My Personal Fairytale

Road Trip Wednesday: Best Book of January (and an honorable mention!)

2012-02-01T19:24:00.000-08:00

This week's topic is: What was the best book you read in January?

I wasn't going to do RTW because, after spending nine hours at school and then coming home with things to look at for lesson plans and unit plans and TPA-ing and OMG MY BRAIN, I pretty much have no brain power for anything else.

But...I don't even have to think about my response to this one. Because, clearly, the only realistic contender for the best book I read in January is John Green's The Fault in Our Stars. (Btw, I'll try to remember to talk about Monday night at some point. Probably Friday or Saturday.) I'm not going to go into it again here, since I already wrote a review on Sunday, but it completely blew the competition out of the water.

Given the unfairness presented here by the release of such a brilliant book, I'm going to go ahead and give an honorable mention to Sarah J. Maas's The Assassin and the Pirate Lord. It had all of my favorite things: an awesome heroine with a softer side, a guy who's too smug for his own good but I couldn't help loving anyway, and pirates. And, the writing is awesome, which makes the whole thing that much better.

Okay. Back to work with me!

Currently Listening To: Fountains Of Wayne - "Stacy's Mom"
Currently Reading: Splendor by Anna Godbersen

Review: The Fault in Our Stars

2012-01-29T08:54:00.001-08:00

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Short Version: I'm too busy feeling ALL OF THE FEELINGS to attempt to write a coherent review, but trust me, this book was amazing.

Long Version: I'm having a hard time reviewing this one because I was just so blown away by it, but I'm going to try, anyway.

I think the thing I liked the most about TFiOS is the fact that I didn't feel like I was reading the usual "cancer book" - like, something I'd read in a Nicholas Sparks book, or see in a Lifetime movie, things that are obviously meant to elicit tears and make money. (No offense to Nicholas Sparks. I like his books. But still.) Instead, I felt like Green was trying to tell these characters' story, which just so happened to include cancer.

And let's talk about Hazel and Augustus, shall we? They were just so completely adorable. ~~(Related: John Green has made it impossible for me to ever date anyone who can't speak in witticisms.)~~ I was rooting for them the entire time, because I just couldn't help but love them. Related to my point about this not being a "cancer book" per se, I feel like the emphasis was much more on their romance, than on the cancer, because this book was, at its heart, Hazel and Augustus' love story.

I'm going to be completely honest, I'm having a hard time writing anything else here without it sounding even more incoherent than what I've already written. I tried consulting the notebook I write notes in about my books as I read them, and literally all I have written on the page for TFiOS is ALL THE FEELINGS. Because, really, if there is an emotion on the emotional spectrum, there is a pretty good chance I felt it while reading this book, and there were certain portions of the book where I felt all of the feelings at the same time, and had to stop reading because I was just that much of a mess.

SO. I hope this review was at least somewhat helpful. But really, I finished this book almost two weeks ago, and I'm still having a hard time expressing coherent thoughts about it.

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Friday Five #15

2012-01-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

1. After being trapped inside all last week, it was nice to be able to go out. A little bit. Earlier this week was pretty ridiculous, and I needed an arc, but yesterday was really nice, and I even walked to the store, which is probably a couple miles round trip. I didn't even wear a coat, which, as it turns out, was sort of a mistake because it's still a little chilly. But hooray for no longer being a prisoner in my own apartment!

2. So, since I'm getting ready to start my student teaching on Tuesday, I've decided that now is the PERFECT time to start writing Book Two. Because I won't be busy enough, right? Not with getting used to the school, and working on my teaching, and starting revisions on Book One (which will probably happen next weekend), and spending my weekends trapped in a kitchen making bacon and french toast for hungover college students, and trying to figure out this whole being a grownup thing. But I'm just so excited and I've got so much momentum, I can't not write it. So, anyway, it's called OPAQUE, and will follow Calanthe and Vantandal and Haydée, as well as some new characters such as Alex(andra) and Drew whom I'm totally loving already. ~~I don't understand my brain sometimes.~~

3. So, yeah, I start student teaching on Tuesday. I've already been in the classroom a few times, just observing and trying to figure out how things work, and starting to get to know the kids, but I start full time hours next week. I don't think I've mentioned it on here, but I'm teaching 6th graders. I'm excited.

4. I'll be road-tripping down to Seattle-ish on Monday evening to see John Green, along with my friend/fellow medievalist/Facebook wife Katelynne. DFTBA.

5. My life is so mundane, the only other thing I can think of off the top of my head is my sleep schedule. I've been trying to prepare myself for the shock of Mornings by trying to force myself to get up at 5:30 every morning this week. Monday was successful (because I was already awake, anyway), but on the whole I've been pretty bad at it. ~~Clearly, I've chosen the correct career path.~~

Currently Listening To: Jake Owen - "The One That Got Away"
Currently Reading: Splendor by Anna Godbersen

So...I finished my draft.

2012-01-25T17:05:00.000-08:00

So...this happened:

(I think it should get bigger if you click on it. If it doesn't, though, this is the last page of SHARDS OF MEMORY. Hooray!)

This is me right now:

...and then I remembered that now I get to revise the thing:

...but I'm going to go ignore that for the moment. Because right now, I mostly just feel like watching The Daily Show, or maybe taking a nap, which would probably be a terrible idea because I'm getting up at 5:30 tomorrow morning.

Currently Listening To: Ke$ha - "Take It Off"
Currently Reading: Splendor by Anna Godbersen

Music Monday #19

2012-01-23T13:35:00.000-08:00

Charlotte Sometimes is an artist I discovered through Last.fm when she randomly popped up on my recommendations. I love everything she does, but this song is definitely my favorite.

Have a great week, everyone!

Review: Outlander

2012-01-22T09:07:00.001-08:00

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The short version: I loved Jamie and Claire, but there were definitely things about this book that bothered me a lot.

The long version: This one was a little complicated for me. There were things I absolutely loved about Outlander, but then there were things I absolutely hated, too, so I just wasn't sure how to feel about it.

First of all, I loved Jamie and Claire. When they weren't busy having sex (which, admittedly, was most of the book), they were so wonderful together - they had a lot of chemistry, and I felt like their romance was believable. Also, I loved their initial awkwardness, which was completely adorable - although, I think adorable is probably the best word to describe Jamie in general, really.

I had a lot of fun reading from Claire's perspective. It was delightfully snarky, and I actually chuckled in a couple of places. I was also very impressed at how well Gabaldon pulled off the whole historical fiction within a historical fiction thing. Granted, I haven't studied a lot of modern history, but it felt pretty believable to me.

And now, for the things I didn't love so much. Throughout the book, Randall was probably the main antagonist. I felt like there wasn't nearly enough substance to him. He was, from the moment he first met Claire, EVIL. His whole goal in life seemed to be to make life miserable for Claire and Jamie, and there didn't really seem to be any redeeming qualities to him. I mean, initially it seemed like he was just trying to do his duty by the Crown and all that - which is totally understandable - but by the end of the book, Gabaldon completely departs from that and just turns him into the Bad Guy.

The other thing that made me really, really uncomfortable is all of the rape and/or near-rape that happens in this book. It happens a lot, and I really didn't see why it was necessary. It felt like Gabaldon just included all those scenes in order to point out which side was the Bad Guys, and just left it at that. It felt like just a plot device, and that really bothered me, especially when there are so many more effective ways to define your characters.

All of that being said, I'm glad I did finally get around to reading this book, after having it sitting in my room for awhile. I got sucked in pretty much from the beginning, and as much as I loved Jamie, I could completely understand why Claire would be so conflicted, because Frank was a pretty appealing option in his own right. I think this is a series I'm going to have to continue reading.

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On Piracy & Censorship

2012-01-19T09:47:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday, large portions of the internet blacked out in protest of two bills before Congress, SOPA and PIPA. (If you want to learn more, you can go here and here.) This included websites such as Wikipedia (related: the number of people who rely on Wikipedia as their sole source of scholarly information makes me sad), Reddit, Craigslist, Google...not dinky little websites people never look at.

I joined in, blacking out both this blog and my Tumblr. (I tried to do the Twitter blackout. I think I made it 21 or 22 hours. I couldn't help myself.) Obviously, neither of these patches of internet will ever be anywhere near equaling the scale that Wikipedia and Google reach, but still, I had to show my solidarity somehow.

While I agree that piracy is bad and things should be done about it, punishing everyone because a small group of people are jerks isn't the way to do it. I mean, yeah, I sternly lecture my friends every time they mention illegally downloading music or movies or whatever from the internet, because even if you think the big wigs are the ones making all the money off of it and don't they have enough? - well, someone still took the time and energy to create that (yes, even this person), and as someone who spends large amounts of time and energy creating things, I find it very, very uncool to steal things.

But going to the point where you'd potentially be forcing big websites like Google or Tumblr to take responsibility and potentially shut down because some kid who doesn't know anything about copyright law reblogged a picture they found online? I mean, maybe the ultimate goal isn't censorship. But, that's basically what would happen, because everything in these pieces of legislation is so broadly defined, it could leave it open to abuse, and then what? How are we supposed to be able to express ourselves freely if we're always looking around, worrying about getting in trouble? And if these laws were to pass, couldn't that just be the first step to even worse things?

Guys, piracy is lame. But censorship is even more lame.

Process: what I've learned so far

2012-01-17T12:51:00.000-08:00

I've started plenty of novels. I even finished one. And all of these Glorious Piles of Crap are now sitting in a folder on my computer, never to be opened again.

From all of these Glorious Piles of Crap, I've learned a little bit about my process, at least drafting-wise. The best strategy for me seems to be to just sit down and start writing, and just not look back. I'm an unabashed pantser.

I mean, I tried outlining a few of these Glorious Piles of Crap, but I just gave up halfway through because my strong sense of whimsy just felt too restricted. This sort of makes me laugh, because I pretty much spend all the waking hours I'm not writing outlining EVERYTHING. I mean, I wrote A LOT of papers, and I couldn't have written a single one of them without a detailed outline, plotting out my argument, including evidence, how my assertions were connected to my thesis, etc., so I could make sure it all made sense.

For example, this is part of an outline for a paper I wrote about marriage in late medieval Florence:

And so on for several pages.

Thinking about it, writing a novel isn't really much different, I thought. I mean, if you think about the argument in a history paper, that's sort of like the plot, and all the pieces of evidence are like the scenes in a novel, each of them playing a specific part in advancing the argument (or plot). The outline is sort of necessary to make I can piece together the argument (plot), to make sure everything makes sense and that there aren't gaping holes and whatever. So I tried to apply this mentality to my novels. But then when I tried to write my novels like this, it failed spectacularly. I eventually just gave up, and I actually started writing way faster when I just sat down to write, instead of feeling like I had to stick to an outline. (Which, again, is the complete opposite of how I write papers.) I think part of this is, aside fromt the fact that I'm obviously not analyzing historical passages in the context of an argument, I also have to take into account the fact that when I write, I'm more or less just going with the flow of my character interactions, and as much as I try, my characters are people and I can't really control how they react to things.

So now that I've finally figured that out, I now get to figure out how I revise. Which sort of makes me want to cry when I think about it, because SHARDS OF MEMORY is a hot mess, and while thinking about how I revise my history papers will be a good place to start, the truth is that none of them have ever required quite as much revision as my newborn book will. But I have a feeling it'll involve outlining what I have, so I can analyze all the relationships between all the scenes and what needs more fleshing out and what doesn't make sense, because that's just how my brain works.

Also, a lot of Ben & Jerry's.

And on that note, this song is dedicated to the Glorious Pile of Crap that is this novel:

Music Monday #18

2012-01-16T09:11:00.000-08:00

This song came out in...1998? I think I was in third or fourth grade then. And yet, it remains one of the most-played songs on my iPod...clearly, mini-me had excellent taste.

Have a great week, everyone!

Review: Freefall

2012-01-15T08:51:00.001-08:00

Freefall by Mindi Scott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I didn't really have a whole lot of expectations (either good or bad) going into this book; this was one I just happened to see at the library and thought it looked interesting, so why not?

It's not what I usually read, but I still ended up loving it. I think what initially hooked me in was Seth's voice - while I was reading, it really felt like I was actually inside his head. As I kept reading, the believability of the rest of the book was what ultimately made me love it, whether it was the progression of Seth and Rosetta's relationship (which was totally awkward and adorable, by the way), or the phobias Seth and Rosetta both face, or even just all the fears and guilt Seth deals with throughout the book.

Freefall was a little bit darker than some of the other books I've read lately, but I think Scott also did a great job putting in some lighter moments, too, and when she did, it didn't even feel like they were forced; they just seemed completely natural. However, I also think that's also a testament to the strong characterization.

Freefall was a pleasant surprise. I recommend it if you're into YA with a little darker edge, or even if you're just looking for a quick read.

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Friday Five(ish) #14: pleading with the universe

2012-01-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

1. I spent most of my undergrad pretending ancient history didn't exist. I took two ancient history classes because I was required to by the state in order to get my social studies endorsement, but they more or less went in one ear and out the other.

...and now I have to teach ancient history to middle school students. And since I remember virtually nothing from the two classes I took (and one of them won't even help me because it was just about Rome, and we won't even be covering Rome), I now get to teach myself enough about ancient Egypt and ancient Greece to be able to competently teach it.

Trying to stay just ahead of the curve is sort of just going to be a fact of life. And I'm aware of that. But please, for the love of all things holy, never, ever let me teach a straight economics class. EVER. Thanks in advance, universe.

2. I'm going to go see John Green on January 30! I wasn't even sure if I was going to go since it's a couple hours away and I'll get back up here super late and then have to be up early in the morning for school, but then I realized that I'm not sure when I'll have an opportunity like this again, and it's JOHN GREEN, and I SHOULD JUST GO THAT'S WHY THEY INVENTED COFFEE.

Well. Debate resolved.

3. Outlander update: I love Claire's voice and I've even chuckled in a couple places, but I'm just not sure how I feel about all the near-rape. Like, there's a couple sections of the book that I've read so far where Claire is almost being raped, like, every other scene, and I'm not that comfortable with it. I mean, I get that the Scottish Highlands are supposed to be dangerous and wild, but I feel like there are more effective ways to portray this than multiple near-rape scenes.

Other than that, the book is amazing so far.

4. This is our weather forecast for the next week:

If you need to find me, I'll probably be curled up in my bed, under my flannel sheets and five blankets.

Currently Reading: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

My major is so relevant: Magna Carta edition

2012-01-12T14:25:00.000-08:00

One of my Facebook friends posted this article last week. Basically, New Hampshire Republicans are going to introduce a bill that requires all legislation in the state to be justified by a passage directly from the Magna Carta.

Yes. That Magna Carta.

I'm glad to see my major is still relevant.

Ah, responsibility.

2012-01-10T13:57:00.000-08:00

My progress slowed quite a bit this past week, although I still managed to break 40k...something I've only ever done once, when I won NaNo with that glorious piece of crap I wrote back in 2007. (I call it a "glorious piece of crap" with all the affection in the world.)

Obviously, I'm not taking classes anymore, but I still have other things going on now that the quarter's started and winter break is over and all that. My weekend job up at campus started again (hooray, bacon!), I've got things to work on for my internship before I officially start later this month (reviewing four sets of state standards, reading up on ancient Egypt since all I've got is OMG PYRAMIDS, observing), I had to take the WEST-E for my humanities endorsement last weekend...

Anyway. My life is starting to get busier again. I'm sure that pretty soon, I'm going to be looking back on the boredom of winter break with fondness.

Currently Watching: The Daily Show
Currently Reading: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Music Monday #17

2012-01-09T08:49:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make: I am a Nickelback fan.

There. Now that that's out there, I'm going to say that as soon as I heard the song "Lullaby" off of their latest album, I put it on the playlist for my NaNo. (Plus, I just love it, so I listen to it, anyway. Having to listen to it all month was a bonus.)

Have a great week, everyone!

Currently Listening To: NPR - Morning Edition
Currently Reading: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Review: A Million Suns

2012-01-08T08:54:00.001-08:00

A Million Suns by Beth Revis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was fortunate enough to read an ARC of this back in September or October. I vaguely remember entering a giveaway somewhere, but then school started and I was focused on that, so I was completely surprised when I got this in the mail...so thank you, mysterious benefactor! And now, onto my review!

