Extensive Survey - Digging up Magic #5

They had dinner relatively early last night and sat around talking for awhile until those who had signed up for night shift showers drifted off to their rooms and everyone else decided to turn in as well.

            After breakfast, right at nine, they were sent outside not too far from the cabin.  Each team had a designated area that Rodney and Sylvia had planted coins.  They were to find five each before they come back for lunch.

            “Ever do this before?”  Nikki asked Ian as she waved her detector back and forth.

            “Nope.”  He stopped his detector as it beeped and sat it down.  He kneeled on the floor and pulled out a little wand that Sylvia called a pinpointer and waved it until it beeped then gave a louder longer beep when he kept it there.  “Heard about it before and it seemed cool though.  You?”

            “Not really.  Most of what I do is like backwards metal detecting.  We already know generally where something is we just have to dig it up and find out what it is.”  She looked up at him and he looked awfully confused.  “I’m an archaeologist.”

            “Ah.”  He nodded and went back to digging.  “So this is kind of up your alley then.  Out in nature and digging holes.”

            “Yeah,  I used to blame the holes in the yard on the family pet.”

            “I somehow wouldn’t put that past you.” He snorted.

            “We haven’t known each other for a whole 24 hours yet and you already have me pegged.”  Nikki sat her detector down when it beeped a few yards away from Ian.  “You must really know how to read people.  What do you do?”

            “I have my ways.  And I do many things, not exactly just one…” She waited for him to elaborate but when he didn’t she didn’t press him.  “Aha.”  He stood up and brushed something off in his hands.  “Found coin number one.”

            Nikki went to look closer and saw the coin he was holding.  It looked like some old token, the kind that you would use at an arcade.  As he turned it over they saw one side was marked with an R and an S on the other.  Rodney and Sylvia.

            “First find.  Congrats.”  Nikki went back to the hole she was digging.

            “First one to find five serves the other one lunch?”

            “Ian, this is hardly a competition…”  She looked up and saw him shrug and kick dirt into the hole he made.  “But if it were, I’d win.  You’d better hurry up because as soon as I dig up this one were back on even ground.”

            He said nothing but kicked in a few more piles of dirt and tapped it down with his foot.  Then rushed to pick up detector and he was off again.  Nikki started digging a little faster.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            “Ian?  Would you be a dear and refill my cup?  I would also like more chips to finish off my sandwich and cookies for dessert.”

            Ian got up from the opposite side of the table, retrieved her plate, and piled chips and a few cookies on.  Then with a bow, he placed it back in front of her.

            “My lady.”  He curtsied with his shirt.

            “Such the gentleman.” Nikki laughed and several of the others joined her.

            “You know that I let you win, right?”

            “Well, if you did then this will teach you not to anymore, now won’t it.”  She rattled the ice cubes in her empty cup at him.  “My drink, please?”

            He took the cup and sauntered off while Nikki tried not to laugh more.  At least he was a good sport for the most part.  But she pushed the fun aside and decided to get down to some business.  Sylvia was seated conveniently to her left and she had some questions for her if Nikki wanted this to be a good survey.

            “So Sylvia, is this you and Rodney’s own cabin?”

            “Here we go…”  Nikki could hear Jenna sigh next to her.

            “Yes, it is.  Why do you ask?”  Sylvia said.

            “Well, because I’m an archaeologist and-“

            “And she’s about to ask you a long series of boring questions.”  Nikki swatted at Jenna and she stuck her tongue out.  Ian laughed as he sat Nikki’s drink down in front of her.

            “Oh, Rodney did you hear that.”  He nodded, not looking up from his plate.  Sylvia continued.  “I’m always glad to help a fellow hunter.  We may be looking for different things but we share the same work place.  Go on.”

            So Nikki did.  She asked several questions about how long they had been there, who they bought it from, if they said anything specific about the land, or have ever found something here that looked interesting.  Nikki was about to thank her and excuse herself to call the lab and give them the information when another question came up as an afterthought.

            “What are you guys looking for up here anyways?”

            Sylvia stopped her drink only halfway to her mouth and Rodney finally looked up.  “What makes you ask that?”  She sat her cup down and busied herself by eating a cookie.

            “I guess that I had just assumed…”  Nikki felt uncomfortable as if she had said something wrong but wasn’t sure what.  “I mean, you brought a group full of people to a specific location to help you metal detect it.”  She also remembered how they were sure to be clear that they wanted to see all of their finds, even the trash, before they determined what they could keep.  They did say that if they found something that was worth money, other than coins, that they would split the earnings with the finder.

