Things From the Internet

This is perhaps the most catchy alphabet song known to man:

This version of this song is jazzy, and is therefore the best:

 

 

Whenever Matchbox Twenty comes on the radio at work, I have a sing along party in my head.

 

 

The fact that I like this song deeply distresses me brother, because HE also likes this song:

 

 

(Confession: I only like it because it reminds me of Treasure Planet, which I love deeply.)

 

 

 

Daemons In The Mist

So. I'd heard about this book. It's self published, and a self published author I really love recommended it. Highly. Like, a "Oh-my-gosh-this-book-is-so-good" recommendation. And my computer had this kindle thing on it now, so I can buy e-books for cheap and read them immediately. (Instant gratification is so awesome.) And I was like, it's less than $3! I'm going to finally buy this book and read it! And I bought the e-book.

It was awful.

I hate writing bad reviews. I have almost no bad reviews on this blog - I love to talk about books I love! Or at least like a little bit. Or that have redeeming characteristics. And this book? There are so many glowing reviews, I feel like I HAVE to talk about it.

Where to start? Let's begin with . . .

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT THIS BOOK

It wasn't all bad. There's the cover:

And this picture, which the author created from a scene in the book:

 

 

And the idea:

 

A high school girl and boy go to Vegas and accidently get married. Because the girl is a daemon, and daemons have all kinds of different rules and such, they're stuck together.

 

 

 THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE

 

 The execution. The writing was often clumsy, and it felt underdeveloped. The dialogue frequently sounded fake. The descriptions were over the top and I found myself skimming through most of it. There were many clichés in the writing that gave it an amateurish feel, overall.

 

Take, for instance, this scene:

 

The smile disappeared from Shawn’s face as he looked past me. “Loraly, what’s wrong?”

 

“Patrick thinks we’re scary,” she almost sobbed.

 

Oh fuck, that’s why she had looked so upset. She probably thought I thought they were monsters. “Oh no, that’s not what I meant at all!” I said quickly. “It’s not because of what you are. That doesn’t bother me in the least, it’s kinda cool really. It’s just, you’re her parents and well, I was terrified to death you would hate me.”

 

 

THE ROMANCE

 

Or, really, the lack of romance. A huge part of the story is that Nualla and Patrick are in love - Nualla's beautiful and nice, and Patrick? Well. Patrick isn't really a great catch. He's often dazed and confused - honestly, to me, he came across as rather slow and really young. To top it off, Patrick is a very self depreciating narrator. Here are some excerpts from the scene when Patrick meets Nualla's family for the first time: 

 

“Um…” I said like an idiot. Her hostility had caught me off-guard and the clever things I had rehearsed to say flew out the window. Great, I was making a wonderful impression already. I had hoped to impress them, or at the very least make sure they didn’t hate me. But that was already falling apart and I had only said one word, if you could even call it that.

 

I was relieved when I saw Nualla’s Aunt Skye pop up behind the girl whose name was apparently Andraya. “Hello, Ms. Varris,” I said with an uneasy smile.

 

“Oh Patrick honey, call me Skye. You make me sound ancient calling me that.”

 

“Oh sorry— Skye…” I said nervously. Great, I hadn’t even made it in the door yet and I was already going down in flames.

 

 

I swallowed hard; now to make a good impression. “Hello, Mr. Galathea, I’m Patrick Connolly, your daughter’s—” somehow I couldn’t get the word out.

 

My brain screeched to a halt. Had he actually just said I was part of his family?

 

“I don’t have any pets,” I said like an idiot. “I mean I like animals— I just don’t have any.”

 

I get what the author is trying to do. She's trying to show Patrick's unease in the situation. But he's so self deprecating, he fumbles so much . . . and this happens all the time. Really, it just makes him seem timid and slow, not cute or romantic.

 

There's no chemistry. There's no moments when I think to myself, "Aw! They're so cute together!" Most of the story is Patrick alternating between feeling so lucky he accidently married his long time crush, and being awkward in situations with Nualla and her friends and family.

 

Oh, and remember this picture?

 

 

 It's way more romantic than the actual scene in the book.

 

THE FORESHADOWING

 

Most of the story is "love story." There are a few sporadic hints thrown around this story that end up being really important later, except, the foreshadowing is so sparse and random, that it literally feels like it's just there to justify the ending. Like, there's this ONE LINE saying this ONE THING so now the plot is totally legitimate, and not out of place. Because there's this ONE LINE.

