I don't understand the appeal of Facebook. I never have. When MySpace was a thing, I didn't like it either. I'm not sure why, but after creating accounts on both sites, I just never wanted to use them. I was always more interested in other things on the Internet, like blogs, Youtube, forums, and those sorts of things.
It wasn't until Twitter became a thing that I actually became interested in social media. (I think Youtube is typically considered social media, but I'm not sure how much it actually is.) I have no idea why Twitter managed to draw me in when Facebook and MySpace didn't. But now I've been on there for more than seven years, and I'm still using it all the time.
Lately I've been tweeting less because I'm trying to get more stuff done and not get distracted. The past year or so I've started going through periods where I tweet and don't tweet. But in some ways I feel like Twitter is one of my great loves on the Internet.
Of course, there's all the talk recently about and increased character limit and a new Twitter feed. I'm not sure if those changes would still feel like Twitter. It kind of scares me a bit to be honest. It's ridiculous how worried I am about not enjoying Twitter anymore. Sure, even now I have times where I don't want to be on it, but I never seriously think about leaving. It's hard to imagine that one day the site itself might go downhill or I'll just lose interest.
I have no idea what this blog is. Think of it as just random journaling on thoughts. I've been thinking about Twitter a lot recently with the rumors/news. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how I feel about Twitter in ten years.
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
A More Detailed Explanation About My Feelings Over Uglies
I read the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld years ago. In fact, those books are part of the group of books that I lump together as teenager me's favorites. But I don't talk about Uglies all that much anymore. There are a lot of reasons for that. One of them is that it's just been so long since I read it, but another is definitely that I am still not over the ending. In fact, when I do mention Uglies, it seems to come up in tag posts or videos that I do more than anything else, and it's almost always me complaining about how I'm unhappy with the ending. That's the only thing about the book that I ever highlight. It's my poster child for unsatisfying endings.
You might think then that this would be a post where I said something else about the series then, but you would be wrong. I do have plenty of other things I could talk about. One big one would be about how everyone else who reads these books seems to come away with entirely different opinions about the characters than I have, which has always confused me. But maybe I'll go there another day.
For now I actually want to talk more about how I feel about the ending of the Uglies series. I decided it was needed after yet another tag where I included a vague answer about my feelings. I realized that I've never talked about it in much detail because I try to keep the answer short and avoid spoiling the entire series. I don't know how much I've actually disclosed about what I dislike about the ending.
I'm not going to turn this into an analysis for why I'm right using evidence from the text or anything like that. I don't even think this is something anyone can be right or wrong about anyway in my opinion. It's just how I feel about the characters and what happens to them.
Because of that, this is going to be brief. I've spent way too long setting up this post compared to what I actually want to say, but here we go. Fair warning, spoilers for the first three Uglies books follows:
I hate David as a character. I hated him from the first book. When I think back on it, it might have been the first time I had such a strong, negative reaction to a fictional character. Mostly, I hated him because of what he did to Shay, who was my second favorite character of the series (something that seems to be an unpopular opinion). Don't get me wrong, I blame Tally for it too, and I'm not always that fond of her either. (Again, thinking back, I realize that Uglies was the first time I hated a main character yet realized I could genuinely enjoy the book.)
Funnily enough, I also didn't like Zane at first. That was because I was suspicious of him, but then it turned out that my suspicion was unfounded. After that, I realized that he was excellent, and he became my favorite character in the series.
It's not going to surprise anyone that I wanted my favorite character to wind up with Tally over the character I hate. (It would have actually been great if he'd survived the series, if nothing else. That also would have been nice.) There's more to my anger over the ending though. What made it relatively okay for me is that Tally and David aren't actually together in the end. They're just heading in that direction.
My feelings towards Tally and David aren't only about Zane though. I don't feel like David ever truly feels sorry about what he did to Shay whereas I did feel that from Tally (I know people would disagree with that.), and maybe I should see that as a small thing in the grand scheme of things. I just can't. It feels like it becomes even worse with the ending.
