Sarah Dessen's Blog, page 31
February 28, 2011
yawn....
Quick update here, on this Monday morning, when my head is swimming for several reasons. First, there's the fact that my daughter was up every two hours last night, coughing and needing my attention. Then there's the post-Oscar roundup, which I am trying to watch even though I missed most of the awards due to the fact that I went to bed at 9:30 (I think I knew I wouldn't be sleeping much, somehow). Then throw into the mix that I woke up all blurry and sleep-deprived, only to see Charlie Sheen on GMA having what looks like some sort of extended manic episode. Clearly I am not the only one whose brain is a bit muddled right now.
I just don't know what to think about Charlie. The way he's acting now reminds me WAY too much of when Britney went through her public breakdown, complete with renegade interviews (with Matt Lauer, remember?) and shaving her head, and attacking cars with umbrellas. It's hard to watch because you know they're sick, somehow, and need help, and yet they are not getting it. I think it's ironic that during a break in the midst of the Charlie craziness this morning on GMA, they featured an ad from Britney, announcing a live performance next month. She's somehow pulled it together: hopefully he can, too. It just makes me sad for his family and especially his kids. Can't be easy to watch.
Okay, I need to stop writing about this. Probably need to stop writing altogether. Sleep deprivation makes me, in a word, NUTS. When my daughter was an infant I couldn't even put two words together. I was a danger to myself and others. But she's three and a half now! Shouldn't sleep (or lack of it) no longer be a problem?
No, says my mother. And, to add insult to injury (or sleeplessness to sleeplessness) this issue isn't going away anytime soon. "But eventually," I argued, "she'll sleep later, and not wake up so much. She has to!" My mom considered this. Then: "Well, perhaps. But, see, then she'll be out late with her friends, or not calling when she should, and you STILL won't be sleeping."
See, these are the things people don't tell you when you're all pregnant and rubbing your belly and, "Ah, I am the miracle of life, behold me." When I see women in that phase now, carrying their first and worrying about burp cloths and birthing classes, I just want to say, "WHY AREN'T YOU SLEEPING RIGHT NOW?"
*reads over entry, slowly, with bleary eyes*
Okay, now I DO sound like Charlie Sheen, i.e. a bit unhinged. Time to sign off. Will update again once I get some sleep. Which will be....well, someday. Maybe?
Have a good Monday, everyone!
I just don't know what to think about Charlie. The way he's acting now reminds me WAY too much of when Britney went through her public breakdown, complete with renegade interviews (with Matt Lauer, remember?) and shaving her head, and attacking cars with umbrellas. It's hard to watch because you know they're sick, somehow, and need help, and yet they are not getting it. I think it's ironic that during a break in the midst of the Charlie craziness this morning on GMA, they featured an ad from Britney, announcing a live performance next month. She's somehow pulled it together: hopefully he can, too. It just makes me sad for his family and especially his kids. Can't be easy to watch.
Okay, I need to stop writing about this. Probably need to stop writing altogether. Sleep deprivation makes me, in a word, NUTS. When my daughter was an infant I couldn't even put two words together. I was a danger to myself and others. But she's three and a half now! Shouldn't sleep (or lack of it) no longer be a problem?
No, says my mother. And, to add insult to injury (or sleeplessness to sleeplessness) this issue isn't going away anytime soon. "But eventually," I argued, "she'll sleep later, and not wake up so much. She has to!" My mom considered this. Then: "Well, perhaps. But, see, then she'll be out late with her friends, or not calling when she should, and you STILL won't be sleeping."
See, these are the things people don't tell you when you're all pregnant and rubbing your belly and, "Ah, I am the miracle of life, behold me." When I see women in that phase now, carrying their first and worrying about burp cloths and birthing classes, I just want to say, "WHY AREN'T YOU SLEEPING RIGHT NOW?"
*reads over entry, slowly, with bleary eyes*
Okay, now I DO sound like Charlie Sheen, i.e. a bit unhinged. Time to sign off. Will update again once I get some sleep. Which will be....well, someday. Maybe?
Have a good Monday, everyone!
February 24, 2011
The Five!
1. Whew. It's Thursday, not even the end of the week yet, although it feels like it. Today I had a BIG conference call to discuss tour and promotion for What Happened to Goodbye, which was very exciting and required massive NASA-like scheduling to achieve. (Preschool drop-off and pickup: the world revolves around it. Not sure you knew that, but now you do.) Then, when I was finally exhaling and making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for the toddler, my little dog Coco had a seizure. It's not the first time---she's actually on medication to control them---but I'd only seen her do it once before, and it was not as scary as the one today. It's just really awful to see something so small twitching and breathing hard and know there is NOTHING you can do but just sit there and reassure them. Which is more difficult when you have a very impressionable three and a half year old watching Little Bear in the next room who really, really doesn't need to see ANYONE have a seizure, much less a dog she adores. Anyway, after what felt like forever it was over, she came out of it---a bit wobbly---but okay. I took her to the vet, where she checked out fine and we were told just to keep a close eye. All's well that ends well, right? But it just goes to show that when you THINK you have something big to worry about, it turns out to be not even the biggest thing that happens that day. Man, life is a wild ride. And I don't like rides! Oh, well...
2. Thanks to everyone who weighed in after my last entry about the blog, and whether to move it from here on LJ to my site or not. Thanks to your input, I realized I could put a CAPTCHA on comments to prevent some of the spam, which is a good temporary solution, but I think I need to have a long-term change as well. My website guy, Mark, thinks we can make the blog REALLY awesome using Wordpress on my site, and he guarantees I will like the interface. Have I told you, though, how I feel about change? Suffice to say, things WILL probably be changing here, but not right away. And ideally I'll be able to still post here AND there and, well, everywhere. Stay tuned.
3. I realized the other day that I have an UNUSED Sephora gift card, from Christmas, in my wallet. This is SO not like me. Normally if I have gift cards anywhere they are spent within twenty four hours of me receiving them, but for some reason I can't seem to GET over to my store. I know, I know, there's a website, it's great. But with makeup you kind of have to try things on, and compare them. And so it sits. And sits. But now that I'm aware of it, it's driving me NUTS so--barring preschool or seizure issues---I am going to try and get there this weekend. I think it's time for a new lipstick, anyway. I need one that is long-lasting, doesn't dry out your lips, and comes in endless varieties of pinky-brown. If you have one, fill me in!
