strange events today

1. Playing Backgammon with Mom

Yesterday my Mom and I played backgammon with each other for the first time. She beat me 2/3 games. Today, we got it out again. On the first game, I was doing very well. Somehow, it got to the point where I had one piece left, and she had two. It was my turn, and I looked at the board and said, "There's only one thing I can roll to not win, a 1 and 2." So I rolled, and the dice were 1 and 2. WTF. I had a 17/18 chance to win on that roll. That is a 94% chance to win, and I got the only possible losing roll.

2. Sneezing Cat

I was hanging out in my room, probably reading, when I noticed that the cat was sneezing. He wasn't just sneezing though, it was an unusual type of cat sneeze that I can't really explain. So I told my mom that the cat was sneezing a whole bunch, and she came in. I noticed from a distance that there was something dark, it looked black, on the cat's nose. I thought it might be some snot. So I said something, and my mom noticed that it was a piece of grass, maybe a centimeter long, stuck in the cat's nose. She tried to take it out but the cat was too feisty and wouldn't keep still enough. I went over and held the cat's head and she pulled a blade of grass out of its nose that was several inches long. WTF.

3. Books

I realized today that the author(s) I've read the most in my life is probably Jerry Jenkins and Tim Lahaye, authors of the Left Behind books. Most as in the highest number of individual books. Perhaps Frank Peretti. This is strange to me because a) I didn't realize it and b) I probably won't ever read something by either of them again. But, if we went by volume of works, and amount that I've reread, I think the author I've read the most would either be Robert Jordan, Brian Jacques, or Stephen Donaldson.

How did I realize this? I started to compile a list of every book that I've read in my life. Actually, there were several years where I was keeping track of everything I read, then I stopped because I felt like I was trying to set some sort of record rather than reading for its own sake. Then I started again and today I decided to make a list of all books. I'm at about 400 right now, and it surprises me that it's not more. What bugs me is the kids books. I don't want to try to figure out all the Hardy Boys and Boxcar Children books that I've read, and I won't. But those serial kids books would probably add a couple more hundred to the list. There are a lot of books that aren't on the list yet, but it surprises me that even with all the kids books and ones I've forgotten, and probably all the re-reads, I've read less than 1000 books in my life. What does this mean? It means I need to be freaking careful about what I read. No time for bad books.

Coming soon: my top ten reads of 2007, and some statistics for my years reading.