I was afraid of A Million Suns not living up to the AWESOME that was Across the Universe (which is still my favorite of the two), but I quickly realized that wouldn't be a problem at all. If anything, there are even more twists and turns in this one than in the first book, all leading to an ending that was such a cliffhanger, I wanted to throw the book across the room because I was so mad I have to wait so long to find out what happens. And the really cruel part is, there is so much suspense that you're going to want to keep reading to find out what happens, meaning you'll be done with the book that much faster.

Another highlight for me is Amy and Elder's relationship. I love that things aren't all happy and shiny with them, because I've seen various books where characters will kiss or get together or whatever, and then suddenly all the tension is gone and everything is perfect and wonderful...and those just aren't realistic to me. In A Million Suns, Revis keeps the tension between them, and we actually see Amy questioning her feelings for Elder instead of unquestioningly accepting them.

This, everyone, is a sequel worth reading.

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12/12/12

2012-01-07T11:52:00.000-08:00

The always lovely and wonderful Village Books up here in Bham is hosting a challenge this year that calls for participants to read and discuss one book a month during 2012 (also known as 12/12/12).

Obviously, I set myself a goal of reading many, many more books than that, but I figured it could still be a fun way to try to work my way through the GIANT PILES of books hanging out on my bedroom floor that I bought and still haven't read. So, I'm going to be participating, but the book I choose each month has to come from these GIANT PILES. (That name sort of has a ring to it. I think I'm going to have to stick with it.)

My book for January, then, is Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I guess, technically, I started reading it in the last couple days of 2011, but I was so busy that I only got through about 150 pages before the year turned, and given how LONG this book is, I've decided that it's probably okay if I count this book for January.

You can track my progress more or less in real time here. I'll also post a review at some point after I'm done, assuming I can pick my jaw up off the floor long enough to type something coherent.

Currently Listening To: Jake Owen - "Apple Pie Moonshine"

Friday Five #13: growing up & stuff

2012-01-06T13:29:00.000-08:00

1. On Tuesday morning I woke up around 10 and, after getting my coffee, checked Facebook (because, as embarrassing as this is to admit, that is the first thing I do every morning). I was promptly confused by all the status updates about classes starting...until I realized that there are people who still have to go to those. This was swiftly followed by the realization that I've now entered that awkward time between finishing college and starting a career(s). It'll be a magical time, a time when I flip pancakes on the weekends for minimum wage so I can stay alive while I do the two things I love for free in the hope of eventually being lucky enough to be paid to do them. (Those of you who are still in college, TAKE YOUR TIME. Seriously. Responsibility is LAME.)

2. Last summer, my friend asked me to be in her wedding, and I agreed to it, but then pushed it to the back of my mind because the wedding isn't until this fall. Except now I have a color for my bridesmaid dress, and now I'm like OMG THIS IS HAPPENING. And earlier in the day, my roommate and I had received a save the date for some close friends' wedding. And so, basically, I'm like OMG WHY IS EVERYONE SUDDENLY GETTING MARRIED. It feels weird to know that my friends and I are at an age where that's sort of an acceptable thing now...

*dives into bed & burrows under GIANT PILE of blankets, clutching teddy bear & sucking thumb*

3. Yesterday I acquired two additional bookcases, bringing me another step closer to my life's ambition of living in a library. Although, by my estimate, I'll need at least one or two more to accommodate all the books that are still hanging out in the closet in my parents' guest room. I feel like I'm just going to need to make sure there's a spare bedroom in my next apartment, just to accommodate all of my books.

I'm also thinking I might need to marry this guy, because he, like, totally gets me. ~~(I also feel like he'd be okay playing Ke$ha's "Your Love Is My Drug" at our wedding before honeymooning at the site of the Battle of Hastings.)~~

4. This week was fun. One of my friends was here for New Year's, so we basically hung out and watched 90s cartoons on Netflix, and then the day after he left, a couple other friends came up to visit for a couple days. I hadn't seen the one friend in a year and a half, and the other two since summer, so it was awesome seeing them all again.

5. In the realm of things that aren't as much fun: trying to acquire work-appropriate clothing for student teaching. Since we were specifically told NO JEANS, and that's about 90% of my wardrobe (the other 10% being sundresses, which aren't really seasonally appropriate), I've been scouring the clearance racks of various stores, trying to find other things. I mean, on the plus side, I get to go shopping, and I treat clearance rack browsing like it's a sport, anyway, but on the downside, I'm poor (see item #1), and after awhile I get frustrated by the lack of things in my size. Plus, it's just not as much fun to buy grownup clothes.

Currently Watching: The Fellowship of the Ring
Currently Reading: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Road Trip Wednesday: my ideal writing retreat

2012-01-04T16:19:00.000-08:00

This week's topic is...
Describe your dream writing retreat. Where would you go? Who and what would you bring?

I do most of my writing in a couple places. There are a couple coffee shops I like to go to to work, because when I've gone to all the effort to haul myself and my stuff somewhere, I feel compelled to stay awhile and actually get some work done. This works pretty well most of the time, since I can just put in headphones and turn on some music and block out everything else, but sometimes distractions do happen, whether it's me looking out the window (we have very interesting people downtown, not to mention how awesome our weather has been lately...) or small children running around, screaming, while their parents just sit around and drink coffee (which is completely RUDE, btw).

Since I work on campus, though, I don't work during breaks, which means that I don't have a lot of extra money to spend on coffee at the moment, so lately I've been getting most of my writing done, at home, with my bedroom door shut - which sort of makes me feel bad, because then I'm basically ignoring my roommate and being antisocial and whatever. Plus, there are just times when whatever my roommate is doing is way more interesting than love triangles, or having an entire country crumbling at my fingertips.

So. I think, as far as all of that goes, I'd have to go somewhere with NO PEOPLE around. As for where, exactly, I'd like to go, I don't have anywhere in particular in mind. I think wherever it is, there will be mountains and/or ocean involved, because I absolutely love both. My preference would be for somewhere that has both, since I love them both equally and would be hard-pressed to choose...so I'm thinking I'd probably just start by looking up small coastal towns along the Washington/Oregon/Northern California coast, and go from there.

As far as what I would bring...well, definitely my computer, Emily. Probably my journal, so I can write in it when I go on walks and whatever, and probably my camera so I can take pictures. And since this is my "dream writing retreat," unlimited funds for coffee.

I really wish I had the time and money to make this happen now...

Currently Listening To: The Black Keys - "Lonely Boy"
Currently Reading: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Setting as Place

2012-01-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

I think one of my favorite parts of writing is exploring setting. Even if your setting is somewhere you're familiar with, there's still that feeling of discovery as you look for those details that will make your setting come alive for readers, and make it truly unique.

I write mostly high fantasy, so my settings are completely imaginary. Here's a poorly drawn map so you can see a rough outline of what I'm working with:

So. Imaginary. Or...are they?

For example, Calanthe's hometown is on the coast. When I think of the coast of Nilea, I actually think of the Northern California coastline:

Even though my map is clearly littered with names and places that don't exist outside of my imagination, I can still make the place seem realistic by giving realistic details, and having somewhere real in mind when I write helps a lot.

Another thing that really helps me with making my settings realistic is to concentrate on sensory details. With the ocean example, what does it smell like? What sorts of things would Calanthe see and hear on a daily basis? How does your skin and hair feel after a day at the beach? Obviously, I don't want to overwhelm you all with detail, but being aware of these details can help me to make the setting more realistic since you're aware of these things. The trick is to give us just enough to make it come alive, and yet wanting more.

One thing I did a lot over the summer when the weather was nice was go for walks a lot. I'd take my journal with me to the park, and then just sit there and concentrate on everything I was picking up with my senses - what I could hear, smell, see, taste, touch - and then write about it all in my journal. If I was feeling particularly ambitious, I'd write a poem using these details later when I got home, which was really good practice with language.

My novels all have a hugely historical flavor to them, so that also plays a huge part in creating my settings. But at risk of this post running too long, I'll get to that some other time.

Currently Listening To: Kelly Clarkson - "Whyyawannabringmedown"
Currently Reading: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Music Monday #16

2012-01-02T15:41:00.000-08:00

Just in case you're having trouble remembering what year it is, I've selected this week's song to help you out:

Have a good week, everyone!

Review: Mockingjay

2012-01-01T15:28:00.001-08:00

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've read this one twice now and I think, if anything, I cried even harder the second time around than I did the first time. I think this was because the first time I read it, I was just trying to finish it so I'd know what happened, whereas this time, I took my time, taking everything in and thinking about things; I'm sure that when I read it again (and again and again) I'll pick up on even more things.

I think what really struck me was how much each death impacted Katniss. With this subject matter, it can be easy to just have violence just for the sake of violence (just look at all the movies out there...), but I think Collins did a really good job exploring the effects of violence.

I also liked how Collins took the time to give us more of the relationship between Katniss and Prim, especially how Prim is growing up and how Katniss is trying to come to terms with that - because I think a lot of people can relate to that.

I think the only problems I really had with the book were in the beginning, when Katniss agrees to be the Mockingjay, and the epilogue. In the beginning, I can understand her rationale for becoming the Mockingjay, but I felt like it happened really fast. As for the epilogue, it was nice to see how they're doing after the war, but it fell really flat for me because it took away from the impact of that last chapter; I think the book could've just ended with the chapter right before the epilogue and been just fine.

Mockingjay isn't my favorite book out of the three, but it was a strong conclusion to an amazing trilogy.

View all my reviews

2011 in Pictures

2011-12-31T11:41:00.000-08:00

Today I thought I'd put my own spin on the whole 2011 in review thing, and do a 2011 in pictures post. (I failed at carrying around a camera this year, so most of these weren't taken by me. I think I should add "do better at documenting my life in photographs" thing to my 2012 list, especially since I got a totally adorable little camera for Christmas. Yay, no more cell phone photos!)

This is the year that ALL OF MY FRIENDS got engaged. Aren't I so HAPPY for them all? (When the first engagement happened, we all went out for beers. When the next 50 happened, I settled for congratulatory phone calls.)

My roommate and I went and saw the Backstreet Boys in July, finally fulfilling my 10-year-old self's life dream. (And I guess NKOTB were okay, too...)

Yay, graduating!

Harry and the Potters came to Bellingham in June, thanks to the always amazing and wonderful Bellingham Public Library. This was my first time seeing them, and it was awesome. (Also awesome was the fact that the adults in the audience were having way more fun than their children were.)

And, finally, for lack of proper photographic documentation of my year, I will post this word cloud of all my blog posts (because, for some reason, I have this totally ridiculous love of word clouds):

Currently Listening To: Matthew Mayfield - "Fire Escape"
Currently Reading: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Friday Five: last one of 2011

2011-12-30T12:47:00.000-08:00

Where did the year go?

*looks under rocks*

*peers under bed*

*sighs & returns to drinking coffee*

1. Since returning to the glorious Bham a couple days ago, I've done...absolutely nothing. Except watch Once Upon A Time (and almost throw things), watch Glee (and squee like a complete moron when Sam came back), and get hopelessly hooked on Outlander, which is probably a terrible idea since I don't really have time to get into another ridiculously long series. (I still haven't finished Wheel of Time or A Song of Ice and Fire. Oops.) Oh, and drink lots of coffee. In my pajamas. But that probably goes without saying.

2. I made my New Year's Resolutions. I started with things like "eat breakfast every day" and "read 55 books," both of which are good and worthy resolutions, and ones that I'm going to try to stick with (particularly the breakfast one...heh), but then "take a chance" popped into my head, so I wrote that one down, too. Except that's really, really ambiguous, so I thought about it some more, and what it really means. Basically...my plan is to be querying SHARDS by the end of 2012.

*crawls into bed & pulls covers over head*

Let's be totally honest. I've never let very many people read my writing, except other writers, because they understand. But what if people I actually know - friends, family, etc. - read my stuff someday, and totally hate it, or totally judge me, or whatever?

Yeah.

*realizes she forgot coffee & crawls back out of bed*

3. So. Back to Once Upon a Time. I watched the last episode yesterday afternoon, finally. My emotions did a 180 within the span of about five or ten minutes:

Obviously, the writers hate me.

4. I've discovered Pinterest.

I've also discovered that this was a terrible idea.

5. ...I've got nothing. Here. Have a YouTube video:

Currently Listening To: Ellie Goulding - "Your Song"
Currently Reading: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

2011-12-29T19:23:00.000-08:00

My NaNo, FIRE, is inspired a lot by inquisition trials, which is sort of unsurprising, given how much I love them. (Reading about them, I mean, not the actual trials. Which doesn't actually sound all that much better, now that I think about it.)

Naturally, this led me to watch the greatest piece of television the world has been gifted with, over and over and over again:

Back in the day, I took a liberal studies class on the Spanish Inquisition as an elective. (Basically, it was sort of a cross between an English class, a cultural studies class, and a history class - we read literature from the time period; studied art, music, religious philosophy, etc.; and then put it all into the historical context by studying a ton of primary sources. If I hadn't been a history major, this probably would've been my next choice.) There was also one day in class we spent watching this sketch, and analyzing it as a critique of the Inquisition. For example, the overall ridiculousness of the situations presented in the sketch, can be view as a critique of just how ridiculous the Inquisition was - people were accused based on the barest of circumstantial evidence, and guilt was assumed. The whole bit with the pillows and the comfy chair - well, actual inquisitorial torture was sort of pointless, since people would often say what the torturers wanted to hear, just to make it stop.

I have to say, even though I took that class on a whim, it's definitely one of the most memorable ones I had at Western. It was really fascinating to learn not just about the Inquisition, but also about the whole culture surrounding it, and how it impacted people at the most basic levels of society.

Currently Listening To: Nsync - "Pop"
Currently Reading: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Road Trip Wednesday: Five Favorite Books of 2011

2011-12-28T13:40:00.000-08:00

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic is...
What were your top five favorite books of 2011?

I've read 52 books and counting for this year, which is pretty awesome, considering I only read, like, 30 last year. (This is only counting books for fun. If I counted all the books I had to read for school, it would've been way higher. Life is pretty glamorous when you're a history major and an English minor.)

Anyway, I liked most of the books I read this year, but there were some that were pretty amazing, and it's hard to narrow it down to just five. In no particular order, my top 5 are...

I read Speak for the first time in January, and then I had to read it again in July for my YA Lit class, and if anything, it was more amazing the second time. It was one of those few books I thought about even when I wasn't reading it, and I think what it was was Melinda's voice - it just hooked me in and wouldn't let go.

This is another one of those books I couldn't stop thinking about, and if I hadn't been busy with school, I probably would've read it in one sitting. I'm usually pretty good at guessing plot twists, but there were several in this book that I didn't see coming at all.

I'll be totally honest: I blew off homework to finish Sabriel. (As much as I love inquisition trials, I loved this book more. That's a pretty high compliment. It's right up there with crying and throwing books.) I read the other two books over the summer, and while they were also amazing, this one was by far my favorite.

I don't think I need to explain this one.

Across the Universe had everything: mystery, romance, suspense, all wrapped up in a dystopian society trapped on a spaceship centuries into the future. I've already read A Million Suns (I won an ARC), and it only keeps getting better.

Honorable mentions: The Body Finder and The Pledge by Kimberly Derting, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, Delirium by Lauren Oliver

What were some of your favorite books this year?

Teaser: Shards of Memory, #5

2011-12-27T20:44:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting at 36k right now, just 14k short of my 50k goal. As I wrote on Twitter earlier, things are starting to get REAL, so I have a feeling that things are going to pretty much write themselves for this last bit. (Fingers crossed. I've probably just jinxed myself.)

