Grrrrr

[artyartie]

With my piddly income from last year, I more than qualify for Turbo Tax's free filing program. But evidently I hit the wrong button and now it's trying to get me to pay for the full blown deluxe version. Grrrr. So tomorrow, when I'm coherent, I will go to a different site with free filing for those of us in the lower tax brackets.

I currently have two job prospects out now, after posting my resume on Craigslist. Honestly, that site works better than Monster. The University of Denver job didn't quite work out, unfortunately, but both of these sounds like enjoyable work and they pay well. And hopefully, I won't have to work at these jobs for long, with the prospect of school. All I need is two more letters of rec and I can send my applications off - and then you all get to go through my grad school anxiety, part II. I think I'm in a better place, mentally, than last year, though not having a job has me a little antsy right now. Just too much uncertainty at once! Thankfully I'm nowhere near the point where the stress is so bad I can't read - that happenned a few years ago and it was just horrible. I could barely read a magazine. But still, it would be nice for April to be here, and with it a job and an acceptance letter.

But speaking of books, I've been busy! I just finished Peter Raven Under Fire an Age of Sail book for 5th-6th grade readers, that had a lot of potential but the characters ended up being a little flat - and the female lead was a compete Mary Sue, sadly. Also in the Age of Sail vein, but much funnier, are the Pirates! books. Do not read them in public unless you want people looking at you as you laugh. I should really quote some of the best lines here. Also, I'm almost done with the first in the Bartimaeus(sp) trilogy, and I'm rather enjoying the read. Next up I have a particularly biting satire of The DaVinci Code - The DaVinci Cod. Unfortunately, it helps if you've read the original to 'get' the parody - he skewers Brown's writing and his more ludicrous bits (his protagonist is a professor of anagrammology - a field as made up as religious symbology) - I can't wait for him to rip into Brown's depiction of college classes. And the romance. And the really silly puzzles any third-grade girl could solve. *coughs* Er, if you like the original, I wouldn't read my journal in May, as I will probably go into a full blown rant against the book and the subsequent PR blitz for the movie.

Comments

[aervir.livejournal.com]

Er, if you like the original, I wouldn't read my journal in May, as I will probably go into a full blown rant against the book and the subsequent PR blitz for the movie.

I'm already looking forward to that! Can you tell that I hate Dan Brown, too? :D

And good luck with finding a job and your grad school application!

[artyartie.livejournal.com]

Mmm, we need a snarky, Da Vinci Code bashing icon. But yay for finding more people who think Dan Brown is completely overrated!

Well, my two apps are off, and the head of the department for East Carolina says he's looking forward to my application, so I think that's still a good sign! Some of the students in the program are doing a Lobscouse and Spotted Dog dinner on March 4, and he's going to write me to tell me how it turned out. Tomorrow I'm trying Lobscouse, Ship's Biscuits and Naples Biscuits, myself. I've already tried the grog recipe and that was really good!

[aervir.livejournal.com]

Mmm, we need a snarky, Da Vinci Code bashing icon. But yay for finding more people who think Dan Brown is completely overrated!

For the time being, my generic *facepalm* icon will have to make do. But a "oooh, let's bash Dan Brown one" would be nice, too. :) I wouldn't mind the "Da Vinci Code" half as much, though, if the book weren't so hugely successful. If it were just another cheesy thriller about the "secrets" of the Catholic Church that sold moderately well, it might even have amused me. (I do like cheesy novels. Well, sometimes.) But with everyone going on about how wonderful it is and maybe even taking it seriously -- dear God, no.

And the head of department sounds like a genuinely nice guy. Lobscouse and Spotted Dog dinner -- heh! :) Enjoy your cooking experiments, by the way!

[artyartie.livejournal.com]

You're right, I wouldn't mind it half so much if everyone wasn't giving it such critical praise and thinking it was "OMG the truth!!" We were at the movies last night, a Da Vinci Code-liking friend and I, and we saw the trailer for it. I was just rolling my eyes the entire way through and when they mentioned something about "the truth" I very nearly coughed. It is just a book, people. Just a cheesy book.

[aervir.livejournal.com]

It is just a book, people. Just a cheesy book.

You mesn it isn't real? And I wanted to go and have a look for the Sacred Feminine (TM) at the Louvre. Silly me. ;)

[aoife-hime.livejournal.com]

oh my goodness you're reading bartimaeus?! i LOVE the bartimaeus trilogy!!!!!! i had my mom ship out a signed copy of the third book to me a few weeks ago and i read it in 3 days, despite classes and an entire day of shopping. they just keep getting better, trust me. they're so good that i'm writing an epilouge because i just need more of the story! i have about 4 handwritten pages so far - i usually only have time during boring parts of classes. but yay for reading!!!

[artyartie.livejournal.com]

You got a signed cop? Sweet! I admit, I really like the first one - it just has such a snarky little twist to it with Bartimaeus' point of view. And they only get better? Hee, I'm even more excited now.

You should pick up "Sorcery and Cecilia, or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot." Basically, it's a 'letter game' story set in Regency England, but with magic. It's hilarious and has some interesting magical theory!

Oh, and I hope you post your fan fiction, though I'll have to wait until I'm all done with the books to read it. :)

[butterflydrming.livejournal.com]

I noticed that free tax prep is only free if you go through the IRS site and follow their links to the preparer. I don't know if that helps. ^_^

[artyartie.livejournal.com]

It did! I actually ended up going with a different company on the site, but thanks for the help. Refunds are good. :)

[melroseplant.livejournal.com]

good to see someone else loathes the Da Vinci Crap as much as I! I have read Da Vinci Cod. Quite silly and fun! Yet, infinitely more clever than Dan Brown ( shocking, I know ) insert my own brand of biting sarcasm!

[artyartie.livejournal.com]

What irks me most about the whole Da Vinci Code is how people are blathering on that it's "ZOMG the best book evah!!" It's not, I'm sorry, not even close. The writing is average, and sometimes terribly cliched, the characters utterly forgettable and the premise just ludicrous. I've studied a bit of the early church and did my thesis on Mary Magdalene, and I laughed at the "troubadours searching for the Sacred Feminine" bit. But when this piece of mediocrity is being voted as the best book of all time, it really, really irks me. There's sooooo much better out there, people. I usually try and entince people to read some good books when they mention they like the Da Vinci Crap. One of my favorites is The Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears. It's set in Restoration Oxford and is beautifully written, with an absolutely compelling mystery.

So as much as I love Paul Bettany, I won't be watching the movie. I'd just be writing in agony the entire time.

[melroseplant.livejournal.com]

I was mad at Paul Bettany signing onto this project too.


I loved Instance of the Fingerpost. Infinitely better.