Weekend goods

I'm exhausted (at just after 11:30?! Whaa?) so this'll be a mere list:

1. I was so proud watching my men run the St. Patty's Day 5K downtown Saturday morning. Joe even got an award!

2. We got Sean today in StL! At first we were afraid there weren't going to be any colorful beardeds, but finally came upon a breeder. I picked the first one that caught my eye--the big one with a little green tinge on his back and orange shades on his side ruffles. He's very active and seems to be okay with his new environment. At one point we were across the room (after we got him home) and I said "Sean!" and he totally lifted his head, like he knew it was him.

3. We got home fairly early, before 3, because the convention had everything we needed: food, hide object, and climbing driftwood. So it wasn't a totally gone Sunday when we got back. It was actually a pretty good Sunday, all told.

4. I finished New Moon today. Another bittersweet ending because I don't immediately have the next (Eclipse) to begin. And I can't imagine any of my other books in the DBRL-due-queue to be nearly as good.
A mini-review:
First off, I wish we learned more of how Bella smoothed things over with Charlie from when she said terrible things to him in Twilight. At this point it's inconsequential, but I want all those details. (It's like when I grew resentful that Ramona or Laura celebrated a birthday, or had scarlet fever, without me.)

But. I loved how empty Bella's life became without Edward in it. It was, really, the only way to make this book just as torturous as Twilight. I cried again and again, because I can see how truly empty and nothing I would be without Neil. I keep telling him...I thought I'd been in love before, but I didn't even know what it was. Like an orgasm.

When the few months after September passed in a series of near-blank pages, I was totally impressed at how Bella's emptiness was "written." There was nothing to say. We couldn't have a few chapters on how sad she felt, because she was just numb, going through the motions of life. We can't have a story without a narrator, and our narrator for all intents and purposes was lost. When Alice later asked Charlie how those months had been, I found that I was at first intrigued as the eavesdropping Bella, but soon I knew it didn't matter. I knew already.

I wasn't really looking forward to Jacob's presence in this novel, but was surprised at how likable he was and though I knew it would be a mistake if Bella ever let herself be involved romantically with him, I didn't care. I was like her--this was a way to put a Band-Aid on the emptiness, so I'll take it. I didn't even mind at how obvious it was that he was a werewolf from the moment Bella looked in his eyes and thought of Jacob, when she was in the meadow with Laurent.

I rushed through the last hundred or so pages as fast as my eyes could fly over the words. I know I'll reread them all sometime, so details are pretty unimportant...just like HP7. I couldn't tell you more than 4 people who died in the last scene of that one, though I know there were many more important characters. I was just too rushed, and not in a bad way. To be exhilarated by a novel so that you literally cannot let yourself put it down, even when sleepiness is calling and you know you have to wake up again in four hours...that happens so rarely!
I'm glad I timed it this weekend so I could enjoy it without having to wake up for work the next day.

Now, how will I fill the next weeks, days, whatever, until Eclipse comes in? Magazines and books about Christmas romances seem so trite now! (And of course, they are, but in a great way.)
Now, on to the list...

5. I've never had a reuben on rye--just white. It drives Dad nuts! But today I did, at Arby's. It was marble. And it was so, so, so good.

6. During our drive home, at the closing note of "Long Road to Ruin," Neil and I crossed our arms in front of our faces at the same time, just like Davy Grolton.

7. I love how my new haircut brings out my wavies. My ponytail is so curly!

8. There were more than 7 good things about this weekend. But I have to go.