4. You know how much I love Glee. Like, crazy love it. But did anybody else feel like this week's episode was kind of...weird? Maybe it was the week I was having. Entirely possible. But all the drinking, and the drunk dialing, and the, um, vomiting? Not sure what that was all about. I have to give them credit though, as they NEVER bore me. Maybe I just need to watch it again. Although with the vomiting, I'm not sure....
5. Speaking of Glee, it's because of it that I actually first heard a fair amount of Lady Gaga. Before they did a show all about her music, I just didn't...get her. Or something. In fact, I may STILL not get her, but I have a new appreciation for her songs. The thing is, I actually sort of enjoy covers of them---like Glee's "Poker Face"---more than the originals. Which I guess says more about me than her music, but whatever. For instance, when I first heard "Born this Way," all I could think was that it sounded a LOT like Madonna's "Express Yourself." I couldn't get past it, and thus didn't pay much attention to the words. But then, today on GMA, they had this little girl who did a cover that became this huge hit on YouTube. And it just made me stop everything I was doing to listen. (Which is saying something, as I am constantly multitasking. I swear even when I sleep I am running through lists in my head.) Anyway, in case YOU haven't paid attention to the words closely either and would like to, here it is:
Off to pet my little dog now. Have a good weekend, everyone!
2. Thanks to everyone who weighed in after my last entry about the blog, and whether to move it from here on LJ to my site or not. Thanks to your input, I realized I could put a CAPTCHA on comments to prevent some of the spam, which is a good temporary solution, but I think I need to have a long-term change as well. My website guy, Mark, thinks we can make the blog REALLY awesome using Wordpress on my site, and he guarantees I will like the interface. Have I told you, though, how I feel about change? Suffice to say, things WILL probably be changing here, but not right away. And ideally I'll be able to still post here AND there and, well, everywhere. Stay tuned.
3. I realized the other day that I have an UNUSED Sephora gift card, from Christmas, in my wallet. This is SO not like me. Normally if I have gift cards anywhere they are spent within twenty four hours of me receiving them, but for some reason I can't seem to GET over to my store. I know, I know, there's a website, it's great. But with makeup you kind of have to try things on, and compare them. And so it sits. And sits. But now that I'm aware of it, it's driving me NUTS so--barring preschool or seizure issues---I am going to try and get there this weekend. I think it's time for a new lipstick, anyway. I need one that is long-lasting, doesn't dry out your lips, and comes in endless varieties of pinky-brown. If you have one, fill me in!
4. You know how much I love Glee. Like, crazy love it. But did anybody else feel like this week's episode was kind of...weird? Maybe it was the week I was having. Entirely possible. But all the drinking, and the drunk dialing, and the, um, vomiting? Not sure what that was all about. I have to give them credit though, as they NEVER bore me. Maybe I just need to watch it again. Although with the vomiting, I'm not sure....
5. Speaking of Glee, it's because of it that I actually first heard a fair amount of Lady Gaga. Before they did a show all about her music, I just didn't...get her. Or something. In fact, I may STILL not get her, but I have a new appreciation for her songs. The thing is, I actually sort of enjoy covers of them---like Glee's "Poker Face"---more than the originals. Which I guess says more about me than her music, but whatever. For instance, when I first heard "Born this Way," all I could think was that it sounded a LOT like Madonna's "Express Yourself." I couldn't get past it, and thus didn't pay much attention to the words. But then, today on GMA, they had this little girl who did a cover that became this huge hit on YouTube. And it just made me stop everything I was doing to listen. (Which is saying something, as I am constantly multitasking. I swear even when I sleep I am running through lists in my head.) Anyway, in case YOU haven't paid attention to the words closely either and would like to, here it is:
Off to pet my little dog now. Have a good weekend, everyone!
February 23, 2011
writergrl @ 2011-02-23T09:11:00
My blogging schedule is so messed up right now. In fact, I don't even HAVE a schedule anymore. I'm telling myself that this is me just Being in the Moment, Going With It and Letting Go. But really I'm just so busy I don't have a choice.
There's also the fact that lately the comments section of this, my beloved almost TEN year old blog, has been hit hard lately by spammers. Which STINKS. I could cut down on it by only allowing comments from registered LiveJournal users, but I know a lot of you regular commenters don't have accounts and probably don't want to sign up just to comment once in awhile. But as is, I'm spending WAY too much time deleting pharmaceutical ads (and the occasional porn ad, which is SO upsetting as I know some younger folks read this). My awesome website guys at Neural 9 have said we could easily move the blog over to my site, and have an RSS feed there, but I'm worried people would stop reading if I left LJ. Dilemma! Plus there's the fact that I totally can't figure out my own Google Reader thing, so can I really expect other people to?
(On that note, does anyone know how to get an RSS feed of Meg Cabot's blog? Mine no longer works and I really, really WANT it to! And here I like to think I'm tech-savvy. Apparently not.)
Oh, I just don't know what to do. Especially since I am typing this as my daughter---who promised to give me ten minutes of peace if I let her watch Team Umizoomi---is totally not holding up her end of the bargain. She is demanding to make muffins, or go outside, or play with glitter pens. Or, you know, all three. She's flexible....as long as she has my full attention.
If you, however, have a moment of peace (or two, or even three! Jealous!) and have any bright ideas about the spam/RSS/official website blog thing, let me know. I hate that LJ might not work for me anymore, as you KNOW I do not like change. But it seems to be inevitable lately. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something? Hmmm....
Have a good day, everyone!
There's also the fact that lately the comments section of this, my beloved almost TEN year old blog, has been hit hard lately by spammers. Which STINKS. I could cut down on it by only allowing comments from registered LiveJournal users, but I know a lot of you regular commenters don't have accounts and probably don't want to sign up just to comment once in awhile. But as is, I'm spending WAY too much time deleting pharmaceutical ads (and the occasional porn ad, which is SO upsetting as I know some younger folks read this). My awesome website guys at Neural 9 have said we could easily move the blog over to my site, and have an RSS feed there, but I'm worried people would stop reading if I left LJ. Dilemma! Plus there's the fact that I totally can't figure out my own Google Reader thing, so can I really expect other people to?
(On that note, does anyone know how to get an RSS feed of Meg Cabot's blog? Mine no longer works and I really, really WANT it to! And here I like to think I'm tech-savvy. Apparently not.)
Oh, I just don't know what to do. Especially since I am typing this as my daughter---who promised to give me ten minutes of peace if I let her watch Team Umizoomi---is totally not holding up her end of the bargain. She is demanding to make muffins, or go outside, or play with glitter pens. Or, you know, all three. She's flexible....as long as she has my full attention.
