Justin M

LibraryCin says

Hi, Justin. I don't make resolutions. I figure if/when I want to change something big, I'll do it, regardless of time of year. For reading, I always hope to read more than the year before, but I'll be surprised if that happens this year. I had more than I expected last year, and I'm off to a slow start already!

I checked my library and I think Skippy Dies is there in an ebook, but not audio. I put it on my wish list, so I'll get back to it eventually, I'm just not sure when. This month, I am reading Gone With the Wind for another group, so I only read one "ireland" book, since GWTW will take a good chunk of time! I have a couple others I also want to get done for Author Author, as well.

I do watch (too much, though not nearly as much as I used to) tv, but 30 Rock is not one of my shows. I watch, hmmm, here goes: The Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle, Grimm, Supernatural, Once Upon a Time, Pan Am, Desperate Housewives. And for "reality": Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, The Amazing Race.

Ah, well, the discussion on books in a f2f book club, I've found, is much more in-depth than online. For posting reviews and discussions there, people stay away from talking about spoilers, so you can't get as in depth there. Even for group reads where you are discussing one specific book - it's fun, but it still doesn't quite seem the same. You are probably right - there are probably mostly people older than you in the library's book club, plus you would likely be the only guy. I understand being shy, for sure. At the same time, I've met some great people (heading over to visit one of them later today - we'll look through some of her travel pics and sit down to watch The Help, which she hasn't seen yet). Your idea of asking your creative writing group about doing something like that is a good one, though. Hopefully they'll want to do something like that.

I'll send you links to my pics via email. I keep them private on facebook, so I don't want to put the link out there for the rest of the world to see! (I could say "shelfari world to see", but it would be there for the rest of the world, as anyone can stumble across shelfari and start reading stuff without even being a member...

posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )

LibraryCin says

Hi, Justin! How was Christmas/New Year's for you? Christmas was nice and relaxing for me at "home" with Mom and Dad. Just the three of us, so pretty quite, relaxing. We did visit some extended family while I was there, as well, which was nice. New Year's I was home. I watched Mary Poppins for the first time! I liked it more than I thought I would.

My book club is new as of the beginning of last year. It is through my community association, so I didn't know anyone before it started up. I really like it! It's my first book club. It's fun because even if I end up not liking a book, with the discussion, I see so many other angles to it that I never thought of! It would be nice to have a guy's perspective in the book club once in a while. If you found one to join, I bet others would feel the same (I don't know how many guys do join book clubs). Our group varies in number, usually between 10 and 12 or so, but all women. I wonder if your library might have one or know of one (if you have time)?

Are you interested in seeing pictures of my trip? I could send you the links if you are. No worries, if not, I just thought I'd offer. If it makes a difference, I do put captions under them so you can follow where I am/what I'm doing in each one.

posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )

LibraryCin says

haha! Well, hopefully I'll figure out what I want to do at some point. In the meantime, I'll stay where I am.

For your job, it's just a job. You won't be there forever. It'll be good to make some money, though. :-) I LOVE looking at the stars (so I don't think you're at all "strange" for that.) Hope you enjoy the trips you have planned and are able to see the sky (hopefully it's not cloudy and you do get a chance to see the entire night sky).

Ah, I met Candice for only 1 day while in New Orleans. She didn't come on this cruise with me, but we did have fun the day we spent in NOLA. It was pretty cloudy my first few days/nights on the cruise, so not a lot of night sky to be seen until towards the end of the cruise. I hope to get some pictures of the trip posted to facebook tomorrow (though I remember you saying you're never there, so I don't believe I've ever added you over there). I head back to work on Wed. :-( Not looking forward to that.

posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )

LibraryCin says

Hi! Yeah, I'm not real excited about my job anymore, but I just haven't found the motivation to look for something else. Well, it might help if I knew what I wanted to look for. Yeah, travel agent sounded kind of interesting, as does something with animals. The best I could think of for animals, though, is vet technician, but I hear it pays next to nothing. Besides, I'd hate to deal with their people, anyway!

