Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Mentor: Amanda


� Suzanne ~ Captain
� Daphne ~ Co-Captain
� Laila Jane ~ Co-Captain
� Kelsi ~ Co-Captain
� Cathy Calloway
� Dessiree
� Diane
� Jamie
� Jennifer
� Jessica Lemay
� Leslie Campbell
� Reed
� Stacey Crudden
� Teresa B
� Victoria

Battleship Board

(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]

This team has opted to have a private group. You may still chat with the team on this official team thread

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Useful Links






Books Read

Sea Teams Chatter

Overall Team Point comparison:


Our Wobble Shelves

Suzanne
Daphne
Laila
Kelsi
Cathy
Des
Diane
Jamie
Jennifer
Jessica
Leslie
Reed
Stacey
Teresa
Victoria

Links to Olympic Event Tracking

Olympics

â—� Olympic Games will last 3 weeks and has 5 events
â—� All Members participation in 3 of Olympic Events is required (must be able to read at least 1 book per week for 3 weeks)
â—� Individual Events have their own rules and points system, please review carefully
Event 1
Event 2
Event 3
Event 4
Event 5

â—� Olympic Games WILL require Team Work, you MUST be able to communicate regularly with your team

â—� Because of the nature of Olympic Games ABSOLUTELY NO unfinished books from during Battleship will be accepted. All books for Olympic Games must be STARTED on or after July 2nd (start date subject to change, start times equal that of Wobble event start ~ 11am London time)

Q&A

1. Dates
- All books used for the challenge must be started after the start date (June 17) - there is a countdown timer in my first post.

- The date you finish the book determines which part of the challenge it can be used for. So if you finish a book during the Battleship phase, it can be used for Battleship but not for a future phase. If you finish it during the second phase of the challenge, it can only be counted for that one, etc.


2. Page Lengths

- Books must be more than 100 pages.

- No children's books less than 25,000 words (so if your book has a genre of childrens, we'll have to check the word count)

3. Miscellaneous
- No graphic novels.

- Boxed sets need to be shelved as separate books.

- Audio books are allowed (for pages, use the default GR book page numbers)

- for a re-read, it has to have been six months since you last read the book.

Reserved

Welcome to the Hawaiian Bobtail Squids! I never knew a squid could be so cute!

I am so excited to get to spend the next 19 weeks with you! I see some familiar names and some new ones, and I have to confess I went into each of your profiles yesterday (twice) just to see you, and all the great books you read (yesterday was when we got our team list and I was just so excited).

We have so many fun things in store! With the variety of challenges, it is very important that we work well as a team, and of course, we want to have fun the whole time. Please check in often (once a week at a minimum). It helps SO MUCH if we know what is going on. Also, if you have any issues at all speak up! (And feel free to PM me if you are more comfortable with that.)

This week our mini-challenge will be getting to know each other better. For today, please introduce yourself and let us know a little about you. Starting tomorrow, I’m going to be posting some daily mini-challenge questions � I will try to make them fun and not overwhelming.

I’ll be putting more information about challenges and stuff in the beginning posts so they are easy to find as the weeks progress.

Again, welcome! I can’t wait to get to know each of you!

If you haven’t already, create a Wobble shelf. If it has an obvious name, I can probably find it, but if the name isn’t obvious, please link it for me.

I’ll be sending each of you a friend request.

A little about me: I love to read (obviously), and I carry my kindle with me everywhere. I am a huge reader, but I’m dwarfed by a lot of people I’ve met in these challenges. I love lots of genres, but my favorite is probably fantasy.

In real life I teach university math. I have my doctorate in Math, but I don’t use “Dr.� unless I’m writing recommendation letters. I’m off for the summer right now, which means I have more flexible time, although I still feel just as busy as when I’m working! I’m married with 3 kids that think they are all grown up, and 4 rescued dogs that provide a good obstacle course whenever I want to change rooms. Besides reading, I LOVE to travel, and I also really like computer games. I KIND of like to exercise � but I got out of the habit the last month of the semester and it is SO HARD getting back into it � everything hurts! I love diet cherry Pepsi and drink way too much of it � seriously WAY too much. Anyway, that is a bit about me � and I’m looking forward to reading about each of you!