If you, however, have a moment of peace (or two, or even three! Jealous!) and have any bright ideas about the spam/RSS/official website blog thing, let me know. I hate that LJ might not work for me anymore, as you KNOW I do not like change. But it seems to be inevitable lately. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something? Hmmm....
Have a good day, everyone!
February 20, 2011
writergrl @ 2011-02-20T16:14:00
Oh, man. I got sucked into ANOTHER reality TV show. How did this happen?
Okay, I know how it happened. My friend Dana, who is also my arbiter of style---if you like any shoes or dresses I am wearing on booktour, more likely than not she selected them---is a big fan of the Bachelor. She could not understand how I, as someone who loves TV, was not watching it as well. I told her I'd tried, but just couldn't get into it---mostly because my husband was groaning too loudly to hear anything. "You have to!" she persisted. "It's like Rock of Love, but with better clothes!" There's also the fact that Jennifer Weiner, an author I adore, is obsessed with it. I mean, two people I admire can't be wrong, right?
Fine, I thought. I'll try one more time. So this weekend, while I had the house to myself---nobody groaning---I pulled the premiere of this season up on Hulu and left it on while I prepped some stuff for dinner. By the time my salad vegetables were chopped, I was IN. I know, I know. I am WEEKS behind and thanks to US Weekly I already know who has been cut. But you know what? It doesn't even MATTER. I still love it.
Oh, it's just too humiliating to even admit this. In my defense, can I remind you that I am also reading Jonathan Franzen's FREEDOM (which is fantastic) and just finished listening to Amy Chua's BATTLE HIM OF THE TIGER MOTHER on audio? I DO engage my brain in other ways. I promise you. And really, we just can't be hard on ourselves, can we? My husband accidentally gave my daughter a dog biscuit this morning instead of a cookie. Did I judge? No. Did I laugh? I am STILL laughing. But i digress....
In other news, this week we start talking about my book tour for WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE. (Which, incidentally, will be out in 79 Days. Thank you, Countdown App!) From what I've heard, the publicity folks at Penguin MIGHT be sending me to some cities I haven't been to before, which is very exciting. I'm also going to be doing some festivals, which are new to me as well. Planning a tour is always stressful, because you want to get as many places and see as many people as possible, but there's also the stickiness of balancing all that travel with your sanity and health. Laurie Halse Anderson has mastered the SUPER tour, staying gone for weeks at a time and traveling only with a carry-on (something Ally Carter does as well) but I am not setting the bar that high. I have a toddler I can't be away from for more than a few nights without turning into a sobbing mess, and I am way too neurotic to only pack one outfit choice per day. So yes, that WILL be me you may see sniffling at a crowded baggage claim at your local airport come May and June. If you do, please don't judge. Please?
Okay, I'm off to make the most of this weekend by fixing some pigs in a blanket for the hot dog party we are having tonight. Will I watch the Bachelor while I wrap crescent rolls around little smokies? What do YOU think?
Have a good night, everyone!
Okay, I know how it happened. My friend Dana, who is also my arbiter of style---if you like any shoes or dresses I am wearing on booktour, more likely than not she selected them---is a big fan of the Bachelor. She could not understand how I, as someone who loves TV, was not watching it as well. I told her I'd tried, but just couldn't get into it---mostly because my husband was groaning too loudly to hear anything. "You have to!" she persisted. "It's like Rock of Love, but with better clothes!" There's also the fact that Jennifer Weiner, an author I adore, is obsessed with it. I mean, two people I admire can't be wrong, right?
Fine, I thought. I'll try one more time. So this weekend, while I had the house to myself---nobody groaning---I pulled the premiere of this season up on Hulu and left it on while I prepped some stuff for dinner. By the time my salad vegetables were chopped, I was IN. I know, I know. I am WEEKS behind and thanks to US Weekly I already know who has been cut. But you know what? It doesn't even MATTER. I still love it.
Oh, it's just too humiliating to even admit this. In my defense, can I remind you that I am also reading Jonathan Franzen's FREEDOM (which is fantastic) and just finished listening to Amy Chua's BATTLE HIM OF THE TIGER MOTHER on audio? I DO engage my brain in other ways. I promise you. And really, we just can't be hard on ourselves, can we? My husband accidentally gave my daughter a dog biscuit this morning instead of a cookie. Did I judge? No. Did I laugh? I am STILL laughing. But i digress....
In other news, this week we start talking about my book tour for WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE. (Which, incidentally, will be out in 79 Days. Thank you, Countdown App!) From what I've heard, the publicity folks at Penguin MIGHT be sending me to some cities I haven't been to before, which is very exciting. I'm also going to be doing some festivals, which are new to me as well. Planning a tour is always stressful, because you want to get as many places and see as many people as possible, but there's also the stickiness of balancing all that travel with your sanity and health. Laurie Halse Anderson has mastered the SUPER tour, staying gone for weeks at a time and traveling only with a carry-on (something Ally Carter does as well) but I am not setting the bar that high. I have a toddler I can't be away from for more than a few nights without turning into a sobbing mess, and I am way too neurotic to only pack one outfit choice per day. So yes, that WILL be me you may see sniffling at a crowded baggage claim at your local airport come May and June. If you do, please don't judge. Please?
Okay, I'm off to make the most of this weekend by fixing some pigs in a blanket for the hot dog party we are having tonight. Will I watch the Bachelor while I wrap crescent rolls around little smokies? What do YOU think?
Have a good night, everyone!
February 18, 2011
The Friday Five!
1. Right now, it feels like spring here. You can always tell when people are really READY for warm weather, because the minute the temperature rises above fifty everyone immediately begins to act like it's summer. Watch: it's supposed to be in the upper 70's today (!) and I am betting MONEY that my babysitter will show up in shorts and flip flops. College students are the first to jump on a warming trend, or so I learned when I was teaching at UNC. I had people in my classes that wore flip-flops all the way into winter. Their feet would look like they were on the verge of frostbite, but no matter. I never felt older than when I heard myself saying things like, "PLEASE put on some socks and real shoes! It's winter! You don't wear flip-flops in the winter!" Actually, the only thing that made me feel older was pushing a baby stroller on campus. It's like you're riding an elephant: people just don't know WHAT to make of it. Maybe if I pushed my stroller IN flip flops, IN a snowstorm, that would balance things out? But why would I do THAT?