I haven't posted a teaser in awhile, so I've decided to post one. It's completely unedited, so brace yourselves:

When I reached the library later that afternoon, he was already there. I found him in the history section, staring at the shelves of books that lined the back wall. His hands were locked behind his erect back, and he didn’t move at my approach; and yet, as soon as I drew closer he said, “How much do you know about our country’s history?”
“It depends on what part of our country’s history we’re talking about,” I replied. “Some of it interests me more than others.”
“How much of our early history do you know? Specifically, the part surrounding the fate of our country’s last Queen?”
“Queen Freya? I just finished reading her journal. It sort of just…ends. She disappeared, didn’t she?”
“Yes. Paving the way for the Calypsones to take the throne, almost four hundred years ago. And ever since, the throne has passed from father to son, or brother to brother, in an unbroken line. Until now, I suppose.”
“Why is there so much of an issue with Ethan inheriting?” I asked. “He’s the King’s brother’s son, right? According to the order of succession, that’s how it should go.”
“Because the supporters of Sir Edgar – my uncle chief among them – have reason to believe that Francis Calypsone – the Count’s father – wasn’t actually the son of Henry Calypsone – which means that Francis had no place in the succession, and therefore Ethan Calypsone doesn’t, either.”
My mouth literally opened and then shut again with no sound coming out.
“I haven’t heard that at all!” I said.
“Well, of course you wouldn’t,” Mr. Orion said. “Just look at who you’ve been surrounded by your whole life – everyone has an agenda, Milady, your father especially.”
“Don’t call me that,” I snapped.
“Don’t call you what?” Mr. Orion asked.
“Milady,” I replied. “My name is Calanthe.”
Mr. Orion shrugged. “Well fine, then, Calanthe. Don’t you think any of the rumors would’ve been shielded from your precious, virgin ears?”
I glared at him. I didn’t want to believe him – it seemed too ludicrous to be true – but he’d been honest with me so far – at least to my knowledge.
“What, exactly, do the rumors say?” I asked.
“His Majesty’s mother, Queen Isabella, took a lover sometime after he was born,” Mr. Orion said. “King Henry recognized the second son as his own, but there were whispers that he was actually a bastard child.”
I’d heard about Queen Isabella in finishing school, mostly as an example of how not to behave. But I’d never heard the rumors that Ethan’s father wasn’t actually King Henry’s son.
“But King Henry recognized him,” I protested. “Why would he recognize a child who wasn’t his?”
“Who knows?” Mr. Orion replied. “But Queen Isabella was also a mage, and would have been fully capable of casting spells on her husband. What if he didn’t recognize the boy of his own free will?”
“But – it’s against the law to use magic to influence someone’s will, especially in affairs of international significance,” I hissed.
Mr. Orion chuckled. “You’re not really that naïve, are you, Calanthe?”
He was right. Just because things were illegal didn’t mean people didn’t still do them.
“Why does Freya’s disappearance interest you?” I asked.
Mr. Orion – or Vantandal, I supposed, since we were on first name terms now – took a book from the shelf and took a seat on the floor. I stared down at him and he raised his eyebrows, as though waiting for me to join him. With a sigh, I plopped down on the ground.
“Right around the time she disappeared, she married a soldier – a clandestine marriage, obviously, since there was no way she’d gain the approval of the Council to do it properly. But still, it was legally binding. And the Council wasn’t pleased when they found out.”
I remembered my dream from last night, the scene in the garden…
“They had to hurry, because he was leaving for the war again,” I mused.
Vantandal looked tired. “I had that dream last night, too. Except, I don’t think it was a dream.”
“Of course it was,” I said, although I only half-believed the words. “What else could it possibly be?”

The whole bit with Ethan's lineage was something I was unaware of until this point, which is probably unsurprising, given how much I hate outlining. That's definitely something I'll be developing more when I rip this sucker to pieces.

Okay...now, back to watching everything hit the fan in my WIP. Heh.

Currently Watching: NCIS
Currently Reading: XVI by Julia Karr

Music Monday: 2011 Favorites

2011-12-26T21:16:00.000-08:00

We're in the last week of 2011, which means everyone is writing wrap up posts and whatever.

This is another one of those.

Today, I'm posting my five favorite songs of this year, in no particular order:

Adele - "Rolling In The Deep"

Adele is a goddess. No further explanation needed.

Florence + The Machine - "What The Water Gave Me"

So, basically, I could listen to every single one of Florence's songs on repeat every single day for the rest of my life and never get sick of them. Just ask my roommate how many days I played this one on repeat after it came out.

Kelly Clarkson - "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)"

I was starting to worry about Kelly. I absolutely loved Breakaway and still listen to it obsessively, but then her next two albums were sort of meh. Stronger, though, was awesome, and I feel like this song had something to do with it.

Lady Antebellum - "We Owned The Night"

Have I mentioned how much I love Lady A? Because I do. I might have listened to this song on repeat for days after it came out.

LMFAO - "Party Rock Anthem"

Sorry, guys. I had to.

And, just for funsies, this is the most-played song on my iPod in 2011, according to iTunes...

I hope everyone had a great holiday of their choosing! As for me, I've been happily reading The Pledge all day on my new Kindle. I named her Sylvia. (My dad rolled his eyes at me. Because apparently naming your electronic devices is weird, or something?)

Currently Listening To: Florence + The Machine - "Bird Song"
Currently Reading: The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

Winter Break

2011-12-24T17:46:00.000-08:00

I've been at home all week, so I haven't been doing much writing. (It's sort of hard when I'm around people who actually expect me to, like, spend time with them, and stuff? What's that about?) Anyway, I've been trying to get it in here and there when I can, so I've written a few pages this week. I'm going back to Bellingham early next week, but a friend of mine is visiting until right around New Year's, and then after he leaves I'll be brushing up on linguistics and literacy stuff for the WEST-E on the 7th...so I have a feeling most of the rest of SHARDS is going to be written in the three weeks after that.

Anyway, I've been doing all the usual winter break type things. I've been reading (and I hit my goal of 50 for 2011 today!), and I've been on a dystopia kick this week while I've been home, having moved on from the French history kick I was on last week. I've been trying to catch up on various TV shows - I'm about a month behind on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, I have a couple episodes each of Glee and Revenge, I've got one episode each left of Ringer and Once Upon a Time, and I just caught up on Pan Am today. (I probably watch too many TV shows. This is what the internet is for.) I like Pan Am, but I think it's mostly for Ted and Collette, who are the most interesting characters on the show...although Maggie is delightfully feisty.

Anyway...my life hasn't been terribly exciting the past couple weeks. I'm probably just going to go read some more. Happy holidays, everyone!

Currently Watching: Toy Story 3
Currently Reading: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Road Trip Wednesday: Where I buy my books.

2011-12-21T09:50:00.000-08:00

Where do you buy most of your books? No one is judging!

I used to be all about Barnes & Noble and Amazon. But, since moving up to Bellingham, I haven't been frequenting them as much. If I happen to be there and see something I want, then I'll buy it, but I spend way more of my time other places these days.

My favorite bookstore ever is Village Books, up in Bellingham, but I try not to go there too often because I would easily knock out my entire bank account in their YA section alone. (Last time I was there, my friends almost had to drag me out of there. Not that it's hard, since I'm tiny enough that most people can lift and carry me, no problem...)

I bought the vast majority of my books this year at either used bookstores (which are the most magical place on the planet, I've decided) or at used book sales at the public library. I actually like both of these options the best because it's like a treasure hunt - you never know what you're going to find. Like, over the summer when I was at the library's book sale, I found several bins of Life magazine issues - from the 1950s. SO COOL.

Also, used bookstores have that wonderful old book smell going on, and that's my favorite smell ever.

Currently Watching: The Colbert Report
Currently Reading: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Light at the end of the tunnel.

2011-12-20T16:01:00.000-08:00

Last night, I hit 33k on SHARDS, or about 17k from the end. Given the fact that I was able to get in 31k for NaNo this year, even while trying to do ALL THE THINGS, I figured I could manage 17k in the month and a half before I start student teaching. And so, I set myself a deadline.

FEBRUARY 1, 2012.

That, everyone, is my deadline for finally having this draft of SHARDS finished, at which point I'll let it sit while I finish FIRE, before I go back to it and rip the thing to pieces.

I have put this on the internet in big, bold, red letters. Now let it be so.

Currently Listening To: Maroon 5 - "Sunday Morning"
Currently Reading: For the King by Catherine Delors

Music Monday #14

2011-12-19T10:13:00.000-08:00

I'm slowly getting back into working on SHARDS. I say "slowly" because, obviously, there are Daily Show episodes and Star Wars marathons to watch, not to mention the pile of books I brought home with me. (I managed to fit 12 into my suitcase. It was so beautiful.)

But I digress. I find I've been listening to "No Light, No Light" from Florence's latest album this week when I have been writing, so that is the song that I'll leave you all with to start off the week.

Currently Reading: For the King by Catherine Delors

Review: Finding Emilie

2011-12-14T13:20:00.001-08:00

Finding Emilie by Laurel Corona
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book had so many great layers. At its heart was a story of two girls coming of age, trying to find happiness and themselves in a time when women had very little power. Effortlessly woven in with that, though, were all the tensions of the 18th century - the class tension between the estates, the tension between religion and science in the midst of the Enlightenment, the tension between what Lili wanted and what society's gender expectations were - all of which hinted at what would be happening ten years after the end of the novel when all of these forces came together in the French Revolution. Corona did a great job bringing pre-Revolution France to life, even making it interesting for someone who doesn't normally pay any attention at all to this time period.

Woven in with Lili's story was the story of her mother, the famous Emilie du Chatelet. I enjoyed reading about Emilie, whose story paralleled her daughter's very nicely, but when I'd started the book, the title and the summary on the back had made it sound like the book would center more on Lili's journey to learn about her mother - which turned out to not really be the case at all. I wish the book had either centered on this more, or at least didn't make it sound like this is what the book is actually about - I think either one would make for equally interesting reading, really.

There was also something toward the end of the book that I imagine was supposed to be some sort of plot twist - the mystery of why Lili's father refuses to communicate her - but reading about Emilie and her story, I think it was sort of obvious from the beginning what the twist there was. I was sort of unimpressed by that, and I felt like a lot of what happened in the last 75-100 pages of the book tied things up a little too neatly.

On the whole, though, I recommend this book.

View all my reviews

Review: Inheritance

2011-12-12T17:35:00.001-08:00

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My feelings about this one are sort of mixed. The first half was really hard to get through, because it was so slow, and I felt like I was sort of just waiting to get to the point. Also, I've found Eragon really annoying for the past couple books, so there was that in play, also.

But about halfway through the book, I was finally hooked in as things finally started happening, and by the time we finally got to the Final Battle - you know, the one we've been waiting for since book one? - I couldn't put the thing down. Paolini did such a good job building suspense during that back half of the book, and there were times when I was ready to throw the book at the wall if something happened that I didn't like, because I was so invested in so many of the characters.

I was really sad to read the last page, because despite the love/hate relationship I've had with this series, I've been reading it since high school, and I felt like a journey was at an end. I mean, I was even sad to see Eragon go - he experienced a lot of growth in that last part of the book.

I definitely feel like the book could've been a lot shorter, and it was hard to make it through the first part, but I ultimately ended up loving it and I feel like it was a good conclusion.

View all my reviews

Music Monday #13

2011-12-12T09:03:00.000-08:00

I just heard "Hangover" by Taio Cruz on Pandora this past week, and now it's one of those songs I can't get out of my head. Now I'm going to try to get it stuck in yours =)

The Beginning.

2011-12-11T20:55:00.001-08:00

Review: The King's Rose

2011-12-09T20:10:00.001-08:00

The King's Rose by Alisa M. Libby

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was pretty excited to find a YA book from the POV of Catherine Howard. Given that she was 15 when she married Henry VIII, she actually lends herself well to YA, and it was refreshing to read about the thoughts of a teenage girl on being a pawn in her family's power games, and being married to a man old enough to be her father, rather than from the treatment I usually see of her in historical fiction. I think Libby did an excellent job capturing both this aspect of it, as well as the uncertainty of a teenager, and the insecurities of a teenage girl trying to keep herself from being overshadowed by two of Henry's more well-known queens, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour.

I felt like the main conflicts of the book - Catherine's mission to hide the indiscretions of her past, as well as her passion for her cousin, Thomas Culpeper - lacked urgency for a lot of the book, mainly because they didn't really come to the forefront until about halfway through the book. The first half of the book was mostly watching things happen to Catherine, and while I think this was really powerful, given the position of women during this time, and Catherine's lack of choice in her family's plans, I felt like the second half of the book was much more compelling, and I really wish more focus had been put on this. Toward the end, things started happening really fast, without much development, and I think I probably would have preferred if the book had mostly covered those events.

Overall, I think Libby did a good job creating in Catherine a character that was realistic and easy to sympathize with. Even though this book is set almost 500 years ago, I think that the character is one that transcends these centuries and is still relevant.

View all my reviews

Music Monday #12

2011-12-05T08:15:00.001-08:00

I'm known for my impeccable taste in music. And by "impeccable," I mean, everyone knows that I love generic pop music, the trashier the better.

And since I've still got finals and projects for two classes to complete, I'm going the trashy route this morning.

I first heard this remix of Britney's "Till The World Ends" with Nicki Minaj and Ke$ha on Pandora and I was instantly hooked. I mean, come on - putting these three ladies all in the same song should just make the world explode from the sheer AWESOME. And by "AWESOME," I mean trashiness.

So, for your listening pleasure...

Getting my finals on!

2011-12-03T19:59:00.001-08:00

My last day of college classes was yesterday, which just leaves my finals to complete. And I'm feeling super, super motivated, because I just want to be DONE.

I mean, I'm editing my English final and everything right now, no joke. It's not due until Monday at noon, but I'm thinking I'll be turning it in tonight or tomorrow, at the latest. Let me tell you, both of these things are completely out of character for me.

Which is how I find myself sitting in my room on a Saturday night, listening to every song the Backstreet Boys have ever done while I dance along in my seat because I've got so much caffeine in me right now, I can't sit still.

And so I leave you all with this gem, which I'm pretty sure I hadn't watched since elementary school. The 90s will live on forever!

Music Monday #11

2011-11-28T09:52:00.000-08:00

I'll admit there's a certain level of cheesiness in this song, but I don't care. "My Wish" is still one of my favorite Rascal Flatts songs ever. As such, I've decided that it will be the song I'm featuring for this week's Music Monday.

Friday Five: mmm, leftovers

2011-11-25T09:16:00.001-08:00

1. I don't ever, ever go out to shop on Black Friday. Instead, I slept in this morning until 8:30, which is later than I've slept in in months, and now I'm watching A Christmas Carol, and will probably spend my afternoon listening to all my holiday music now that I've loaded it all back onto my iPod. My sister went, though, "just for the experience." And, according to Facebook, was able to get out of the mall without killing anyone, which is way more than I'd be able to do. For those of you who do do Black Friday...why would you ever want to be at the mall ridiculously early in the morning, fighting hordes of people, probably with the remnants of your dinner still floating around? I don't know. I'm an introvert, so maybe it's just not my thing. I mean, I love sales (just ask Victoria's Secret's website...), but not that much.

2. I'm debating eating pie for breakfast. Apple pie has fruit in it, right?

3. I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to win NaNo this year...again. I'm still going to see how far I can get, though; I'm sitting just shy of 25k right now. That's still 25k words I wouldn't have written otherwise, and I've got an idea I'm totally in love with, so I'm actually going to finish this one instead of letting it sit in a neglected folder on my computer like my other unfinished NaNos. I'm really excited about that.

4. My brother handed me Inheritance, the last book in that series, and said, "Here, read this!" I'm trying, but the language keeps turning me off. (It's way more flowery than it needs to be...) Plus, the other book I'm reading, Alison Weir's latest about Mary Boleyn, keeps debating such things as whether or not Henry VIII had ED like a lot of historians claim. I think you all know which book is going to win here.

5. It's Dead Week when I get back to school this week. I think the university did this last year, too, and it's totally rude because here we all were, on a nice, long break from school, and then BAM, it's time to run around and finish ALL THE THINGS because the end of the quarter is looming. *pulls out hair*

In other news, this is also my last week of college classes ever. That's a totally surreal feeling.

And now I have witches to go burn. I hope all of you who celebrated had a good Thanksgiving!

Currently Reading: Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir

Review: Shatter Me

2011-11-23T11:09:00.001-08:00

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was so excited for this book, I was worried it wouldn't live up to my expectations. Fortunately, I was wrong - this book actually exceeded them.

What really made this book for me was Juliette. I found it so easy to relate to her - all she wanted was for people to like her, and went to all sorts of lengths to make sure people would like her, and thought that if she was just "enough," people would stop treating her like a freak. I really wish this book had been around when I was a teenager, because I would've found it so easy to relate to her, and I feel like reading about her struggle to figure out who she was would have been helpful for me to read.

As much as I wanted to hate Warner - he was so, so twisted - I couldn't, because I feel like he had the same problem as Juliette - he wanted to be wanted; the difference between him and Juliette was just that he chose another route to dealing with his feelings of being an outcast. The fact that he had these feelings made him much more realistic, to the point where I actually found myself feeling sorry for him.

