Secrets

Posted in General by

After my PostSecret book review, I’ve been thinking about secrets.  We all have secrets, and it got me thinking about my own secrets.  I’m not going to share any, for now, because I’m not comfortable sharing them just yet. 

I think it would be interesting to do a “postsecret” for each character, but the only one I did one for is Chloe.  I didn’t do any of the artwork, but her secret is pretty integral to her life, and influences how she relates to people and how she sees the world.   

It does remind me of a scene in an NCIS episode where Tony and Abby are talking about secrets and how everyone has a “mother of all secrets.”  I think we all have that one big secret that we don’t share with anyone.  I definitely have a couple of those.   

Alright, back to Chloe.  Chloe’s mother of all secrets is that life is passing her by, and by the time she gets her life together, she’ll be too old to care about living her life.  She’s spent her whole life worrying and taking care of people that by the time she’s not taking care of anyone, she won’t even care that her life is her own.   

I secretly wanted to be a singer when I was little.  Too bad I can’t sing if my life depended on it.  There is auto-tune, but I will not resort to that!  Even though you don’t really need to be talented anymore in order to be famous- in some cases anyway.

And maybe that isn’t my mother of all secrets, but it is a secret!  That might be why I’ve had several characters who have a talent for singing, so I can act out my inner popstar through them!

I think I’ll add coming up with a postsecret for each of characters.  You know, in addition to all the other stuff that I said I would work on, and still haven’t. 

Speaking of working on stuff, I may do Script Frenzy.  It’s done by the same people who do NaNo, but instead of novels, it’s a script.  I’m definitely not a script person, as I learned the first couple years I tried it.  So I’ll probably end up using it to work on other projects, like the nice list of stuff right above my desk.  So maybe I’ll actually do a lot more novel-writing next month than I’ve done the last few months.

Books Everywhere!

Posted in Books by

A Stack of Books

I love that picture, and I found it here.  It goes really well with my love of books and reading, which I got from my grandpa.  I’ve mentioned before that he used to take me to the library every week when I was little, and that’s something I’ll always remember.

I will admit to having a few stacks of books just sitting on my floor.  I love books!  They’re my favorite thing ever, and all I want to do is buy books.  It’s a problem sometimes, because I don’t have enough room for all the books I want to buy.  I do see a a roomful of books everywhere in my future.

There is so much to learn from books!  There are great stories to be read and so much I can learn about.  If there’s one thing I like to do, it’s learning.  That’s another thing I got from my grandpa, always learning.  He used to read encyclopedia’s for fun, and he always liked reading about history.

One of my favorite things is highlighting and writing notes in the margins.  I don’t write in every book I own, but I have been known to write the occasional note or highlight a random passage.  I have an odd assortment of books, paperclips and scraps of paper that I’ve used to mark my place.  Failing that, I’ll just fold the corner down.

There’s something comforting about curling up on the couch (or in bed) and reading a book.  Books make me happy because for a few hundred pages, I can forget about what’s going on and escape to a completely different world.  I’ve traveled Middle Earth, been to Narnia, and attended Hogwarts.  I’ve peeked into the lives of Elizabeth I, Henry III and Maya Angelou.  I get to travel all over the world and have amazing adventures without even leaving the comfort of my own bed.

Books are magical, and as long as I can read, I’ll be a happy camper.

Black Stone Cherry

Posted in Music by

I can’t remember how I heard about them, but I love them.  They only have a couple albums out but both are 2 of my favorites. I can listen to them without skipping any songs…and for me, that is a rare feat because I tend to skip ahead to random songs. It’s why I never put my iPod on shuffle. So when I can listen to someone straight through, it’s a sign they’re good.    

I like Folklore and Superstition better than their self-titled album.  I can’t remember how I heard about them- it was either Pandora, which I’ve mentioned so many times you’re probably tired of hearing about it, or they popped up in the recommendations thingy on iTunes. For some reason, iTunes seems much more likely.  