Hello,
I am very excited to meet all of you! I enjoy all genres but my favorites are mystery and sci-fi. I am a bit older than most of you, but just getting back into reading . I am currently retired. I use to provide computer support . When I attended university I majored in Math. I joined the Peace Corps after college and taught math in Ghana, West Africa for 2 years. After returning to the states I took a programming class and was hooked on computers. I have 2 lovely girls Sara and Emily. Sara is 33 and has a graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering. Emily is 30 and a pediatric oncology nurse. Been married to the hubs for 35 years. I love to travel. I am headed to London to visit my cousin tonight. I am really excited about this challenge. I have found that challenges really help me. I read about 1 1/2 books a week, no to fast but I will help a little bit. Looking forward to hearing all about all of you guys!

Thanks for checking in, Leslie! I love the things you have done and are doing. It sounds like your beautiful daughters are doing brainy things just like their mom.

Your reading will help a lot! When they put the teams together, they tried to make them all about even in terms of # of books read as a team. So everybody's reading is important.

Oh going to London - what an exciting trip! I hope you have a wonderful time!

Hello!! I am excited for this challenge. I wasn't sure about it at first but the excitement is contagious :)

I live in Alberta, Canada with my husband of 16 yrs, two daughters (aged 10 and 12) and three cats. I am currently in the finance industry but also have a background in computers and accounting.

My favourite genres include sci-fi and fantasy but tend more to the MM romance variety now a days. I write reviews for a blog:


I read anywhere from 1 book a week to 5, depending on my week, though I've started a new job that will keep that number to the low scale. I hope to work my review books into the challenges!

I already know Jamie (Hi sistah!) but am happy to meet all the rest of the team :)

Hi Teresa! I just glanced at your blog - it is beautifully set up. I really admire people that write reviews. I (feel like) I have all these profound or clever thoughts as I'm reading a book, and then I go to rate/review it and my brain freezes. I sure appreciate others reviews :)

Good luck with the new job - that can be pretty engrossing as you learn the ropes!

Hi team!

~Waves excitedly at Teresa~

I saw chatter about this challenge and couldn't resist and I'm excited to start. I like that there will be so much variety in the challenges.

I live in NYC and my husband and I will celebrate 25 years married in the fall. My two sons are both in college on the extended year plan, the younger one changed his major from Bio to Bioengineering and had to make up some classes. The older one has taken his time but hopefully will finish up next spring -- his toughest challenge is going to be getting through required Math courses so I may start looking for advice from you all to get him through that once school begins in the fall LOL.

I work in finance in the city and am happy to have been able to give up my train commute. It does mean I have less reading time but I still manage to get through at least 4 books a week. I read more if I'm part of a team so that was part of my motivation for joining.

I'm pretty flexible in what I read although I definitely go through phases. When I'm not reading I like to knit or walk around NYC. I pretend to like indoor cycling classes and weight lifting so that I do them :-)

Can't wait to start!

Hi Jamie! I agree - I think the variety in the challenges will keep it fresh. Daphne (one of our co-captains) was the winner of the leprechaun event...sniff...I'm so proud of her....anyway - she had some input into the challenge - and I'm amazed at all the work the mods have put in to get us going.

Haha your comment about indoor cycling classes and weight lifting - yes!

Do you watch tv while you knit? Just curious. It is a fascinating hobby to me, and I think it is becoming something of a lost art.

Hi everyone! I'm Laila, pronounced Lie-la. I just realized I've never clarified that on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, and everyone always assumes it's pronounced Lay-la.

For as long as I can remember I've loved to read. When I was a little girl I used to spend hours at the local library and walked away with a huge stack of books every week. Now I have a Kindle that I carry around everywhere, so I don't spend too much time at the library anymore.

I read pretty much anything that can keep my interest. My tastes have varied greatly over the years. I grew up on the Babysitter's Club and Sweet Valley High series. Then for a while, I was all about biographies. Then chick-lit. Then Harry Potter. In college, I only ever read non-fiction, mainly philosophy and self-help type books. Then Twilight brought me back to fiction and eventually lead me to Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ. Ever since then I have only read fiction - dystopian, fantasy, paranormal, romance, mystery. But out of all of that, my favorite genre is romance.

