Birds and Other Things

My semester is over, and Christmas has come and gone. I have a lot of downtime on my hands, so maybe updating this blog will become more of a priority than previously (seeing as it comes up to one post a month, which isn't really acceptable).

As much as I thought that there maybe wasn't going to be snow after all, it snowed. And it snowed a lot. Enough for my sister and I to make a snowman. We weren't able to make one last year, as it was a very mild winter and there was no snow on the ground. This year there was more than enough snow to build one. That made me very happy. :)

I've been reading, knitting, and crocheting a lot since I got back from school. There have been various misadventures at home and at my grandparent's house, and I have had much fun through it all. I'm finding it difficult to write about one specific thing here without sounding stupid, but I have had a lot of fun and relaxation lately, which is exactly what I needed.

I decided to do a Postcrossing spotlight this week, even though I haven't been able to do Postcrossing for several weeks now. I usually have postcards sent to my mailbox at school--however, since I'm away from school for five weeks, I set my account to "inactive" so I won't receive any more postcards. However, I still have a lot of favorites that I haven't shown.

The Theme for This Week is Birds!

I'm not going to deny it: I really love birds. Pictures of birds, actual birds, you name it. My fascination with birds almost surpasses my inner childhood love of turtles. As much as I love birds, however, I don't think I could ever have one as a pet. Postcards of birds are much less noisy and aren't as much effort to take care of, so I ask for postcards of birds on my Postcrossing profile. I do receive a lot of postcards of birds as a result; most of them which I enjoy very much.

Received November 2012, Helinski, Finland

This bird is a Siberian Jay, apparently called a "Kuukkeli" in Finnish. The woman who wrote the card said she liked to knit too, but she couldn't anymore because her eyesight was going bad. I really liked the wintry feel of this card--plus the bird is just too adorable.

Received November 2012, Russia

This card was sent to me last month by a 10 year old boy who likes parrots. He told me he has a parrot called "Limonchik," also known as "small lemon." This parrot is called a Red-shouldered Macaw, and is native to South America. It is common in countries such as Venezuela, Brazil, and south-eastern Peru. It's the smallest macaw, and is often used for pet breeding. (Thanks, wikipedia!)

Received November 2012, Minsk, Belarus

These parakeets are just adorable. Not much more to say about that.

Received July 2012, Moscow, Russia

This is personally one of my favorite postcards, because it shows nearly all of the birds that are native to Russia. Of course, they are not named on the back of the card, but some of them are recognizable to me because I learned a lot about birds as a child. The only one I can name right now is the Snowy Owl, which of course is native to most parts due way up north.




Will probably post some more before the New Year, at least I hope so. I'll be traveling New Year's Eve.

A Tumultuous Month

Again, I have the hugest problem keeping this updated--mostly for my own entertainment, of course, as few people read this blog.

Two weeks until the end of the semester--next week is the last week of classes, and right after that is finals week. Last week, of course, was Thanksgiving break; that was spent at my roommate's house. It was a lovely break--from the internet as well as the hectic life I usually encounter. Of course, it went right back to that at the beginning of this week, but I'm not complaining. The end is in sight, followed by five weeks of hopping around different places for break and hopefully recharging and reading, knitting, and writing lots. 

I just finished my research proposal for my Research Methods class--it's given me quite the headache, but I'm very glad I'm done with it. I desperately hope I did a good job, as the professor was pretty vague about the whole project (pretty frightening, seeing how this project is 40% of the grade in the class).

Regarding my other subjects, I think I'm doing a fairly good job. Reading Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, in my Sociology of Gender class, was a real treat. It's a graphic novel about a young girl growing up in Iran during the time of the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War, her move to Austria, and her return to Iran. This graphic novel gave me a lot of insight regarding this important piece of Middle Eastern history that still affects the Middle East to this day. I may write a review on this graphic novel--either way, I highly recommend this book.

We've also been reading a lot of really interesting novels (although I digress, I didn't have time to read them as thoroughly as I hoped) in my Contemporary British Literature class. Due to the class size and my professor's overall awesomeness, she told us our final would be meeting at the local pizza place instead of meeting at the designated classroom. Of course, we still have to turn in our final papers at that time, but I think that this is personally pretty cool.

Concerning Postcrossing, I have received and sent a great many postcards this month. I won't be posting any postcards today, due to the fact that I am tired and I don't want to scan some of them in. But trust me on this one, some of them are very cute as well as amazing.

I've had this blog for nearly a year now; I haven't used it as often as I wanted to, but that's life I guess. Once Winter Break rolls around I'll have a lot more free time to write blog posts, and reviews, as well as doing some reading and knitting.

It's Way Too Late, But I Feel Like Writing

It's 11:30 pm, and I have class tomorrow at 8:30 am. I just feel like writing; I don't feel like doing my readings, although I should.

My professor got very angry this morning when he realized that not a single person had done the readings, nor had they printed them out. He was so frustrated, he finally stood up and said, "Everybody just go home!", basically translating to, "I'm frustrated and disappointed and therefore don't know what to think of you guys. Thanks for ruining my day! Lazy people..." I felt kind of bad because I hadn't done the readings myself. But it's been a long, interesting day and I just wanted to write it out.

Something terrible local-wise that has happened (a tragedy that is a bit similar to the one I will detail later) is a student from the private college across the way was either struck by a train or jumped off the bridge into the river to avoid being hit by it and died. Since it's not one of our students, it's the talk on campus, a controversial event that fascinates people. This is a rural area, and this kind of thing doesn't happen often. It's kind of sad though that people don't really care that he died, assuming that the kid was drunk. The results of stereotyping can be heartbreaking at times.

I wrote an opinion/editorial for the newspaper this week, of which I will show at the end of this post. I also spend a significant amount of time and energy writing a legitimate news piece for this issue. I worked with my journalism professor on it twice. I guess I just wanted to write, and write well. Plus it was about the local murder about a 12 year old boy, who died a year ago. His murder had never been solved, but there is a $40,000 reward raised by the family to be given to whomever gives a tip that leads to an arrest. The police have been very quiet about the whole ordeal. I don't think I have ever put together such a piece with such adamant effort before. I think I like the result of such effort; this spurs me to do more with journalism and writing in general. Actually, I will publish this news piece instead because it is far more important than reading me complain about an infestation of seagulls.

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Justice For Garrett: One Year Later

Tiffany Miner

Business Manager

Potsdam and the surrounding communities were shocked one year ago this week when Garrett Phillips, a 12-year-old student, was murdered at his mother's apartment on Market Street.

Although police declared his death a homicide, no suspects have been named and no arrests have been made in the year since his death. Phillips was found unconscious and alone in the apartment on Oct. 24, 2011, and pronounced dead later that evening.

The only thing that has come out of the case is when Clarkson soccer coach Oral Hillary filed a complaint against the village in January, stating he had been wrongly accused as a suspect in the investigation. There has been no news about the case since that time.

In June, Brian Phillips, Garrett's uncle, created the Justice for Garrett reward fund. Money donated to this fund will be given to anyone who provided a tip or information leading to an arrest or conviction of Garrett's killer.

“I am confident that justice will be served—hopefully sooner than later,” Phillips said.

To help promote awareness for the cause, organizers distributed “Justice for Garrett” yard signs that were originally sold by the Phillips family. When the demand for the signs became too great, CJ's and Ace Hardware became venues for the signs. These signs are solely for awareness for the project, as Justice for Garrett makes no money off of them. Phillips said that a highway billboard for Justice for Garrett is also in the works.

