Monday, August 31, 2009

One Night in Bangkok

Tunes: One Night in Bankok - CHESS the musical
Mood: Pleasantly surprised/Excited

Today, I was on wikipedia looking for reading recomendations, and I was on the Stephen King Bibliography page, and one of the first things that popped out at me was the description of his novel 'Rage.' I got a little excited, but then I saw a little note that said, 'Out of Print.' So, a little bummed, I kept scrolling down. I then saw a familiar title, 'The Bachman Books.' I remembered seeing a hardcover of that in my mom's car trunk! I laughed at the thought, and it turned out to be a collection of short stories: The Running Man, The Long Walk, Road Work, and . . . . 'Rage.' I clicked on the link to the book's article.

Turns out this book's been out of print for over ten years in the USA. It went out of print in 1997, because of the contents of 'Rage', and something about a school shooting (I don't mean to sound ignorant, I just don't want to go into details. I'll link to the articles at the end of the post).

So, what are the odds that I stumble upon something I want to read, it's out of print, and it turns out a not-easy-at-all-to-find editon of it is in the back of my mom's freakin' car?

How often does this happen? Honestly? That's like finding a first edition copy of Susan Kay's 'Phantom' at my local thrift store, in good condition (which I'm still hoping will happen).

So, with a little mental math, the book in the back of my mom's car is older than both my little step siblings.

And possibly me. The first edition came out in . . . 1985, I think.

Let me restate this in a new way:

THIS BOOK IS OLDER THAN BOTH OF MY MOM'S MARRIAGES HAVE BEEN. AND ALWAYS WILL BE.

***Once again, I'd like to remind all y'all that banned book week is closing in on us. Look forward to awesomeness during that week.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Recipe

OK -- I just got stressed out (i.e. angry in the blood) while reading anti-twilight stuff (I'm opposed to Twilight -- and the things these people said got me rallied up for a protest) so I decided to make some tea. I make amazing tea -- I use tea bags, just for referance. But, here's my recipe for good time, anti-stress tea.

Mackenzie's Anti-Stress Tea

Things you need:

1 mint tea bag of your choice
1 honey bear (optional)
Enough water to fill your cup/mug up 4/5 or about an inch from the top
Chocolate Syrup
Milk
Sugar

Boil your water. Use a kettle, use a pot, use a microwave, whatever.
Pour water into mug/cup -- 'til there's water an inch from the top
Use mint tea bag on water -- how strong you like it is up to you.
Add as much milk as you usually do -- same with the sugar.
Pour about three tablespoons of Chocolate syrup into tea -- actually, just do it to your own taste specifications.
Add about a teaspoon of honey, if you do that. This is actually my first time using honey on tea -- it's kinda . . . eh. It adds an extra bite of sweetness that I like to get from coffee and hot chocolate -- so, it's good. This is personally the way I like my tea. If you'd like to subsitute cinnamon for chocolate, go for it. If you wanna use molasses instead of honey, go for it! You're in control!

*** I'd, once again, like to remind readers that Banned Book week is coming up -- September 26 to October 3. There'll be a lot of goodies that week -- so stop by and see what's cooking!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Just the Facts

I was watching Nancy Grace the other day at like, 3:00 AM and I figured out that Nancy needs to get her facts straight. Her comment was something along the lines of:

[snip]
". . .second hand smoke increasing the chance of SIDS . . ."
[snip]

This was not a news story -- just a comment about SIDS that was redirected from a comment about smoking. I'm not sure if this was live, or anything -- I don't know what time zone it was in, so I have no clue if the idea was even logical or not -- but this is wrong.

First off, SIDS (standing for 'Sudden Infant Death Syndrome') is a diagnosis that doctors give you when there's no cosmetic reason why your baby's dead. But, if they perform an autopsy, the majority of the time, it's deemed to be suffocation.

Suffocation. Second hand smoke doesn't cause you to stop breathing -- at least, it didn't do that the last time I checked. Suffocation is caused by pillows over faces, duct tape over mouth and nasal cavities, and stuff like that -- second hand smoke may eventually make you stop breathing, but not within a few weeks or anything. When things like this are mentioned by "legit" news sources -- it just makes me cringe, honestly. Because so many stupid people only go off the information they get from "The O'Reilly Factor" or "Nancy Grace" and other shows like that. In fact, these TV shows should have a warning screen showed before they air -- "WARNING! STATEMENTS THAT ARE IMPROMPU MAY BE TOTAL BULL. CHECK A RELIABLE RESOURCE BEFORE ASSUMING THAT THIS IS ALL FACT." Which, it probably isn't -- all fact, that is. In fact, this post probably isn't all fact. I doubt it, actually. I might have gotten something wrong.

In fact, most of this is opinion -- the entire blog, that is. This post is mostly fact with my opinion on crappy news programs mixed into it.

*** I'd like to remind readers that Banned Book week is September 26th to October 3rd. I'll have something fun posted every day of that week for you guys. (i.e. Banned book week cookies and lots of lists and book recommendations.)