In my real life, no one reads as much books as I do. I used to be embarrassed about how many books I finished in a year and never told anyone my book count. But seeing people on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ reading so much more and faster than me has helped me see that I'm not the only one, and now I freely admit to anyone how much I read.

Ok, I'm wrapping this up. I didn't mean for it to get so long. Other facts about me...I live in Chicago. I've been a nurse for 6 years and I work the night shift so you'll usually see me on here either late at night or early in the morning. My fiance and I have been together for 11 years and are getting married in August (so my reading might slow down that month). Hopefully we find a house by September! We have a 10-year-old Basset hound named Thomas. No human children yet. I am obsessed with the Sims video game. And I also love to travel. I love taking photographs and exploring new places.

I see a lot of familiar faces. My Uno team has migrated over completely intact, save for one who didn't join the challenge. *waves* Hi guys! Looking forward to getting to know the rest of you! =)

I've always pronounced your name the correct way in my head - hooray! That is not always the case - Hermione was Her -me-one in my head til I saw the movies :/

Like I said on the captain's thread - I'm so excited to hear about your wedding this summer!

Suzanne, you are one of the few. I am constantly correcting people on how to pronounce my name, especially after they see how it's spelled. I have a co-worker who I've known for at least a year, she still doesn't know how to say my name! I have since given up on correcting her.

Hello teammates!

I am totally stoked to be here and I'm digging being a Hawaiian Squid, very cool :)

It seems Jamie and I are practically neighbors (hello there fellow NYer)! I'm an Islander though that commutes into the city 3+ hours a day so that's where the bulk of my reading gets done. Right now I'm on a mission to collect every Marvel & DC novel written but I'm also big into fantasy and dystopian books, anything that diverts my attention from my mundane job in medical records. Two big perks though: I work with my dad and I get to run in Central Park at lunch.

I'll be married to my husband, Steve, for 7 years this summer. He's super geeky like me yet he would love to talk math with you smarty pants in here ;) We just suffered a major loss in our lives 3 months ago when we lost my older brother, Charlie, so I might mention him a lot and I hope that doesn't make anyone uncomfortable. He was a huge part of our lives, never just a brother also a damn good friend and I enjoy sharing stories about him (I think it helps me grieve in a way). I wanted to join this group so I could stay positive and participate in something really fun since summer is going to be rough (I taught him how to surf in 2004 and had plans to do less long runs and more surf days with him this year). I find it fitting I'm in a water animal group, he must be smiling down on us! I've been grinning ever since I checked into Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ this morning!

Suzanne- oh Captain, my Captain! Looking forward to being a part of your group, hope to do you proud!

Leslie- Enjoy your trip to London! I was just there for the marathon and to visit my younger brother, Pher, and his family. I love going over there, I would move there if I could though when I return home I feel like NYC is so much cheaper! lol

Teresa- Thank you for sharing your blog!

Laila- I love your choice in books and congrats on your upcoming wedding!!

Reed, I'm so sorry you lost your brother! I'm glad you will share some stories about him - that will help keep him close. I'm sure you will be thinking about him a lot this summer - that must leave such a huge hole! And yup - a sea team is pretty fitting I'd say!! And our Hawaiian Bobtail Squids are perfect pals for surfers - a good surfing location and everything :)

I joined Marvel Unlimited about a year ago and it has been fun - I am working my way through the multitude of Civil War comics right now. And yes! Reading is a good distraction.

I'm so glad you are on the team :)

Leslie, I hope you have an amazing time in London! How long will you be there for?

Teresa, I also checked out your blog. I am impressed! Love the layout!

Jamie, I'm like you. Joining team challenges has definitely increased my reading rate. I hate to disappoint my team. I love that you mentioned knitting. It's one of my favorite things to do in the winter. What do you knit?

Thank you so much, Suzanne! I really appreciate your words, they are perfect :-)

I think it's soooo awesome you are reading the Civil War comics! We've been collecting everything that leads up to it as well (there is so much!) and it was interesting to see how it translated to the screen. Did you like the film?

I have not actually made it to the film yet - aaargh - I'm going to lose my geek cred if we don't get there soon! We were traveling when it came out, then scheduled a day to go and everyone got sick, and then this weekend my husband is doing a long bike ride. I think I may just need to go without him!

