catching up

Speech officially ended on Friday with the state meet. I had three students compete, and one, a freshman extemper, got fourth place! (I think extemp is the most challenging of all our speech events because you draw a topic one hour before you speak and write a speech about it, using articles you've previously clipped from magazines or printed off the internet. Most topics are political in nature. Almost all the extemp speeches I listened to yesterday--and I heard twelve--were on the US economy or the recovery efforts in Japan. Since he made it to finals, Scott had to write three 5-7 minute speeches yesterday!)

Here's a look at the people I've been spending countless hours with for the last three months!

I have been doing a few things other than speech ...

• I read my first non book review book since, well, I can't even remember when. I bought Dining with Joy a few months ago, but I always had just one more book review book to get through. On Tuesday, I read the last one I had, so then I picked up Dining with Joy. To be honest, I bought the book for its cover. I had read books one and two in the series, and while they were decent, I didn't love them, and I had no intention of reading any more of author Rachel Hauk's novels ... until Amazon started recommending Dining with Joy. It was the cover. Seriously, I've never been one to be influenced by a book's cover (though I've been embarrassed by one before--click on over here to see it!), but now it's happened twice--first with The Mountains Bow Down and now with this! Fortunately, the book was as enjoyable as the cover. I finished it yesterday ... the same day I got another book review book in the mail.
• Last week, I got an invitation to join the Amazon Vine program! This is Amazon's product review program, and you must be invited in order to join. I guess posting all those book reviews paid off :-) I've received and reviewed my first two products--a Jamba Juice energy drink and Lost and Found, a graphic novel by Shaun Tan. Here's a link to my review of Lost and Found. I may eventually start reviewing Vine products on my blog, but it's not a requirement of the program, so I'll wait for now.
• I now have five (yes, five) living plants! This is something of a victory for me, as you may recall. Granted, the aloe plant isn't looking too great, but it's still kicking. My newest plant I bought today--"Royal Hustler" Ivy. I've never had an ivy plant before ... let's hope it's pretty hearty!
• Thanks to Netflix, I've caught up on Parks & Recreation. If you ever enjoyed The Office, you'll probably like Parks & Rec. Many people (read: critics) say the first season is pretty rough, but I thought it was hilarious from the beginning. If you don't have Netflix, you can watch the most recent episodes on Hulu ... and I'll be happy to fill you in on any background you need!
• I've been asked to transition into a slightly different role at my job. I'll have more to say about it later, but I'm really anticipating the change!

I think that's about it! I'll have another book review coming in just over a week (the sequel to Hand of Fate, which I reviewed last year). I guess I've procrastinated long enough ... time to hit the taxes!