Some of my favorite songs include Blind Man, Please Come In, and Soul Creek from their Folklore and Superstition album.  Some other good songs are Lonely Train, Big City Lights, and Hell and High Water from their self-titled album. 

They do have a cd coming out sometime this year, and I’m excited, mostly because their last cd came out a few years ago.  I only found out about them a few months ago, so it’s not like I had to wait a really long time or anything, but it’ll be nice to see what they come up with for their new cd.

I listened to them quite a bit during November, because they are one of Kiora’s favorite bands.  I never mentioned it in her profile, but I can see her listening to them, since their music has a country feel to it, and Kiora does love country music.

I think they’re a great band, and definitely one that has been some inspiration for writing.

Chad Greene

Posted in Character Spotlight, Turning Point by

Chad Greene is the president!  In Turning Point, anyway.  What’s interesting about Chad is that in my original notes, from a year or so ago, is that he was going to be Kiora’s uncle, and she was going to be living with him.  I ended up changing it, because I thought it was too boring. 

Chad has a wife, 2 daughters, and 1 son.  I have no clue what he did before being president, so for now, I’m going to be all cliché and assume he was either a Senator or a representative.  Before that, I have no clue.  He does want his children to be aware of what’s going on in the world, and is always trying to get them to do community service.

He likes baseball, and pretty much every water sport known to mankind.  He likes dogs and bears, green is his favorite color, and he likes comfort food.  And his favorite games are poker and cranium. 

He does see himself as a fairly reasonable person, and loves a good debate.  He’s also a tech geek, according to my notes. 

His profile isn’t well-developed, partly because I didn’t have enough time to work on it, but mostly because I ended up shoving him to the background.  Plus, I assumed that I wouldn’t need to have detailed info on him, since I figured he wouldn’t make a whole lot of appearances. 

I’m not sure if I’ll go back and develop him more.  I think any revisions I do will determine that, since there’s no point in filling

PostSecret (Times 2)

Posted in Books by

Quick Note: Today I’m reviewing two books instead of one.  And Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Title: PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions From Ordinary Lives and My Secret: A PostSecret Book

Author: Both are compiled by Frank Warren

Pages/Format: Postsecret: 276/Hardcover; My Secret: 144/Hardcover

What I Thought: Since these two books are both PostSecret, and very similar, I thought I’d lump them together.

For those who aren’t familiar with PostSecret, it’s where people send in a secret they have neve revealed to anyone.  The secrets are sent to Frank Warren on a postcard, which are often decorated or go along with the secret in some way.

I really liked both books.  I could relate to a lot of the secrets, but even with the ones I couldn’t relate to, I still feel connected to them.

One of my favorites is from PostSecret, and the person had sent in a postcard that said they had no idea which secret to send in, because they had so many.  Or the one from MySecret that goes like this: wanting someone to recognize one of their secrets so they could stop pretending.

Some are sad, some are heart-warming, some are silly.  There is a sense of relief in sharing your secret, even if it is on an anonymous postcard sent in to a stranger.     

Rating: PostSecret gets a 4 out of 5.  I loved the secrets, and it’s great to flip through it every once in a while to remind myself that there are other people out there feeling the same way I do.  There were a wide variety of secrets to go through.

MySecret gets a 4 out of 5 as well.  I also loved the secrets in this one, and I felt the same way when I read this one as I did when I read Postsecret.  There weren’t as many secrets to flip through, but that’s due to the fact that MySecret is considerably shorter than PostSecret.  Despite it’s length, I still found it enjoyable and heart-breaking.

Anne of Green Gables

Posted in Books by

Title: Anne of Green Gables

Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery

Pages/Format: 429/E-book

What I Thought: Anne of Green Gables is a great book.  It’s about an orphan named Anne who goes to live with Marilla Cuthbert and Matthew Cuthbert, who are brother and sister. 