The Justice for Garrett fund is bolstered by community donations. The family has also been raising money for the fund by selling T-shirts, and they organized a motorcycle benefit at the end of August.

More than $40,000 has been raised for Justice for Garrett. However, despite the efforts of the organizers, no one has come forward with any information leading to an arrest.

“If the police solve this crime without a tip or information, then we [Garrett's close family] will discuss where it will go,” Phillips said.

Phillips also said that if no one came forward with information, the family would donate the money in the fund to several local North Country organizations, such as the mentoring program through the middle school Garrett attended.

For the anniversary of Phillips's death, Tobe O'Brien, a Potsdam High School senior, organized a concert in his honor. Six local students sang at the concert, with a special performance from Garrett's cousins. Funds raised from the concert will go to Justice for Garrett. The concert, which was held Wednesday at the high school auditorium, was an opportunity for community members to celebrate Garrett's life.

Anyone wishing to donate to Justice for Garrett can do so by calling Duane Phillips at 315-276-6069. Also, anyone with any information related to the murder are strongly urged to contact Potsdam Police at 315-265-2121.

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No postcards today, but I'll write a proper post in a couple of days. 

Autumn Ponderings

The season of autumn is still prevalent here--the colors are starting to fade, but there is still beauty in the trees and in the scent. In fact, the past couple of days have been extremely mild, and I'm pretty sure it hit 70 here today.

The paper I was talking about last week; I finally finished it. I completed it the night before it was due, and though I thought I would never get it done, I did. That was the probably the most challenging thing I have ever written before and it caused me a lot of stress. I have to write another paper similar to it at the end of the semester, but I'm not worried about it because I'll have a structure to borrow off of. We're reading some really interesting books in this class--I'm thinking of reviewing one of them for this blog if I ever get the time.

I'm pretty excited about Halloween and similar festivities--I decided to do a quick throw together costume and be a vampire. One of these years I would like to sit down and actually do a elaborate costume but I don't see when that would happen. Last year I dressed up as a scarecrow and it looked great. I'm carving pumpkins a couple of times and might just be daring enough to go to my campus's annual midnight showing/re-enactment of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It's something the campus does every year, but I've never went because I've heard stories about people wearing negligible amounts of clothing and a lot of sexual implications. But I think I might as well give it a shot and leave if things get too awkward.

Also, with every post I figured I would showcase three postcards from Postcrossing. Maybe some of these more frequented blog posts will lack postcards, but I think it's something I would like to do on a general basis. There will probably be a theme every week as well.

This Week's Spotlight is postcards from Germany!

Through Postcrossing, I get many postcards from Germany. Some of my most favorite postcards come from there, and as I have always wanted to learn German, I am a bit impartial to cards from there. I specifically chose three with German on them because I think it's pretty awesome.

Received October 2012, Dortmund, Germany

This has become one of my personal favorites, not just because of the kitten and the tortoise (which is a sure winner in my book), but because of the German on the postcard. This kind of reminded me of an American photo one would put on their wall as a poster (minus the German).
The English translation is crappy due to Google Translate's suckiness, but it basically says happiness is a friend who can help you out when times are tough.

Received August 2012, Nordhorn, Germany

I laughed when I received this one. Google translated the German as "Prince Charming is waiting!" I thought it was pretty hilarious and I enjoyed it. Out of the frog cards I have received, this one is probably the funniest. By the way, it is actually white, not brown; that's the lighting on the card when I took the picture.

Received June 2012, Wilhemshaven, Germany

Another one of my all-time favorite cards, the German on this one translates to something about running birds? I'm not sure. At any rate, it looks pretty awesome. I get a lot of bird and frog cards because I ask for them, and I really think that this is one of the nicest ones I have.
I've never actually been to a beach or the sea, so getting one with water on it also reminds me I've got to visit a beach sooner or later!






Even though this week has been stressful, I've eliminated most of it by spending time with friends and enjoying myself. After all, isn't that what college is for?

Postcards, Poems, and Perils

Six weeks have passed in a flurry of budding friendships, new experiences, and new schedules. I am writing this as I am taking a break from a very large paper that is 45% of my grade and is proving extremely difficult for me. I love the professor's class, Contemporary British Literature, but this is becoming a challenge that I don't even know I can achieve. Thankfully, I have come together with my thesis and will be meeting with my professor in a couple of days about the paper. I really hope that this can release any stress I am having about this paper.

I just got back from my "October Break," and even though it was supposed to be a time for me to relax, priorities and stress from other sources besides school keep piling up. Life is not easy, especially at this time in my life, apparently. Things are going to be picking up again on campus starting tomorrow and it's back to my regular schedule. I am, of course, looking forward to another class with Dr. Novak, the newest professor on campus and one that I have become quickly fond of. The other day she invited me to her office and we had a interesting talk about politics (of course), society, and where the world is going. This blog is not for sharing my political opinions because I don't want to piss people off, but I do rather enjoy a good political discussion. During class last week, though, she did say something that depressed me (and probably the rest of the class). "I am really glad I am as old as I am," she said, "because then I don't have to see what this country will become." As depressing as that statement is, it's kind of true. I for one fear for the future; what will become of this country and what exactly will result out of this endless bickering between two ideals, two visions for this country? That is a question that will be pondered by me and countless others as the world moves on, I suppose.

Anyways, I threw in a poetry entry for Silverinkblot's (deviantArt) Color Poem Contest. It's been so long since I've written poetry that I thought I sucked at it. For a first try in a while, it was pretty good. I want to maybe try my hand at some more prose (for deviantArt contests generally) in the near future.

And now a couple of postcards from my ever-growing collection of postcards from Postcrossing. Right now I don't have the money to send any more postcards, but I have amassed a nice collection from the time when I did have the money for stamps. Here are three of my favorites:

South Germany, received September 30, 2012

This postcard I received from a woman named Sabine, who lives in Germany. She said that on clear days she could see the Swiss Alps, because she lives close to the borders of Austria and Switzerland. I love birds, so this is one of my favorites because of that. It's just such a crystal clear photograph that I fell in love with it.

Sent from Washington, United States, received September 25, 2012

This is one of my personal favorites as well, and the photo I took of it with the camera on my cell phone simply does not do it justice. Even though the sender was from Washington State, not Idaho, it is still a beautiful homage to autumn and fishing (the little shadow there is fly fishing in the Salmon River).

Sent from Belarus, received September 15, 2012

Even though this was sent from Belarus, this is a photograph of the Empress of Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution and World War I. The sender said that since she was born in Russia, she wanted to share this with me. With the empress Alexandra is her only son, Alexi, heir to the throne of Russia. However, Alexandra, the tsar Nicolas, her husband, Alexi, and the rest of her children were killed at the end of World War I by the Bolsheviks that were imprisoning them. I really enjoy postcards that force me to look up historical backgrounds and events of other nations; there are many things about the world that I don't know and I still have yet to learn.







With that, I should probably work on some more of my paper.

We Now Continue Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Following my lack of blog posts this summer, we now continue with our regularly scheduled programming. Also known as rambling on about things that interest me, and hopefully interest the literature buffs/students such as myself out there.

Classes have begun this week, preceded by several things, which I will describe in a small amount of detail. My job at Wal-Mart ended the second week of August. The strange thing about that was that a part of me was sad to go. Of course, that kind of job is physically tasking as well of mental, and although I learned a lot, it is not something I want to do as a career. I could say more about what I think about Wal-Mart, but I'm not going to speak out against it.