None of this is to say I feel real anger about the ending (I did at one point), and it's not to say I would criticize Scott Westerfeld as a writer for ending it the way he did. It's not personally what I wanted, but I don't think it was badly done. I do want to make that clear. It's not a bad ending in that sense. It's just not my preferred ending or what I wanted.
I'm not sure how well I worded any of this. Once I started, I realized I had more details to share than I realized, and I don't know if I put it all together in the most coherent way possible. I also admit that I should re-read the books and see how I feel now. Maybe I'll do that after I get through all the other re-reads I want to do now that I've finished my Harry Potter re-read.
You might think then that this would be a post where I said something else about the series then, but you would be wrong. I do have plenty of other things I could talk about. One big one would be about how everyone else who reads these books seems to come away with entirely different opinions about the characters than I have, which has always confused me. But maybe I'll go there another day.
For now I actually want to talk more about how I feel about the ending of the Uglies series. I decided it was needed after yet another tag where I included a vague answer about my feelings. I realized that I've never talked about it in much detail because I try to keep the answer short and avoid spoiling the entire series. I don't know how much I've actually disclosed about what I dislike about the ending.
I'm not going to turn this into an analysis for why I'm right using evidence from the text or anything like that. I don't even think this is something anyone can be right or wrong about anyway in my opinion. It's just how I feel about the characters and what happens to them.
Because of that, this is going to be brief. I've spent way too long setting up this post compared to what I actually want to say, but here we go. Fair warning, spoilers for the first three Uglies books follows:
I hate David as a character. I hated him from the first book. When I think back on it, it might have been the first time I had such a strong, negative reaction to a fictional character. Mostly, I hated him because of what he did to Shay, who was my second favorite character of the series (something that seems to be an unpopular opinion). Don't get me wrong, I blame Tally for it too, and I'm not always that fond of her either. (Again, thinking back, I realize that Uglies was the first time I hated a main character yet realized I could genuinely enjoy the book.)
Funnily enough, I also didn't like Zane at first. That was because I was suspicious of him, but then it turned out that my suspicion was unfounded. After that, I realized that he was excellent, and he became my favorite character in the series.
It's not going to surprise anyone that I wanted my favorite character to wind up with Tally over the character I hate. (It would have actually been great if he'd survived the series, if nothing else. That also would have been nice.) There's more to my anger over the ending though. What made it relatively okay for me is that Tally and David aren't actually together in the end. They're just heading in that direction.
My feelings towards Tally and David aren't only about Zane though. I don't feel like David ever truly feels sorry about what he did to Shay whereas I did feel that from Tally (I know people would disagree with that.), and maybe I should see that as a small thing in the grand scheme of things. I just can't. It feels like it becomes even worse with the ending.
None of this is to say I feel real anger about the ending (I did at one point), and it's not to say I would criticize Scott Westerfeld as a writer for ending it the way he did. It's not personally what I wanted, but I don't think it was badly done. I do want to make that clear. It's not a bad ending in that sense. It's just not my preferred ending or what I wanted.
I'm not sure how well I worded any of this. Once I started, I realized I had more details to share than I realized, and I don't know if I put it all together in the most coherent way possible. I also admit that I should re-read the books and see how I feel now. Maybe I'll do that after I get through all the other re-reads I want to do now that I've finished my Harry Potter re-read.
Life Post: Tests and Intimidation
Today and Thursday are when I have to wake up earliest, and for some reason, I'm feeling particularly tired today. I'm trying to stay upbeat though and not act tired. Today is also when I'm trying to register for one of the big licensing tests I have to take to become a teacher. Even though it's just registering, I feel pretty nervous about having the date set in stone. I know I have to do it, but I don't now anyone who passed these tests the first time they took them. Even experienced teachers talk about how hard they are for them to go back and take years after teaching. So it's intimidating to think about.
