Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Good News!

We're not being evicted.


Why were we worried, you might ask.
Well, the real estate agency has a poor sense of direction and posted the "must be out by midnight Wednesday" signs at the wrong apartment.
That's all.



It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Can't Stop Grinning

So all day today, part of me was going: thisissocoolohmygodohmygodthisisawesome!
And another part of me was going: help!ohmygodI'mdoingthiswrongohmygod!
And yet another part was thinking: Be professional. This is like a job. Ohmygodrealjob!


What were all these parts reacting to? Today was my first day at Da Capo!

I am now officially an editorial intern. And guess how I started my day? Rejection letters! That's right, my reign of terror has started already, as my morning was mostly dedicated to clearing the mailbox. That's basically a slush pile with a couple author letters and odd requests mixed in. There were a couple submissions that at least earned personalized rejection letters instead of form letters. After writing them and getting them approved, I signed and mailed them.

Also dealt with today were some mailings for consideration for a prize, a reader's report on a foreign title Da Capo was being offered US rights for, several arguments with the printer (generally solved by pulling the plug), and bouncing a rights request over to the correct department.

I'm going back tomorrow – the internship's for Mondays & Tuesdays. Did I mention how excited I am about this?

Pictures

What most of the ground looked like:
 

 Some of the worst damage I saw:



The final conclusion in Tuesday's paper:

PS - I'm scraping my new phone for my old one. They may have made improvements in the major-but-only-used monthly features, but they also felt the need to screw up every single minor-but-used-daily feature. The thing's a piece of junk!

...Okay, to be honest, most of it would have been workable, once I adjusted the settings, but does anybody else see the flaw in the plan "the way to unlock it is to hold any button"? I would be constantly calling people & dialing the internet every time I got on the T! Therefore, piece of junk.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Irene

We survived the storm. Actually, it had pretty much fizzled out by the time it hit Boston - I think they were still calling it a tropical storm, but basically it rained. And there were occasional gusts of wind. Yes, there were a lot of twigs and leaves on the ground, as well as the occasional bigger branch (and, a block away, a pair of young trees) but no more damage than winter storms cause - and quite possibly less.

It was fun hopscotching my way to church though. And where the trees had split, a man was delivering one of them to his girlfriend as "a flower to show how much he loved her." She, of course, was sitting on the step telling him not to drop it on those of us walking by. It was cute.

I'll post a few pictures tomorrow, but right now I don't have the time to get them off my phone.

NYC faired worse

Thursday, August 25, 2011

All you need to survive a hurricane

I was at the store today, and noticed this awesome sign:


I'd like to point out that there were no other references to Irene in the store. So further down the coast, they're boarding up windows, canceling trains and planes, and declaring states of emergency. Us brilliant residents of Boston, on the other hand, are stocking up on ice trays.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Signs of Recovery

...because the economy is turning around, or so I've been told. Let's see:



Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Moment of Whimsy

Have you ever thought about the fact that, at the beginning of the rain, walking under a tree will keep you dry, but after the rain walking under a tree will get you soaked?

It's as if there's a magical time delay somewhere up there in the layers of leaves. Perhaps if I were to build myself a treehouse, and live there, I could be like Peter Pan and never grow up.


Monday, August 8, 2011

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life

Well, this may be an odd time to review this, but here's what happened:

1. I read it and loved it, but it wasn't out yet and wouldn't be for months. (I had an ARC)

2. It came out, but I was super busy dealing with the end of the semester.

3. It was out and I had time, but I was in Rochester and the book was in Boston.

So now, finally, finally, I shall tell you what I think.

And what I think is I love it! This is a kid's book, yes, yet it deals with some serious issues.
It's funny, it's entertaining, it's responsible, and it hits exactly the right balance.

The simplest summary is this: A boy named Rafe narrates his sixth grade year. He is telling the story after the year is over, but he insists on telling it as it happened. His friend Leonardo illustrates.
Rafe has to deal with a lot - problems at home, a bully at school, and the consequences of his own reactions to these things. I'm not sure how much more to say without spoiling it; I went into it knowing nothing more than that a boy named Rafe wanted to tell his secrets, and I loved it. Even the author's name was being kept back at the time (James Patterson, believe it or not).

I think I have probably overused the phrase "loved it" in this review, but the point I'm trying to make is that this is not just a book I liked. This is a book I'm excited about.

What a Difference a Month Makes

I've been back in Rochester for the last month - so my apologies to any readers who aren't family, if they exist. I figured there was no point in updating when most of my audience was right there next to me. Or in China, with poor access to Google.

Anyway, now that I'm back in Boston, it's time to inventory the changes:
1. Super-annoyingly-rowdy sports bar across the street... is gone. Wow. It's so much quieter around here now.
2. Two other stores I regularly passed but never entered have closed.
3. The band next door (have I really not mentioned them before? They only knew 2 songs, and practiced all the time. Although to give credit where credit's due, their drummer knew more songs, so his solo practices were great.) has not been heard from in a while. They may have moved out.
4. There are a lot of loud parties next door. They may have moved in.
5. The cheap Chinese place right next to Emerson wasn't open when I went. PLEASE TELL ME THIS ISN'T PERMANENT.
6. Kelly's doesn't sell smoothies anymore. I plan on pouting about this for quite a while, as they were really good and my main reason for eating there.
7. The B line's trains have been shortened again. If someone could please explain the logic of adding cars to the college line in the spring, and then taking them away again once the college students start to return, I will be most impressed.

Also, I'd just like to comment that it rained so hard, it didn't just turn the streets into rivers, it turned them into rivers with rapids.

Also, this.