 

THE FACT THAT PATRICK KEEP TELLING US THAT HE HAS THIS GREAT MEMORY . . .

 

but he doesn't. Or at least, we never see him use it.

 

THE ENDING

 

I won't spoil you, but there a lot of things that are just way too convenient.

 

All in all . . .

 

This story has so much potential to be awesome. But unfortunately, there are just too many problems for it to work for me.

 





I suck at blogging (and other things)

Hi everyone!

So. School kind of devoured me this semester, and by the time it spit me back out I was so covered in mucus and bile I haven't been able to make my way over to the blog at all.

Okay, most of that's not true, but the being really busy part is! Seriously, where was my brain when I decided to take 20 credits, be a TA, get a job, and be a volunteer in THREE different capacities, all at the same time? Honestly, there were some days when I even forgot reading for fun is a real thing, and not just some crazy concept I hallucinated up out of sheer exhaustion.

I'm working on a couple of new posts and book reviews and the like, which I hope to get up within the next few days. I promise! I'll try really, really hard to become a good little blogger-girl. :]

Until then,



Gabi

Farewell Anonymous

Dear Anonymous Spammy Commenters,

It's not me - it's you. The way you comment on my posts about generic but mostly unrelated things, compliment my 'content,' and then ask me ever so nicely to visit your webpage. And this just isn't working out - I know you're a spam, you know you're a spam . . . do you see where I'm going with this?

It's a pain in the butt to have to delete all your spammy comments. So, Anonymous commenter, I think that it's time that we go our separate ways. I've disabled the Anonymous commenting option, so from now on, O Spam Lords, you must either comment with an account or not comment at all.

I think we both know how this is going to end.

Sincerely,

Gabi
Mato's Blog

Books and Stuff

So. This week is midterms. And because it would be too easy on me if my exams were spread out over the weak, I have Bio and O Chem on the SAME DAY.

I have such an exciting life.

ANYWAY. Something that makes me happy is dreaming about new books to read. Let's have some happy time, okay?

 

Okay, so I've already talked about wanting to read this book. It comes out March 12, which is while I'm on spring break! Yipee! I am so excited.

 

 

This book doesn't come out until forever. Or, you know, until 10/1/13. Which might as well be forever away. I enjoyed the first one - and guys, there's a freaking unicorn-pegasus thing on the cover. Even if I hadn't liked the first book, I would still make lovey-gooey eyes at this one.

 

 

I was super excited, because when I read that this comes out on May 28th, my brain autocorrected it to March 28th. And when I realized that it is not, in fact, coming out this month, and that it won't be out until I'm on summer break, I may have cried. A lot.

 

Have I blogged about Merrie Haskell's The Princess Curse? Because that is a book I love deeply. I read a Middle Grade Monday review of it, and I bought it last spring not really knowing what to expect, and it completely blew me away. It was so much more then I was expecting - it's definitely earned a spot beside Wildwood Dancing and The Goose Girl as one of my favorite fairy tale retellings.

 

 

This comes out at the end of April, right before finals. I read Unraveling right after finals last spring, and it was my first non-school book in months. You know when someone who's been on a diet suddenly has a lot of fruit and chocolate and freaks out about how good it all is, and practically dies of ecstasy?

 

Yeah. Um. That was me with Unraveling.

 

 

I read Aurelia by this author and I really enjoyed, and everything I've heard about this book has been fantastic, enthusiastic praise. So I can't wait to finally read it. I'm thinking a spring break read, to reward myself for surviving midterms. Along with Poison, which comes out that week. I think these two books sound like an excellent way to spend my week off.

 

 

What are you guys looking forward to?

Catching Up

Well, hey there! I'm sorry it's been so long, but it's been pretty crazy in my neck of the woods. Here are some things that have happened while I've been out:

 

Did you guys know about this? Awesome comics featuring classic and contemporary Disney ladies, and they're all here. They're so cute.

 

 

I'm not going to lie: I will read this, if only for the piglet.

Did I ever tell you guys about the swine farm?

We went there last year as part of one of my AVS classes.

And it stunk.