Laila Jane wrote: "Leslie, I hope you have an amazing time in London! How long will you be there for?

Teresa, I also checked out your blog. I am impressed! Love the layout!

Jamie, I'm like you. Joining team challen..."

I wish I could take credit for it, but it's all Brandilyn Carpenter, I just write reviews :)

Suzanne wrote: "I have not actually made it to the film yet - aaargh - I'm going to lose my geek cred if we don't get there soon! We were traveling when it came out, then scheduled a day to go and everyone got sic..."

Life just gets in the way, I promise no one will revoke your geek cred lol! But when you finally see it it will be worth the wait and there is one fight scene that is truly amazing!

Reed wrote: "Hello teammates!
Reed,

So sorry to hear about your brother. My thoughts are with you. Talk about your brother all you want. I look forward to stories.

Laila Jane wrote: "Leslie, I hope you have an amazing time in London! How long will you be there for?

Teresa, I also checked out your blog. I am impressed! Love the layout!

Jamie, I'm like you. Joining team challen..."

I will be there 10 days. I am taking my sister who has never been. She is a bit worried, but I am sure she will have a great time!

I was a Superman and Wonder women geek back in the day. I had stacks of comic books (wish I still had them). Every time we went to the grocery store I got to buy a couple. My sister bought Archie and I bought Superman. Ahhh fond memories.

Hi, I'm Jessica Lemay, it's listed as Lenay above, but it is Lemay. I work on Tuesdays and Fridays and won't be able to post much on those days.

I tend to read sci fi and fantasy and I like series more than single novels. My favorite characters are those that are intelligent, quirky, and motivated. I listen to a lot of audiobooks, currently Jurassic Park since the movie came out on netflix and I've never seen it.

Apart from reading I like computer games(currently playing the sims 4 and 7 days to die), writing, and podcasts.

Thank you so much Leslie <3 I also think it's super cool you grew up on comics, it would be so amazing if you still had those originals!

Hey Jessica! You are in for a treat when you watch Jurassic Park and then see how far they have come with CGI in Jurassic World, it's pretty wicked.

Hello, my fellow squids! I have to say I was rather scared of this challenge when I first joined, but I couldn't miss the chance to do another team challenge after the fun I had in my last one. A big hello to my UNO teammates! I'm stoked they got us back together. :D

Anyways, a bit about myself... I'm Dessiree (dez-er-rae) a.k.a. Des. I am 28 and live in east central Florida for the time being. I will have been married to my husband, Robert, 9 years on the 30th! Yes, we got married pretty darn young, but we're still going strong. We have lived all over Florida thanks to his job, but are originally from Northwest Arkansas. We have 2 crazy cats, Luna and Nox, that like to run wild through the entire house right around 2am each morning, and the sweetest 8 year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi you'd ever meet, named Maybelle. We don't have any children, but know someday that will change, either naturally or through adoption. I don't work, for several reasons that include relocating every 2ish years for Robert's job and a lot of medical issues that make it hard to work. I greatly admire those of you that are teachers, because that is what I've always wanted to do. Maybe someday we can settle somewhere and my health will improve, allowing me to finish college and start teaching.

As far as reading I'm not as fast as many of you and only get through about 2 books a week. If you look at my profile you would think I don't read much, but it's because I didn't start reading heavily until this year. In the past I would only read a few books a year, if that. I've rekindled my love of books, and being home alone as much as I am reading is one of the perfect past times. I love most genres, including suspense thrillers, chick lit, YA, fantasy, dystopian, true crime, contemporary literature, classic fiction, and so on. I was heavily into the Harry Potter world as a teen and so that series is one of my absolute favorites.

I can't wait for the challenge to officially begin and to get to know all of you better over the next 4 months.

GO TEAM HAWAIIAN BOBTAIL SQUIDS!

Laila, I have to admit I've been mispronouncing your name this entire time. >_< Thank you for clarifying for us, so I can now read it correctly. I sympathize with you on this one, my name is always spelled and pronounced incorrectly.

