Books!  :-)  The big ALA (American Library Association) conference was in Boston this weekend, but I am much too vast and gigantic to make myself actually go wander around the floor.  I did get to go to a thrilling Scholastic event on Saturday night, though, which was especially exciting because it was full of amazing authors.  I got to meet Norman Bridwell!  The author of the Clifford books!  CLIFFORD!  THE BIG RED DOG!  Oh my goodness!  He and his wife were both impossibly lovely, as you might imagine.  🙂

Plus we hung out with a host of splendiferous Scholastic people, and it was all very thrilling, not to mention possibly our last chance to dress up and go out before the baby arrives.

Other than that, we’re just sitting around, waiting and sleeping and enjoying getting stuck in the Glorious Chair.  :-)  So, hopefully more soon, if I can muster the energy! 

Oh, but before I go, I have two links for you!

Ever thought about being a Jeopardy! contestant yourself?  Why not try out and see what happens?  The online tests are coming up in the next couple of weeks, so go here to find out more and sign up.  Tests for all ages!  Kids and Teen Tournaments too!  Go on, what have you got to lose?  Even just the audition is fun, I swear!  🙂

Or (boys, stop reading) if you’d like a less pressure-y kind of trivia contest — say, one you can do in your pyjamas — check out the Trivial Pursuit Battle of the Sexes happening online.  It’s guys versus girls!  Answering trivia questions!  Ridiculously addictive!  (well, if you’re me, anyway)  Last I checked, the ladies were winning (WOOOOOO!), so come on, gals, join in and represent!  Whee!

Now that’s really all…hope everyone is having a splendid January!  🙂

Quote of the Day:
Buffy:  I told one lie. I had one drink.
Giles:  Yes, and you were very nearly devoured by a giant demon snake. The words "let that be a lesson" are a tad redundant at this juncture.
— Buffy the Vampire Slayer