The week before classes started (last week) I attended a leadership conference through the college; mostly aimed towards "student leaders" in charge or putting together student organizations on campus. I learned a great deal from the conference--honestly more than I thought I would. As I said, there was a lot of emphasis on how to keep a club or organization together; the subjects discussed were recruitment, event planning, and knowing how to keep the leadership going after you graduate. I attended all of the recruitment ones, because my friend and I are desperately trying to keep the campus's English club staying afloat. That will be a challenge this semester.

Speaking of campus and academics, I'm taking several classes that I'm really excited about. I'm taking three sociology classes; sociology of gender, individual and society, and research methods. All three of these classes seem pretty promising, and I'm enthusiastic about them. But the two classes that I'm really excited about are Journalism and Contemporary British Literature. I have a feeling I've already fell in love with both of the professors. The professor for Journalism is brand new to the college and to the area, but she has a really great, friendly attitude about everything. I think I'm going to really like her class. As for Contemporary British Literature, the professor is crazy. But the awesome kind of crazy. A lot of English professors and teachers have this kind of crazy, where you think, "You are weird but awesome! Where can I sign up?!" Those are my favorite professors--those not afraid to speak their minds.

So, in conclusion, I am pretty pumped for everything that is going on in my life.

Ramblings from the Peanut Gallery

It's been a busy week. I have been mentally preparing for my worker's orientation at Wal-Mart for some time. As it's tomorrow, it's finally coming to a head and although I am nervous as hell, I think I am ready. I did get several sets of work clothes (here and there, thrift shops are my best friend), so I am ready in that respect. I also got my bicycle fixed today so I can bike the two miles to work whenever I need to come in.



Other than the work stuff and running errands, it's been pretty chill here. I'm attempting to knit slippers (though when it hits 90, my hands sweat too much, I found) and after that I'll be probably trying my hands on a hat or a scarf. We'll see. I will knit bookmarks for anyone--I've been getting really good at it. I found that knitting is just like anything--the more you practice, the better and more skilled you're going to get.



Something else I've been doing is reading--my newest favorite author is a thriller writer named Nate Kenyon. I think he's fairly new on the market, as the book I am currently reading was published in 2008. At any rate, his writing is amazing—the descriptions of things and people in the book make you fall right into the writer's world. The characters are life-like and not static in the least. The way he describes things makes you want to turn the pages faster and faster so you can find out what happens. The best way to describe Kenyon's writing is that it's better than watching any thriller/suspense movie on the market. It's simply so real—the character's backgrounds are revealed ever so slowly, and one can tell that Kenyon carefully picks and chooses his scenes and words. He works out the plot like a master, and I'm really glad I stumbled upon his work. I want to use his technique and style in my own writing—hopefully some of his style will rub off on me. Oh, the book I am reading currently is called “The Reach,” by Nate Kenyon. I will write a book review when I finish it.



There is something I am going to rant about today, though, and if you don't want to hear it, please stop reading. I am very irritated over something that happened on Facebook today. I won't go into details, but nevertheless. So I posted a picture that said who I was going to vote for president in the fall (I am old enough to vote in this upcoming election). Some people were obviously butthurt over my opinion and caused a shitstorm on my page. Needless to say, I am subsquently annoyed at some people's immaturity and am actually afraid to post political things like that in the future. I should be able to post what I want on facebook without people having a cow about my opinions. Come on, people, we are all mature adults here. Just because it's the interwebs doesn't mean that that rule ceases to apply. Everyone is going to see what is on my page, and I was not immature at all. You don't like my opinion? Don't make a huge freaking deal about it. Agree to disagree, guys. Ugh.



Now that's off my chest, I am going to wish everyone the best of weekends. It seems like a busy weekend for everyone—I'm going to be busy all day tomorrow, my sister will be going to a wedding on Sunday, and my boyfriend is going to be busy himself toying with his newest obsession. It all sounds like a lot of fun for everybody.

Awesome Postcards

I thought I would take a break from rambling on about myself (not that anyone reads this) and show some awesome postcards I have received from Postcrossing, and have an update at the end of the post. If you don't already know what that is, it's a site where you can send postcards back and forth to and from users around the world. It's a very fun hobby, and I've learned a lot about different cultures through it. Postcrossing is very fun, indeed. However, there is only one drawback to this fun, free project--international stamps have really gone through the roof. The price of postcards themselves isn't much better, and it's awfully hard to find good ones, sometimes.

This is one of the very first postcards I received. It's from the Czech Republic, and I received it mid-February. A couple people I showed it to were a wee creeped out--however, I found this postcard to be adorable. These puppets are actually Czech puppets from a famous puppet show called "Spejbl and Hurvinek." Intrigued, I looked up videos on youtube to see the puppet show. Alas, I found none in English or with subtitles.

This is a relatively recent postcard, I received it a couple weeks ago from Belgium. For those of you who don't know about TinTin, it was a comic written by a Belgian artist named Herge from the 1940s to the 1960s. It detailed the adventures of a young reporter/adventurer named TinTin, his dog Snowy, and his friend Captain Haddock, as well as others. This postcard in particular is the comic book cover of the last TinTin comic book Herge ever wrote (the book published posthumously does not count). Having actually read some of the comics myself and being urged to watch the movie (The Adventures of TinTin, 2011), I am truly fascinated by the fandom in general and absolutely loved this postcard.

Not too much to say about this one--it's an Alice in Wonderland postcard from Russia. Not very dark, but a very fun postcard, overall. The writing on the top is the very first paragraph of... You guessed it, Lewis Carroll's famous novel, Alice In Wonderland.

This postcard is actually one I really like a lot--mostly because of the history behind it. I received this just a couple days ago from Belarus, a country bordering Russia. I was boggled for some time because I didn't know who the man on the postcard was. The description on the bottom left of the postcard explaining who it was was unfortunately completely in Russian. Also cool about this postcard--the person who sent it had placed a banana scratch and sniff sticker on the back. Funnily enough, it still smelled like bananas after traveling over half the globe.

Anyhow, I messaged the user asking him who the man was on the postcard. He told me the person was "Vitovt, an ancient king." Well, I looked up the name, and actually found out Vitovt was the Rusyn (a dialect of Belarusian I believe) for the apparently very famous ruler of ancient Lithuania, Vytautas the Great. He ruled Lithuania (Then called The Grand Duchy of Lithuania) and other countries during the late 1300s and early 1400s.Vytautas has apparently become a legendary hero among the people of Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine, and other countries. I was amazed at the amount of knowledge about ancient history I got from just one postcard.

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I have a few updates about life and what you could call personal things. I just got hired at Wal-Mart and will be going to the hiring appointment and interview bright and early tomorrow morning. I'm glad I got a summer job--I can save the money for a car or an apartment when I finally move out of the college dormitories.

Also, I can see again, as I got my frames and lenses yesterday. It's pretty amazing how much of a difference they make. Apparently my eyes are bad enough that people were worried that I was driving without them. Unfortunately, I don't have neither a license nor a car--but I wouldn't drive without glasses anyway, as I could cause a serious accident or get fined if pulled over without them.

I have also been writing different things. If I feel daring enough, I'll post excerpts on this blog in the near future.

Possible Job and an Injury

As I said in my last blog post, I have been very very gung-ho about getting a job for the summer. I've applied online, I've harassed nearly every store employee, I've went door to door. Until yesterday, however, I was quite dejected because nearly no one is hiring and I was practically at the end of my rope patience wise. Then I received a phone call requesting an interview for a job at the gas station a little bit out of town. I went to the interview, and it sounds very promising.

