This past weekend

This past weekend nothing much happened, except for two things. One of our friends decided to move out to where we live so we'll actually get to see him more, always a plus. The other thing was that Liverpool won their second game in a row, even though it is only the 3rd win of the season and the first away game. But we're still hopeful, though I do wish Torres would get his act together. He's been out of it since end of last year, and has only scored 2 goals in 23 games this season. I've also now been waiting three weeks to hear back from the library folks in Arizona, so I don't know what to think about that, except feeling really frustrated. Anyways, on to quotes and website highlights. 


This week the quotes for the week will be from two of my favorite comics. The first will be from the extremely talented Alan Moore and his Absolute Watchmen, which includes all the cool behind the scenes and extra stuff from the comic book. The second comes from my newly discovered favorite comic, Rex Libris Volume 1: I, Librarian. For those who have not heard about it, it is about an awesome, witty and just plain hilarious comic strip about a 2000+ yr old librarian named Rex Libris whose job is to shush people and reclaim overdue library books from creatures all over the galaxy, with force if needed. 

• “Why do we argue? Life's so fragile, a successful virus clinging to a speck of mud, suspended in endless nothing.”--Alan Moore, end of Chapter 6, Absolute Watchmen 
  
  
• “That fiend knows my every weakness! Damn you Yeti! Why do you torment me so? These buttertarts brim with the very calories of evil! Inexorably drawing me in to a carbohydrate-fueled hell of high caloric sin!”—Rex Libris, Rex Libris: I, Librarian

The website of the week is Book Club Buddy, which I found a couple of weeks ago through the women's newspaper, Skirt. I've not been able to use it yet, but it seems like an awesome site! It's got Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry books that you can check out to read, Author Interviews, Videos which include book trailers and author Q&A, and Reading Guides for Book Clubs. Also, if you are an author, you can promote your book and if you register for the site, you can win free books.

Football news and *Love the Liberry*

So apparently Wayne Rooney is not leaving Man U and just signed a brand new more money contract. Guess we can't get rid of him that easy. The rumor this week is that coach of Man U Sir Alec Ferguson (aka Fergie) wants to snatch up my favorite Liverpool player, phenomenal goalie Pepe Reina, after he's supposedly upset with the way coach Roy Hodgeson is running things. I hope that is totally incorrect as I would be rather ticked if he left! Luckily, I'm pretty sure it is not true as one of the new owners, John Henry, has personally come out to say that people should stop spreading malicious rumors. Go NESV!

Since I did not feature a blog this week, I figured I would now. I was browsing the librarians' blog Love the Liberry and cracking up at the patron's antics. It is done by three librarians, ast least one being a reference librarian. I  love the subheading of the blog: "Stranger than Fiction...We Couldn't Possibly Make These Things Up." Some of my favs so far include the Spelling post on Oct 20, Prescription for Disaster on Oct 13, and Can't Fool Us on Oct 10.

LOTR online update and football news

I am addicted to LOTR online. There I've said it, and admitting it is the first step. I played it for like 8 hours yesterday. It's cool now because I deleted my minstrel character and created an even harder character, a Lore Master (female elf). She's basically a wizard that can summon an animal companion to help her fight, which is great because she has low health and dies easily. But I've got her up to level 15 or 16 in two days, which is pretty awesome, and she finally joined the kinship that my other two characters are part of. I like her bear companion as he is less annoying than the earlier raven, even though the raven had some cool protection. I had wanted to create a female hobbit character, but they're mostly fighters, so maybe next time if I buy another slot. My other characters, the human female guardian and the elf female champion are finally getting some more play. I was able to start the Lone Lands quests (a separate set that you either have to buy with cash or Turbine Points from the LOTR online store) finally after getting enough TP, so that gives me 100 extra quests to do. I think I will buy North Downs and then Rivendell when I finish Lone Lands. I am loving the Lone Lands quests so far because it helps level up my guardian character, who is my favorite because she is easy to use, so she can do the upper level  Book 2 epic storyline quests.

 

I know most people will have no idea what I am talking about as they don't play the game, but it is basically like this: When you start playing the game, there is a limited amount of areas you can play in. You can basically play for free in Erid Luin (home of dwarves and elves), The Shire, or the Breelands. You can do epic storyline or craft quests in other areas, such as Lone Lands or North Downs, but you can't participate in solo quests there unless you buy quests in that particular area or you are a subscriber for $15 a month. So as I am broke and can't afford any extra monthly expenses, at least until I get a job, I am paying for things through Turbine Points (TP) or through occasional $7 purchases through the store, which is how I got my third character slot (as everyone starts out with two in the free-to-play game).

