I posted a video about Harry Potter shipping about a week ago and a blog post about Hunger Games shipping four days ago.
When it comes to Twilight, I only have one really strong shipping preference: Leah and Embry. (Yeah, random couple. I know.) Still, I'm way more likely to read fanfiction where one or both of them is with someone else than I am couples in other other fandoms. I'm not really sure how I started shipping Leah and Embry. I used to ship Jacob and Leah, and I think I found a Leah and Embry fanfiction that was written by an author would also written a Jacob and Leah fanfic. I'm not entirely sure why, but I really liked them together. They've also become my two favorite characters.
Other than that I really only ship canon characters, and I'm using the word ship losely there. I don't really seek out fanfiction about that many couples. Most of the fanfiction I read has one, some, or all of the members of Jacob's pack as the main character(s). Other than Leah/Embry, I'd probably just consider myself a big fan of Jacob/Nessie and Quil/Claire. I like Jared/Kim, Paul/Rachel, Sam/Emily, and Alice/Jasper as well, but I really only read fanfiction about them if I happen to stumble upon it. I am reading a pretty awesome Paul/Rachel fanfic at the moment.
If you're a Twilight fan, what are your favorite couples?
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Even People You've Known for Years Can Surprise You
I feel like this week should be called New T-Shirt Week. On Sunday, I finally got to wear one of my new Hunger Games shirts. Then, I wore the other one Monday, and today I wore my new Lord of the Rings shirt. As I was walking in the door to yearbook today, my English teacher from last year stopped me and asked if my shirt said Mordor on it. I told him it did. He followed me into the classroom because he needed to talk to the teacher and said to her, "Check out the Tolkien reference on Haley's shirt." This started a Lord of the Rings conversation with the people in the classroom at the time. It was interesting. Turns out there's a Lord of the Rings fan in my yearbook class who is the last person you would have expected. Seriously. I've known her since elementary school, and I'm still surprised she even knows what Lord of the Rings is. People can surprise you.
I think I mentioned that we've been learning the Ammendments in government. Well, I did way better on that quiz than I thought. I only missed two of them! We took our test today, and it went way better than I thought it would too. I suck at memorizing lists of things like that. If you were to ask me what a certain ammendment is right now I don't think I could even answer.
One last thing for today: Sevenly.com is selling some awesome shirts, and for every shirt that's bought, seven pairs of shoes go to children in Honduras through Soles4Souls. They're pretty awesome shirts too. You should go check them out.
I think I mentioned that we've been learning the Ammendments in government. Well, I did way better on that quiz than I thought. I only missed two of them! We took our test today, and it went way better than I thought it would too. I suck at memorizing lists of things like that. If you were to ask me what a certain ammendment is right now I don't think I could even answer.
One last thing for today: Sevenly.com is selling some awesome shirts, and for every shirt that's bought, seven pairs of shoes go to children in Honduras through Soles4Souls. They're pretty awesome shirts too. You should go check them out.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Yearbooks and Mockingjay
I don't know why but this week has just seemed to inch by for me. There's no way it's only Tuesday. I was also a little shocked yesterday when I turned to the new week in my planner and saw September. Time's going by so fast and yet so slow.
Last year's yearbooks came in today! We spent all of class trying to sort out all of the personalized ones by grade. Tomorrow I think we're sorting them into groups passed on what class the kids are in that period, and hopefully we'll be able to hand them out. We did get to take our own, so I have mine. I haven't looked at it much though because I haven't had the time. It's really similar to past yearbooks, but it's pretty awesome.
During lunch today, my friend Haley, who's reading Catching Fire, picked up a copy of Mockingjay and read the last page. Her reaction was absolutely hilarious. Neither one of us could really say anything since Jordan, who's getting ready to read Mockingjay, was sitting right there, but her face was priceless. She said she wanted to go read Catching Fire after that. I love seeing Jordan and Haley's reactions as the read the books. We also had fun talking about Starkid and fanfiction. They're basically the only people I know who actually understand these things.
We took a quiz over Ammendments 14 throught 27 in government today. (We took one on one through thirteen yesterday.) It's definitely wasn't as hard as I was expecting since I couldn't remember any of them, but I know I screwed up a couple of things. It's so hard to keep all of the numbers straight!
That about sums up my rather uneventful day.
Last year's yearbooks came in today! We spent all of class trying to sort out all of the personalized ones by grade. Tomorrow I think we're sorting them into groups passed on what class the kids are in that period, and hopefully we'll be able to hand them out. We did get to take our own, so I have mine. I haven't looked at it much though because I haven't had the time. It's really similar to past yearbooks, but it's pretty awesome.
During lunch today, my friend Haley, who's reading Catching Fire, picked up a copy of Mockingjay and read the last page. Her reaction was absolutely hilarious. Neither one of us could really say anything since Jordan, who's getting ready to read Mockingjay, was sitting right there, but her face was priceless. She said she wanted to go read Catching Fire after that. I love seeing Jordan and Haley's reactions as the read the books. We also had fun talking about Starkid and fanfiction. They're basically the only people I know who actually understand these things.
We took a quiz over Ammendments 14 throught 27 in government today. (We took one on one through thirteen yesterday.) It's definitely wasn't as hard as I was expecting since I couldn't remember any of them, but I know I screwed up a couple of things. It's so hard to keep all of the numbers straight!
That about sums up my rather uneventful day.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Changes in the Harry Potter Movies
It's considered a given that when a book is adapted into a movie, things about it are going to change. Certain things that work great in books don't work as well in movies and vice versa. Still, fans are always going to wish that certain things had made it into the movie, even if they think the movie was awesome overall.
I love the Harry Potter movies, but that doesn't mean there aren't things about them I'd change. For every single movie, there's at least one thing I'd have loved to see be kept in from the book. In this post, I'm going to choice one thing I wish had been in each movie.
I think Sorcerer's Stone is the hardest for me since I actually saw the movie before I read the book. Because of this, it's often hard for me to remember things that were in the book but not the movie. I have a similar problem with Chamber of Secrets. I was just so young when these movies came out that it's hard for me to distingush between the books and movies no matter how many times a read or watch them. Plus, there aren't huge differences between those two books and movies I don't think, at least compared to the rest of the books and movies.
I think I'm going to choose Peeves for Sorcerer's Stone. Technically, Peeves would work for every movie, but they'd actually filmed scenes with Peeves and then decided to cut them. I would absolutely love to see that footage. Peeves would have been great.
For Chamber of Secrets, I'd have to say all of the Valentine's Day stuff. I completely understand why all of that was cut, but it still would have been really amusing to watch.
Prisoner of Azkaban is one of my favorite Harry Potter movies, but I also have the most problems with it (which completely makes sense). How can they have not talked about the Marauders backstory!? To me that seems incredibly important. You have no idea how many times I've had to explain all of that to people who haven't read the books. It's basically impossible for people who haven't read the books to understand all of that. They don't have a clue why Harry's patronus is a stag, why Sirius and Wormtail are animagi, or who made the Marauders Map and why Sirius and Remus know all about it. I don't understand why they thought leaving all of that out was a good idea. That's the number one thing I'd change in all of the movies.
Goblet of Fire is my least favorite Harry Potter book, and I don't have many complaints about things they changed in the movie. They only thing I can really think of is Rita Skeeter being an animagus. That would have been cool to see. S.P.E.W. would have been cool too. More houselves is never a bad thing. In fact, forget the animagus thing. I just want to see Dobby and Winky.
Order of the Phoenix had a lot cut from it of course, but the one thing I would have loved to see is Snape's Worst Memory in it's entirety (or at least more than they gave us). We didn't even get to see Lily, and we find out later that she was the whole reason it was his worst memory. I really wish they could have given us more.
To just prove to you even more how much I love house elves, the biggest thing I would have liked to see in Half Blood Prince is Dobby and Kreacher interaction. They basically gave us this when they added Dobby into the Grimauld Place scene with Kreacher, but I still would have loved to see them tailing Draco together in Half Blood Prince.
It's hard to think of something for Deathly Hallows Part 1. It would have been nice to see Lily's letter and the picture of baby Harry. (Babies are always awesome.) There wasn't anything huge that I was upset to see cut out though. (Unless I'm forgetting something, which wouldn't surprise me.) They also didn't talk much about all of the Dumbledore stuff.
There were a ton of changes in Deathly Hallows Part 2, but I was perfectly fine with most of them. I would have loved to see Percy make up with his family, but I can understand that being cut. One thing that slightly annoyed me was the fact that Teddy was never even mentioned. That's not entirely true since Harry mentions him when talking to (Resurection Stone) Remus in the Forbidden Forest, but since non-book readers don't know about Teddy, this just seems completely random. I would have loved to see the scene where Remus shows up at Shell Cottage after Teddy is born.
What are some things you wish had been in the Harry Potter movies?
I love the Harry Potter movies, but that doesn't mean there aren't things about them I'd change. For every single movie, there's at least one thing I'd have loved to see be kept in from the book. In this post, I'm going to choice one thing I wish had been in each movie.
I think Sorcerer's Stone is the hardest for me since I actually saw the movie before I read the book. Because of this, it's often hard for me to remember things that were in the book but not the movie. I have a similar problem with Chamber of Secrets. I was just so young when these movies came out that it's hard for me to distingush between the books and movies no matter how many times a read or watch them. Plus, there aren't huge differences between those two books and movies I don't think, at least compared to the rest of the books and movies.
I think I'm going to choose Peeves for Sorcerer's Stone. Technically, Peeves would work for every movie, but they'd actually filmed scenes with Peeves and then decided to cut them. I would absolutely love to see that footage. Peeves would have been great.
For Chamber of Secrets, I'd have to say all of the Valentine's Day stuff. I completely understand why all of that was cut, but it still would have been really amusing to watch.
Prisoner of Azkaban is one of my favorite Harry Potter movies, but I also have the most problems with it (which completely makes sense). How can they have not talked about the Marauders backstory!? To me that seems incredibly important. You have no idea how many times I've had to explain all of that to people who haven't read the books. It's basically impossible for people who haven't read the books to understand all of that. They don't have a clue why Harry's patronus is a stag, why Sirius and Wormtail are animagi, or who made the Marauders Map and why Sirius and Remus know all about it. I don't understand why they thought leaving all of that out was a good idea. That's the number one thing I'd change in all of the movies.
Goblet of Fire is my least favorite Harry Potter book, and I don't have many complaints about things they changed in the movie. They only thing I can really think of is Rita Skeeter being an animagus. That would have been cool to see. S.P.E.W. would have been cool too. More houselves is never a bad thing. In fact, forget the animagus thing. I just want to see Dobby and Winky.
Order of the Phoenix had a lot cut from it of course, but the one thing I would have loved to see is Snape's Worst Memory in it's entirety (or at least more than they gave us). We didn't even get to see Lily, and we find out later that she was the whole reason it was his worst memory. I really wish they could have given us more.
To just prove to you even more how much I love house elves, the biggest thing I would have liked to see in Half Blood Prince is Dobby and Kreacher interaction. They basically gave us this when they added Dobby into the Grimauld Place scene with Kreacher, but I still would have loved to see them tailing Draco together in Half Blood Prince.