Now about the injury that I mentioned in the title--the day before yesterday, I sprained my ankle riding my bicycle. I wasn't being very smart on my bike, but I suppose I got what I deserved after all. Of course, that didn't look very good at the job interview--despite being presentable clothing-wise, I was on crutches, and she did ask about it. However, there isn't much I can do. If I get the job, that will be awesome and I will be able to FINALLY say, "I worked this summer," when people always ask that question, "So, what did YOU do this summer? (expecting a miraculous answer)" If not, I'll keep on trying. I won't give up on a job for a while; after all, my experience working at food service during the school year looks good and I can say how awesome I was dealing with nasty, impatient people on a regular basis.

I remember vividly how rude my fellow students were to me when I was making them sub sandwiches; the snide glares, the stuck-up air... I am not ashamed at working food service. I have to work somewhere. What really makes me mad is when people complain to me, "I can't find any part-time job anywhere!!" I reply, "Why not work at PACES? It's better than nothing." At that point, they metaphorically stick their nose up and say, "PACES? Ew, I would never work there." The conversation peters off, and I am standing there thinking, You're just not desperate enough.

Random, needful rant over, I guess that's all I have for today. I suppose there is one more thing I could mention...

I now know how to knit AND crochet. Having been personally taught how to knit, I took it on myself to learn crocheting... Crochet for Dummies, did its job fairly well. Unlike a person, a book has unlimited patience... That is in all jest, of course. I would take people over books any day.

That being said, once I get better at crocheting/knitting, I want to try my hand at anigurumi... There are many books on that in the library, but that's going to wait until I'm fairly decent at crocheting.

Musings

Again, it's been a long time since I've written in this blog. Finals week was very stressful, but that has been over for a couple of weeks now, and now I'm officially a junior in college. Yup, a junior in college. When did that happen? Another school year has passed me by, and I've been on summer break for about a week or so.

So my plans for this summer include (trying) to get a job. Also on the to-do list is getting my creative juices flowing, as well as catching up on things I usually don't have time to do--like reading, playing video games, and watching movies. To those who actually read this blog, if you have any suggestions about any awesome games/books/movies you have watched/played/read, please let me know and I'll check them out.

The job search has been moot so far. I have went on several trips to go job hunting, and it turns out that very few places in town are actually hiring. I filled out a few applications (I fear in vain), but the reply I kept on getting was "No, we're not hiring. Do you want to fill out an application?" There's no point in filling out an application if you guys aren't hiring. This is only a summer job... Anyways, I suppose that this is a testament to the fact that the economy still really hasn't recovered since 2008. If I don't get a job, it won't be the end of the world, but it would certainly be a good thing.

In other news, I've been trying to re-read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and of course it's proving as difficult as the first time (as I have only read in full the first novel in the trilogy). My boyfriend gave me the whole set as a gift (his attention span couldn't handle the dry, boring parts of LOTR), and I've been trying to tackle the novels ever since. My favorite character is either Frodo or Gandalf, I can never choose. Gandalf is awesome in his mysterious superiority, but Frodo is the real hero of the series.

Also going to read some manga this summer. Got out some InuYasha and Full Metal Alchemist from the library today. I have read FMA before, but that was a few years ago, and it will be fun to re-read it again. I remember that it does get darker and more sadistic as the series goes on, but the awesome art and main characters mostly stay the same.

As for my creative side of things, I plan on working on some new comics with my sister, as well as working on my characters, Victor and Oliver. If you don't remember them, I did place an excerpt from a practice concept that I had here. It's very hard to develop Victor because he originally was a dark hero. Then, coming to a realization, I split Victor into two characters--the original Victor is now a bona-fide evil, evil, antagonist. The character that split off, Oliver, is now the light hero. Of course, coupled with my sister's characters (Jelar, a vampire, Celia, the former lover of Victor, and others), we plan to write several stories, or even perhaps a novel together. That will be fun, and I'll keep you posted on that.

Game Review--Blackwell Legacy

Hello, all those in the blogosphere! I have for you all today a game review on the first game in a series--the indie PC game series known as the Blackwell series. Being extremely bored over March break, I bought the whole series on Steam. I have NOT regretted it--I fell in LOVE with the series, and just finished the last game a few days ago (having stayed up until 2 am to finish said game). So as I review the four games in the series, I will post the reviews here as well as on deviantart. So, the first game in the series: Blackwell Legacy.

Awesome game, of course. Having seen the Youtube trailer for the game before buying the bundle, I was expecting a lot. And I got everything I expected, and more.

Summary: Rosangela Blackwell, a young freelance writer living in present day New York City, makes a startling discovery after her aunt's death. The appearance of her spirit guide, Joey Mallone, makes Rosa aware of the fact that she is part of a family legacy of mediums. With Joey's help, Rosa solves the mystery of a teen suicide.

Art/Graphics/Music: The graphics in this game are what can only be called as “retro”--they give the player a classic feel while playing the game. There are portraits for each character while they are speaking, and the art for those portraits is done very well. The music for this game (in fact, for the whole series), is a jazz type music, which is suitable for the dark themes that keep popping up in the storyline. Overall, the graphics, art, and music for this game were done extremely well for an independent company, and there are few glitches to be found in the game.

Plot/Storyline/Characterization: The Blackwell series is mostly plot-focused, so I won't be revealing too much of the plot in these reviews (to minimize spoilers). However, the plot and the storyline of this game was very smooth, the transitions in the plot line not too slow. The plot was fast at times, but as this was the first game, I was not too insulted by that. The characters in the game were very thought out and very well characterized. I immediately fell in love with the character of Joey; his wit, sarcastic charm, and mysteriousness gave the game some much-needed humor. Rosa, too, is an essential, unique character that is the center of the plot and has plenty of focus throughout the game—after all, she is the only character you can control (in this first game, anyway). Even the minor characters of Rosa's next door neighbor and the people she interviews at the college were not unnecessary at all and gave the storyline what it needed to be a very good game.

I did not find very many cons to this first game; however, if there was one thing I could improve on Blackwell Legacy it would be to just add a little more game play to the end of the game, perhaps include one more puzzle to solve for Rosa and Joey. However, perhaps this is what the producer intended—for the reader to be begging for more adventures.

Also a kudos to the voice actors—they really personified the game in a way I would have never thought possible. They did a really good job and this game series wouldn't be half as good without them.

 

Overall Themes: Death, suicide, afterlife, college experiences, loss.

Extras: Two commentaries by David Gilbert can be activated while playing the game. However, this is not advised while playing the game the first time, as spoilers are revealed.

Conclusion: Overall, “Blackwell Legacy” was a really fun game to play and is a great beginning to a nicely thought out video game series. The retro style and some of the themes of the game may not appeal to some players. However, as this game is classified as “indie,” it is expected that only a certain niche of gamers would enjoy this. The storyline, characterization, and music of this game is overall appealing, and generally leaves the player wanting a sequel.

Credits: 

 

Publisher and Developer: WadjetEye Games

Designer/Producer: David Gilbert

Format: PC

Type of Game: Indie/Graphic Adventure/Point-and-Click

Release Date: December 23, 2006

Voice Acting: Abe Goldfarb, Sande Chen

Also, the trailer for the whole gaming series, which I advise to watch:

Have a good one, everybody!