            “Blackbeard’s buried treasure.”  It was Rodney who spoke.   There was a moment of silence that spread across the table and Nikki realized that everyone had been listening.  Rodney got up and headed toward the kitchen counter, shaking his head.  “That was a joke.”

            More silence.  Then Sylvia stifled a laugh into her hands and soon the whole table was laughing if only at the surprise that the stern, no-nonsense man that they had gotten to know for a day had just told a joke.

Directions - Digging up Magic #4

All of the guys were already sitting at the table with the exception of Rodney, who was standing off to the side with his arms crossed and wearing the same blank face as he was this morning.  Nikki didn’t know enough about him to think whether he was a good guy or not but she knew he definitely wasn’t trying to make the handful of people he didn’t know feel any better about their decision to drive with him into the woods.  Nikki quickly took her seat next to Jenna, in between two of the guys that they hadn’t met yet and across from Ian who smiled.

“Let’s begin.”  Rodney came closer to the table.  “You’ve seen your rooms.  The assignments are permanent and mandatory.  You want to get to know the other gender be considerate and do it somewhere else on your own time and not in this cabin.”

Nikki and Jenna discreetly shared a look.  Suddenly it was very awkward been the only girls on this trip.

“The bathroom is right behind me.”  He gestured vaguely over his right shoulder with one hand and she saw there was a clipboard in the other.  “There’s only one.  One toilet, one sink, one shower.  This,” he raised the clipboard.  “Is the shower schedule.  There are four shifts in the morning before breakfast at 8 a.m. and four after dinner at 9 p.m..  Thirty minutes each.  If you need longer than that, at least sign up to go last.  We’re adults.  I’m not going to come knocking at the door asking you to please come out.  Sign up and pass it on.”

He sat the clipboard down and slid it toward the guy to Jenna’s right.  He quickly jotted his name down and passed it over to her and Jenna did the same just as quick.  Nikki took it and wrote her name in the second to last spot right above Jenna’s.  If Jenna was anything it wasn’t a morning person but she knew that Nikki was.  As an unspoken agreement Jenna could have Nikki’s extra time and not be seen as taking up too much time from anyone else.

“As far as the work day goes,” Rodney continued.  “Our breakfast is from 8 to 9.  After that, we detect until 1.  We’ll have break from 1 to 3 which includes lunch and then we detect some more until it gets too dark to see.  There’s no bedtime because, once again, we are adults.  This schedule doesn’t change except on Fridays and Saturdays I make a run into a city 30 mins away.  It was…recommended…” Rodney gave a sideways glance at his wife who only smiled up at him from where she was seated next to him.  “That I offer you all a ride in to town as an extracurricular.  I will leave here at 8 pm sharp and I will leave there by no later than 12 am.  You may find somewhere to buy yourselves dinner in that time or you can eat leftovers when you get back.”

He started to go over what kind of equipment that they would be using but said that they would go over more of that tomorrow morning when they took them out for a practice run.  At this time, Rodney stepped back and let Sylvia take over.

“Now we want to cover as much ground as possible but we want to stay safe.”  Sylvia said.  “So what we’re going to do is match you off into pairs and we’ll switch every week just to make it fun!  Now I’ll pull out two names at a time from this basket here and that will be a pair and then again and so on until we all have partners.”

She picked up a small wicker bowl with her hand covering the top and gave it a little shake.  One by one everyone was paired off and Nikki was a little disappointed when her name wasn’t called after Jenna’s.  It felt like getting a group project in class and then not being paired with your best friend.  Funny how that kind of thing never leaves you.

“Nikki,” Sylvia said, and hearing her name shocked her out of her thoughts.  She raised her hand as the others had done.  “and… Ian.”

She looked at Ian and he smiled at her.  It looked like she would be getting to know their new friend a little better.  He wasn’t Jenna, but he still like he’d be ok.

Company - Digging up Magic #3

A day late!  Gah!!  Better late than never though.  'D' will be up later today as well.  Here we go!

            They ended their trip by pulling up a hill crowded on both sides by trees.  When they broke free of the woods there was a small cabin in a clearing.  Nikki leaned in to her window to try to get a better look.  It seemed decent enough.  It wasn’t a resort but she imagined that it could’ve been worse.

