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News and/or Rants!
Hey
all it’s Di. I hope
everyone had a better week than I did.
Yes, my week was horrible.
I woke up Monday morning feeling really really sick.
I decided to stay home from school and sleep as much as I
could. Later that
evening, I went to work for a meeting.
I felt awful during the whole thing, so the thought of
going home was a welcome dream.
So, there I was, on my way out of the parking lot, turning
left into a busy street. Luckily,
after a few minutes of waiting, I had my chance to make it across
without hassle. So, I
get about halfway across the oncoming lane when my car DIES in the
middle of the street. Now,
my car doing this to me is new, and being in the middle of Denver
rush hour is incredibly frightening.
Frantically, I reach for my hazard blinker switch, and then
try to start my car. It’s
as dead as a doornail. So,
here I am, trying desperately to start my car, when this horde of
angry Monday evening drivers come down the street.
I am thinking to myself, “Oh my god, please let them see
my hazards on.” I
was hoping some kind soul would pull over and help me, but all I
got was honked at and cursed.
So I am still frantically trying to start my car, and I get
a break. Realize, I
have been in the middle of the street for about 30 seconds now,
and my car has made no attempt to turn over whatsoever.
Well… Out of the corner of my eye, I see a black SUV
coming at me full speed. I was thinking this guy would stop like everyone else, but lo
and behold, the next thing I know is I hear a bang almost like a
gunshot, and my neck is doing the violently shaken slinky bit.
At this point, my car is at a 45* angle facing oncoming
traffic. The guy who
hit me stops and asks me if I am OK.
I said I was OK and asked him to pull off into the parking
lot. So he
disappears, and this really nice guys with a British accent comes
and helps me push my car out of the middle of the street.
He gives me his business card and says if they need a
witness to call him and he would be happy to help.
So he left. I
grabbed my cell phone (which I was fortunate enough to have) and
dialed 911. So the cops came and took care of everything and I called my
grandma. Well, the
police officer gave neither one of us a ticket, which was
comforting, and left. So
then Tuesday comes. Gram
and I were wondering what to do, so we take it in to the place
where I have taken the car before.
They call back a few hours later and say the car is totaled
and they can do nothing to fix it. My heart sank. I
mean, this is my baby. I
bought it with my own money and loved it like it was always mine.
Well, they tow it back to the house, and I watched the tow
truck guy lower it down off the back of the truck.
It felt like someone had wrenched my heart out.
It had a huge crater in it.
The driver’s sidelights were completely gone.
The bumper was barely hanging on.
The one thing that made me feel a little better was that my
bumper stickers had remained in tact.
Then I tried to peel them off, and they split in half. I will miss my car. That
was the first car I had ever bought.
It made me happy and gave me a freedom I had never
experienced before. OK,
now I am sad…
Anyway, enough depressing stuff.
I would like to tell you all Happy Thanksgiving, and hope
everyone has a wonderful time. If I am not sick I know I will.
Just a reminder… we will be taking a short break from the
comic so we can spend time with fam and friends, so don’t try to
miss us too much. Have
a great time!
Vehicular Widow,
Di
And
now, for a book review
Book:
Eden-459 Author: Martin J.
Stab
Categories:
1.
Plot
A.
Plot (1 pt):
Good plot, twisted enough to stay interesting over the course of
the book. The plot (with out spoilers): There is a manned mission
to colonize another planet. There are aliens in this book. There
is also an asteroid on collision with the Earth. A side plot
explains Roswell, and the Origins of humans. 1 pt.
B.
Literary Devices (1 pt):
To much foreshadowing. The plot was complex enough, that, to get
done in the 280 pages, The Author has to reveal plot points in a
certain way. He reveals them in the same way, every time. It
slightly distracts from the current part of the story. Adding
another 150 pages, to expand the plot of each foreshadowing event
to make them subtler. While necessary to the plot, this was more
distracting than helpful. .5 pt.
C.
Miscellaneous (.5 pt):
Overall, I liked the plot. The thing that most writers do is: when
the plot starts to slow, they just add a minor plot. While the
minor plot is a good one, it upsets the flow of the main plot, and
can confuse readers. He avoided unnecessary plots entirely. Which
is nice in a story like this. He keeps to the rules of his
universe and it adds to the ability to suspend your disbelief. A
lot of the technical jargon could confuse some readers. There is
even one section that has jargon that goes over MY head. .5 pt.
2.
Characters
A.
Background (1 pt):
The character background was awesome. There is enough to get to
know the character, without all the extra stuff, like what
so-and-so eats for breakfast. Also, the characters were
interesting. 1 pt.
B.
Character Development (1 pt):
Unfortunately there was little in the way of character
development. There was development, just more in the form of
adding more characters than improving the original. .5 pt.
C.
Miscellaneous (.5 pt):
Well, the characters were involving. That is always good. My
favorite character is Paul. Though, I do believe that there is a
lot of unnecessary death in the middle of the book.
Not, that I wasn’t expecting characters to die, just,
lots of characters die of natural causes in an odd order. Most of
the plot action occurred in dialog between the main character and
one of the minor characters. Over all it is good.
.5 pt.
Overall: It is a
good book, Most people I know would like it. there are a few hard
to believe parts, but they are minor. the total is 4 out of 5 pocky.
Jake |
