Happy Birthday Number Forty-Five!

Today is former Boston Bruins player Mark Stuart's birthday. This makes me very happy. Stuart was one of my favorite Bruins for the past few years, he's tough and a good player, rarely taking penalties. But sadly, he was traded to the Thrashers earlier this year. But not before I got my Stuart B's jersey! So Happy Birthday Stuart! Though he is number 5 on the Thrashers, I will still think of him as #45.

In other Bruins news, today is a big day for the Black and Gold. Tonight is game 7 of the Bruins/Habs playoff series. We try not to do anything to jinx the B's on game day, so all I will say is that I hope the boys play a good game tonight and come out on top!

In other news, I only have 2 more assignments (for the same class) due and then I am done for the semester. I have both my Weds and Mon classes next week, and then one more Monday class. I probably won't have any time off before my Summer internship starts though, which is a little disappointing, but at least I won't be traveling to Boston every week!

Blogging as a Means of Procrastination

I can't manage to blog every day, but I can certainly manage to blog when I should be doing homework. It isn't even a difficult assignment. I had to watch 2 movie and a tv show and then write about them. As assignments go, it's definitely on the easy side of the slope. However, because I know the level of effort I have to put into it, it's difficult to actually find that effort, because it's such a small amount. Sigh.

I've also got this voice in the back of my head saying I should ditch everything and go get Chipotle for lunch. I keep shoving this voice aside in hopes that I can convince Mike that Chipotle would be a great Tuesday dinner option. I think it's the guacamole.

For this assignment I chose Easy A, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, and Degrassi. I chose a new episode of Degrassi that I hadn't seen yet and I hadn't seen the movies either. I officially really like all of the things I chose though. And I think teenagers would too (part of the assignment). There are always friendships, fights, first loves, maybe second loves, and a lot of drama.

BEODA continues (BEDA 8-9)

Every other day really seems about all I can manage. I don't know why this is a flaw that I have, but even when I say "OK, have to blog today," it just doesn't happen.

Today is Mike and his friend's Jean Claude Van Damme marathon. Which means I have now watched 4 Van Damme movies in a row. I keep saying "Van Dammit!" in my head, but haven't said this out loud yet, since I think I'm the only one who finds this hilarious. I have used the past few hours to my advantage, reading two books and starting a third. I read Grace by Elizabeth Scott and Where She Went by Gayle Forman (companion to If I Stay). Now I am on Numbers by Rachel Ward. I'd consider this a productive Saturday. Especially since the day also included coaching two of my students, eating Chipotle for lunch, watching the Bruins win today's game, having Tim Thomas set a new league record, and consuming my mandatory NRG Kick Cumbies slush (see, I can't resist them!).

I haven't updated my book review blog in about a week, sadly, but I think sometimes I get in these zones where I don't want to talk about books, I just want to read them. So for now, that's what I'm going to do. I don't write either of these blogs for anyone but myself, so if I don't feel like updating with reviews, I'm not going to force myself. I'm enjoying the books I'm reading and I love that I still get that feeling of extreme satisfaction when I finish the last page of a book. Often, that feeling is also accompanied by sadness and loss if I don't feel ready to leave behind those characters, or even true joy if I feel a character I like has been done right by.

A while ago, on my other blog, I wrote about why I love reading, how it can transport you to anytime in your life, how I can be the same person reading a book that I was years ago reading a book. I've come to understand that this is also why I like driving in my car by myself. Driving in my car (her name is Lyla) today and listening to a song that I remember listening to years ago can make me feel like that person again. I can remember what my life was like at another instance and see it so clearly. Sometimes this doesn't go so well and I am left feeling unstable and emotional, part of me aching for that time to be back again, and part of me is amazed at how similar or different I am as a person when compared to then.

I Should Learn By Now (BEDA 6-7)

I think this is quickly becoming Blog Every Other Day in April. Sad, but true. I get too distracted by things during the day and then I just plain forget to blog. Or I remember and it's already past midnight so I decide to wait anyways.