I'd heard that pigs stink, but wow, you guys, do you have to smell it to believe it.

My grandpa says that's the smell of money.

He loves pigs.

When my mom was growing up, they had a pair named Pork and Beans.

Guess what happened to them?

Yup.

Dinner.

 

My mother had a traumatic childhood.

 

In all seriousness, I just heard about this yesterday. Bridget Zinn, the author of Poison, died of cancer.

 

"Bridget wanted to make people laugh and hoped readers would enjoy spending time with the characters she created. As a librarian/writer she loved books with strong young women with aspirations. She also felt teens needed more humorous reads. She really wanted to write a book with pockets of warmth and happiness and hoped that her readers' copies would show the watermarks of many bath time reads."

 

And then, here's the book synopsis:

 

"Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she's the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom's future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend.

But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart…misses.

Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king's army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she's not alone. She's armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can't stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?

Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she's certainly no damsel-in-distress—she's the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon."

 

Find out more here: Bridget Zinn

 

Okay, so maybe I wont be reading this books just for the pig. It does sound pretty awesome. And funny! What ever happened to funny books?

 

I did read some pretty good books over break. I didn't get to as many as I was hoping, but that's usually how it plays out.

 

 

I am so, so glad I read this book. It was a random pick from the library, and you guys, it was so cute. It's a book about a girl/boy friendship - which is pretty unusual these days. And it was so sweet. I feel like I should say something about the great character development, or the touching story, or the cool songs . . . but I'll just tell you guys it was super sweet, and leave it at that.

 

Plus, I don't really want to admit that I cried.

 

 

 

I can't tell you how long I waited for this book! I've wanted to read it since before the cover, and I think before the official synopsis, even. Wowza.

 

I didn't pre-order it because I was like, I'll save on shipping and just go buy it from the bookstore when it comes out! And so I went to Hastings (you know your town is small when the Hastings is the biggest book store) and they didn't have it. They ordered it for me and I got it 7 days later.

 

I hate waiting.

 

But it was totally worth it. There were some things I didn't like - insta love, I'm looking at you - and I didn't really care for one of the love interests. Why does the girl never choose the guy I want her to?

 

But there was so much awesome in this book that it doesn't even matter. I enjoyed the twists on the original Alice stories, and there were many moments when I was just struck with the cleverness.

 

 

 

 

"I had Christmas down in AFRICAAAAAAA!"

YOU GUYS. We're in DECEMBER. How did this happen? And Advent started this Sunday. We are so freakin' close to Christmas it's crazy.

Of course, to get to Christmas, we must survive finals week first. Gulp. Next week I only have one final, but it's a doozy. (Chemistry, have I told you how frustrating your are? Oh, I have? Well. Can I say it again?) And I have two portfolios due, with papers and stories and poems . . . and I'm sure everyone is going as crazy as I am at the moment.

So how about a Christmas-y song?

Muahaha. If you haven't heard of STRAIGHT NO CHASER, this is a travesty, and allow me to fix it. They have a multitude of amazing (and funny) Christmas songs. I just love them to pieces.

Happy December, everyone, and good luck on finals!

Cows?

It's kind of weird, actually. Every month, one or two people stumble upon my blog by searching "cows."

I have but one post where cows are mentioned. It is this post, with two silly poop jokes told to me by two silly kids. One is about a zombie. One is about a cow. This post is my 3rd most viewed, topped only by my Sleeping Beauty post and a giveaway post.

Obviously something needs to be done about this. People's cow needs are not being met!

Now, if people want to talk about cows, I can talk about cows. I've had a year of AVS. I worked in the dairy, I had a calf watch shift, I vaccinated, I learned how to brand, I studied diagrams and breeds and reproduction  . . .

Besides, I like cows. They're cute. And as long as you keep them feed, they'll love you forever.

My sister has this adorable little cow toy. It's super cute - it's head and back come off and go back together, like a little puzzle.

However, if you turn the cow over, it's not anatomically correct.

This needs to be addressed. Because cows . . . well, cows do not have six teats. Their udders have four compartments, so they have - drum roll, please - four teats!

Picture Source

 

See? Four milk producing compartments. And fun fact: the rear compartments produce more milk then the front. Also, to produce one gallon of milk, 500 gallons of blood have to circulate through the udder.

That's a lot of blood.