2. It looks like we're getting chickens. I say "looks like" because even though the coop is finished and my husband has already decided what breeds he wants, I am still in a state of livestock denial. I know, I know. I'm a total party pooper. The toddler is SO excited, we'll have fresh eggs, it's all good. But we also already have this insanely chaotic household. Now we're adding barnyard animals as well? This is a great thing about my husband, though. He pushes me out of my comfort zone, which is famously narrow, and forces me to try things I wouldn't otherwise. Like sushi (which I now love) and camping (not so much) and now, apparently...chickens. Okay, I'll accept it. But I am going to ignore the fact that he's also making noises about goats. Because that, my friends, is just crazy.
3. Friday Night Lights may be over (SNIFFLE!) but at least the cast, like my heart, will go on. (Sorry, couldn't resist a Titanic reference there.) Case in point: this week it was announced that Adrienne Palicki, who played Tyra on FNL, is the new TV Wonder Woman. YES!! And a friend told me that Connie Britton has deal with a network for HER own show, plus Minka Kelly is on the Charlie's Angels reboot. I can already see what will happen here. I will have to start watching, like, ten shows just to see the people I love, rather than just one. But this is a sacrifice I will make. Because the alternative is someone from a show I love just disappearing, which I fear is what happened to the guy who played Logan on Veronica Mars. Where IS he now? I think I need to do an IMDB search...
4. My husband may be obsessing over livestock, but I have my own weaknesses. It's...my dollhouse. I mean, my daughter's dollhouse. (Ahem. But it DID used to be mine!) I have to say that I am not much of a hobby person, other than shopping and TV and sleeping. But as soon as we pulled this dollhouse back out---which I adored back when I was a kid, and created this whole little world within it---I found myself a bit TOO interested in looking for furnishings and other little things. It was all under the guise that the TODDLER needed these things. I mean, of course she wants a fishpond for the dollhouse! And a bubblegum machine! And a plate of tiny little deviled eggs (Okay, so that last one was me.) The sticky part of all this was that the last time I was so into this, I was about ten and had no income. Now I am forty and can actually spend a bit of money on it, which is...DANGEROUS. I have to keep repeating to myself: This is not my dollhouse. I have a novel to write and another to promote. I am not someone who has real hobbies! But...those deviled eggs are AWFULLY cute. I'm just saying.
5. Finally, on a more serious note, I was so, so sad to hear about Borders filing for bankruptcy this week. They're closing a lot of stores, including my local one, and I feel so badly for all the great folks who work there. I also have been lucky to meet a lot of people from Borders corporate over the years---they did a great book club event for Along for the Ride a couple of years back---and I worry for them as well. The bottom line is, the book business is really changing right now. Even me, who LOVES the feel of an Actual Book in her hands, have been reading Jonathan Franzen's Freedom both in book form AND on my iPad, and I have to admit, it's nice to always have it with me, wherever I go. But I was raised by a lover of bookstores, and there is no online substitute for being able to just wander the aisles, sliding books out and looking them over. We need that, and so I hope that the rise in e-readers and e-books doesn't mean we won't have them anymore. And if YOUR local Borders is closing, I hope you'll take your business to another local store, maybe even an independent, that could probably really use your business right now. For us Chapel Hill folks, that's Flyleaf Books, or McIntyre's in PIttsboro, or The Bull's Head down on campus. Just so you know....
Have a good weekend, everyone!
2. It looks like we're getting chickens. I say "looks like" because even though the coop is finished and my husband has already decided what breeds he wants, I am still in a state of livestock denial. I know, I know. I'm a total party pooper. The toddler is SO excited, we'll have fresh eggs, it's all good. But we also already have this insanely chaotic household. Now we're adding barnyard animals as well? This is a great thing about my husband, though. He pushes me out of my comfort zone, which is famously narrow, and forces me to try things I wouldn't otherwise. Like sushi (which I now love) and camping (not so much) and now, apparently...chickens. Okay, I'll accept it. But I am going to ignore the fact that he's also making noises about goats. Because that, my friends, is just crazy.
3. Friday Night Lights may be over (SNIFFLE!) but at least the cast, like my heart, will go on. (Sorry, couldn't resist a Titanic reference there.) Case in point: this week it was announced that Adrienne Palicki, who played Tyra on FNL, is the new TV Wonder Woman. YES!! And a friend told me that Connie Britton has deal with a network for HER own show, plus Minka Kelly is on the Charlie's Angels reboot. I can already see what will happen here. I will have to start watching, like, ten shows just to see the people I love, rather than just one. But this is a sacrifice I will make. Because the alternative is someone from a show I love just disappearing, which I fear is what happened to the guy who played Logan on Veronica Mars. Where IS he now? I think I need to do an IMDB search...
4. My husband may be obsessing over livestock, but I have my own weaknesses. It's...my dollhouse. I mean, my daughter's dollhouse. (Ahem. But it DID used to be mine!) I have to say that I am not much of a hobby person, other than shopping and TV and sleeping. But as soon as we pulled this dollhouse back out---which I adored back when I was a kid, and created this whole little world within it---I found myself a bit TOO interested in looking for furnishings and other little things. It was all under the guise that the TODDLER needed these things. I mean, of course she wants a fishpond for the dollhouse! And a bubblegum machine! And a plate of tiny little deviled eggs (Okay, so that last one was me.) The sticky part of all this was that the last time I was so into this, I was about ten and had no income. Now I am forty and can actually spend a bit of money on it, which is...DANGEROUS. I have to keep repeating to myself: This is not my dollhouse. I have a novel to write and another to promote. I am not someone who has real hobbies! But...those deviled eggs are AWFULLY cute. I'm just saying.
5. Finally, on a more serious note, I was so, so sad to hear about Borders filing for bankruptcy this week. They're closing a lot of stores, including my local one, and I feel so badly for all the great folks who work there. I also have been lucky to meet a lot of people from Borders corporate over the years---they did a great book club event for Along for the Ride a couple of years back---and I worry for them as well. The bottom line is, the book business is really changing right now. Even me, who LOVES the feel of an Actual Book in her hands, have been reading Jonathan Franzen's Freedom both in book form AND on my iPad, and I have to admit, it's nice to always have it with me, wherever I go. But I was raised by a lover of bookstores, and there is no online substitute for being able to just wander the aisles, sliding books out and looking them over. We need that, and so I hope that the rise in e-readers and e-books doesn't mean we won't have them anymore. And if YOUR local Borders is closing, I hope you'll take your business to another local store, maybe even an independent, that could probably really use your business right now. For us Chapel Hill folks, that's Flyleaf Books, or McIntyre's in PIttsboro, or The Bull's Head down on campus. Just so you know....