It's hard to think of something for Deathly Hallows Part 1. It would have been nice to see Lily's letter and the picture of baby Harry. (Babies are always awesome.) There wasn't anything huge that I was upset to see cut out though. (Unless I'm forgetting something, which wouldn't surprise me.) They also didn't talk much about all of the Dumbledore stuff.
There were a ton of changes in Deathly Hallows Part 2, but I was perfectly fine with most of them. I would have loved to see Percy make up with his family, but I can understand that being cut. One thing that slightly annoyed me was the fact that Teddy was never even mentioned. That's not entirely true since Harry mentions him when talking to (Resurection Stone) Remus in the Forbidden Forest, but since non-book readers don't know about Teddy, this just seems completely random. I would have loved to see the scene where Remus shows up at Shell Cottage after Teddy is born.
What are some things you wish had been in the Harry Potter movies?
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Who's Irene?
I love Saturday. It is by far the best day of the week. My feelings for it kind of wan in the summer, but as soon as school starts again, I remember how much I love that particular day of the week.
Today was the Drive One 4 Ur School event that I worked at. One of the local car dealership let people test drive cars for free, and our school got money each time someone test drove. There was a decent sized group of kids there from school, way more than was needed. Most of our time was spent just sitting there talking. A lot of the teachers were there, including our principal, vice principal, and guidance counselor. It's kind of weird seeing them outside of school.
I was so excited about finally getting to wear my awesome new shirt today. (I can't wear it to school because it's kind of spoilery for the last Hunger Games book, and Haley and Jordan are still reading them.) Then, I get there, and they hand me a Drive One 4 Ur School. I didn't really have to take it, but everyone else was wearing them. (Plus, I wasn't turning down a free shirt.) I'm determined to wear that Hunger Games shirt tomorrow. I don't care that it breaks my rule of not wearing t-shirts to church. (I'm never dressed up at church anyway, so it's not like it's a big leap or anything.
Ji and I were only supposed to work an hour and a half, but we ended up staying for two and a half hours. It really wasn't that bad since we were just talking to everyone. We even played hangman for a while. Ji and I took some pictures for the yearbook. (Ji took a lot more than I did.) We also informed Ji about the hurricane when she asked who Irene was after hearing the name. I then informed Ji of every single bit of Hurricane Irene news that I say through twitter for the rest of the morning. We even got some awesome free popcorn.
When I got home, I discovered that my Hoosier Girls State DVD had come in the mail! That actually reminds me that I need to go make my family watch it with me. I'm looking forward to all of the memories (and making my family see how awesome it was).
I have a slight favor to ask you guys today. As you know, I'll be going off to college next fall, so it shouldn't be surprising that I'm trying to get as much scholarship money as I can. There's this site called Fastweb that helps you find scholarships. It's pretty awesome. Right now, if you refer someone to the site, you're entered into a drawing to win $500 of scholarship money. If you're also looking for scholarships, please use this link to register. It'll help you find scholarships, and you can help me out at the same time. I'd be extremely greatful.
That basically summarizes the more exciting parts of my day. The rest of it was mainly spent watching Naruto, How I Met Your Mother, vlogbrothers, and The Hillywood Show. (Isn't that just full of variety?) I'm going to go convince my parents to watch that HGS DVD with me. (It's only August, and I'm already reliving the summer.)
Today was the Drive One 4 Ur School event that I worked at. One of the local car dealership let people test drive cars for free, and our school got money each time someone test drove. There was a decent sized group of kids there from school, way more than was needed. Most of our time was spent just sitting there talking. A lot of the teachers were there, including our principal, vice principal, and guidance counselor. It's kind of weird seeing them outside of school.
I was so excited about finally getting to wear my awesome new shirt today. (I can't wear it to school because it's kind of spoilery for the last Hunger Games book, and Haley and Jordan are still reading them.) Then, I get there, and they hand me a Drive One 4 Ur School. I didn't really have to take it, but everyone else was wearing them. (Plus, I wasn't turning down a free shirt.) I'm determined to wear that Hunger Games shirt tomorrow. I don't care that it breaks my rule of not wearing t-shirts to church. (I'm never dressed up at church anyway, so it's not like it's a big leap or anything.
Ji and I were only supposed to work an hour and a half, but we ended up staying for two and a half hours. It really wasn't that bad since we were just talking to everyone. We even played hangman for a while. Ji and I took some pictures for the yearbook. (Ji took a lot more than I did.) We also informed Ji about the hurricane when she asked who Irene was after hearing the name. I then informed Ji of every single bit of Hurricane Irene news that I say through twitter for the rest of the morning. We even got some awesome free popcorn.
When I got home, I discovered that my Hoosier Girls State DVD had come in the mail! That actually reminds me that I need to go make my family watch it with me. I'm looking forward to all of the memories (and making my family see how awesome it was).
I have a slight favor to ask you guys today. As you know, I'll be going off to college next fall, so it shouldn't be surprising that I'm trying to get as much scholarship money as I can. There's this site called Fastweb that helps you find scholarships. It's pretty awesome. Right now, if you refer someone to the site, you're entered into a drawing to win $500 of scholarship money. If you're also looking for scholarships, please use this link to register. It'll help you find scholarships, and you can help me out at the same time. I'd be extremely greatful.
That basically summarizes the more exciting parts of my day. The rest of it was mainly spent watching Naruto, How I Met Your Mother, vlogbrothers, and The Hillywood Show. (Isn't that just full of variety?) I'm going to go convince my parents to watch that HGS DVD with me. (It's only August, and I'm already reliving the summer.)
Hunger Games Shipping
Three days ago I posted a video about Harry Potter ships. In it I mentioned that I was probably going to post shipping related videos and blog posts about other fandoms. This is one of those posts.
Is it any surprise that I'm going to talk about Peeta and Katniss first? I love them so much! They're not really the couple that would usually be considered adorable (no couple with Katniss would be really), yet I still think of that word when I think of them together. I guess Peeta makes up for Katniss in the adorable department. When I read The Hunger Games for the first time, I wasn't sure what to expect. After reading the scene where Peeta confesses his feelings in front of the whole country, I was kind of shocked. At that point I still wasn't sure if I wanted them together or not. That quickly changed while reading about them in the games.
I adore Peeta so much. Honestly, I would have gotten fed up with Katniss after their first games and probably would have written her off. (I guess he came close to that, but it didn't really work.) I love reading about how much Peeta loves Katniss. (And, Katniss loves Peeta even if it takes her forever to realize it.)
One of the things that kept me on the edge of my seat through the whole series was their relationship. Personally, I think Katniss fell in love with Peeta a long long time before she actually realized it. I just wish we could read more about them as a (real) couple.
I thought Gale was a pretty decent character at first, but as I read Mockingjay, I started liking him less and less. Still, I couldn't help but ship him with someone. In between Catching Fire and Mockingjay I started thinking about what would happen if Madge and Gale ended up together. (I wasn't the only one of course.) It wasn't something I was very invested in (like Neville/Luna), but I'd thought about it. That all went down the drain in the third book. Then I read the scene in Mockingjay when Gale goes to visit Katniss in the hospital. You remember how Johanna is there? Do I even need to tell you what I ship now? For me, the Gale/Johanna ship is at just about the same level as Gale/Madge was (or still is) for me. I don't usually read fanfiction for either couple unless I just happen to stumble upon it, but I enjoy both couples.
Of course I have to mention Finnick and Annie. I love them so much! I don't read much fanfiction about them either, but I love when they make appearances in other fanfiction I read. While reading Catching Fire I was really curious about them, so I loved reading about them in Mockingjay. I wish we knew more about what happened to Annie after Mockingjay.
Those are my "top" four ships in the Hunger Games fandom. Like I said in the Harry Potter video, I'll probably go back to each fandom at some point in time and do each couple more in depth. What are your favorite Hunger Games couples?
Is it any surprise that I'm going to talk about Peeta and Katniss first? I love them so much! They're not really the couple that would usually be considered adorable (no couple with Katniss would be really), yet I still think of that word when I think of them together. I guess Peeta makes up for Katniss in the adorable department. When I read The Hunger Games for the first time, I wasn't sure what to expect. After reading the scene where Peeta confesses his feelings in front of the whole country, I was kind of shocked. At that point I still wasn't sure if I wanted them together or not. That quickly changed while reading about them in the games.
I adore Peeta so much. Honestly, I would have gotten fed up with Katniss after their first games and probably would have written her off. (I guess he came close to that, but it didn't really work.) I love reading about how much Peeta loves Katniss. (And, Katniss loves Peeta even if it takes her forever to realize it.)
One of the things that kept me on the edge of my seat through the whole series was their relationship. Personally, I think Katniss fell in love with Peeta a long long time before she actually realized it. I just wish we could read more about them as a (real) couple.
I thought Gale was a pretty decent character at first, but as I read Mockingjay, I started liking him less and less. Still, I couldn't help but ship him with someone. In between Catching Fire and Mockingjay I started thinking about what would happen if Madge and Gale ended up together. (I wasn't the only one of course.) It wasn't something I was very invested in (like Neville/Luna), but I'd thought about it. That all went down the drain in the third book. Then I read the scene in Mockingjay when Gale goes to visit Katniss in the hospital. You remember how Johanna is there? Do I even need to tell you what I ship now? For me, the Gale/Johanna ship is at just about the same level as Gale/Madge was (or still is) for me. I don't usually read fanfiction for either couple unless I just happen to stumble upon it, but I enjoy both couples.
Of course I have to mention Finnick and Annie. I love them so much! I don't read much fanfiction about them either, but I love when they make appearances in other fanfiction I read. While reading Catching Fire I was really curious about them, so I loved reading about them in Mockingjay. I wish we knew more about what happened to Annie after Mockingjay.
Those are my "top" four ships in the Hunger Games fandom. Like I said in the Harry Potter video, I'll probably go back to each fandom at some point in time and do each couple more in depth. What are your favorite Hunger Games couples?
Friday, August 26, 2011
I Get too Excited About These Things...
It's Friday! This week seemed to drag on. Unfortunately, this weekend I won't get to do the one thing that's most amazing about the weekend: sleeping in. I'll be at a car dealership at 9:30 tomorrow morning for Drive One 4 Ur School, but that's okay because I'll be helping raise money for our school. At least that's what I keep telling myself.
Before heading to AP U.S. history today, I had to stop by the yearbook room to get the camera in order to take pictures in AP English. Our English teacher made us come up with skits to help us remember our hardest vocab words, and I took pictures of each skit (except the one I was in, a boy in the class took pictures of ours). We came up with the skits just about five minutes before doing them, and our group's was particularly bad. Ji, Kayla, and I's skit basically consisted of the three of us standing around talking about random stuff as our word was "interlocutor."
As we were walking from yearbook to computer applications, Ji and I had an interesting conversation about dying hair. Ji wants to dye her hair blond. I mentioned how much I loved auburn/dark red hair, and Ji told me I should dye my hair that color. It's not going to happen, but I have a feeling I'm going to be pestered about it a lot from now on.
