Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Congrats to Across The Universe!
MATCHED is still on the NYT list (#8), and now I just noticed that ACROSS THE UNIVERSE has made it too (#7)! Hugely excited to see dystopian books on the bestseller lists, and many congrats to Penguin family Beth Revis and Ally Condie. Both are just fantastic novels. Pick them up if you haven't had a chance to!
Saturday, January 08, 2011
The Great Pizza Debacle
This actually happened over a year ago, but it's quite literally the world's greatest accidental pizza ordering prank. I do not recommend repeating this, unless you want your local pizza delivery spot to hate you forever. Still, I wanted to record this somewhere, and thought it might make a nice 2011 entry!
(Scene. Boyfriend, me, 3 of boyfriend's cousins, numbered as Cousin #1, 2, and 3. Living room of our apartment. Cousins have been to our apartment several times before. UFC is on in a few minutes.)
Boyfriend and me: What does everyone want to order?
Cousins: Pizza.
Boyfriend and me: Well, you guys can go ahead and order. We're going to pick up a sandwich instead--but we'll be back soon. You guys want Pizza Hut or Round Table Pizza?
Cousin #1: Probably Pizza Hut. I'll look up where they are.
Me: Okay. (shuffling around in bedroom, changing, getting ready, going in and out of room)
Cousin #1: Hey, what's the address?
Me: Lemme look it up. (looks up Pizza Hut address in bedroom) 777 South Arroyo Parkway.
Cousin #1: K thanks. (several minutes later) Phone number?
Me: (looks up Pizza Hut number) (area code)-792-2800.
Cousin #1: K thanks.
(Boyfriend and I leave to get our sandwiches, secure in the knowledge that Cousins are happily ordering their favorite pizzas. Boyfriend and I return with our sandwiches. UFC starts.)
Boyfriend and I: (munch munch munch. Cousins watch UFC, occasionally looking over at our sandwiches with envy.)
(An hour and a half passes since they ordered)
Boyfriend: Hey, is your pizza coming anytime soon?
Me: Yeah, it's been like an hour and a half.
Cousin #2: I'll call them and check.
(While Cousin #2 is on the phone)
Me: Did you give them our address?
Cousin #1: Yeah. 777 South Arroyo Parkway.
Me: Heh? That's not our address. That's Pizza Hut's address.
Cousin #1: What?
Me: That's Pizza Hut's address. I thought you were asking me so you could go pick it up if you wanted.
(at this point, Cousin #3 falls over laughing. He has caught on before any of us)
Cousin #1: Cousin #2, get off the phone! (Cousin #2 hangs up on pizza guy) Wait. Why would you give me Pizza Hut's address? I was asking for yours!
Me: You said 'What's the address?' right after you said you were going to order from Pizza Hut, and I thought you'd been here enough times that maybe you didn't need ours!
Boyfriend: Wait, so the Pizza Hut delivery guy couldn't tell that you gave them the address to their own store? What, did the delivery boy just go out and then realize he looped right back around to deliver pizzas to their own store?
Cousin #1: What are you talking about? We didn't order from Pizza Hut. We changed our minds while you were gone and ordered from Round Table..... OH snap. (realization hits us all, except Cousin #3, who already got it)
Me: So Round Table delivered their pizza to Pizza Hut?
(silence)
All: OMG.
Me: Wait, but shouldn't they have given you, Cousin #1, a call when the pizza got delivered to Pizza Hut?? I mean, didn't you have to give them your phone number?
Cousin #1: No, I gave them the number you gave me, so that they could call you guys at home when it was ready. Cousin #2, what's the number?
Cousin #2: Uh, it was (area code)-792-2800.
Me: THAT WAS THE PIZZA HUT NUMBER!!!
Cousin #1: What! WHY WOULD YOU GIVE ME THAT!
Me: I thought you were ordering Pizza Hut pizza, so I gave you their number!!