Glad you're done with school for a while again! Time for a break! Enjoy the summer and your fun reading time! Do you have any trips planned? I'm actually going away (my first Caribbean cruise) next week. I will be meeting up with cpauley in New Orleans a couple of days before my cruise, so looking forward to that, too!

posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )

LibraryCin says

Hi, Justin! I'm doing o.k., just wishing I knew what I really wanted to do with my life that wouldn't take me below the poverty line! ;-)

In Canada, today was Thanksgiving. Of course, with my family in Saskatchewan, I don't really do anything, except make sure I have pumpkin pie available! :-)

Good luck with your exams and everything else you need to get done! Hopefully you will get a chance to do some fun reading once summer's here!

Good to hear from you, Justin!

posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )

LibraryCin says

Meant to also send the link to my review of The Forgotten Garden. :-)
http://www.shelfari.com/books/4279553/The-Forgotten-Garden/reviews/3054021

posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )

LibraryCin says

Hi, Justin! I think Kate Morton only has two other books besides The Forgotten Garden, and I think I've already added both to my tbr! :-)

I have read two books by Geraldine Brooks - I hadn't realized she was also Australian! I read Year of Wonders first, and really liked it. I then read People of the Book, and it was good, but I preferred Year of Wonders (though I think a lot of people preferred People of the Book). I will likely read March, as well, but I'm not sure if I'll read others by her or not. I suppose that will be a case-by-case basis, depending how interesting each book sounds. I know a lot of people are reading Caleb's Crossing now, but I'm not sure that one appeals to me enough. Have you read any by her yet?

posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )

Kayla. SGTC Till The Very Death Of Me.<3 says

I've been good. :) What about yourself.? And I do still want to visit Australia, and hopefully I will one day. :P What have you been up to?

posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )

LibraryCin says

Hey! I just wanted to pop over to let you know I found an Australian author, and the book I just read (the only one I've read by her so far), will make my favourites list this year. :-) The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. It was sooo good! :-)

posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )

LibraryCin says

You weren't kidding when you said you don't post anything on Twitter! You have NOTHING on your profile at all! If anything, for me, I just retweet things. Recently, though, just to post something, I've been added a link to my book reviews. :-)

I could still donate to the Green party, myself, but most of my "actual" donations are for animal-related charities. it was just nice that my vote helped, even if just a little bit. I had heard that it is mandatory to vote in Australia. Every election that comes up, there are debates about rehauling the entire system here, and that is one thing that is sometimes mentioned. I had no idea how our percentage compared to the U.S.

Hopefully your carbon tax will do some good. And congrats on passing everything! :-) And, good luck finding a job (once you really get hunting! ;-) ).

posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )

LibraryCin says

Ah, I feel badly. The Book Thief is good, but it's not blowing me away like I thought it would (and as it seems to have done for so many other people). It could be due to my expectations or because I'm listening to the audio. At this point, I'd probably rate it a 3.5 (good). I do prefer it to Cloudstreet, though. I didn't know Markus Zusak was Australian - very cool, since it is such a popular book.

I don't know if you want any more Canadian recommendations from me, but another one you might like is called The Book of Negroes (a.k.a. in the U.S. - not sure what the title is in Australia - Someone Knows My Name) by Lawrence Hill.

Ok, what used to happen. Even if a political party didn't win a seat at all, they did get a tiny amount of money for every vote they got. Basically, Harper has taken that away. What I liked about it is it made me feel as if my vote actually helped the party I voted for, even if they didn't win. Where I live, I don't agree with the political party that ALWAYS wins here (Harper's party), so I often feel like I'm wasting my time to vote. That little bit of money going to the party I vote for made me feel like at least something was coming from my vote.

The Green party on the previous election to this one did not win any seats, but had about 8% of the popular vote, if I'm remembering correctly. This time around, that actually dropped to 4%, but their leader was actually elected this time, so I was happy with that (despite the unfortunate drop in the overall vote percentage). I suspect that may be because the environment seemed to be a non-issue in this election. :-( Well, it's never a non-issue for me, but overall, there was little to no mention of it during campaigning.

