My book is for sale!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(I will write more when I'm not jumping up and down).
It can be bought here https://www.createspace.com/3852659
https://www.createspace.com/3852659
Monday, May 27, 2013
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Words I Can't Spell
Words I can't spell correctly . . . ever:
McCarthy
Fahrenheit
Tomorrow
Words that bother me:
They're just funny looking.
Eight
Probably
Banana
Business
McCarthy
Fahrenheit
Tomorrow
Beginning
Misspelled
Conscious
Words that bother me:
They're just funny looking.
Eight
Probably
Banana
Books
I'm a nerd.
Reading is one of my favorite things to do, and because of that I have developed a deep love for quite a few literary works. Books, plays, blogs - you name it, I'll most likely read it and then read it again. Over the years, I have gotten very good at reading. I can read a book in a short amount of time. So instead of buying book, my mom started dropping me off at Borders and I'd just read the books I wanted to.
But, if I really love a book, I purchase it. So I can read it again and again and again. It doesn't matter if I've read a book dozens of times, I'll read it and still laugh and cry during it. I love many books as you can see below.
These are books that are okay. I am a high critic of books. These, yes, are books I enjoyed enough to buy (or I bought then at garage sales and kept them), but didn't blow my mind. Solid C pluses to B minuses.
The Middle Shelf:
I enjoy reading these books and have read most of them more than twice. (Except Mockingjay. I want to burn that book and then run over the ashes in my Toyota Camry).
The Top Shelf:
Now that I've got that out of the way I thought I'd share with you my favorite books.
Not all of them - that would take a very long time - but my top 5 novels and then my top 5 series.
Ready? Okay!
#5 - Drowning Instinct by Ilsa J. Blick
This book is good. It gets a little . . . odd at times, but it has one of the strongest character's I've ever met. Jenna (the protagonist) tells her story in a unique way that really defines the book and brings the story into a new light.
#4 - Hold Still by Nina LaCour
I read this book my Freshman year of high school and I found myself thinking about it for three years. I bought it off amazon and I still love it.
#3 - Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Anderson is also the author of two other books I love: Speak and Fever. After Hunger Games, this book is the one I've read the most.
#2 - Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
The only book in my top ten that has a male as a protagonist and as an author. It's about a future society that relies on a video game world for everything, which is not something I'm really interested in. But it is SO good. I have a new found appreciation of video games and of 80's pop culture after reading this book.
#1 - Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
I think it is going to be a trilogy, but the other books are not out yet. It is the best book I have ever read. After reading this book I wanted to move to Prague (the setting). It's an amazing story with such an intricate plot. It's about demons and angels, but its also one of the best love stories I have ever read. I read it in one sitting and it showed me what kind of a writer I want to be.
It's so hard to explain and I'm not doing it justice. Just go read it.
Series time!
#5 - The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
It's about zombies, but it's also very much about humanity. They inspired me to write my own series about zombies.
#4 - Divergent series by Veronica Roth
Fabulous books. Plus, Roth is very funny and used to go to my old church. Sadly, I do not yet own this series.
#3 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
If you know me, then you know I adore the Hunger Games trilogy. The first and second book are amazing books. However, the final book in the series was awful. Terrible. The worst ending to any series and the most disappointing book I've ever read. I re-read the other books all the time and they would be #1 and #2 in my favorite novels if not for Mockingjay.
#2 - Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins
I started reading this series when I was 12 and have read it dozens of times. I love the characters and the story. They are so good. Must be read. The last three are my favorite. Perfection. Well done. With a great finale, I might add. (I'm not smashing Collins - I think she's a fabulous writer.)
Reading is one of my favorite things to do, and because of that I have developed a deep love for quite a few literary works. Books, plays, blogs - you name it, I'll most likely read it and then read it again. Over the years, I have gotten very good at reading. I can read a book in a short amount of time. So instead of buying book, my mom started dropping me off at Borders and I'd just read the books I wanted to.
But, if I really love a book, I purchase it. So I can read it again and again and again. It doesn't matter if I've read a book dozens of times, I'll read it and still laugh and cry during it. I love many books as you can see below.
But I have varying degrees of adoration. Let me break down my literary hierarchy.
The Bottom Shelf:
The Middle Shelf:
The Top Shelf:
*insert glorious music*
These are the best of the best in my mind. I have read most of them books dozens of times. One of my favorites is missing - my original copy of Hunger Games. I have read that book over 100 times ( I am being serious). It has been submerged in blue Gatorade and ran over. Lots of love for these books.