This is random, but our lunch today was chicken tacos, something we've never had before. It was oddly good, which is weird. We also had a very interesting conversation at lunch today. You'll just have to wonder what it was about though because there's no way I'm saying here. It wasn't bad or anything, but if taken out of context, some people might find it offensive. (It wasn't and nothing bad was said about anyone or anything. It's just hard to explain.)
I'm not going to lie, third block (when I peer tutor at the middle school) has been stressing me out since I started. I don't want to go into details as to why, but it hasn't been that great. Today, however, was a good day (yesterday wasn't too bad either), and I think things are starting to look up. Let's hope I didn't just jinx myself. In the first class I'm in, I had to go help a boy try and find a paper in his locker. (Something that definitely isn't tutoring, but none of the kids needed help on homework at the moment.) While we were looking through his locker, the middle school principal walked by us and asked me if the boy was behaving for me. I said he was, and the principal said that was good and maybe the boy would get a reward later. That boy seemed so proud of that. When we went back into the room (after finding his paper) he repeated all of it to the teacher. This is the same boy that's been talking to me every day I go over there, and I've helped him with stuff a few times. Even during the stressful days, he's made me feel just a little bit better.
The second class I help in is where the majority of the stress has been coming from, but today was extremely different. I think everyone's starting to get used to me being there, and it's nothing like it was the first week or so. I helped some kids go over multiplication and then the whole class played Bingo where they had to solve a multiplication problem to figure out the number.
When I got to government, I got this thing that Haley had made in foods class and saved for me, Jordan, and Laura. They were kind of like no-bake cookies with a Hershey's Kiss on top. They were really good. Jordan and I ate ours before class started, even though we may not be allowed to eat food in class. The teacher watched us and didn't say anything so...
Before I stopped to write this post, I was looking at this website. This website is awesome. I found out about this orphanage in Mexico from the front page. I know want to volunteer at this orphanage next summer. This is almost becoming a dream. It would be an amazing experince. I'd just have to pay to get there and for room and board. I could learn Spanish (because three years of it in school did no good). Plus, it's far from home without being across an ocean. I want to do it... I wonder if I could convince someone to do it with me. Ji grew up in Guatemala. She could come with me and even translate for me. I want this to happen. I want this to happen so much...
I also found a new t-shirt site. (If you follow me on twitter, you know if bought several t-shirts from here and here lately.) Now I've found a new site that has a new shirt each week. The best part? Each time you buy a shirt, money goes to charity. It's going to be tough not buying each one. I'm trying really hard to decide if I want to buy the one that's available now.
I wrote this whole blog post about half asleep. I honestly remember just about nothing I just wrote. If it's incoherent, blame my lack of sleep.
Before heading to AP U.S. history today, I had to stop by the yearbook room to get the camera in order to take pictures in AP English. Our English teacher made us come up with skits to help us remember our hardest vocab words, and I took pictures of each skit (except the one I was in, a boy in the class took pictures of ours). We came up with the skits just about five minutes before doing them, and our group's was particularly bad. Ji, Kayla, and I's skit basically consisted of the three of us standing around talking about random stuff as our word was "interlocutor."
As we were walking from yearbook to computer applications, Ji and I had an interesting conversation about dying hair. Ji wants to dye her hair blond. I mentioned how much I loved auburn/dark red hair, and Ji told me I should dye my hair that color. It's not going to happen, but I have a feeling I'm going to be pestered about it a lot from now on.
This is random, but our lunch today was chicken tacos, something we've never had before. It was oddly good, which is weird. We also had a very interesting conversation at lunch today. You'll just have to wonder what it was about though because there's no way I'm saying here. It wasn't bad or anything, but if taken out of context, some people might find it offensive. (It wasn't and nothing bad was said about anyone or anything. It's just hard to explain.)
I'm not going to lie, third block (when I peer tutor at the middle school) has been stressing me out since I started. I don't want to go into details as to why, but it hasn't been that great. Today, however, was a good day (yesterday wasn't too bad either), and I think things are starting to look up. Let's hope I didn't just jinx myself. In the first class I'm in, I had to go help a boy try and find a paper in his locker. (Something that definitely isn't tutoring, but none of the kids needed help on homework at the moment.) While we were looking through his locker, the middle school principal walked by us and asked me if the boy was behaving for me. I said he was, and the principal said that was good and maybe the boy would get a reward later. That boy seemed so proud of that. When we went back into the room (after finding his paper) he repeated all of it to the teacher. This is the same boy that's been talking to me every day I go over there, and I've helped him with stuff a few times. Even during the stressful days, he's made me feel just a little bit better.
The second class I help in is where the majority of the stress has been coming from, but today was extremely different. I think everyone's starting to get used to me being there, and it's nothing like it was the first week or so. I helped some kids go over multiplication and then the whole class played Bingo where they had to solve a multiplication problem to figure out the number.
When I got to government, I got this thing that Haley had made in foods class and saved for me, Jordan, and Laura. They were kind of like no-bake cookies with a Hershey's Kiss on top. They were really good. Jordan and I ate ours before class started, even though we may not be allowed to eat food in class. The teacher watched us and didn't say anything so...
Before I stopped to write this post, I was looking at this website. This website is awesome. I found out about this orphanage in Mexico from the front page. I know want to volunteer at this orphanage next summer. This is almost becoming a dream. It would be an amazing experince. I'd just have to pay to get there and for room and board. I could learn Spanish (because three years of it in school did no good). Plus, it's far from home without being across an ocean. I want to do it... I wonder if I could convince someone to do it with me. Ji grew up in Guatemala. She could come with me and even translate for me. I want this to happen. I want this to happen so much...
I also found a new t-shirt site. (If you follow me on twitter, you know if bought several t-shirts from here and here lately.) Now I've found a new site that has a new shirt each week. The best part? Each time you buy a shirt, money goes to charity. It's going to be tough not buying each one. I'm trying really hard to decide if I want to buy the one that's available now.
I wrote this whole blog post about half asleep. I honestly remember just about nothing I just wrote. If it's incoherent, blame my lack of sleep.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
My Feelings on Cho Chang
There are a lot of great characters in Harry Potter. I love a good portion of the Harry Potter characters. However, J.K. Rowling writes very realistic characters, which means no one's going to like every single one. It's like in real life. Sometimes you just don't like certain people. There may be nothing wrong with them, but for some reason or other, your personalities just don't fit together.
One of the characters that I feel this way about is Cho Chang. When I was younger, I didn't have a problem with her, but as I got older and re-read the books, she got more and more annoying to me. The way she acts around Harry in Order of the Phoenix drives me up a wall. Who goes up to a boy the like and starts talking about (and crying over) their ex-boyfriend? I understand she'd want to talk about it and thought Harry would understand, but it's not really something you just spring on a person. I also think she completely overreacts on the date. Yes, Harry is insensitive and should have worded things differently, but she doesn't let him give an explanation before storming out the door. It kind of annoys me that she just comes up to Harry and expects him to forgive her (which he does) later.
As you can see I don't have a very long list of complaints about Cho. We're honestly not given that much information about her. Maybe if we got to know her better, I'd actually start to like her. We'll probably never learn more about her (unless there's something on Pottermore) though, so I guess I'll never know. From what we do learn in the books, she seems very annoying to me. I don't think she'd be someone that I'd get along with very well.
One of the characters that I feel this way about is Cho Chang. When I was younger, I didn't have a problem with her, but as I got older and re-read the books, she got more and more annoying to me. The way she acts around Harry in Order of the Phoenix drives me up a wall. Who goes up to a boy the like and starts talking about (and crying over) their ex-boyfriend? I understand she'd want to talk about it and thought Harry would understand, but it's not really something you just spring on a person. I also think she completely overreacts on the date. Yes, Harry is insensitive and should have worded things differently, but she doesn't let him give an explanation before storming out the door. It kind of annoys me that she just comes up to Harry and expects him to forgive her (which he does) later.
As you can see I don't have a very long list of complaints about Cho. We're honestly not given that much information about her. Maybe if we got to know her better, I'd actually start to like her. We'll probably never learn more about her (unless there's something on Pottermore) though, so I guess I'll never know. From what we do learn in the books, she seems very annoying to me. I don't think she'd be someone that I'd get along with very well.
Laughter is the Best Medicine
Today was a pretty normal day as far as school days go, but considering the last two school days we were on different schedules, it actually felt kind of weird.
I started the day off in AP U.S. History, like usual. We actually went over how to write notes. We have to write notes on our own for this chapter, and a girl in my class has twelve pages of notes typed. He just went through a passage and told us what we would put down. It's basically exactly what I had for that passage. Other than that, we just took a quiz over the chapter. Our test is tomorrow, and I'm surprisingly less sure about this one than I was the last. It seems like a ton more information for some reason.
I can't remember everything we did in AP English, but I know we went over this article together and had to summarize the different sections in a group. We're going over how to write summaries right now, and we're kind of working our way up a step at a time. Who knew there were so many steps to writing summaries. As a side note, our text book for this class is the most boring thing ever. I want to fall asleep when I read it. (This is completely oposed to the AP U.S. History text book that I love and find incredibly interesting.)
We each made up something called a beat report in yearbook. Each of us have at least two teachers that we have to take these to on a regular basis. They write down things that are happening in their classes that they want yearbook to take pictures of, and you're in charge of taking pictures for whatever teachers you take the report too. That was the main thing we did today, and I took it to one of the teachers I have (my AP English teacher). Other than we just brainstormed theme ideas and stuff.
Computer applications was the same as always. We just sat there at our computers and did whatever the text book told us to. I also gave a beat report to the teacher since she's the other teacher I'm assigned to. She doesn't have anything going on in her classes, but she gave me a list of Key Club stuff, which is convenient since Ji and I signed up to take Key Club pictures.
After lunch, I headed up to the middle school for peer tutoring. In the first class I'm in I didn't do much other than briefly help a girl with her social studies homework. In the next class, I helped some of the kids with their addition problems. (They're learning stuff about adding doubles.)
Government was a little interesting today. We had all separated into groups the day before, and today, each group got to preform a skit. Each skit was based on a different doctrine of the U.S. government. My group (which consisted of Laura, Haley, Jordan, and me) had judicial review. Our (very random and short) skit basically went like this: Jordan was a governor who had punished Haley for loitering. While I can't remember what exactly Haley's punishment was, it had something to do with balogna and a strip mall. Laura was Haley's lawyer, and I was the judge who was supposed to declare the punishment unconstitutional. I had one line. Haley did her line about her punishment being unfair, and I lost it. How can you now when it involves balogna and strip malls? Anyway, Laura said her line, and then it was my turn. However, I was laughing way to hard and couldn't talk. This made the other three start laughing as well. After a couple of minutes, I was able to force my line out even if I don't think it was really understandable. The four of us then went back to our desks, still laughing. That was definitely the highlight of my day. (I think most of the laughing may have come from the fact that I was nervous though, not because I thought it was funny.)
We also finished watching a 9/11 conspiracy theory video in government. While the video brought up some interesting points, I don't really believe it. I mean, it used Wikipedia as a source. I use Wikipedia all that time, but it's not exactly the site you use if you want people to listen to you. Still, it was interesting.