Find me on Twitter - I'm LibraryCin over there, too. I'm not there all that often, either, but sometimes. Just to give myself more activity there, I've started posting links to each book review I do. :-) I don't blog, though. I feel like I'm online too much as it is. I have to admit, I don't really follow blogs, either. I'm often just not interested in whatever ramblings someone is going on about! And again, I'm already online too much! :-)

Sorry about your one exam. :-( Ah, will you look for a job during school, then? Or just not bother at this point!? You're lucky you can afford to go without having a job! I had to work and get student loans, but I guess here in Canada, we have it better than in the U.S. for the cost of attending university. I don't know how pricey it is in Australia.

Yes, it will be almost winter by the time I do my cruise, but being so far south, it will still be warm. Actually NOLA (New Orleans, LousisanA), will be about the perfect temp for me at that time - a high in the low 20s in November. My stop in Mexico will be similar, though it will be warmer at my other ports (Jamaica and Grand Cayman).

posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )

LibraryCin says

And I had hoped to keep that one shorter! I think the problem is that you aren't here often enough (or we could take it back to email, I suppose), so I'm blaming you! ;-)

posted 8 months ago. ( send a note )

LibraryCin says

Good luck finishing up your exams! It will be nice to have a break when they're over. Good luck with job hunting, too... Your camp sounds fun! I assume this is just a short break between fall and winter terms? Yes, it's almost summer here (officially in a few days), but we have been rained out for a while. I'm good with that. I prefer cloud (and even some rain) to sun and heat, but I'm weird! I am taking a couple of weeks holidays at the end of July and will go visit my parents in Saskatchewan for part of that time. I also have another cruise booked to go over my birthday! :-) That will be end of November/beginning of December. I'm "researching" Bed and Breakfasts in New Orleans at the moment - that's where it leaves from, so I'll stay there 2 or 3 nights ahead of time.

Yeah, I hate not liking a book that someone has loved and recommended. I'm sorry. I guess that just how it goes sometimes. :-( I still hope you'll give The Navigator of New York a try at some point, though. I think we sometimes have different tastes in books, anyway. I think you often read more "literary" stuff than I do.

I could see my dad not liking me not eating meat. I hate cooking so when they visit (or, of course, when I visit them), they cook. I managed to get them to do half my pizza without meat, at least! (Though I'm sure Dad thinks it odd, especially since I'm not 100% vegetarian. But then, he called me a "treehugger" for years and years before I even believed it myself!) I'm glad you like to cook, at least. I'm sorry people make it harder on you, though. It's too bad that some people can't respect other people's decisions.

I've barely started The Book Thief, so I'm not far enough along yet to say how I'm feeling about it. The set up is definitely interesting.

haha! Well, our prime minister hasn't done too much damage yet, though he did do one thing he'd already talked about that I don't like. I suppose it's a little thing, but it's one positive to me making an effort to vote (a tiny amount of $$ for each vote that each political party gets. Since my vote never counts for anything here, that was at least a consolation). Anyway, he got rid of that. :-( Oh, no, as far as I can tell the Canadian government couldn't care less about the environment. It wasn't even an election issue for any party (except the Green party), as far as I could tell. :-(

Hey, I wanted to ask again (especially since you're here so rarely!), if you are using facebook more often? I know the last time I asked you said you were never there.

posted 8 months ago. ( send a note )

LibraryCin says

hehe! We never have short conversations, do we!? ;-)

posted 10 months ago. ( send a note )

LibraryCin says

My province is very big on the oil/gas industry, sadly. :-( And, we've just had another federal election, and this time the furthest right-wing party got a majority. Sigh... It's only going to get worse here...

I am currently reading Cloudstreet, and hope to finish tomorrow. It's o.k., but I can't say I'm real excited about it. There are interesting story elements to it, but it's jumping around a little too much for me - person to person, event to event, when I feel like each person or event could be fleshed out more for the story. If he just focused on one (or maybe two) of the characters, instead of trying to jump from every person in both families, I'd probably like it more (I find Rose the most interesting character, so I'd love if the entire story had just focused on her). *shrugs. That's just my opinion, though. I looked at the reviews and most people seemed to really like it.