Not all of them - that would take a very long time - but my top 5 novels and then my top 5 series.
Ready? Okay!
#5 - Drowning Instinct by Ilsa J. Blick
This book is good. It gets a little . . . odd at times, but it has one of the strongest character's I've ever met. Jenna (the protagonist) tells her story in a unique way that really defines the book and brings the story into a new light.
#4 - Hold Still by Nina LaCour
I read this book my Freshman year of high school and I found myself thinking about it for three years. I bought it off amazon and I still love it.
#3 - Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Anderson is also the author of two other books I love: Speak and Fever. After Hunger Games, this book is the one I've read the most.
#2 - Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
The only book in my top ten that has a male as a protagonist and as an author. It's about a future society that relies on a video game world for everything, which is not something I'm really interested in. But it is SO good. I have a new found appreciation of video games and of 80's pop culture after reading this book.
#1 - Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
I think it is going to be a trilogy, but the other books are not out yet. It is the best book I have ever read. After reading this book I wanted to move to Prague (the setting). It's an amazing story with such an intricate plot. It's about demons and angels, but its also one of the best love stories I have ever read. I read it in one sitting and it showed me what kind of a writer I want to be.
It's so hard to explain and I'm not doing it justice. Just go read it.
Series time!
#5 - The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
It's about zombies, but it's also very much about humanity. They inspired me to write my own series about zombies.
#4 - Divergent series by Veronica Roth
Fabulous books. Plus, Roth is very funny and used to go to my old church. Sadly, I do not yet own this series.
#3 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
If you know me, then you know I adore the Hunger Games trilogy. The first and second book are amazing books. However, the final book in the series was awful. Terrible. The worst ending to any series and the most disappointing book I've ever read. I re-read the other books all the time and they would be #1 and #2 in my favorite novels if not for Mockingjay.
#2 - Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins
I started reading this series when I was 12 and have read it dozens of times. I love the characters and the story. They are so good. Must be read. The last three are my favorite. Perfection. Well done. With a great finale, I might add. (I'm not smashing Collins - I think she's a fabulous writer.)
#1 - The Clockwork Princess / City of Bones series by Cassandra Claire
I do not own any of these books!!!! But they are my favorite. They are, I guess, two separate series by Claire, but the Clockwork trilogy is a prequel to the City of Bones series. Like my favorite novel, they involve demons ( I just realized that similarity) and they are just as amazing.
Also -
ANY BOOK BY JODI PICOULT = LOVE
Friday, May 24, 2013
Birthday Bash of '13
It's been FOREVER since I updated and for that I am sorry. Life, man, I tell ya. It gets so busy and stuff. But between school/work/sports business I had time for a birthday bash!!
I'm officially 17 years old now. In my mind, I'm, like, 12, but I have been on this planet for 17 years now. I am growing up too fast, in my opinion.
Every year at the Durham/Sloan house I have a birthday party. And not just any ol' birthday party. It's a blast. One of my most favorite things of the entire year. You see, since I was in middle school my step-dad and his best friend Butch have created scavenger hunts for me. I love it. It's like being a detective and playing capture the flag at the same time.
For the past 5 years, I invite 12 to 16 girls over for my party. We have cake, play card games, run amok, and then after it gets dark we start the scavenger hunt.
I love playing tag games, so we spent the first hour of the night playing capture the flag OF DEATH. (No one died, don't worry). It took forever because at first there were only 8 of us and we kept putting each other in jail. But my team finally won. *victorydance*
We then consumed a large amount of food in a short amount of time. By then, there were at least 14 girls there. We still had a few hours before the scavenger hunt started so most of us played Kemps (of death), which is one of our favorite card games.
In Kemps, you must get four of a kind. You have a partner and once you have four of a kind you make a secret signal. Your partner then yells Kemps. The trick is if someone sees your secret signal, they can yell counter-Kemps and you lose. You can also make up fake signals to trick everyone. It's really crazy, loud, and fun. My uncle Dustin was really good. Beginner's luck, right?
And then we had CAKE. Ice cream cake because I'm lactose intolerant and you either go big or go home.
It was really good. Sadly, there were no leftovers. Usually I'm eating ice cream cake for days afterward. It was probably a good thing, though.
PRESENTS. I got so many awesome presents. It was great and I was really thankful. Thank you, everyone, so much for all the great gifts.
