Upside-down frown?

So I took an impromptu trip to Ithaca for Columbus day weekend, and what a good idea that was. I think the trip was good for my soul, or whatever I should call the place in my brain (heart?) where a black hole of despair has recently appeared. There's something about being around family that's just...comfortable and nice, and I really benefited from being in the bosom of my family for a few days. Not to mention the fact that going there, being there, and driving home efficiently took up the empty, yawning, span of time that I was facing over the three-day weekend. Plus, when I'm home there's no pretense, no need to shower*, free laundry, free food, car advice...I mean, it don't get much better than that.

Except nowadays it kind of DOES, because of this little guy:

My nephew is getting SO CUTE. He's talking up a storm, and he actually seems to be starting to like me (finally!). He was a big part of helping me turn my frown upside-down. Except for the part of the weekend in which he screamed so shrilly, so close to my ear, that I went a little deaf. I'll forgive him for that though, if he keeps smiling that adorable smile.

In book news, I finished both Wool and 14 over the weekend. The Wool Omnibus proved to be pretty good throughout (4 stars on Goodreads), though I (predictably) lost patience during the fighting scenes (that kind of stuff makes me drift off...yawn). I haven't decided if I'll keep reading the "next" book in the series; it is a prequel that I'm not sure I will like as much, but we'll see. 14 turned out to be...perhaps a horror book? It's hard to say. I've never read anything like it before, and while I was *quite* surprised by the ending, that was mostly because it came out of nowhere and didn't really make much sense. People have compared the book to LOST (the TV show), and I think it's an apt comparison in terms of how little sense everything makes and how much is left unexplained. That said, it was a pretty fun deviation from my normal audiobook, though I'd probably not recommend it to anyone, nor would I read anything else by that author.

To continue the dystopian kick I'm on, I'm now re-reading Brave New World.** I read this book for the first time probably 12 years ago, during the summer after my freshman or sophomore year of college. I remember loving it then, and man, my current self thinks my younger self was right on. What a great book. If you haven't read it, you need to, right now.

And now, I must get on to the real world of going to work, which somehow isn't quite as interesting as made-up other worlds I can read about. Does anybody out there have a job that's as exciting as a book?

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*No desire to shower, either, ever since my parents got new fancy glassed-in showers that require squeegeeing after every shower, and woe to the one who does not squeegee appropriately...
**Actually, this time I'm listening to it.