This afternoon, I finished reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer. The Host is the first novel Stephenie has written that isn’t part of the Twilight Saga.

Stephenie Meyer has outdone herself again. She’s a fantastic story teller and very good at character development. You can’t help loving the characters and the story. I enjoyed the story very much and it has definitely been added to my list of favorite novels.

Earth has been taken over by souls that are symbiotic in nature and require a host body to live. They take over civilizations to make them better by creating a Utopian society.

Once a soul’s inserted into a host body, the host fades away. Earth is the first society in which opposition to an inserted soul has occurred and Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away when Wanderer’s inserted into her body.

As Melanie and Wanderer learn to live with one another, Wanderer finds herself wondering where she belongs. She’s a soul, but she starts to show compassion for the humans because of Melanie’s memories and refusal to be erased. The story explores many aspects of love and acceptance as Wanderer finds her true place in the world.

My rating:

Happy belated birthday, Aubree! Happy birthday, Ashley!

Amber and Greg, my niece and nephew-in-law, had their first baby today. They had a little boy, which makes him my first great-nephew.  He was born at at 6:40 pm CST. He weighs 8 lbs. 3 oz. and is 20 in. long.

His name is Jared Walker Hansen. He’s named after two of his grandfathers, Greg’s dad and Amber’s dad. I really want to call him Walker, so I don’t have to differentiate between a brother named Jared and a great-nephew named Jared. (There are already too many double names in my family.)  But, everyone else is going to call him Jared, so I guess I’ll conform too.

Amber and Jared are doing great. In fact, Amber’s doing more than great because Jared came on his due date and she was worried he wouldn’t.

Congratulations, Amber and Greg!

Today, my work paid for my team to go to a movie because of all our work during the last couple of quarters. Our team chose to go see Iron Man.

Iron Man was awesome. I’m really in awe over it.  It wasn’t what I expected at all. I didn’t watch the cartoon nor have I read the comic, so I knew nothing about the storyline.

Tony Stark’s a great superhero. He reminds me a lot of Bruce Wayne, except he doesn’t turn into a vigilante because his parents are murdered. Instead, he starts to look at his life after being kidnapped and realizes he doesn’t want to be remembered for what he has done.

His company manufactures weapons and after being kidnapped, he realizes the weapons aren’t just used by the United States, but they’re getting into the wrong hands and causing havoc and murder over the world. He decides to use his genius and his weapons to do something good.

All the actors did an awesome job in their role and I especially liked Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark. I don’t think anyone could have done a better job.

Unfortunately, my boss didn’t want any of our spouses to come with us. I was quite bummed that Corey couldn’t come. But, I’m more than happy to see it a second time.

The Twilight movie poster has been released. Look at Edward’s eyes!  They’re so awesome!

Today, The Host, a new book by Stephenie Meyer, was released. It’s not part of the Twilight series, so I would’ve been willing to just get my book when the stores opened this morning. However, because limited tickets to a signing by Stephenie Meyer were involved, I camped out with my buddies.

A couple of weeks ago, my friends and I started to discuss when we thought we should show up to Borders. At first, we thought 6:00 am would be early enough. Then, after a lot of thought, we changed it to 3:00 am. On Friday, paranoia started to sink in, so we changed it to midnight.

I had suggested to Nancy on Friday that we should do a drive by earlier to see if a line was forming, so we could go earlier if needed. So, at 5:00 pm yesterday, Nancy drove by and a line had already started to form! She did what any obsessed fan would do and bribed the people in front of us with $20 to watch the camping chairs she just happened to have in the back of her Mini and keep “our” place in line while she took her husband out for his birthday dinner.

Around 11:30 pm, Kayla, Lori, and I joined Nancy in line. To our excitement, we found that Nancy had secured us as the fifth group in line. Most people had blankets/sleeping bags and pillows, but there were a lot of people with tents, air mattresses, and camping chairs. That was nothing compared to the smörgåsbord of items Lori had with he. She had propane heaters, hot chocolate, a movie projector, camping chairs, etc. Needless to say, we were sitting pretty.

A little after midnight, a group of people, including Kayla and Nancy, got up and started dancing in the street. Lori had set up her iPod in her car and was blaring it so we could hear it while they danced. They had a lot of fun learning how to do the Cha-cha, Merengue, Samba, and Electric Slide. If you know me, you know I hate to and can’t dance, so I just enjoyed watching them have fun while trying to keep myself from falling asleep.

There were a couple of people that kind of gravitated towards our group because we were having so much fun. Mostly, however, everyone else in the line was trying to sleep. As we were told to shut up a few times, I thought, “Um … what do you expect sleeping out on the sidewalk at Borders!”

Before we left for Borders, Kayla had sent an e-mail to the rest of us with the subject, “Camp out … or should I say stake out?” I had forgotten there was a Steak-Out restaurant by Borders, so of course, when everyone saw it, we had to have our picture taken.

Around 1:30 am, Danylle joined us from Salt Lake. We were excited to add someone else to our party. We decided to play Imagine Iff, Twilight style. That kept our attention for about an hour.

After a potty break, which involved finding an open gas station at 3:00 am in the morning, Lori set up her projector and we watched 27 Dresses on the side of the Borders building. I didn’t think I’d be able to stay awake because I was so exhausted, but I ended up making it through the movie. During the movie, the winds from the canyon started and it got really cold really fast. Luckily, we had our propane heaters and blankets to keep us warm. We were glad the “chance” of light showers didn’t come to fruition.

After the movie, we talked for a bit and I ended up falling asleep around 6:15 am. I woke up around 7:15 am when everyone started to pack up and put all their camp out gear in their cars. I was so tired, but it was all worth it!