Finally it was scavenger hunt (of death) time. We broke up into teams. This year I had Char Char My German, Katie, and Petra on my team. The Dream Team, I might add. ;)
(Over the years I've been on many teams with all of my friends ans it's been a blast. I love my friends and I've always had fun with them. Every year I have a new, special Dream Team, of course!)
We had a lot of fun running around and trying to find the hidden wiffle balls. None of my team lived in Elmwood except me, but they were all really smart. Char Char almost died when trying to get a ball from a roof. Katie was running laps around all of us and Petra was using her handy-dandy smart phone to search for clues.
We did not win, but that's okay. It was so much fun!
After the scavnger hunt, all my family left and my parents headed to bed, but not before opting for some pictures.
But we are night creatures, my friends and I. We proceeded to play games. First we played the Clapping game. (Like the Hot and Cold game) and then the Name game. A person picks any name they want (Kirby, Elmo, Mark, Bob) and write it down. The names are collected and read off and then everyone takes turns trying to guess who is who. We played three really hilarious rounds.
I gave every one a tattoo with a sharpie and then we all went to bed. I've never had that many people spend the night before, so it was a tight fit in my room. There were four people all-together in my bed. It was cramped, but we all ended up getting a solid sleep, in my opinion. (I don't know how the girls on the floor fared!)
All, in all, it was a perfect day. I had all my loved ones around me and I made a ton of memories with my bestest best friends and family. I want to thank my mom and Josh for putting it all together. A huge thank you to Josh and Butch for making clues. Also, I thank my friends, family, and neighbors for all making the time to come spend a night with me. It was a great birthday and I was so blessed to spend it with so many great people.
I'm looking forward to next year!
(Below are clues Josh and Butch came up with).
I'm officially 17 years old now. In my mind, I'm, like, 12, but I have been on this planet for 17 years now. I am growing up too fast, in my opinion.
Every year at the Durham/Sloan house I have a birthday party. And not just any ol' birthday party. It's a blast. One of my most favorite things of the entire year. You see, since I was in middle school my step-dad and his best friend Butch have created scavenger hunts for me. I love it. It's like being a detective and playing capture the flag at the same time.
For the past 5 years, I invite 12 to 16 girls over for my party. We have cake, play card games, run amok, and then after it gets dark we start the scavenger hunt.
I love playing tag games, so we spent the first hour of the night playing capture the flag OF DEATH. (No one died, don't worry). It took forever because at first there were only 8 of us and we kept putting each other in jail. But my team finally won. *victorydance*
We then consumed a large amount of food in a short amount of time. By then, there were at least 14 girls there. We still had a few hours before the scavenger hunt started so most of us played Kemps (of death), which is one of our favorite card games.
In Kemps, you must get four of a kind. You have a partner and once you have four of a kind you make a secret signal. Your partner then yells Kemps. The trick is if someone sees your secret signal, they can yell counter-Kemps and you lose. You can also make up fake signals to trick everyone. It's really crazy, loud, and fun. My uncle Dustin was really good. Beginner's luck, right?
And then we had CAKE. Ice cream cake because I'm lactose intolerant and you either go big or go home.
PRESENTS. I got so many awesome presents. It was great and I was really thankful. Thank you, everyone, so much for all the great gifts.
Finally it was scavenger hunt (of death) time. We broke up into teams. This year I had Char Char My German, Katie, and Petra on my team. The Dream Team, I might add. ;)
(Over the years I've been on many teams with all of my friends ans it's been a blast. I love my friends and I've always had fun with them. Every year I have a new, special Dream Team, of course!)
We had a lot of fun running around and trying to find the hidden wiffle balls. None of my team lived in Elmwood except me, but they were all really smart. Char Char almost died when trying to get a ball from a roof. Katie was running laps around all of us and Petra was using her handy-dandy smart phone to search for clues.
We did not win, but that's okay. It was so much fun!
After the scavnger hunt, all my family left and my parents headed to bed, but not before opting for some pictures.
But we are night creatures, my friends and I. We proceeded to play games. First we played the Clapping game. (Like the Hot and Cold game) and then the Name game. A person picks any name they want (Kirby, Elmo, Mark, Bob) and write it down. The names are collected and read off and then everyone takes turns trying to guess who is who. We played three really hilarious rounds.
I gave every one a tattoo with a sharpie and then we all went to bed. I've never had that many people spend the night before, so it was a tight fit in my room. There were four people all-together in my bed. It was cramped, but we all ended up getting a solid sleep, in my opinion. (I don't know how the girls on the floor fared!)
