23 October 2020

Five Things for Friday / Book Beginnings for Friday / #Friday56

Let's kick off this lovely (just kidding, looking super dreary and thunderstorms planned) Friday with five random things. If you're here for some bookish involvement, scroll on down.

  1. Today was the last day for our elementary school's remote learning. Starting Monday, most (approximately 80%) of the elementary students will switch to in-person learning, and a few (including my third grade son) will 'switch' to virtual learning. They will remain either in-person or virtual through the end of the school year. While I think virtual is pretty similar to the remote learning they've been doing since Labor Day, he will have a new teacher for the rest of the year, since his first teacher will be teaching in-person kids. I'm a bit stressed, but also happy to have the rest of the school year resolved, more or less.
  2. I am so excited that I was able to purchase a Bookmas box from Peanut Butter Taco Etsy shop!! I somehow ended up on her book planner page on Facebook, and found out about it. She puts together a package with 12 gifts - for the 12 days of Christmas - that are book and/or planner related. They sold out in seven minutes!! I'm super excited to get my package in early December with 12 fantastic gifts for me!
  3. Last night I had a blast at a Yelp Murder Mystery Party (on zoom) that was themed around a 1980s Prom. I dug out one of my dresses from either my junior or senior year of high school. Yay for stretch! LOL  Then I asked my 13-year-old daughter to fix me up with some 80s make-up  - heavy on the blue eye-shadow, please. She did a fabulous job, and the party was a lot of fun. Edited to add: I just found out I won one of the costume contest prizes! Once I finish up this post, I need to go choose which of my local coffee shops, breweries, or wineries I want a credit for!
  4. When I kept my computer at the kitchen table, I set up some shelves next to me and set up my old boom box with an assortment of CDs for my listening pleasure. Now that I'm redoing my actual office upstairs, hubby found an abandoned 90s stereo in our basement and set it up in the kitchen so I could bring my boom box up to my office.  I've been thrilled to be listening to my old CDs again. I'd like to take a moment to thank Columbia House and BMG for my extensive collection of old CDs. If you're old like me, you'll understand this reference.
  5. Tomorrow I've got a long to-do list around the house. I need to pack up my planters and hummingbird feeders til spring, replace the toilet seat in the kids' bathroom, get and apply those frosted window-cling things to the master bathroom, and work on purging or reorganizing a lot of my office clutter. I'm tired just considering it all, but I keep reminding myself how great it will feel to have it all done. Ugh.



Would you like to hear about what I'm reading (well, one of the books I'm reading now anyway)? Welcome to Friday, when I like to post with Book Beginnings on Friday and #Friday56. Today I've chosen to post about 60 Stories about 30 Seconds: How I Got Away With Becoming a Pretty Big Commercial Director Without Losing My Soul (Or Maybe Just Part of It) by Bruce Van Dusen. Thank you to the publisher for my copy of this book for review. 

For Book Beginnings on Friday with Rose City Reader, I share the beginning of the book. 
Crazy Eddie was the first person to hire me to direct a commercial. Crazy Eddie himself. He didn't actually say, "You're hired," because his jaw was broken, and he was attached to some life-support machines. His ad manager translated his grunts. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

For #Friday56 with Freda's Voice, I share a bit from page 56 (since this is a physical book for me - if you're reading using your kindle, please feel free to share from around 56%).
That's my opinion. And it's as harsh as it is because I have come into directing from nowhere. And at the bottom. Most commercial directors start out as agency art directors or copywriters. So they're used to all the bullshit. They must have been the cream of the crop because they had enough oomph to get the fuck out of the agency side and start shooting. But, if you come in as I have, via film school, and a little production work but no agency experience, workign with these people is crazy-making.
So that's what we're into for this weekend. Still wrapping up Matrimony, Inc from last week, and starting 60 Stories. Also need to break up this non-fiction run, so I think I've got You Can Go Home Now by Michael Elias keyed up and ready to read on my kindle. 

Tonight is our regularly scheduled pizza and a movie, so I'm stepping away from the computer to pick up Hungry Howie's and watch Halloweentown!

Thanks for checking in - I love to read your comments, and I'll check in on all the other participating blogs over the weekend and early next week. Hope you have a happy, healthy weekend and week :)



13 comments:

fredamans said...

Interesting book. You looked fantastic for the murder mystery! Happy weekend!

Liz Parker said...

My parents and I are doing Hungry Howie's tomorrow too - my dad said there's some deal where you buy a large pizza at menu price and get a medium 1-topping pizza for $1.

Also you looked great for the Yelp event! Fun theme.

Lauren Stoolfire said...

That sounds like a pretty fun zoom party!

Literary Feline said...

I hope the return to the classroom goes well for those who will be returning. Our school board is meeting next week to decide if schools will open for those who chose the hybrid option in November. But given the county's recent slip back into the most restrictive tier, there's doubt it will happen before the end of the year now. Either way, it won't affect my daughter much. She's on the virtual track for the school year.

The Bookmas box sounds like such an awesome idea! I am glad you were able to get one before they sold out.

Love your dress! The party sounds like it was a lot of fun.

You've reminded me we need to replace our toilet seats too . . . Probably should try to do that this weekend.

60 Stories about 30 Seconds sounds like a fun read. A bit of humor in that opening. :-)

I hope you have a great weekend!

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

Fascinating book...and I love your costume! Thanks for sharing, and for visiting my blog.

Yvonne said...

Sounds like an interesting book. Great teasers.

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

Hi Becki,

I used to have a dress back in the 1980s, very much like the one you wore for your party. It has long since been recycled via the charity shop and I know that I wouldn't fit into it now, not by any stretch of the imagination!!

I have a long list of jobs which need doing around the house, but they are certainly being added much more regularly than they are being crossed off!
Lockdown and then hubbie now working from home, doesn't seem to have made life any easier, it has simply created a whole new kind of stress and angst, which means that neither of us is motivated to get stuck into anything at the weekends.

I really need to have a purge of my physical bookshelves, but I keep telling myself that I will get to read them all one day and I just can't bear to pack any of them up for the charity shop!

I like the opening of your chosen book this week, however it wouldn't be one for me, unlike the Michael Elias book you have lined up to read next and which I shall be putting on my own list, as it sounds so good!

Enjoy your Sunday and Happy Reading next week :)

Yvonne xx

Aj @ Read All The Things! said...

Good luck with the chores! I love the dress and can see why you won the costume contest. That’s awesome. I didn’t go to my high school prom.

Aj @ Read All The Things!

Ashley Sapp said...

That sounds like a super fun party! Love your costume! Hope you have a great week! :)

Nicolle said...

Hope he likes his new teacher. I'm surprised that many kids are going back.

amberstarr82 said...

The murder mystery party sounds so fun! We're doing distance/virtual learning through at least December (although I'm pretty sure it'll switch to all year). It's been difficult but I feel like it's getting easier over time.

Greg said...

Good luck with the school remote learning! My daughter is doing that too. I hope it goes well. And congrats on winning the costume contest! That's awesome!!! And the murder mystery sounds fun too. :)

Lol about all the CD's.

Elza Reads said...

Your book would have fit perfectly with TTT a couple of weeks ago regarding books with super long titles. But it sounds interesting!

Love your costume!! Yea for Stretch!! I miss my old CD player and really want to get one in my kitchen. We stream our radio stations here as we have really bad signal. If the internet goes off, no radio thus.

So I want to get myself one of those old easy ones again!

Hope you will have a good week with lots of great books to read. Here's my The Sunday Post #16