Have a good weekend, everyone!
February 16, 2011
writergrl @ 2011-02-16T17:05:00
I'm having trouble trying to figure out a calm, stress-free, creativity fueled time to write my blog entries. This may be because I don't have any calm, stress-free, creativity fueled times. I tried to write it in the morning, but the chaos of husband, toddler, two barking dogs and the day beginning was just too much. I did it for awhile in the afternoon after my writing time, but my brain is so taxed by then I can barely form decent sentences. If I try to do it around dinnertime, there is, well...dinner to deal with, along with aforementioned toddler, husband and dogs. So when? Maybe I need to set an alarm and get up at, like, 2:30 am or something. Then I'd have the whole place to myself. And I'd probably fall asleep and drool all over my keyboard. Sigh....
Anyway. I have nine minutes before my sitter leaves so for better or worse, here I am.
I have written here before that I am a person who does not embrace change all that readily. I live in my hometown. I married a guy I met when I was 15. And so on. But this new year, professionally, has been ALL about Big Changes and I am trying do to as REO Speedwagon says and roll with them, but it's not easy. First, early this year, my beloved publicist Allison, who has worked with me since The Truth About Forever, left Penguin for another job. SOB! I was so, so sad to see her go, even though I knew it was a good thing for her, as she needed a change as well. But now I have this book coming out and no Allison, and it makes me nervous. I know, I know, I will be fine. But again: hometown. Met husband at 15. I am trying to roll, though.
Also in the new year, my agent left HER longtime agency to go to a new place. I am going with her, but it is ANOTHER Big Change, but a good one, for her and for me. Again, though: YIKES! I keep having this urge to grab on to the dashboard of this car that is my life and say, "Slow it down!" But of course, that is not an option. People move on, things change, life is always in flux, whether you feel the ground shift beneath your or not. Right now, plates are pulling apart and pushing together way, way under the earth's crust. (Okay, maybe I shouldn't think about that. Am getting nervous. Or more nervous.) Maybe if I didn't have a book coming out in a few months, with the attendant pressures of that, this would all not be such a big deal. But it is what it is, so I will adapt. I mean, it's not like I have a choice, right?
Finally, I have to share this story. I was at Whole Foods today with Sasha, and when we got out of the car I saw this woman with a toddler, walking away from speaking with a police officer who was parked nearby. She looked a little upset so I said, "Everything okay?" She told me her daughter had locked herself in the car and she'd had to call the cops, but then the baby managed to unlock the door. I said, "OH MY GOD, I just did that a few weeks ago!" She looked at me. "Really?" she said. I nodded. "And what's more," I told her, "so many people have done it. I mean, you have NO idea. It's like a rite of passage it's so common." She looked really relieved. And the baby was fine, smiling. All was well. But man, I felt her pain. Talk about stressful. Luckily, though, she was right there at Whole Foods. So hopefully she went in and got a cookie to calm her nerves. It's the least you can do in that kind of situation.
OOPS! My babysitter was due to leave four minutes ago. Gotta run!
Have a good night, everyone!
Anyway. I have nine minutes before my sitter leaves so for better or worse, here I am.
I have written here before that I am a person who does not embrace change all that readily. I live in my hometown. I married a guy I met when I was 15. And so on. But this new year, professionally, has been ALL about Big Changes and I am trying do to as REO Speedwagon says and roll with them, but it's not easy. First, early this year, my beloved publicist Allison, who has worked with me since The Truth About Forever, left Penguin for another job. SOB! I was so, so sad to see her go, even though I knew it was a good thing for her, as she needed a change as well. But now I have this book coming out and no Allison, and it makes me nervous. I know, I know, I will be fine. But again: hometown. Met husband at 15. I am trying to roll, though.
Also in the new year, my agent left HER longtime agency to go to a new place. I am going with her, but it is ANOTHER Big Change, but a good one, for her and for me. Again, though: YIKES! I keep having this urge to grab on to the dashboard of this car that is my life and say, "Slow it down!" But of course, that is not an option. People move on, things change, life is always in flux, whether you feel the ground shift beneath your or not. Right now, plates are pulling apart and pushing together way, way under the earth's crust. (Okay, maybe I shouldn't think about that. Am getting nervous. Or more nervous.) Maybe if I didn't have a book coming out in a few months, with the attendant pressures of that, this would all not be such a big deal. But it is what it is, so I will adapt. I mean, it's not like I have a choice, right?
Finally, I have to share this story. I was at Whole Foods today with Sasha, and when we got out of the car I saw this woman with a toddler, walking away from speaking with a police officer who was parked nearby. She looked a little upset so I said, "Everything okay?" She told me her daughter had locked herself in the car and she'd had to call the cops, but then the baby managed to unlock the door. I said, "OH MY GOD, I just did that a few weeks ago!" She looked at me. "Really?" she said. I nodded. "And what's more," I told her, "so many people have done it. I mean, you have NO idea. It's like a rite of passage it's so common." She looked really relieved. And the baby was fine, smiling. All was well. But man, I felt her pain. Talk about stressful. Luckily, though, she was right there at Whole Foods. So hopefully she went in and got a cookie to calm her nerves. It's the least you can do in that kind of situation.
OOPS! My babysitter was due to leave four minutes ago. Gotta run!
Have a good night, everyone!
February 14, 2011
And the winners are.....
A quick entry to say HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! Here's wishing you chocolate, and more chocolate. Oh, and love too. But they are often the same, at least in my mind. Probably shouldn't admit that.
What I REALLY want to say, however, is that we picked our seven winners of the T-shirt giveaway. in the end we had over 430 entries, which totally blew my mind. I selected the winning emails totally at random. Without further ado, the winners are.....
Raquel B. from NJ
Windy A. from UT
Kelly A. from CO
Ashley M. from LA
Carolyn S. from NY
Tori C. from NC
Angie F. from GA
If you won, look for your shirt in the mailbox soon! If you didn't, never fear. This giveaway went so well I think I will have to start doing them on a regular basis.
Have a good night, everyone!
What I REALLY want to say, however, is that we picked our seven winners of the T-shirt giveaway. in the end we had over 430 entries, which totally blew my mind. I selected the winning emails totally at random. Without further ado, the winners are.....
Raquel B. from NJ
Windy A. from UT
Kelly A. from CO
Ashley M. from LA
Carolyn S. from NY
Tori C. from NC
Angie F. from GA
If you won, look for your shirt in the mailbox soon! If you didn't, never fear. This giveaway went so well I think I will have to start doing them on a regular basis.
