new years eve

As I am sure all of you will have realized, it is New Year's Eve.
At least it is here in snowy Washington. Obviously there are other places in the world where it's already 2014, but for me and my point in time, 2013 remains.

If you're looking for it, here's my 2013-2014, end of the year, reflection type post.
And here's Christmas.

I start school next Monday. I'm a little bit anxious about it really. I've been rather excited. Then the excitement changed to completely ignoring the fact, to being stressed about it.
I know I shouldn't be worried about it, and that I'll do fine, but here I am; anxious.

I've been sick these past couple weeks. First with that which was akin to the flu, and now with something that is either a head cold, or a sinus infection. I really don't recommend it.

My listening has again broadened this past week or so, having downloaded some new albums.
My recently added playlist currently consists of:
Disc 1 of Devotion by Anberlin
the soundtrack for Pitch Perfect
a couple of Josh Garrels albums I didn't have
A Song For The Search by Solstice
Speak Every Word by This is the Giant
Home by TRAVELLER
Modern Vampires of the City by Vampire Weekend
and finally Rise by Skillet
and We As Human's title album since I should be seeing them in concert next month.

And of course, I am still thoroughly enjoying the album Bad Blood by Bastille, as well as the American Authors self titled EP.
The album I feel taking me into the new year however, is one that I listened to very much this summer, Love Lust Faith + Dreams by Thirty Seconds to Mars. What is probably my favorite song from the album, Do or Die, inspired my typography/art at the top of the post. (have a listen coming tomorrow!)

I am hoping to be finishing Fellowship Of The Ring today, to add another check to the number of times I've read it. Planning to follow it with Two Towers at some point, though quite possibly not before I finish The Silmarillion and Girl In The Arena, which I'm also re-reading. Not entirely sure. But I've been trying to reignite my passion for reading to what it once was.

Friday I am eagerly awaiting my chance to go and see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. An avid Jackson and Tolkien fan though I am, I have yet to see this long anticipated continuation of the trilogy's prequel. Our movie theater is small, and privately owned. One movie a week, Friday - Monday, one showing per day at 7pm. Thus we are lucky to get movies a month or so after their general release. It's an understatement to say I'm excited.

I am hoping to spend my New Year's Eve with a dear friend, marathoning Sherlock in geeky anticipation for the season three return, tomorrow.

Right now however, I have chores to finish, work I should do, and reading I'd really like to do.

See you all next year.

the universe is still

He fumbles at your Soul
As Players at the Keys
Before they drop full Music on --
He stuns you by degrees --
Prepares your brittle Nature
For the Ethereal Blow
By fainter Hammers -- further heard --
Then nearer -- Then so slow
Your Breath has time to straighten --
Your Brain -- to bubble Cool --
Deals -- One -- imperial -- Thunderbolt --
That scalps your naked Soul --

When Winds take Forests in their Paws --
The Universe -- is still --

--Emily Dickinson

reading: harvest by lauren hemphill --- listening: lord of the rings symphony by howard shore

an update on me

While I have been scheduling songs to be posted every day, I thought that maybe it was time for an update on me.

I finished my college classes for this quarter. Yay for finals...though I will definitely admit to having it much easier to those actually away at college, who are most definitely taking more classes than I am. 

My current favorite album, i.e the one I've been listening to the most, is Megalithic Symphony by AWOLNATION. Which I've had blasting out of my newly acquired headphones since I purchased the album ($5 from Amazon!) about a week and a half ago. 

I've been biding my time with the ever so terrible, old stock iPod headphones. 
You know the ones, lousy, uncomfortable, poor sound quality oh and yeah, painful. 
I realized I had SkullCandy credit from returning a product forever ago. So I used it to get some new over-ear headphones. 
I think I've lost some hearing, I've been using them so much.

College classes start back up in early January. I'm excited for my photoshop class. Not so excited about English 102, but who is? 

I got new glasses at the beginning of the month. 
Sight is good. 
It took me a while to get used to my new prescription, but it's vastly better than the one from my previous doctor. 
I actually have gained depth perception. 
Anyone that has spent any amount of time around me probably knows that I'm a klutz. In part there's some depth perception issues that cause some of it....only some of it. I really am very klutzy...

I increasingly have an addiction to nail polish. 
I really rather enjoy painting my nails...and getting nail polish at fantastical prices helps.
Which leads to the fact that I bought some new nail polish just in the last 24 hours. So I'm really excited about that. I like getting things in the mail.

I'm either getting sick or my allergies are crazy terrible...or I'm just not getting enough sleep.
Though I'm going to say all three. 

