Notable recent events and books read

• Halloween. Daniel was a ninja, Justin was a vampire, I was an absentee. ::sigh:: Will try to have pictures at some point.
  
  
• Handed over the house keys and got the rental contract signed for my mom's place. It's both wonderful and sad. Mostly wonderful though, as well as a huge relief.
  
  ...and now I just have to do something about the dozens of huge boxes cluttering up my front hall and living room, and catch up on the last several weeks of Evidence readings, to say nothing of Civil Liberties. Oh, just kill me now.
  
  
• Speaking of reading, here's October's reading list:
  
  
  • Me: Officially still reading Explorer. No farther along than I was last month. Or the month before that. It may be time to call it quits on this series. The alien civilization is fascinating, and the plot intricate and well-crafted and thought-provoking and, um, into its sixth book by this point, and I'm going cross-eyed with the complexity and dizzy with the alien names (no longer sure who is Tatiseigi and Geigi and Nindanda and Cajeiri and Cenedi and Algini and Mieji and Fiji and Fifi) and have utterly lost the plot.
    
    But! I finally finished Aztec! Thank god! The Stunning Book Of Mexíca Gore & Ickysex is all done!
    
    ...and so I'm reading it again!
    
    No, really. I got really into the culture and history and decided to go back and re-read it now that I had a good idea of where the plot was going to go and which icky parts were safe to skip.
    
    Which, BTW, is all of them. Really; except for the dedication of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan and the Xipo Totec sacrifice, it can all be safely skimmed. And as for the litany of revolting intriguing sexual practices, it's all quite missable too.
    
    So I've gone back and now that I know who the Mexíca and Acolhua and Tlapolteca were, I'm really getting a lot more out of it. Really neat.
    
    Except for the names. Tzintzilini and Xochimininque and Tlopetotecl and Chloxliptzicliqulaxtlalcptp and god, just how much peyote did you have to ingest before you thought developing a language that would make the sixth sheik's sixth sheep's sick kids cry to try to wrap their tongues around was a really cool thing to do?
    
    Tried to start I, Clavdivs. Names a problem again. Tuvius Pluvius Maximus Hellenicus Flavius Effluvium, and I'll be in the atrium guzzling bitrium, thanks. Will try again next month.
    
    
  • The boys and Chris: are still reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at bedtime.
    
    
  • Daniel finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He is up to chapter 11 of Order of the Phoenix, because I keep taking the book away and insisting he do some of his other schoolwork. I also hide it. It's neat, though, watching the book through his eyes; the first book he's read where he really has no idea what's going to happen, as he hasn't seen the movie.
    
    I made the mistake of telling him it was my least favourite of the series, though, which got me into some trouble. He kept running in saying things like, "You thought this book was BORING?!"
    
    "I never said it was boring-"
    
    "You thought NOTHING HAPPENED for the first half?!"
    
    "I never said-"
    
    "How can you call Dementors boring??!!"
    
    "Sweetie! I said the actual plot didn't really get started for a while, but yes, it's all very exciting anyway!"
    
    "But, but you said you didn't like it-"
    
    "ARG!! It's a GREAT BOOK!! I didn't say I didn't like it, I said I didn't like it as much as some of the other books! DID YOU HEAR ME??!! IT'S STILL A WONDERFUL AMAZING SUPER-AWESOME BOOK!!!"
    
    "Jeez, Mama, you don't have to yell."
    
    !!!!!
  
  
  
• Should probably get some reading done and then go to bed. I'm so bloody exhausted these days. Hopefully now that I won't be working on my mom's house for a few hours every other day, I can shake the tiredness.