Now I send you forth! Go out into the world, spreading proper cow anatomy and milk production facts to those less fortunate. Educate the world.

The Ghost and the Goth



One of my favorite TV shows is Dead Like Me. It's not on anymore - excuse me while I cry - but it was awesome. It was about this girl, Gerorge, who died when a toilet seat fell out of the sky and hit her. But she didn't stay dead. Or, yes, she was dead, but she was still here. She became a reaper.

And you know that guy who was Inigo Montoya? ("You killed my father. Prepare to die.") He was in that show. So you know it was awesome.

Alona Dare–Senior in high school, co-captain of the cheerleading squad, Homecoming Queen three years in a row, voted most likely to marry a movie star… and newly dead.

I’m the girl you hated in high school. Is it my fault I was born with it all-good looks, silky blond hair, a hot bod, and a keen sense of what everyone else should not be wearing? But my life isn’t perfect, especially since I died. Run over by a bus of band geeks—is there anything more humiliating? As it turns out, yes—watching your boyfriend and friends move on with life, only days after your funeral. And you wouldn’t believe what they’re saying about me now that they think I can’t hear them. To top it off, I’m starting to disappear, flickering in and out of existence. I don’t know where I go when I’m gone, but it’s not good. Where is that freaking white light already?

Will Killian–Senior in high school, outcast, dubbed “Will Kill” by the popular crowd for the unearthly aura around him, voted most likely to rob a bank…and a ghost-talker.

I can see, hear, and touch the dead. Unfortunately, they can also see, hear and touch me. Yeah, because surviving high school isn’t hard enough already. I’ve done my best to hide my “gift.” After all, my dad, who shared my ability, killed himself because of it when I was fifteen. But lately, pretending to be normal has gotten a lot harder. A new ghost—an anonymous, seething cloud of negative energy with the capacity to throw me around—is pursuing me with a vengeance. My mom, who knows nothing about what I can do, is worrying about the increase in odd incidents, my shrink is tossing around terms like “temporary confinement for psychiatric evaluation,” and my principal, who thinks I’m a disruption and a faker, is searching for every way possible to get rid of me. How many weeks until graduation? - Goodreads

This book is targeted at a younger audience then Dead Like Me was, but Alona reminds me a lot of George. They're both have a sarcastic and cruel humor. They're both young, dead, and stuck here. They both have unresolved family problems.

The Ghost and the Goth is so cute. When I try to describe it, that's what I come up with - it was cute! But it's so true.

I was pleasantly surprised with the level of character growth. I was expecting a cute, light read, and it was, but that doesn't mean the writing was poor quality. The characters have depth and issues and good arcs - they don't end exactly where they started. Will and Alona are both very likable characters. I loved them together. At first there's this animosity, because Will is the school outcast, and Alona is this queen bee cheerleader type. But they're forced to help each other out and spend time together, and they don't hate each other quite as much as they thought. It's predictable, yeah, but it's cute. Sometimes books are allowed to be cute.

It's also highly addictive. I don't know exactly what made it so, but I went through all three books in the series like a bag of Christmas Bells. (Peanut Butter Cups, in bell shapes! Try them! You'll like them!) That is to say, quickly. You can't just have one, y'know.

So, The Ghost and the Goth - Do I recommend it? Absolutely, yes! Pick it up if you're looking for a good, fun read. You won't be disappointed.

Me, and America's Next Author Contest

Hey everyone! So, I entered a contest, and I need your help . . .

I entered my short story Falling in this online writing contest, and a part of the contest is based on public support. I would really appreciate it if you went and checked it out - you can find it here. You can write a review and leave a rating if you'd like.

I'm proud of my little story, and I hope you'll all enjoy it. :]

Thanks for your help!

Litterary Giggles and The Eyer Affair

If you're and English major, or read a lot of classic literature, then you need to read this series. Seriously, guys. My sister has these books and they've sat on our living room shelf for years and years. I discovered them over Thanksgiving break, and now, I'm tempted to name my future puppy Thursday Next.

 

Puppy says: Hello, I am cute.

Puppy came from here.

 

My mom says I am allowed to buy a puppy next fall, when my sister goes to grad school. But only if I can pay the extra dog fee, and pay for the food, AND still pay for college.

 

But this is beside the point.