My penchant for ellipses has not died...

One of my very, very, best friends has finished her novel. The first book in what is going to be an epic trilogy. Click here for the facebook fan page.
In celebration I whipped up a cover:

{credits}

It's only an early conceptual cover really. But it's a start. I enjoyed figuring out how to make it in Photoshop.

I've been reading it as of late. (SO GOOD)
Along with Anna Karenina, and Divergent which I just started last night.
I've become such a slow reader...

And that's just about it...that comes to mind, in this moment, in this post anyways.

don't miss today's Christmas music!

hope you're all well

read a book you've read before

Just yesterday I found myself with the inclination to read a book that I've read twice before, a book that I own.
I didn't really know just how much I wanted to read, to become enveloped in a story, in a quest, in a journey, until I realized that it was almost 2am and I was practically halfway through the book.

It made me remember the time when I read the book, who I suggested the book to, and how much I truly enjoyed the book; because I had forgotten.

So, as the autumn days turn colder, the nights longer and everything begins to freeze; curl up with a book you've read before, a book you haven't considered reading, a book you've overlooked for a while. And pick it up, and read it again until you can remember why it was you decided to bring that book home with you and adopt it into your heart.

read a book you've read before
with pages old and overlooked
read a book you've read before
remember why you hold it close

Because maybe, just maybe, you need it more than you know.

why I'm frustrated with young adult literature

As someone who was once an avid reader, I no longer feel compelled to call myself thus.

And it really makes me sad.

You see, there was once a time when the best punishment my mother could, well, punish me with was to take away my reading books.

Nowadays it's rare that I'm actually reading a book.

No, I haven't given up reading all together. There will forever be books that I hold dear.

But with the state of "literature" in this day and age is kind of depressing.

A good example is a series that I just finished. The Tigers Curse series by Colleen Houck.
While I would have to say that the series is a favorite it still falls prey to being much like the majority of other young adult books.

Originally I started the series with the first book of the same title, Tigers Curse. It intrigued me for a few reasons. At the time, it was extremely hard to find a newer book that didn't involve vampires and werewolves. While such is still true the plot took a more original twist.

It's about two Indian princes who are cursed to live immortally as tigers.
And of course the seemingly normal girl who, while working her new summer job, finds herself caught up in the adventure of a lifetime to break the curse binding them in tiger-form.
I mean, she's from Oregon, I'm from Oregon.
I could connect right off with that.

Sounds kind of awesome, right?

Well the first book really was. I enjoyed it immensely.

Basically Kelsey (the main character) gets a summer job working for the circus that is in town for those few, warmer months. It's manual labor, cleaning things, selling tickets, helping feed animals; all that fun stuff.
But along the way she befriends the circus' white tiger. And during her breaks spends her time reading out loud in the solace of the tent that holds the cage of the white tiger.
This white tiger, of course, is one of the aforementioned Indian princes.

While I would warn of spoilers, trust me, all this becomes rather apparent a short ways into the book...most of it can be found in the description on the book anyway.

Kelsey of course is more special than she knows because there is something about her that sets in motion the breaking of the curse. And the tiger she knows as Ren is able - for the first time in hundreds of years - to change back into a man.

But only for an hour.

And so the story begins.
As you would imagine, he is incredibly handsome and thank goodness, Kelsey doesn't really trust that and there's a lot of pretty good arguments and banter along the way.
But we all know where it's headed. Destiny and them being meant to be together...all that jazz.

So it was pretty cool.

But then...along the way (at this point it may be book two, though I could very well be mistaken) they have to find Ren's brother; Kishan to help in the quest to break the curse.

Kishan of course is something of Ren's opposite, literally a black tiger to his elder brothers white, however also incredibly handsome.

Then it kind of get's cliche in this awkward, heart wrenching, love triangle kind of way.

Over the course of the next three books (there are four total in the series) there's all this "which brother do I choose" and "who am I meant to be with" and "there's these two gorgeous, perfect guys who both love me" stuff going on.

And it's kind of sickening.
And it kind of made me hate Kelsey a lot.
A lot.

I really liked her in the first book.
Then...it kind of went downhill.

The basis of the stories is really cool. The writing isn't half bad. Sure there's some false Hindi gods and legends stuff going on but it's a really interesting plot line in the light of current franchises *cough*Twilight*cough*.