I can't wait for the next book to come out!

View all my reviews

Music Monday #10

2011-11-21T10:04:00.000-08:00

In the interest of furthering country music love, here's one of my favorites at the moment, "My Kinda Party" by Jason Aldean:

Review: Midnight Never Come

2011-11-19T21:53:00.001-08:00

Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This one started off really slow, but once it got going, I couldn't put it down. The politics of the two courts, and how they intertwined, sucked me in, as well as how well Brennan did blending the history with the fantasy elements. I also loved seeing all of this play out through the eyes of Deven and Lune - the courtier trying to work his way up through the ranks, and the courtier who had fallen out of favor and was trying to regain her footing.

...and then we hit the ending. It was really anticlimactic after all the buildup that had been happening through the previous 250 pages or so, and it felt way too neat. Events sort of just started fitting neatly into place, which didn't feel right to me, after all of the messiness of trying to figure out the whole mystery surrounding Invidiana.

Overall, this was a pretty solid read; it would've been even better if the beginning and ending were as good as the middle, though.

View all my reviews

Friday Five: let it snow?

2011-11-18T12:53:00.001-08:00

1. I'm pretty sure you'd have to be living under a rock in order to not know that Breaking Dawn came out last night. I feel like I'm one of the few people not seeing it. I think this review from NPR does a good job summing up why.

2. There was a chance of snow in our area today, so of course the news went completely crazy with it, basically acting like it's the end of the world because our usual precipitation will be - gasp - frozen. So when I woke up this morning to find it was gray and cloudy and cold, and that the streets weren't covered with even a dusting of white, I was disappointed. I guess there will be other chances for snow...

3. I'm woefully behind on NaNo. I've finally started my two major final assignments that are due during finals week, but I'm not nearly as far into either of them as I would like to be. And did I mention that I'm going home Tuesday night? I'll be visiting my family for five days over the Thanksgiving weekend. Fortunately, I'm well practiced with the whole typing while watching football and exchanging snarky remarks with my family thing...bring it, Thanksgiving!

4. I feel like this whole waiting to find out where I'm student teaching thing is giving me good practice for my writing career in the future. It's a whole lot of waiting. The placement I mentioned last week didn't work out, so now I'm waiting to hear back from a different school. The only thing to do is to just keep going about my business, writing my NaNo and doing my homework and all that stuff, because checking my email obsessively isn't going to make any difference.

The friends I talked to were more disappointed than I was, I think. The way I see it, everything happens for a reason. This is probably the universe's way of telling me this wasn't where I needed to be.

5. Grey's Anatomy doesn't come back until January? My Thursday nights are going to be so empty and meaningless without all the drama to suck me in and all the geographical inaccuracies to poke fun at.

Currently Listening To: Taylor Swift - "Superman"
Currently Reading: Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan

Review: The Golden Prince

2011-11-18T00:07:00.001-08:00

The Golden Prince by Rebecca Dean

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The premise sounded interesting, and the setting was in a time period that I love, but unfortunately neither of these was enough. The characters were so flat that I couldn't bring myself to care about any of them, which was unfortunate because I imagine that if they'd actually been interesting, the ending would have had much more of an impact. But alas, all I felt upon finishing was relief.

Additionally, I felt like this book moved very, very slowly, probably because there were so many different subplots, they actually took up more room than the main plot. I mean, I love me some subplots, but there were way too many here, and some of them downright irritated me. For example, the suffragette subplot irritated me because I feel like there should've been a lot more complexity involved; for me, it basically boiled down to, Rose feels conflicted about seeing this man because she's a suffragette and that means men are BAD and she'll be a terrible suffragette if she actually falls in love with one!

I did like how all of the historical details were woven in so effortlessly. For example, we see parts of the buildup to World War I, the Titanic, the advent of film, and foreshadowing of the future Edward VIII's abdication. I also think Dean did a good job portraying the loneliness of royal life. I only wish Dean had done as good a job fleshing out her characters as she did bringing her setting to life.

View all my reviews

History Thursday: James Madison

2011-11-17T20:48:00.000-08:00

This Thursday, I'm posting an interview Jon Stewart did with historian and author Richard Brookhiser about James Madison and the first political parties. While most regular readers of my blog are aware that I'm definitely more of a medievalist*, this interview was really fascinating to watch.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Richard Brookhiser

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

*Fun fact: my second concentration is in Post-Civil War U.S. History. Which, I realize, isn't even remotely related to medieval Europe. I know, I'm still confused, too.

Currently Listening To: Parachute - "Halfway"

Road Trip Wednesday: Books & School

2011-11-16T07:22:00.000-08:00

In high school, teens are made to read the classics - Shakespeare, Hawthorne, Bronte, Dickens - but there are a lot of books out there never taught in schools. So if you had the power to change school curriculums, which books would you be sure high school students were required to read?

As someone who will probably end up teaching middle school language arts at some point (because it tends to be taught in a block with social studies in a lot of middle schools), I'm hoping to be able to teach a mix of classics and YA. Obviously, I'll still have students read some of the classics (To Kill a Mockingbird and The Outsiders were two books I read in middle school that I actually liked), but I'm also going to make sure I teach as much YA as I can, because I think it's important that students learn that reading isn't boring - and unfortunately, a lot of students at the moment are learning to hate reading in their English classes. (I realize this question asks about high school. But...I think middle school needs some more love, so I'm going to take that liberty with this question and talk about middle school, instead.)*

So, if it was entirely up to me, and I didn't have to worry about things like getting in trouble or having parents yell at me, these are books that I would love to teach if I can get away with it:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: When I took my YA lit class over the summer, I actually did my final project, a reading activities packet, on The Hunger Games. So, I actually already have a whole bunch of activities up my sleeve dealing with issues like media literacy, how violence is portrayed in American culture, propaganda, etc. I would probably also show clips from reality TV shows, and if I was teaching this in a humanities block with 8th graders (in which case their social studies class would probably be U.S. history), I would probably have them look at examples of propaganda in their social studies curriculum.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie: This would actually be especially relevant around here, since I'm from Washington State. So, actually, I could even use this book in a social studies classroom, since Washington State History is usually taught in either 7th grade or 9th grade. If I were teaching this in a language arts classroom, I would talk about things like irony and comic relief.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson: Um...can you think of a single reason why to not teach this book? I saw a ton of my 7th graders last winter reading this book. I think it's a book everyone should read at least one, really.
When my 7th graders last winter went off to do their reading groups, I saw that one of the groups was actually reading Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Which totally wouldn't even come to mind immediately, but I think it could be an interesting way to teach about setting. Plus, what kid wouldn't want to read about zombies?
I think I would want to throw in some Tamora Pierce, too. I mean, at that age, girls are so susceptible to all the messages being marketed toward them that they have to look a certain way, or act a certain way - they have to be a certain way in order to be worth anything. So I'm hoping I can be the sort of teacher who can offset this by showing them there are other ways they can be - they don't have to fit into a certain little box that's impossible to fit into, anyway - and still be worth something. I feel like Tamora Pierce's books would be perfect for this. I know they helped me out a lot at this age.
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli was another one of those books that, although I only read it once, really stuck with me at this age. It's really relevant to what kids go through at this age, so I would want to bring this one in, too.

Anyway, so there's my list...I sort of tried to limit it to what I would do in a middle school, since that's my focus - otherwise this list would be way, way longer.

And...it's 7:20 now, which means I only have a half hour left to get ready for class. Today we're talking about how to teach public speaking! (I hated public speaking when I was in school. And now I'm planning to basically be public speaking for the rest of my life. Funny how that turns out...)

*Actually, I just didn't read the question. But middle school is cooler, anyway.**
**Unfortunately, I seem to be in the minority on this.

Music Monday #9

2011-11-14T21:22:00.000-08:00

This week, I'm going to go nostalgic with some Nelly Furtado. You know, back when she was an adorable folk artist? I think I was in 6th grade when this song came out:

Friday Five: oh hey there, November

2011-11-11T21:24:00.000-08:00

1. I woke up this morning to discover that it is, in fact, November. After about a week and a half of nice - if cold - weather, I woke up to find that I couldn't even see out of my bedroom window since it was plastered over with so much rain. It calmed down a bit right as I left my apartment to go to one of my favorite coffee shops for a write-in, and in the three hours I sat there I observed the brief appearance of some blue sky, some more rain, incredible amounts of wind that stripped the trees of every single one of their remaining leaves, a little more blue sky, rain, hail, and then some more rain. You can never say that the weather around here this time of the year is boring.

2. I heard a beautiful duet this morning, by Kate Voegele and Parachute, who are touring together right now. (I'd love to be able to go see them. But alas, I am broke.) Here it is; I definitely think it's worth a listen:

3. I realized today that my NaNo is probably going to be way longer than 50,000 words. Which is exciting that I love this idea enough that words are just springing from my fingertips, but at the same time it's sort of scary to think about because now I have two novels to finish instead of just one...oops, haha. I guess I won't be bored over my awkwardly long winter break!

4. I also realized this week that graduation is in a month. (A month from yesterday, actually.) I have an incredible amount of work to get done between now and then. I'm just going to go find a sandbox and stick my head in it now.

5. So, apparently part of this whole growing up thing involves making important decisions about my future. For example, at some point before June, I have to decide what I'm going to do with my life - am I going to stay up here and try to find a survival job to help pay the bills while I substitute teach until I can get a full-time job? Do I move back in with my parents and try to substitute teach down there? Do I scour the country looking for teaching jobs, which would potentially involve leaving the state? Do I leave the country and teach overseas for a few years until jobs start opening up back home?

I'm going to be honest. I'm just ignoring that whole aspect of it at the moment. At the moment, the decision I have to make is where to student teach. I met with one teacher already, and now I have to decide if that is where I want to be. I have a feeling I already know what the right decision is; I just need to actually take that next step and make it. Which is sort of a terrifying feeling because this is the biggest decision I've ever had to make.

So, um, that's going on. I mean, it's not as bad as I just made it sound; I'm excited that I have all of these possibilities open to explore...even if the reality of living in a box I always joked about when I was a kid is actually drawing closer and closer. That's the price I get to pay for choosing majors I like, I guess.

Anyway, I didn't mean for this to get so philosophical and long, so now here's a word count update!

17000 / 50000 words. 34% done!

Remember me mentioning sitting for three hours watching the weather? I also wrote 4000 words in that time. My history degree is serving me well once again.

Currently Listening To: Parachute feat. Kate Voegele - "Kiss Me Slowly"
Currently Reading: Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan

Teaser Tuesday: FIRE Prologue

2011-11-08T18:14:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted a teaser in awhile, so this week I'm posting the prologue to my NaNo, FIRE. It's completely unedited, so there are some interesting things going on...heh. Enjoy!

The smell of smoke filled my nostrils; the gray cloud burned my eyes. My eyes were filled with tears as I watched the scene unfold before me, the orangey flames licking at my father as he cried out in agony, being burned for a crime he didn’t commit.

The crowd surrounding the pit was dead silent, silent enough to hear a pin drop. Everyone knew my father; most of them had either been taught by him, or had children or grandchildren who had been taught by him. The very idea that he might be a warlock was absolutely ludicrous, at least to those who knew him best. On what grounds the government had to accuse, try, and execute him, none of us knew. But we also all knew better than to question this judgment, for to question the government was to forfeit your life.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about this. On the one hand, my fate was going to be tied to the government for the rest of my life – it would be my livelihood, and it would benefit both myself and my family as it was a very high-status position that I’d attained.

On the other hand – this was my father who was being burned, right before my very eyes, while I was being forced to watch. And there was absolutely nothing our precious government could do to take that away from me.

My mother stood next to me, head held high, her stiffness the only sign that she was trying to hold back tears. My eyes scanned the crowd, locking on the official who stood in the crisp uniform associated with the administration, watching my family for signs of weakness to report back to the Council later.

I imagined the Council as a bunch of stuffy old men who took pleasure in the pain of others, a bunch of sadists whose only pleasure in life was making their people – the people they claimed to protect – suffer. After all, why else would they tear families apart? I knew they were probably sitting around in whatever fancy room in the Administration Building they convened in, watching the smoke and waiting for it to recede, waiting for it to signal that the latest threat had been eliminated and that they could breathe easily again.

My family would never breathe easily again. We’d have to live our lives in our small farming community with whispers following us, rumors being spread behind our backs, black marks on our reputations while people believed terrible things about a good man without cause. They may have been shocked, yes. They may not have wanted to believe what they were being told. But believe it they would.

They always did in the end, if the government willed it to be so.

It seemed like an eternity, but my father’s screams finally died away, replaced by silence, save for the crackling of the flames, the whistling of the wind through the trees, the harsh in and out of my carefully modulated breaths.

I was numb. There was no other word to describe what I was feeling, because what I was feeling was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

What I needed to do was run. Run as fast and as far as I could, to the mountains, over the mountains, beyond the mountains. I needed to run, as fast and as far as I could, and never, ever look back.

I needed to escape.

Currently Watching: The Colbert Report

Currently Reading: The Golden Prince by Rebecca Dean

Breaking it down & Music Monday #8

2011-11-07T11:18:00.000-08:00

A couple things here for your Monday morning/afternoon/evening. I'm going to try to make this quick because right now I'm being that jerk who's using school computers for non-school related things...and I complain about those people constantly =) (However, I also have time to kill and don't feel like doing homework anymore, so there.)

For my English class I'm supposed to be writing a sequence of writing activities for hypothetical 7th graders wherein I teach them specific skills that will help them with the end assignment, which will be to write a short story. I was trying to make a list of all of the different skills needed to write a short story...and I realized that I have absolutely no idea.

Which sounds sort of weird, because I spend so much of my time writing stories. I know how to write a story. But at the same time, it's so much a part of me - like, probably not even second nature, but even more than that - that I'm having a hard time breaking the process into discrete parts - it's just something I know. And I don't think I ever even really was taught how to do it; I just sat down and started writing, and went from there.

So far my list includes: plot (broken down even further into conflict, structure, etc.), characters (motivation, conflict), setting, description (showing vs. telling, figurative language, word choice, etc.). dialogue...I'll probably be spending my weekend with my old creative writing textbooks and any curriculum guides and/or lesson plans I can find on the internet. Anything else that needs to be included on my list?

Anyway, on to the music part of this post. I really, really love Keith Urban. Therefore, I will give you not just one song, but two this week. Enjoy!

Review: The Body Finder

2011-11-04T10:49:00.001-07:00

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book terrified me, and made my skin crawl, and reading it late at night probably wasn't such a good idea. All of these, though, are very, very good things, and are what kept me up late reading when I really should've been asleep.

I had one problem, though, and that was the epilogue. Given what I thought had happened at the end of the last chapter, I was totally relieved to read it, but at the same time, I felt like it was sort of just tacked on, and that sort of made the ending a little less satisfying for me.

I can't wait to read the second book!

View all my reviews

Friday Five: procrastination edition

2011-11-04T10:42:00.000-07:00

1. Like many people of the internet, I've been busily typing away at my NaNo. I've been having a lot of fun with it so far, but that's probably because it's only Day 4 so I haven't grown to hate my SNI/myself and/or wonder why I'm doing this to myself. Plus, after reading so much dystopian this past year, it's been really fun playing around with that...even if I'm using words like "orangey" to describe flames and many, many of my sentences are completely incomprehensible. But I have a good feeling that this story is one that I'm going to return to, so that's an exciting idea.

Also, I finally have a title: FIRE. Which isn't even all that creative, but at least it's a working title! :D

2. Obviously, all this NaNo-ing means I've put my dear, beloved Shards of Memory on the back burner for a few weeks. However, I did realize that, with only about 18-19k left to write in this draft, if I can keep the momentum going - I'm going to finish this thing very, very soon. (Taking a second to freak out...freaking out...DONE.) I'm walking at graduation on December 10, will probably spend the next month studying all of the language arts things I'm supposed to know for my middle level humanities WEST-E on January 7, and then I don't start student teaching until the end of January. My goal is to have my current draft of Shards done by the time I start. And then after that...start on the next book.

