Memories

Today's topic: your earliest memory.  I honestly have no idea what my first memory is.  I can remember little bits and pieces of things that happened when I was little, but I have no idea which one came first.  I'd say I'm about two or three in a lot of them because they happened in our old house that I barely remember.  (We moved into a different house when I was four.)  Some of it I'm not even sure if it's an actual memory or something I've made up in my head based on what other people have told me or seen in home videos or pictures.

My grandma used to babysit me when I was little, and I remember her bringing chicken noodle soup one day.  I was really excited about it.  Kind of weird I know, but I used to love chicken noodle soup.

I also remember these two dogs our neighbors used to have that I went outside and played with all the time.

One thing that I'm pretty sure is an actual memory (since no one else was around) was playing with my imaginary friends one day.  For some reason, I can just remember sitting in my room talking to them.

There are several other things I can kind of remember, but none of them are really that interesting.

Today was uneventful for me other than paramedics showing up in the middle of church.  They took some lady out in a wheelchair, but I'm not sure why.  I was on the opposite side of the church and didn't see what happened.  I didn't even know something had happened until the paramedics came in.  That was my extent of excitement for the day.

The Razzie winners were announced for this year.  Guess who won five.  Yep, The Last Airbender.  Isn't that shocking?  Here's the awards it won:

Worst Movie
Worst Supporting Actor (Jackson Rathbone)
Worst Director
Worst Screenplay
Worst Eye-Gouging Misuse of 3D

Yeah, I don't think that's helping the chances of a sequel.  Eclipse was nominated for a lot of them too, but it didn't actually win any.

Days Until:
Deathly Hallows Part 1 DVD: 43
The Twilight Saga: The Complete Illustrated Guide released: 44
LeakyCon 2011: 136
Deathly Hallows Part 2 Movie: 138
My 18th Birthday: 158
Breaking Dawn Part 1 Movie: 264
Breaking Dawn Part 2 Movie: 628

Books Read in 2011: 6
Harry Potter Reread: GoF 9

In My Mailbox - February 27th, 2011

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

ISBN: 0673583503

Edition I'm reading was published December 1982 by Warner Books (first published 1960)

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.

The book pictured is not the edition I'm reading, or the edition that the publication information is for.  Amazon didn't have a picture for the edition I'm reading.

We're reading this book for school, and I have one of the school's copies.  Obviously, I'm not going to be keeping the book, but I felt like it could still qualify for In My Mailbox.

Places to Go

This post is all about places I want to visit and/or live in.  I think I'm going to go more for visit, but I wouldn't mind living in these places either.

I love visiting new places, so I could probably rant forever about places I want to see.  Instead, I narrowed it done to two cities in the U.S. and four countries.  I've only been to one of the cities before (unfortunately, I've never been outside of the U.S.), but I'd love to visit all of the other places someday.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. is the only place on this list that I've actually visited before.  My grandma, sister, and I went there over summer break the summer before last.  I loved it!  I'm a huge history nerd, and Washington, D.C. is a great place for someone who loves history.  The Smithsonian museums were amazing.  I was sad that we were only able to go to a couple of them (The Natural History Museum and The Museum of American History).  When I go back (because I'm determined to go back), I plan on seeing the rest of the Smithsonian and the Holocaust Museum.

I also loved the memorials and seeing the White House.  My sister was unimpressed with the White House, but I was in awe.  She said it was boring because there's nothing there but a big, white building, but I couldn't help but think about the fact that the President of the United States could be that close to me.  (Although it's really not that close.  When you see pictures of the White House, they're pretty misleading over how far away it is from the gate that you have to stand at to look at it.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to see the inside of the White House.  That's another goal of mine.  However, while we were on Pennsylvania Avenue, the presidential motorcade went by.  It happened so fast that we didn't even realize what had happened until afterwards.  Let's just say that I was kind of in shock.

Oh, as an interesting side note, we were in D.C. when Michael Jackson died.  We were standing in the National Archives gift shop when some lady who worked there yelled it out to everyone.  I may possibly have been looking at the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution when MJ died.  That's definitely going to be something I tell my grandkids.

Anyway, I've definitely ranted enough about Washington, D.C.

Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles is a city I've wanted to visit for a very long time.  It just seems like an awesome place especially with all of the celebrities that live there.  This might have something to do with the fact that I wanted to be an actress for the longest time.  I also love California weather (even if I've never actually experienced it).  I hate the cold.

Japan



In the past year or so I've really gotten into anime and manga which has made me really interested in Japanese culture.  I think it would be an amazing country to visit.  My uncle's a Marine (or was, he's retiring really soon), and he's been stationed in Okinawa twice.  Unfortunately, they're (him and his family) moving back here really soon when he retires.  I really wish we could have visited them over there.  I'm seriously considering going to Japan to teach English after college.

Great Britain

I'll admit that I want to visit Britain mainly because it's where the Harry Potter series takes place, but I also really love British history.  (Plus, they have awesome accents.)

Germany

My main reason for wanting to visit Germany is that most of my ancestors came to America from Germany.  Remember that uncle that's a Marine?  Well, one of his daughters married someone in the military (I'm pretty sure that he's in the Air Force, but I may be wrong), and he's stationed in Germany.  I think they're only over there for another year or so, and my parents aren't too keen to go over and visit while they're there.  (Why most traveling cost so much money?)  Still, I will get there someday.