But I just was having serious difficulty stomaching this girl who has two guys completely in love with her and all this "coincidence" and asdfghjkl.sdfghjkl;

Yes, I just died on my keyboard. Because it frustrates me. Love triangles, while a common occurrence and a valid part of writing, are so used and abused that I just want a good quest story that maybe doesn't involve so much romantical blah.

I know I sound like some spinster or something, and I know that it's just fiction, I just hate when characters (especially main-girl-potentially-awesome-powerful-heroine characters) are just crazy stupid.
I know the insecurities and guy issues are a real thing, but the portrayal of how all this stuff works in next to every book I lay my hands is starting to frustrate me to the point of...well, to the point of writing this post.

I feel like I should have a disclaimer at this point. I did finish the series. I cried several times during the course of all the books. Especially at the ending of the final one. I'll probably end up reading them again at some point. In fact there's a good chance that I'd recommend it as a whole.

It's just that this series frustrated me and it's on the better end of the spectrum of young adult literature.

Why aren't there any awesome books (that I haven't already read) that...well...don't involve a girl who has completely invested her life into the lives (if they can be called lives) of guys that may-or-may-not be hundreds of years old and/or even worth it.

It seems to be a theme these days.

Guys get movies and stories about epic adventures where it's just a buddy thang.
Why don't girls get those?

While this post probably doesn't make much sense, hopefully to someone, it will.
Anybody?

Christmas Tree Campout

My family has this tradition, of camping out under the Christmas tree. It's something I haven't done in a while.

But, yesterday I put up the Christmas tree and we decided to camp out under the tree.

So, now it's night two of the Christmas tree campout.

Here are some of my Christmas tree campout necessities.

a tree or is that kind of a no-brainer?

my bible good time as any to do some reading


my notebook ah to write of course


ipod music, Christmas-y and Enya of course


a good book My literary companions:





The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths
Rather reminiscent of my favorite TV show Bones the Ruth Galloway mysteries have a strong, scientist heroine. Though where Dr. Brennan (Bones) is an anthropologist, Dr. Galloway is an archaeologist. Also, this series is set in the UK, Norfolk to be exact, and focuses heavily on Celtic mythology and history a lot. LOVE. I finished the first book in a few days, very good.


Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot
I'm something of  Meg Cabot fan. While I don't like all her books, I've read all the YA series' and she never fails to make me laugh. Since I desired something funnier than the crime novels of late I decided to take crime and comedy and see how Meg did.

 
The exciting Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Discovered this talented author when I read the first book in her fae series Lament. Her newest book is definitely exciting, have barely been able to put it down!

And of course, some comfy warm blankets and pillows.

What is one of your Christmas traditions?

A Novel

Hey everybody!

One of my best friends in the whole entire world is writing a book.

And its really good!

As she's writing it goes up on the blog that we created for the novel.

Harvest

If you're an avid reader, a writer or even just someone looking for an interesting read, you should definitely go check it out.

(please note it is a work in progress and there may be typos, spelling errors etc.)

As of right now, the design I did (almost a year ago now) is a tad messy.

But I just finished a the re-vamp!

I'm waiting to get the okay from her to put it up but....I would love to see what everyone thinks of it!


Just click here to go to my test blog, take a look around, try the links, and comment to tell me whatcha think!


And the new design is up and running on Harvest!!!

I knew I could count on you guys! :-D

blessings~

'Beastly' by Alex Flinn

For anyone who has seen or is interested in the film Beastly starring Alex Pettyfer and Vanessa Hudgens...here's what I thought of the original novel by Alex Flinn. As to what I thought of it, the jury is still out 'cause I have yet to view it. I'll let you know after it comes out on DVD.

 ***Viewer Disgretion Advised for short flashes of violence and cussing (though definitely nothing worse than PG...it IS a preview)***

(from the inside flap)
        I AM A BEAST
       A beast. Not quite a wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright—a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore.
        I am a monster.
       You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. Its no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever—ruined—unless I can break the spell.
       Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly…beastly.

---

        
       Beastly is not your traditional family-fun, sing-along Disney adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. While Alex Flinn’s retelling gives the tale fresh new life, as well as heavily re-enforcing the truth that it’s what’s on the inside that matters, this tale is more than ‘somewhat’ dark.
       Wrestling with his beastly persona and instincts, this story is not without violence. Nor is it without the occasional cuss word, or some rather startlingly blatant content.
       Though some of the afore-mentioned content could definitely have been left on the cutting room floor, Beastly is a poignant tale of love, and looking at what’s on the inside.
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5
suggested for ages 13 and up

Yay for the Weekend!

Well, I am SO glad its the weekend!!!

This past week of school has been stressful, stressful and stressful!!!