Have a good night, everyone!
February 13, 2011
writergrl @ 2011-02-13T17:52:00
So it's the end of the a weekend where the sun shined, it stayed lighter later than it has all year AND my house was full of cookies. I mean, what else do you want?
Plus, we are currently at 315 or so entries for the T-shirt giveaway I announced on Friday. If you still want to get in, it's easy! Send an email to sarah at sarahdessen dot com with the word T-SHIRT in the subject line. Include your name, mailing address and shirt size in the body of the email. US residents only, please. We'll stop accepting entries at midnight tonight and announce the winners tomorrow. (Ooh, I sound so official saying that. I NEVER get to sound official. I kind of like it.)
My husband was gone with racing-related stuff this weekend, so in the evenings, once the raucous toddler was down, I had the house to myself. This is a rarity, and I always do the same thing when it happens: I kind of whirl around, trying to figure out what to do first and end up doing nothing at all. Finally, though, I managed to calm down on Friday night, get my dogs calm as well (no small feat) and sat down to watch the Friday Night Lights finale. It was bittersweet, but oh, so good. I won't go into spoilers but I will say that it was up there with Sex and The City and Six Feet Under as far as good series endings go. And yes, I cried. And then I rewound, watched again, and cried some more. It was better than therapy, I swear.
Also this weekend, I caught up on Grey's Anatomy (which my husband also won't watch) while doing something that I really shouldn't admit, like, at all. Because it's just so embarrassing that I spent a Saturday night doing it. But I am all about honesty here, so....okay, I was trying to learn how to fold a fitted sheet. By watching a video on YouTube over, and over, then practicing again and again during Grey's. NERD ALERT. Oh, the shame. But this is a skill that has eluded me for, like ever, and I really, really want to learn how to do it. When we go to the beach and they drop off the linens for the house you can't even TELL the fitted sheets from the flat ones, they are that perfect. Who DOES that? Well, not me, apparently. I do okay with the first part, folding one long corner up into the other. But then it all goes wrong. I can make it look okay IF I put it on the floor, but that kind of defeats the purpose, i.e. pretty sheet, covered in dog hair. ARRAUGH. I am determined not to give up, though, AND I have a backup plan. Ally Carter, fab YA author, has told me she is very good at folding fitted sheets and has promised a tutorial the next time we cross paths. So that's what I'll probably be doing in my downtime at BEA. Which is almost as embarrassing as spending my Saturday on the same task.
Why, oh, why, do I have this blog again? To shame myself? Or does it just seem that way sometimes?
Since I'm already in the shame spiral, though, I guess I have nothing to lose. So I'll admit that this year, for Valentine's Day, I told my husband not to buy me a present. I know, I know. Every girl wants jewelry or flowers, right? Well....this girl wants a new washer and dryer. And my husband does, as well. (We have super-cheap ones: our dryer is the type that whenever you empty the lint trap, lint flies EVERYWHERE. Plus, it keeps making this strange burning smell. Can't be good.) So we agreed that we'd skip gifts for each other and put the funds towards a new set sometime soon. It's not romantic, I know. But we've been married ten years, together a lot longer than that. I love him so much...and I also really love clean clothes that arrive without a fire risk or shedding lint all over me. And you have to admit, these new models are kind of sexy, as appliances go. I am thinking Samsung or LG. It's not diamonds, sure, but diamonds can't fluff my jeans just right. IF they could, though.....oh, it's not even worth thinking about.
Finally, my friend Evan, who drives the sarahdessen.com car, has been trying to convince me to go out for a lap on the track with him. "It will be fun!" he says. "The readers would love to see you in the car!" Now, I am a cautious driver. I go slow, am mocked and hit the imaginary brake on my side all the time. So can you imagine if I was in the car this weekend when Evan spun out during qualifying? Just watching this video makes me feel sick:
I think I will just put a bobblehead with my picture on his dash and leave it at that.
Okay, time to let the dogs out (again) and get ready for a new week. The Grammys are on tonight, I'm making tacos for dinner and it's 5:41 and still QUITE light outside. HOORAY!
Have a good night, everyone!
Plus, we are currently at 315 or so entries for the T-shirt giveaway I announced on Friday. If you still want to get in, it's easy! Send an email to sarah at sarahdessen dot com with the word T-SHIRT in the subject line. Include your name, mailing address and shirt size in the body of the email. US residents only, please. We'll stop accepting entries at midnight tonight and announce the winners tomorrow. (Ooh, I sound so official saying that. I NEVER get to sound official. I kind of like it.)
My husband was gone with racing-related stuff this weekend, so in the evenings, once the raucous toddler was down, I had the house to myself. This is a rarity, and I always do the same thing when it happens: I kind of whirl around, trying to figure out what to do first and end up doing nothing at all. Finally, though, I managed to calm down on Friday night, get my dogs calm as well (no small feat) and sat down to watch the Friday Night Lights finale. It was bittersweet, but oh, so good. I won't go into spoilers but I will say that it was up there with Sex and The City and Six Feet Under as far as good series endings go. And yes, I cried. And then I rewound, watched again, and cried some more. It was better than therapy, I swear.
Also this weekend, I caught up on Grey's Anatomy (which my husband also won't watch) while doing something that I really shouldn't admit, like, at all. Because it's just so embarrassing that I spent a Saturday night doing it. But I am all about honesty here, so....okay, I was trying to learn how to fold a fitted sheet. By watching a video on YouTube over, and over, then practicing again and again during Grey's. NERD ALERT. Oh, the shame. But this is a skill that has eluded me for, like ever, and I really, really want to learn how to do it. When we go to the beach and they drop off the linens for the house you can't even TELL the fitted sheets from the flat ones, they are that perfect. Who DOES that? Well, not me, apparently. I do okay with the first part, folding one long corner up into the other. But then it all goes wrong. I can make it look okay IF I put it on the floor, but that kind of defeats the purpose, i.e. pretty sheet, covered in dog hair. ARRAUGH. I am determined not to give up, though, AND I have a backup plan. Ally Carter, fab YA author, has told me she is very good at folding fitted sheets and has promised a tutorial the next time we cross paths. So that's what I'll probably be doing in my downtime at BEA. Which is almost as embarrassing as spending my Saturday on the same task.
Why, oh, why, do I have this blog again? To shame myself? Or does it just seem that way sometimes?