I started the day off in AP U.S. History, like usual. We actually went over how to write notes. We have to write notes on our own for this chapter, and a girl in my class has twelve pages of notes typed. He just went through a passage and told us what we would put down. It's basically exactly what I had for that passage. Other than that, we just took a quiz over the chapter. Our test is tomorrow, and I'm surprisingly less sure about this one than I was the last. It seems like a ton more information for some reason.
I can't remember everything we did in AP English, but I know we went over this article together and had to summarize the different sections in a group. We're going over how to write summaries right now, and we're kind of working our way up a step at a time. Who knew there were so many steps to writing summaries. As a side note, our text book for this class is the most boring thing ever. I want to fall asleep when I read it. (This is completely oposed to the AP U.S. History text book that I love and find incredibly interesting.)
We each made up something called a beat report in yearbook. Each of us have at least two teachers that we have to take these to on a regular basis. They write down things that are happening in their classes that they want yearbook to take pictures of, and you're in charge of taking pictures for whatever teachers you take the report too. That was the main thing we did today, and I took it to one of the teachers I have (my AP English teacher). Other than we just brainstormed theme ideas and stuff.
Computer applications was the same as always. We just sat there at our computers and did whatever the text book told us to. I also gave a beat report to the teacher since she's the other teacher I'm assigned to. She doesn't have anything going on in her classes, but she gave me a list of Key Club stuff, which is convenient since Ji and I signed up to take Key Club pictures.
After lunch, I headed up to the middle school for peer tutoring. In the first class I'm in I didn't do much other than briefly help a girl with her social studies homework. In the next class, I helped some of the kids with their addition problems. (They're learning stuff about adding doubles.)
Government was a little interesting today. We had all separated into groups the day before, and today, each group got to preform a skit. Each skit was based on a different doctrine of the U.S. government. My group (which consisted of Laura, Haley, Jordan, and me) had judicial review. Our (very random and short) skit basically went like this: Jordan was a governor who had punished Haley for loitering. While I can't remember what exactly Haley's punishment was, it had something to do with balogna and a strip mall. Laura was Haley's lawyer, and I was the judge who was supposed to declare the punishment unconstitutional. I had one line. Haley did her line about her punishment being unfair, and I lost it. How can you now when it involves balogna and strip malls? Anyway, Laura said her line, and then it was my turn. However, I was laughing way to hard and couldn't talk. This made the other three start laughing as well. After a couple of minutes, I was able to force my line out even if I don't think it was really understandable. The four of us then went back to our desks, still laughing. That was definitely the highlight of my day. (I think most of the laughing may have come from the fact that I was nervous though, not because I thought it was funny.)
We also finished watching a 9/11 conspiracy theory video in government. While the video brought up some interesting points, I don't really believe it. I mean, it used Wikipedia as a source. I use Wikipedia all that time, but it's not exactly the site you use if you want people to listen to you. Still, it was interesting.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Busy Weekend
The blog post you're reading right now was written over a kind of long period of time. I wanted to write about this, but I didn't have time to just sit down and write, so I wrote bits and pieces of it whenever I could. Part of it was written Sunday, and part of it was written Monday.
This weekend has been extremely busy. On Friday we had a social after school. The idea was that the new kids could meet new people and stuff like that. We got free drinks, and then everyone basically grouped into their normal groups. I don't even remember seeing any of the new kids, and the freshmen seemed to stay in one large group toward the entrance of the gym. Ji and I were supposed to get quotes for the yearbook. It didn't go to well since no one really wanted to be there. We got a total of three quotes. My sister wrote down something completely random that had nothing to do with the social, and my friend Haley and another boy just made stuff up that they didn't mean. The only good part was getting out of class.
As we were walking to our lockers after the social, Ji mentioned that she wanted to do something after school. I was reluctant at first because I had tons of homework, but then my sister showed up too. Needless to say, Ji came over. We made brownies and had a lot of fun. (Even if Ji and I think the brownies made us sick.) After a while, my mom, brother, and sister were going shopping, and Ji and I eventually decided to go along too. We went to Factory Card Outlet first because my sister wanted stuff for her birthday party. Ji and I may or may not have played with some toy swords. After that, my mom and brother went to Target while Ji, Regina, and I walked down to some craft store that I don't remember the name of. Ji and I kind of ditched Regina and just wandered aimlessly around the store. Regina took forever, so at some point, Ji and I decided to go next-door to Petsmart. We looked at all of the animals, but we definitely stared at the cats for the longest. They are so adorable! I wanted to adopt them all. There were two kittens running around with each other, and another two were laying on top of each other. They were all absolutely adorable. We eventually made it back to Target, and we just kind of looked through clothes and other stuff until it was time to leave.
The next day Ji, Laura, Haley, and I went to this theme park in our area called Holiday World. We were there all day, and everything has already started to blur together, but I'll try to pick out some of the more memorable things that happened. I know the first thing we did was go to eat at the Alamo, the Mexican restauraunt in the park. After that, I can't really remember the order of anything.
We didn't really ride that many rides now that I think about it. We rode two of the roller coasters, the Liberty Launch, the log ride, and Raging Rapids. That was about it. I got absolutely soaked on the log ride and Raging Rapids. I got the wetest out of my friends, and my clothes never dried.
We also watched two of the shows. One was were they sing a bunch of country songs and the other was a diving show. I've been to this park a ton of times and seen both of these shows before. The diving show in particular never really changes, but they'd added this whole part that none of us had see before that was pretty funny. One of the divers was out in the audience (behind us actually), and he started saying stuff about how he could dive better than the diver up on the "stage." We didn't realize it was part of the show at first and were a little weirded out. At one point, one of the divers was dressed like Tarzan. Haley's been wanting to watch Tarzan forever. You should have heard her when he came out.
We ate way more that day then I have ever eaten in that park. I had fried oreos for the second time. Those things are amazing, but I can only eat two. I gave to other two away to my sister, who had joined us by this point. We also ate blue and red ice cream. That stuff is amazing! Haley and I actually went to get ice cream while Ji and Laura got some other food somewhere else. While carrying the ice cream back to the restaurant they're in, it all started melting. By the time we got back, I had red and blue ice cream down my leg. Ji's was basically soup by the time she ate it since she was still in line when we got back.
At one point Ji and I went into this glass blowing shop that no one else wanted to go in. We were in there forever. I honestly hadn't bothered to go in there since I was a little kid with my mom. Later on, we went back in because Haley wanted to get fudge from the candy/baked goods area in there. I decided to get a mystery box in there. Regina told me I shouldn't because everything in those boxes sucked. She was wrong. This store is in the Christmas section (remember we're at Holiday World), so a lot of the stuff was Christmas-themed. I picked the least Christmas looking box and got a dolphin one. It even has a little heart! I love it! Plus, it was cheaper than if I'd actually picked it out.
Ji also wanted to play a lot of the games. At one point, Ji, Haley, and I played this duck game that everyone wins. It's meant for little kids, so we were a little embarassed at first. Ji and I got little ducks, and Haley got a teddy bear. Laura also won a stuffed minion from Despicable Me playing another game that she gave to Haley.
As we were leaving, it was decided that Ji, Laura, and Haley would come over to our house and watch Tarzan, which Haley's been wanting to watch forever. We even invited our friend Jordan. We picked up Jordan, and then went to Ji's house for a bit. I've never actually been to Ji's house before since she usually comes to mine. We all sat in her room talking (and looking through her diary written almost entirely in Spanish while she lived in Guatelmala) while she took a shower. Ji warned us that her mom would over us food, and she was right (although we turned her down). I've only met Ji's mom a couple of times, but she is a very nice and friendly person.
We eventually made it back to our house. I was finally able to change out of my wet clothes, and we sat in my room and talked for about ten minutes. Then, Laura reminded us that she had to be back home in about an hour and a half, so we needed to start watching Tarzan. Watching a movie from your childhood is so much more amusing with other people. None of us had watched it in a while, and we made some interesting observations. Ji, who said she had hated the movie before, was crying at the end. She also said she was shocked by Jane's voice (last time she'd watched it, it had been in Spanish), which I found funny for some reason. When the movie was over, everyone went home, and I got to relax for the first time that day.
Sunday was pretty much homework day since I didn't get to work on it Friday or Saturday. Let's just say I'm glad that's done with.
This weekend has been extremely busy. On Friday we had a social after school. The idea was that the new kids could meet new people and stuff like that. We got free drinks, and then everyone basically grouped into their normal groups. I don't even remember seeing any of the new kids, and the freshmen seemed to stay in one large group toward the entrance of the gym. Ji and I were supposed to get quotes for the yearbook. It didn't go to well since no one really wanted to be there. We got a total of three quotes. My sister wrote down something completely random that had nothing to do with the social, and my friend Haley and another boy just made stuff up that they didn't mean. The only good part was getting out of class.
As we were walking to our lockers after the social, Ji mentioned that she wanted to do something after school. I was reluctant at first because I had tons of homework, but then my sister showed up too. Needless to say, Ji came over. We made brownies and had a lot of fun. (Even if Ji and I think the brownies made us sick.) After a while, my mom, brother, and sister were going shopping, and Ji and I eventually decided to go along too. We went to Factory Card Outlet first because my sister wanted stuff for her birthday party. Ji and I may or may not have played with some toy swords. After that, my mom and brother went to Target while Ji, Regina, and I walked down to some craft store that I don't remember the name of. Ji and I kind of ditched Regina and just wandered aimlessly around the store. Regina took forever, so at some point, Ji and I decided to go next-door to Petsmart. We looked at all of the animals, but we definitely stared at the cats for the longest. They are so adorable! I wanted to adopt them all. There were two kittens running around with each other, and another two were laying on top of each other. They were all absolutely adorable. We eventually made it back to Target, and we just kind of looked through clothes and other stuff until it was time to leave.
The next day Ji, Laura, Haley, and I went to this theme park in our area called Holiday World. We were there all day, and everything has already started to blur together, but I'll try to pick out some of the more memorable things that happened. I know the first thing we did was go to eat at the Alamo, the Mexican restauraunt in the park. After that, I can't really remember the order of anything.
We didn't really ride that many rides now that I think about it. We rode two of the roller coasters, the Liberty Launch, the log ride, and Raging Rapids. That was about it. I got absolutely soaked on the log ride and Raging Rapids. I got the wetest out of my friends, and my clothes never dried.
We also watched two of the shows. One was were they sing a bunch of country songs and the other was a diving show. I've been to this park a ton of times and seen both of these shows before. The diving show in particular never really changes, but they'd added this whole part that none of us had see before that was pretty funny. One of the divers was out in the audience (behind us actually), and he started saying stuff about how he could dive better than the diver up on the "stage." We didn't realize it was part of the show at first and were a little weirded out. At one point, one of the divers was dressed like Tarzan. Haley's been wanting to watch Tarzan forever. You should have heard her when he came out.
We ate way more that day then I have ever eaten in that park. I had fried oreos for the second time. Those things are amazing, but I can only eat two. I gave to other two away to my sister, who had joined us by this point. We also ate blue and red ice cream. That stuff is amazing! Haley and I actually went to get ice cream while Ji and Laura got some other food somewhere else. While carrying the ice cream back to the restaurant they're in, it all started melting. By the time we got back, I had red and blue ice cream down my leg. Ji's was basically soup by the time she ate it since she was still in line when we got back.