Fingers crossed it goes well though. I'm not quite sure yet how far in the future I'm scheduling my test for. We'll see by the end of the day.
Fingers crossed it goes well though. I'm not quite sure yet how far in the future I'm scheduling my test for. We'll see by the end of the day.
Monday, February 1, 2016
Book Review: Paperglass (War of the Princes Book Two) by A.R. Ivanovich
ISBN: 9781939106575Published: January 5th, 2015 (first published January 1st, 2013)
Publisher: Alloy Entertainment
Read from January 22nd to February 1st, 2016
Synopsis from Goodreads:
After narrowly escaping the war-torn outside world with her life, Katelyn Kestrel vows to never again venture beyond the mountains of Haven Valley. But just as Katelyn begins to prepare for life after high school—a normal life with no warring princes, no dangerous magical abilities, and no handsome, duty-bound soldiers—the outside world comes crashing into her reality once again.
A team of explorers from Haven has been captured by Prince Raserion, the leader of the Western Kingdom. Only Katelyn, with her remarkable ability to find anything she looks for, can hunt the team down and bring them home. And only Katelyn knows just how much trouble the explorers—and all of Haven—are in . . .
The princes have been searching for Haven and its people for seven hundred long years. Like it or not, Katelyn must go back to the outside world and rescue the captives, or witness the destruction of everything she’s ever loved.
Review:
I can't remember the last time I sat down to write a book review the same day I finished the book. I'm so eager to talk about this one though. That being said, I won't say most of what I want to talk about most because I want to keep this spoiler free as much as possible. It's always challenging to talk about later books in any series because I don't know if I should write as if the reader (of the review) has read the first book or not. I tend to go with the more cautious approach of not spoiling the first book, despite some spoilers already being in the synopsis, so this review may be briefer. It doesn't mean I enjoyed the book any less.
In fact, I'm more or less in love with this book. It's one of the sequels that made me fall in love with the series even more. I would consider it one of the best fiction books I've read recently, and it feels like the first time in a long time that I've enjoyed a fantasy series this much, which I'm very happy about because I've been craving a good fantasy series for a while now.
This is one of those series that has managed to surprise me quite a bit so far. I have this idea of what I want to happen, but I don't have a clear idea of how the story will get there. It's one of those stories where I can't tell where things are going, and I also feel like it's been a while since I've found something like that. I enjoy only being able to guess and not feeling like I have any great guesses at that.
That's all I'll say in my attempt to not include any spoilers, but I think I'm going to have to get my spoiler-filled thoughts out somehow in the future. I'm also happy to say that I already have the next book because I want to start reading it as soon as possible. I'm excited to see what happens next.
I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Life Post: Getting Ahead
I feel like I've really gotten on top of things over the end of last week and the weekend. I'm ahead on school work, which feels awesome, and I'm currently editing two different fanfics getting them ready to be posted. Three if we include the drabble I'm working on sporadically for a certain event in a couple of weeks.
So I've been working on all of that basically. I think the bulk of my weekend was either working on school work not due for a while or reading this really awesome book. I'm almost done with that book. I only have the epilogue, and I haven't read it because I don't want it to be over. I'm saying that despite having the next two books in the series already on my Kindle. I can't wait to talk about it in a review.
Over on Youtube, I posted my Reign review for "Bruises That Lie." Yes, it was a whole week late again, but this time I got lucky because Reign is currently on a hiatus. So at least this time there wasn't another episode already out when I got my review up.
So I've been working on all of that basically. I think the bulk of my weekend was either working on school work not due for a while or reading this really awesome book. I'm almost done with that book. I only have the epilogue, and I haven't read it because I don't want it to be over. I'm saying that despite having the next two books in the series already on my Kindle. I can't wait to talk about it in a review.
Over on Youtube, I posted my Reign review for "Bruises That Lie." Yes, it was a whole week late again, but this time I got lucky because Reign is currently on a hiatus. So at least this time there wasn't another episode already out when I got my review up.
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