Well, this is it.

This past Saturday I turned 29.  The last of my twenties.  I officially have less than a year before I become a thirty-something.  OMG I think a piece of my heart died.  Seriously?  That's where I am?  Coming up on 30???

I'M TURNING 40!!!  In eleven years . . .  BUT IT'S THERE!

It's there.  Right there.  I'm coming up on the bottom of the hill.

This will have no bearing on my want to read YA.  It's still what I write so I'd be a pretty big dumbass to forgo it because I'm going to need to start buying speciality products for thirty-somethings soon.  Which I still won't buy because I have the skin of a sixteen-year-old without it being sixteen-year-old skin.  Hi and welcome to eczema if I use anything harsher than Dove sensitive bar soap.  Or that I have a chest of a ten-year-old boy.

What difference does age make?  Other than cheaper insurance rates and the societal pressure to be a big kid?  I have a squeezy toy in my cube where its eyes bug out when you squeeze it.  I thumb my nose at big kids.

But I'm still freaking out about the impending thirty.  Gone is the decade of no longer being a teenager, legal drinking and car rentals without heinous fees.  That enters into the old hat territory along with trying not to gain weight eating an extra M&M.

I expect to have a few Sally moments in my future.  They can't be helped.  Aging = basketcase.  What can I say?

Scholastic Summer Challenge

Now entering its sixth year the Scholastic Summer Challenge has officially begun.  What is it?  It's a challenge to read!  Scholastic challenges kids in all grades to keep reading throughout the summer by logging their reading minutes and winning some awesome prizes.

Kids tend to backslide a bit once summer comes around.  School's out and all of that.  No more pencils, no more books.  No more teachers' dirty looks.  Learning gets left on the stoop while the dog days overrun with lazy heat.  While this is pretty awesome (oh how I wish I had summers off, one of the things still taunting me about becoming a teacher), summer laziness and all of that, kids develop a bit of a brain fart because of it once school does start up.  But reading can help curb this.

So be sure to check out the official website for all of the details and if you know anyone still of school age, be sure to let them know that not only can they win some cool prizes, their school could end up in the 2013 SCHOLASTIC BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS and help to beat the previous world record of 64,213,141 minutes logged.  The challenge started May 1st and there are already almost two million minutes logged.  So go read!

Added to the Pile + 109

Two more books fell into my digital lap thanks to NetGalley this week (I really need to remember to declare these NetGalley titles more.  I keep forgetting about them.  Or have been.).

BEYOND by Graham McNamee
WILDE'S FIRE by Krystal Wade

Can I tell you just how desperate I am for some good YA horror?  I've read a few but nowhere near enough.  DESPERATE.

Things I've Learned from Books + 150

Hippies are disgusting, drug-addled and quite possibly carry more diseases than James Bond.

80s Awesomeness! ~ 158

While David Bowie originated in the 70s he had a major influence on the 80s and, well, it's my birthday and I'll Dance, Magic, Dance if I want to.  In May of 1983 David Bowie had a hit, Let's Dance.  I was birthed in the glory of this music.  I just don't know what it is about him but holy crap is he a basket of sex.  Have you SEEN his codpiece in Labyrinth?