3. In addition to NaNo, I've got everything in the universe EVAR to get done for school this month. I've still got one lesson plan to plan and teach/videotape for my practicum and then reflect on; a GIANT PORTFOLIO of STUFF to put together for my methods/practicum block, displaying my impact on student learning; a thing that's not technically a unit plan but is basically a unit plan of writing activities, leading up to the "goal assignment" of having hypothetical 7th graders write a short story, for my English class; maintaining my passing grade in my art history class; and running around trying to get various things taken care of for my student teaching. And then, you know, working all weekend so I have a place to sleep and food to eat, helping Harry Potter Club plan our annual Yule Ball, trying (and failing) to maintain some semblance of a social life...

4. Things that are depressing: this morning's lecture in my English class. We talked about "teaching to the test," which basically resulted in my professor telling us a specific structure that we probably want to force students to use when they write persuasive and expository essays so they can pass their tests. For someone who will most likely be, in my professor's words, "that touchy-feely hippie teacher who wants their students to be creative," it was hard to sit through. Those poor children are only going to learn to hate writing if we teach them like that =(

5. I'm totally obsessed with that new show, Revenge. I watched all of the episodes when I was dying of plague a couple weeks ago, and now I don't know what to do with my life since it's not on this coming Wednesday. What, you mean I'll actually have to go to bed on time? Madness!

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Current Word Count:

6458 / 50000 words. 13% done!

Review: Ransome's Honor

2011-10-31T21:25:00.001-07:00

Ransome's Honor by Kaye Dacus

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a fun, quick read, and I even stayed up late reading it. I particularly enjoyed all of the social maneuvering - those sorts of things are always a treat.

However, I did have a couple of major issues. Some of the plot elements called for a lot more suspension of disbelief than I was willing to give - they just seemed a little too out there to be believable. There were also a couple of instances where I felt like Julia's character was a little inconsistent - certain things (that were important to the plot) escaped her that I felt like she was way too intelligent to miss. Ultimately, then, the plot, while enjoyable, also seemed to be trying too hard.

I did have a good time reading this book, and it was a good distraction from homework. If you're looking for literary brilliance, though, this probably isn't the book for you.

View all my reviews

Music Monday #7

2011-10-31T16:33:00.000-07:00

Kelly Clarkson's new album came out last week, and having listened to it several times now, I have to say that this is my favorite song on the entire album. I've listened to it on repeat a ridiculous number of times, and it probably isn't going to stop any time soon:

Have a good week, everyone!

It's History: The English Civil War

2011-10-27T16:13:00.000-07:00

I started the summer off back in June by reading two books about the English Civil War on a whim. I hadn't really read much about the conflict and I vaguely remembered learning about it in AP European History my senior year of high school, but the 17th century is the one that I sort of just tend to forget existed.

Turns out, the English Civil War is actually pretty interesting. So, today I have tried to put together a brief and reasonably coherent summary for all of you.

In 1625, Charles I ascended to the throne of England. That same year he married Henrietta Maria, a French princess, which was sort of a problem because Henrietta Maria was Catholic and England was by this time staunchly Protestant; if Charles married a Catholic, there was the chance that she could convert him and/or raise their children as Catholics (which was sort of what the French were trying to do). England didn't want Catholic heirs to the throne running around since the Church of England was headed by the King - meaning that the religion of the King more or less dictated the religion that England would follow. (See: Edward VI, Mary I, Elizabeth I)

So. Given Charles' choice in wife, things were already tense enough. But the Thirty Years' War was also going on in Europe at this time. Charles decided he wanted to participate. And, in case you were unaware, wars cost a lot of money. Parliament didn't want to give him permission to collect taxes to fund this war, so he dissolved them and called up a new one, which drew up the Petition of Right, a document that set out certain rights subjects have that the King can't stomp all over. (One of these rights is non-Parliamentary taxation. I think you can see how this could be problematic for Charles.) So then Charles ended up avoiding calling up Parliament for the next decade, which was pretty easy to do so long as he could avoid having to tax people.

The whole pretending Parliament didn't exist thing came to an end, though, when Scotland rebelled, as they often did. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail here, but basically Charles had a lot of theological stances that people didn't necessarily agree with, and when he tried to force these views on the Scottish people...it didn't really fly with them. Since he had no money to suppress this rebellion, he had to call up Parliament. Except, Parliament didn't really want to go along with his idea of invading Scotland, so Charles dissolved them again and attacked Scotland anyway. (This Parliament only lasted a few weeks - we call them the Short Parliament.) And then Scotland retaliated by attacking England. And this whole thing sort of just put Charles in a super awkward position since he was King of both England and Scotland - so he had to pay the Scottish army that was attacking England, and pay the English army that was supposed to protect England from Scotland. I think you can all figure out what happens next - it was time to call up our good friend Parliament once again!

This Parliament - also known as the Long Parliament because it sat for so long - was really hostile to Charles. Lots more stuff happened that basically involved people being accused of treason, and Charles storming the House of Commons looking for five members he was trying to arrest on charges of treason, and the Speaker declaring his loyalty to Parliament rather than the King. And things just got tenser and tenser until finally war broke out. (By this point, we're in the early 1640s.)

So, we see war between the Parliamentarians (also known as Roundheads) and Royalists (also known as Cavaliers). It's probably pretty clear who was who, but I'm going to clarify anyway that the Roundheads supported Parliament and the Cavaliers supported the King. Cities tended to favor Parliament while rural areas tended to favor the King; however, very few people were involved at first while most of the country remained neutral. This conflict did go on for about ten years, though, so as time went on more and more people took sides.

Lots of things happened during this time. (No, this is not a cop-out. This is me trying to avoid writing a novel-length work by not describing every battle in excruciating detail. If you're into that sort of thing, read Rebels and Traitors by Lindsey Davis. It does a good job capturing the scope of this thing. It also happens to be 750 pages long.) Some of these things include: Charles taking refuge with the Scots and being handed over to Parliament, thus ending the First English Civil War (oh, yes, they divide them up); Charles turning around and negotiating a secret treaty with the Scots wherein he promised religious reform in exchange for the Scots invading England (which I suppose is somewhat awkward given that he was the King of both realms, which I think I already mentioned earlier); many, many uprisings in the countryside; and, eventually, the forced formation of the Rump Parliament.

Charles turning to Scotland was a little questionable, since Parliament wasn't entirely clear as to whether or not this was treason. There was debate over whether to return him to power or not; many members of Parliament thought he should be returned to power once he came around to their way of thinking but others weren't sure. This resulted in Pride's Purge in 1648, in which the Army came in and removed all the members of Parliament who were opposed to the plan to try Charles for high treason. (In this group were...most of them. The few remaining members were the ones who made up the Rump Parliament.) The members who were left tried Charles for treason - and he was found guilty. On January 30, 1649, Charles I was executed. Problem solved, right?

Except not really. Because even more fighting ended up breaking out (I think we're up to the Third English Civil War here? I've lost count) because of the whole question of whether or not to put Charles's son and heir, Charles II, on the throne. Because, as it turns out, a lot of people at this point were sort of just opposed to the idea of a king in general.

Long story short: Eventually Charles II goes into exile in France. Oliver Cromwell sets up the Protectorate (I think we're in 1653 by this point?), which he rules over as Lord Protector (which apparently isn't the same thing as a king). Eventually this falls apart, but that's a story for a different day.

If you would like more information/reading material that is slightly more academic in tone, I recommend the book I started my summer with, A Royal Passion by Katie Whitaker, which is an interesting look at the marriage between Charles and Henrietta Maria. I'll edit this post to add more titles as I read them.

Road Trip Wednesday: Best Book of October

2011-10-26T14:04:00.000-07:00

This week's topic is...

What was the best book you read in October?

...I didn't actually finish a single book in October. At least, not for fun. I've been slowly working my way through a couple of different books, but I don't really have a lot of time to sit and read for hours at a time right now.

However, I did recently discover that the days/times for the YA and fantasy book groups at my favorite local book store changed to times that I'm available to attend. So hopefully I'll have more to talk about next month.

I have been reading some interesting things for school, though. Right now I'm reading the Tao of Pooh, which basically talks about Taoism through Winnie-the-Pooh. That's really interesting.

Writing this post is depressing me. So I'm going to go ahead and end it here.

Currently Listening To: Sneaky Sound System - "UFO"

Currently Reading: The Tudors by G.J. Meyer

Things I Research: Evening Wear

2011-10-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

Occasionally I research some pretty random things while writing my novel. I think it might be fun to highlight some of them every once in awhile.

I haven't really done any extensive research into this yet (that will come when I eventually start revising), but I did look at some images of Victorian evening wear - specifically, the 1890s, since that is roughly the time period that Nilean women's clothing is based on. There are several scenes in this draft in which evening wear is present, so I just wanted to get a quick idea of what it might look like. Some of the pictures I found:

I can't wait to research it more! I don't pay any attention to fashion nowadays, but fashion history fascinates me.

Road Trip Wednesday: Why I Write

2011-10-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

This week's topic is...

What's your numero-uno reason for writing?

I think my Number One reason for writing is rooted in when I started writing during middle school. I was constantly moving around because my dad was in the military, so I was also the new kid, and I was also really shy, so I had a hard time making friends. And throw into the mix the fact that I was bullied in 8th grade (right around the time I started writing my first longer story)...well, basically, the whole reason I started writing in the first place is that even if there weren't very many people who were there for me in real life, my imagination never abandoned me. My characters were my friends even when I had none.

I'm not that shy, awkward 13-year-old anymore. But my main reason for writing hasn't really changed all that much. Even when life gets really, really crappy (which it has, on occasion, the past few years), the story and my characters and their world is still there. When school and work and the whole learning how to be a grownup thing all get to be too much, it's all there. If things are confusing or whatever...well, there's a whole folder of poetry on my computer that is a testament to me trying to work through things in the only way I know how. I have boxes and boxes of journals in my closet that are the same thing. There are scenes in Shards of Memory that I can point to and tell you they are pulled directly from my adolescence.

Basically...I write because I have to.

Currently Listening To: Florence + The Machine - "You've Got The Love"

Music Monday #6

2011-10-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

"Almost Lover" is one of those songs I could listen to on repeat for days and never, ever get sick of. (In fact, I do this frequently.) It's just so beautiful and heartbreaking, and it's been one of my favorite songs ever since the first time I heard it.

Happy Monday, everyone! Have a great week!

This is probably the closest thing to a plot I will have.

2011-10-16T18:41:00.000-07:00

I came up with a summary for my (still untitled) NaNovel. I wrote it at like 7 in the morning pre-coffee, so it's pretty ~~less than spectacular~~ awesome. And may or may not be coherent. Here is is:

Several centuries after World War III destroys modern civilization, humankind has finally managed to rebuild society on the principal that difference caused all of human history's problems and therefore is not allowed to exist. In this society, people are tested to see which path would best suit their abilities; 18-year-old Haylee has tested into the bureaucracy. However, when her father is put on trial and executed for witchcraft, she starts questioning the people she's spent her whole life preparing to work for. And when she is invited to a meeting by Arthur, one of her coworkers, she finds herself sucked into a plot to take down their government from the inside. It's a dangerous game she's playing...will she make it out with her life intact?

Nothing like a little life or death action to make things more exciting, right?

Currently Listening To: Britney Spears - "If U Seek Amy"

Progress Report: Shards of Memory

2011-10-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

I hit 30k on Sunday night, which is about 60% of the way toward completion. So I took a moment to dance around my room a bit.

I think my roommate was probably relieved that I finished that scene I was working on because I'd been listening to the same song over and over and over again on repeat for the past two hours. And since she doesn't quite share my taste in music, she was probably really sick of it.

The song I listened to through that entire last scene was "Dance Me To The End Of Love" by The Civil Wars, because it just seemed to fit so well with what I was writing and was therefore the only song I could possibly listen to that wouldn't through off my groove.

I haven't been able to write as much as I'd like lately, but I've been doing better so far this quarter blocking out time in my schedule to write. And when I do sit down to write, it's coming easier. I think now that I'm past the halfway point - so more of this thing is done than not done - I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, so I'm starting to feel really excited about finishing this draft.

Also, it totally helps that stuff is totally happening and things are really about to hit the fan soon. I might be a little sadistic. My poor characters.

Anyway, it's after my bedtime now. So I'd probably better go sleep. After I finish my laundry. Which I sort of forgot about in the midst of awkwardly dancing around my room. Oops.

Currently Listening To: Bon Iver - "Holocene"

Friday Five: my major is so relevant

2011-10-14T15:42:00.000-07:00

1. I feel like I need to share this article I read on NPR on Wednesday about the Black Death. Apparently scientists used DNA from a medieval person's tooth to figure out the entire genetic code of the Plague, and it's really similar to the plague that still infects people in modern times. So they're thinking the medieval bubonic plague might actually be the ancestor of all the present strains. BRB totally nerding out right now.

2. My brain. It is fried. I mean, I don't have a lot of reading or papers or anything. Most of my schoolwork this quarter is being in the field, and taking those experiences I'm having to my classes so I can discuss them and try to contextualize them, and so I can use those experiences to reflect on how well I'm doing in promoting student learning. But that takes so much more out of me than doing hundreds of pages of reading a night, or writing 20+ page research papers ever did. And, it's exhausting in a completely different way. But...I love it so, so much.

3. I've spent the past two years sitting in methods courses, learning the theory behind teaching, and writing lesson plans to turn into my professors, and whatever. And now I'm actually getting a chance to use these things and to see if all my ideas would work with actual kids. It's really, really cool.

4. I was really excited to get my first paycheck for the school year. Until I had to use it to pay my bills and buy my cap and gown. Being a grownup is lame sometimes.

5. I camped out at a coffee shop a couple blocks from my apartment for four hours on Sunday afternoon and worked on the WIP. I hit 30k that night, which was totally exciting. And I haven't looked at the Word document since. It's been one of those weeks...I don't even know what week of the quarter it is, to be honest. I've totally lost track.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Currently Listening To: La Roux - "Bulletproof"

Story of my life.

Road Trip Wednesday: A Winding Road

2011-10-12T19:23:00.000-07:00

What has your writing road trip looked like so far? Excitement? Traffic jams and detours? Where are you going next?

I think this picture probably summarizes my road trip so far:

I'm not sure how easy that is to see, but the road goes on and on and on, zigzagging and winding all along the coast. It's a pretty slow way to go, and you can't be in a huge hurry - people take this road so they can see things. And even though it might take awhile, you always get to wherever you're going eventually.

...and that's assuming you really have a specific endpoint in mind.

That's what my writing road trip has been like so far. I know what my end point is (or what I would like it to be) but I'm not in a super huge hurry to get there. I'm taking my time, stopping to see things. I'm young, and there's a whole world outside my window, and it would be pretty silly of me to not go out and experience that world.

Eventually I'll get to where I'm trying to go. But for now I'm just trying to enjoy the journey.

Currently Listening To: Keith Urban - "Once In A Lifetime"

Music Monday #5

2011-10-10T08:05:00.000-07:00

In order to get myself all pumped up for NaNo, I've started building my playlist (which I'm sharing on Spotify here). I've pulled the song for this week from there:

Enjoy, everyone!

NaNo & my art history class

2011-10-09T07:57:00.000-07:00

I'm taking an art history class this quarter. Not because I need to, but because I just needed more credits in order to maintain my status as a full-time student. So I signed up for an art history class covering Western Europe during the Renaissance, thinking it would be really interesting and cool to get another perspective on some of the things I studied during my undergrad.

The content of the course is interesting. Going to lecture, not so much. The class is a 200-level large lecture class, for starters, which is totally painful by itself when I'm used to small seminar-style and small lecture classes. It's also really hard to sit there when my professor is spending 20-30 minutes (of an 80 minute class) going over how to take notes and how to use the book. Which is great for the freshmen in there, but for someone who's been in college for four and a half years...not so much. And then, to make things even better, none of the content of the lecture is new to me, since I read it all in the book last night.

So after skipping the lecture on Tuesday, I spent a good portion of the lecture on Thursday with not just the Google doc with my lecture notes in it open - I opened a new one in another tab and started jotting down ideas for NaNo. And by the end of the lecture, I had an entire plot worked out. (I still need to get other things pinned down, like the name of my MC, Haylee's, love interest. Because I don't want to spend the entire month of November referring to the poor guy as Hot Guy. Even though that would probably increase my word count.)

I've decided I'm going to write a dystopian, which is a genre that I read a lot, but haven't actually tried writing myself. I'm excited about it.

