ashley awesome

Got a fun package in the mail today. I guess this is what happens when you introduce your friends — especially ones who enjoy giving gifts and baking things — to Doctor Who.

My friend Stephanie has been texting me for a little over a month now as she watches the show. I’ll get text messages in the middle of the night that say things like, ”My brain just broke. I can’t brain today . . . I have the dumb,” “Oh Frick. Oh balls. Oh fup!”, and “This show is breaking my soul.” I also get nifty presents in the mail, like this TARDIS cookie jar I got for Christmas, and today, these cookies I got to fill it:

Continue reading ‘in which i eat the tardis’

Posted in Me, Money, silly
Tags: cookies, doctor who, friends, money, silly, tv

Happy 2012, people. Here’s my annual list of all the books I read in the past year. I’m exhausted just looking at it. My original goal was to read 150 books, which wasn’t all that outlandish considering I was supposed to read 70 books in between January and March alone for my exams, but alas, after March I got lazy or distracted by Doctor Who or work or something (but probably Doctor Who) and only made it to 125. I also seem to have misplaced five books from this list, and again, too lazy to compare lists and try to find the missing five. If you want the full 125, click here, otherwise there’s a respectable 120 down below.

I’ve also pulled out my ten favorite books of the year and lazily linked to reviews I’d already written about them (if you think you’re sensing a pattern, you would be correct). (Speaking of lazy, I’m going to bed immediately after posting this, and I’m going to curl up with a fluffy blanket and 11/22/63, the first new book of 2012. And then I’m going to fall asleep. It’s going to be SO GOOD.)

Continue reading ‘the year in books / 2011′

Posted in Me
Tags: books, classics, fantasy, graphic novels, lists, masters exams, nerd, new-reads, re-reads, science fiction, young adult

Posting to this blog has been spotty, at best, as you may have noticed. I used to talk with most of you every day on GReader or Twitter, but now that GReader is dead, and Google+ is incredibly not fun (it feels less culty?), I’m feeling the need to post actual content on this here blog of mine. I feel like I’ve lived an entire lifetime in the six months since I essentially abandoned the internet.

For example, some stuff that has happened to me since last May:

• Graduated from college for the second time, this time with a Master’s degree in English Literature or something. This is apparently a big deal, but I have yet to write about the lengthy and ridiculous process of my exams, which several of you have been requesting since March. Sorry about that, and I’ll get to it eventually? Hopefully? Meanwhile, even the thought of reliving that experience in any form makes me want to gouge my eyeballs out. EYE JELLY.
• Got a job working for an insurance agency as a receptionist. Somehow this evolved into getting licensed to sell insurance, something that I never asked for, and which ended up causing me even more stress. I’ve been in school for 80% of my life (80%!!), and I liked it – and you know what? Not being in school SUCKS.
• Hated my new job more than I’ve ever hated anything, and it basically ruined my life for five months. By the end, I was having trouble sleeping and eating, and every morning before work I’d be so nauseous I’d think I was going to barf. (You know it’s bad when I can’t eat.) I had two nervous breakdowns. I’m not going to go into details, mostly because I feel like it would be inappropriate, but also because I’ve put the whole situation behind me and don’t really want to think about it anymore.
• Was fired from that job in the middle of October. Again, not going into it any further than to say: it sucked (both the job, and being fired).
• A mix-up in the way my credits were handled almost meant that I didn’t officially get my degree. My very smart way of handling this situation was to ignore my school email-account for three months, like it was going to go away on its own, and when I finally worked up the nuts to read it, I panicked so hardcore. Luckily, things worked out, no thanks to me, IDIOT.
• Lost all the weight I put on in grad school (ten pounds), because of stress, and because I was subsisting pretty much on iced tea, beans, and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches.
• Got another job working for the same company but for a different agent, and it’s been like night and day. I don’t see myself at this job long-term, but it’s a nice enough way to spend the day, and most importantly, the working environment is incredibly pleasant (as opposed to the toxic work environment I’d been in for five months previously).
• My roommate of five years left me to move in with her boyfriend. This was incredibly traumatic. I miss you, Strawberry :(
• Moved into a new apartment with a friend from Barnes & Noble. Moving expenses gutted my bank account.
• I was homeless for a period of three days.
• Moving expenses, among other changes, helped me to dig myself into an impressively deep financial hole that I am only now finding my way out of.
• I literally borrowed money from everyone I’ve ever met.
• Defaulted on one of my credit cards in early September. This made me feel awful, but I couldn’t afford to pay it. I’ve been dodging calls from creditors ever since. One day, I will have NO MORE DEBT. ONE DAY!
• It hasn’t been all bad. I was offered a writing position with Film.com in September, and it’s kind of a dream come true. I feel like I should write more about this later, but I’ve been writing about TV for four years now, just for shits and giggles, and now I’m getting PAID to do it. Not to be obnoxious or anything, but it’s totally awesome.
• My cats broke my DVD player. (Don’t ask.)
• On a related note, I finally bought a Blu-Ray Player! (But then I had to return it.)
• I watched the entire revived Doctor Who, and it was so good, you guys. It was like the only good thing in my life for like months and months. BTW, I still owe you a post about Doctors Ten & Eleven. (Here’s my post about Nine, just in case you missed it.)
• All of this, the leaving of the safe bosom of mother education, the having to work all day every day, the constant paying of the bills, even the cool new gig . . . it has all lead me to one conclusion. I have no freaking idea what I want to do with the rest of my life.
• None of the previous bullet points are hyperbole, and you guys know how much I like using hyperbole. Why am I not dead right now?

To sum all of this up: QUARTER LIFE CRISIS. IT IS HERE. I WILL NOW PROCEED TO TYPE THIS IN ROBOT VOICE. BECAUSE I CAN.

Posted in blogging, Me
Tags: bad ashley, blogging, grad school, lists, money, teaching, thinky thoughts, u of a, work, writing

This is Denise. She is my one year old desert tortoise. I named her after my aunt who isn’t really my aunt but who is my godfather (it’s complicated). Denise was a gift from a friend. She wanted her to have a more permanent home, and I told her I’d take her in and she could live in my mom’s backyard, which is plenty big enough to hold a slow-moving, slow-growing tortoise. The funny part about this story is I still haven’t told my mom she will be getting a tortoise some time in the coming months. I think what’s going to happen is I’m just going to show up at her house and be like, hey, mom, I have this tortoise for you. Isn’t she cute? That’ll work, right?

It’s not like she’s hard to take care of. She poops about once a day and it’s really small, and all I have to do is make sure her heating lamp is on, and that she has fresh food and water. She moves only slightly faster than a snail. Apparently I also have to hibernate her this winter, which involves sticking her in a cardboard box and putting her under my bed. I’m not making this up. The other other best part about this story is that tortoises live about 150 years, and never stop growing. Denise is going to be alive and kicking long after I am, even thought right now she is so tiny she can fit in the palm of my hand.

Everybody say “Hi!”

Posted in Me
Tags: cat lady, denise the tortoise, turtle turtle