I think Anne is my favorite character- she’s so talkative and imaginative, and I couldn’t help but want things to go well for her.  Being an orphan, and then coming to Green Gables only to find out that the Cuthberts wanted a boy…it was sad.  But it all works out, because Anne gets to stay at Green Gables.  Avonlea is a fictional town, but I so want to stay in a place like that.  Anne did ramble on quite frequently, but since she talks all the time, it was to be expected.   

I also had a soft spot for Matthew Cuthbert- he couldn’t bring himself to send Anne back, and they complement each other really well.  While Anne talks a lot, Matthew is really quiet and shy.  And the scene where he got Anne a dress with puffed sleeves is one of my favorites. 

And when Matthew died, I was so sad!  I loved that Anne decided to give up her scholarship by staying at Green Gables with Marilla, so she wouldn’t have to sell the farm.  That’s devotion right there.   

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.  I liked it, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the books in the series.

Cookbooks

Posted in Books, Food by

I only have a handful of cookbooks.  For the most part, they’ve been collecting dust out in the kitchen, especially since I tend to get most of my recipes off the internet now.

But I decided since I’m going to be cooking a lot (as long as I don’t injure myself anyway), I might as well get some use out of them. 

The very first cookbook I got was one put out by Vegetarian Times, which is a magazine for vegetarians.  I used it a few times, but it’s been collecting dust since 2005 or 2006, mostly because I had no idea what I was doing when I got it.  I didn’t really cook before I got it, other then throwing a few veggie burgers in the microwave.  And I didn’t really do much cooking after I got it either, but it did spark an interest in cooking. 

So fast foward a few years, and I stumbled across Rachael Ray.  I found a copy of her veggie meals cookbook, and decided it was time to make another attempt at cooking.  It started my obsession with Rachael Ray.  I love her!  Okay, so most of her recipes aren’t vegetarian, she has enough vegetarian recipes that I feel okay buying her cookbooks.  Plus, she has a bunch of recipes that I can make vegetarian by swapping out ingredients.  

And the last cookbook I have is a trader joe’s one.  I don’t know if it qualifies as a cookbook, because quite a bit of the book consists of “buy some product that takes 5 or 10 minutes to make, and serve it with some other product that takes 5 or 10 minutes to make.”  There were some good recipes in it, but the fact that a good 2 or 3 sections read as a meal plan, instead of an actual cookbook turned me off from it.     

The Rachael Ray ones are probably my favorites, and the ones that get the most use, although I am willing to give the Vegetarian Times one another shot, especially now that I have a tad more cooking experience.  I’m definitely going to have to do some menu planning now, but that’s okay, because it’ll help me figure out what I need and all.  I’m debating whether or not to post reviews of the cookbooks, but it’ll be a while before I get through enough of the recipes to actually do a review.  If I do decide to review them, they’ll be posted here.

Call of The Wild

Posted in Books by

Title: Call of the Wild

Author: Jack London

Pages/Format: 172/E-book

What I Thought: Call Of The Wild is about a dog named Buck who is sold to 2 French-Canadians and is shipped off to Alaska.  He is trained to be a sled dog, but is eventually sold to another couple who know nothing about sledding or living in Alaska.  They come across a man named John Thornton, who ends up keeping Buck.  However, while Thornton is searching for gold, Buck explores the surrounding wilderness, and comes back to camp one day to find that Thornton and the others in the camp have been killed, so he gives into his instincts and ends up killing the Yeehat Indians as revenge for killing Thornton. 

I couldn’t get into it at all.  I was bored reading it, and found myself reading parts of it several times because I couldn’t pay attention to it.  While I found the perspective interesting (it was told from the point of view of Buck), it wasn’t enough to make me like it. 

Rating: 1 out of 5.  I couldn’t get into, and I was bored reading it.

