Tough Week

Well, it's been a tough week here at my branch. Our Manager went on a much-deserved vacation. Normally things would run smoothly without her, however this week was also a week in which we were short 3 people-- roughly a quarter of our staff. What did this mean? Mostly that we were busier than usual (that's just the Universe or Karma or something) and patience gets harder to come by, and people work more/longer hours, get stressed more easily, etc.

And of course I get sick. The crud. The Creeping Crud that every child under age 5 has right now has somehow wormed its way into my chest and head, which has made me achy and tired and miserable for three days. It's pretty bad.

BUT the John Green visit was MADE OF AWESOME, as promised. That guy is so easy to work with it makes me want to invite a million authors to come visit. He didn't ask for strange requests like vegan sandwiches cut into quarters or bottles of a certain brand of water. Instead, he was flexible and great, and it was incredibly surreal to be sitting and having a conversation with him IRL, when typically I'm used to just listening to him on my home computer. I'm a NerdFighter (and somewhat of a lurker) on his blog and Ning site, and watched most of Brotherhood 2.0 in a week or two to catch up with them when they were halfway through the year of vlogging. Of course I felt I said and did embarrassing things (which I always do around people who I'm intimidated/impressed by..) but oh well- if I hadn't then I suppose it wouldn't be "me"....right?

So tomorrow is my OFF day, which means I work saturday. I'm so excited to have a day off, you have no idea. I'm planning a multitude of things, but if they don't get done, they don't get done. The only major plan is to make a cake for the boyfriend, whose birthday is on Sunday.

I finished a YA book! Hooray!

BlackBox by Julie Schumacher
Elana and her sister Dora have a typically atypical friendship -- meaning, that they share a secret code language, understand each other's fears and are inextricably linked as siblings and best friends, despite their differences in personality. However, Dora starts to slip away from Elana, as she falls deeper and deeper into depression, and is even hospitalized for it. As Elana tries to learn more about what-Dora's-feeling, she befriends a boy at school whose mother is a psychiatrist. The boy is mysteriously kind (yet still odd) and their friendship grows as Elana deciphers Dora's strange actions when she returns home from the hospital. At the same time, Elana is forced (by her parents) to open-up to a therapist herself, and for Elana this is difficult, as her emotions have always been well-hid from others, sometimes even from herself.
I really liked this book, which had short chapters and was a fairly quick read. The suspense increases as Elana learns more and more about Dora's condition, and it pulls the story along at a nice pace. I would recommend this to teens who know someone dealing with depression, as it speaks to how a clinically depressed person actions affect the people surrounding them, particularly how it affects family and close friends.

I'm also listening to Anne of Green Gables on audio in my car. I had never read the book before (tsk tsk tsk I know), though I used to watch the Disney version of the movie over-and-over again as a little girl and teen. It's like soul-food for me. Listening to the audio is so much better than I expected it to be. Though I'm impressed by how closely the text matches the movie, there are so many more things to "imagine" while listening to the actual book instead of the screenplay. I'm starting to think that I'll have to read/listen to the entire series. Getting into my car is something I look forward to now with this book. If only it could also make going to the gas station as fulfilling....