I have an entire folder on my computer that is made entirely of NaNovels in varying stages of completion. They're all good ideas, and ideas I really want to return to and try to do something with at some point. I haven't completed NaNo since 2007, but I still keep doing it because I've got a competitive streak in me, and because it's a good way to try to force myself to just sit in the chair and write the thing. I didn't even break 5k last year because I was writing my senior paper for the history department during November, so I really have nowhere to go but up this year =)

Anyone else doing NaNo? I know I'm not the only masochist out there =)

Currently Listening To: Adele - "Someone Like You"

Teaser Tuesday: zombie apocalypse survival plans

2011-10-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

Last week for my English class we had to write 200-250 word essays about some aspect of college life. This is what I came up with:

College is the first time many ofus will have to face the “real world” and being a “grownup.” Until this point,many of us won’t have had to deal with things such as paying our own rent orcooking for ourselves – although, to be honest, many of us still refuse to facethe latter, popcorn being a completely valid option for every meal. Even more important than having food or aplace to live, though, is having a zombie apocalypse survival plan.

Chancesare you know what to do if there’s a fire, or maybe even an earthquake. Butwhen you go off into the wide world around you, and actually start to realizehow many people are actually out there, you start to realize just howdisastrous things could really be if those people you’re running into every dayon the bus were to be infected and turned into zombies. You start lookingaround, trying to figure out the easiest escape route from any lecture hall. Ifyou’re on the bus, you try to figure out how to best maneuver to slay anyzombies who try to spread their dreaded virus while some stranger ispractically sitting in your lap. You try to find slow people to be friends withso you can use them as bait should you encounter zombies walking around campus.

Thereality is that you really don’t know when the zombie apocalypse could happen.And now that you’re on your own, you have to formulate your own survival planbecause Mom and Dad are no longer around to tell you what to do.

Music Monday #4

2011-10-03T10:53:00.000-07:00

Taking a departure from my WIP playlist this week because this just popped up on Facebook. Happy Monday, everyone!

<br><br>Ha

This quarter is turning me into an old lady.

2011-10-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

I've been getting up at 6 every morning during the week because I have morning classes. This schedule has started creeping into my weekends as well, which is actually something I don't really mind because it means I have time to do things like read and catch up on The Daily Show before I have to go into work.

However, it also means I spend my weekends like this:

-Friday I got home from work around 8:30, took a shower, crawled into bed, finished Paper Towns, and was asleep by 10.

-Last night (Saturday) I spent all afternoon after I got home from work sitting in my pajamas and watching The Proposal with my roommate before watching a couple episodes of Doctor Who while watching her make fail-tastic cinnamon rolls. Once again, I was asleep by 10.

I mean, it's not such a bad thing, and I'm pretty sure this is the first time in years I've had a normal sleep cycle. I'm not nearly as tired as I used to be, and usually I can make it through the day with only one cup of coffee (as opposed to at least three). But it's also sort of sad when my friends want to go out, and I'm worried about not being able to stay up late enough because the time they want to meet up is after my bedtime. (Not that I go out super often to begin with, but still.)

OMG, guys. Sleep is so amazing. You have no idea.

Currently Listening To: Narnia Soundtrack (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe)

Currently Reading: Queens Consort: England's Medieval Queens from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Elizabeth of York by Lisa Hilton

It's History: Inquisitions in the Middle Ages

2011-09-29T22:24:00.000-07:00

Pedro Berruguete, Saint Dominic Presiding over an Auto-da-fe, c.1495

It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of my history posts. So. Today I’m going to give a quick run-down of inquisitions in the Middle Ages.

Inquisitions in the Middle Ages, unlike their far more famous successor, the Spanish Inquisition, were not any one single unified thing. Originally it was Pope Lucius III who, in 1184, issued his bull Ad abolendam, which basically outlined measures for rooting out heretics and prosecuting them. Because during the 12th century, heresy (or, the more PC term, “religious dissent”) was starting to become more of an issue, primarily from the Cathars and Waldensians. (Both of which I will do a post on later.) Initially inquisitions were left up to local officials to take care of (the Episcopal Inquisition) but since this proved to not be very effective since bishops sort of had plenty of other things on their minds, in the early half of the 13th century the pope took over, appointing inquisitors - often Dominicans - who answered to no one except the pope and were specially trained in inquisitorial procedure and finding heretics.

The primary duty of the inquisitors was to inquire - to question. The court would set up shop in an area and call people to appear so that they could be questioned. These interrogations often took place over the course of several days, with a high level of sophistication compared to many other courts of the time as inquisitors adapted their interrogation techniques based on what they thought would be most likely to yield the answers they were looking for. Inquisitorial manuals also appeared during the 13th and 14th centuries, outlining the different types of heresy and how to best question those who adhered to each sect. Those being questioned had to swear an oath before beginning, although certain sects such as the Waldensians refused to swear oaths so this could also be used as a means of determining if someone was a heretic or not.

As is popularly known, there was always the risk of punishment hanging over supposed heretics’ heads - although, since the Church wasn’t technically allowed to punish people, any punishments given out by the Church were classified as penance, while any punishments had to be meted out by secular authorities. For example, Church authorities could assign confessed heretics to do certain things like prayer, or they could imprison people, since technically these people weren’t being “punished.” However, if someone refused to recant (take back their heretical beliefs), or if they had recanted but turned back to the Dark Side (relapsed heretics), they were then relaxed to the secular arm - basically, the Church handed dissenters over to secular authorities, who then punished these people, often by burning them at the stake.

There were various types of dissent that didn’t really fly with the Church. The two that were most often persecuted were the Cathars and the Waldensians (both of which I’ll write up posts on in the future), although other groups such as the Beguines, Jews, and witches (to a lesser extent) were also subjected to the inquisitors. Often it was for things like not having papal recognition or permission to preach (like the Waldensians), although in the case of the Cathars, there actually is some disagreement over whether or not they were actually a Christian sect since there were so many doctrinal differences. (Basically...the Cathars believed in two Gods, which the Church really didn’t seem to like. I’ll talk about this more in the future.)

And...there is a very quick introduction to the subject of inquisitions in the Middle Ages. I actually wrote a term paper on this for my medieval religion seminar last spring, and had a very hard time finding sources that were in English. However, a couple that I was able to locate in case you want to read more than I have here because I don’t really want to write another 20 page paper on the subject:

Given, James. Inquisition and Medieval Society: Power, Discipline, and Resistance in Languedoc. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997.

Gui, Bernard. The Inquisitor’s Guide: A Medieval Manual on Heretics. Translated by Janet Shirley. UK: Ravenhall Books, 2006.

Fournier, Jacques. “Inquisition Records.” In Readings in Medieval History, edited by Patrick J. Geary, 540-559. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 1989.

Road Trip Wednesday: Best Books of September

2011-09-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

I'm going to make this nice and quick since I have reading I need to finish for class tomorrow. So, this week's Road Trip Wednesday topic is...

What was the best book you read in September?

Like August, I am going to go with my top three choices for the month here. In no particular order:

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins: I was actually a little disappointed by how little suspense there was in the plot (I had expected a little bit more), but I still absolutely loved this book because it was so hilarious. I absolutely loved Sophie and her sarcasm, and I would totally be BFFs with her solely on the basis of this.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert: I watched the movie earlier this summer, so I decided to give the book a try. The past few years I've been in this whole spiritual exploration phase, so the fact that the book centered so much on Gilbert's own spiritual exploration really appealed to me. I took my time reading this one, just because there was so much there.

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger: I loved that Keplinger took on a topic that a lot of people don't really want to think about in relation to teens (even though they really, really should) and just attacked it. I'm probably going to recommend this book to everyone now.

What did all of you read in September? Anything good?

Friday Five: Back In Business

2011-09-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

1. I've basically been running around like a crazy person all week. Which is really hard to do when I'm still not used to this whole getting up at 6am business so I'm really, really tired no matter how much coffee I consume. Speaking of which, it might be time for more.

2. I spent Monday and Tuesday at the university's annual Info Fair. Basically what it is is a giant carnival-type thing where students can go to get information about different clubs, activities, programs, and whatever on campus. Most of the clubs on campus are there manning their own booths, and there is also a lot of free food and prizes (because we're in college and, as many of you know, FREE STUFF is pretty much a guarantee to get college students to do ANYTHING). I was there helping to (wo)man the Harry Potter Club table, basically talking to people, explaining what we do, trying to convince them to sign up for our email list, etc.

3. Speaking of Harry Potter Club, we had like 130 people show up to our first meeting. (Granted, most of them probably won't come back, but still. THAT IS INSANE.) About 97% of these people were freshmen. I turned to my friend sitting next to me, who is the only other Fifth Year in Club, and we immediately started laughing because OMG WE'RE SO OLD.

4. I can't really say too much about my practicum. There are students involved, so there are a lot of confidentially things to be concerned with. So, I am going to leave it off with: I'm totally excited for this quarter, guys, seriously.

5. I am decidedly less enthused for my art history class, which I'm actually only taking because I needed more credits in order to be considered a full time student blah blah blah. I haven't taken a huge lecture class in a few years, and it was especially jarring yesterday considering my other class right before that one was my methods class, which only has like 15 people in it, and I know most of them. Then there's the fact that my professor, in attempting to explain the Black Death, said, "there was a terrible plague in the 1300s that was carried by rats." Which should probably tell you that my hopes for this class shouldn't be terribly high.*

Random Picture of the Week:

This has been me basically every single morning so far this quarter.

And now I have to go return a book to the library and then try to get some of my English reading done before I go to work. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Currently Listening To: Josh Ritter - "Long Shadows"

Currently Reading: Paper Towns by John Green

*The correct answer is fleas.

Music Monday #3

2011-09-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

There isn't really any one particular reason I put "Sun Of A Gun" by Oh Land on my playlist. I mostly just love the sound and think it fits in well with the sort of feel I'm going for.

Friday Five: Time for more coffee.

2011-09-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

1. There are some awesome things about living downtown. The main awesome thing is that we're close to pretty much everything: coffee shops, the library, food, more coffee shops...

A not so awesome thing is that it's loud since so many people walk by here. I've routinely been woken up on the weekends by drunk people deciding they need to hang out under my window and have loud conversations, and now that all of the college students are coming back into town it's just going to get worse. I got used to it at my old apartment (which was on another street that is frequented by drunk college students on the weekends) and hopefully I'll get used to it again soon, what with the whole having to be responsible thing.

2. There is a building behind our apartment building that's been under construction for a couple months, so we've gotten used to hearing that going on. Which usually isn't a big deal. Except this morning when my roommate and I were woken up at 4 because the construction company decided they needed to do a cement pour. So I spent my morning listening to NPR while I tried to fall back asleep...it didn't work.

3. I was walking home from buying textbooks (*cries*) and passed the dorms, which had groups of freshmen outside with their parents, moving in. It made me feel old, especially when I realized my dear little baby sister (who will be 19 next week and hates me calling her that) will be standing in a group a lot like that with our parents when she moves into the dorms next week for her freshman year.

4. I got my diploma in the mail! It exists, guys!

5. I downloaded Lady Antebellum's new album on Tuesday and have listened to it a few times, and I'm totally obsessed with it. For those of you unfamiliar with them, I provide this video, which is off of their second album:

Random picture of the week:

And that's all for this Friday. Have an awesome weekend, everyone!

Currently Listening To: Boys Like Girls - "Love Drunk"

Currently Reading: Guardian of the Gate by Michelle Zink

Farewell, Summer

2011-09-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a nice past seven weeks, but in about 36 hours it'll be time to say goodbye to my summer vacation (and my social life). And, in a nice turn of events, the weather has decided to remind me of this by being cold and cloudy and gray the past couple of days, and it's supposed to rain at least four days in the next week. So there will be no more of this*:

Or this:

And there will be no time for this:

Times I am grateful for my mom's unnatural attachment to her camera: this is one of them.

Or this:

Nick Carter was five feet away from me.

However, there will be a lot of this in my future:

A LOT. My imminent future unfortunately happens to also be full of 8:30am English classes, teenagers, being perpetually covered in grease thanks to my job in the dining hall, 200-level GUR art history courses with freshmen, lesson planning for both my English class (to prove that I know how to do it) and my practicum (so that I can actually *gulp* teach them), and I'll probably make another stab at NaNo this year since I'm a masochist.

However, my imminent future will also be full of Harry Potter-ing (yay, Club!), drinking wine with my roommate whilst watching Glee, going to 80s night with my history major girls like any of us were actually alive in the 80s for more than a few months, shouting at the TV and trying not to break things while watching the Seahawks shoot themselves in the foot repeatedly, and spontaneous kitchen dance parties.

Bring it on, fall quarter!

Currently Listening To: The Civil Wars - "My Father's Father"

Currently Reading: Guardian of the Gate by Michelle Zink

*At least not until at least next July, which is actually probably an optimistic estimate.

Road Trip Wednesday: Over and over again

2011-09-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

This week's topic is...

What themes, settings, motifs, scenes, or other elements do you find recurring in your work?

I think Number One would be MCs who are unsure of themselves at the start but who gain confidence as the story progresses. I think this is probably because I know how this feels and so I'm just writing what I know. (Even Calanthe, the MC in my current WIP, has this whole snarky exterior, but that's only because she's trying to hide her insecurities and all that. Which I think only really comes across because I decided to write it in first person, as opposed to third person, which is what it was originally.)

I also use a lot of sarcasm. I am a very sarcastic person. Sarcasm, not English, is my native tongue. I realized during my undergrad while I was spending all that time writing history papers that I had little bits of sarcasm sneaking into those papers. Totally unintentional. It's pretty much impossible for me to do anything without sarcasm.

This isn't so much a thing in my current WIP, but I've had a huge focus on nature in other things I've written. There is a very good reason for this.

The last thing that really recurs in my work is a historical feel. I write fantasy, but I've had people tell me that my stories - this one in particular - read a lot like historical novels. For my current WIP, I blended together Victorian society with Florentine politics and medieval European religion (does the word Catharism mean anything to anyone besides me?), and in Book 2 I'm contemplating throwing in an inquisition, just for giggles. It's so nice that I can use my degree for something besides planning people's demises while I'm sitting in the dentist chair with ten different instruments shoved in my mouth.

Currently Listening To: Adele - "Rumour Has It"

Currently Reading: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and Between Two Queens by Kate Emerson

Music Monday #2

2011-09-12T22:38:00.000-07:00

I took the stars from our eyes, and then I made a map

And knew that somehow I could find my way back

Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too

So I stayed in the darkness with you

"Cosmic Love" by Florence + The Machine is the first song on my playlist for my WIP. There's a certain subplot that I don't really want to get into because I don't want to spoil anything, but I feel like this song sort of ties into that thread of the story.

Plus, just listening to anything by Florence + The Machine automatically gets me in the mood to write. I could easily have the entire album on the playlist, but I managed to limit myself to just four songs (out of 17...so far).

I have the entire playlist on Spotify if you want to see what else is on it...or you can just keep reading this blog since I sort of want to make Music Monday a regular thing.

Currently Listening To: Adele - "Set Fire To The Rain"

Currently Reading: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Memory

2011-09-11T12:44:00.000-07:00

My memories of that day ten years ago are blurry. I remember specific details, but everything else around them has completely been erased from my memory. I remember standing at the bus stop watching the sunrise, and how the air was just starting to shift from summer to the first cool of fall. I remember feeling terribly, terribly small in my first period pre-algebra class as the principal came on the PA system to tell us all what had happened. I remember driving around and around on my school bus that afternoon, in the middle of nowhere, looking for the back gate the base had agreed to open amidst the lockdown so that we could get home - because where else were we going to go, especially when no one was really even sure when the lockdown was going to be lifted?

Most of that day - and the days after - have been lost, though, just a blur of me watching the news and feeling scared and wondering if it was going to happen again. My sister - who was 8 when it happened - mentioned to me when we were in Target looking at Barbies yesterday how we spent the entire day after, when we didn't go to school because the buses decided to not even try, not when it was taking people a minimum of four hours to get onto the base because the guards were stopping to check every single vehicle trying to pass through - we spent that entire day playing with our Barbies at the kitchen table while our mom watched the news. I remember not going to school that day, but that's the only thing I remember. I don't remember the thing with the Barbies at all.

I wish I still had my journals from junior high. I know I wrote in it that day. I'm really curious to see what my 12-year-old self said, how I tried to explain it to my journal. All I remember is sitting with my band class in the choir room, watching the news. It was my second week of junior high, and I remember being completely unable to comprehend what I was watching.