New Zealand

In eighth grade our teacher made us write a travel brochure from any city of our choosing.  I randomly searched cities and found Auckland, New Zealand.  Before hand, I didn't really know much about New Zealand.  Now, it's one of my top countries to visit.  It just seems so beautiful.  Plus, while making that brochure, I found a lot of amazing things to do in Auckland.  (The Internet is a great place to find stuff to do when you travel.)

As I said, this definetely isn't a complete list of places I want to visit.  I'd love to go anywhere I haven't been before really.  This is just a list of some of my top places.

As for what I did today, nothing much.  I went to work for four hours, and I was about to fall asleep the whole time.  I'm seriously start to wonder if I have sleep deprivation.  It wouldn't surprise me.  I need a break so badly...

Days Until:

Deathly Hallows Part 1 DVD: 44

The Twilight Saga: The Complete Illustrated Guide released: 45
LeakyCon 2011: 137
Deathly Hallows Part 2 Movie: 139
My 18th Birthday: 159
Breaking Dawn Part 1 Movie: 265
Breaking Dawn Part 2 Movie: 629

Books Read in 2011: 6

Harry Potter Reread: GoF chapter 8

Haley

Booking Through Thursday: Something Old, Something New

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme that asks a question about books and reading.  This week's question is:

All other things being equal–do you prefer used books? Or new books? (The physical speciman, that is, not the title.) Does your preference differentiate between a standard kind of used book, and a pristine, leather-bound copy?

I'd say I usually prefer new books.  I feel a little bad about saying that though because I hate thinking about all of the trees that get cut down to make the books I own, which reading The Story of Stuff didn't make better.  There's just something about new books that I like though.  Unless it's a book that's special to me in some way such as my Harry Potter books that I love even though they've gotten a little torn up over the years.  Over all though, I prefer new books.

Haley

Guest Post: Ami Blackwelder, Author of The Shifters of 2040

Eloquent Enraptures and author Ami Blackwelder proudly presents the six part science fiction/paranormal romance saga! Like nothing you have ever experienced!

Shifters of 2040:

“I’m pregnant. Her eyes peered over the edge of the cloth and confronted her mirrored reflection with that truth. I’m pregnant…by a SHIFTER. Oh, god!”

In “The Shifters of 2040,” Scientist Melissa Marn finds her world swirling on its axis with that one revelation. Shifters — a sentient alien species of light — look to Earth for refuge. In doing so, both shifters and humans are forced to confront prejudice, betrayal, adversity and oppression.

Methodical scientist, Melissa Marn, and her coworker, Dr. Bruce Wilder, conduct experiments on the shifters. Through her pregnancy, she becomes more compassionate and humane and finds herself defending the very species she’s supposed to eradicate.

One of the hybrids, Diamond, falls in love with Keenan, a soldier trained to kill her. Between the four, the reader is led from conflict to resolution, from despair to hope, from loneliness to love.

Much of the book’s originality lies in the shifters, common characters in science fiction, but whose origins are rarely explained. In this series, their alien DNA allows them to metamorphose into not just wolves, but a variety of animals. As the plot unfolds, the shifters discover they can have children with humans — hybrids.

Strengths of the novel include the complex characters, its writing style of poetic prose and rich description, and the well developed, thought-provoking, yet highly entertaining plot.

This fast paced book will appeal to the young adult and adult market. It fits nicely into the paranormal romance and science fiction romance genres and would make a great movie, a captivating TV series and an intriguing video game.

Readers will enjoy the fresh approach and original concept of the world thirty years from now, and will find the characters come to life in their minds long after they read “The End.”

Shifter Evolutions video and purchase options at her website.

http://amiblackwelder.com/

The Shifters of 2040

Character Interview: This interview will be conducted for the characters of the Shifters of 2040. Scientist Melissa Marn and the hybrid Diamond.

Do you always love what you can’t have?
Melissa Marn: The Smithsonian, Bruce Wilder. I guess I do. But my life is controlled by the SCM now, by my father and General Raul. They decided this fate for me. If I had my way, I’d run off with Bruce somewhere far away...
Diamond: I fell in love with the enemy on accident. I didn’t plan to love Keenan, the military soldier sworn to kill me and my kind. He didn’t plan to love me. We just happened.

If you were a quality?
Melissa Marn: The River. I am methodical like waves. I do the job needed to be done, whatever the cost of erosion, and flow continually. Close to the Earth, but I am cold, because the SCM coaxed me since fifteen, and trained me since twenty-five.
Diamond: The Hawk. This is my other half, the beast inside of me, that the humans fear. I fly above the world and watch. Silent, and steady, but strong.

If you were a flaw?
Melissa Marn: Ice. I am cold, and hard. And too easily I melt and conform to the shape I am enclosed in, that prisoner the SCM has built around my life.
Diamond: The Heart. I feel too much. Emotions explode inside of me, and I sense my heart will be the end of me one day. If I could only feel less...

Do you always walk on the moral slippery slope?
Melissa Marn: It’s my job! It’s all I know. And if I didn’t do it, someone else would. What then? I know the shifters are more than the SCM tells us they are. They must feel something. But what? My curiosity and scientific training drives me. I have to find answers to my questions. I have to perform my duty!
Diamond: But I love him! I know being with him draws danger to my kind, to my family. My sister. But he would never betray me, willingly. I know he loves me too. And though I am sworn to stay away from him, from all SCM, my heart dominates my head.

Favorite food?
Melissa Marn: The Italian restaurant Little Milan. Bruce and I have shared many discussions, heated arguments, and romantic memories there.
Diamond: Mice...I am half hawk.

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