Where I've been: An explanation

I'm still alive!

Even though I haven't been posting frequently (I have about nine reviews to write...), commenting on other blogs, hanging out on Twitter or even reading, I am still around. I've just been having an interesting few months, and hopefully I'll be able to get back to my regular schedule here in the near future.

Where have I been, you ask?

Well, at the end of August, I officially became an ex-librarian and went to work at Starbucks. I work super-early hours (I have to be there at 5 a.m.) and have a 30-minute-plus drive each way to work. Not to mention the fact that I haven't had an on-my-feet-all-day job in about three years, so I'm absolutely beat by the time I get home from work.

Doesn't really leave much energy for blogging or tweeting.

But, the new job is nothing compared to the REALLY BIG NEWS.

Ready for it?

 That's right, there's a new addition on the way to our household! I've had a major case of the first-trimester lazies, but I'm hoping that eases up a bit so I can actually do things besides hold down the couch.

This is a super-old sonogram (This was only at a little over 7 weeks, but I'm now 14 1/2 weeks), but I think this kid looks like me already! :)

We'll find out whether it's a boy or girl after the first of the year, and we're planning a homebirth (I have an AWESOME midwife) for sometime around May 24, 2011.

In Memoriam: J.D. Salinger, 91

I just found out, via Twitter (and @neilhimself), that J.D. Salinger has died.

From The Globe and Mail (full article here):

J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose The Catcher in the Rye shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died. He was 91.
Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author's son said in a statement from Salinger's literary representative. He had lived for decades in self-imposed isolation in the small, remote house in Cornish, N.H.

Although he was a self-imposed recluse for much of the last few decades, his writing spoke to many a young person. He did what all good authors do: He reached beyond himself to influence the way people see the world.

I've only read The Catcher in the Rye once, in high school, but I remember being both turned off and drawn to Holden Caulfield as a character. Sure, he was a bit abrasive, but I think I read this book at a crucial time. I was feeling a little lost and misunderstood, just like Holden, and so I was able to identify a little bit with his struggle (Although I never sought out a hooker...). And I'm just one of millions of people who feel this way.

It is a sad, sad day for literature. Godspeed, Salinger. You've left us with a very important piece of yourself in Holden Caulfield.