I'm 22 now. I just spent the past four years getting a degree in history. My two concentrations were medieval history and 20th century U.S. history, which are two areas that are full of ideological conflict. For my senior thesis, I spent an entire three months analyzing primary sources about the Crusades, dissecting the hatred and suspicion three groups of people had for each other based on ideological grounds. In a future that is drawing increasingly nearer, it will be my job to take history and help students who will be the same age I was when 9/11 happened, understand why these things happen, how the historical narrative explains things, and so on and on and on.

I still can't comprehend what I was seeing that day. Things like compassion and humanity - those are essential parts of my worldview. I literally cannot understand hating someone enough that I am willing to murder thousands of people just to prove a point. I can't understand willingly inflicting terror on people. I can't understand the desire to watch people suffer.

I can't comprehend what happened on 9/11. I probably never will be able to comprehend it. And the fact that I can't comprehend it, probably isn't such a bad thing.

Friday Five: These are a few of my favorite things.

2011-09-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

1. Taylor Swift was awesome. Aside from the part where we got stuck in traffic for like two hours because, for whatever reason, pretty much every exit getting into the Tacoma Dome except one was closed, meaning EVERYONE was all stuck trying to get in the same way. Oh, and the part where I ended up hopping out of the car and running the rest of the way to the Dome because, darn it all, I really needed a bathroom. And the part where I hadn't eaten in like four hours so I really just wanted to punch someone in the face when we finally got to the Dome and it was all OMGPEOPLE. (I get cranky when I don't eat.)

But other than those things, it was fun, more so when I finally got food into my system. I don't have any pictures because I forgot my camera (which isn't all that great anyway), but I'm sure you can Google her tour and see pictures for yourself if you're really curious - it was totally elaborate, a lot of different sets and costume changes. (I really, really want Taylor's dresses. All of them.) Taylor was as adorable as always. This was my third time seeing her, and I will definitely be seeing her again next time she comes through.

I also want to take a moment to say how proud I am of my 13-year-old brother, who knows every single word to every single one of her songs, and bragged about it. And sure enough, I looked over, and he was singing along *almost* as loudly as our sister and me.

2. Football. It is officially back! I didn't get to watch a lot of the college games last weekend because I decided that I should probably make the most of my social life in these last couple weeks I still have one, but I did get return to my apartment in time to watch USC win. (No! What can I say, my family is UW Huskies all the way. =) ) I almost forgot the NFL regular season kicked off last night, but fortunately I was already watching President Obama's jobs speech and the game was on right after that...hooray for my need to feel informed! Anyway, I was able to spend some quality time warming up my lungs as I cheered on the Saints, and I look forward to using them on Sunday when the Seahawks play the Niners.

3. I have a placement for my high school practicum already. Two weeks before the quarter starts. Which, if you recall my experience from my middle school practicum last winter, you probably realize is already a vast improvement. (Not that my middle school practicum experience was bad. It was actually really good. Just starting halfway through the quarter meant that I had to hit the ground running right away.) I'm not really sure how this whole thing is actually gonna go down. I look like I'm 15, so this should be interesting...

4. So far this week, my parents have yet to ask me when I'm bringing a man home to meet them, and my sister has only demanded nieces and/or nephews once. Success!

5. I had my first pumpkin spice latte of the season on Monday. I look forward to many, many more.

Random picture of the week:

All the time, guys.

Currently Reading: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

On Archaeology

2011-09-06T09:07:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I'm at my parents' house for the week, so I may not be around so much. There is a lot of running around and doing of things, and when I'm not doing that my mom has asked (very, very politely) that I finally clean out my old room. Which is a totally weird experience, because the things left in there - aside from my books and my snowman collection (yes, I collect snowmen...totally random haha) - are basically relics from high school.

Visiting my family is always a test of my verbal agility. I'm a very snarky person, and my entire family is the same way. We're all so mean to each other...but only because we care. =)

I was given a couple of awards, so I'll post about those later and pass those on. Thanks, Kris and Lora!

And now I'm going to go return to my archaeological dig...

Currently Reading: The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots by Carolly Erickson

Friday Five: Responsibility is boring. Let's take a nap.

2011-09-02T17:03:00.000-07:00

I haven't done one of these in awhile, but I'm sort of bored so I figure I might as well. So, here is my attempt to find five interesting things to briefly mention about this week:

1. Today I paid my tuition, paid the charge for my degree, paid my cable/internet bill, pulled some chicken out of the freezer to thaw for dinner, and balanced my checkbook. My inner child is so active that it still makes me giggle when I remember I'm 22 years old and therefore have to do things like a Responsible Adult every once in awhile. And then I decided that I was done being a grownup for the day and proceeded to take a nap.

2. I had a minor freakout this morning because in the midst of the whole being responsible thing I decided I might as well register for my state-mandated test of my middle school social studies and language arts knowledge (because before I can get a teaching certificate I have to prove my competency in the subject areas in which I plan to be endorsed), and found out that the test in November isn't being offered up here, and the next test is in January, and the test scores are supposed to come in within a week of when I start student teaching and OMG WILL THAT BE ENOUGH TIME? Anyway. This is the second time I've had to push back my intended test date. I really, really wanted to be taking it two weeks from tomorrow, but unfortunately that's the same day as my Mandatory Work Training. GUH. I just want to have the stupid thing over with, y'know?

3. I've been trying to figure out ways to politely inform my friends that they have to stop asking me to make social commitments during Seahawks games. I've been letting it slide the past couple weeks because it's only preseason and, frankly, the games have been pretty boring. But seriously, guys, regular season starts next weekend, and I probably won't be answering phone calls. However, I probably will be sending out frenzied tweets venting frustration and happiness and probably mostly frustration, so PREPARE YOURSELVES.

4. Ordering my textbook for my art history class made the whole graduating thing a little anticlimactic. Just saying.

5. I'm going to see Taylor Swift on Wednesday! :D This will be the third time I've seen her. I'm going with my parents and my brother and sister, because my family is cool. (I would just like to clarify that there is no sarcasm in that statement.)

Anyway...my life isn't terribly exciting. I've mostly been reading, because I've still got a ton of books out from the library I need to get through before the OMGMADNESS starts up again.

Here, have a picture of kittens:

Currently Listening To: David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj & Flo Rida - "Where Them Girls At"

Currently Reading: Abhorsen by Garth Nix

Road Trip Wednesday: Best Books of August

2011-08-31T15:25:00.000-07:00

Well, guys, I apologize for the double posting, but since it's that time of the week again, there's no way I'm missing out. So, without further ado, here is this week's Road Trip Wednesday.

This week's topic is...
What's the best book you've read in August?

I sort of lost track of all the books I've read this month, so I had to consult my handy-dandy planner, where I write all of these things down, to find that I read 10 books this month. (Given the fact that this month doubled the number of books I'd read for the entire year, I found this piece of information very exciting.)

And most of them were really good, but I managed to narrow it down to my top three. In no particular order:

I was hooked from the first page. I mean, seriously, what else have you read that combines a murder mystery, science fiction, and a dystopian, all in the same book? At least, none of the things I've read had. And it was totally awesome.

When I read A Great and Terrible Beauty I got hooked on the whole historical fiction/fantasy thing, and I've been looking for another good one ever since. Prophecy of the Sisters didn't disappoint, and it was so good I immediately went and checked out the next book, Guardian of the Gate from the library. Guess what I'll be reading on the train ride to my parents' house this weekend?

I wasn't quite sure what to think going into this because of the whole all-the-characters-are-29-now thing, but I ended up loving it and I ended up reading the last 200 pages in one sitting last night, forgetting to eat in the process. I might be going back and rereading the rest of the series now...Anyway, guys, what did all of you read in August? Anything really good I need to read right now?Currently Listening To: Keith Urban - "Long Hot Summer"

In which I surprise graduate.

2011-08-31T14:14:00.000-07:00

So, internet, I'm not really sure how one goes about graduating from college by accident, but it would not be me if I did not at least try to find a way. And it would appear that I succeeded.

So, basically, I applied to graduate in June 2012, which is when I finish my student teaching. I got a call from my university asking me if I would like to graduate sooner than that, since I finished all of the requirements for my degree and all I have left is teaching certification courses.

So today I went to go talk to the registrar, having decided that I would like to graduate in December, since it would be more beneficial for me in the long run to have my degree before I finish my certification.

Well, I'm definitely walking in December, guys. But since I've finished everything, they've awarded me my degree now. As in, I technically graduated from college today.

So, basically, I surprise graduated from college.*

...and then I went home and celebrated by finishing my coffee and straightening the untamed beast that is my hair.

I'm such a winner, guys. A winner who now has a B.A. in History/Social Studies :D

But never fear, guys. I'll be back in class at 8:30am three weeks from today, because the craziness is just getting started.

*I just realized this is the fourth paragraph I've started with so. I feel like my English teachers and professors would all be very, very sad right now.

Summer of Nostalgia & Discovery

2011-08-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

I swear this summer has been the summer of nostalgia for me. I finally saw the Backstreet Boys, the last Harry Potter movie came out, The Lion King is being re-released for two weeks and I'm totally going to go see it, I just finished reading the latest Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book, I went to an outdoor movie on Saturday because it was The Princess Bride, I saw a bunch of my old teachers at my younger sister's high school graduation, the whole graduating from college thing is making me look at pictures from when I was a wee little freshie and thinking about all the fun times that I can totally get away with in college but are probably frowned upon in the Real World, one of my best friends I hadn't seen in a few years came up to visit and is moving up here next summer and asked me to be in her wedding next fall, I signed up for a summer reading program for the first time since I was in first or second grade...

Who knows what else will come up in the next three weeks of summer?

I've also been trying to keep to my goal of wandering around town and trying out different places I've never been, or even really known the existence of because I spend the school year ~~curled up in the fetal position~~ in the library and I spent all of last summer in Retail Hell.

For instance...

At the beginning of the summer, my friend and I saw a poster in the bagel place downtown that advertised a summer outdoor movie series in Fairhaven, this totally ~~expensive~~ adorable part of town that has some pretty awesome shops, restaurants and bars I'm regrettably too poor to actually try out, and my favorite book store on the planet. After failing all summer to actually make it to one of the shows, we finally went last Saturday to The Princess Bride, which was pretty much mandatory. We got there two hours early and managed to score some pretty awesome seats.

We have x-ray vision, so the columns were not a problem at all.

I've also been exercising my taste buds...a lot. There's this Cajun restaurant downtown that my roommate, another friend, and I just randomly happened to walk by and decided to try on a whim, and it is delicious. We've gone there a ridiculous number of times since discovering it, and pretty much the entire staff knows us by sight, if not necessarily by name (yet!).

A couple weeks ago we also went to this Indian restaurant that's a lot further out, which I think is why it was so empty when we were there, because the food was delicious. On the downside it's right next to the retailer I worked for last summer, and I actually, literally shuddered when we walked past. (Not a lot of happy memories of that place, as you can tell.)

And then last night we went to this little place in the alley behind our apartment that specializes in mead, of all things. It was my first experience with mead, and it was delicious. I had a raspberry, and a sip of my roommate's orange, and both were good. The orange one was really sweet, and the raspberry one was really tart, and totally delicious. I will definitely be going back and sampling the rest of their offerings.

And now I'm going to return to eating my way through the remaining three weeks of my summer. However, I feel that I would be remiss if I didn't leave you with this:

Currently Listening To: Cobra Starship - "Middle Finger"

Road Trip Wednesday: Writer's Block

2011-08-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

This week's topic is...
How do you beat writer's block?

Hmm. Things I do to beat writer's block...

Well. Usually the first thing I do is turn on some GaGa or Ke$ha and dance.

As you can see, I am an excellent dancer.

Sometimes I'll put my iPod on shuffle and sing along dramatically to random songs that come on.

Or I'll leave my writing cave (read: bedroom) altogether and venture into the kitchen for another cup (read: pot) of coffee.

I also spend a lot of time looking at pictures of cute animals.

And because I'm practical like that, my mind will invariably turn to perfecting my zombie apocalypse survival plan.

But if all else fails, I usually just kill a character.

What about all of you? How do you beat writer's block?

Currently Listening To: Owl City - "Fireflies"

In which I see the inside of a kitchen.

2011-08-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

Things are pretty slow for me now that the whole moving business is over. My roommate and I turned in the keys for our old apartment on Sunday and then gleefully celebrated by going out for martinis. Because we are so, so happy to be free of that place.

Mostly I've been reading. In the past week I've made it through Across the Universe, The Lost Saint, and a book about the Medici, plus I'm like halfway through Prophecy of the Sisters right now. (SO GOOD.)

One of my friends came over yesterday and we seriously sat at my dining room table for like four hours just drinking tea and gossiping, and it was awesome. We'd actually had plans to bake scones or cookies or something, but sort of forgot about that because we were having way too much fun.

I've also been experimenting a little bit in the kitchen. Which has left my roommate a little confused because I'm not really known for my cooking prowess (I'm generally too lazy to wait for my food to be ready - hello, ramen!), but boredom has led to desperate measures, my friends.

So yesterday afternoon I made scones, and they actually turned out being really, really delicious, and I really, really want to make more now. I don't have any dried cherries left over, but I know we have a ton of chocolate chips, so I'm thinking of trying that.

My totally delicious cherry almond scones. Aww, yeah.

Then for dinner tonight I decided to try out this ridiculously easy recipe for garlic chicken, which I didn't take a picture of because I was super hungry and ate it all, along with some raw spinach on the side. And it was similarly delicious.

I discovered during our move that we somehow ended up with four jars of peanut butter and a ton of oatmeal, so I might try to make those no-bake cookies I last attempted when I was 14 and ended disastrously.

My sister also told me how to do twice-baked potatoes, which are seriously one of the most amazing things ever.

So this whole cooking thing? Actually sort of fun. I'm just usually too lazy to do it because I feel like I have better things to do than stand around waiting for my chicken to saute, or whatever. But since I still have an entire month of freedom left, I might as well keep experimenting!

RTW: Time to Write!

2011-08-10T11:12:00.000-07:00

This week's topic is...
What time do you prefer to do your writing? Early Worm? Night Owl ? Any five seconds you can grab?

I don't really have a set time that I write. I pretty much just write in any spare minutes I can grab. Usually when I'm supposed to be doing homework.

That being said, though, I definitely do most of my writing in the afternoon/evening or at night. I'm not really a morning person and it takes me awhile to get going. So if I try to write first thing in the morning, it mostly just ends in me staring stupidly at my Word doc and not really getting anything done.

What about all of you? When do you get most of your writing done?

Currently Listening To: NPR - It's All Politics Podcast

Moving & An Award

2011-08-08T00:56:00.000-07:00

I've spent a lot of the past week moving, and I've more or less got my bedroom and the kitchen (the two most important rooms in my apartment, of course) settled. I spent about four hours yesterday afternoon cleaning the oven and stove in my old apartment, and today I cleaned out the fridge - which made me seriously question our decision to keep our food in there because it was disgusting - and vacuumed. My roommate is going to tackle the bathroom and the holes in our walls, and I'm sure there's more I'm supposed to do too...but that's for tomorrow (or I guess later today now?) after we've slept.

I'm sort of used to moving every year. First off, there's the whole college thing - I did three years in the dorms before this - and then I also spent a lot of time surrounded by moving boxes and living out of a suitcase, since my dad was (still is) in the Navy. While I've had to haul my stuff around to a new address every year, I've been living in this town for the past four years, which is the longest I've ever spent in one place.

I'm sort of sick of moving. I really want to be settled in one place for awhile, and I never want to see another moving box again. But then again, who knows what the future will bring?

Anyway, onto other matters. Last week my blog was given the Liebster Blog Award by Lora.

The goal of the award is to spotlight up and coming bloggers who currently have less than 200 followers. The rules of the award are:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.
5. And most of all - have bloggity-blog fun!

And my top five picks are:
1.Caitlin Darrell's Writerly Rambles
2. Craziness, College, and a Little Creativity
3. Jessica Love Writes
4. Words and the World
5. The Squeee

Everyone should check these blogs out, because they're awesome =) And thank you again, Lora!

...and it's almost 1am, and I've been running around all day. So I should probably sleep now.

Currently Listening To: No Doubt - "End It On This"

RTW: The Five Senses

2011-08-03T10:15:00.000-07:00

This week's question is...
The Five Senses. How you use them in your writing, how you are inspired by them, pictorial essays, that character with smelly socks, books that have used them well, the ones that are currently missing from your work, etc.