Dobby

Posted in Character Spotlight, HP & The Giant Prehistoric Chicken by

In Honor Of Dobby

I love Dobby, and I’m so sad he died.  Is it possible to have a moment of silence for him?

Okay, I love Dobby.  I cried when I read he had died, and I cried when he died when I went to see Deathly Hallows Part 1. 

I love Dobby because he’s so loyal to Harry.  He died rescuing Harry, Ron, and Hermione from Malfoy Manor, as Bellatrix Lestrange threw her knife at him as he disapparated to Shell Cottage, dying there.

Dobby did his best to help Harry, especially during Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, but wasn’t very successful as he was a house-elf for the Malfoys.  It was his admiration for Harry that made him want to keep Harry from going to Hogwarts his 2nd year. 

And the picture of the mismatched socks?  I wore those in honor of Dobby, since March 1st was Dobby Remembrance Day.  I thought posting about Dobby on Dobby Remembrance Day would be a great way to honor a house-elf as amazing as Dobby, but my stupid finger made that slightly difficult, as I wasn’t up to typing one-handed.  So instead I wore mismatched socks, which I had planned on doing anyway. 

You may be asking yourself what mismatched socks have to do with Dobby.  House-elves are servants, and if you give them clothes, it means they’re free and no longer work for that family.  It’s generally not a good thing to be a free elf, but Dobby is different.  He was happy when Harry set him free by hiding a sock in Tom Riddle’s diary.  To Dobby, they symbolized freedom.  Unlike the other house-elves in the Harry Potter series, Dobby liked being a free house-elf, and even had trouble finding work because he wanted to be paid. 

Dobby loved mismatched socks, so wearing mismatched socks is the most fitting tribute for him.  Dobby is such a likeable character.

Sometimes My Music Scares Me

Posted in Music by

I feel like the music I have on my iPod/on iTunes is sometimes scary.  I definitely need to get a new iPod, simply because I’m slowly running out of room.  However, a new one is out of the question for the moment because I can’t afford a new one.  And besides, there’s a bunch of stuff I don’t listen to, so I can leave that off until I can wrangle up enough money to actually get a new iPod.

But back to the music.  It’s an odd assortment, with Frank Sinatra, Metallica and the Backstreet Boys, among others.  But today is completely devoted to the…more interesting songs that should embarrass me…but really doesn’t.

  • Party In The USA by Miley Cyrus: it’s a really catchy song!  It’s the only song I have by her.  My only defense (if you can even call it that) is that she has some very catchy songs.  Very weak, I know, but we all have our guilty pleasures, and one of mine just happens to be teen popstars.
  • pretty much any Hannah Montana song: again, my only defense is that there are some very catchy songs from the t.v. show (and yes, I’ve watched it, for anyone who’s wondering).
  • MMMBop by Hanson: I really love the chorus!  Plus, it’s a fun, upbeat song, and I can’t help but sing along.
  • Cupid Shuffle by Cupid: At some point, I felt the need to download this song.  It makes want to do…the cupid shuffle!  Even I can do it, which should tell you something given my history of klutziness.  Mainly how easy it is, because I’m not all that coordinated (plus injury prone- they go hand in hand really).  I would check out the video over at YouTube.
  • 16 Chickens and A Tambourine by the VW Boys: I heard it on the Jeff and Jer Showgram once, for one of their segments, and felt the need to download it myself.  They also have a video over at YouTube, if you have the time to check it out.  And I have to say that I miss cracky.  That was seriously one of the funniest things ever.  I’m so glad they’re back on the air.
  • Barbie Girl by Aqua: I also have a weakness for 90’s music, so when KyXy had one a few weekends ago, I was super happy!  I have no idea why I like this song, I really don’t.  Maybe the nostalgia factor?

So, that’s just a small sample of some of the odd things I have in my music collection.  It is nice to have some random stuff though, especially because I tend to gravitate towards characters that are quirky and random.  Plus, listening to random songs sometimes helps when I’m writing fun scenes.