Every morning I wake up...

I could say that I never wake up on time, but that would be dealing with an absolute and who can ever be so sure of oneself?

I can say that I planned to be up very early this morning (3:30 AM) for work, but it didn't happen that way. Most of my shifts are opening shifts. These start at 5am. It's not too bad as long as I get 7 - 8 hours of sleep the night before. Last night I didn't get that. No matter how hard I tried to will myself, it didn't work. I had such detailed dreams that when my alarm went off I didn't hear it. I slept right through it. I think it's mostly because my alarm sounds so similar to the music I sleep to. It can be anything, but mostly its Classical or Celtic types stuff.

Ugh.

It's awkward what can happen in the woods with your pants down.

I work at Starbucks. I love it. Its fast paced and it keeps me busy. It's exactly what I want from a job. I always felt a little intimidated about working at Starbucks before because of learning how to make the drinks. I don't know why it did, but I guess I thought it was so complicated. It's not.

Cold Bar (the frappuccinos) is very easy. The drinks there are either coffee, creme, or a juice base. Then, according to cup size, you have your add-ins (syrup, powder, or chocolate chips). The espresso bar was just as daunting, but again more of the same. All the drinks need espresso (hopefully that's not too hard to figure out) and according to cup size or if its on ice you figure out all the add ins. The most important part of the espresso bar is keeping up with the amount of steamed milk. Milk is your number one concern. If you don't have it ready and your shot of espresso sits there, the shot goes bad. It separates and becomes extremely bitter. All you ever wanted to know about Starbucks at your fingertips or eye level. Whatever.
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School's almost out! Then I can spend all my work time between babysitting and Starbucks. My goal is to start saving money. I have Mungo and its a good idea to have money saved for him, just in case, and because he's getting neutered very soon. Yes, turned 6 months back on April 13. I can't believe it. He's very big now, but as lovable as ever.

Summer is almost here. Do you know what that means? I can read what I want! Anything. I already have a stack going (Jane Austen, Douglas Adams, Armistead Maupin, Emily Bronte, and Edward Rutherfurd to name a few) not to mention some of the books I've already finished (the end of the years slows down the normal workload).
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I don't know if anyone out there knows this, but I love scary stuff. The zombie genre (sub genre of horror?) is the one that really creeps me out. I think it could happen. Laugh all you want, but if Mel feels the same way about vampires then I can about zombies.

Zombies = Scary. We have an understanding. Well I love zombie movies. That's where they came to life if you think about it (George Romero, duh.) and that's how I was introduced. If a zombie movie is out there I will watch it. Even some of the cheesy flicks from the 70's and 80's. I'm not ashamed. The intentionally funny and new generation zombie (think 28 Days Later and Shaun of the Dead) flicks are amazing.

There has been one drawback to the abundance of zombie horror. I'm desensitized. The opening trailer to Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead scared the hell out of me. That little neighbor girl jumping up like a ninja, at the beginning of the trailer and film, made me jump out of my seat. Now I watch most of my zombie movies for the "good parts" then I turn them off. There has been a reprieve.

I like to read. It never occurred to me to find zombie fiction, until now. This is a new frontier in my congenital need to scare the bejeezus out of myself. I'm excited. It all started when Sam found a book that was perfect for me: The Zombie Survival Guide. It was in the humor section of BAM and it takes a detailed look at surviving zombie attacks on several scales (local, state, worldwide, etc.). That was awhile ago, and it never occurred to me to look for a more fiction based novel.

Then I hear about World War Z (also by Max Brooks) and put it on the back burner until I'm looking to buy a book while at Borders. I wasn't sure of it at first because the style of the book was a little different. It tells the story of a global infection of the undead ten years after worldwide "peace" (all except Iceland) is declared. A journalist compiles narrations leading up to, during, and towards the end of the crisis. I wasn't sure if that was a good idea, but I read a bit in the store, and decided to give it a try. I wasn't disappointed. The book is very organized and centers around a specific group of people (maybe 10-15 separate accounts). It was a great read. It scared me, not all the way through, but certain narrations were were definitely bone chilling.

I also found David Wellington's Monster Nation (sequel/prequel to Monster Island). I grabbed it because:

1. It had zombies, and
   
2. Even though it was a sequel I could read it by itself.

I should have read more about the first book. The first book deals with survivors of a global scale zombie infestation coming to New York and finding that the zombies are controlled by two supernatural zombies. Psychic Zombies. I can't buy that. I like realistic zombie stuff. I know some will question that statement because "zombies aren't real" (fine, but when they walk the earth and bite your ass don't complain when my blunt instrument smashes your head open). To me, supernatural psychic/magic is just too far.

Now, the beginning of Nation simply opened with a zombie being cognizant. She knew that she was dead, but had no recollection of her previous life. That was cool! You know, "the undead perspective". Then it meandered toward that supernatural stuff and it didn't lose me, but it definitely didn't thrill me. Also, the guy has a thing for the word gobbet. I don't know why. At first I wasn't sure if it was a word or not, but then he used it so often that I yearned for "chunk" or "lump".

(I think it's awesome that some writers carry a thesaurus around in their hip pockets, but just because they know different, possibly exciting new words-of-the-day, doesn't mean they need to use them in excess.)

I didn't like it, but that did not deter me from finding more zombie books. I found this pretty comprehensive Zombie Book List that's been very enjoyable.

I found my new high, so to speak.