Boyfriend: So now Round Table can't even trace who made the call? Because they call that number and get Pizza Hut?
Cousin #3: Omg. We made Round Table deliver their pizzas to Pizza Hut. This is the greatest accidental pizza delivery prank ever.
(We die laughing at the mental image of the poor Round Table delivery boy delivering pizzas to Pizza Hut, getting there confused, calling the number he got from us, but only to receive Pizza Hut on the line. And picturing the following conversation:
Pizza Hut: Pizza Hut, can I take your order?
Round Table delivery boy: Uh....no, but I have your order....
)
Cousin #1 did give Round Table my boyfriend's name when he was ordering, so now we are permanently afraid to ever call Round Table to deliver pizzas again. But it made for a good laugh. :)
(Scene. Boyfriend, me, 3 of boyfriend's cousins, numbered as Cousin #1, 2, and 3. Living room of our apartment. Cousins have been to our apartment several times before. UFC is on in a few minutes.)
Boyfriend and me: What does everyone want to order?
Cousins: Pizza.
Boyfriend and me: Well, you guys can go ahead and order. We're going to pick up a sandwich instead--but we'll be back soon. You guys want Pizza Hut or Round Table Pizza?
Cousin #1: Probably Pizza Hut. I'll look up where they are.
Me: Okay. (shuffling around in bedroom, changing, getting ready, going in and out of room)
Cousin #1: Hey, what's the address?
Me: Lemme look it up. (looks up Pizza Hut address in bedroom) 777 South Arroyo Parkway.
Cousin #1: K thanks. (several minutes later) Phone number?
Me: (looks up Pizza Hut number) (area code)-792-2800.
Cousin #1: K thanks.
(Boyfriend and I leave to get our sandwiches, secure in the knowledge that Cousins are happily ordering their favorite pizzas. Boyfriend and I return with our sandwiches. UFC starts.)
Boyfriend and I: (munch munch munch. Cousins watch UFC, occasionally looking over at our sandwiches with envy.)
(An hour and a half passes since they ordered)
Boyfriend: Hey, is your pizza coming anytime soon?
Me: Yeah, it's been like an hour and a half.
Cousin #2: I'll call them and check.
(While Cousin #2 is on the phone)
Me: Did you give them our address?
Cousin #1: Yeah. 777 South Arroyo Parkway.
Me: Heh? That's not our address. That's Pizza Hut's address.
Cousin #1: What?
Me: That's Pizza Hut's address. I thought you were asking me so you could go pick it up if you wanted.
(at this point, Cousin #3 falls over laughing. He has caught on before any of us)
Cousin #1: Cousin #2, get off the phone! (Cousin #2 hangs up on pizza guy) Wait. Why would you give me Pizza Hut's address? I was asking for yours!
Me: You said 'What's the address?' right after you said you were going to order from Pizza Hut, and I thought you'd been here enough times that maybe you didn't need ours!
Boyfriend: Wait, so the Pizza Hut delivery guy couldn't tell that you gave them the address to their own store? What, did the delivery boy just go out and then realize he looped right back around to deliver pizzas to their own store?
Cousin #1: What are you talking about? We didn't order from Pizza Hut. We changed our minds while you were gone and ordered from Round Table..... OH snap. (realization hits us all, except Cousin #3, who already got it)
Me: So Round Table delivered their pizza to Pizza Hut?
(silence)
All: OMG.
Me: Wait, but shouldn't they have given you, Cousin #1, a call when the pizza got delivered to Pizza Hut?? I mean, didn't you have to give them your phone number?
Cousin #1: No, I gave them the number you gave me, so that they could call you guys at home when it was ready. Cousin #2, what's the number?
Cousin #2: Uh, it was (area code)-792-2800.
Me: THAT WAS THE PIZZA HUT NUMBER!!!
Cousin #1: What! WHY WOULD YOU GIVE ME THAT!