            Nikki, Jenna, and Ian were the last to get out and they stood together staring at what was going to be their new home for the month.

            “Yep,” Ian nodded.  “This is exactly where I would take a bus load of people who no one would notice was missing for a month.”

            “Seems like the place, doesn’t it?” Nikki smiled.

            “Oh come on guys,” Jenna was always the optimist.  “It’s not so bad.  There’s trees-“

            “To hide the bodies next to…”  Nikki added.

            “And even a fire pit!”

            “To burn the evidence!”  Ian chimed in.

            Jenna faced them and tried to look annoyed but was failing miserably.  Nikki always wondered how she could see the bright side of a dark room.

            By this time Sylvia had gathered everyone else around the bus again and called for attention.

            “Alright, grab your bags as we pull them out of the back and head toward the cabin.  Ladies will follow me to their room and Gentlemen to theirs with Rodney.  We’ll meet back in the kitchen once everyone is settled so that Rodney can lay down the law.”

            Ian gave them a look and they tried not to laugh.

            The kitchen was the first room that they stepped into when they walked through the front door.  It was connected to the dining room which was only a large table with ten chairs around it.  Their room wasn’t actually that bad.  If you were ok with feeling like you were at summer camp anyways.  On one side of the room were two bunk beds that met in one corner to make the shape of an ‘L’.  Right next to the door was small sofa that Nikki assumed had a pullout bed in it.  If the guy’s room was the same then they would fit but just barely with the five of them.  Nikki, Jenna, and Sylvia were going to be just fine since it was just the three of them.  Nikki hoped that three could still be company and not feel like a crowd.

            Thinking of the word company made her instinctively go for her phone.  She still hasn’t called in today and hasn’t been in the lab for two days.  The thought of something going wrong on her first trip away from the office made her sick.

            The call was picked up on the second ring.  “Archaeology Laboratories.  This is Jonathan Starvos speaking.  How can I help you?”

            Nikki took the phone away from her ear to look at the number.  “Dad?”

            Her father laughed and then spoke as if to her and to someone there with him.  “Uh oh.  Got caught by the boss.”

            She could hear her secretary’s laugh somewhere near her dad and she cursed his endless persuasive charm he seemed to be able to work on people.  “Dad, what are you doing at work?  That is the opposite of what retired people do.”  She sank into the couch as Jenna started piling things into a long dresser that took up most of the remaining wall.

            “Well, when you said that you were leaving for a month I couldn’t help but poke my head in.”

            “I have everything under control from here.”

            “I never said that you didn’t.  This is just your first time away from the business.”

            “I made sure everyone knew what to do while I was gone.”

            “I know, I’ve asked around.  I promise.  I’m meddling, I’m just answering phones. I started this place, you can’t expect me not to visit.”

            “I know….”  Nikki sighed.  “Well, how is everything going?”

            “Good.  The staff know exactly what they’re doing, like you told them.  Oh, Carl says that he heard from downtown.  They found some possible correlations and are going to do some more tests and research.”

            “Great.”

            “Well, how’s the site look anyway?  Anything I can do for you while I’m here?  Some research on the area?”

            Nikki almost said no but she knew that was only her pride talking.  If she wanted to get as much out this trip as she could she would need someone with reliable internet and access to different resources that the lab had to get information.  She told her dad as much and all that see knew about where she was so that they could do some background checks to see what might have been here before and what areas she should be sure to check.

            “Ladies,” Sylvia poked her head into the room.  “We’re going to get started in the kitchen.”

            Jenna slid down from her top bunk and Nikki followed, getting up from the couch and tucking her phone back in her pocket after rushing more information and goodbyes to her dad.

Backseat - Digging up Magic #2

            Nikki had to give Jenna credit.  When they arrived at the supercenter, that was their agreed upon meeting place, Jenna had her mom drive them next to the big, yellow school bus.  It wasn’t exactly what Nikki had expected but at least it wasn’t a windowless van.

            Mrs. Whitmore stayed just long enough to make sure we had enough underwear and to make Jenna fuss at her.  I was surprised to see her pull off before we got in the van.  However, I was less surprised to see her park in front of the supercenter and go inside even though Jenna said they did some heavy shopping only the day before.  If we didn’t get out of here soon Mrs. Whitmore would be back with a pack of socks and deodorant for each of us.