 

Life and a Game Recommendation

Didn't really know what to title this thing, so I just decided to come up with some lame-o title.

Of course, my life has gotten increasingly busy (as usual), what with work, classes, clubs, and the crunch that everyone is feeling as the end of the semester starts to catch up on everyone. I barely have time to breathe at the end of the day--especially yesterday, when the student government had to pass their budget.

Apparently, the college student government budget is a horrid, enormous thing that happens once a year in March. It gives the funding to all of the clubs from our Student Activity Fee. Then the members of student govt (treasurers of clubs and representatives from the dorms) vote on every single club's budget. It took seven hours over two days to pass the budget. There was a lot of tension, and as I have never been a part of student government, this was a surprise and a half. I still have a headache from part two, that happened today.

I'm actually surprised I have half a second to write in this blog. It truly has been quite insane, especially with my plans for this summer, which are continuing to loom over me kind of like a dark cloud. If they are implemented, I will probably write a whole separate blog on the events surrounding it. But for now, since these plans are not in solid stone and may change, I think I'm going to keep it under wraps for now.

I do have one awesome thing to discuss though. Over my Spring break (a couple weeks ago), I was really bored and looking for games on Steam. While looking for good adventure/RPG games (my favorite), I stumbled upon the Blackwell series. Although this series has so-so for graphics, I instantly fell in love with the characters and the storyline. You can find a trailer for the whole game series here. The trailer is just as awesome as the games, but the series is so intense. I'll probably have a review once I finish all of the games. I'm on game number three now, so be sure to watch out for that soon.

Until next time, also known as when I have some free time to write about my life.

Excuses and an Excerpt

Actually, I really don't have any excuses as to why I haven't been posting for about a month. It was just... after two weeks, I felt if I posted again, I would have to make an excuse as to why I haven't been posting. So I waited another week, and another week...

And finally I'm here, home once again from school on break. Spring break, in fact, and even though it is nearly the middle of March (not technically spring), spring has officially begun. 50s and early 60s on and off last week, and it's supposed to be warm all this week too. I really wish I would have brought my sundress, because I certainly would have worn it this week.

Since I have been away for so long, I figure it wouldn't be useful to fill everyone in that's been going on this whole month, because I could write about 10-15 posts at least about everything that's happened. What I'm going to do instead is hop back on the blogging bandwagon and post more frequently, aka a few times a week.

So for my first post back from hiatus, I'm going to put in an excerpt from my newest story in progress. I still have to finish this story, so don't mind if there are grammar/structure errors. This is a battle scene between two of my characters--a necromancer and a mage. Enjoy.

--

Sure enough, there was his cousin, Victor—standing in front of the case. His back was to Oliver, so he did not see his cousin. Oliver started to make an attempt to walk up to Victor without him noticing, but his foot stepped on a piece of glass on the floor halfway there and it made a sharp crunching sound. This gave him away, and Victor whipped around, the greedy look in his eyes changing to hatred as he saw Oliver.

   “Cousin, you realize that it will take you quite a while to open that case with the spells Celia and I have placed on it, do you not?”

   “Fool! I have already managed to destroy most of the pitiful spells your girlfriend has placed on the case. Had you gotten here twenty minutes later, the case would be gone and I would be the rightly possessor of my book again, my spells that are rightfully mine!” Victor snarled, brandishing his staff at Oliver.

      “Well, it's a highly good thing that I arrived when I did, otherwise you have already stolen away with it! Once I get the book analyzed from Aheem, I am simply going to extract the useful spells from it and then destroy it so you cannot get your gnarly hands on it!”

      Victor recoiled, as though his cousin had slapped him across the face. “You couldn't possibly be thinking about doing that!” he exclaimed. “That book has been in the hands of necromancers for CENTURIES! To destroy it would be destroying part of the heritage of the gift of necromancers. The gift that you rejected.”

     “Of course I rejected it! Your art is evil, and look at what practicing such magick has made you become! It has made you a selfish monster with no thought to others except for yourself. Is that what you want to do with your life?”

      Victor ignored his cousin's question. “Enough is enough! I grow tired of your needless insults. You know what I want. Give it to me without any trouble and I will not cause YOU any trouble.”

     “No matter, my dear cousin. You have already caused me trouble by destroying my property and breaking into my home! There is not much more that you can do that will cause me any more harm, Victor.”

     Victor laughed then, a gutteral laugh that sent chills down Oliver's spine. “Oh, I could do much, much more harm to you than you could even possibly know, boy. You are simply a mage. I am a necromancer, a darke wizard. We are much more powerful than you naturally. And I have trained in my art for many more years than myself.” He paused. “So, my dear cousin, be prepared to die!”

What A Week and New Words

Just... wow. What a week. I really can't explain my life in explicit detail right now, because a huge chunk of it is personal. But here is something that happened that I can divulge:


http://centralny.ynn.com/content/top_stories/573286/classes-at-suny-canton-to-resume-feb--20th-after-fire-in-chemistry-lab/ 

The link will lead you to a news story about how on my boyfriend's campus, his science building practically exploded, preventing him from going to classes for a week or more. Unfortunately, he was at my campus at the time, so he is practically without any belongings until he gets back to campus next weekend. So yeah, these past few days have been mind-blowing, just to say the least.

In other news, I had to read a scholarly article for a paper I was doing. Of course, there were so many words that I didn't even understand and I had to go to the Oxford English Dictionary and define them. Also I will include some words that I defined from the novel A Hazard of New Fortunes, by William Dean Howells. It's a long novel, but it's pretty good so far. That book is also for my Literature class. Here are some of the defined words:

Diatribes: Bitter criticism
Quixotic: Ideal, (referring to Romanticism in the novel)
Lacuna: Missing part of something
De-legitimation: Taking away legitimacy
Duplicity: Acting in two ways at different times
Aphonia: Unable to speak

Thanks to Lauren for giving me this idea. :)

First Week of February

My time has instantly went from not so busy at all to barely getting a minute in to write in this blog. Even though I have so many things to write about, just the time to write them has reached nearly zero. My life is still pretty exciting, I just wish I had more time to write about it.

Firstly, I have decided that every Monday, the day I have Thanatology, I will write a blog post about what we talked about in class/what I'm reading in the textbooks. This is mostly for Lauren, who is fascinated by the subject, but it's really for anyone else to gain insight as well. I mean, if someone can have a whole blog devoted to sea glass, I can have a post once a week about dying, right? Sometimes, however, I might have to wait until Tuesday, as I have a newspaper meeting on Monday nights. Speaking of newspaper meetings, I write for the newspaper, so I may put up general info articles I have written here in the near future.

Anyways, this week was slightly stressful, but still as interesting as my life could be. Work at the kitchens (in the bakery department) has reached a whole new level of fun. Even though the job does get repetitive and sometimes monotonous, the guy who works with me is really nice. Thursday he gave me a cranberry muffin :) I think it was because the muffin was extra and he didn't want to throw it out, but it was still very nice of him. My co-worker is very adamant about not wasting food, which is great. In the other place I work, the people who work there throw a lot of food out that they don't need to, which disappoints me.

Other things that have been going on in my life? My friend Bill will be coming back to town next Tuesday, and I will be going with a professor to pick him up. The place that he is at is an hour and a half away, so it should turn out to be an interesting adventure, to say the least.

Also, I didn't mention that I am taking astronomy this semester. One of my friends suggested I take it for the general education credit it provides, so I added it. Of course, I haven't mentioned yet on this here blog that I LOVE ASTRONOMY.