You could tell everyone was tired because some people behind us became upset when they thought people were butting in line. They yelled at us and told us, “Only those who slept out should be in line.  Everyone else should go to the back of the line.” We told them we didn’t sleep out, but all five of us had been there all night.

We missed the rest of our group that couldn’t come with us because of family, work, or not wanting to give up the comfort of their beds. But, we had a good time and we walked away with books and tickets for everyone we came for, including ourselves.

I got six books, one for me and five of my friends. As we left Borders with our books in tow, all the people still in line kept giving us nasty looks because they could see we had bought several books. We high-tailed it out of there for fear of getting mugged by the obsessed fans.

I got home around 8:30 pm and went straight to bed. I didn’t wake up until 4:00 pm. Needless to say, I won’t be finishing The Host today. But, I’ll be done very soon.

The trailer for Twilight will show with the movie Speed Racer.  But until then, it’s been posted on MySpaceTV. I’m so excited!

Happy birthday, Brett!

I’ve been reading Mansfield Park for the last couple of weeks. I’m enjoying it quite a bit and I can’t wait until I finish reading it. (As of tomorrow, though, The Host will take precedence. )

I’m half way through Mansfield Park and I’ve already learned 52 new words! I’ve heard a lot of the words before, but I’ve never really known what they meant, didn’t realize they were the same word I’d heard before, or I didn’t know they had a double meaning.

I thought I’d post the 52 words I’ve learned now and post the rest I’m sure I’ll learn when I’ve finished reading the book.

1. Alacrity: cheerful readiness, promptness, or willingness.
2. Alight: to dismount from a horse, descend from a vehicle, etc.
3. Arbiter: a person empowered to decide matters at issue; judge; umpire.
4. Archly: in an arch or roguish manner.
5. Baize: a soft, usually green, woolen or cotton fabric resembling felt, used chiefly for the tops of billiard tables.
6. Baronet: a member of a British hereditary order of honor, ranking below the barons and made up of commoners, designated by Sir before the name and Baronet, usually abbreviated Bart, after: Sir John Smith, Bart.
7. Barouche: a four-wheeled carriage with a high front seat outside for the driver, facing seats inside for two couples, and a calash top over the back seat.
8. Bon vivant: a person who lives luxuriously and enjoys good food and drink.
9. Curate: a member of the clergy employed to assist a rector or vicar.
10. Curricle: a light, two-wheeled, open carriage drawn by two horses abreast.
11. Damask: a reversible fabric of linen, silk, cotton, or wool, woven with patterns.
12. Demesne: the grounds belonging to a mansion or country house.
13. Descry: to see (something unclear or distant) by looking carefully; discern; espy.
14. Diminution: the act, fact, or process of diminishing; lessening; reduction.
15. Doge: the chief magistrate in the former republics of Venice and Genoa.
16. Dowager: an elderly woman of stately dignity, esp. one of elevated social position.
17. Dramatis Personæ: a list of the characters in a play or story.
18. Duenna: a governess.
19. Éclaircissement: clarification; explanation.
20. Éclat: showy or elaborate display.
21. Esprit du corps: the common spirit existing in the members of a group and inspiring enthusiasm, devotion, and strong regard for the honor of the group.
22. Evince: to show clearly; make evident or manifest; prove.
23. Forestall: to prevent, hinder, or thwart by action in advance.
24. Frank: a signature or mark affixed by special privilege to a letter, package, or the like to ensure its transmission free of charge, as by mail.
25. Furlong: a unit of distance equal to 220 yards (about 201 meters).
26. Heath: any of various low-growing evergreen shrubs common on such land, as the common heather.
27. Imputed: estimated to have a certain cash value, although no money has been received or credited.
28. Indecorous: not in keeping with accepted standards of what is right or proper in polite society.
29. Indisposition: disinclination; unwillingness.
30. Indubitable: that cannot be doubted; patently evident or certain; unquestionable.
31. Insipid: flat, dull, uninteresting.
32. Knock up: to exhaust; weary; tire.
33. Languor: lack of energy or vitality; sluggishness.
34. Laudable: deserving praise; praiseworthy; commendable.
35. Lubber: a clumsy person.
36. Mirth: gaiety or jollity, esp. when accompanied by laughter.
37. Myrtle: any plant of the genus Myrtus, esp. M. communis, a shrub of southern Europe having evergreen leaves, fragrant white flowers, and aromatic berries: anciently held sacred to Venus and used as an emblem of love.
38. Officious: objectionably aggressive in offering one’s unrequested and unwanted services, help, or advice; meddlesome.
39. Pecuniary: of or pertaining to money.
40. Preferment: advancement or promotion, esp. in the church.
41. Presentiment: a sense that something is about to occur; a premonition.
42. Priggish: a person who displays or demands of others pointlessly precise conformity, fussiness about trivialities, or exaggerated propriety.
43. Prodigious: enormous, immense, huge, gigantic, tremendous.
44. Prognosticate: to predict according to present indications or signs; foretell.
45. Remonstrate: to say or plead in protest, objection, or disapproval.
46. Rubber: a series or round played until one sidereaches a specific score or wins a specific number of hands (in certain card games, as bridge and whist).
47. Tambour: a circular frame consisting of two hoops, one fitting within the other, in which cloth is stretched for embroidering.
48. Tête-à-tête: a private conversation or interview, usually between two people.
49. Tractable: easily managed or controlled; docile; yielding.
50. Verdure: green vegetation, esp. grass or herbage.
51. Vestibule: a passage, hall, or antechamber between the outer door and the interior parts of a house or building.
52. Voluble: characterized by a ready and continuous flow of words; fluent; glib; talkative.