            There was a group of five or six other people standing next to suit cases and duffle bags, some already chatting up another traveler whom they would get to know better on this month long trip together.  Nikki was surprised that even this many came along.  She couldn’t imagine that there were that many people, besides her eccentric friend, that were browsing the internet in hopes for a chance to take a trip with a stranger.

            After another pair showed up and brought their bags to the side of the bus with them, a woman, maybe just younger than Mrs. Whitmore, stepped away from a group and did what looked like a head count.  Seeming to be satisfied she poked her head in the bus’s open door and came back out, soon followed by a tall, broad shouldered man.  He could’ve been someone’s grandpa but Nikki thought a grandpa would smile more often than it looked like he did.

            The woman clapped her hands as the man stood by her side.  “Alright!  This looks like everyone.  Thank you guys for coming!  I know this is a little unconventional to go on a trip to the woods with a couple of strangers from the internet but we appreciate you adventurous souls.  My name Sylvia and this handsome fellow here is my husband Rodney.”

            “You can call me Sir.”  Rodney didn’t say it rude or mean, just matter-of-factly.

            “Oh, Rod.”  Sylvia swatted him on the arm and the group laughed awkwardly but Rodney didn’t.  “He’ll loosen up on the drive down.  Anyways, I’d like to talk more but we’ll have plenty of time for that on the way and when we get there.  We have about a four hour drive after all.”

            Sylvia ushered everyone behind the bus where Rodney, who had gone back inside, popped open the back emergency door so that they could load all of the luggage.  It turned out that this was more of a modified bus.  Half of the seats were missing from the back of it leaving a large area open.  Rodney was piling luggage on one side and what looked like the equipment that they would be using was tied down on the other.

            By the time that Nikki and Jenna had gotten on the bus most of the others were already seated and talking amongst themselves again.  While everyone else seemed to be in the front, Nikki gladly went to the furthest seat in the back.  Not because she didn’t want to talk to anyone but because she thought that it might be easier for her to check in to work if it wasn’t too loud.  This was the first time in years that she missed a day in the labs.  The least that she could do was to call in.

            She got situated right in front of the luggage and Jenna sat in the seat right in front of her.  Before she even had a chance to pull out her phone a guy that Nikki had somehow not notice looked up from the seat across the aisle from her.  He nodded and smiled in that way that most people do when starting conversations with strangers, so like a good stranger she nodded back and wondered how she had missed him in the first place.  He looked a couple years older and quite a few inches taller than Nikki.  He was sitting straight up but his knees still pushed against the back of the chair in front of him like they needed a little more room.

            While Nikki was fine letting him stay silent and start a conversation whenever he wanted to Jenna was not the type to leave people alone.

            “I’m Jenna.”  She leaned toward with an outstretched hand and he took it.

            “I’m Ian.  It’s nice to meet you.”  He smiled and turned to Nikki.  She introduced herself as well.

            “We must be crazy getting onto a bus full of strangers to go to the middle of nowhere.”  He said jokingly.

            “I don’t know.” Jenna said.  “The bus isn’t full.  I think if they all start going crazy we could take them.”

            “Should we make a pact then to join forces when that happens or is it too soon to know if one of us is actually crazy?”  Nikki asked.

            Ian crossed his arms and his eyes squinted as he pretended to think.  “I like to put a lot of thought into my crazy serial killer survival team.  Let me do some research and get back to you on that.”

            They continued on having an easy conversation for so long that it was about an hour into the trip before Nikki even thought about her phone.  She reached her hand into her pocket but then brought it back out empty.  She supposed that work could be put on the back burner for just a little while longer.

Absent - Digging up Magic #1

It's April first!  Which means the beginning of the A to Z challenge AND CampNaNo!  As I mentioned before, I decided to write a story to complete Camp and give each part a 'chapter heading' that will complete A-Z.  So here's to a word filled month for everyone!  Lets get started!

“Nikki.  There’s a client up front that would like to have you look at something.”

“That is what Raymond was hired for.”  Nikki said as she stepped away from the latest artifact that she was examining.  “Why are you coming to me with this?”

“Raymond, isn’t here…” The woman, just younger than Nikki herself, shifted back and forth uncomfortably.  “I thought you knew.”

Nikki sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose where her glasses pinched her.  Two long years her father stood over her shoulder, nitpicking at her every move and training her to take the business, and now that he had finally retired did the staff think that they could retire too?

