Newest Reviews

I just finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling and Undead and Unappreciated by MaryJanice Davidson. Both were excellent!

Rowling managed another impressive feat with her latest book. I hated how she ended the book though. I like how Harry has matured and how all the characters are developing, including Malfoy. I just hate how death plays such a devastating role! Just because it works and makes the book that much stronger is no reason why people have to get killed off.

As for Davidson's, well, it needs to be longer! I can't wait for the next installment because I laughed all the way through it. I adore this series about Betsy the Vampire Queen. She is shallow, uneducated, but such a happy person it just does not matter. I like her - Betsy that is. That & anyone who has a cat wandering around is a good soul under any circumstances.

This time around Betsy met her sister, the child of Satan, Laura. Laura is far too sweet but since she tends to also kick serious ass when she gets pissed off, it really does not matter. And since Laura helps Betsy out of various troublesome spots, it all works out. And of course there are all the normal problems of ruling a kingdom of vampires, compounded by having to plan a vampire wedding she is going to officiate. Its great!

I also read a few news magazines. The articles that caught my interest are mostly from the July 18, 2005 edition of Time. "A Jury of Their Peers" was particularly interesting because it answers all sorts of juvenile crime problems, ranging from cost to getting through the hormonal fog known as puberty. I acknowledge that juv crime is not only petty theft and malicious mischief, but there is a large body of statistics saying that is the majority of juv crime. In the article, several of the bigger cities are creating small "courts" of carefully vetted and trained teenagers who rotate through the various court positions and try the cases of their peers. The numbers support this move.

According to the article, "perps are limited to first-time offenders who are under the age of 19 and who admit guilt to minor crimes." It is far more cost effective. A youth court trail tasks an hour +/-, & the average cost is $480. Sentences tend to be creative forms of community service. In contrast, probation costs about $1635 and a regular juvenile trail in criminal court ranges from $210000 to $84000. The record shows that 99% complete their sentence, which includes creative community service projects like washing police cars, working at food banks, whatever.

Since the idea works, has been around since 1947 in Mansfield, OH, why is the concept not being implemented other places? Oh, wait! I know! Because it not only makes sense, but it also does the unpardonable of actually working! That's right!

I also have read the latest 2 Reader's Digest and Cooking Light magazines. Those were neat, but beyond an article about a girl from Afghanistan who was burned horribly and then, thanks to a Green Beret on duty and him being a big sap, flew to the USA and underwent numerous surgeries to release her arm and face from her chest, as well as giving her enough flesh & flexibility to close her eyes and mouth. That will stick in my memory for a while because those pictures were startling. She was adorable quite obviously, but now, after all those surgeries, she has the chance to grow up as cute. Since the doc's found an inch worth of scar tissue where her chin had melted to her chest, she also now has the chance to grow up.

The latest silliness I have indulged in is that I bought the winged My Pretty Pony set from Hasbro and it came with a DVD. I have yet to watch the DVD, but I have pulled out all my other ponies and played with them for a bit last night. It was such a cute little toy. Silly beyond belief, I know, but I like them. My justification is that I have only 2 vices any more and since I satisfy my book lust here at work 98% of the time, that leaves the My Pretty Ponies.

I definitely need to get a life if my days revolve around getting up, taking care of the animals, doing my yoga, going for a 2-3 mile walk, eating breakfast, showering, driving to work, staying there for 9 hours, driving home, reading for an hour or so, going to bed, repeat ad neaseum.

And my off days are a rotation of sorts. Weeks 1 & 3, I work Friday & have Saturday off. Weeks 2 & 4, I have Friday off & work Saturday. Every fourth week, I work Sunday. So on my 2 Fridays off I tend to get the car taken care, get any doctor appointments taken care of, do grocery shopping, maybe watch a movie at the theater, then come home and crash before working Saturday. Then on those Sundays, I tend to do a serious cleaning where I even get down on my hands & knees to scrub the floors and I wash anything & everything I can. The weekends I have Saturday & Sunday off, I go to my Mother's & help mow their grass, do any puttering & driving necessary, and veg out until I go home or to work on Sunday. It is extremely sad because I have no life!

Oh well.