Reed, I'm so sorry to hear about your loss of your brother! <3 Losing someone close to you is one of the hardest things to go through in life. My father passed away when I was 18 and it took me years to be okay. I hope you are surrounded by loved ones and commend you for shifting your focus to something like this challenge. I'm sending you lots of happy vibes for the summer!

Those of you mentioning computer games made me think I forgot to mention my other hobbies. I am a video game nerd, currently back into Minecraft, but also play Battleborn and Destiny on the PS4. I am also a planner junky, and that's something that's newer for me so I don't mention it often. If you're interested in what that is, look up pictures of decorated Erin Condren Life Planners, especially on Instagram. ;)

Thank you for your kind words, Des! I graciously accept your happy vibes and send some love your way too. I hope you feel better soon and your dream of becoming a teacher works out for you once you feel ready to work again. I'm sorry you lost your father, I can't imagine the heartbreak you felt but hopefully you still feel the special bond you had with him. Hugs to you! And also...I really like your pink hair :)

Hello team! Shout-out to my UNO teammates! :D I am so excited for this challenge and to be reading with all of you!

I'm Kelsi from west-coast BC, Canada. I recently finished a library diploma and am working in a college library. It's a casual position so I end up with a lot of free time...which means I read and play around on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ a LOT! I'm also in the midst of writing my first novel (hence the late check-in, I got a little absorbed this morning!)

I have been reading since before I started school. In grade one I remember spending a lot of time in the reading corner! My favorite genre is fantasy but I am really open with what I read so I have a good mix of YA, Dystopian, Sci-Fi, Horror, Paranormal, Contemporary, Romance, Chick-Lit, Classics, and other things on my bookshelves.

I also game like a few of you here, my favorite games are the ones that tell a story (go figure...haha) so I play mostly RPGs. My favorites are Skyrim and pretty much all of the Final Fantasy games. Lately I have been really enjoying Dragon Age Inquisition.

Leslie: Hope you have an excellent time in London!

Teresa: I'm excited to see a fellow Canadian here! I find it is pretty rare on GR. *Waves excitedly* I will definitely be checking out your blog!

Laila: I have definitely been pronouncing your name wrong this whole time...haha I'm glad you corrected me!
I also read Babysitter's Club and Sweet Valley High when I was growing up. I loved them!
Also can't wait to hear about your wedding :)

Reed: I'm sorry to hear about your loss. I'm looking forward to hearing stories about him!
I also loved the Civil War movie, they did a really good job with it! I haven't read the comics but am working on catching up on all of the DC shows and movies.

I'm so excited and glad I'm back together with my Uno teammates! I'm particularly happy to once again be on a team with Daphne and Laila (whose name I have been pronouncing wrong) who have been my teammates since Tower Team IV :)

Anyway, about me; I'm 25 and currently live/work in the DC area. I think I'm the only one here not married or getting married (congrats again Laila), but I'm enjoying the single life. I also love to travel and have been to 11 countries and 41 states, so far. I'm ambitious and want to see everything! Unfortunately I won't get to visit a new place this summer, but I have recently gotten into bike riding and will be biking the 400 mile Erie Canal trail instead.

I got into reading during the initial Harry Potter craze and never looked back. My reading tapered off a bit during college and, while I still read, I didn't get back into full swing until last year. Mainly because I was living someplace with painfully slow internet and with almost nothing else to do during my free time. It was great to finally get back to the amount of reading I used to do and then I joined my first team challenge, Tower Teams, and my reading skyrocketed. It turns out competition really brings out my reading.

I like to read just about every genre, but fantasy is my all time favorite and recently I have been reading a lot of paranormal and romance books.

Hi Reed! Welcome to the team! I am so sorry to hear about your brother. I think sharing stories about him is a great idea. And a great way to go through the grieving process. I would be happy to read anything you share about him.

I don't really read comics, but I love all the movies that have come out. Collecting all the novels sounds like a huge task

Hi Jessica, Des, Kelsi, and Victoria! I went and did errands, and it was fun to come back and see more teammates had checked in! I'm really enjoying learning about all of you.

Jessica, I'm sorry your name is spelled incorrectly! I suspect it happened at some point with all the cutting/pasting the mods were doing. I'll see if they can fix it in that first post. What podcasts do you listen to? My husband's favorite is RadioLab - I listen to Sword and Laser and the Daily Tech News show quite a bit - but then i get distracted by audio books and get behind.