 

 

 Welcome to a surreal version of Great Britain, circa 1985, where time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem, militant Baconians heckle performances of Hamlet, and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection, until someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature. When Jane Eyre is plucked from the pages of Brontë's novel, Thursday must track down the villain and enter the novel herself to avert a heinous act of literary homicide. - Goodreads

 Let's get this straight upfront: you do not have to be a fan of Jane Eyre to be a fan of this book. I know this, because I am not a fan of Jane Eyre. I thought Rochester was old and creepy and I didn't like Jane, but mostly, I thought Rochester was old and creepy. (I read it in high school, so maybe I was just immature. Psh, who am I kidding? I'm still immature.) Despite the title, Jane Eyre isn't a huge part of the story, and I actually really loved how it was incorporated.

 

And Rochester?

 

Oh, Rochester . . . well, he's not creepy here. I actually kind of loved him. A lot.

 

Actually, I loved all the characters. Let's do a quick roll call:

 

Uncle Mycroft -  quirky and brilliant inventor. I would love to jump inside this book and snag a few of those inventions for myself.

 

Spike - deals with the capture of Supreme Evil Beings. He's the only agent assigned to his area because, well, it takes a special kind of person to go against the SEBs. I love the scene where he first meets Thursday - Muahaha. Funny, funny.

 

Acheron Hades - the bad guy. He's a lot of fun. He's very evil, too, and he requires his little minions to do wicked things every day, like drive over the speed limit - through a mall. There's also this things about Felix's face, which is just gross, so I won't go into that.

 

Jack Schitt - I laugh every time I see his name. "Schitt" sounds like . . . Okay, I know I'm immature. I'm sorry. Jack works for Goliath, this weapons corporation that has too much control and not enough limits. Jack Schitt is this annoying bad-guy who's technically not a bad guy, because Hades is the bad guy, but whatever. He so is.  

 

Pickwick - I have to mention Thursday's pet dodo, even if he's not in this book much. At first I was imagining the dodos from Ice Age, those really dumb birds who had three melons stockpiled for the ice age? Yeah. Pickwick has grown on me, though.

 

And there's many, many more. But you'll just have to read the book to meet them.

 

 

 





Winners Announced!

Hey everyone! I was fully intending to announce the winners sooner, but my brother was feeling generous and decided to share his cold with me. So I've been blowing my brains out through my nose that last few days . . . actually, you probably don't want to hear about it.

Anyway! Winners! Yay!

Sarah figured out my clues, so she won her pick of the books. (I named by basil plant Dorian because of the book, The Picture of Dorian Gray. The painter who creates the picture of Dorian is named Basil.)

 

Sarah chose The Forsaken!

Brianna won Untraceable. Her favorite book of the year (so far) is Gunmetal Magic by Ilona Andrews.

 

Natasha won Starters. Her favorite is The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.

Congrats! Brianna and Natasha, you have e-mails waiting for you. After I have you mailing addresses I'll send you prizes out to you!

Thanks to everyone who entered!

New Design!

I'm the kind of person who has to change the color of her nails each week - and if they're not painted? Gasp! How boring!

So it was high time for me to change up my blog design. I experimented some last night, but I think I like it better now. What do you guys think? Give me your feedback!

Also, there's a new tab at the top of my blog! ContemporaryMadness is my brother's etsy page. I put some samples of his pictures up with a link to his shop. Check it out sometime. I think he's pretty talented, but then again, I'm a little biased. :]

2 Things

1st thing: The Dudes of YA

My brother tells me all the time that I'm too feminist, because I only read books written by girls, and when was the last time I even read a book that was written by a guy? Because of course, no guys write YA. And apparently all I read is YA.

Ha! Just goes to show how little he knows.

(Just kidding, Tommy boy. I love you.)

2nd Thing:

Get More: Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Jamie Campbell Bower, Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

I was amazed that Cassandra Clare got a book deal after she plagiarized in 2001* (back when her name was Cassandra Claire, and she wrote Harry Potter fanfiction). This is why I've never read her books, and why I don't plan on ever reading them. Plagiarism just isn't acceptable, and I'm not going to support someone who's done it.

If this were just a movie I'd say it looks great, I can't wait to see it. But because this is based on Cassandra Care's book, I'm going to pass. Even if it does have Lilly Collins in it.

