In such a good mood today!  The weather is absolutely gorgeous and it is a Pay Day! [I capitalized it to express its importance.]  A bunch of us went out for lunch today in order to enjoy the great weather.  I even splurged on a [decaf] beverage from Starbucks, thanks to my Christmas-present-giftcard from my boss.

In more literary news, I recently finished Michael Chabon’s “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” [Goodreads rating = 2 stars for "not that big a fan"],  Harlan Coben’s “Deal Breaker” [Goodreads rating = 3 stars for "meh"] and Emma Donaghue’s “Room” [Goodreads rating = also 3 stars for "meh"].  Room wasn’t a bad book, but I certainly do not think it lived up to all the hype about it on the book’s cover.  It was interesting though, narrating from the point of view of a five-year-old.

With all that “meh” going on, I figured I better step it up a notch and read something really good.  I picked Stephen King’s “Under the Dome.” About 100 pages in and it is promising.  I am hopeful that it is more on the storytelling level of “The Shining” and less on the level of “Cell.”  Because, damn, I hated that book.

Also read an article today that is a little funny, a little pathetic, and not at all surprising.  Apparently there is a certain Army vet that keeps being declared dead and losing his pension.  Four times now he has had to go and let them know that he is not dead.  The end of the article really made me laugh, “A VA spokesman told WESH 2 News that the organization was looking into the case.  Miller said he asked his congressman to do the same, but so far, being alive has not been sufficient proof that he is not dead.”

That’s our government for you.

Teri’s Ten Most Favorite Books

The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
On Writing – Stephen King
From the Corner of His Eye – Dean Koontz
The Walking Dead series – Robert Kirkman
Bridge to Terabithia – Katherine Paterson
House of Leaves – Mark Z Danielewski
The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
1984 – George Orwell
Outlander – Diana Gabaldon

Teri’s Ten Least Favorite Books

Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
Demon Seed – Dean Koontz
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
Anything by Dan Brown
Cell – Stephen King
Wicked – Gregory Maguire
Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon
The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
The Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
The Box – Richard Matheson [whatever you do, do not watch the movie either]

In more music-related news, I really enjoy reggae music.  I think you would be hard-pressed to find another genre of music that is as positive and upbeat.  I especially enjoy listening to reggae in the winter, because every time I hear it I think of bright sunshine, the ocean, and pleasant breezes.  My own temperate island amidst January bleakness.

In fact, my desktop background is currently this:

Though, now, when I hear Three Little Birds, there is also the image of Will Smith crying over his dog thanks to the I Am Legend movie.  He’s still on a gorgeous beach in the bright sunshine and pleasant breezes, but it still manages to dampen the overall carefree feeling.

I Am Legend was a really good movie.

I went to Barnes & Noble today to buy my obscene amount of birthday books.  I think I was successful.  Thank you to both my parents for the birthday money and Stephanie for the Barnes & Noble gift card.  Know that you helped make my dream a reality!  I gotta get reading!

[You can click on the picture to enlarge it.]

I haven’t worked out very much in the last 3 weeks, what with my back hating me and the Cold From Hell, so I wasn’t expecting anything terribly spectacular when I stepped on the scale yesterday.  I was just going to see where I was in order to make a new goal.

Well I have happy news… the ten pounds of winter weight gain is gone!  Huzzah!  I am excited and worried at the same time.  Excited because I lost the weight with pretty much only dietary changes.  Worried because I can lost ten pounds easily at first, then my body just decides it will never drop another pound.  Hoping to overcome that this summer.

I’m going to reach deep down and grab a hold of that willpower and determination that I believe must exist inside of me somewhere and really work it this summer.  I figure doing my own little dance workout every morning [seriously a great way to start the day], elliptical and weight machines Mon-Thurs, and The Biggest Loser workout video on Wed, Fri, and Sunday should be enough activity to thwart the evil plans of my lazy, lazy body.  That and continuing with my dietary changes.

I will keep you all updated on my progress.  My goal now is to lose 30 pounds this summer, from June 1st until August 31st.  Wednesday will become the Weekly Wednesday Weigh-In, and I will post any weight lost or gained so that I can get some accountability going.

Also, found this great picture and wanted to post it:

Last night Mr. W’s ear got clogged and he couldn’t hear out of it.  Of course this happened as we were getting ready for bed.  Neither of us had ever dealt with taking care of this sort of thing at home [I've had this happen once, both ears, and went to the doctor to clear it up.  Very weird sensation that was, I'm not going to lie.  Not to mention the disgusting results].  Fortunately the Internet did not let us down, and we headed out to Walgreens to purchase some hydrogen peroxide and a dropper so that we could irrigate his ear.

We went a couple rounds with the irrigation until finally he could hear clearly.  So hopefully that’s all right now.  But it got me thinking.  Why the heck do we have earwax?  It seems like its only purpose is to be gross.  So I asked Google, “Google, why do we have earwax?”  And Google told me.

Apparently its pretty helpful stuff.  In addition to being gross, it: lubricates/cleans the ear canal, keeps the ear canal from drying out, and contains antibiotics to help fight infections.  I also learned some Fun Facts!:
1.) In medieval times, ear wax was used to prepare pigments to illustrate illuminated manuscripts.
2.) Whales have an annual buildup of ear wax. The number of layers are counted to determine the whale’s age, after death.

Just imagine your job being to count the layers of earwax in a dead whale’s ear.  Gives you a whole new appreciation for your own employment.

In non-waxy news, I keep hearing praise for The Hunger Games.  So much so that I am forced to at least find out what the hell has gotten people so excited.  And since the Kindle version was only $5 I decided to download it and give it a go.  I’ll let you all know what I think once I have finished.

Has anyone ever heard of Legend of the Five Rings [L5R]?  It’s a d10-based RPG set during fuedal Japan.  We took a break from our regular Pathfinder campaign last Saturday and played this instead.  I just played a pre-gen character [since I had no idea what I was doing], but it seemed okay.  Of course, I may just have liked it because my character could kick some serious ass.  It is always nice when ass-kicking happens, but only when you are on the giving end of things.