“Alright, don’t worry about it, I have it covered.  However, could you call Carl in to finish this analysis? I need the results sent to the downtown lab as soon as possible.”

Even though Carl did come in and things still got done in a somewhat orderly fashion Nikki was still going to have to talk to Raymond about his absence.  Calling in was one thing, but disappearing without a word was another.   She thought about calling him on the way home but realized that it was probably best to calm down before she called a coworker at home to chew him out.

Instead of going through the front door, Nikki went around the back into her small backyard where she should have been greeted by a small dog named Gertrude. Instead she found hole dug under the fence.

“Oh, come on, Gert.  I already have employees skipping out on me.  Now you?”

“Hello, Nikki!”  An older woman stood on her porch next door holding something in one arm and waving with the other.  “Looking for something?”

Nikki smiled and made her way toward her neighbor as she noticed that the thing that the woman was holding was in fact Gertrude.

“Thank you, Mrs. Whitmore.” Nikki said as she opened the woman’s fence and walked up the short path.  Mrs. Whitmore sat Gertrude down and she was jumping at Nikki’s feet before she even got to chance to get to the porch steps.  “You must treat her a lot better than I do if she tunnels out of the yard to get to you.”

“Mom feeds her table scraps.”  Mrs. Whitmore’s daughter, coming out their front door and down the porch steps, answered before her mother could.

“Oh hush,”  Mrs. Whitmore waved the comment away as she shuffled back inside her home.  “It wouldn’t hurt her if I did anyways.  The thing is all skin and bones…”

“Table scraps.  That’s all it takes to earn a dog’s love.”  Jenna Whitmore stood next to her now.

“Really?  Because I would’ve bet on things like shelter and loving it back.”

“Nope.  Table scraps.” Her friend sat on the steps and Nikki joined her. Gert jumped into her lap the second she was seated.  “And definitely not by naming a dog Gertrude.”  She made a face as if the word itself tasted bad.

“Hey, Gertrude is a good name with meaning.  Gertrude was a—“

“’A world traveler and famous archaeologist’.  Yeah, you named her after someone who traveled the world.  That was mistake number two.”

Nikki rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop herself from smiling.  Jenna was one of the first people that she met when she moved here and really one of the only people that was around her age.  Lucky for her they hit it off pretty well since she lived next door.

“Yeah, well, you still live with your mother.”

“Now you’re just being childish, Nikki.”

“Says the one who still lives with her mother.”

“Ok, I have a job you know.  I could pay for things, but she doesn’t let me and I just don’t push the matter that much.”  She waved her hands in front of her as if she could physically ward off the conversation.  “We have better things to talk about than me living with my mother anyways.  What do you think about a free trip?”

“Coming from you?  I think of Craigslist and a ride in an unmarked windowless van.”

Jenna looked genuinely confused.  “Have I told you about this then?  It doesn’t matter.  What matters is if your answer is yes or no.”

“No.”

“But you didn’t even think about it.  Hear me out.  It’s for about a month with a group of people staying in a cabin and metal detecting the surrounding area.  It’s going to be awesome!”

“So you want me to go on trip with a group of strangers to some secluded cabin to metal detect.”

“…Yes.”

“No.”

“Nikki!  It’ll be fun.  Think of it like…”  She could see the wheels turn in her friend’s head as she tried to find some way to make this sound appealing.  “Like one of your digging trips!  A survey!”

“A survey?”

“Yes!  Just think of the things we could find out there.  I mean they’re looking for metal but they could dig up anything and then throw it aside.  They could throw away history!  And think of the things you could bring back.  You could be famous.  Like Gertrude.”

The dog in Nikki’s lap raised her head at hearing her name but then settled back down when no treats came out.  A survey.  It’s been years since Nikki has gone with her father on a trip to examine an area.  To see who might have lived there once and what they might have left behind.  Even if they didn’t find anything the possibility of it was always worth the trip to Nikki.  Jenna knows that by the way Nikki would talk about these trips or about archaeology at all.  Now she almost regretted bringing them up.

Jenna was looking at her hopefully then, before Nikki could even get one word out, screamed excitedly and nearly knocked her off the steps with a hug.  This got a few barks from Gert who was quick enough to jump off Nikki’s lap before she was squished.

“Awesome!  I’ll email the guy back right now.”  Jenna got up and went to her front door.  “Get your stuff together.  We leave next week.”

“What?!”