In fact, I dragged my boyfriend outside at 12:30 am last weekend just so I could look at the stars. He lives in a rural area, so the sky there is free of trees and looks absolutely fantastic on a clear night. Thanks to the star chart my professor gave us, I could pick out a few more constellations than I could before. A lot of the winter constellations wind through the Milky Way, so it's really hard to pick them out. What gives the Milky Way its cloudy appearance in the sky is the sheer multitude of stars that is in it. So it's hard to pick out the constellations. However, I did manage to see Orion, Gemini, the Big Dipper (Ursa Major), and Sirius (Canis Major). I couldn't pick out Ursa Minor or Polaris that night, but I'm learning more about them. Contrary to popular belief, Polaris, or the North Star, is not the brightest star in the sky. Sirius, or the Dog Star, is the brightest star in the sky, and also the inspiration for J.K. Rowling's character Sirius Black. Also, stars are measured by brightness using the magnitude scale, 1st magnitude being the brightest, and 6th magnitude being the dimmest. Something else interesting? I managed to see a moonbow the other night, which is when there is a rainbow around the moon. Because it is nighttime, a moonbow appears to be white clouds, but it is actually a rainbow at night. That's a very rare occurrence and I was very lucky to see it.

Wow, sorry for the rambling about astronomy. Something else I'm very excited about is that tonight is the Snow Ball, our college's equivalent of a high school prom. To me, the Snow Ball was the high school prom I never really got to experience (Tara and I were NEVER popular in school), and it's a great chance to unwind from this week and relax. Since college kids are much more mature than highschoolers (with a few exceptions, unfortunately), I always have a lot of fun at the college dances.

I think I've blabbered enough about my life. Until next time!

A Week in Review

It's really late at night; the clock reads 12:35 am. I should have been in bed an hour ago. But I just want to write. I want to write about the previous week and how interesting it was.

About my friend Bill--I did find out about him, and I found out (most) of the whole story about what happened, thanks to a couple sociology professors and a library clerk. However, due to the whole fragility of the situation my friend is in, I can't disclose what happened to him on the interwebs. But I do know that he's alright and I did talk to him on the phone. ...I just miss him a lot. I just keep expecting him to be around, and the fact that he's not lurking around campus like he always used to seems out of place. It has been one of the things lurking in my mind, and I have been thinking about my friend often. I hope I can see him soon and he comes back sooner than later.

I'm not sure if I should be doing book reviews on old classic novels I have to read for my American Realism literature class, but when I'm finished reading Washington Square, by Henry James, I think I will do a review. I've actually been reading it instead of skimming it, and I've found that it's not that bad at all. I really think I'm going to enjoy this class.

Speaking of classes, the books I've been having to read for Thanatology have been really interesting. Lauren seemed really enthusiastic that I was taking such a course about the sociology of death, and honestly she is one of the few that do. Most of the people I mention this class to have the following reaction... "Oh, that's cool!" *INSTANTLY changes the subject*. Even though the subject is really touchy and actually kind of depressing, I think I will devote an entire blog post about the subject and the class tomorrow.

I am simple going to mention one more thing before I head off to bed, and it is that I randomly watched Toy Story 3 this weekend. I absolutely loved it. Coming from the girl who watched Toy Story 2 very repetitively, this was kind of a no-brainer. But I loved it just the same. It had a lot of elements that differentiated this film from the other two, and it was those differences that made the film worthwhile and positively spectacular. Not only that, but this movie closed the fantastic story that the first began, with a happy, bittersweet ending. Watching this made my pretty awesome weekend even better.

That being said, here's to another week.

Life and Death

So, a lot has been going on lately and I've just been too lazy and too busy to record it on this here blog. I'm back in school and have completed my first day of classes; I went to a leadership conference (of which I want to write a whole blog post about), and an interesting scheme of events has occurred with a good friend of mine. I will try my best to put all of these events into summation as best as I can.

About the first day of classes--the classes I attended today were American Realism/Naturalism (Literature), and Social Thantanology. The funny thing about the sociology course is that it connects to my friend. But I'll get to that later. Anywho, even though the literature course is upper division, I feel that it is going to be pretty easy and fun. But don't count me on that, the professor sometimes throws a curveball and the course material gets harder. Even so, I think I'll enjoy it. Here's a funny fact--out of the fifteen people in this class, three of them are pregnant women. I think it's interesting, but I don't know what else to say about it.

As for Thantanology, it was just overwhelming, what with my other issues going on. The professor is a distinguished guy who founded the county's hospice program, and pretty much the area's expert on death, dying, and hospice in sociology and in other aspects. So he had a lot to say, even for the first class. I do have to mention that this class only meets once a week for three hours, which is a first for me. After the class, the professor asked for me and told me some much needed information about my friend.

One of my followers, Lauren, has a close friend named Bill. Funnily enough, so do I. He's an interesting character, my friend Bill. After I started to get to know him, it felt like Bill had walked out of a novel and into my life. Everything I have done with Bill and everything that has happened with him is unreal enough to be a part of a story. This feeling runs so deep that I feel that perhaps someday I will write a novel/novella/short story(s) loosely based on Bill and the misadventures I have had with him. The thing that makes our friendship interesting is that he is my father's age. That huge age difference has given me stares and accusations that my friend is a pedophile. That is not true.

Recently, Bill went missing. By missing, I mean I did not hear from him for several weeks, and when I tried to contact him, I could not get a hold of him. Naturally, I was worried and feared the worst. Thanks to my professor and a clerk at the college library, my worst fears are over. I do know he is okay, and something really bad did happen to him, but I'm not sure of much else. I desperately hope that I will be able to see him soon, which is what my friends did promise me.

Also, I sent some postcards out to Belarus and the Netherlands today with Postcrossing. I hope I get some back soon.

Ice Fishing, Bowling, and Deus Ex

So Monday, when we were supposed to go ice fishing, we didn't due to the weather. Lemme tell you, there has been a lot of bad weather lately. It prevented me from going to the specialist last week, and it did delay us from going ice fishing. So instead of going ice fishing on Monday, we went bowling instead.

I'm going to be honest with you all--I really, really, really suck at bowling. For those of you that know a lot about bowling, the highest score I attained was a 52. My boyfriend, Christopher, is much better at it. He picks on me a bit about it, but I don't mind.


So yesterday we went ice fishing. With Christopher's family, ice fishing is an all-day affair, from dawn to dusk. Fortunately for my frozen fingers, we didn't get on the lake until about 10 am. Once we got everything in order, everyone sat down and started fishing. It was raining continuously, so later on Christopher and I got out the two man shanty and used that to keep ourselves from the weather. For those of you unfamiliar with ice fishing terms (as I was recently), a shanty is basically a tent adapted for ice fishing. It keeps out the rain and snow and other bad weather.


For lunch, we had hot dogs on the ice. Apparently Christopher's mother usually cooks on the ice with a camp stove, but we didn't. Instead she cooked them beforehand and put them in a really insulated thermos. With some chips and soda, you have a makeshift fishing lunch right there. Chris's mom says hot dogs on the ice taste like steak. She's partially right.

As for the amount of fish... Well, everyone fished a lot. Christopher's mother fished the most--she had a whole five gallon pail by the end of the day. Chris and I fished together and caught about a quarter of a pail, and Chris's father caught about the same amount.

