Today has been pretty great so far. Without having class this morning, I got to sleep in, which was amazing, and the new episode of Korra came out. I'm about halfway through right now. I want nothing more than to watch it, but I want to get my homework done and out of the way too. I compromised by watching it bits at a time, but I'm loving it so far. I really, really want to finished. (I just wish Nick's video player wasn't so cranky about people pausing the video and coming back to try and play it later, I have to keep refreshing the video and moving it to where I was, but it never wants to go to that exact place. That player is weird.)
Not having class today has also given me an excuse to actually write some today. I've already written quite a bit today, and I hope to write more later. I was doing that instead of homework though, so right now I'm focusing on homework again. If I can get that done, then I'll have more time to write, but I have to do my homework before I'm doing it way late into the day.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Book Review: Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston
ISBN: 0399257543Published: October 2nd, 2014 (first published January 1st, 2013)
Publisher: Orchard Books
Read from August 19th to September 21st, 2014
Synopsis from Goodreads:
From New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston comes this remarkable first book in a spellbinding new series about the dawn of a new kind of magic.
Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature—freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows.
At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she's heard of a mythical land simply called “the Blue.” They say it’s a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it’s a place where Nat won’t be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light.
But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson to take her there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all.
Review:
I received this book for review from Netgalley. The main reason I decided to read and review it is that I've heard many people say they've enjoyed Melissa de la Cruz's other books. There was also the fact that its synopsis immediately had me intrigued. You're told right away that it's a fantasy book, and you can also pretty much get the dystopic aspects from the synopsis. I love both fantasy and dystopian, so I was interested to see those sort of combined.
That being said, I didn't really end up being all that intrigued by the world created in the book. The world's gone into another ice age, which has caused the nations to kind of fall apart. The USA is now the RSA or the Remaining States of America. In addition to that, some people have started being born with special powers and there's this mysterious place called the Blue (which is also talked about as being Atlantis, Avalon, etc. at different times in history) where the world hasn't completely fall apart like it has everywhere else. That all sounds good in theory, but I'll admit that I wasn't blown away by it. Something about the world just didn't work for me. I couldn't get a good sense of how they had went from the world we have today to the one they have. Most of that had to do with the magic than anything else. I love fantasy, but something seemed weird about how everything played out. It's not something I can directly put my finger on because it wasn't anything I flat out hated. I just couldn't really get into it.
I did enjoy the book more than anything, but I'm not sure if I enjoyed it enough to continue with the series. If I happen to see the next book in the future, maybe I'll pick it up, but I don't see myself going that far out of my way to read it. It wasn't a bad book, and I can definitely see that others would like it much more than I would. If you find the synopsis interesting, then I would recommend going ahead and giving it a try.
Life Post: Papers and Reading and Studying
The rain we're currently having isn't helping with the gloom and stress of this week. Pretty much the only thing we talked about in Spanish today (and I mean even in the lesson) is how stressed everyone is over midterms. This week has pretty much evened out for me after the very chaotic start, but I'm still feeling the stress that everyone else is too. I'm mostly just trying to focus on getting my work done for that particular day and not focusing too much on how much I need to do overall.
I still haven't written any this week, but I'm hoping that I can squeeze it in tomorrow since my only class is canceled, which I've never been more thankful for. It's possible I could write today, but I'm already looking at the long list of papers and reading and studying that I need to do today (and haven't started on yet as I just woke up from a nap) and it's almost certainly not going to happen.
Season two of Reign airs tonight, so my biggest goal is to have my homework finished before it comes on. Since it comes on at nine, I should be able to accomplish that. I've been working on homework until late recently, but I've been getting it done by about nine at the latest. Let's just hope that tonight's not an exception. I'd hate to be working on homework wile trying to focus on Reign just because I don't want to be up really late. (Sure I don't have class tomorrow, but I'd like to use that opportunity to actually get sleep.)
Just a little more than a week until midterms are over...
I still haven't written any this week, but I'm hoping that I can squeeze it in tomorrow since my only class is canceled, which I've never been more thankful for. It's possible I could write today, but I'm already looking at the long list of papers and reading and studying that I need to do today (and haven't started on yet as I just woke up from a nap) and it's almost certainly not going to happen.
Season two of Reign airs tonight, so my biggest goal is to have my homework finished before it comes on. Since it comes on at nine, I should be able to accomplish that. I've been working on homework until late recently, but I've been getting it done by about nine at the latest. Let's just hope that tonight's not an exception. I'd hate to be working on homework wile trying to focus on Reign just because I don't want to be up really late. (Sure I don't have class tomorrow, but I'd like to use that opportunity to actually get sleep.)
