Good News and a Wedding

Lots of good news has come my way. I have a job! My last internship at a hospital will start within the month! My sister got married! I got an awesome book!

Here are some selected favorites from the bajillion photos taken that day:

Congratulations to my sister, Sara, and my new sister-in-law, Gaby, now the Marines family!

It was organized chaos that day, as I'm sure you can imagine. The situation was not helped by no one in the capital city knowing where to go for a domestic partnership...

My new favorite book I'm obsessing over is Ryan North's To Be or Not To Be, a choose-your-own-adventure style rendition of Shakespeare's famous play, Hamlet. There is a lovely description here, and you can totally buy a copy on Amazon.com! So far I've done lots of rad things as Hamlet, died a lot, discovered some totally awesome qualities in the afterlife as Hamlet Sr., and have managed to kill everyone as Ophelia no less than four times! I'm still re-reading and trying to uncover more endings, as Ryan North manages to make a rather philosophical and dreary play into a hilarious misadventure where cool stuff happens a lot. It's so rad!

Oh, and my niece, Sirenidi, apparently really likes Ghostbusters :P

Goodreads Review

These Days by Jack Cheng
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I signed up for the Kickstarter on a whim, because I always like when someone is willing to explore how modern technology is having an impact on society through the lens of a love story. I wasn't expecting the torrential, soulful outpouring of the writing process on a near weekly basis!

Needless to say, I was quite excited to finally read the finished work, and it didn't disappoint. Upon finishing the first chapter, I was a little worried this love story would fall on the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope, but don't fret! Both Connor Vast and K are given time for the reader to see the story from their point of view, and Jack Cheng paints a rich backdrop of New York City, people, and the start-up scene. Even though I don't have nearly as much experience with the technical aspects of coding, programming, or starting a new business based on tech, I could follow along with the ideas Cheng was showing. I was especially impressed by Connor's difficulty in breaking away from the constant presence of the internet in the form of his smartphone and "the stream," which is sadly a mark that hits close to home for myself and quite a few people I know.

For a love story, this is one of the most complex I've read in a while. It has all the beauty, ugliness, and heartbreak of a real relationship, so Harlequin romancers may not find the book as satisfying. The book reads more like journal entries from someone's biography, and has as much meatiness to it.

I enjoyed it a lot, and if anyone wants my hard copy to sink their teeth in, I'd be willing to lend it out!

View all my reviews