Yesterday was filled with school, skating, and watching dreadful movies like Butchered and Dark Corners. Though I kind of liked Dark Corners. Thora Birch was in it, and I like her. She isn't obnoxious like a lot of actors are, and she's very pretty. We were at a friend's house watching these movies and we got home at about midnight. At which point Mike and I were so tired that we fell asleep on top of the covers with our jeans and both lights on. I woke up at 6 am and was very confused by this. I don't know how we both managed to fall asleep with all the lights on, they are seriously bright.

After falling back asleep at 6, we then managed to sleep until 1 pm. I really don't know how we let these things happen. Thursday is our slacker day though, since I have the whole day off and Mike works from home at 3. So sleeping for 12 hours works out well. To make up for being such a slacker, I walked 3 miles and played Just Dance 2 on the wii and did a dance workout video from On Demand.

Other than that, I've filled the day with reading. I am currently reading Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright, based on the screenplay by David Leslie Johnson. The previews for the movie gave me no desire to run out and see it. But then I saw the book, and thought it might be good. Then I realized the book was written after the movie. I am about halfway through and can't decide if I actually am enjoying what I'm reading. And I still don't have the desire to see the movie. Though I probably will.

Oops! (BEDA # 4-5)

I completely forgot to blog last night. Oops!

Yesterday, Monday, was a pretty good day. I worked a little and then went to a friend's house for dinner, book discussions, and blog preparations. We're starting a new blog project together soon, and preparations are going a little slow, mostly because we get distracted and start talking about books and looking on Amazon. I feel so lucky to have people in my life that I can talk to about books and know that they understand exactly how I feel when I'm talking about why I did or didn't like a particular book that I've read.

Now I keep getting distracted by that Four of a Kind show on Lifetime, about the identical quadruplets.

It would be a lot easier to blog everyday if there were interesting things going on in my life. But really, my weeks all look pretty much the same. Not in a bad way, just in a very routine way. Today, Tuesday, I get to hang around the house by myself for about half the day, which is nice because when there are 3 people, there isn't a lot of "home alone' time. This is how I get to be distracted by Lifetime TV shows.

Now to continue on with my Me Time and read Deb Caletti's new book, Stay.

Cumberland Farms Chill Zone: Or, Why The World Is Good (BEDA 3)

The best thing about my apartment is its proximity to a Cumbies. I can see the Cumbies from my living room and it's about a 30 second walk across the street to get there. The only goods I purchase there are blue Powerade and Chill Zone slush. My favorite frozen flavor is the "NRG Kick" pink one that has a pink tornado as the mascot. The right amount of sugar, caffeine, and tornado flavor. I can't really describe the flavor, because it doesn't taste like any other drink, but if I'm in a bad mood, this drink kicks its butt.

The people who work at this Cumbies also add to its greatness. I don't know where this mix of people comes from, but some of the strangest (though very nice!) people I've ever encountered work there. There's the guy who tells you your total in cents: "That will be two-hundred-fifteen pennies." The woman that has a story for every item you buy: "Oh, cookies? I've made cookies before." The younger guy that looks about 50% employee, 50% shoplifter. The younger girl that judges your purchases: "It takes a real guy to come here to buy tampons" (I think Mike should have responded with, "Oh these? They're for me"). I absolutely love going into Cumbies just for the interactions with the employees. You never know what they're going to say to you or what items of yours they are going to judge you for.

In other news, today was no different than any other Sunday, really. I went to the rink to coach, went to Barnes and Nobles to feed my book habit, and have had 2 of the aforementioned Chill Zone slushes. Now I am settling in for a night of reading The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa and watching the Lord of the Rings movies, per Mike's request. To me this is actually a perfectly wonderful Sunday.

Unnecessary Introductions (aka BEDA # 2)

The Basics: I love to read and I love to write. Those are probably the two most important things to know. I like a lot of other things too, but I tend to change my mind a lot and nothing else is really as consistent as these two things.

Hopefully there will be some interesting things happening in my life this month, but if not, I might end up resorting to some really cliche ways of getting words on paper (or blog). If you'd like to check out my book review blog, here is the link: Someone Like Samantha

This is a book/reading survey that I took almost 2 years ago. A lot of the answers have actually changed, but if I keep any, I'll put them in quotations.

1. What author do you own the most books by?

I don't know if I should be proud of this... but, Caroline B. Cooney. I own about 16 of her books. When I was in middle school she was just about the only author to be found in the YA section of Barnes & Noble and I ate that stuff up. As well as Lurlene McDaniel... Sigh.