Using my senses is something I do very well when I write poetry, since usually when I write poetry I'm concentrating on one specific moment so I'm trying to capture every aspect of that moment. In my WIP, however, not as much. I've got the visual down, and I've noticed myself using some aspects of touch and sound, but I already know that sensory details are something I'll probably focus more on when I revise, since I don't want it to be all about sight. Smell is too good a sense to not play with at least a little bit ;)

I love going on walks, especially now that it's August and my corner of the country is at last into its month of precious sunshine. There's this trail that goes down by the waterfront that leads to a park, and I like to just pay attention to all of the things I notice, like the sounds (the wind in the trees, the birds, the bikes on the gravel and dirt, etc.), the smells (mmm, low tide...), and all of my other senses. And then if I'm feeling particularly poetic I go back and write a poem about it later. Or at the very least write it all down in my journal.

Nature inspires me a lot. Which is good, because we have a lot of it around here:

If you look hard enough you can see the Olympic Mountains off in the distance, covered in snow.

I could post more pictures, but I feel like I'm already bragging enough. Being able to post pictures like that is why I put up with our weather the rest of the year =)

Anyway, everyone, I'm sorry I've been such a bad blogger lately. I was busy with summer school (trying to cram ten weeks' worth of material into six weeks isn't easy...) and now I've been busy moving and doing everything associated with it, such as packing, drafting friends with trucks and/or large cars to help us (one of my former roommates has a jeep!), and cleaning the everliving daylights out of the old apartment. Oh, the life of a nomadic college student.

Currently Listening To: Florence & The Machine - "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)"

Running Back & Forth

2011-07-28T09:52:00.000-07:00

So one thing that's occasionally frustrating is the lack of communication between the two academic departments that I'm trying to fulfill requirements for. Which wouldn't be an issue for a lot of people, except I sort of need to have fulfilled all of my Social Studies requirements in order to fulfill all of my Secondary Education requirements, which in this case could make a lack of communication bad...

In this case, the set of requirements I'm being held to for my History/Social Studies degree is slightly different now than the requirements I'm being held to since I declared the major all the way back in 2008. When I sat down with my history advisor he told me I was good to go. When I went and talked to the certification officer to do an evaluation for my other endorsement...

Well. Apparently I'm good to go, degree-wise. But since they've changed the certification requirements, I'm short one African history class.

So after allowing me a second to panic I was told that, upon reviewing my academic history further, they've decided that the credits from my AP World History class in high school make an acceptable substitute for my second African history class.

Fortunately this isn't something completely horrifying that will set me back another year (since I'd have to wait until August 2012 to start my student teaching if I don't start in January); It'd just be a matter of rearranging my schedule again to fit in that requirement. But still...it would be nice to have known ahead of time so I could've planned for that class ahead of time. What with all the budget cuts (to the humanities especially!), it's getting harder and harder to get into classes.

On the plus side, this means I now have another stack of paperwork ready to turn in. I just have to take care of my degree application and then I'll be done with all of it...at least until they spring more on me. I foresee a lot of paperwork in my future.

In other news, I'm working on Shards of Memory again. I'll probably post an actual update on that soon.

Sorry my first actual update in awhile was me complaining about school. Again. As an apology, here's a cute cat picture:

RTW: Best Book(s) of July

2011-07-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

This week's question is...
What was the best book you read in July?

I haven't read that many books for fun in July, since the ones that I did read were a complete slog to get through. However, we've read some pretty awesome things in my YA lit class. We read Speak earlier this month, which I read for the first time earlier this year and is absolutely amazing. The other book we read that I really loved was Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

I think what I love about both of these books is the fact that they take very serious subject matter (Speak deals with rape and its aftermath, while Alexie's book discusses alcoholism and poverty) and still manage to present it in a way that's actually got a lot of humor to it. They're both very sarcastic (which I love, sarcasm being my native tongue), but they're still moving at the same time. If I ever have a chance, both of these are books that I would love to teach.

What awesome books have all of you read in July? My TBR isn't nearly big enough =)

Road Trip Wednesday: Villains

2011-07-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

This week's question...
Who are your favorite literary villains/antagonists, and why?

I'm really partial to Dracula. He's so sinister, and enigmatic, and I could totally imagine people being drawn to him. Not to mention the fact that I made the mistake of reading it late at night, so I got super creeped out and might have even had a nightmare about him.

To which I say, well played, Bram Stoker. It really takes a lot for me to be thinking about the villains even when I'm not reading, but you really managed to pull it off.

To this day, Dracula remains one of my favorite books ever, almost solely because of Dracula.

Harry Potter & Me

2011-07-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

I remember seeing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the school library when I was in fourth and fifth grade. At the time, I had no desire to read it. I was more into Little House on the Prairie, and Nancy Drew, and the Dear America books. Seeing Harry there on the cover, on his broomstick, didn't really hold any appeal for me. (This is a fact that will probably shock pretty much everyone who's spoken to me for a minimum of five minutes, since my obsession with Harry Potter isn't exactly something I try to hide.)

And then my mom and grandma gave me the first three books (the only ones that were out at that point) for Christmas when I was 10. So late one night I opened the first one, more out of politeness than anything else.

I was hooked by the end of the first chapter. I spent my entire winter break reading all three books any time I could - at the kitchen table, late at night in my room. I was really, really sad when I finished Prisoner of Azkaban, and super excited when I found out Goblet of Fire would be released that summer.

I remember my mom bringing that one home for me from Costco on release day. I finished it in three days. I waited three years for Order of the Phoenix and spent my entire time in the car on our roadtrip that summer gobbling it up. (It is, to date, the only book I have ever been able to read in the car and not get carsick. The magic of Harry Potter?) I cried my eyes out, not when Sirius died, but a couple chapters later when Harry was trying to talk to him in the two-way mirror he never opened, and, for the first time ever, Sirius didn't answer, and Harry and I both realized at the same time that Sirirus was really, truly gone.

I set a new record with Half-Blood Prince, finishing it in about 12 hours. I remember being super excited when the kid I was babysitting finally went to sleep so I could read more, and I stayed up till 3am finishing it. I was excited to finally get behind the mystery of Voldemort, and to finally get a glimpse into his mind, to see what motivated him and what led him to the struggle with Harry that was drawing to a close.

The final book came out the summer I graduated from high school. I refused to go to the release party, or even watch TV or go online, because I was that afraid of spoilers. I went down to Barnes & Noble at 9am to pick up the copy I'd pre-ordered, and by 6 that night, it was all over.

But it wasn't. Because there were still more movies to look forward to. I could still see the characters live onscreen. There was still the hype surrounding it, still the bond with random strangers over it. It's never mattered whether you know the people in line with you at the theater, or the people sitting next to you, because just by sharing that experience together you share a bond, even just for a few hours.

I'm not gonna lie. I am going to be a complete and total wreck early Friday morning. I'm already tearing up just looking at the pictures from the premieres, or reading and listening to what the actors have had to say to J.K. Rowling, or reading about their memories from the past 10 years of filming. I've started crying over other people's Facebook notes about Harry Potter and what it's meant to them. Yeah, I'm pretty obsessed with other book series (Lord of the Rings or The Hunger Games, anyone?) But at the same time, it's just not the same. I didn't grow up with them. I didn't get older and see more and more of the world alongside the characters like with these other books. I've made some of my best friends because of Harry Potter; I can't say that anything else has had that same impact.

So, on Thursday night, I'm going to be waiting in line for my last ever midnight showing of a Harry Potter movie, along with some of the most awesome people I've ever met - people I share countless inside jokes with, people I can not talk to for ages and then go get coffee with them and have it be like no time has passed at all, people I've stayed up with late at night trying to comfort them when they need it, people who have stayed up late at night with me and tried to comfort me when I need it, people who are some of the best friends I've ever had. People I've met because of Harry Potter.

Mischief managed.

Best project EVER

2011-06-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

For my young adult lit class we have to do a group project on something related to the adolescent experience. My group decided to do teen fads, specifically focusing on music, dance, movies, tv shows, and fashion. As the history major in the group, I volunteered to cover the 1940s and 1950s (although none of the other group members seemed particularly enthused about these decades anyway...).

So now I'm listening to a 1940s big band playlist on YouTube. And it's totally productive, because it's research. Best project ever.

In other news, I signed up for the public library's adult summer reading program. I haven't done a summer reading program since I was a little kid, and I have this giant stack of library books, so I figured, why not? My goal is 20 books. I already have two. And, given the pace I'm reading Anna and the French Kiss, it'll probably be three by tomorrow. I think this is probably the cutest book I've ever read. I just want to hug it and never let go.

I'm also taking the WEST-E next month. Which, for those of you not in the know, is the state test that I have to take in order to get a teaching certificate that proves that I have enough knowledge of my subject area to be able to teach it competently. Next month I'm doing the Social Studies one, and then this fall I'll take my other one for my Humanities endorsement. I have like a 19-page PDF file with all of the things that should be on the test. Most of it I feel pretty solid on, but I pretty much looked at all of the stuff that pertains to Washington State History and was like, "When did we ever talk about that?" But I'm not too worried about it.

I have a job interview on Thursday for a summer job...wish me luck!

Oh, and before I forget, the world definitely needs to be exposed to this:

First Week of Summer

2011-06-25T18:15:00.001-07:00

One week of class down, five more to go!

Although, I'm genuinely sad that this class is only the six week, as opposed to the nine week, or even the ten or eleven that normal quarters are. Because my class is a young adult lit class. So basically we get to read YA books and then come to class and talk about them. So basically it's the best class ever.

This week we discussed poetry. We're supposed to read Looking for Alaska for Monday, which totally doesn't even feel like homework, to be honest. It's one of my favorite books ever.

Since I only have the one class, my homework doesn't feel like homework, and I'm unemployed right now (although I have an interview on Thursday - cross your fingers!), I also have tons of free time, which is a really strange feeling. I've been reading - I finished A Royal Passion by Katie Whitaker last week and I'm almost done with Lirael by Garth Nix - and I've written a couple poems and worked a little bit on SHARDS. And watched many episodes of The Daily Show, of course.

I've also had time to do other cool things around town. Such as:

Spend some time at Boulevard Park on the first day of summer. I did some of my homework. And got mildly sunburned. Which, frankly, isn't that hard for me.

On Wednesday Harry and the Potters were in town, courtesy of the Bellingham Public Library. Some of my Harry Potter Club friends are in town this summer too so we went as a group. And it was totally awesome.

Bellingham has a farmers market every Saturday. I haven't been able to go in awhile because I work every single Saturday during the school year, so now that I have Saturday mornings free I absolutely have to go. There's so much to see, between the different stalls, the musicians, and the people bombarding you with requests to sign their petitions. (In Bellingham, these petitions are usually related to pot or animal cruelty, but occasionally both at the same time.) And the FOOD. It smells SO GOOD. I mostly just love wandering around so I can smell it all and sample some of it.

So that's what I've been up to this week. Tonight is the kickoff of the summer outdoor movie series (with Grease!) so I'm going to that, and hopefully avoiding getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. (They love me. Like, more than they love most people. I just taste that good, I guess.)

I hope everyone else had a good week, too! &hearts

Currently Listening To: Barenaked Ladies - "Pinch Me"
Currently Reading: Lirael by Garth Nix & Looking for Alaska by John Green

Summer in the City of Subdued Excitement

2011-06-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

My friend and her fiance were visiting from California this weekend, looking around because they're thinking about moving here. (She is familiar with the area, he is not.) We ended up revisiting a few of the places we used to go a lot during our freshman year before she transferred colleges, a lot of which I hadn't been to in a few years.

It really made me nostalgic. It also made me thing...this is it. This may quite possibly be the last summer I have up here. I have tons of time on my hands (for the moment - I have an interview for a part-time job coming up!) - I should slow down and try to really enjoy it, and try to soak it all in one last time.

I love it up here. I really do. I remember the spring of my junior year of high school, when I was starting to think about which colleges to apply to, I had my heart set on the University of Washington - until my guidance counselor told me to look into Western, which is known for its teaching college. I'm really glad I ended up taking his advice, because let's face it - while I love visiting Seattle, I could never live there. It's too big. I'd be miserable.

Anyway. Bellingham has a unique charm to it, and I'm going to miss it if/when I have to leave. So. I'm endeavoring to make this last summer up here truly awesome, even with the class and potential job. And I'm hoping to be able to share some of that with you...if I can remember to pack my camera/that I have packed my camera. (Let's face it, my cell phone camera just doesn't cut it.)

And on the writing front, I opened my Word document for the first time in months yesterday morning, and was all set with my coffee and my Cobra Starship...and then I ended up writing a poem instead. I've written a little bit tonight, though, it's been awhile so I'm trying to get back into the groove.

And now I'm falling asleep, so I'll call it good here. Have a good night, everyone!

Currently Listening To: Enrique Iglesias - "Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)"
Currently Reading: Lirael by Garth Nix

Road Trip Wednesday: Plotter or Pantser?

2011-06-08T14:50:00.001-07:00

I finally have time to partake again! Yay!

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I definitely am more of a pantser...I mean, I have a general idea in mind when I start and I sketch out the basics, but as far as actually making a detailed outline? Yeah, how about not...

Besides, I'm a history major. BS is pretty much how we roll. :D

DONE.

2011-06-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

As of 11:05am I am DONE with my first senior year of college.

I also realized that, macroeconomics being the last class required for my degree, I unofficially have a college degree under my belt, as well. Although, I elected to not graduate until I finish my teaching stuff, so it'll be another year until I officially have the degree in hand...

But yeah. I successfully completed a college degree in four years. So go me :D

I accidentally got an extra shot in my mocha (hey, it was free) so I'm completely wired right now...I'm going to go find something productive to do like cleaning and packing before I start rambling now.

Tonight I'm headed south to the Peninsula for my baby sister's high school graduation. I fully intend to unabashedly cry my eyes out tomorrow night, so you can probably expect some sort of sappy reflective post about how time flies and how I have no idea where it all went and how one of my dreams is getting very, very close to being a reality blah blah blah by the end of the weekend.

...unless I manage to restrain myself. We'll see. I might just end up writing a post about being unemployed instead.

Currently Listening To: Arctic Monkeys - "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair"

So I'm pretty much done.

2011-06-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

Well, with the obvious exception of my macroeconomics final tomorrow. But I'm taking the rest of the day off to do nothing after the deeply unpleasant experience that has been the past few days, and will attempt to go over my notes with my study group in the morning.

So...BRING IT ON SUMMER.

In which I politely rage.

2011-06-05T00:12:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal published this article about how books written for teenagers are too dark and are going to lead them all into depravity.

I think this is ridiculous (and not in a good way). Yes, there are dark YA books out there. But these books aren't dark for the sake of being dark. These books tackle serious issues in ways that are accessible to teenagers. Teenagers need these books, because often this is the only way they can deal with these issues because the adults who should be there for them are too busy burying their heads in the sand, pretending that teens are completely ignorant about the world around them. (Newsflash: they're not. They're way smarter than they get credit for.)

You know why the sorts of books this author complains about exist? Because they exist in our society. If things like rape, abuse, self-harm, eating disorders, etc. didn't exist in our society - if teenagers didn't have to deal with them - there would be no reason to have to write these books.

I might someday be a language arts teacher. I think about the things I had to read in school - how many of these things can students really relate to? I mean, yes. There is something to be said for having them read the classics and broaden their horizons and whatever (and I love them, don't get me wrong), but at the end of the day, is a story about twenty-somethings trying to find rich husbands, or an exploration of the depravities of Victorian society, or a crazy king with conniving daughters, or anything part of the literary canon of dead white guys, really going to grab their attention? Or is it going to be books like Looking for Alaska, or Speak, or The Hunger Games - books that are real, books they can relate to, books about kids who could just as easily be them? If I can get away with it, I would definitely pull these books in. I don't think forcing kids to read books they don't want to read, anyway, is very effective; it just kills any love of reading they might have had. Kids need these books, because it might be the only thing that will get them to read.

Personally, the characters in these books were the only friends I had whenever I was the "new kid." I'm really glad these books exist. If it wasn't for them, there are so many lunchtimes I probably would have spent sitting alone. And when I did make friends, often it was these books we bonded over - Tamora Pierce and Meg Cabot both come to mind.

So, if people are going to continue to insist on attacking and belittling these books, I'm going to continue to politely rage at these people.