キャミー・タング著「戌年」連載小説 プロのドッグトレーナーであるマリ・ムトウは、厄年を迎えている。 犬小屋と訓練所の改築をしながら、いつも不服そうにしている家族と同居することになった。母と姉に言わせれば、犬の毛とよだれかけにまみれる仕事は、家族にとって恥ずべきものだという。彼女は元カレを説得し、数ヶ月間犬を預かってもらうことにした。しかし、彼の兄は、数週間前に彼女が誤って車に追突した、怒り狂ったセキュリティ専門家であることが判明する。 アシュウィン・ケイトウは十分な問題を抱えている。叔母が玄関先に現れ、同居を希望している。彼は彼女にすべてを借りているので、断ることができません。母親が家を出て行った後、ネルおばさんはアシュウィンと弟を引き取り、愛のあるキリスト教の家庭で育てた。しかも、弟のダスティもアパートを追い出され、居場所を求めている。しかし、彼は犬を飼っている。そして、その犬の飼い主は誰だと思いますか? しかし、旧友でオアフ島のノースショアでデイスパを経営する私立探偵のエディサ・ゲレロから依頼を受ける。マリの施設で奇妙な破壊行為があり、3年前に失踪したエディサの妹の財布を発見する。エディサはマリが危険な目に遭っているのではと心配する。警備の専門家であるアシュウィンがすでにマリを知っていることを知ったエディサは、忙しい若い女性を密かに監視することを彼に依頼する。 アシュウィンは、活発でのんびりとしたドッグトレーナーに不本意ながら惹かれていく。彼女は、幸せそうな母親を思い出させる。その母親の裏切りによって、彼は人と距離を置くようになったのだ。マリは、アシュウィンの冷たい外見を見抜き、彼が家族に忠実な男であることを認める。彼は、彼女のキャリア選択を批判するだけの母親や姉とは違う。 マリのバラバラな家庭とアシュウィンのバラバラな家庭の中で、過去を隠そうとする人たちから、彼らの周りに危険が迫ってくるようになる。彼らは、影で動く秘密に光を当てることができるのか? 過去に発表されたパートへのリンクはこちら。 *** 第8章 - 恐ろしくも真っ白な不動産書類 『みんな仲良くできないのかな?』 マリは無用に力を込めて箱に本を投げ入れた。最近、なぜ彼女は人生の中で全員と言い争いをしているのだろう?もしかすると、これは本当に悪いアイデア
Captain’s Log, Stardate 10.25.2006
Blog book giveaway:
To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there.
My Thursday book giveaway is Dark Hour by Ginger Garrett.
My Monday book giveaway is The Guy I’m Not Dating by Trish Perry.
You can still enter both giveaways. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for the Dark Hour and post the title for another book I'm giving away.
Win an iPod Nano! Exclusively for my newsletter YahooGroup subscribers, I have a huge contest running until January 31st! Get more info on my contest page!
Click to join Camys_Loft
Under pressure . . . Heather and I were discussing stress coping mechanisms last night.
I try to be laid back. I think most of the time, I am.
But when someone does something completely illogical (which impacts me negatively), that pushes my buttons and I fly off the handle.
I think it’s because I’m a logical person. A + B = C. If you can give me a good reason why A + B = D, then I’m fine.
But if you insist A + B = D without giving me a reason why, and it makes things more difficult for me, that just ticks me off.
Heather is the opposite. She shoves it down. A little destructive, but she’s learning to unload these days, which is good.
Actually, in stressful situations, Heather stays calmer for longer than I do. Which I envy, because I don’t want to be emotional, period.
I mean, if it’s something I can’t do anything about, why do I get emotional about it? If a madman insists that A + B = D, there’s nothing I can do to convince him otherwise. Why do I get bent out of shape?
(Captain Caffeine asks me that all the time, and it usually gets me to shut up.)
So how about you guys? How do you cope?
TMI:
Writing: I posted another article on proposals at my Story Sensei blog.
I also posted a book review of Calm, Cool and Adjusted by Kristin Billerbeck.
Diet: I’ve been doing the exercise bike about 30 minutes every day so far. I feel a little guilty because it’s not the same intensity of exercise as Denise Austin, but at least I’m doing it. Hey, if Meg Cabot does only 30 minutes a day and looks as fabulous as she does, why not, right?
Blog book giveaway:
To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there.
My Thursday book giveaway is Dark Hour by Ginger Garrett.
My Monday book giveaway is The Guy I’m Not Dating by Trish Perry.
You can still enter both giveaways. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for the Dark Hour and post the title for another book I'm giving away.
Win an iPod Nano! Exclusively for my newsletter YahooGroup subscribers, I have a huge contest running until January 31st! Get more info on my contest page!
Click to join Camys_Loft
Under pressure . . . Heather and I were discussing stress coping mechanisms last night.
I try to be laid back. I think most of the time, I am.
But when someone does something completely illogical (which impacts me negatively), that pushes my buttons and I fly off the handle.
I think it’s because I’m a logical person. A + B = C. If you can give me a good reason why A + B = D, then I’m fine.
But if you insist A + B = D without giving me a reason why, and it makes things more difficult for me, that just ticks me off.
Heather is the opposite. She shoves it down. A little destructive, but she’s learning to unload these days, which is good.
Actually, in stressful situations, Heather stays calmer for longer than I do. Which I envy, because I don’t want to be emotional, period.
I mean, if it’s something I can’t do anything about, why do I get emotional about it? If a madman insists that A + B = D, there’s nothing I can do to convince him otherwise. Why do I get bent out of shape?
(Captain Caffeine asks me that all the time, and it usually gets me to shut up.)
So how about you guys? How do you cope?
TMI:
Writing: I posted another article on proposals at my Story Sensei blog.
I also posted a book review of Calm, Cool and Adjusted by Kristin Billerbeck.
Diet: I’ve been doing the exercise bike about 30 minutes every day so far. I feel a little guilty because it’s not the same intensity of exercise as Denise Austin, but at least I’m doing it. Hey, if Meg Cabot does only 30 minutes a day and looks as fabulous as she does, why not, right?
Comments
most of my stress is relational. I have plenty of the other types of stress, but the stuff that puts me under a rug is relational. I'm learning to process this, but it's not easy. I'd rather keep the peace. I hate conflict. But God is growing me, thankfully. I'm learning that conflict isn't the end of the world.
I still don't like it though.
My husband was hit by a car while running (not hard, he was fine). The next time we went running, we started talking about the odds of it happening again. To be funny, I said, "Well, essentially, there's always a 50/50 chance that something will happen. Either it happens or it doesn't. 50/50."
This annoyed my husband to no end cause he knew it wasn't true, he knew I knew it wasn't true, and yet I kept saying it.
Hilarious. And yet you're screaming right now, "THAT'S NOT RIGHT!" :)
Sarah
It's the same thing with adult issues. Things that annoy me in the business world to the point of ticking me off in a big way MUST be ignored sometimes.
Choosing to ignore the little things actually helps in ministering to people that are so very different from you. Could I lead someone to Jesus without asking him why he'd gotten his face tatooed? I'd really have to focus on the major things and not care about the minor things.
I really am someone who internalizes all this. I have a lot of trouble talking with anybody about problems. Being single sort of has that as a corollary. I guess that's why I have strong?, bad? issues with confidence, especially if the other person(s) purport to be Christians.