I seem to be using exclamation points rather a lot today...

I'm dropping my Spanish course at the semester.
Which in itself is a long story in itself...
I guess a good summary is that the course was written by morons.
And that, that is the truth...sadly...

I'm immensely enjoying my forensic science course.
In fact, its my favorite subject...as well as my best.

Web design is going well, though I think the hardest part is definitely having some inspiration to be able to make the page, compared to that all the HTML is a breeze!

But on to something a little less tiresome.

I've started reading some new books.

I began Misguided Angel the newest installment in the Blue Bloods series by Melissa De La Cruz the other night. I'm hoping that this book will live up to the caliber of the previous novels, but I am a bit of a skeptic as I have heard from quite a few different people that nothing happens. I guess I'll see. (I would like to point out, for the record, for those of you that care, that no this is not a Christian book. In fact it is a vampire series. You can read more on why I actually have enjoyed them and a bit about what they're about, here on C&G.)

Due to the popular demand and rave reviews for The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, as well as my love for the Gregor the Overlander series, I've gotten The Hunger Games on audio book from my library to put on my iPod (I've been listening to audiobooks more than reading lately due to school).

I finished reading Torment by Lauren Kate a week ago now, and while it wasn't quite as good as its predecessor Fallen (my review can be found on GoodReads just click the book cover above) it was still an awesome book and I'm definitely looking forward to the third installment, Passion to be released next summer!

I've heard that the movie adaptation of The City of Bones is in the works.

Now, I absolutely enjoyed reading The City of Bones...for the first three fourths of the book...and then came the little plot twist that really just messed up the whole thing...the author definitely could've left it out...so, while it was very well written and a mostly enjoyable read, I'm not going to suggest it for most, especially more conservative readers.

Now, I have a quick reading-related question for all of you readers of blogs and books alike out there.
Has anyone read Incerceron?

I'm welcome to book suggestions, comments and reviews alike!

P.S. I finished up the new blog design and figured it all out, and am wondering what all of you are thinking of the new format, so head on over to the top of the sidebar and vote on the poll (or you can comment ;).

Book Rant Warning!

hmmnnn...well, well, well...what to blog about?

I guess everything's going good for me here.
School is well...school...normally homeschool is pretty laid back but with my online classes I really have to step up my game! haha So that can be rather stressful...especially when ones Spanish course was obviously written but well...idiots to tell you the truth.
Its a long story I'd rather not go into...but I'm pretty sure I'm going to be dropping this course and potentially trying out a different one on a trial basis for a week or so to make sure that I won't be behind or anything.

Part of the problem really is the fact that this Spanish course is SO, SO basic, and so dumbed down that it confuses me...because the whole dumbed down and more basic than basic is pretty much the reason I left public school...when its so dumbed down that its confusing me then there is obviously something wrong.

Working on my midterm for my Web Design course...wish I could get some inspiration to make it a bit easier!

In more exciting news, I'm very much excited about going to a concert on Monday!
Yes, it is a school night and whatnot, but its just too good to pass up! Not to mention I'll be going with one of my bestest friends as well as the rest of my YoungLife group. It shall be epic and lots of fun. So, very much looking forward to that.

For anyone who wonders, I have yet to finish Iron King by Julie Kagawa. 
Sadly, I just don't seem to have much time for reading what with school and everything. Not to mention the fact that nothing is really sparking my reading appetite.
I think part of the problem is that there just isn't really much good reading young adult genre right now. Everything seems to be vampire, werewolf or zombie related and that's just not exactly my slice of pie.
However, I will admit that there are a few that are worth mention that I have enjoyed.

If you're totally and completely opposed to "magic", zombies, werewolves, vamps and the like, feel free to skip the next paragraph as you see fit.

Worthy of honorable mention for a vampire book that I read and enjoyed is Melissa De La Cruz's Blue Bloods series.

Though it has its questionable content (everything does nowadays...), I enjoyed the series because the author has a great writing style, as well as a fantastic knack for weaving various myths, legends and lore, together to create an intriguing and original story...though definitely not Biblically accurate (in her series the "vampires" were the former angels who fell with Lucifer) it is just meant to be fiction.

As far as the whole "werewolves" thing goes, there's really only one book in my opinion that stepped above and beyond for me. Author Maggie Stiefvater took the whole "werewolf" thing and created a whole new story and spin on it in her book Shiver.

You see, in this story its not a silver bullet, full-moon werewolf, they change when they're cold and in the sequel Linger (SPOILER ALERT!!!!!) she puts a science spin on it. It was totally original and I loved it. For my full review of Shiver you can head on over and read it HERE at Randomly Reading.