2. What book do you own the most copies of?
1984 by George Orwell... The first 3 Harry Potters... Selected Poems by TS Eliot

3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
No, I was more bothered by the number of Caroline B Cooney books in my possession.

4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Prince Brigan from Fire by Kristin Cashore, and Prince Ash from the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. The Tin Woodman from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum.

5. What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
Dreamland by Sarah Dessen, Nature of Jade by Deb Caletti, The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

6. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
The Rosy Cole books by Sheila Greenwald, Samantha on Stage by Susan Farrar

7. What is the worst book you've read in the past year?

Answer from 2 years ago:
"The Time Traveler's Wife. Everyone said I would love it and so on, and I read it and the guy, Henry, just had no appealing qualities as a person. So he can time travel, ok, that doesn't make him nice or funny or smart. He was a slutty drunk until he met Clare. And the only things Clare liked about him, were attributes he developed because of her. Henry reminded me of Edward."

Today's answer:

Bleed by Laurie Faria Stolarz or Choker by Elizabeth Woods. Bleed was a bunch of somewhat intertwining stories. Each characters story was really short and didn't have any type of ending, they just went into the next person. I expected there to be some sort of looping back and giving each character more than one chapter, but no. And the book as a whole didn't have any type of ending either. The characters weren't my cup of tea either. As for Choker, I really wanted Zoe to be a real, live, absolutely crazy girl. It would have been so awesome if such a person really existed. But no, Zoe wasn't real, and I knew it the whole time but just kept hoping that I was wrong.

8. What is the best book you've read in the past year?
XVI by Julia Karr, Delirium by Lauren Oliver, Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell

9. If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien

10. What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
I don't usually like the movie versions of books, and I am very nervous about the Hunger Games movie... but I think I would like to see a really well done movie of Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.

11. What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore. I love how those books appear in my mind and I would hate for a movie to take that away.

12. Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
Just the other day I dreamed I was actually Katniss Everdeen and was having a conversation with Johanna Mason.

13. What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
I hope this question isn't implying that YA books are considered "lowbrow" for adults. Anyways, I would have to say the Twilight books.

14. What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
I'm not going off of reading level, but it has been difficult to get through the Lord of the Rings because of all of the description. I love reading it, but sometimes it makes me very tired.

15. What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I think just A Midsummer Night's Dream, which I have seen many times.

16. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
The Russians.

17. Roth or Updike?
"I've only read bits of both, so... tie?" Sadly, I have done nothing to change this answer.

18. David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
I love, love David Sedaris.

19. Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Chaucer, actually.

20. Austen or Eliot?
Austen.

21. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I haven't read a lot from the 1950s-70s

22. What is your favorite novel?
Dracula by Bram Stoker will probably always be towards the top of the list

23. Play?
"The Glass Menagerie, for no other reason than the memories I have from reading it in class always make me smile." Still true.

24. Poem?
TS Eliot "The Wasteland" and many by EE Cummings

25. Essay?
Not a format I have a favorite in

26. Work of nonfiction?
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi or Stitches by David Small. Autobiographical comics are my new thing.

27. Who is your favorite writer?
My previous answer was Sarah Dessen, and while I still lover her, I think Maureen Johnson is creeping up on her because of how much she makes me laugh in her novels.

28. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Probably Stephenie Meyer

29. What is your desert island book?
I think I would choose the Lord of the Rings, the big copy that has all 3 in one.

30. And... what are you reading right now?
The Iron Queen (Iron Fey #3) by Julie Kagawa.

BEDA Day One

I only just decided to participate in BEDA about five minutes ago. Things like this always happen as a spur of the moment type thing. The first year I participated in NaNoWriMo, I didn't decide to do it until the 3rd day in. Apparently writing is the only thing I can manage to do spontaneously.

This will be a short post, as I have a wedding to go to in a few short hours and have to start getting ready. Maybe this is more of a Day 1, Part 1 post, and Day 1 version 2.0 will come up later this evening.

I wanted to make this blog separate from my book review blog, since I would like to keep that one strictly for book reviews. I'll tell a bit more about myself in 1(2) later tonight!