Just a little more than a week until midterms are over...
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Life Post: Midterms Are Coming
Happy October, everyone. I guess I should start getting into the Halloween spirit now, but I'm still adjusting to that fact that it's autumn. (Random fun fact: I've started trying to phase fall out of my vocabulary when it comes to the season. I think autumn is one of my favorite words, and it's not used enough. "Fall," on the other hand, is a terrible name for a season.)
School is really starting to get busy. I had a heavy workload the past two days, and I didn't think much of it because that's been happening intermittently the entire semester. Now though it's starting to look like that's not really going to let up until midterms are over (i.e. midterm break). That means the rest of this week and next are probably going to get really stressful. Honestly, this week didn't start off too great, but that was due to a variety of factors. I don't think I was alone either because I seemed to get the sense that this week has been going pretty terribly for a lot of people on campus. Today was better though even though my workload is even larger than the past couple of days. It's kind of ironic. That being said, I don't want to think about the amount of homework I still have to do tonight. Let's just focus on the fact that I'm almost halfway done with it.
I haven't done any writing since Sunday because of all the work. I honestly don't know if I'll get any done until after midterms. This draft is taking much longer than I would have hoped. Sometimes I look at the word count and can't believe I've written so little in such a long span of time. I think that more than anything else shows me how much my workload has increased since freshmen year. I don't even want to think about what senior year will be like. I just want to get through midterms, and then hopefully get some writing done over break, even if it's only two days long (or four with the weekend).
Reign also comes back tomorrow, and then we have Korra on Friday. I can't decide whether that's a good distraction in order to distress or if it's a bad distraction that will take away from studying time. I guess we'll see, but I am really excited for them both.
School is really starting to get busy. I had a heavy workload the past two days, and I didn't think much of it because that's been happening intermittently the entire semester. Now though it's starting to look like that's not really going to let up until midterms are over (i.e. midterm break). That means the rest of this week and next are probably going to get really stressful. Honestly, this week didn't start off too great, but that was due to a variety of factors. I don't think I was alone either because I seemed to get the sense that this week has been going pretty terribly for a lot of people on campus. Today was better though even though my workload is even larger than the past couple of days. It's kind of ironic. That being said, I don't want to think about the amount of homework I still have to do tonight. Let's just focus on the fact that I'm almost halfway done with it.
I haven't done any writing since Sunday because of all the work. I honestly don't know if I'll get any done until after midterms. This draft is taking much longer than I would have hoped. Sometimes I look at the word count and can't believe I've written so little in such a long span of time. I think that more than anything else shows me how much my workload has increased since freshmen year. I don't even want to think about what senior year will be like. I just want to get through midterms, and then hopefully get some writing done over break, even if it's only two days long (or four with the weekend).
Reign also comes back tomorrow, and then we have Korra on Friday. I can't decide whether that's a good distraction in order to distress or if it's a bad distraction that will take away from studying time. I guess we'll see, but I am really excited for them both.
Book Review: The Road to Freedom by Charles Cobb Jr.
ISBN: 1565124391Published: January 15th, 2008
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Read from September 18th to 21st, 2014
Synopsis from Goodreads:
This in-depth look at the civil rights movement goes to the places where pioneers of the movement marched, sat-in at lunch counters, gathered in churches; where they spoke, taught, and organized; where they were arrested, where they lost their lives, and where they triumphed.
Award-winning journalist Charles E. Cobb Jr., a former organizer and field secretary for SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), knows the journey intimately. He guides us through Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, back to the real grassroots of the movement. He pays tribute not only to the men and women etched into our national memory but to local people whose seemingly small contributions made an impact. We go inside the organizations that framed the movement, travel on the "Freedom Rides" of 1961, and hear first-person accounts about the events that inspired Brown vs. Board of Education.
An essential piece of American history, this is also a useful travel guide with maps, photographs, and sidebars of background history, newspaper coverage, and firsthand interviews.
Review:
This book is fantastic. It's a travel book and a history book at the same time. It takes each southern state chapter-by-chapter and focuses on the history of various places that you can visit that were significant to the civil rights movement. Everyone should be warned that there is a lot of history in this book. There's more history than there is the typical travel book kind of stuff. I really enjoyed that because not only do I enjoy history, but I think understanding the history of these various places is what makes them so great to visit.
I really loved learning things about the civil rights movement that I never knew before, and I honestly think this book is great for absolutely everyone. Even if you're not planning a trip to any of the places mentioned, it is a great book to read just for the history in it. I'd highly recommend it. That being said, I also really want to plan a trip to all of the different places talked about because I think they'd be great to see.
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