At one point Ji and I went into this glass blowing shop that no one else wanted to go in. We were in there forever. I honestly hadn't bothered to go in there since I was a little kid with my mom. Later on, we went back in because Haley wanted to get fudge from the candy/baked goods area in there. I decided to get a mystery box in there. Regina told me I shouldn't because everything in those boxes sucked. She was wrong. This store is in the Christmas section (remember we're at Holiday World), so a lot of the stuff was Christmas-themed. I picked the least Christmas looking box and got a dolphin one. It even has a little heart! I love it! Plus, it was cheaper than if I'd actually picked it out.
Ji also wanted to play a lot of the games. At one point, Ji, Haley, and I played this duck game that everyone wins. It's meant for little kids, so we were a little embarassed at first. Ji and I got little ducks, and Haley got a teddy bear. Laura also won a stuffed minion from Despicable Me playing another game that she gave to Haley.
As we were leaving, it was decided that Ji, Laura, and Haley would come over to our house and watch Tarzan, which Haley's been wanting to watch forever. We even invited our friend Jordan. We picked up Jordan, and then went to Ji's house for a bit. I've never actually been to Ji's house before since she usually comes to mine. We all sat in her room talking (and looking through her diary written almost entirely in Spanish while she lived in Guatelmala) while she took a shower. Ji warned us that her mom would over us food, and she was right (although we turned her down). I've only met Ji's mom a couple of times, but she is a very nice and friendly person.
We eventually made it back to our house. I was finally able to change out of my wet clothes, and we sat in my room and talked for about ten minutes. Then, Laura reminded us that she had to be back home in about an hour and a half, so we needed to start watching Tarzan. Watching a movie from your childhood is so much more amusing with other people. None of us had watched it in a while, and we made some interesting observations. Ji, who said she had hated the movie before, was crying at the end. She also said she was shocked by Jane's voice (last time she'd watched it, it had been in Spanish), which I found funny for some reason. When the movie was over, everyone went home, and I got to relax for the first time that day.
Sunday was pretty much homework day since I didn't get to work on it Friday or Saturday. Let's just say I'm glad that's done with.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Frequency of Posts
I need to talk about how often I'll be posting in the future. I've been in school for over a week now, and I'm getting a decent amount of homework. I wanted to try posting (and uploading videos) pretty frequently, but I don't think that's going to be possible. Out of my six classes, I only get homework in two on a regular basis, but the homework from those classes still takes an insanely long time to get done.
The past couple of days, I've been stressing trying to get way too much done. Trying to post blogs and film, edit, and upload videos really often isn't helping this stress. I don't know how long this will be, but at least for now, I don't know how often I'll post or upload videos. I'm already getting less sleep than I usually did last year. I need to slow down a bit and just focus on school work. Most of my posts and videos in the near future will probably be on weekends mainly with the occasional one during the week.
I don't know how long this will last. It may only be a month or so, or it may stay this way for the rest of the school year. We'll see.
It's not just this blog or my videos either. I've been trying to get too much done with a lot of different things (reading, writing, etc.), and I really need a break (and to be able to get to sleep earlier).
The past couple of days, I've been stressing trying to get way too much done. Trying to post blogs and film, edit, and upload videos really often isn't helping this stress. I don't know how long this will be, but at least for now, I don't know how often I'll post or upload videos. I'm already getting less sleep than I usually did last year. I need to slow down a bit and just focus on school work. Most of my posts and videos in the near future will probably be on weekends mainly with the occasional one during the week.
I don't know how long this will last. It may only be a month or so, or it may stay this way for the rest of the school year. We'll see.
It's not just this blog or my videos either. I've been trying to get too much done with a lot of different things (reading, writing, etc.), and I really need a break (and to be able to get to sleep earlier).
Book Review: Quest of the Demon by M.L. Sawyer
ISBN: 0011233648
Release date: January 28th, 2011
Publisher: Smashwords
Read from August 1st to 15th, 2011
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. This is kind of random, but I thought the map at the beginning was kind of cool. As much as I did enjoy the book, I had a few things I didn't like. There were some mistakes throughout the book, but I was expecting that because it's self-published.
*There will be some spoilers in the rest of the review*
Darci's relationships with Leif and Taslessian. At the beginning, it seems like there's something going on with Darci and Taslessian. They even kiss (granted they're both drunk). Then, at about the middle of the book, they just seem to stop talking to each other. Granted Taslessian has kind of shut himself off from everyone, but I still thought it was kind of weird. As for Darci and Leif, I was kind of confused with their whole relationship. It's hard to tell what's going on with them. It was just a bit confusing.
I was also a bit confused with the ending. It just seemed so abrupt. Darci just wakes up at home. I couldn't tell if that had happened right when her and the Demon disappeared or if something else happened that she just doesn't remember. Middle-aged Taslessian showing up at the end was also surprising. I really want to read the sequel. (I'm asuming there will be one based on that ending.) I'm hoping that will help make sense of the first one's ending a bit.
Regardless of all that, I did enjoy this book, and I found it very interesting. I definitely want to read the sequel. I want to see what happens between Darci and Taslessian. I found the world the author created very interesting, and I always love reading fantasy books with magic in them. I loved the dragons in this story so much. It was a great book, if a little confusing at some points. I was also a little surprised at how gory a couple of the scenes were. I wasn't expecting it, but I don't think it was a bad thing.
I'm going to try something new. I also filmed a video review of this book, which you can watch below. I may do this with all reviews in the future or only some or maybe none at all. I'm not sure yet.
I recieved this book for free from the publisher or author in exchange for a fair and honest review. This did not affect my review of the book.
Release date: January 28th, 2011
Publisher: Smashwords
Read from August 1st to 15th, 2011
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Darci is a popular sixteen-year-old girl who plays basketball and lives in an ordinary country town. But her life is changed forever when she is accidentally transported to the land of Nahaba by a young apprentice wizard called Taslessian.Review:
Within hours of her unexpected arrival, both teens are thrust into a dangerous journey to the cave of Grisham the Great in the hope that he would be able to send her home.
Upon reaching the cave, however, Darci quickly discovers that there is no such thing as accidents, and that their journey is only just beginning.
The Quest of the Demon has begun.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. This is kind of random, but I thought the map at the beginning was kind of cool. As much as I did enjoy the book, I had a few things I didn't like. There were some mistakes throughout the book, but I was expecting that because it's self-published.
*There will be some spoilers in the rest of the review*
Darci's relationships with Leif and Taslessian. At the beginning, it seems like there's something going on with Darci and Taslessian. They even kiss (granted they're both drunk). Then, at about the middle of the book, they just seem to stop talking to each other. Granted Taslessian has kind of shut himself off from everyone, but I still thought it was kind of weird. As for Darci and Leif, I was kind of confused with their whole relationship. It's hard to tell what's going on with them. It was just a bit confusing.
I was also a bit confused with the ending. It just seemed so abrupt. Darci just wakes up at home. I couldn't tell if that had happened right when her and the Demon disappeared or if something else happened that she just doesn't remember. Middle-aged Taslessian showing up at the end was also surprising. I really want to read the sequel. (I'm asuming there will be one based on that ending.) I'm hoping that will help make sense of the first one's ending a bit.
Regardless of all that, I did enjoy this book, and I found it very interesting. I definitely want to read the sequel. I want to see what happens between Darci and Taslessian. I found the world the author created very interesting, and I always love reading fantasy books with magic in them. I loved the dragons in this story so much. It was a great book, if a little confusing at some points. I was also a little surprised at how gory a couple of the scenes were. I wasn't expecting it, but I don't think it was a bad thing.
I'm going to try something new. I also filmed a video review of this book, which you can watch below. I may do this with all reviews in the future or only some or maybe none at all. I'm not sure yet.
I recieved this book for free from the publisher or author in exchange for a fair and honest review. This did not affect my review of the book.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Peer Tutoring.
I think I can say that the school year has officially begun now. Today was the fifth day of school, and I finally got to actually go to peer tutoring today. I got put in the special needs department at the middle school. The middle school is right behind the high school, so I just walk across the parking lot and up the hill every day for third block.
I'm working in two different class rooms, and it went well although some of the kids didn't want to pay attention. I definitely remember why I want to teach high school and not middle school now.
As for my other classes, I had two tests today, and I think both went well. We finished the movie Cyberbully in computer applications today. I think I'm going to post a review at some point in the future. I really enjoyed it, even if it's a bit preachy at the end. There were some interesting conversations in government. That's honestly my favorite class right now.
This post is extremely short. I actually had something longer typed, and then I lost it. I don't really have time to type it up again though.
I'm working in two different class rooms, and it went well although some of the kids didn't want to pay attention. I definitely remember why I want to teach high school and not middle school now.
As for my other classes, I had two tests today, and I think both went well. We finished the movie Cyberbully in computer applications today. I think I'm going to post a review at some point in the future. I really enjoyed it, even if it's a bit preachy at the end. There were some interesting conversations in government. That's honestly my favorite class right now.
This post is extremely short. I actually had something longer typed, and then I lost it. I don't really have time to type it up again though.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Ron Weasley
My love for Ron Weasley will come as no surprise to people who watch my Youtube videos. However, I've never really talked about it on my blog. When I say love, I don't mean in a romantic way (as all of my friends seem to think), but I think he is an absolutely brilliant Harry Potter character. He's my favorite male Harry Potter character and is only beaten for overall favorite character by Hermione Granger.
As a random side note about me having a crush on Ron, I'd like to share a conversation I had with two of my (non-Harry Potter fan) friends as we watched Deathly Hallows Part 1. It was about halfway through the movie, and I was beginning to get frustrated of them constantly making fun of Ron. After I defended him for the millionth time, Summer begins saying that I obviously want to marry him. My Response? "No way! Ron and Hermione are made for each other! If anything, I want them to adopt me so I can be a Weasley." That about sums up my feelings.
I'll be honest. When I was younger, Ron definitely wasn't my favorite character. I was pretty neutral towards him. I think I know what made me change my mind. In elementary school, my friends and I used to play Harry Potter all of the time. There were only three of us (except the occasional other person or two), so our games were usually limited to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Who do you think I usually played? As we were all girls, there was often a competition over who would call Hermione first. After that, my other friend would want to play Harry since he's the main character. I usually played Ron because the other two would complain if they got him. Over time, I began to enjoy playing him, and I often found myself defending him. (I would like to point out that Summer was also one of these two friends. She's always had it out for Ron, I guess.)
Re-reading the books now that I'm older makes me realize how amazing Ron's character really is. Yes, he gets jealous, and he makes some huge mistakes. Still, he manages to prove himself worthy of being Harry's best friend time and time again. He's flawed, but he's a brilliant person and character. I think he's easier to relate to than Harry and Hermione. He's not the hero, and he's not the smartest. I'm sure everyone reading this feels that way sometimes. As a kid, I always identified with Hermione, but now I realize how much of Ron I have in me too. We all make mistakes. We all get jealous. We've all said or done things we regret.
I'll always think of Ron as one of my favorite literary characters ever.