And so we've come to "zombies".
The whole dead thing has never been anything I like to go near...ick.
And honestly, I never thought I'd see the day where I'd even read something with zombies in it...never ever.
But! I proved myself wrong when I was enticed by what looked to be a potentially good read. Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon.
Though filled with tons of action and undead butt whoopin...there is a little too much content for my taste, but it was a rather great story.

The biggest thing with all three of those, is the originality.
Everything even scarcely related to "vampires" or "werewolves" as of late is pretty much completely unoriginal.
Sorry to anyone who's big into Twilight, but the books are overrated, Stephenie Meyer's writing is really not that good (though she does get better as the books progress...I will give her that), and its really not all that original!

Basically, its all pretty much same-ol', same-ol' which well...GETS old, which is why the biggest judge for me, is how original the author was.
For more of my feelings on books as well as whats-hot and whats-not in YA reading, make sure to head on over and check out Randomly Reading!

Hopefully I didn't bore you all to death...or insult anyone too badly...haha
Comment, I would love to know what you think!

Blessings to you all!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Yep...that just about sums it up!

       Then again...it also seems like next to nothing has been going on!
       Ever have that feeling? Like there's so much to do...but you're SO bored?
       Yeah...thats what its been like these past couple days.
       LOTS of school work to do to make sure I either stay caught up or ahead...not to mention my own projects I like to keep up on...writing, drawing, photography, design...all those...

Life...

I've been enjoying my Web Design class I think...enjoying learning how to write HTML and different tags and all that...its really beginning to come in handy with my blog ;) in case you haven't noticed.
       Something really cool that I found out, for those of you who dabble in HTML and will look at a website and wonder "how on earth did they do that???" Well, there is a way to know!
       All you have to do is select what you specifically want to see, or just right click anywhere on the page (as long as its not on a link) and (on Firefox) its called 'View Page Source' (I believe its 'View Source' in Internet Explorer). Click this and a little notepad will pop up with the HTML script for the page. If you selected something, the specific HTML for what you highlighted will be highlighted in the notepad.

       Spanish is going relatively well...having some with illogicalness (hehe my own word;) of some of the assignments...other than that doing well.

       Forensic Science is honestly a breeze well...it is rather challenging and interesting in that I am learning things I didn't know before and actually have games, quizzes and experiments to do that I didn't have when I was merely doing book reading a few years ago.

      If anyone is wondering, I've homeschooled for the past five years now (I thought it had surely only been three...but I realized at the beginning of the school year that it had actually been five whole years) and this year my school district finally made online schooling available without them slapping on the restriction that I couldn't do my Christian homeschool curriculum. So, I decided on Chemistry, Spanish and Web Design.
       Chemistry fell through (they didn't list all the pre-requisits for the specific course in the catalogue, and I didn't have the required Algebra 3 and 4 qualifications it wanted. (But I mean really??? WHO takes Algebra 3 and/or 4 in HIGHSCHOOL???)

       Went to my youth group thingie on Monday night...as I do every Monday night...had a ton of fun (as always)! Of course, had to suffer through having 'happy birthday' sung to me terribly I might add ;) but it was still nice don't get me wrong...just not usually one for having 'happy birthday' sung to me is all.
       Of course, one of my friends threatened to have the WHOLE stadium sing happy birthday to me on Friday at the football game *facepalm* I SURE hope he doesn't! (I threatened extensive bodily harm if he were to do so... ;)
       But yes, my 16th birthday is on Friday...a word of wisdom to all of you out there eagerly awaiting the "magical" 16 or even just the 13 of being a teenager its WAY overrated peoples...I'm tellin' you now...

       I've had a few people ask me just what it is I want for my birthday...and (of course) its (never) something that is affordable *rolls eyes*.
       Though I am more of a Microsoft person and had wanted a 64GB Zune HD since it came out...with the release of Apples new 4th Generation iTouch I have been seriously swayed and now want a 64GB 4th Gen. iTouch...which of course will definitely not be happening...but I figure if I save, I will have enough to buy one in...oh...two or three years...

       Well...since this has been an apparently L O N G and rambling post...I do believe its about time to wrap things up...
       For those of my fellow avid readers out there, I'm currently reading City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (eh...its okay...) and I would encourage you to please check out my book review blog, my GoodReads profile and comment with what you're reading now, the best book you've read in a while or a suggestion of something you think I might like!!!

blessings to you all!!!