If you like it then you should have put a ring on it.*

Some days I love the people I work with.

Today I was asked to send out a blast e-mail about a ring that was found. I am always nervous to send out these types of e-mails because they go to the whole company. So not only am I concerned about spelling, grammar, wording, and the such but I know that at least one person will have something smart to say.

At first I thought the person said the ring had been found in the women's bathroom, having had to send an e-mail about the women's bathroom to the whole company before I could name three guys already who would respond saying it was them (everyone is a comedian). I was tempted to add in there, "women only" but then I realized it had just been found on the second floor, not in the bathroom. So I wrote a very short e-mail.

Good morning,

A sterling silver ring has been found on the second floor. If you have lost a ring please contact me. Thank you.

Not even 60 seconds later the responses started rolling in (seriously, one right after the other! Currently 10 and counting). Here are the responses:

Early Bird (he is always the first to respond to my mass e-mails so I knew this wasn't legit)- I have lost a ring.

That is my nose ring, I will come get it.

Do you think the ring has magical powers? If so, you might want to keep it.

If it was found then how can it be lost? I'm so confused!

Have you asked Princess Kate...she has had a very busy day...

Does it say "PIMPIN"? If not, nevermind.

Finally! You found the Mother's Day ring I had bought for my wife! Thank you so much!

Lord of the Rings References:


I was called 'Frodo'.


One person wrote me back saying, "That's my precious"


Then I got this:


I don't know why...but it made me laugh so hard I was crying.

It looks like a flamingo threw up in here!*

My book collection grew slightly after we explored Delaware (there is one book not pictured and that's because I didn't start to read it). These are the books that I switched between all during the trip in an attempt to stave off boredom (remember - G passed out for a long time)

Friday was New Jersey, more specifically we tried out Atlantic City. Interesting choice, mainly because:

I don't drink

I don't gamble

I don't shop excessively

I do like food though and candy - there was plenty of both. G came up with some good slogans for this place as well (I wonder if she does that for everywhere she visits). "Atlantic City - I'd rather fly to Vegas", "New Jersey - What a dump". I came up with a few of my own post-trip, "Atlantic City - We're trying to be someplace else", "Atlantic City - Pretending to be more than we are", "Atlantic City - It's better with the beer goggles". I have one more, but it will make more sense when it comes up with the picture.

First stop - the boardwalk (well, actually the first stop was the creepy parking deck, past the WORLD'S LONGEST LINE outside of the coach store, and through the casino). They had fun signs too.

Looks like swimming lessons were called off today.

I actually thought that these buildings were cool looking. P.S. this was my first experience with Boardwalks. So I really didn't have anything to compare it to. It was alright. I am assured that there are other, cooler board walks. I tried to give Jersey Shore the benefit of the doubt, it was kind of a nasty day. G says 'no', no benefit of the doubt, "This place is a dump".

We went on the beach and I took a picture of myself (notice that G was not in any pictures. I don't think she wanted me to have proof that she was there).

We were looking for one memorial but found this one. G thinks the man is pretty good looking so I had to take a picture. Then curiosity got to me, I wanted to know what this was for. Turns out it's a memorial to all the people who died to build the board walk and casinos..."Atlantic City - People died to build this". Kind of creeped me out a bit, the list started in the 1970's and the most recent one was 2010 (listed on the back side of this monument).

We saw a candy shop, so we went inside this mall-like building. Instead of going in to the candy shop right away we got distracted by our rumbling stomachs and made our way to the "food court" on the third floor.

Inside the building, by the windows, they had little areas set up with sand and beach chairs so that you could look out over the beach without actually being out there. No heat, no sunburn, no birds...perfection.

A view from one of the window seats. (See what an ugly day it was?)

G and I followed the trail of some raucous music and found a water and light show.

We grabbed lunch and wanted to make it back in time for the next show (it runs on the hour) but didn't finish lunch quickly enough, so we distracted ourselves with the candy store.

Then it was back to the light show for round two.

Oh - Hello.

Then we went back to our hotel in DE.

On the way back to Virginia I saw a giant Pineapple. Being a HUGE fan of Psych I took a picture - because what does Psych teach us children? To find the pineapple in each episode. ...I found the pineapple.

Delaware - Just Drive Through It

This weekend was the Easter Eastern States Trip.

Friday was Delaware. Here's the gist, see the title of this post? That's what Gretel said after we left our lunch destination. It is the new state motto.

Most of this came from the brief day we had exploring Delaware. Gretel had found The Riverfront online, and I had glanced at it's website as well. It looked very promising...it also looked like it would take a full day.

Here are some highlight pictures. Before we began our journey we wanted water and some gasoline. We saw a sign for WaWa so we went that way...only to find we had been deceived. Doth mine eyes deceive me!?* A gasless WaWa!

And what should we see on the side of the WaWa? A stop sign. I don't know, it was probably one of the most interesting things in DE.

Delaware, like Boston, loves it's Dunkin' Donuts. So we ventured over to the nearest on in the same parking lot as the WaWa. As we were walking, a truck pulled up and the driver told us we weren't allowed to take pictures of the WaWa sign (we were that amazed at it being gasless). Gretel kind of stuttered and I just smiled and was like, "yeah we are," but not with much conviction. He finally smiled and left - thus confirming my fears that people notice when we take photos. We are such tourist.

That wasn't enough to stop us from taking a picture of this moose.

Then we drove to Wilmington to The Riverfront

The side of the fire station - pretty cool

Near one end of the Riverfront there were all these dinosaur sculptures. This was by far the coolest. There was the dino and then drawn all over it were people, it was nifty.

Random photo opt.

Nothing cool about these buildings, but I dubbed them the half-glass buildings...get it? No? That's alright.

By far the coolest thing? Finding ING. All over the area were the orange ING balls. So of course, we took a picture.

At the world's smallest park!

Then this randomness. I thought second from the right was a couple pulling something dead, then I realized they were working together to put out a fire - my bad.


Then lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise

After that we bought books and went back to the hotel (all before 5pm) and G-sauce slept a ton.

So...the question of the day -

My heart is pounding like a nail!*

I forgot to give you the Weekend Update.

Friday night I went to the YSA Retreat to help lead the "ice breaker" activities. It was fun, I was a little stressed at first because I hate being in charge of things and with Jesse unable to make it on time (he had a very good excuse) I kind of had to take the lead. Which, I guess, I didn't really think about until I was there, totting bags of clothes, a laptop, projector, my purse, etc. up to a cabin.

The participants had been divided up into eight groups and we had three activities. So then they were all paired up into groups of threes (and one of two) and sent to different stations. We had:

• Awkward Family Photos


• The Human Knot


• and The Card Game (I have no clue its real name)

This guy I don't really know had been recruited to be the photographer, I got Orin to lead the human knot, and Brittany helped me with the card game...which it turns out neither of us really knew how to play. Excellent.

The game is where you have names of famous people on cards and you hold it up to your head and try to figure out who you are. The first group yelled out hints and before you knew it the person had it, then we noticed that some people held it up and asked yes/no questions and that seemed to make it last longer. So the second group had to do that...but then some of them were really hard so Brittany and I decided that you could get three hints.

After the activity there was a bonfire. The original plan was that we would show the Awkward Family Photos with a projector during the bonfire. But the bonfire ended up being far, far away from any electrical outlet so we canned that (that's fine it was probably more trouble then it would have been worth).

I stayed for the bonfire anyway. So here are some pics an then I'm done...

A group posing for the awkward family photo

This is Matt - my fake fiance

This is Jim - preaching to the masses

Cam and I forgot how short Brittany is - we thought we had her in there.

Mary decided to take the photo so Britt could be in it and we pulled in Jesse with his hot chocolate.

Martin Sheen? That's President Kennedy, you idiot!*

Saying goodbye is so very hard to do.

For about four months now I have been working with this guy, Nick. I have never actually met Nick, we have talked through e-mail and on the phone, and he's accessed my desktop so we could better train remotely. He was my go-to guy for all of my questions as I learned a new timekeeping system so well that I could train all the other employees and become a little bit of a subject matter expert.

Sometimes I thought Nick was the greatest, sometimes I was disappointed with his answers to my questions/requests. Slowly, I didn't have to call or e-mail as often. This morning, I ran the end of period stuff all on my own. It was a process that started Monday (e-mailing managers reminders and checking to make sure people had their time in). I finished up this morning and when I got back from lunch I had a voicemail from Nick. He sounded pretty chipper, he was checking in on me, had seen that I ran the end of period and wanted to know how it went.

I had one question for him, so I went ahead and gave him a call. I let him know everything went well, but I had a random question for him. We went through it (I felt stupid afterwards for not finding it on my own first - but that's just how I am). He asked if I felt ready to go to tech support for my questions...this was it, graduation...moving on...letting go.

He went on quickly, saying that I could still call him if I needed to, but I would also have access to tech support if he was unable to take my call (the equivalent of letting me down easy). I told him I felt maybe I was ready, got to let go of the implementation specialist sometime, right?

Then he went on to thank me for the chance to work together and for making it pretty easy for him. I laughed because I had always felt we were probably the most complicated clients. We talked a bit more, both thanked each other, and then hung up.

Three minutes later he e-mailed me. Just wanted to tell me how he had found the answer to the question I had, not that I would ever need it again (it was a pretty unique situation) but thought I should know it anyway.

I thought the trick was neat, but I didn't know what to write back. I am really bad with goodbyes. I had to laugh at myself because I don't know the guy, but it's so final. It won't be, "Let me call Nick" now, it will be, "Let me call tech support." Different person every time...boo. I'm beginning to think I get attached too easily.

This is almost like when I had to say goodbye to Matt at Delta Dental when we switched carriers. Except, I was a little bit in love with Matt (ignore that I never met him, he had a very attractive voice), Nick and I are just friends.

Dear Matt,

Who knows what you look like; your height, your age, anything - to me you are the most handsome dental rep I've ever worked with.

Sincerely,

Jessica with James River

I carry a pencil, I'm a lawyer, I do that!*

I have finally begun to read the Harry Potter series. I am only on the second book but I can feel something changing in me. Everywhere I look, there's some kind of Harry Potter-ness. I don't know if it's that thing where you get a new car and all of a sudden you see your new car everywhere, or if there is just an influx of this stuff.

At the store all the books are on sale, the seventh movie came out on video (and I really struggled not to buy it, I might watch it, and I told myself I can't watch it until I read it).

I even thought of the dementors today when I sat on hold for 30 minutes - not that it was the same thing, but I felt like my happiness was slowly draining from me.

So I guess it should come as no surprise that even if something doesn't say "Harry Potter" I'll find a way to make it relate. My headphones for my iPod died/are dying so I bought a new pair, a kind I haven't used before. When I got home with my new headphones I looked at the package and noticed the kid on the front and thought, "Huh, Tom Riddle."

Tell me...what do you think?

Foreign contaminant!*

It's pollen season again... My windshield in one day...yuck.

Last Monday I had an all day training class. So the Friday before I was talking to my coworker and she was telling me that training was going to be rough. I, of course, concurred. First off, I eat pretty much all the time (I am working on not doing this), my lunch will disappear in phases and my lunch break consists of either walking or reading (but sadly, not eating...wow, anyone else feel like I went all Dr. Seuss on you?)

I was complaining because I wouldn't be able to eat on the hour, every hour during class because then people would realize what a heifer I am. Plus, I am paranoid about being a loud chewer and I just don't want that confirmed...ever. So she starts talking about energy or something and my mind does it's usual, "How can I compare life to something I've seen on a television screen?" thing.

So I start telling her that I should start liking nuts because they help with energy.

coworker: Do they? Where did you hear that?

me: Robert Gulay.

coworker: What did you say?

me: Robert Gulay.

coworker: That's what I thought, but I had to be sure.

I tried to explain the commercial but she had never seen it. I was still proud of my wit so I told my sister about it...who also hasn't seen the commercial. I was flustered, I mean, I never watch TV (if I do it's through Netflix so no commercials) so how come the only one I know no one has seen?! So...in case you are one of those who hasn't seen, I found it on youtube and if you have seen it, it is posted for you revisitation.

Maybe now you get it? I'm freaking hilarious.

I won't say I'm in love*

Last night was the Ben Folds concert. I LOVE Ben Folds. I don't know if you know that, I don't know if I have been that clear, but I LOVE HIM! With all this love for his music though, I have never seen him live. I had the opportunity a few years ago, but the concert was on a Sunday and I don't do concerts on a Sunday, I don't care who you are (obviously - cause I didn't go see Ben Folds). Special thanks to my friend Ben though, if he hadn't told me that Ben Folds was coming, I would have missed the boat. So - of course, Ben came with me. We made a night of it, dinner at Red Robin (where they had that creepy, blue eyed bird staring me down most of the time) and then off to the concert. Ben even tied my shoe for me. What are friends for right? Now - to the concert! First off, I left my ID in the car, not a problem because I don't drink. So I got my fist ready for "The Black X" (I feel that makes it sound more official). The guy marks my hands and I say something about how that will be nice at work the next day and he says, "Oh a little Purell will take it right off." Then he pauses a little like he knows he shouldn't have said that. Ben and I joked that it would have been great if I pulled out a mini bottle from my pocket and been like, "Oh, like this!" and run for it. Again, wouldn't have mattered, I wasn't going to drink. In the lobby there was a bunch of paper and a sign saying that you should write your request on a piece of paper and make it into a paper airplane. Then everyone had to hold on to it until the announcer told them to throw them on to the stage. The above picture is very blurry (I was still finding the best setting for my camera) is from when people were throwing their airplanes up. That blurry figure in the middle is Ben Folds...I love him. First song was "Luckiest", which is my FAVORITE so right off the bat I was one happy camper and very excited to be there.

There's something about hilarious nerdy guys who sing and play the piano that I just love.

This is a video (sorry if it's blurry, shaky, etc. people were bumping in to me and all) of Ben doing "Luckiest" in a lounge singer kind of way. Love it.

Due to unforeseen circumstance however, I had to leave the concert early. I was NOT HAPPY about this, but Ben (not Folds) proved to be an excellent best friend and really came through for me. I will not get into the particulars of the situation because I am still a little angry about it, but I do want to say that I am grateful for my friend who seemed to do all the right things to make my mood better and who kept a level head when all I wanted to do was cry and yell like a big baby.

And I am grateful that Ben (Folds) played Luckiest first - otherwise I would have been really angry *insert smiley face here*. So - if anyone hears of him coming back to Richmond - I only realized a partial dream last night and would gladly go again. Cause I don't know if you know this, but I love him...

You're wiping away brain cells and there aren't many to spare.*

This weekend I had the opportunity to go Contra dancing. I was incredibly nervous! I don't do dancing. My "free style" usually goes unnoticed (as Rub can attest to, I was at a Halloween party doing the Breakfast Club shake down - you know, when Ally Sheedy looks like she's falling to the ground having a seizure almost - and NO ONE but Rub even noticed me dancing, I was the only person in the room dancing) and any form of formalized dancing usually gets laughed at.

I hate games like dance-dance because people make fun of the way I do it because I'm so focused on getting the steps and I have absolutely no rhythm. So... me=nervous.

We get there and my date (who has never heard of Contra dancing either) introduces me to the host and the band. That's how he knew about it, the host and the keyboard player are his landlords and the violin player is his roommate. So the host takes me aside and starts to show me the basic moves...oh, for those of you who are just like me and don't know anything about Contra dancing, it's partnered folk dancing. That's the best I can describe it.

So I learn the names and the moves and forget everything by the time the music starts. But I was told that if I just keep smiling, people will take care of me. So, I whipped out that smile and kept it plastered to my face until we left two and half hours later. I started the first dance with the host and my date with someone else, they told us it was actually best not to dance together since neither of us knew what we were doing. We did try one or two dances together...but they were right, two newbies should avoid each other!

At the beginning of each dance I was completely lost, no clue what was happening. The move I got down the quickest was The Spin, I should say that I learned it's name the quickest because I'm pretty sure I have lots of work to do on it! The easiest rule to remember is that the woman is always right...or always on the right. You begin each dance at one point in the line and you dance in sets of four, for most dances you and your partner start off with another couple and you do a few moves and then you and your partner move down one way, the other couple go the other way, and the whole line ends up dancing with each other. By the time I got to the end of the line I had the dance down and was really enjoying myself (mostly because I wasn't messing up the line by doing the wrong move) then, you'd sit out one "round" and jump back in, but now you're going backwards! So it would throw me off!

In one of the dances the girl has what they call "A shadow" and it's the guy that is to your right that will always be there, so you have your partner who you always return to and your shadow who is always there, and some random guy that changes out each time you move down the line (like all the other dances). My shadow was probably my favorite person in the room! It was a quick paced dance but he didn't seem to be moving fast. I don't know how to explain it, he was keeping up, not struggling at all, but it was like things slowed down when it was time to dance with my shadow, which helped calm my nerves, which is probably why I thought he was so great, that, and he would slowly lift his hand this way or that and kind of direct me to the right or the left if he noticed I had forgotten something.

At one point, the host (sorry, I forgot his name) noticed that Corey and I were dancing together (the newbies!) and started to head over and someone stopped him and said, "Don't worry, the kids are alright." ...yeah, we were pretty much the youngest people there too. But people kept telling him (the host) that we were doing well, we were picking up quickly on the moves and everything.

People told me that too, they said I was doing great and they were just super nice (except this one guy in a kilt, didn't like him too much, but whatever). Of course, the thing I heard most was, "You're doing great, just relax!" Which proves to me that I was doing my Dance-Dance thing, focusing all on the moves and not on the rhythm. Regardless, I had an awesome time and I think I'm a little in love with it. They do it twice a month at this building not too far from my house, so we'll have to see if I can talk someone in to going with me.

'Cause today's just a day like the day that he started.*

My blond moments of the week thus far: Tuesday we had an interview at work and I brought the candidate to the conference room. He was a little early so I thought I would give him a heads up that the interview would begin at the scheduled time or a few minutes after. So after I got his application from him I looked at my wrist and said, "The interviews won't begin until 1 o'clock." Then I looked back up at him with a big grin on my face and said, "I don't know why I looked at my wrist when clearly I don't have a watch on." In fact...I haven't worn a watch since probably high school or freshman year of college.

*~*~*~*~*

I got an e-mail from G-sauce the other day, we're planning a trip to Delaware and New Jersey at the end of the month. She is looking into things we can do so she had two questions for me. The first one was, "Do you like NSYNC?" I looked at those letters and tried to figure out what they stood for, "New something York North Carolina?" I wrote back and told her I had no clue what that was. It took her some time to write back and when she did she said, "N'sync, they had Justin Timberlake." Oh how embarrassing. Yes! I know who N'sync is, but with it all capitalized I read it as an acronym. She was relieved to find that I do know who they are...I don't know how relieved since I also said I had a few songs but am not really into them (or ever was) and that may have been something she was interested in doing.

Wait, nobody has ever quoted me back to me before!*

P.S. highlight of my day...my blog was linked in this blog. For a girl who just wants to have a famous blog...this is big. Now on to the post:

Do you ever get restless? You're just sitting there and your entire body is itching to do something or go somewhere? I've got that, I'm suffering as I type from a restlessness that I can't really identify.

I think I usually get this way in the spring because for a majority of my life spring has signified the beginning of the end. All through school spring came just before summer, in college spring was when you were packing up your things to either move or to put in storage while you went home for the summer. Spring is the season of change and new possibilities and I just don't see any penciled in on my calendar and it's driving me crazy.

By the end of the month I want to have done something different and new. I know I have a trip to the Eastern states scheduled for the end of April, but it's not enough to quench my thirst I suppose. Something's gotta give, something in my day to day life needs refreshing/renewal or I need to change something. It doesn't have to be a dramatic thing, it could be painting a room, getting a new routine, finding a new "can't put it down" book to read.

I don't know, I'm just getting antsy. It's an annoying sensation, but it's not nearly as bad as the, "want to give up on everything" mood I was in a couple of weeks ago (I didn't know at the time it was because I was exhausted and sick). This is the mood that it's good to be in when you spring clean because you're ready to shed off all the old junk you've been holding on to.

Is anyone else feeling this "spring fever"?? If so, what are you doing to alleviate it? I could use some suggestions.

You ruined my jacket. Kill him alot.*

Greetings. One more 10k is under my belt. I am not all too happy with the time (69 minutes) because my goal was to do it in under an hour. With the mile time I had from November's 8k I figured this was within my grasp. Of course - a week and a half before I was sleeping on my couch in what my friend has described as, "an 18 hour coma". I wish our bodies would go along with our minds when our minds have decided that we are no longer sick, or that maybe we never even were sick. But in typical human body fashion, mine did not listen. I ran the first mile or so with my sister, Kathryn, the personal, mental goal was to make it to the second mile still by her side, but weaving in and out of the large mass of people takes a lot of energy and my body powered down to conserve energy (much like your laptop might when you're battery is getting low). This was okay, we do this at all races - despite her legs being far shorter, she usually beats me to the finish line. I walked a lot of the race. I kept telling myself to run until mile 3 (or 3.1 the halfway mark) but when I saw the sign for mile 2 it became, "just make it to that." So I did. Then I walked, then I sped walked, then I jogged for a bit. I would find people who were slow and tell myself to just match their pace, but when I was running I was passing them and when I was walking they would pass me. At least I didn't have to pick many people to keep up with. At the halfway point they had water and powerade, I thought maybe I was low on electrolytes so I grabbed the powerade and sipped it, but then I felt like I was going to throw up. So at the next station I grabbed water and sipped that, and then I thought maybe I have rabies... I kept running/walking and my usual, "Run to this point" mentality didn't work. It was like, "run to this point, or until you feel you'll pass out". Near the end I jogged and ignored the feeling of death creeping up and down my legs. I saw Stephanie and Isaac and tried to keep up with them since I was so close to the finish. Normally I get a spurt of energy and go out as strong as I started but not this time. I crossed the finished and wished to die. I grabbed a bottle of water and Kathryn found me and we walked the almost mile back to the car. Neither of us felt like eating and we were both reconsidering the half marathon in November (I'm not sure if that was officially decided, but I think I would still like to try for it). We went to breakfast anyway and by the time we got our food we were feeling dandy. And just as a side note from this morning: the doctor's office had called on Friday but when I called back three minutes later it seemed they were all already gone for the day. I called back today and spoke to the woman and she said that my blood test indicated that I must have had strep a few weeks ago so they were calling in a prescription to my pharmacy. She said my blood showed a high level of strep antibodies. Good to know - two weeks after the doctor's visit (I already planned to switch doctors soon anyway). But hey, a 69 minutes 10k time doesn't look so bad now considering my body single handily fought off strep.