All, in all, it was a perfect day. I had all my loved ones around me and I made a ton of memories with my bestest best friends and family. I want to thank my mom and Josh for putting it all together. A huge thank you to Josh and Butch for making clues. Also, I thank my friends, family, and neighbors for all making the time to come spend a night with me. It was a great birthday and I was so blessed to spend it with so many great people.
I'm looking forward to next year!
(Below are clues Josh and Butch came up with).
1 Inquire of your chauffeur as to how you can attain a
single point.
2 The all-time SB leader could turn 180 degrees to check his
stats, or to find a wiffle ball.
3 State Law: Stop Here for Ball.
4 In the tall, tall grass in the southernmost goalpost.
5 What do Mike Powell and Galina Chistyakova have in
common? Find the partner of rods.
6 A dude or dudette dropping a deuce may deploy this to
deter you from the door.
7 Twiggish tree by tracks.
8 Shape of Madonna’s famous undergarment…on the corner.
9 Roses are red; violets are blue; but these are pink and purple; I’m between these two.
10 Feet of (non-American) football fans.
11 Locate the most senior homo sapien in your vehicle and
request a method of attaining a point.
12 It’s kinda like a swing set for ghosts or something. Dig in a hole.
13 Don’t get TRAPped
behind the potty.
14 Where education and environmental-friendliness meet.
15 A snake with his skin or a killer with his victim’s
blood.
16In a retaining wall at C6H12O6,
H20 location.
17 Above the rafters.
18 Where door # ( 32+(8-6) + 3/2 - 1) should be.
Then think Lew Alcindor.
19 Stack of masonry blocks across from The Scarlet Letter
author, #203.
20 Ask your driver.
21 It’s like a huge, decapitated mascot. Maybe the TMNT did this.
22 Like # 17, but the neighbors’.
23 Home at #1.
24 A lone little stump in a line of conifers.
(DRIVER STATEMENTS:
For one point, everyone on your team must run a lap around
the track (400m).
For one point, everyone on your team must run the bases on 2
different ball diamonds.
For one point, everyone on your team must slide down the
tallest slide in Elmwood.)
Josh: Alli R, Annie, Paige K-10 pts
Butch: Dara, Emily, Paige B-11 pts
Justin: Ally L, Abby F, Brianna-7 pts
Dustin: Gabbie, Petra, Katie, Char-9 pts
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
PROM 2013 BABY
I had prom a while ago.
For those of you who don't know what prom is, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary defines it as "a formal dance given by a high school or college class."
Basically, you get all dolled up, go eat some overpriced food, dance for four hours, and then go home.
But, my prom was way more fun than that, or else I wouldn't be doing a blog post about it.
I got asked to prom like 6 billion months ago. At my school, finding a prom date is an elaborate process, in which one may have to work for hours or spend quite a deal of money. My date, Job, actually did it in a really unique way.
I really like the novel Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, so he gave me a code that said:
PAGE
LINE
WORD LETTER
and then a piece of paper filled with numbers. I had to go through each number and by using the code, I slowly but surely figured out what all the letters spelled.
WILL LOU GO TO PROM WITH ME?
I told him I didn't know what Lou had to say about it, but I'd be happy to go.
(He did a really good job. It's acceptable that he messed up once :)
So when the day of prom rolled around, I knew it was going to be a long day. For every high school dance, one must go through a complete transformation.
(Notice, I also gained a fellow human in the process).
The story of my getting ready for prom is not for this post, it would probably be called The Time I Broke Down After a Hair Catastrophe but a Nice Lady Saved the Day. I'll spare you from that right now and get down to business.
After Job came and picked me up, we headed to get our pictures taken with our little group.
The girls:
The boys (minus one who was running a little late):
And, of course, I took many pictures with my family.
And then it was time for the journey to prom.
There were four of us in Job's car on the thirty minute drive (Kelly, Char Char, Job, and myself) and it was a blast.
I'm really weird and when there are silences in a vehicle, I do this thing that I have entitled 'car singing,' which is when I make up words to songs and try to hit notes only a dolphin can successfully hear. In my opinion, they all enjoyed my car singing immensely, even if they deny it themselves.
We also had energy drinks. Job is a coffee person and I'm on a strict no-caffeine diet, but it was prom, so I let my rule slip a little bit.
But we finally got to the building where the dance was.
The day before six or seven girls (including myself) got out of school for two glorious hours in order to go decorate the building. Let me put something into perspective for you. My class has almost 30 kids in it. About 12 of us have fund raised the money for prom, and we needed enough money to pay for the class ahead of us, which has about 60 people in it.