On the lake we fished, we caught a bunch of sunfish, bluegills, and a few perch. I promised photos, didn't I? There's one of me there on the right, and I'm holding one of the perch I caught. We were inside the shanty at the time, that's why the background looks all blue and shiny. Almost like I'm underwater. I think that's a really neat effect. Even though I was freezing and my hands kept swelling from the cold, I really did have a good time. Ice fishing is a lot like regular fishing--the only differences are the cold and the fact you use shorter poles (called jigging poles). That and you don't have to drill holes in ice in the summer!


I would like to talk about one more thing before I close this post. I've been playing the original Deus Ex game for the computer the past couple days. It's really the best shooter/RPG I've got my hands on for a really long time. I like RPGs in general, so adding the stealth, excitement, and thrill of a shooting game to an already good RPG like Deus Ex was really a good choice. The graphics are, of course, a bit choppy (much like Summoner for the PS2), but graphics don't matter when the gameplay is as amazing as this. When I finish the game, I will have a review on this blog.


I am leaving to go back to school in a couple of days. I don't want to go just yet, but I'm sure I'll have fun at the conference and I'll get back into the learning mode when classes start next week.

Classes and Ice Fishing

So I've just been thinking about school and whatnot a lot lately. I start classes next Monday, January 23rd. Thankfully I don't have a lot of classes, but those that I do have are pretty intimidating. The classes I am taking this semester are Creative Writing, American Realism/Naturalism (Literature course), Contemporary Social Problems (Sociology), Social Thantology (Sociology), a tutoring course so I can get a job at the writing center, and an internship.

The internship in question is training to be a "Wellness Advocate". A Wellness Advocate, or WA, as they are called, are student counselors, basically. Once you complete training, you are on call, just like a RA (Resident Assistant), and you basically counsel people with serious problems. So the whole semester of training I suppose is necessary. Like an RA, you have to apply for the position, and an interview was also necessary. Seeing as I filled out the application the night before it was due, I was surprised I was accepted into the internship.at all. But I'm glad I did, and I'm really excited about the training. I'm hoping to possibly make a few friends during the program, and it's probably the thing I'm most excited about this coming semester.

The classes I'm not so excited about. The literature course is going to be difficult because it's an upper division class, and not only that, it's taught by one of the most hard-ass professors in the English department. The professor is great, but the workload is ridiculous with her classes. The thantology class is the sociology of death and dying. I'm extremely nervous about that; I've never experienced death, and we're going to be talking about dead people all semester. Heck, one of the books I had to buy is called "How We Die". I mean, how depressing is that? Most of my classes are intimidating, but hopefully the creative writing course is a good decision and worth my time.

In other news, my boyfriend's family is going to go ice fishing tomorrow, and I'm going with him and his family. His family are avid ice fishers. In fact, I remember his mother lamenting over the summer how much she wished it was winter so she could go ice fishing... Their enthusiasm for ice fishing still baffles me. How can you have fun sitting in the freezing cold on ice? I have no idea. Apparently with Christopher's family, ice fishing is a sunrise to sunset ordeal, so I'll be gone all day tomorrow.

I honestly do not know if I will enjoy it. However, I have enjoyed out-fishing both of the boyfriends I have had, respectively, so I'm willing to give it a try. I'm kind of excited about where we are fishing. According to Christopher, we will be fishing at Wellesley Island on the Lake of the Isles. Yeah, that's about five to ten minutes from the Canadian side of Wellesley Island. Pretty cool. I will write a blog post soon about this adventure, hopefully with photos and lots of fun details.

Knitting, Bus Rides, and Snow

So I haven't been writing in here for a few days. That's due to the whole commotion of myself making the trip to the bus station, the ride back to my boyfriend's house, and the two days of settling into his place before I go back to school.

The bus trip here was a long and boring one (as usual) and I don't think I'm going to get into it. However, I will mention that I did ride with a woman on one leg of the trip, and she was really talkative. We talked about all sorts of things, and I suppose we could say we learned a lot about each other's lives. I know I'll never see that woman again, so the stories we told each other will stay a secret. It's really fascinating what you can learn from a person just by sitting next to them on a bus. Strangers that will never meet again can confide in the other, because they know they will part their ways, and probably never see each other again.

I've been learning how to knit in the past couple days. Just the simple kind of knitting I suppose. My first knitting project, which won't probably end up looking the greatest, will be a scarf. Now that winter's finally here, maybe I will be able to knit one before it's over!

I say winter is finally here because there was an ice storm here yesterday. Said ice storm prevented me from going on an pretty important appointment. However, you really can't control the weather, so I rescheduled. But that's nothing compared to what happened today. A legit snowstorm hit this morning and continued all day—at least 10 inches of snow. There will probably be literally a foot or more waiting for us tomorrow morning. We're lucky the power didn't go out—lots of other places up here did get power outages. I guess I won't be complaining about no snow to make snowmen anymore!

Last Days Home

So the past few days haven't been that uneventful, but at the times I usually use to go blog, I wasn't in the mood or I was too upset too write. That happens I guess.

We (my sister and I) went to the movie theater matinee the other day. It was only $5, and I was really expecting it to be a lot more expensive. After all, a movie ticket at the theater in my college town is $8 (although you can get one for $4 if you're a college student on Tuesdays). We had a choice between Sherlock Holmes 2 and the new Muppets movie. After watching both trailers, we decided to watch the Muppets movie. Let's just say that watching that film was certainly worth my $5. I LOVED that movie. It was so funny and so optimistic and it certainly put me in a better mood after I watched it. My sister and I loved the Muppets growing up, and we watch A Muppet's Christmas Carol every year to this day. So this film was an awesome tribute, skillfully made, to the characters we all know.

Now, Fox News (you know, that extremely biased right winged news channel) said that the Muppets movie was Communist. Perhaps naming the villain "Tex Richman" sounds communist, but honestly, the Muppets are not socialist, and the fact that news station have to bring politics into EVERYTHING is just a little disgusting. Just my opinion.

Anyways, I have only two (technically one and a half) days to spend at home before I take the bus trip to my boyfriend's house. I'm leaving Wednesday at 1 pm. Of course, I don't get to the town my destination is until nearly 7 pm, and then it's another half an hour to his place. Have I mentioned yet how much I hate public transit? They really don't have any respect for the people riding, in my humble opinion. I mean, the last time I took the bus (down here, to home) I thought I was going to miss my bus from one city because we had to hang around for 45 minutes in a single station. I am just disappointed in Trailways, really.

One of my friends says it would be better if there were more passenger public trains around New York State. I have no idea, but trains, freight or otherwise, have run through this town since the flood in 2006 damaged the tracks. They are still there, though, rusting away like an old relic. Honestly, like most of this town. The economy has been so bad here all of the storefronts are closing up... We're the county seat and we don't even have a thriving city... It's kind of sad, really.

So anyhow, leaving in two days and I'm not really ready. I need to realize what to pack and what I can leave here, which will probably take all day tomorrow. I really need to get more organized, I guess.

It's just been hard--several crummy things have happened to my boyfriend over these past few weeks, the most recent one being disqualified from Air Force ROTC (warning, rant ahead). Whatever could get you disqualified from ROTC, you might ask? Doing something really bad? Punching someone? Nope. He got disqualified because of several cognitive disabilities he was born with. He had to give them his medical records, it said right on there he had them. If they didn't want him in the program due to those problems, they should have told him right there. They shouldn't have let him enjoy the program for one semester and then disqualify him. That's like giving a kid who has a mild allergic reaction to peanuts, giving the kid chocolate covered peanuts (you know they are allergic), waiting for the allergic reaction, and then saying the kid can't have them. A tad exaggeration, I know, but that was how mad I was when he called me up very upset at 11 pm at night. And they didn't even have the decency to call him--no, send him an email to crush his career dreams, why don't you?