I am part of the Meatless Monday facebook group, but I don't necessarily adhere to it on Mondays, specifically. But, there are still lots of days where I don't eat any meat, so I'm sure it averages out to more than one day a week, anyway. Good for you for going vegan! Wow! Ah, I wish I liked to cook and was more adventurous with food. I can totally see where someone would progress from vegetarian to vegan. How does your family feel about this? You still live at home, right, so how does that work? They don't seem overly enthusiastic about Earth Hour (one hour a year), even, so how does this work out with eating?

posted 10 months ago. ( send a note )

LibraryCin says

Hi, Justin! Good to hear from you. :-) My eye is now healed (was at the ophthalmologist's on Thursday), but the gas bubble is still partially there - he figures it will be gone within a couple of weeks. I did participate in Earth Hour, but with the way my eyes are right now (with that gas bubble, it's hard to read when it's darker), I didn't want to strain to read by candlelight this time around; I listened to an audio book instead, using my mp3 player. It still means the battery needs to be recharged later, but.... It was lucky I heard about it - I only found out when it was the day before. Once again, Calgary was a dismal failure at it. We're an oil/gas town/province - few people care. :-( It's frustrating when others around you don't care. Unfortunately, I'm afraid too many people worldwide don't care enough, either.

I plan to read Jane Eyre at some point. Have you read The Eyre Affair? I guess, with school, you wouldn't have time now, anyway, but Jasper Fforde is one of the authors this month at Author Author. With magical realism the tag for PBT, I have Cloudstreet on hold at my library. It's currently checked out, so I have to wait, but as soon as I can get it from the library, it's up! Thanks for the suggestion. I'm finally getting to it. :-)

That restaurant sounds great! Have a great time if you decide to volunteer there. I'm sure you'll learn lots. I wish we had a bigger campus to have more veggie offerings. Some days, none of the specials or soups offered at our small cafeteria are vegetarian (and other times, I'm just too picky, but I'm still trying).

No, I don't garden. I might have mentioned something along the lines of I wish I did! Yard work is not my thing! Good for you for what you grow! My parents had a garden all when I was growing up, and they have for years. They have a new house they just bought last fall, and I haven't asked if there's a spot for a garden. I assume so. (I haven't seen the place yet.)

posted 10 months ago. ( send a note )

Kayla. SGTC Till The Very Death Of Me.<3 says

Hey Justin. Remember me? We haven't talked in a long time. What's up??

posted 12 months ago. ( send a note )

LibraryCin says

Yeah, it was hard to not do much of anything! I'm glad to be back, too. :-)

I'm also happy to hear that nothing was near you. I guess once you start university, you'll be around less often again. But, good luck and have fun!!!!!

posted 12 months ago. ( send a note )

Tien H says

Congrats! First year is always the exciting time - just don't slack off too much ;)

I've read 4 off my list so far - trying to get to the 5th but I read quite a bit in Jan and I'm feeling a little bit off reading, ha ha ha... is it even possible? apparently, it is!

posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )

LibraryCin says

Hi Justin! Sorry it took me so long to reply. I've been out of commission with a torn retina and not allowed to be on the computer, read or to watch tv. Lasted a month. Had some laser done (a few times) and am finally able to go back to normal as of today (though my eyes aren't used to that yet!). I haven't been brave enough to wade into my groups yet to attempt to start catching up...

Glad you had fun on your trip! I heard about the flooding, and something about a cyclone? And I think there was some other weather catastrophe in Australia the past month, wasn't there? Crazy! Hope none of it hit you!

As for PBT, I'm sure I won't be eligible to compete anymore, but for individual challenges, I might just do them for fun. I'm excited to be part of the admin team and see how things work behind the scenes! I already know I enjoy shelving, so that should be all right (though it will take some time, I know). I just feel badly that I only just got started before I had to be away for so long! Linda and Kristal apparently both did some shelving, so I'm grateful to them for doing that. I should be back at it this weekend.

Hope you're still enjoying your summer (or are you back now that it's February? I swear I missed an entire month of life!). ttyl!

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