Today is a depressing day to be in an office. Like Boxing Day, Easter Monday is one of those days that isn't technically a stat but if your boss loves you it sure it is. I like my boss, I won't speak ill of him here or anywhere, but he clearly does not love his employees the way governments love their's. Then again, no jobs are getting cut here so I guess I can't complain too much. I informed Karl that I'll know I'm moving up in the world when I get a job that gives me Boxing Day and Easter Monday off. That's my goal for next time.
The drive to work this morning was depressing. I avoid driving through a school zone when I can because it doubles my commute time. Today I went by the school and lo and behold, the road was totally bare. Depressing. It was like driving on a Sunday. Since government and other businesses with bosses that love them are some of work's biggest clients I'm pretty much obsolete here today. There will be no mail. There will be no phone calls. There will be no running to the store for milk. There will be plant watering and window staring. And possibly Angry Birding.Contrary to popular belief, I do actually do work from time to time. If I didn't I might have to jump out a window due to sheer boredom. Good thing our windows don't open and are ground level. Just kidding, I do work. Not always but I do. I'm just waiting for the responsibilities to start coming in now that I've been here for over three months. It'll happen. I just need to be patient. Chances are good that today I'll be given stuff to do. Which will be lovely.
So this weekend I finished reading The Summer Tree which is part of the Fionavar Tapestry. I tried the book nine years ago and got stumped and now I gave it another go. I quite enjoyed the last 50 pages. I might even go on to read the rest of the trilogy but not right away. Generally I like to read a whole series as close together as possible so that I don't get confused but I need a break. Besides, I caved into societal reading pressure and bought The Hunger Games.
I read a page of it yesterday and more this morning before work. It isn't bad. As soon as I opened it, though, and was confronted with large type face and a first person point of view I remembered the real difference between young adult books and those for older audiences. It's a totally different experience than what I just endured. Actually, The Summer Tree is written kind of weird and I had a hard time with the author's style. This new teenage style is kind of refreshing if a little shocking.
I haven't gotten far enough into the story yet to say whether it's worth all the hype or not but I'm sure it's good. The whole premise kind of weirds me out, though, so it'll be interesting to actually form my own opinions as opposed to listening to those of everyone around me. A book about teenagers killing each other for food doesn't sound altogether appealing although I'm going to give it a show. Sparkly vampires are equally as absurd and I didn't mind them. Twilight needs to be recognized as ridiculous and little else, though. Maybe The Hunger Games won't. Harry Potter didn't.
No comments: