Vampire Diaries by L J Smith

The pics don't look anything like the cast members of The Vampire Diaries but the little descriptions at the bottom of each drawing give a little description of the characters in the series. I'm eager to go out and get the books now... Oh NO!

Vampire Diaries. Bonnie, one of Elena’s best friends, is wearing a crown of oak leaves. The oak tree was sacred to the Druids, one of Bonnie’s many fads and fancies. This fiery-haired little pixie is no pushover, though. Although Bonnie may get frightened easily, her psychic powers have often saved the day.

Vampire Diaries. Matt is your typical All American gorgeous guy. He’s Elena’s ex-boyfriend, and although he often regrets the “ex,” he is Stefan’s first human friend. Throughout all of the gore and supernatural horrors he’s experienced, Matt remains a firm idealist. Jan Sovak has captured Matt’s inner soul perfectly.

Vampire Diaries. Meredith is one of Elena’s best friends. It takes a lot to get the cool, level-headed girl this upset, but realizing that vampires are, literally, higher than humans on the food chain can do

Vampire Diaries. Stefan comes to the small town of Fell’s church and can’t believe what he finds: a girl, Elena, who looks just like the girl who made him a vampire so many years ago. He falls in love with her at once, but so does his older, more powerful, and more evil older brother, Damon.

Vampire Diaries. Damon is Stefan’s older brother. He has a dark past, and worst of all, he wants to take Elena away from Stefan, by fair means or foul. His soul is encased by the hardest rock, but in times of stress he always comes through for his little brother.

Vampire Diaries. Elena is the ice princess of her high school—all the boys want her; all the girls want to be her. But she thinks of boys as toys and nothing moves her heart until she sees Stefan. Then she swears that he will be hers, even if it kills them both.

Connector / Salesman

Know Your Strength for More Success: Are you a Connector, a Maven, or a Salesman?

 

In my mind I think I'm a Connector... but sometimes I feel more Salesman-like

What are YOU?

Show Me the Money!

In point form - here are some updates about what's been happening around me.

1) A good friend got himself a good deal - come Feb he'll be hanging up his red-inked pens and donning a suit. Well, in his words - he'll be a drone. In a place he seems to enjoy working at and, from what I hear, for a great boss.

2) Another pal got a pay increment this Jan. It's still not enough for the work she does (in my opinion) but she seems happy about it. She's also been sounding me out on possibly working for her company - maybe on a part-time basis. Given that I feel she's worth more than what she's currently drawing, I'm wondering how much they'd consider paying me for 20-hour weeks. My guess is - not enough.

3) I need more money. Wait. Make that, I WANT more money. So friend from point 1 suggests working for friend from point 2's company on a project basis.

That could work. Assuming they're willing to pay me what I used to earn before as a project-based copywriter.

The alternative is I consider going back to teach in school. (*groan*) Waking up at 6 and coming home at 230 in the afternoon 5 days a week and then teaching my regular classes on top of that till 8 or 9 at night is NOT going to be good for my social life. (Yes, I know, I don't exactly have one anyway - but I was hoping to change that this year.)

Still, let's see what options present themselves in the coming weeks. I have a good feeling about the start of this year. Good things will come. *Fingers crossed*

(Can I just say that I think this whole single-session school system is da suck for my working hours?)

More Pooh

Isn't it the cutest? An early birthday gift from my sister- I suspect I'm only going to get more Pooh stuff from now on.

The first post of 2010

New Year's Eve didn't start out too pleasantly. But it ended nicely enough. For this I have DJ to thank.

After rescuing me and regaling me with stories and anecdotes, I was feeling much better. We sat around and drank and after a while I felt like myself again.

So I began the year with a good sweep and mop of the floor (3am). I needed to do something to keep me occupied - something comforting. Those of you who know me well enough will be nodding (or rolling your eyeballs) at my obsessive need to clean.

I went to bed happy in anticipation of a dinner party on Friday night.

The first one of the year. It was good, I thought. I'm sure mum didn't think it was all that fantastic, but I'm told (this was relayed to me later on) that dad was proud enough of me. Aside from the fact that I bake a pretty decent kueh lapis, I think I don't really suck too badly at cooking either. It's easy enough stir-frying veggies or making soup. Ah, but wait till there are rempahs and lemaks involved. If I could, I'd just buy a packet of pre-mixed something or other and add meat, simmer and serve.

But this time round, I thought I'd be true to my heritage and actually cook up everything from scratch. Besides, it's not like there's rempah tee-teck in a packet.

On the menu - Sambal Buah Keluak, Lemak Jantan, Ketola Soup and Babi Tempera. I threw in some stir-fry veg + mushrooms at the last minute.

The verdict - nods all round. Except from mum. She needed to comment on this and that - she wouldn't be herself if she didn't, but I know I got her approval. No, she won't come right out and say it was tasty or good or anything like that, but you've got to know my mother in order to decipher her mum-speak. When asked if she had anything to say about my lemak jantan, her reply was "Better don't say, or else next time I wont get an invitation to come for dinner."

That means - it's fine, not exactly the same as hers, but good enough.

And that's good enough for me.

Dessert

After a wonderful potluck dinner we had this lovely banana caramel pastry to finish off the meal. Yum!