I was ready to have a blast at my junior prom and at the end of the night not only was I one of the two final couples dancing but I was really proud of all the hard work we had done for three years.
All I know is that next year, no matter if the prom is great or a bust, I will thank the class behind us for putting so much time and effort into making our night great.
SO WE FINALLY GOT TO PROM. We had an hour to kill before dinner started, so we pretty much wandered around.
My group was a blast, of course. We were the group of people who did the strange dances all night long - the shopping cart, the Q-tip, the sprinkler, ect.
Finally we got to eat food, which was delicious. Delish. (Is that the shortened form of delicious. Delic just looks . . . funny).
Also, there was a chocolate fountain.
Enough said.
And then came the dancing. We of course did all the usual dances. The electric slide, wobble, Gangam style, the Cupid shuffle. All that jazz. We also used the photo booth excessively. The photos from that will be included in the end.
Job and I were the second-to-last couple of the dance floor. I didn't want to leave. The final song was 22 by Taylor Swift. I didn't even care. I was happy and having a blast.
In that moment, we were infinite.
(That quote is from Perks of Being a Wallflower, which is written by Stephen Chbosky. GO READ IT).
I was sad when we finally left the dance.
But then we went and watched movies at my friend's house with the group. It was really great.
Prom was really, really great.
Cue photos.
Final note:
Never watch Snakes on a Plane.
Have a great night.
For those of you who don't know what prom is, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary defines it as "a formal dance given by a high school or college class."
Basically, you get all dolled up, go eat some overpriced food, dance for four hours, and then go home.
But, my prom was way more fun than that, or else I wouldn't be doing a blog post about it.
I got asked to prom like 6 billion months ago. At my school, finding a prom date is an elaborate process, in which one may have to work for hours or spend quite a deal of money. My date, Job, actually did it in a really unique way.
I really like the novel Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, so he gave me a code that said:
PAGE
LINE
WORD LETTER
and then a piece of paper filled with numbers. I had to go through each number and by using the code, I slowly but surely figured out what all the letters spelled.
WILL LOU GO TO PROM WITH ME?
I told him I didn't know what Lou had to say about it, but I'd be happy to go.
(He did a really good job. It's acceptable that he messed up once :)
So when the day of prom rolled around, I knew it was going to be a long day. For every high school dance, one must go through a complete transformation.
(Notice, I also gained a fellow human in the process).
After Job came and picked me up, we headed to get our pictures taken with our little group.
The boys (minus one who was running a little late):
And, of course, I took many pictures with my family.
And then it was time for the journey to prom.
There were four of us in Job's car on the thirty minute drive (Kelly, Char Char, Job, and myself) and it was a blast.
I'm really weird and when there are silences in a vehicle, I do this thing that I have entitled 'car singing,' which is when I make up words to songs and try to hit notes only a dolphin can successfully hear. In my opinion, they all enjoyed my car singing immensely, even if they deny it themselves.
But we finally got to the building where the dance was.
The day before six or seven girls (including myself) got out of school for two glorious hours in order to go decorate the building. Let me put something into perspective for you. My class has almost 30 kids in it. About 12 of us have fund raised the money for prom, and we needed enough money to pay for the class ahead of us, which has about 60 people in it.
-
This past year hasn't been easy. There's been a lot of fund raisers, but we finally managed to raise enough money to try to give the seniors the best prom. Many of them said it was awful, but in my opinion - prom was really fun.I was ready to have a blast at my junior prom and at the end of the night not only was I one of the two final couples dancing but I was really proud of all the hard work we had done for three years.
All I know is that next year, no matter if the prom is great or a bust, I will thank the class behind us for putting so much time and effort into making our night great.
-
Just being in their group made the night.
Also, there was a chocolate fountain.
Enough said.
And then came the dancing. We of course did all the usual dances. The electric slide, wobble, Gangam style, the Cupid shuffle. All that jazz. We also used the photo booth excessively. The photos from that will be included in the end.
Job and I were the second-to-last couple of the dance floor. I didn't want to leave. The final song was 22 by Taylor Swift. I didn't even care. I was happy and having a blast.
In that moment, we were infinite.
(That quote is from Perks of Being a Wallflower, which is written by Stephen Chbosky. GO READ IT).
I was sad when we finally left the dance.
But then we went and watched movies at my friend's house with the group. It was really great.
Prom was really, really great.
Cue photos.
Final note:
Never watch Snakes on a Plane.
Have a great night.
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