            “Mom already said she would keep Gert while we’re gone.  You have nothing to worry about.  I’ll call you later or something.”  And she was gone.

            Nikki collected her dog and made her way back to her house.  Nothing to worry about?  Apparently her job didn’t count.  However, surveys counted as working which was made clear in the paperwork so…

           Nikki took out her phone after she opened her front door and sat Gert down in the front hallway.  It looked like it was her turn to go absent.

All About Books #2

Second half of all things about me and books!  (Here's the FIRST.)  Let's pick up where I left off!


28. Favourite reading snack? Anything I can eat with one hand, doesn't drip, and won't leave my hands really messy.  Maybe chips or popcorn.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience. Well, I didn't actually read it but I saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in theaters before I read the book.  After the movie I figured that it wouldn't be my kind of book.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book? I guess I don't read a lot of reviews and such.  But if we count suggestions from friends and family then I can't remember not agreeing in some way.  They know me too well.

31. How do you feel about giving negative reviews? Generally, if I don't think that it's fantastic then I won't write a review for it.  I'd be honest if I were asked but to make a post just to say how much I disliked it would make me feel bad.

32. If you could read a foreign language, which would you choose? Hmmm.  That's a tough one.  I'd like to be able to speak Spanish or French.  But if it's to read then I think I would like one of those fancy ones that look pretty on the page.  Chinese?  Russian?  I like their patterns.

33. What was the most intimidating book you've ever read? Intimidating?  I'm not sure what that means to be honest.  If I had to give a guess I'd say Gregory McGuire's Wicked.  (Hope I'm not just saying that because I'm watching Once Upon a Time right now.)  It was maybe a little over my head, but I really wanted to finish it.

34. What is the most intimidating book you're too nervous to begin? I don't know.  Maybe some of the really old classics my parents got with the encyclopedias forever ago.  Still want to read them but haven't yet.

35. Who is your favourite poet? Shel Silverstein.  I don't read a lot of poetry and, yes, I know he was a children's poet, but even so I'd have to say Shel Silverstein.  All the way.

36. On average, how many books do you have checked out of the library at any given time? At least always three.  Don't know the most I've ever gotten.  Right now though?  I have eight...  That's not even counting the ones for my roommate and her kids.  I'm kind of a book mobile.  Lol.

37. How often do you return books to the library unread? Not often.  If at all it's because it's over due and I can't renew it any more.  

38. Who are your favourite fictional characters? Hmmm, I don't think I have one overall favorite character but I can pick at least one from the books that come to mind.  There's Mr. Tumnus from the Narnia series.  I remember him being a sweet character.  Then Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter.  Her off the wall mentality was pretty hilarious.  And also Dustfinger from the Inkheart trilogy.  I don't remember a lot about the books but I remember that I liked him.

39. Who is your favourite fictional villain? The 'bad guys' from Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy.  (Excuse the vagueness, but I think naming them would be a little spoiler-y.)  It's the first book that comes to mind that had me literally gaping at the page sometimes.

40. What are the books you are most likely to take on vacation? Probably just whatever I happen to be reading at the time.  I'm not picky.  But I would definitely take two or three if it were a road trip.

41. What is the longest you have gone without reading? Hmmm.  Had to have been at least a couple day stretch that I may not read for pleasure if I'm think when I was in school.  Or when I finished a book quicker than I thought and couldn't get to the library till the next day.  *shiver*  Tough times.

42. Name a book that you could not or would not finish. I can't even remember the name of it now but it was a Mystery with a male MC and he lived with his dog far away from people.  In an RV type of thing perhaps?  I think he was a retired detective and of course someone found him and talked him in to helping them.  Couldn't do it.  Just couldn't finish it and I don't know why.

43. What distracts you easily when you're reading? People.   I can read when I'm around people but I find that when I do I feel like I'm being antisocial and no one wants to 'bother' me.  Or they think I'm not having any fun around them or something.  But really I'm doing the same as the other people who are checking their phones.  Mine is just a little thicker and not seen as often in social settings.  I'm not trying to be antisocial...  I promise.

44. What is your favourite film adaptation of a novel? The Help was really good.  I'm surprised we didn't buy it actually.  It's been awhile since I read or watched it but I seem to remember that it kept to the basic structure of the book and was well done.

45. What is the most disappointing film adaptation? Eragon.  My favorite took some thought.  This one did not.  Eragon, the film, disappointed me so much.