Me: I thought you were ordering Pizza Hut pizza, so I gave you their number!!
Boyfriend: So now Round Table can't even trace who made the call? Because they call that number and get Pizza Hut?
Cousin #3: Omg. We made Round Table deliver their pizzas to Pizza Hut. This is the greatest accidental pizza delivery prank ever.
(We die laughing at the mental image of the poor Round Table delivery boy delivering pizzas to Pizza Hut, getting there confused, calling the number he got from us, but only to receive Pizza Hut on the line. And picturing the following conversation:
Pizza Hut: Pizza Hut, can I take your order?
Round Table delivery boy: Uh....no, but I have your order....
)
Cousin #1 did give Round Table my boyfriend's name when he was ordering, so now we are permanently afraid to ever call Round Table to deliver pizzas again. But it made for a good laugh. :)
Thursday, January 06, 2011
On the nightstand
(Except I don't really have a nightstand....I have a computer desk that is ridiculously high next to my floor-level bed)
Across the Universe by Beth Revis: Shauna, I sing your praises. I am clutching my ARC gleefully and have dived right into the first chapter. Consensus so far? Very delicious. I can tell I'm going to enjoy this one.
Paranormalcy by Kiersten White: The instant the main character pulled out a rhinestone-studded pink taser to take down a vampire, I knew this one was a must-have. So far, not disappointed!
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver: Recommended to me by a good friend. I actually just finished this and have to say it's one of the most thought-provoking YAs I've encountered in a long time. It's made me go back to my manuscript and (in between fits of "Why can't I write a story like that!") figure out ways to put in more subtle emotions and interactions in both of my main characters. Whether or not I'm successful, we'll have to see....
Matched by Ally Condie: Also recently finished this one. As The Giver is one of my favorite YAs, this one was an excellent return to a similar world. I have to admit I'm on Team Xavier, though. Cassia, how can you resist his charms!
Whenever I feel stuck in a rut with my own writing, I always find it helpful to pick up an anticipated book and devour it from beginning to end. By the time I'm done, I'm almost always itching to dive right back into whatever chapter I was stuck on. Today was no different. I couldn't seem to start off a chapter about 3/4 of the way through Legend 2. So I stopped torturing myself, stepped away from the laptop for a while, and started reading Across the Universe. After a chapter and a half, I was ready to go back to my manuscript. And got 2,000+ words in 2 hours. The stimulating power of others' creativity at work! A good tip for any writer, I think.
Across the Universe by Beth Revis: Shauna, I sing your praises. I am clutching my ARC gleefully and have dived right into the first chapter. Consensus so far? Very delicious. I can tell I'm going to enjoy this one.
Paranormalcy by Kiersten White: The instant the main character pulled out a rhinestone-studded pink taser to take down a vampire, I knew this one was a must-have. So far, not disappointed!
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver: Recommended to me by a good friend. I actually just finished this and have to say it's one of the most thought-provoking YAs I've encountered in a long time. It's made me go back to my manuscript and (in between fits of "Why can't I write a story like that!") figure out ways to put in more subtle emotions and interactions in both of my main characters. Whether or not I'm successful, we'll have to see....
Matched by Ally Condie: Also recently finished this one. As The Giver is one of my favorite YAs, this one was an excellent return to a similar world. I have to admit I'm on Team Xavier, though. Cassia, how can you resist his charms!
Whenever I feel stuck in a rut with my own writing, I always find it helpful to pick up an anticipated book and devour it from beginning to end. By the time I'm done, I'm almost always itching to dive right back into whatever chapter I was stuck on. Today was no different. I couldn't seem to start off a chapter about 3/4 of the way through Legend 2. So I stopped torturing myself, stepped away from the laptop for a while, and started reading Across the Universe. After a chapter and a half, I was ready to go back to my manuscript. And got 2,000+ words in 2 hours. The stimulating power of others' creativity at work! A good tip for any writer, I think.
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