The Chocolateer

A few weeks ago I went on chocolate strike. Obviously for those of you who know me you know I haven't eaten chocolate in twelve years, so it wasn't that kind of strike. Ever since I started this job I have made it a point to have a candy dish, part of me feels that maybe I have this job simply for the candy dish (I have quite the collection now). I have purchased all sorts of chocolates over the last three and half years, but at the beginning of this month I had had it! My chocolate would disappear in the middle of the night! I would come in to work and there would be half the amount that had been in there when I had left the day before. Seriously folks?! That's just rude. So as I stood in the grocery store aisle and looked at the $10 bag of candy (cause I buy the super big bag) I thought, "Why do I keep spending my money for these piglets?" Cause seriously, someone was coming to my desk and helping themselves, they weren't even coming during normal business hours. So - I stopped. All this week I have been meaning to buy another bag, I figure after a few weeks of an empty candy dish I could start back up and put some in sparingly, but I kept forgetting. This morning I got in and jumped right in to work (that happens when there are 5 people standing at your desk as you walk in). As the people left, I looked over and noticed that my candy dish was full. Is it odd/sad for me to say that that is the nicest thing anyone has done for me this week (at work)? So of course I had to find out who it was because I wanted to say 'thank you'. I called the usual suspects, but all of them denied it. Then Wanda suggested asking the Helpdesk guy, so I took a chance on an unknown kid* and sent him an e-mail. Turns out it was him! I feel like that was super nice, and now I will be thinking of something nice to do in return!

I'm one stomach flu away from my goal weight.*

January - 4

February - 3

March - 4

Animal Farm by George Orwell Three words for you: I hate pigs. I know that there is deeper meaning to the entire book, but my initial reaction at the end was, "Those pigs!" *Fist of rage pumping in the air*. But as I said there's a deeper story being told here, very political, and it made me angry. I read this book because my all time favorite book of my life is 1984 by the same author. I wouldn't say that this one will make the favorites list, and I had trouble remembering what animals were what (he went to names and I was like, "Horse? Pig? What?" but it didn't take away from the general message). Overall - worth the read. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman LOVE IT!! What's not to like about a book that begins with a murder? I overall really enjoyed this book, there were times when I had trouble getting through spots but for the most part it kept my attention. This is the same guy who wrote Coraline, so if you liked that book/movie, you'll probably like this one. Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld Behemoth is the sequel to Leviathan. So far, so good. You know how I worry with series books. So far Scott Westerfeld has done a good job keeping my interest and at the same time I am learning bits and pieces of history (which he clarifies at the end of both books what is real from what is fiction). Really like it. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson I have to admit that I really enjoyed/was really scared of this story. My friend had mentioned that it was a quick read, so I decided to add it to my list (I need all the quick reads I can get). It's not that quick (though there were times I couldn't put it down), and it's not the only story in the book. There are about 11 stories in the book, but the longest and main one is "I Am Legend". If you've seen the movie then I feel it important to tell you that it is completely different...completely. I mean, everything is pretty much changed (i.e. back story, character's background, the dog, the premise...the only thing that is shared is the main character's name). And the title makes more sense as the book. I like the book better, but I suppose if I don't consider them the same story then it doesn't matter. Richard Matheson is a very morbid writer, some of the stories I liked, some I thought were a little too over the top. So I wouldn't suggest reading these unless you have a good stomach for morbidity...and blood. And don't read at night if you live by yourself...creepy. ...Rambling. Sorry.