Des - that is a lot of moving - wow! It just shows how adaptable you are. I like the Read All The Books picture!

Kelsi - yes, the RPGs as a game selection doesn't surprise me - that fits just perfectly with fantasy!

Victoria - I was telling my husband you were doing that with the Eire Canal trail - we may need to look that up as we slowly make our way east on his bike trips. That is going to be quite a ride - you adventuress!

Jessica, she got that name spelling fixed, and said to give you her apologies.

We sure have great mods in this group - they are so helpful and responsive :)

Leslie- I love what you did with the Peace Corp. I've wanted to do something similar, just not with math, but it never worked out. And have fun in London!

Reed- I'm sorry for your loss, but I look forward to hearing the stories about your brother. I'm a big fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but have never read the comics. I have read a ridiculous amount of manga and a few graphic novels, but somehow I never made my way over to the Marvel comics and just watch the shows.

Des- I hope your health is able to improve enough for you to teach someday!

Suzanne wrote: "Hi Jessica, Des, Kelsi, and Victoria! I went and did errands, and it was fun to come back and see more teammates had checked in! I'm really enjoying learning about all of you.

Jessica, I'm sorry y..."

I listen to a lot of NPR, how stuff works, and writing podcasts. Right now I'm kind of obsessed with the black tapes podcasts and can't wait for season 3 of serial. I tend to fall behind a lot and play catch up after listening to an audiobook.

That's a nice idea - to kind of alternate. I'd never heard of the black tapes podcast - I just looked it up - how interesting (and from what I can see, spooky). I do love how stuff works. A lot of stuff does not work like I pictured.

Suzanne - I do watch some TV but it has to be something I don't have to look at too much and the knitting has to be more basic or repetitive. Otherwise I end up dropping stitches which is really annoying!

Reed - excited to see someone else from NY/NYC here! I like walking or running around the Reservoir in the Park. I'm glad it's summer and they'll start having concerts and movies there. Please share stories of your brother, I'm sorry for your loss. It sounds like you had a wonderful relationship. I agree about being a sea creature, how appropriate for summer.

By the way, I recently read Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells which is about a number of different sea creatures/molluscs, although mostly the ones with shells. I recommend it .

And hello to Jessica, Des, Victoria, Laila Jane (I always pronounce your name the way you do when I see it, although I'm not sure why?), Kelsi, Leslie, there sure are a lot of us! It's going to take me awhile to keep everyone straight.

So I have a question for other NBRC pros...

Is it likely that we're going to have to pick books that are already on our TBRs or will we have flexibility? My TBR is mostly books that I've actually bought but I'm ready to read lots of things. If I need to add things ahead of time so as not to get stuck reading the one book on there that is exactly 300 pages or has a red cover or something then I'll diversify it a bit. Does anyone know?

That is exactly how I pick TV shows when I'm grading - it can't be TOO good.

As for books, they are very flexible. Other than the basic rules (having to be over 100 pages and started after the 17th, etc.) you can pick whatever you want - whether or not it is on your TBR list.

I don't have specific challenge information yet, but I'd imagine with the large sizes of teams, we can work together and all find tasks that we'd like to do because we can read books we want to read.

Does that answer your question?

Yes thank you Suzanne, I was just making sure, over at the MM Group sometimes there's a task along the lines of pick one of the 10 oldest books on your TBR or something.

And Laila, you knit too, excellent. I am finishing up a set of toys for my great nephew (fun to knit but not so fun to put together!). I have an eye on a number of shawls but I really want to finish the toys first. I love Ravelry because I can basically do the equivalent of a TBR over there and then I don't obsess about all the projects I want to knit. I used to have binders full of patterns but now they're all in Google Drive, so much less paper collecting dust.

Oh! Suzanne, just in case you need it... my shelf for the challenge is
here--> wobble-challenge. I'm sure you already had it figured out though. :P

Oh thanks - it never hurts to link - it'll be one less thing for me to look up!

I am planning on linking all of the shelves and other handy stuff in one of the top reserved posts. Meant to do it by now but everyone in my book is dying and there aren't many pages left! :)