Since I'm already in the shame spiral, though, I guess I have nothing to lose. So I'll admit that this year, for Valentine's Day, I told my husband not to buy me a present. I know, I know. Every girl wants jewelry or flowers, right? Well....this girl wants a new washer and dryer. And my husband does, as well. (We have super-cheap ones: our dryer is the type that whenever you empty the lint trap, lint flies EVERYWHERE. Plus, it keeps making this strange burning smell. Can't be good.) So we agreed that we'd skip gifts for each other and put the funds towards a new set sometime soon. It's not romantic, I know. But we've been married ten years, together a lot longer than that. I love him so much...and I also really love clean clothes that arrive without a fire risk or shedding lint all over me. And you have to admit, these new models are kind of sexy, as appliances go. I am thinking Samsung or LG. It's not diamonds, sure, but diamonds can't fluff my jeans just right. IF they could, though.....oh, it's not even worth thinking about.
Finally, my friend Evan, who drives the sarahdessen.com car, has been trying to convince me to go out for a lap on the track with him. "It will be fun!" he says. "The readers would love to see you in the car!" Now, I am a cautious driver. I go slow, am mocked and hit the imaginary brake on my side all the time. So can you imagine if I was in the car this weekend when Evan spun out during qualifying? Just watching this video makes me feel sick:
I think I will just put a bobblehead with my picture on his dash and leave it at that.
Okay, time to let the dogs out (again) and get ready for a new week. The Grammys are on tonight, I'm making tacos for dinner and it's 5:41 and still QUITE light outside. HOORAY!
Have a good night, everyone!
February 11, 2011
The Friday Five!
1. Yes, this is an ACTUAL Friday Five, as I am writing it LIVE, right this very moment, in the midst of morning chaos here at my house. My daughter and I are playing Lemonade Stand, Sam Champion is about to virtual-box Kelly Ripa on my beloved GMA, and Wow Wow Wubbzy is on in the playroom. We will see how this goes. Good morning!
2. The big news for me is that they announced the speakers for the BEA Children's Breakfast and....I'm one of them. (You can check out the full lineup here .) I've known about this for a couple of weeks, but could not tell a SOUL. Also, I was not entirely sure I believed it was true (I mean, I'm going to be breathing the same air as JULIANNE MOORE, hello!) until I saw it in print. But apparently, it is. It's also a huge honor, and I'm thrilled. And nervous. About what I'm going to say, and what I'm going to wear. Luckily, my superstylish friend Dana is on the case, already trolling all her favorite shopping sites for possibilities. The speech, though, is up to me. Yikes!
3. In other news, I just saw a story on GMA about how some friends of one of the girls from Teen Mom 2 on MTV have recently gotten pregnant as well. They insist it's NOT because they've seen their friend get fame and fortune from the show, but it's hard not to wonder if that wasn't part of the incentive. I am not one who preaches, as I am so flawed I have no room to talk about, well, anything. But I WILL say that being a mom is the hardest thing I have ever done. And I did it at 37, with a job and a husband and family support and resources. It is not for wimps, and most of us will not end up on the cover of US Weekly for doing it. Nor should we, really. It's funny, because watching Teen Mom I've always felt that it would make you LESS likely to think of having a kid as glamourous. But maybe I'm wrong? Okay, back to pop culture now...
4. The series finale of Friday Night Lights was Wednesday night. I have it on two different DVRs (because I couldn't trust this kind of history to just one, you know). But I haven't been able to watch it yet. Because when I watch it, then it's over for real. As long as I don't, there's still one episode. I know, I know. This is called denial. And this weekend, I will sit down when I know I have a quiet hour, free of all interruptions, with my box of tissues and I will watch it. *sniff* *sob* *sigh*
5. This weekend is the first official race for my friend Evan and the sarahdessen.com racecar team, down at CMP in South Carolina:
It's been a long, cold winter and everyone is MORE than ready to get back on the track. I will not be there (this time) as I have a daughter to chase around after. (Said daughter is, at this writing, running around in her bathing suit, a pair of leggings, a cardigan sweater and a paper crown. Clearly, I need to get HER to help me pick out my outfit for BEA. But I digress.) To celebrate this beginning, I think it's time for a T-shirt giveaway. We got some totally great ones made up:
And I think they need to go wider. SO to enter:
1. send an email to sarah at sarahdessen dot com. (US residents only, please. We will try to do a wider one depending on how this goes, promise!)
2. put the word TSHIRT in the subject line, and your name and mailing address in the body of the email. Also include your T-shirt size: S, M, L, XL, Youth Medium, or fitted S or fitted M.
3. You will get an autoresponse. That's how you'll know we got your email!
4. We will accept entries until midnight Sunday, then pick seven winners AT RANDOM on Monday morning. Good luck!
Okay, my daughter is now INSISTING I go upstairs to play beach. Duty calls....
Have a good weekend, everyone!
2. The big news for me is that they announced the speakers for the BEA Children's Breakfast and....I'm one of them. (You can check out the full lineup here .) I've known about this for a couple of weeks, but could not tell a SOUL. Also, I was not entirely sure I believed it was true (I mean, I'm going to be breathing the same air as JULIANNE MOORE, hello!) until I saw it in print. But apparently, it is. It's also a huge honor, and I'm thrilled. And nervous. About what I'm going to say, and what I'm going to wear. Luckily, my superstylish friend Dana is on the case, already trolling all her favorite shopping sites for possibilities. The speech, though, is up to me. Yikes!
3. In other news, I just saw a story on GMA about how some friends of one of the girls from Teen Mom 2 on MTV have recently gotten pregnant as well. They insist it's NOT because they've seen their friend get fame and fortune from the show, but it's hard not to wonder if that wasn't part of the incentive. I am not one who preaches, as I am so flawed I have no room to talk about, well, anything. But I WILL say that being a mom is the hardest thing I have ever done. And I did it at 37, with a job and a husband and family support and resources. It is not for wimps, and most of us will not end up on the cover of US Weekly for doing it. Nor should we, really. It's funny, because watching Teen Mom I've always felt that it would make you LESS likely to think of having a kid as glamourous. But maybe I'm wrong? Okay, back to pop culture now...