Does anyone else have any opinions on this?



*I'll link you to a post about this. If you search "Cassandra Clare Plagiarism" there is a lot of stuff out there. The original stories have all been removed, so it's hard to know what sources are reputable, but I think it's pretty universally acknowledged that Clare was kicked off the fanfiction site because she plagiarized.

Me, saying hello, folks. Oh, and a GIVEAWAY. There's that too.

Hello there, folks. I hope the fact that I'm breaking my radio silence and actually writing a post doesn't give you all a heart attack. That would be very unfortunate, and I don't have a defibrillator on hand. So hang in there.

I have a stack of YA books that don't fit on my shelf, and they're just screaming "Give us away!"

So . . . How about a contest?**

This is how we'll do this. I'll give you some clues, and the first person to e-mail me with the correct answer will win their choice of one of the following books:

 

 

Starters by Lisa Price

 

 



Untraceable by S.R. Johannes

 

The Clues:

 

1. I have a basil plant. His name is Dorian.

 

2. I am an English major, and literary references make me happy.

 

3. Dorian is just wild for the classics.

 

 

The Question: 

 

The first person to e-mail me (teddycavygal at yahoo dot com) and tell me why I named my basil plant Dorian will win one of the above books!

 

If no one comes up with the right answer by Wednesday, the 14th, I'll give you more clues.

 The clues have been solved. Comments giveaway is still open. - comment to win Starters or Untraceable. :]

 

 But wait, there's more!

 

After the winner chooses their book, I'll still have two left. I'll pick two winners from the comments for each of the remaining books.

 

So, there are two ways to win here. E-mail me with your answer and/or comment on this post, telling me what your favorite read of the year (so far) is.

 

As soon as someone guesses correctly, I'll update letting you know which book they chose. The comments giveaway of the other two books will stay open until Wednesday, the 21st.

 

 

 

 I hope this all makes sense. Feel free to e-mail or leave a comment with any questions.

 

Good luck! :]

**UPDATE: My clues have been solved. :] Our winner chose The Forsaken, but Starters and Untraceable are still up for grabs, so comment away.**

Halloween (with two 'l's)

Fun fact: I keep trying to spell Halloween with one 'l.' And 'habit' with two 'b's. And 'always' with two 'l's.

When I'm writing away from my computer, I use my phone as spell check. I'll type the word into a text message and see in my phone corrects the spelling or not. When I don't have my phone, like during chemistry lab, I try to scribble my letters enough that the word is mostly still legible, but you can't really tell how I spelled it. So if it's spelled wrong, no one will know.

Anyway, most of my professors have handwriting that is barely legible, so I figure I'm good.

Alright, enough chit-chat. Let's just get to it, shall we?

My Favorite Halloween Reads!

 

Roald Dahl

Specifically, The Best of Roald Dahl

Sure, you know him for Matilda and The Twitches, but he didn't just write children's books, you know. I absolutely love Roald Dahl's short stories. They're creepy and disturbing and just so fantastic. If you love Roald Dahl or short stories or creepy-ness, check them out. You'll thank me.

Before I Fall

Lauren Oliver

 So perhaps this isn't a Halloween read, per se. But it could be, if you let it. It's about a girl who dies in a car accident, and then relives that one day seven times.

 

And because we're talking about spelling, I'll admit that I first typed her name "Lauren Olive." I almost didn't catch it.

 Wildwood Dancing
Juliet Marillier
Okay, again, maybe not a Halloween read intrinsically. But it has magical creatures! And dancing in the forest! And frogs that talk! And it's set in Transylvania!
See? It totally sounds like a Halloween read now.


{: Happy Halloween! :}

Goodbye Summer

 

Happy last day of summer!

 

Have a kitty.

 

Adventures in Gabi Land

So, in January I got my ears pierced. The Claire's lady marveled and asked "How have you gone 18 years without getting your ears pierced?" To which I responded: Fear. A deep, terrifying fear of things like needles and pain.

Then she laughed at me when she asked for my ID and I handed her my Driver's Permit.

I still don't have my licence.

And, apparently, I'm the last person in my graduating class to not have one.

I still really, really, really suck at driving. But my driving skillz are not the point of this blog post.

