Stuff

Yes, I still have no Case Managers though there is light at the end of my tunnel. They hired a couple of casual ones until my original case manager comes back. So I still have much more time than I like on my hands here at work. It’s going to be quite an adjustment once they are onboard. I hear they are both new so that means I’ll be shouldering a bigger load than many and assistant. But that’s good – I like feeling needed. In the meantime………

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Can, or rather should one review a book when they haven’t read it? I still have no case managers and more time to think than I like. I was on Amazon, just killing time, and I saw where someone had given one star to a book and then confessed they had only read 15% of it. Now it just so happens that it’s a book that I didn’t like either so I’m not against the one star. But I am against reviewing a book when one hasn’t even read at least a quarter of it. The review, for lack of a better word, has no validity at all as far as I’m concerned. I’m currently reading a book that I found slow to start with. I don’t know if it was because I just wasn’t in the mood for that particular genre or the writing just didn’t grab me or what – I have a feeling it’s the first. But whatever, the fact is if I had written a “review” after reading only 15% it would have gotten a low grade too. But to me that’s irresponsible if you are going to put your thoughts out in public. After putting the book down for a while since it didn’t grab me, I picked it up again yesterday and now I find it enchanting. A one star rating on Amazon isn’t a good thing for the author and it’s unfair to do that it seems to me.

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Because an Ipod is a small electronic device that scares me and if I listened to it I would never hear new songs, I listen to the radio. The station that I listen to plays a lot of ‘dance’ music like Usher, Lady Gaga, Katie Perry, Enrique Iglacia, Black eyed Peas etc. It makes me feel young. A lot of it I sing along with and it doesn’t totally register but I was listening the other day and Britney Spears newest song came on. And I couldn’t help but think as John Stossel used to say, ‘give me a break!’ What prompted this reaction is the lines:

Cause you feel like paradise
And I need a vacation tonight
So if I said I
want your body now
Would you hold it against me?

Come on now! If some sexy young kittenish thing pranced around singing this, is there any red blooded guy going who is going to admit that yes, it offends him that said sex kitten wants his body??? Even for the very rare guy who is offended, is he then going to turn around and offend the sex kitten wondering if she’s offending him by offending her? I don’t think so!

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Do you like it when an author responds to a positive review? I’ll admit, I’m thrilled if an author either emails me or visits on the blog. I’m even more thrilled I’ll confess if an author visits and weighs in on something totally unrelated. But if one were to pop into a review I’d left on Amazon, I know it’s just me – but I’d be a bit disconcerted if they did it in such a public place. My blog is one thing – it’s kind of like my virtual house, but Amazon is something different for some reason. I don’t why I feel this way – I just do.

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And speaking of Amazon, sometimes I’m just in a bitchy mood. And when that happens, one of the things I do is go to Amazon, look up some books I’ve read and for every “This book is a real winner!!!! You have to read it” style “review” I hit the not helpful button. I’ve never bought a book based on Amazon reviews, but sometimes I’ll find them helpful if I’m looking up the plotline of a book. This kind of drivel is totally useless so I let them know that. But when I viscously hit a resounding NO to however many it takes, I feel ever so much better. I don’t have to agree with the reviewer. Even if I have totally opposing thoughts on the book and disagree with them on every point, if they make points and put in an effort of a review, I will hit yea and even that makes me feel better

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And also…..speaking of small electronic devices, I’m about to tackle something even more scary to me. I had a coworker over on the weekend and I made her – um we watched – North and South (not to worry – she was converted) and in the other train station scene; the one where Margaret is saying goodbye to Frederick, it was very hard to see it. And this is simply not acceptable. I can’t not not see night scenes. So I emailed The Son We Shall Call Ryan who is AKA The Son Who Is Getting Married to see if he wanted to help me pick out a new television. He says it will simply be a case of plugging it in and turning it on. HA!! says I. He is emailing the person who spent almost 3 hours trying to figure out how to turn the DVD player on. Just imagine the struggle I can have with a television along with a DVD player, a VHS machine and Surround Sound. Seriously – I’m almost trembling at the thought.