As a random side note about me having a crush on Ron, I'd like to share a conversation I had with two of my (non-Harry Potter fan) friends as we watched Deathly Hallows Part 1. It was about halfway through the movie, and I was beginning to get frustrated of them constantly making fun of Ron. After I defended him for the millionth time, Summer begins saying that I obviously want to marry him. My Response? "No way! Ron and Hermione are made for each other! If anything, I want them to adopt me so I can be a Weasley." That about sums up my feelings.
I'll be honest. When I was younger, Ron definitely wasn't my favorite character. I was pretty neutral towards him. I think I know what made me change my mind. In elementary school, my friends and I used to play Harry Potter all of the time. There were only three of us (except the occasional other person or two), so our games were usually limited to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Who do you think I usually played? As we were all girls, there was often a competition over who would call Hermione first. After that, my other friend would want to play Harry since he's the main character. I usually played Ron because the other two would complain if they got him. Over time, I began to enjoy playing him, and I often found myself defending him. (I would like to point out that Summer was also one of these two friends. She's always had it out for Ron, I guess.)
Re-reading the books now that I'm older makes me realize how amazing Ron's character really is. Yes, he gets jealous, and he makes some huge mistakes. Still, he manages to prove himself worthy of being Harry's best friend time and time again. He's flawed, but he's a brilliant person and character. I think he's easier to relate to than Harry and Hermione. He's not the hero, and he's not the smartest. I'm sure everyone reading this feels that way sometimes. As a kid, I always identified with Hermione, but now I realize how much of Ron I have in me too. We all make mistakes. We all get jealous. We've all said or done things we regret.
I'll always think of Ron as one of my favorite literary characters ever.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Reading and iCarly
Today has been rather uneventful. I spent the majority of the day reading, and I'm dissapointed in how little I got read. I have no idea how I could have read so little in the amount of time I spent reading. I'll talk more about the book when I review, but I absolutely love it. I'm only about halfway through, but I have no doubts that it will be a very positive review.
The only other notable thing that happened today was blowing off my homework to watch the new episode of iCarly. (Don't worry. The homework will get done tomorrow even if it takes hours and I complain.) The new iCarly was so adorable! I loved Freddie in the episode. I'm not sure if I shared this on my blog, but I'll give you a quick background on my feelings about iCarly. I used to hate it. It just wasn't something I enjoyed watching. Then, I watched iOMG with my family and loved it, so of course, I had to watch tonight's episode. I'm such a big fan of Sam and Freddie as a couple now, and they were so cute in this episode. I loved it. Freddie's speech to Sam/the iCarly viewers at the end was so cute. I'm probably going to watch iCarly all of the time from now on just for their relationship.
That pretty much sums up my day. I should work on homework, but I honestly think it would just put me to sleep at this point. I should start doing weekend homework earlier in the day. By this point of a Saturday during the school year, I'm already tired, and homework makes me even more tired. (Saturday mornings and right when I get home from school are about the only time I feel remotely awake during the school year.) I think I'm going to spent the evening reading some more, and I'll just force myself to get the homework done tomorrow. We'll see how that goes...
The only other notable thing that happened today was blowing off my homework to watch the new episode of iCarly. (Don't worry. The homework will get done tomorrow even if it takes hours and I complain.) The new iCarly was so adorable! I loved Freddie in the episode. I'm not sure if I shared this on my blog, but I'll give you a quick background on my feelings about iCarly. I used to hate it. It just wasn't something I enjoyed watching. Then, I watched iOMG with my family and loved it, so of course, I had to watch tonight's episode. I'm such a big fan of Sam and Freddie as a couple now, and they were so cute in this episode. I loved it. Freddie's speech to Sam/the iCarly viewers at the end was so cute. I'm probably going to watch iCarly all of the time from now on just for their relationship.
That pretty much sums up my day. I should work on homework, but I honestly think it would just put me to sleep at this point. I should start doing weekend homework earlier in the day. By this point of a Saturday during the school year, I'm already tired, and homework makes me even more tired. (Saturday mornings and right when I get home from school are about the only time I feel remotely awake during the school year.) I think I'm going to spent the evening reading some more, and I'll just force myself to get the homework done tomorrow. We'll see how that goes...
Thursday, August 11, 2011
The Start of Senior Year
Today was the first day of my senior year. It went extremely well. I can only hope that the rest of the year goes as well as today. For the most part, I'd say each year of high school has gotten better and better (although second semester of freshmen year was incredibly awesome and might beat sophomore year and half of junior year).
The only downside of today was the splitting headache I got towards the end of second block. It just got worse as the day progressed, and it didn't go away until I'd been home for a few hours and taken migraine medicine. I've always had bad headaches, but I never thought of them as migraines. That migraine medicine worked so much better than any other pain medicine I've taken for headaches has before though. (And of course, as soon as the headache went away, I became super hyper.)
The rest of this post is going to be an incredibly detailed summary of my day. I'm sure not many people will want to read it, but I'm a really sentimental person. I love being able to go back and read about days like this. So, if you're at all interested, read on...
My mom drove my sister and me to school today, so we didn't have to take the bus. Honestly, I like taking the bus on the first day because the bus driver usually wants to make sure you're going to ride again that year. (I would like to take the time to say I'm not the only senior on our bus, even if my sister says it's sad I still ride the bus. I hate driving, and I don't want to make one of my friends pick me up every day.) We got to school pretty early. Since we didn't have lockercombinations, everyone was just kind of standing around or sitting at tables in the commons. I talked to Kayla and Megan for a bit before Ji and Laura showed up. Then, Ji, Laura, Megan, and I sat at a table and talked until it was time for the school assembly in the auditorium.
Ji, Laura, and I sat together for the assembly. We have the exact same assembly every year, and it's basically pointless. They go over the handbook that everyone in there has heard before since it barely changes and the freshmen learned everything at orientation.
Speaking of freshmen, can I just say how weird it is watching them on the first day? I was thinking all day today about how I felt when I was in their place four years ago. I was scared out of my mind to start high school. I was coming from a tiny (twelve kids in my eighth grade class) school to what I thought of as a huge (there are actually only about 400-500 students) high school, and I was terrified. I can't even begin to describe to you how everytime I walked into a classroom I'd panic because I didn't know who to sit with. Now, four years later, I walk in the first day, and I'm not nervous at all. I walk into each new class, and I can always find a friend to sit with. I know most of my teachers, and I'm not scared I'll fail a class or anything. I'm not scared people will be mean to me. (That was a big fear when I was a freshmen because it was my first time at public school. I know that sounds bad.) Now, I know basically everyone, and even though I'm extremely shy, most of the people (at least in my grace) know who I am. It's such a big change from how things were four years ago today. I didn't mean to rant about that. Moving on to what my day was like.
The principal, vice principal, and guidance counselor all talked. The most notable things they said were that our theme for the year. I honestly can't think of what they said the theme is exactly, but it was something about choices I think. They also went over all of the changes to the handbook. There were three changes that I can remember. 1. We can use cell phones during breaks and lunch as long as we turn them off before entering a classroom. (You have no idea how much I love this rule. I feel like it gives us a lot more freedom. However, if the phone does go off in class, it's a much stricter punishment than before.) 2. We can no longer carry backpacks to class. They have to stay in our locker. 3. We now have truancy court. I'm hoping that will have no affect on me.
After the assembly, we went to our advisors. Advisors are kind of like homeroom, but we only go there at the beginning of the school year, end of the school year, and to pick up report cards. All we did in there was recieve another copy of our schedule, get a paper to get signed, get a login and passwork for the school computers, and tell her if we have Internet access at home. After getting our locker combinations, we all went out to find our lockers (for some reason they changed them after we'd had the same lockers two years in a row), and put all our stuff away. We had to go back to advisors for a few minutes, but we didn't actually do anything.
Finally, we were able to go to our actual classes. I have AP U.S. History for 1A. It's technically a junior class, but I'm talking it because it wasn't offered last year and I love U.S. history. I was worried about being the only senior in there, but that wasn't the case. There's a decent amount of seniors in there. It's kind of funny because almost all of us sit on one side of the classroom, so we're seperated from the juniors to a certain point. I think I'm really going to love that class. Laura's in it with me, I love U.S. history, we have the coolest U.S. history text book I've ever seen (yes, I am a nerd), and we have the same teacher I had for regular U.S. history last year and he's a pretty good teacher. We were supposed to start reading chapter one of the text book tonight, and I'm actually really interested in it. It definitely beats the AP world history book we had sophomore year.
For 1B I have AP English. I can't figure out if having my two AP classes first thing in the morning is a good or bad thing. Most of the time was spent discussing Brave New World, which we read over the summer and are having a test on tomorrow. I think I'll like this class for the most part. There are some awesome people in it, and the discussion over Brave New World was really good. It's a lot different from the English classes I've had in the past. Also, I've never had this teacher, but she seems like she'll be nice and interesting to listen to.
Ji and I then walked to yearbook for 2A. I'm really excited for this class after the yearbook workshop I went to in July. The teacher is new to our school this year, but she seemed really nice at the workshop and today. I just hope the yearbook turns out awesome. I'm worried some of the kids in the class won't really take it that seriously... The teacher seems like she's going to make sure they do though, so hopefully everything goes well.
I have computer applications for 2B, and I'm pretty sure that'll be an easy class. It's just about how to use programs like Microsoft Word and stuff. We get to work at our own pace (I think she gives us certain assignments to be done in a week), and it seems fairly easy. We also won't have any homework outside of class, so that's nice. I sit next to Alyssa in the class, and that should be cool. She was a part of that tiny class of twelve that I graduated from eighth grade with, and I don't really talk to her much since we have different groups of friends.
Lunch is the next thing on my schedule. The lunch line is always insanely long on the first day for some reason, and they raised the prices of non-tray food, which sucks. I ate with Laura, Haley (you have no idea how many Haleys there are at my school), and Jordan. At some point, a boy who I remember being introduced as Austin joined us. I guess he's new (there are a ton of new kids this year), and he knew Haley somehow.
I have peer tutoring for 3rd block, but that doesn't really start until next week. Today, we had to go to the auditorium and get forms (that I need to remember to get signed tomorrow) and things like that. It took her forever to come with the forms though. I spent most of the time just daydreaming while everyone talked around me (my shyness has improved but not dissappeared) expect when I talked to David for about five minutes. It was kind of awkward since I barely know him even though we had two classes together last year. Afterwards, we basically wandered around the commons for the rest of third block. That meant I got to talk to my friends in the other lunch period, such as Ji, Autumn, April, Alex, etc. When their lunch is over, I spent most of my time studying for the Brave New World test. Brandon interrupted for a little while, which was weird. We never talk to each other (unless you count when he was constantly around because he had a crush on my best friend). Anyway, I'm not looking forward to getting teachers to sign that form tomorrow. I can ask my AP U.S. history teacher to sign for social studies, but I'm going to have to go to one of my past English teachers. I'm so awkward when I ask teachers things like that.
My last class of the day is government. This should be a fun class. I'm really interested in government, and even though it's a required senior class, I got lucky. Most of the people in the class are the "smart" kids. Everyone kept making jokes about Americans. I can see it being a really fun class.
So, that was my first day. You have no idea how long this took to write. If you actually read the whole thing, I'm really impressed. Let's hope I come back and read this sometime, so I'll feel like it was actually worth it.
