Stone Soup

Wow

2009-11-23T01:49:42Z

I have the most uncontrollable urge right now to clean. To take my house and shake it so only what is necessary holds on and we can all start over.

Really. There is soooo much crap in my room that just isn't necessary!
I'd really rather do that right now than study AP Euro. Which is really saying something. Cause I HATE cleaning, but apparently I hate European History more.

I don't really hate European History. I just hate how much effort this class demands. It doesn't help that I don't even get to take my own notes since she just gives them to me. But now I need to take notes for a quiz I have to make up tomorrow and I've been stuck between cleaning and studying and somehow I just ended up here instead....wasting time.

Gah. Life is crazy. I just have to remember, only two more days til I'm out of school for Thanksgiving Break. Thank God! It's like it's Wednesday, which makes this seem so much more bearable. I think I used the wrong "bear". Fuck it.

To-Do List for Thanksgiving Break:
1. Clean like a mad woman (my room and bathroom aka throw out shit)
2. Essays for college applications (if one more person says I should already have those out by now they can shut the hell up)
3. Watch movies. A lot of them.
4. Read books. A lot of them.
5. Sleep.
6. Dye hair temporarily? advice anyone? my thick hair makes me nervous about it.......

Alright world. Here I come. I'm going to do terms and watch New Moon (oooh guilty pleasures) on the internet. Chou!

Life

2009-09-14T04:11:09Z

I should be reading Mayor of Casterbridge right now. I actually find it entertaining, but I'm just so fucking tired of school.

I need to find a place. My brother keeps telling me this and it's true. Somewhere I can go, a coffeeshop or bookstore or park or library, where I can just chill, read, do what I want and get what needs to be done done.

Applying to college is the scariest thing as it makes me choose where to apply. There are SOOO many good colleges in the USA and I refuse to be limited to Georgia. There is a 90% chance I will not be going to a school in Georgia. But when I think I finally have everything narrowed down, I get a billion things in the mail from NYU and Cornell and gah, I don't want to only pick a few. I want options soo bad because I don't want to be stuck here. I know plenty of people are happy to stay here, but I've already been here for 18 long years and I'm ready to see a world outside of the Bulldawgs (that is the proper spelling) and outside of sweet tea.

As much as I love rural areas, maybe I need to submerge myself in such a different culture as the city? Where else will I be able to find internships and buyers for my work?

Damn. I need to go read. I don't want to. I'm scared I will fail AP Euro because I can't bring myself to stay away from my escapes.

Reading...

2008-06-01T05:12:07Z

Currently reading...

1. The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory

2. The Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

and

3. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

Yep. I got this awesome new leather journal thingy. It's beautiful.

New Job

2008-04-10T23:01:25Z

Today I started my new job at The Oconee Leader, a small, local newspaper. I'm basically checking ads and e-mailing them out and getting them where they should be.

The thing is, while they were training me, my mind was just buzzing. It was honest to God a huge overload on information as I struggled to understand Quark, Adobe Photoshop, Publisher and manage them so that way files could be taken off them all and put into the other appropriately. And I'm so scared that I'm never going to remember what to do in this instance, or what to do when that happens and I'm afraid they'll fire me cause I'll just be taking up space and valuable time.

I go back tomorrow at 4 and I think my boss-lady said she and her husband would be leaving at 4:45, leaving me to work on this stuff alone. I still am not quite sure what the hell I'm doing. How the hell am I supposed to have a confident understanding of all this in less than two days?!?!?!?!?!

I hope this isn't more trouble than it's worth.
Which happens to be $6.50 an hour....

Atonement and Hawksong

2008-03-22T02:06:15Z

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Reviews coming soon....

The Picture of Dorian Gray

2008-03-07T03:14:09Z

~~The Picture of Dorian Gray~~ ~~by Oscar Wilde~~

Rating: 8.5/10 or A
Review: Finished! Quite the book I tell you...the fact they didn't realize Mr. Wilde was gay back then is quite hilarious, considering his long paragraphs describing the beauty of men, Gray in particular, and his short choppy sentences explaining a woman's beauty as relating to her good taste in large hats!.I did enjoy it though, another thought-provoking book about vanity and the perhaps even the shortcomings of concentrating so hard on making oneself smarter. Definitely a must-read. Wilde's writing is like poetry, so silky and flowing that you have to read passages over a couple times just to take it all in!

Chocolat

2008-03-03T22:23:13Z

~~18. Chocolat by Joanne Harris~~

Rating: 8/10 aka -A
Review: Surprisingly good and with such vividly delicious descriptions of all chocolates and sweets that only the most devout dieter could keep their hands away from the nearest foil-wrapped blessing. Harris writes it so you can see the story from both the protagonist's and the antagonist's point of view, though balanced nicely so that way you know more about the protagonist instead, as many would prefer. Thankfully by seeing the movie, the whole book was not ruined for me. There were still some secrets the movie failed to reveal that were surprising and intriguing to try to figure out throughout the book. There was some magic to the book that I was not expecting, and I don't mean like magical personalities or anything goofy like that. It was more of a romantic mysticism, a sort of kindred soul that followed and revealed more than expected. There are some phrases in French I had to have my mother translate for me, as well as the way to pronouce some of the names, but they didn't halt my progress at all really.