46. What is the most money you have spent in a bookstore at one go? Not counting for college I'm assuming?  I only buy books every so often.  So maybe just however much one costs?  Between 15 and 25 dollars?

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it? I don't.  I might pick up a book and read the first couple pages just to see if I'd get in to it but other than that I'm too afraid I'll see something spoilery.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book halfway through? Very rarely I find that I feel like I 'have' to finish a book instead of 'wanting' to finish the book.  That is when I tell myself that it's OK to put the book down.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized? No way.  Lol.  I have one small shelf that I put my favorites on.  The ones in a series are all together and that is close enough to organized for me.  My others are scattered on different shelves or in my tried and true plastic crates, which I've had since childhood, in the top of my closet.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you're done with them? If I bought them then I usually keep them.  I'll lend them out but I expect them back.

51. Are there any books you've been avoiding? 50 Shades of Grey.  I've heard that it's great but a bunch of sex in a book makes me a little uncomfortable.  I'm just saying.  Also, Girl With a Dragon Tattoo.  The movie was enough for me.

52. Name a book that made you angry. Hmmm.  Angry?  I can't remember one particular book that made me angry but there has been numerous times where I'd be reading a scene and be like 'Noooo.  No.  No no no.  WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT??'  For some reason Kiera Cass's The Selection comes to mind.  I did get really in to that book.  Lol.

53. A book you didn't expect to like, but did? My sister once got me a book from either a garage sale or a thrift store simple because it looked like one of those books that people find and, I don't know, turns into magic or something.  Lol.  I didn't know what to think of it but I remember ending up liking it quite a bit.  Now I can't even remember it's name though.

54. How about a book you expected to like, but didn't? Pure by Julianna Baggott.  I didn't hate it but for some reason I couldn't really finish it.  I have every intention of going back to give it another try.

55. Favourite guilt-free pleasure reading? Kids books.  I have to say that since I've been getting some books for my roommates boys I've been enjoying them maybe just as much.


That's the end!  I kind of like these kind of things.  Perhaps if I find another like it I will do it too.  But for now we'll call it quits.  Here is the FIRST one, in case you missed it.  Feel free to take the questions and give them your own answers!  :D

No Take Backs!

I'm a very indecisive person.  If we go to a restaurant that I've been to at least once I will probably get the same thing I got the last time but I will stare that menu down as if I'm trying to decide which wire to cut on a device that's set to blow mere seconds before the waiter comes.  Then I still make everyone else go first before I'm forced to finalize my decision.

Quick! The blue one, cut the blue wire!....  I mean I'll have the chicken strip basket, please.  Thank you.

I hate decision making.  Especially, big decisions... like my food. (joking. XD) I wouldn't be surprised if, on that magical day when my future agent tells me my book has been picked up and when it's all ready to be published, I decided that something should have gone differently in my book after everyone has already read it.

So why are people so upset at J.K. Rowling?

Awhile ago, Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, said in an interview that Harry should have married Hermione.  (Here's the article I read about it.  http://cnn.it/1bRw10w)  That apparently enraged a lot of readers.

Awkward.....

I can understand that.  I get a little defensive when someone doesn't love a book as much as I did or thinks a part of it was bad.  That's normal...  I think.  But it's almost going to far.  Why be upset that an author makes a comment about her own characters in her own book?  It wasn't an unreasonable thought.  I can't say that I haven't thought of them ending up together myself.  Especially after that dance scene in the tent...


This kind of reminds me of what happened with Veronica Roth's Allegiant. (Here is a VERY VERY SPOILERY post from Roth's blog about the ending. http://bit.ly/1khO05H  
I'll try not to be spoilery here but if you would prefer to look away this is your warning.)


She got so much backlash about the ending of the trilogy.  It's kind scary as a writer to hear about it.  I mean, comments?  Ok.  Letters?  Alright.  But I heard rumors of death threats and a petition for her to rewrite it...  Death threats???  Way too far.

I'm sure that none of the decisions either Rowling or Roth made for their characters were taken lightly.  They love their characters as much we do.  In real life, we tend to think back on big decisions and wonder 'was that the best way to go?'  These characters and others, however real they feel to us, are not in fact alive.  But much like real life, things are going to happen to them that we won't like and we can't just go back and rewrite a part of it and pretend that the original never happened.

....Unless you do a fanfiction of it and are able to live in very deep denial.  But I think that's for another blog post.