The only downside of today was the splitting headache I got towards the end of second block. It just got worse as the day progressed, and it didn't go away until I'd been home for a few hours and taken migraine medicine. I've always had bad headaches, but I never thought of them as migraines. That migraine medicine worked so much better than any other pain medicine I've taken for headaches has before though. (And of course, as soon as the headache went away, I became super hyper.)
The rest of this post is going to be an incredibly detailed summary of my day. I'm sure not many people will want to read it, but I'm a really sentimental person. I love being able to go back and read about days like this. So, if you're at all interested, read on...
My mom drove my sister and me to school today, so we didn't have to take the bus. Honestly, I like taking the bus on the first day because the bus driver usually wants to make sure you're going to ride again that year. (I would like to take the time to say I'm not the only senior on our bus, even if my sister says it's sad I still ride the bus. I hate driving, and I don't want to make one of my friends pick me up every day.) We got to school pretty early. Since we didn't have lockercombinations, everyone was just kind of standing around or sitting at tables in the commons. I talked to Kayla and Megan for a bit before Ji and Laura showed up. Then, Ji, Laura, Megan, and I sat at a table and talked until it was time for the school assembly in the auditorium.
Ji, Laura, and I sat together for the assembly. We have the exact same assembly every year, and it's basically pointless. They go over the handbook that everyone in there has heard before since it barely changes and the freshmen learned everything at orientation.
Speaking of freshmen, can I just say how weird it is watching them on the first day? I was thinking all day today about how I felt when I was in their place four years ago. I was scared out of my mind to start high school. I was coming from a tiny (twelve kids in my eighth grade class) school to what I thought of as a huge (there are actually only about 400-500 students) high school, and I was terrified. I can't even begin to describe to you how everytime I walked into a classroom I'd panic because I didn't know who to sit with. Now, four years later, I walk in the first day, and I'm not nervous at all. I walk into each new class, and I can always find a friend to sit with. I know most of my teachers, and I'm not scared I'll fail a class or anything. I'm not scared people will be mean to me. (That was a big fear when I was a freshmen because it was my first time at public school. I know that sounds bad.) Now, I know basically everyone, and even though I'm extremely shy, most of the people (at least in my grace) know who I am. It's such a big change from how things were four years ago today. I didn't mean to rant about that. Moving on to what my day was like.
The principal, vice principal, and guidance counselor all talked. The most notable things they said were that our theme for the year. I honestly can't think of what they said the theme is exactly, but it was something about choices I think. They also went over all of the changes to the handbook. There were three changes that I can remember. 1. We can use cell phones during breaks and lunch as long as we turn them off before entering a classroom. (You have no idea how much I love this rule. I feel like it gives us a lot more freedom. However, if the phone does go off in class, it's a much stricter punishment than before.) 2. We can no longer carry backpacks to class. They have to stay in our locker. 3. We now have truancy court. I'm hoping that will have no affect on me.
After the assembly, we went to our advisors. Advisors are kind of like homeroom, but we only go there at the beginning of the school year, end of the school year, and to pick up report cards. All we did in there was recieve another copy of our schedule, get a paper to get signed, get a login and passwork for the school computers, and tell her if we have Internet access at home. After getting our locker combinations, we all went out to find our lockers (for some reason they changed them after we'd had the same lockers two years in a row), and put all our stuff away. We had to go back to advisors for a few minutes, but we didn't actually do anything.
Finally, we were able to go to our actual classes. I have AP U.S. History for 1A. It's technically a junior class, but I'm talking it because it wasn't offered last year and I love U.S. history. I was worried about being the only senior in there, but that wasn't the case. There's a decent amount of seniors in there. It's kind of funny because almost all of us sit on one side of the classroom, so we're seperated from the juniors to a certain point. I think I'm really going to love that class. Laura's in it with me, I love U.S. history, we have the coolest U.S. history text book I've ever seen (yes, I am a nerd), and we have the same teacher I had for regular U.S. history last year and he's a pretty good teacher. We were supposed to start reading chapter one of the text book tonight, and I'm actually really interested in it. It definitely beats the AP world history book we had sophomore year.
For 1B I have AP English. I can't figure out if having my two AP classes first thing in the morning is a good or bad thing. Most of the time was spent discussing Brave New World, which we read over the summer and are having a test on tomorrow. I think I'll like this class for the most part. There are some awesome people in it, and the discussion over Brave New World was really good. It's a lot different from the English classes I've had in the past. Also, I've never had this teacher, but she seems like she'll be nice and interesting to listen to.
Ji and I then walked to yearbook for 2A. I'm really excited for this class after the yearbook workshop I went to in July. The teacher is new to our school this year, but she seemed really nice at the workshop and today. I just hope the yearbook turns out awesome. I'm worried some of the kids in the class won't really take it that seriously... The teacher seems like she's going to make sure they do though, so hopefully everything goes well.
I have computer applications for 2B, and I'm pretty sure that'll be an easy class. It's just about how to use programs like Microsoft Word and stuff. We get to work at our own pace (I think she gives us certain assignments to be done in a week), and it seems fairly easy. We also won't have any homework outside of class, so that's nice. I sit next to Alyssa in the class, and that should be cool. She was a part of that tiny class of twelve that I graduated from eighth grade with, and I don't really talk to her much since we have different groups of friends.
Lunch is the next thing on my schedule. The lunch line is always insanely long on the first day for some reason, and they raised the prices of non-tray food, which sucks. I ate with Laura, Haley (you have no idea how many Haleys there are at my school), and Jordan. At some point, a boy who I remember being introduced as Austin joined us. I guess he's new (there are a ton of new kids this year), and he knew Haley somehow.
I have peer tutoring for 3rd block, but that doesn't really start until next week. Today, we had to go to the auditorium and get forms (that I need to remember to get signed tomorrow) and things like that. It took her forever to come with the forms though. I spent most of the time just daydreaming while everyone talked around me (my shyness has improved but not dissappeared) expect when I talked to David for about five minutes. It was kind of awkward since I barely know him even though we had two classes together last year. Afterwards, we basically wandered around the commons for the rest of third block. That meant I got to talk to my friends in the other lunch period, such as Ji, Autumn, April, Alex, etc. When their lunch is over, I spent most of my time studying for the Brave New World test. Brandon interrupted for a little while, which was weird. We never talk to each other (unless you count when he was constantly around because he had a crush on my best friend). Anyway, I'm not looking forward to getting teachers to sign that form tomorrow. I can ask my AP U.S. history teacher to sign for social studies, but I'm going to have to go to one of my past English teachers. I'm so awkward when I ask teachers things like that.
My last class of the day is government. This should be a fun class. I'm really interested in government, and even though it's a required senior class, I got lucky. Most of the people in the class are the "smart" kids. Everyone kept making jokes about Americans. I can see it being a really fun class.
So, that was my first day. You have no idea how long this took to write. If you actually read the whole thing, I'm really impressed. Let's hope I come back and read this sometime, so I'll feel like it was actually worth it.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Places I Want to Visit
A while back I did a post of my favorite places that included both places I've been to and places I want to go to. This post is a bit different. This is a list of the six places I want to visit the most. I hope to travel a lot in the future, so this definitely isn't a complete list of places I want to visit. This is just some of the places I most want to visit.
1. Los Angeles, CA. I've wanted to go since I was a little kid, but my family always goes on vacations in the eastern half of the United States. For a while I considered going to college in LA, but right now, I don't think that's going to happen since it's not my top choices. I definitely want to visit at some point. It just seems like a city that I would love.
2. United Kingdom. It's not that hard to figure out the first thing that made me want to visit the UK: Harry Potter. Even though Harry Potter was the start of it, I've since learned a lot more about Britain, and I want to visit it for a lot of reasons. I wouldn't turn down visiting anywhere in the country, but I really want to go to London and Edinburgh.
3. Japan. I've started to be a lot more interested in Japanese culture much more recently. It probably started somewhere in the past three years. I'm actually considering teaching English in Japan after college.
4. South Korea. I got interested in Korean culture sometime after I got interested in Japanese culture. I'm also considering teaching English in South Korea instead of Japan, but Japan's still my first choice. (Unless my friend Ji is successful in convincing me to go to Korea instead. They are going to be hosting the Olympics in the future...)
5. New Zealand. In eighth grade we had an assignment to do a travel brochure for any place we chose. I just randomly choose Auckland, New Zealand. Over the course of working on the brochure, I found all of this awesome stuff to do in Auckland, and I started to really want to go. Plus, it's absolutely beautiful.
6. Australia. My AP biology teacher last year showed us video from her trip to Australia and New Zealand last year, and she had some cool stories. It would be awesome to see the Great Barrier Reef.
This is just a small list of places I want to visit. Honestly, I don't think I'd turn down seeing any part of the world. What places do you most want to visit.
1. Los Angeles, CA. I've wanted to go since I was a little kid, but my family always goes on vacations in the eastern half of the United States. For a while I considered going to college in LA, but right now, I don't think that's going to happen since it's not my top choices. I definitely want to visit at some point. It just seems like a city that I would love.
2. United Kingdom. It's not that hard to figure out the first thing that made me want to visit the UK: Harry Potter. Even though Harry Potter was the start of it, I've since learned a lot more about Britain, and I want to visit it for a lot of reasons. I wouldn't turn down visiting anywhere in the country, but I really want to go to London and Edinburgh.
3. Japan. I've started to be a lot more interested in Japanese culture much more recently. It probably started somewhere in the past three years. I'm actually considering teaching English in Japan after college.
4. South Korea. I got interested in Korean culture sometime after I got interested in Japanese culture. I'm also considering teaching English in South Korea instead of Japan, but Japan's still my first choice. (Unless my friend Ji is successful in convincing me to go to Korea instead. They are going to be hosting the Olympics in the future...)
5. New Zealand. In eighth grade we had an assignment to do a travel brochure for any place we chose. I just randomly choose Auckland, New Zealand. Over the course of working on the brochure, I found all of this awesome stuff to do in Auckland, and I started to really want to go. Plus, it's absolutely beautiful.
6. Australia. My AP biology teacher last year showed us video from her trip to Australia and New Zealand last year, and she had some cool stories. It would be awesome to see the Great Barrier Reef.
This is just a small list of places I want to visit. Honestly, I don't think I'd turn down seeing any part of the world. What places do you most want to visit.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Birthday Celebrations
My whole morning is pretty much a blur because I was half asleep the whole time. I really should start going to bed earlier with school starting in less than a week, but I know it's not going to happen. One thing I can tell you about this morning is that the end of church was just a little depressing. I'm not going to lie. I can barely remember any of mass today because I completely zoned out every couple of minutes, but I do remember the end of mass. Our priest announced this weekend that he's getting transfered to a different parish. There were some tears, and I'm surprised I didn't bawl my eyes out. (I'm usually way more emotional when I'm tired.) Anyway, we don't have a new priest yet, and we may not even get one. It's possible we'll just have a guest priest every single weekend instead. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but that's enough about church.