4. The series finale of Friday Night Lights was Wednesday night. I have it on two different DVRs (because I couldn't trust this kind of history to just one, you know). But I haven't been able to watch it yet. Because when I watch it, then it's over for real. As long as I don't, there's still one episode. I know, I know. This is called denial. And this weekend, I will sit down when I know I have a quiet hour, free of all interruptions, with my box of tissues and I will watch it. *sniff* *sob* *sigh*
5. This weekend is the first official race for my friend Evan and the sarahdessen.com racecar team, down at CMP in South Carolina:
It's been a long, cold winter and everyone is MORE than ready to get back on the track. I will not be there (this time) as I have a daughter to chase around after. (Said daughter is, at this writing, running around in her bathing suit, a pair of leggings, a cardigan sweater and a paper crown. Clearly, I need to get HER to help me pick out my outfit for BEA. But I digress.) To celebrate this beginning, I think it's time for a T-shirt giveaway. We got some totally great ones made up:
And I think they need to go wider. SO to enter:
1. send an email to sarah at sarahdessen dot com. (US residents only, please. We will try to do a wider one depending on how this goes, promise!)
2. put the word TSHIRT in the subject line, and your name and mailing address in the body of the email. Also include your T-shirt size: S, M, L, XL, Youth Medium, or fitted S or fitted M.
3. You will get an autoresponse. That's how you'll know we got your email!
4. We will accept entries until midnight Sunday, then pick seven winners AT RANDOM on Monday morning. Good luck!
Okay, my daughter is now INSISTING I go upstairs to play beach. Duty calls....
Have a good weekend, everyone!
February 9, 2011
writergrl @ 2011-02-09T16:02:00
It's Wednesday afternoon, and I'm just too distracted to get anything done. I mean, first, there's Lindsay Lohan. Did she REALLY steal a necklace right after leaving rehab? Would anyone be so foolish? (Um, okay, maybe the mom in NC who thinking entirely too much about Lindsay Lohan. But otherwise...) Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson have broken up, which makes me sad. And then there's the Duke-Carolina game tonight. Being that I am local, my Facebook newsfeed has been nothing but smack talk since about six this morning. People are READY.
I used to live and breathe UNC basketball. Days like this I'd wake up with a pit in my stomach, be nervous all the way until tipoff. I charted my social life and work commitments around the games, knew every starter and their major stats. But then....I had my daughter. Who happens to wake up at 5:30 most mornings. Games like this one tend to start at 9. Which leaves me with the dilemma of all dilemmas: stay up for a great game and pay, pay, PAY at 5:30, or go to bed and get sleep but miss everything. No sleep means I'm braindead, can't work when I do have help, and am a total crabby pants. But no game makes me feel like the Worst Fan Ever.
What's even more upsetting is that MY CHILD has been torturing me lately by preferring Duke Blue over the vastly superior Carolina shade. This is the same kid that I dressed in a UNC onesie for every game day, who joined me in stalking Tyler Hansborough when he hung out at Whole Foods on a regular basis. Now, at the grocery store, when it's time for the free balloon, it's all about the dark blue. "What about this one?" I say, yanking down the sky blue alternative. "NO! I want dark!" she says. Okay, so it's just a color. No big deal, right? But then, last time we were at the beach, there was a dark blue house across the way. One of the babysitters kept joking about the Duke house, my daughter connected the two, and just like that, the damage was done. "I like Duke!" she'd say, and I would feel my head about to explode. "No, you DON'T!" I'd tell her, and she'd just laugh at me. She was doing it this morning, at our local breakfast joint, just to mock me, and the waiter said, "Better start saving up for that private school education." I just looked at him. "NO CHILD OF MINE WILL BE GOING TO DUKE," I told him, in a thunderous, Zeus-like voice. He scuttled away, afraid. Meanwhile, Sasha is laughing. "I like Duke! Duke! Duke!" Oh, the shame.
I know, I know. Most of you out there are like, what in the world? Duke is a good school, has a good team. I am a (mostly) reasonable person. What is it about this rivalry that makes me completely insane? I wish I could tell you. It's genetic, or in the water here. All my friends who pull for Duke feel just as strongly, if not more so, about their hatred for Carolina. But my own CHILD, crossing over to the dark side? Literally? Oh, I can't handle it.
*buries head in hands*
That's it. I'm staying up for the whole game, even if I am a total zombie tomorrow. I have to do it for my pride, my team, and my own piece of mind. Also, maybe I will paint her room Carolina Blue while she's over at grandma's this weekend. The walls ARE all scuffed up anyway...
Have a good night, everyone!
I used to live and breathe UNC basketball. Days like this I'd wake up with a pit in my stomach, be nervous all the way until tipoff. I charted my social life and work commitments around the games, knew every starter and their major stats. But then....I had my daughter. Who happens to wake up at 5:30 most mornings. Games like this one tend to start at 9. Which leaves me with the dilemma of all dilemmas: stay up for a great game and pay, pay, PAY at 5:30, or go to bed and get sleep but miss everything. No sleep means I'm braindead, can't work when I do have help, and am a total crabby pants. But no game makes me feel like the Worst Fan Ever.
What's even more upsetting is that MY CHILD has been torturing me lately by preferring Duke Blue over the vastly superior Carolina shade. This is the same kid that I dressed in a UNC onesie for every game day, who joined me in stalking Tyler Hansborough when he hung out at Whole Foods on a regular basis. Now, at the grocery store, when it's time for the free balloon, it's all about the dark blue. "What about this one?" I say, yanking down the sky blue alternative. "NO! I want dark!" she says. Okay, so it's just a color. No big deal, right? But then, last time we were at the beach, there was a dark blue house across the way. One of the babysitters kept joking about the Duke house, my daughter connected the two, and just like that, the damage was done. "I like Duke!" she'd say, and I would feel my head about to explode. "No, you DON'T!" I'd tell her, and she'd just laugh at me. She was doing it this morning, at our local breakfast joint, just to mock me, and the waiter said, "Better start saving up for that private school education." I just looked at him. "NO CHILD OF MINE WILL BE GOING TO DUKE," I told him, in a thunderous, Zeus-like voice. He scuttled away, afraid. Meanwhile, Sasha is laughing. "I like Duke! Duke! Duke!" Oh, the shame.
I know, I know. Most of you out there are like, what in the world? Duke is a good school, has a good team. I am a (mostly) reasonable person. What is it about this rivalry that makes me completely insane? I wish I could tell you. It's genetic, or in the water here. All my friends who pull for Duke feel just as strongly, if not more so, about their hatred for Carolina. But my own CHILD, crossing over to the dark side? Literally? Oh, I can't handle it.
*buries head in hands*
That's it. I'm staying up for the whole game, even if I am a total zombie tomorrow. I have to do it for my pride, my team, and my own piece of mind. Also, maybe I will paint her room Carolina Blue while she's over at grandma's this weekend. The walls ARE all scuffed up anyway...
Have a good night, everyone!