Aahhh! The one thing I was most frustrated with in the book is how Roux and Vianne didn't end up together! I mean, sure they slept together and she's going to have his baby (their baby is going to be so adorable) and all, but he's still going off with Josephine instead...Which is to me one of the most awkward couples ever....Okay, sure, maybe I wouldn't have been so bothered if I hadn't seen the movie first (in which Roux and Vianne do indeed get together and quite happily too!) and the couple is kinda cute because Josephine's ex-husband kinda burned Roux's boat down and then they begin to fall for each other. But it just seems so random and utterly cliche! I felt Roux and Vianne fit so well together, being both outcasts, but at such different degrees that they weren't too similar.

I absolutely adored Armande Voizin and her red underwear fascination! Usually when there are side characters, I'm not at all interested in their stories, but yet I found myself feeling downtrodden with Guilliaume and rebellious with the cautiously emerging Luc. A little surprised by Roux's flaming red hair, but I suppose that makes sense considering Roux is a French girl's name for red hair. Yeah, adore the name Roux now, though only for a boy. Anouk was not quite as annoying as she was in the moving. Her constant spontaneous "I love you!"'s were oddly endearing....

All and all, I would be very willing to read another book by Joanne Harris.

The next books I'm working on are:

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (I have less than 100 pages left)

and

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (if I can finally afford a copy for myself!)

Just Listen

2008-02-25T01:13:47Z

10. Just Listen by ~~Sarah Dessen~~

Actually fairly good for a teen book...dealt with important issues, though I thought some of the relationships, while though indeed developed, could have gone deeper, could have felt more instead of just growing. You know when you read something and you can feel each emotion? I wanted to see the relationships that way.

Plus it came with 30% off coupon for Borders which I am in dire need of considering the amount of money I have on me. Perhaps once I get my check cashed... n

Lunar Eclipse

2008-02-21T03:12:59Z

There was an eclipse! I took pictures, but my hands wouldn't hold steady enough cause I was so cold!

So cool.

Dear Diary, I Mean, Journal by evilrabidplotbunnies

So, as Pansy was accompanying me to lunch, a certain brunette Gryffindor passed by.

A Gryffindor who has eleven O-W-Ls…

…and a nice A-S-S.

Made me cry with laughter. The rest...not so funny honestly, but I died when I read this!

Though a recent favorite, despite it's weird pairing:

A Cure for Boredom by JellyBellys
Summary: While searching through the Chamber of Secrets for clues on the Horcruxes, something haunts Hermione. Oneshot
Pairing: Hermione Granger/Tom M. Riddle Jr.
Rating: M
Opinion: Weirdest pairing ever, but this story makes it oddly appealing. Can be found at:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2927580/1/A_Cure_For_Boredom

“You arrogant, presumptuous, unbelievably impossible—“

“I’ll help you destroy the horcruxes.”

Her mouth was still open, ready to spout more insults his way, but her eyes were wide and startled.

“You…what?” she finally asked weakly.

“Not only should you fix that crime against nature that you refer to as ‘hair’ as a favor to humanity, it seems it impairs your hearing as well. I said I will help you destroy the horcruxes. I know where they are, I know what they are, and I know how to destroy them. Then dear old Potter can take out that old man posing as a Dark Lord,” Tom finished with a sneer.

Rebecca and Invisible Monsters

2008-02-12T02:33:33Z

Books to read:

12. Rebecca by Daphne du Murier

35. Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

Books

2008-02-10T20:27:10Z

I used to devour books.

As in finish a book in one day and then beg for more. I used to read until the words blurred and I was overcome by sleep. When did my relentless passion end? I suppose it came with cable. Though cable can be a comfort for tired eyes unable to focus on a well-worn favorite, I wonder how many classics I would have under my belt if I had never discovered Pokemon and the Little Mermaid.

I mean, I read tons of fanfiction, but what about real, touchable books? That grow yellow with age and get that almost flowery scent about them as the years go by.

I want to return to what I had been, but I wonder if I'll be able to manage reading, art and school. Art, algIIadv, and lit/comphnrs are easy enough to get A's in but it's just APUS that I worry about. I don't have the easy inclination towards memorizing dates or putting things in chronological order. Perhaps if I were more organized, if I did my hw the day I got it, perhaps if I studied more profusely then I could be a little Rory Gilmore.
However I am no Rory Gilmore. Otherwise I'd have Milo Ventimiglia.

With the death of cable, comes the birth of my book-obsession. (I hope)

Books to read:

1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

2. The String of Pearls by Anon

3. The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus by Margaret Atwood

4. The Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire

5. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

6. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

7. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky

8. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

9. The Great Santini by Pat Conroy

10. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

11. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

12. Rebecca by Daphne du Murier

13. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

14. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

15. The Lost Girls: A Novel by Laurie Fox

16. What Happened to Cass McBride? by Gail Giles

17. Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg

18. Chocolat by Joanne Harris

19. What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges

20. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

21. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

22. The Iliad by Homer

23. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

24. Brave New World by Adolf Huxley

25. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

26. Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones

27. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

28. On the Road by Jack Kerouac

29. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

30. The Secret Life of Bees by Susan Monk Kidd

31. The Shining by Stephen King

32. Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause

33. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

34. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

35. Atonement by Ian McEwan

36. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty

37. 1984 by George Orwell

38. Animal Farm by George Orwell

39. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

40. Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

41. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

42. Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins

43. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

44. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

45. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

46. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

47. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

48. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

49. Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith

50. The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard

51. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

52. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

53. Wendy by Karen Wallace

54. Sleep Toward Heaven by Amanda Eyre Ward

55. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

56. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe

57. Gypsies by Jan Yoors