My family and I went out to dinner tonight to celebrate my birthday. We ate at the local Mexican restaurant because I absolutely love Mexican. Once we got home, we had cake which just so happened to be in my favorite colors: purple and orange. I also opened my presents, and I'm really happy with what I got. My parents gave me Sims 3 which I've wanted forever! It's currently downloading on my computer as I type this. I've actually never played it. I've only played an older version that my best friend has. I also got the Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince ultimate edition DVDs to add to my ever growing Harry Potter DVD collections. Lastly, my parents gave me a wireless printer. I've been wanting one forever since it's a pain to have to use our slow ancient computer every time I need to print. They finally bought one because they say I'll need it at college next year.
I guess I'm officially done celebrating my birthday since the cake and presents are finished. I have to say, my birthday was pretty awesome this year. Here's to hoping my first year as an "adult" is just as great.
My family and I went out to dinner tonight to celebrate my birthday. We ate at the local Mexican restaurant because I absolutely love Mexican. Once we got home, we had cake which just so happened to be in my favorite colors: purple and orange. I also opened my presents, and I'm really happy with what I got. My parents gave me Sims 3 which I've wanted forever! It's currently downloading on my computer as I type this. I've actually never played it. I've only played an older version that my best friend has. I also got the Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince ultimate edition DVDs to add to my ever growing Harry Potter DVD collections. Lastly, my parents gave me a wireless printer. I've been wanting one forever since it's a pain to have to use our slow ancient computer every time I need to print. They finally bought one because they say I'll need it at college next year.
I guess I'm officially done celebrating my birthday since the cake and presents are finished. I have to say, my birthday was pretty awesome this year. Here's to hoping my first year as an "adult" is just as great.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Book Review: Reborn by Ley Mesina
ISBN: 0012601624Published: May 26th, 2011
Publisher: Ley Mesina
Read from July 18th to August 1st, 2011
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Review:Lily Westbrook discovers that being half witch and half vampire is more of a challenge than she thought. When her powers mature on her eighteenth birthday, she unlocks a mystery that many witches thought was a legend.
After moving back to her birthplace in Cedar Creek, MA to attend Kensington University, Lily is instantly pulled deeper into the world she was kept from- the world of witches and vampires-uncovering the truth about her past and discovering who she is meant to be.
I enjoyed reading this, but I also have a few issues with it. There were quite a few grammar mistakes, and it was a little distracting at times. I was able to look past that though especially since it's self-published. There were also times where I felt the writing was rushed. A lot of things were summarized quickly when I feel they could have been described and talked about more. I think I would have gotten a lot more into the story if more time had been taken to describe everything that happens. I also felt that the ending was very abrupt. I'm pretty sure that went along with the summarizing a lot though. It just seemed to end at a weird spot for me. This is a novella, but I really think it would have worked better as a novel. There needed to be more room to explain things and go into detail.
Now that I've gotten all of that out of the way, I do want to say that I enjoyed reading this. I found the characters and the mythology to be really interesting. I really want to read the next book and see what happens to all of the characters.
I loved reading a story that focuses on vampires and witches since that's not a combination that's seen too often unless you throw in some other creatures too. I'm not a huge vampire fan, but I love reading about witches. I think the mythology in Reborn was awesome. The Goddess of the Night was also a really interesting idea.
Even though I had a number of problems with this novella, I found it very interesting overall, and I look forward to any future books in the series.
I recieved this book for free from the author or publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. This in no way affected my review of the book.
Friday, August 5, 2011
My 18th Birthday
This is the first blog post I've written as an 18 year old! My birthday yesterday was rather uneventful as I spent most of it just sitting around the house being really unproductive. However, being 18 does mean a few things.
1. I'm legally an adult! This really hasn't meant much yet, but it doesn't mean I can't be excited about it. It just feels cool.
2. I'm able to vote! I haven't registered yet because I didn't have my ID with me when they came to my school. You can be sure that I'll be registered by the next election though, and I will most definitely be voting. I'm a huge history nerd. I'm not as in to politics, but I do realize how important it is to vote. We are so lucky to live in a country where we have a say in the government.
3. I'm finished posting vlogs every single weekday. I've mentioned in several blog posts that I've been posting videos every weekday since my 17th birthday on Youtube. That's now finished. If you've followed my blog for more than a year, then you know I used to blog a lot about what was happening in my life. What happened to those posts? I was making tons of videos about the same thing. Now that I'll have fewer vlogs about my life and stuff I'll be doing more blog posts like the ones I used to do. I'll still have the book reviews and other random posts that I've had for the past year though, so don't worry about those disappearing.
Like I said, yesterday was a lazy day. I had a headache most of yesterday and today which has me a bit worried. My sister's pretty sick right now, and it apparently all started with a really bad headache. Let's hope for the best.
My family is celebrating my birthday Sunday, and one of my closest friends is probably coming over later. I'm not completely ignoring my birthday. Some people (re: my sister) think I'm crazy for not having a big party or something. You'd think she would understand that someone as socially awkward as me isn't one to throw big parties, even for their 18th birthday. I can't wait until Sunday though. Even socially awkward people don't turn down presents (even if the part where people stare as you open them is awkward).
1. I'm legally an adult! This really hasn't meant much yet, but it doesn't mean I can't be excited about it. It just feels cool.
2. I'm able to vote! I haven't registered yet because I didn't have my ID with me when they came to my school. You can be sure that I'll be registered by the next election though, and I will most definitely be voting. I'm a huge history nerd. I'm not as in to politics, but I do realize how important it is to vote. We are so lucky to live in a country where we have a say in the government.
3. I'm finished posting vlogs every single weekday. I've mentioned in several blog posts that I've been posting videos every weekday since my 17th birthday on Youtube. That's now finished. If you've followed my blog for more than a year, then you know I used to blog a lot about what was happening in my life. What happened to those posts? I was making tons of videos about the same thing. Now that I'll have fewer vlogs about my life and stuff I'll be doing more blog posts like the ones I used to do. I'll still have the book reviews and other random posts that I've had for the past year though, so don't worry about those disappearing.
Like I said, yesterday was a lazy day. I had a headache most of yesterday and today which has me a bit worried. My sister's pretty sick right now, and it apparently all started with a really bad headache. Let's hope for the best.
My family is celebrating my birthday Sunday, and one of my closest friends is probably coming over later. I'm not completely ignoring my birthday. Some people (re: my sister) think I'm crazy for not having a big party or something. You'd think she would understand that someone as socially awkward as me isn't one to throw big parties, even for their 18th birthday. I can't wait until Sunday though. Even socially awkward people don't turn down presents (even if the part where people stare as you open them is awkward).
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Book Review: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Grammar and Style by Laurie E. Rozakis
ISBN: 1592571158Published: August 5th, 2003
Publisher: Alpha
Read from June 27th to August 1st, 2011
Synopsis from Goodreads:
You're no idiot, of course. You've probably written your share of book reports,, term papers, e-mails, and thank you notes. The rules of writing can be confusing, however, and might result in final drafts riddled with gaffes, typos, and errors! The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Grammar and Style, Second Edition, will take you step by step through the basics of spelling, punctuation, and sentence formation to help you become an effective communicator of the written word! In this revised and updated Complete Idiot's Guide®, you get: Explanations of writing styles including exposition, narration, argumentation, and description. Definitions of such writing mistakes as dangling modifiers, mixed metaphors, and split infinitives–and how to avoid them. Examples of model documents such as resumes, cover letters, and thank you notes. The differences between drafting a business letter and crafting a personal one.Review:
This is an excellent book for anyone who wants to learn grammar. It's especially good for someone who wants to learn how to write better in a business setting. For any non-native English speakers, there are special sections for you throughout the book, which I think is a good idea. Native English speakers don't often speak completely correct English, but there are still a lot of things that come naturally to them that won't to a non-native English speakers.
It reads a lot like a text book, but it's so much funner. Whereas our school text books usually have boring examples and exercises, this book has a lot of really fun one. The author comes up with the most random, hilarious sentences. Her writing style just makes it all a lot more fun. There are a lot of exercises throughout the book that let you test yourself and see if you've learned anything. The answers follow right after the exercises, so you always know how well you did.
My only complaint is that it only focused on business and non-fiction writing. I know that's the only writing a majority of the population does, and it's very useful to know. However, it would have been nice to at least have a little bit about it in the book. I would have been happy with just a small little section that said something about it.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Teaser Tuesdays - Dear Mr. Potter
Teaser Tuesdays is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading. Here's what you do:
"I was only doing what millions of other eleven year olds were doing--waiting for my Hogwarts letter. I still can't believe it never came." - Sabrina F., page 127
•Grab your current readIt's been a while since I've done this! This quote is from Dear Mr. Potter. It's a book filled with letters that Harry Potter fans wrote to Harry. It was compiled and edited by Lily Zalon.
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
"I was only doing what millions of other eleven year olds were doing--waiting for my Hogwarts letter. I still can't believe it never came." - Sabrina F., page 127
Monday, August 1, 2011
Giveaway: Ouran High School Host Club Volume 5
It's my first giveaway! I've wanted to do this for a while. This is just going to be for the U.S. since it's my first giveaway. I hope to have an international one in the future.The giveaway is for Ouran High School Host Club Volume 5 by Bisco Hatori. It's a manga. I know volume 5 is a random one to giveaway, but my dad bought it for me without realizing that I already had it. It hasn't been read or anything and pretty much looks brand new. If you're at all interested in reading Ouran, I'd encourage you to enter the giveaway. You'd probably understand everything just fine even if you haven't read volumes 1 through 4. Here's a little about the book and series:
Synopsis from Goodreads:
That's Goodreads' synopsis for Volume 5, but it really only describes the series as a whole, so I typed up the synopsis on the back of the book. (This is only the second paragraph on the back. The first is just a summary of the synopsis from Goodreads.) The synopsis for Volume 5:In this sharp-witted romantic comedy about the clash of the classes (of all kinds), a poor girl at a rich kids' school ends up working at the school's toniest club-and gets mistaken for a boy!
In this high anticipated title, a kind of cross between HANA-KIMI and BOYS OVER FLOWERS, Haruhi is a scholarship student at an exclusive private school: Ouran High School, where it turns out the bespectacled, short-haired Haruhi is the only student from a lower-middle class family in attendance!
Then, to make matters worse, one day she breaks an $80,000 vase that belongs to one of the campus clubs-a mysterious outfit called the "Host Club," consisting of six superrich (and gorgeous) guys. Haruhi can't afford to pay back the cost of the vase, of course, so she's forced to work for the Host Club! And it's there that she discovers just how rich all the boys are and how different the rich are from you and me...And meanwhile, the eccentric but good-hearted rich boys are shocked to find out how life is on the other side...
Haruhi's top ranking falls and she is in jeopardy of losing her scholarship at Ouran. Each member of the Host Club scrambles to become her tutor, but Haruhi picks a female student, Ayame, to help her. Haruhi's time is now spent with Ayame, who can't stand Tamaki. Can Tamaki charm his way into Ayame's good graces so the Host Club can spend time with their favorite member?You must be a follower of this blog to enter.
The giveaway ends August 31st. I'll chose a winner on September 1st using random.org.
If you win, I'll email you to get your mailing address. If you don't email back within 48 hours, I'll choose another winner.
Remember: I'm new at this, so there may be some bumbs in the road. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly.
To enter, just fill out this form:
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