Moving on to football news, which is more realistic than all this role-playing fantasy gaming. So the two big news items of the last couple of weeks are Liverpool and Wayne Rooney. Liverpool was bought by New England Sports Ventures (NESV), the company that owns the Boston Red Sox. My hubby and I are hoping that they will do an equally good job revitalizing Liverpool as they did with the Red Sox. The other big news is that Wayne Rooney (aka Shrek - not my nickname btw) of Manchester United fame has decided he wants to leave the club and go elsewhere. Now personally I think he is overrated (I think there are better strikers out there and ones with much less attitude) and I find it interesting that this happens right after he has been caught with a prostitute while his wife was pregnant (which I think makes him the lowest of the low). He of course says it is because Man U can no longer "attract top quality players", and I'm sure it is a shock to everyone that he's leaving since he's been there since Sept 2004 and has always praised the club.

Cute Liverpool video

So as I have explained in past blog posts, I am a Liverpool football fan. That's soccer for Americans, football to the rest of the world. This season has been painful to watch given our repeated losses, but still a fan, despite what my hubby says to the contrary. The club is in the middle of a bidding war for ownership of the club and an epic court battle, which will decide whether the club will be bankrupt and the players sold off for cash or can be sold to better owners who actually care about it (Current owners Hicks and Gillette are making me ashamed to be American), and will get rid of the debt and pump fresh new money into the club. So I'm waiting on news of that later on today. Anyways, I'm a part of Liverpool FB fans and they posted this cute video of primary/elementary school kids asking the captain of Liverpool, Steven Gerrard, random questions. Their facial expressions are so adorable, even when they look spacey and forget the questions (which is frequently)! The video is pretty long, about 21 minutes, but also features goals by Stevie G (as he is affectionately called by the fans), Fernando Torres, and John Barnes, as well as a nice goal save by my favorite Pepe Reina (who is apparently also the strongest guy on the team).

Liverpool games and other British stuff

I am very happy today because Liverpool finally won a EPL game! Granted it was a 1-0 victory over West Brom, but I'll take it. Especially after they got slaughtered last week by Man City 3-0, which was really horrifying to watch. For some reason we keep winning the European cup games, which don't count towards our league totals, but this was the first this season. So we will finally move from 18th out of 20 to 13th. The last time they won the League Championship it was 1989-90 season, so they are well overdue for a win.

In other happy news, I'm finally getting a Liverpool t-shirt! My hubby John is getting himself the new 2010-2011 team jersey. They should come in this week. I wanted to get the goalie jersey with Reina's name on the back, but it only came in long sleeves and it was like $80 with customization.  So will wait on that one. Also, I have been craving British chocolate for weeks now and last week I finally got myself a Galaxy bar. For those who have not eaten one, it is seriously the best most creamy chocolate bar ever. The Galaxy Caramel is amazing too. Besides, how can you not love a chocolate bar that encourages you to curl up with a good book? I also got a Fry's Peppermint Creme Chocolate bar, also yummy.

Health Problems and School

I want to be on this blog more this week, but I just started back school and it's keeping me supremely busy. I'm taking the three classes including the internship, which has just decided to become a whole lot more work, so I have to be really good about balancing my time (haven't mastered that yet). Add on the fact that yesterday I officially discovered that I have Carpel Tunnel Syndrome in my hand and arms and things get really fun. I've noticed the pain for over a month. I'd had it on and off, like every six months or so previously. It came once for a very long time on July 17th when I was at the Charleston-Bolton game, though I couldn't figure out why, only that it kept me up all night and only heat seemed to make the pain go away for a bit. It started coming about twice a week after that and then last night, I had it all night again. As I am typing my left hand is starting to hurt again. I went to the student clinic last night to check out the problem and that's what the doctor diagnosed and then she got me to do three blood tests (including one for Rheumatoid Arthritis, which I am really scared of getting as it runs in the family). This involved taking two vials of blood from the top of my right hand, and they had to take it this way becauseI have tiny veins which they can never find at my elbow joint. Using a needle on the top of my hand hurt a lot and I nearly passed out twice. So I have to go back in a week and then again in two weeks. Fun, fun all the way around. And I have to start wearing an arm brace on my right hand all day, which takes getting used to, as I am right-handed and it pretty much puts me out of commission.

Opening Game of the Season!