Anyway. So I love wearing earrings. For a while it was a pain to change them, because it HURTS when you don't do it right. Like, it has to go in perfectly straight, and if you hit the side of the hole it STINGS. And sometimes, it BLEEDS.

But now it's all good. Mostly.

Claire's had a big promotion before school started, buy 2 get 1 free, and then a spend $20 get $10 off. So I stocked up on earrings. My favorites were these cute butterflies, all blue and beautiful.

I'd had the butterflies in for a while (because I'm still nervous about changing my earrings . . . I don't like pain! ) and they got a little gunky, as earrings do. So I dropped them in some rubbing alcohol to clean them up.

I had done this before, on my mom's advice, with the posts I got my ears pierced with. It works wonders! All the gunk floats off and they're all shinny and new-looking!

Um. Apparently, there's a difference between putting high-quality earrings and putting cheap butterfly earrings in rubbing alcohol. Also, it's not a great idea to leave said cheap-quality earrings in rubbing alcohol overnight.

Here's why: today I pulled my gorgeous butterflies out of the alcohol and they were, um, no longer gorgeous-looking. The jewels were falling out, and their was this white film over the earrings, and just, yeah. They're ruined.

But the metal was all shinny and clean!

So folks, learn from my mistakes. Don't put your cute, cheap earrings in rubbing alcohol overnight. just don't.


(And on a completely unrelated note, my brother just told me he wants to get new jeans. So his butt can be eye-candy. Um, ew?)

Ballad Woes

My university is big on torture. Reading our poems aloud in class is supposed to, like, be good for us? What? I don't buy it for one second.

I'm working on a ballad right now. It's due tomorrow morning - and, guess what - I've got to read it in front of my class. Which is kind of making the whole writing thing difficult. Because you know what? Rhyming is hard. I have so much respect for Dr. Seuss right now. I can come up with rhymes, but then my lines feel awkward and forced.

What's making things easier is that I have a new goal - not to take any of my poems too seriously.* Last week our assignment was based around "The Empire in the Air" by Kevin Pruffer, which is about a plane being blown up by a bomb. The example ballad for this assignment is about a plane crashing.

Which is why my poem is about witches. It's kind of wonderful to write something and not worry about being profound - I'll leave that to my classmates. Who are all poets. That's right: I am the only non-poet in the class. Everyone else has been writing poetry since high school, and here I am, the short story writer, taking the class because my advisor told me to.

Woe is me.

Anyway. I wanted to share a song I'm sure you've all heard by now. Basically its been playing on repeat in my brain for the last week. And basically, I love it.

 

Oh! And Matchbox Twenty released a new album earlier this month! This makes me very much happy, and my family not so much, because apparently they can't appreciate good music.

 

 

Poor them.

 

 



*And also, to butcher punctuation on all of my blog posts. Enjoy. ; ]

Mad as a Hatter (Or pre-vet student)

I thank God that I was born in the age of the internet, because I don't know how on earth I would do my chemistry homework without it. My textbook is so little help it's ridiculous.

And, oh yeah - I'm going insane.

I have a big test this week (and about a million other things due and to do). Why on earth am I a double major? Why on earth did I decide to do pre-vet? My humanities and English classes are so easy . . . why the heck did I have to complicate things with science?

This is what chemistry does to me.

Anyway. There's not really a point to this post, I guess, except my brain needs a break from molarity and molality and trying to manipulate problems to find the darn answer. So - want to see what books I'm excited for? When Thanksgiving break comes along, I'll burrow myself inside these beauties and forget all about this chemistry-thing.

AHH! I want to read them all right now. I've got to wait until break, but oh my gosh, don't they all look amazing? The Ghost and the Goth came out a while ago, and I have no idea how I missed it. The entire trilogy looks like something I'd absolutely love. I was blown away with The Scorpio Races so I'm kinda bouncing in my seat waiting for The Raven Boys, and Shannon Messenger has the most amazing blog, so I'm expecting her debut Keeper of the Lost Cities to be pretty amazing, too.

Can it be Thanksgiving yet?


*Spell check doesn't think "molality" is a real word. Ah, to be that innocent. It so is a real thing, I promise you. It's moles of solute per kilogram of solvent, denoted by a lowercase m. It is not to be confused with molarity, M, which is moles of solute per liter of solution.

Look! You learned some chemistry! Yay!