I didn't spend my day at the library studying after all. I did go in this morning, though. It felt so nice to drive again. I love driving. So long as everyone else on the road isn't being stupid. I'm always worried I'm going to get rear-ended because everyone around here tailgates. But Saturday mornings aren't so bad in the middle of January.
My car sounded like she didn't want to start, but I think that's because I recently accidentally killed the battery (had to use my air compressor, which plugs into the cigarette lighter and my car hadn't been started since November, so the battery wasn't very happy) and haven't driven since I jumped it a week ago. She sounded fine when I left the library.
And I've gotten most of my CJ stuff done. But it was hard to concentrate.
It's a gorgeous day out so I actually have a window open. And I could hear one of my neighbors screaming (they were swearing their heads off about something; I caught the word "fu*k" several times.) Then I could hear some kids up the block screaming their heads off. I know they're kids and kids are loud - and it's a good thing they're not lazing around in front of the TV - but I'm pretty sure they didn't need to be screaming the rules of whatever game they were playing loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear. I listened to the neighbor for a good 10 or 15 minutes, and the kids for probably about an hour after that. It was ridiculous.
When I was growing up, we kids were expected to be considerate to our neighbors - especially when the weather was nice enough to open windows - and not be outside shrieking and carrying on at the top of our lungs. We could be loud, but within reason. Screaming loud enough for someone several houses down to hear us, and carrying on like that for an extended period of time, was not within reason.
And I know they must have been several houses down, because I see kids congregating on a cross street at the end of the block all the time, because of the lack of traffic over there.
Stupid kids...
But I'm enjoying getting the fresh air in here...there are cats outside fighting. I just heard them trying to kill each other. Great...
But the sun feels really nice. And so does the fresh air. I'd be happy if we had weather like this all the time. It's supposed to get cold again, though. Cold enough for snow.
I was disappointed by a book I checked out last week. I finally got around to reading Howl's Moving Castle (I love Ghibli and loved the movie, so I had to read the book, which I liked even more than the movie) and the library also had the sequel, The House of Many Ways. I was ecstatic.
But Sophie and Howl apparently had a child in the time between the end of the first book and the end of the sequel. And I was immediately annoyed by the presence of said child. It sounded like your typical toddler, and I assume Miss Jones meant for him to sound cute, but he annoyed the hell out of me from the moment he appeared. I couldn't even finish the book. I was upset, because I really like Sophie and Howl, but them having a child kinda ruins them for me.
That always seems to happen, though, when there's a sequel and the main characters end up having a kid. It happened in one of Dean Koontz's books, too. The fourth book in the Frankenstein series, the two main characters had a baby. He managed to keep them decent, but throwing the kid in threw a wrench in the characters, I think. Suddenly, they were all worried about their kid and talking diapers and kid stuff, instead of the way they had talked in the first three books. Suddenly, they weren't the sarcastic, New Orleans detectives, the reluctant heroes - they were still the heroes, and there was still sarcasm and humor but now they were parents. It changed the characters, and not in a good way. I finished the book, but I don't think I'm going to read any more of the series if he writes another book after that.
*sigh*
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