Sunday was Liverpool's first game of the season and as my husband said "It's feels like Christmas because you get a new season to open and enjoy!" They were playing Arsenal and it was a good game to watch, especially since we were in the Cock & Bull Pub for the first time since April, and surrounded by a roomful of fellow fans. We were at their new location and the owner Rod was showing us around and telling us all about how he plans to improve it and the new menu, which will feature a lot of curry and Shephard's Pie! Hurray!

Anyways, one of our new players Joe Cole, got thrown out in the first half for a totally crap call. The other team had been pulling similar moves before that and they didn't get thrown out. So we were down to 10 men, and yet we still scored! Unfortunately they did too, by an accident with our goalie Reina. That's okay Reina, as I pointed out to my hubby, without you last season would've totally blown as you saved our butts so many times. And he is why whenever I get a Liverpool shirt, I want one with Reina on the back (bonus that he's a cutie!).

The photo below is from last year I believe but I love it because it shows my second favorite player Fernando Torres (also from Spain like Reina and played on the Spanish National Team during the World Cup) and his daughter.

Bolton Wanderers vs Charleston Battery

So the game was a lot of fun, despite the day being so hot it was like being in a sauna in your clothes all day, we were sweating so much. The only advantage to this sticky situation is that everyone else you are with has also been sweating all day and so they don't mind the smell as much. Needless to say, I never want to experience that again. I was way too uncomfortably hot. We went to the game early and got to tailgate with The Regiment, the fan club for the Battery. We met a nice guy named Mikey who my hubby had been talking to on the Club's forums. This was the first time an English Premier League team had played in South Carolina, so we were psyched to be amongst the 5000+ fans there to watch it (luckily we had a seat, but they had so many people there, it ended up being standing room only behind the goals). We are hoping that this will encourage other EPL teams to come to South Carolina, so maybe we can see some really good clubs like Man City, Tottenham, or even Liverpool (*fingers crossed*). We watched the teams warming up before the game and I was surprised how close we were to the pitch. There were a decent amount of British fans, including those that live in the area and Bolton fans that were traveling with the team. The other big surprise was how quiet it was during the game. I guess I'm just used to watching English Premier League games which are always so noisy.That being said, it was however, a really fun game to watch. The Wanderers won 2-0, though the Battery at least were putting up a fight despite losing.

My hubby was psyched because he got to take a picture and get an autograph from Owen Coyle, the manager of Bolton (who is an ex-footballer for Republic of Ireland and Bolton). We tried to get more autographs after the game, but there were too many people and the good players left early. For me, at least, there were quite a few good looking players on the field, including a cute balding ref. This is not a prerequisite but useful when you get a boring game, at least you have someone cute to look at. One of the things we noticed was how small the Charleston players were in comparison to Bolton, who had one guy that was at least 6' 6". It literally looked like Bolton was playing against a bunch of high-schoolers with the height difference. The only really annoying thing about the game were the vuvuzelas, those horns from World Cup fame. Our friend who went with us got one and spent the rest of the game blowing it at other people and generally annoying us and everyone around us. There were a couple of times I thought people were going to beat the crap out of him and possibly us for sitting with him. Those things should seriously be banned from games.

Soccer Game tomorrow!

Tomorrow the hubby and I get to go down to Charleston and see the local amateur team, the Charleston Battery play the English Premier League team, the Bolton Wanderers. Should be an interesting game. It will be our first opportunity to see a real English-style football game and hopefully meet some new soccer fans and maybe even some players!

My first blog

Let me introduce myself. My name is Rachel (aka Librarygirl) and I'm studying to be a Youth Services Librarian. I love to read both Children and Young Adult literature, in addition to fantasy, historical fiction, biography, mystery, nonfiction etc. Since I'm free this summer (not taking classes) I am spending most of my time catching up on series I haven't had time to read, such as Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments Trilogy or Mary Hoffman's Stravaganza series.

I love to travel though I haven't had money to much lately, apart from going to visit my parents in Arizona. I did get to see some pretty spectacular scenery there: the Painted Desert, Monument Valley, Wupatki National Park, the Grand Canyon, the Meteor Crater, and the San Francisco Mountains. I fell in love with the state the first time I visited. I am hoping to move there once I finish school.

I have been married to my English husband John for nearly 4 1/2 years. He got me interested in English football, or soccer to the the US. We're both fans of Liverpool Football Club, and have been watching the World Cup intensely. I'm sad that both England and the US have been knocked out, but happy to watch Spain and others continue. He's also got me interested in the TV show Top Gear, a British car show and Doctor Who (starting in 2005).