Sorry about that rant there. However, if you took the time to read that whole wall of text I'm sure you would have agreed with me to an extent...

As I attempt to organize and pack for yet another journey (and this next entry will more than likely be at that destination), I will try to keep being productive, now and when I stay with my boyfriend's. We'll see how that goes.

Pondering

So I've been on winter break for what seems like an eternity. Surprisingly, I'm not getting that restless, and a pattern of living at home has actually emerged. I guess the hell that was last semester has made me wary of further academic ventures. Of course, myself and all college students will be returning to school in a few weeks.

Sometimes, I wonder about all of the social norms behind college, such as dorms and whatnot and wonder why they exist. After all, most people I have talked to, as well as my experiences, have told me that dormitory living is just awful and not really the best idea. I've experienced roommates who have treated me like crap behind my back, as well as one who didn't tell me what I was doing wrong before she moved out. Honestly, if I'm doing something wrong, tell me and I'll try to fix it! I know I have my faults, but if you give me a gentle reminder (like my current roommate, she is a godsend for putting up with me), and I will stop doing the things that annoy you.

Sorry about that rant. I guess I have too much time on my hands to really do anything but think. However, early next week I'll be heading on the bus (oh joy, buses, I'll be sure to blog about that) to go to my boyfriend's. I haven't seen him for a month... It should be interesting.

Some other things I have been doing with my time include playing video games! (I play Playstation 2 games) I should be playing Final Fantasy X; after all, my boyfriend lent it to me three months ago... Embarrassment... But I recently acquired a game called "The Shadow of the Colossus". It's kind of old (2005), but the graphics are great. You basically have to ride on your horse and kill gigantic monsters called colossi to bring your girlfriend back from the dead. It's actually better than it sounds, really. If I ever finish the game, I will write and post a review for it.

I have also been latchhooking a rug. What is latchhook, you may ask? You take a tool and some yarn and hook it into a canvas to make different patterns. They sell latchhook kits online and in craft stores. It's quite fun actually.

The one I am doing right now is of a tiger. That is what I have done so far on the right. The canvas for this kit is 15x20, so I am assuming it will be put on a wall when I am finished it. I am actually doing this kit for my boyfriend's mother, but I don't know if it will be finished before I come over to visit... I hope so... If not, I will have to give it to her another time, probably later in the upcoming semester (sometimes I go to visit on the weekends).

I suppose I won't have as much time to do this sort of thing when I get back to school, so I think I should enjoy it while I can. This intermittent period has really done good things for me, I think. I've been suffering from burnout for some time now, and these weeks were exactly what I needed to cool off and mentally ready myself for next semester. I did learn my limits and how far I could push myself academically, so it's all been good.

One more thing. I have decided to make this blog an "every other day" blog instead of a couple times a week. I've found I really love doing this blog. It's like the journal I could never write.

Of Mice and Men

I finished reading the classic tale "Of Mice and Men" (Steinbeck) today, and I decided I would use this blog to write an appropriate book review of the short novel. As I am new to writing book reviews you will have to bear with me. I am also going to try to keep the spoilers at a minimum.

So I was slightly pressured into reading this by my boyfriend and subsequently his mother, who both urged me to read it (alas, I never read it in high school). So since I have plenty of time now (it being winter break and all), I decided to read it and write a review.


I found the short novel to be very compelling, and the characters unique and captivating. The language itself was a little hard to understand, as it was from a different era (the 1930s, as I later found out). One of the main characters was constantly using words like "tart" and other outdated words (such as the "n" word, but that was an acceptable usage at the time). I found that the language difference actually enhanced my reading experience, as it allowed me to delve deeper into the novel and relate to the characters as well as the plot.

Speaking of the plot, the plot moved at a very fast pace, a pace I was very surprised about and not used to. The book moved very fast through the plot. However, there were pauses to add detailed and sometimes poetic descriptions about the settings of the novel. In fact, at the beginning of the novel, long paragraphs were taken for descriptions of the characters and of the settings before the author introduced the dialogue. Because of this style, though, we are introduced to the characters in very appropriate ways and allowed to create our own opinions of them.

Concerning the characters of the novel, Steinbeck naturally draws you in to feel pity and somewhat mixed feelings for Lennie, one of the main characters. Lennie is what can loosely be defined as mentally retarded--to an extent. Due to his repetitious behavior and other behaviors throughout the novel, I personally feel that Lennie is probably a very low-functioning autistic. The author has us sympathizing with Lennie throughout the novel--even though he does do terrible things, his intention is never to harm anyone, and after he has done bad wrong he feels a tremendous amount of guilt.

George, his everlasting companion and caretaker, is an interesting character himself. Sometimes it seems he feels obligated and resentful that he has to take care of Lennie, other times he just feels sorry for him and the fact that he really doesn't belong in the world of the novel.

After reading the end of the novel and mulling it over, I realized that I had found my interpretation of the novel. Most of the characters had dreams--George, Candy, and Lennie formed a dream (and possibly a goal) together to get some land, farm off of it, and live alone and happy together, but their dreams cannot be accomplished because of Lennie. Lennie does not belong in the world of the novel; he is misinterpreted, and because of this he is not accepted and will never be accepted. That is the tragedy of this story and what makes it memorable.

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I plan on writing reviews for novels and films sporadically in this blog. However, I may be writing reviews (and interpretations) of classic literature, because I will be reading such literature in my classes next semester. I'll probably be so busy I won't have time to read novels outside of college reading (as usual).

Beginning the New Year

For years I have tried so hard to write in a physical journal, looking up to my twin sister, who often writes in a journal and has been since we were in middle school. However, to my frustration, many notebooks and hardcover journals were left unfinished. Only small bits of prose and my thoughts could be written in them, for I have always felt that my words look stupid on paper. A silly thought, I know, but I am sure I am not the only person who has thought this.

But now with the internet and all of the obvious luxuries that it has to offer us, I will try blogging. (Plus, I am a semi-fast typist, so I suppose I can get my words on the "page" faster). Funnily enough, this whole "blog for the New Year" idea was my sister's as well. A fantastic idea, one that I probably wouldn't have thought of myself.

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So begins 2012. The year that everyone seems to think will end life on this planet as we know it. Well, all I have to say about that is the whole "apocalypse" prediction is the biggest line of crap I have ever heard of. No one knows when the world is going to end. Why fret about it? Fret instead about the election in November, where the fate of America will rest when the next person becomes President.

Anyways, I personally have a lot of goals set up for this year... "What?" you may ask? "You don't make resolutions?" The reason I do not make resolutions is because 1. I never make any attainable resolutions; and 2. I never keep them. So my theory is to stick with goals, because I nearly always stick to my goals and achieve them, even if I have to try, try again.

As I said, I have many goals planned out (haven't written them down yet, but I will) for 2012, and you will surely hear about them as the weeks and months continue. I plan on updating this twice a week at least--more if I am comfortable with it.

This blog will be a testament to my writing skills--for although I am an English major at college and consider myself a writer, I don't write as much as I should. To be honest, I don't have a lot of motivation, and I get distracted easily by lots of different things. So this blog will be a commitment to me--let's see if I can keep it