Review: Fire

Fire.  In this story, this word has more than one meaning.  First, is can be the flames that most consider it to me, or it could be the shooting of an arrow...or it could be the name of the main character.  The main character, obviously named Fire, was named for her bright red hair.  She is a human monster, the last of her kind.  Her father was a monster and her mother a human.  What makes her - and her father before her - a monster, though, is the power she possesses.  She can speak to people through her mind, sense them, and control them if she so desires.  But Fire, unlike her monster father, does not care for what she can do.  She would rather not have such abilities, if she was perfectly honest.

But it is not what she can do that makes her so special.  Even when Prince Brigan hates her and his elder brother, King Nash, adores her to a point that is dangerous for everyone.  The fact is, she isn't like her father.  She is a strong person who doesn't want to harm others.  She does not even want to continue her species.  She is the last, after all.  And all of her children will be monsters like her.  As hated as she is at times, Fire is a very strong character and her story is a very entertaining read.  I can't say that I'm thrilled by the feminism that filters its way into this book, but it's not nearly as bad as Kristin Cashore's other book, Graceling.  That was rampant with it.  This book is much better overall.  A much better read, for sure.  I would rate it a three and a half out of five on my scale.  Overall, it's a pretty good book.  I don't think I'll read it again, though.

Pokémon in Education?

I was actually just looking something up while I was taking a short break from writing a draft of my paper for Psych 123 when I ran across this opinion piece on the Bulbapedia (that's the Pokémon Wikipedia, thank you very much).  It's actually rather fascinating and the person who wrote it made several very good points about how something like this can be used in education. 

I've posted before about a couple of the life lessons I learned from Pokémon when I was younger, and I just had to post this. 

Can Pokémon be educational?

The Inheritance Cycle

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini is a series that I've read since maybe 2005 or 2006.  I can't remember at this point, considering that it was five or six years ago.  I actually wrote my first story (yes, it was fanfiction) based on my version of the third book because I was so tired of waiting for it to come out and I had just discovered fanfiction.

It's been a couple of years shy of a decade since Christopher Paolini released Eragon.  When I first read the book, I loved it.  Keep in mind, though, I was around thirteen and a friend of mine let me borrow her copy because she had bunches of books she wanted me to read.  It was worth reading and I really loved it.  It was amazing.  Once I got Eldest, too, it was great.  But then the three year gap between Eldest and Brisingr happened.  I grew up.  I wasn't the thirteen year old who thought it was amazing anymore.  By the time I got my hands on any version of Brisingr (it was the audiobook, which I highly recommend, though I still don't think Murtagh has such a strong Scottish accent or sounds like he's thirty-something.  That was my only real issue with the audio version.) I was seventeen and not nearly as interested.  It was good, but I began to find Paolini's writing shallow and one-dimensional in regards to some of the female characters.  And I'll be honest.  The whole eldunari thing?  I think it's stupid.  I had a whole bunch of issues with the whole book, and not just because my favorite characters are either dead or have done a face turn heel (they switched sides). 

So, I'm not entirely thrilled about the prospect of the last book.  I figure, I'll read it and I'll be done.  I have this thing about finishing a series if I liked it and/or had some emotional attachment to the characters.  That's the only reason I'm going to finish Tamora Pierce's Provost's Dog Trilogy, to be honest.  I loved the first book of that series and hated the second with a passion (there's a running joke among my friends that I call one of my most hated characters in that book Chipmunk Boy because his name is Dale...his name reminds me of Chip and Dale, actually.  And as much as I love them, I hate him.  So I mock him.  The only other character that bothers me is Okha, who freaks me out beyond all belief.  He's just creepy.).  I'm going to finish that when the third book comes out later this year. 

I may very well be done with Pierce for good after this book, but I don't think I'll be done with Paolini.  He has a lot of potential as a writer.  He's fairly good already - much better than the author of a certain series that has sparklepires as I call them (that's the Twilight Saga, which I refer to as Twinkle.) for example.  His career so far has been made up entirely of telling this one story.  He's not my favorite, but I think he has a great deal of potential to become a truly great author someday.  His Inheritance Cycle is a good story.   There are things that I don't like about it, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good book and something fun to read.  I've already got Inheritance on request from the public library near the college at this point. 

It'll be nice to finally see what happens to Eragon and Saphira in the end.  I just kind of wish I could read it now.

Red - Best Is Yet To Come

This is another song from the new CD by one of my favorite bands (Red's Until We Have Faces). I've fallen in love with this song over the last few days. It's really beautiful and it's one of their very few ballads.

Yikes

This month has been insane.  I keep meaning to post on here but I never get around to it.  Obviously, that has not happened.  I actually need to post more, and I want to.  I just keep neglecting it when I actually do have time.  Which, really, isn't that often.  I realize that even more so now that I've got a couple of days off from my research project with Dr. H.  Since the subject of our research (bats) doesn't come out in the cold weather, that kind of creates a problem.  We've been recording for them since February 22nd, and we've got one call.  And that one is extremely garbled by electronic interference. 

So, yeah.  The whole bat thing doesn't work very well when it's so stinking cold because there are no insects.  Thus, nothing for the bats to eat.  Which makes our work frustratingly slow.  Spring break was beautiful.  The only problem was that we only got the one bat.  And the weird thing is, the detectors are actually pretty sensitive.  Weird. 

That's what I've been doing almost constantly for a month.  And I have two papers due this Thursday and a test on Friday.  Plus, my best friend might (or might not if things don't work out with her transportation) be coming up for the weekend from our hometown.  So, busy, busy me. 

At least I'm caught up on some of my non-school life.  But not that much. 

And I'm going back to work before I procrastinate more on the papers.  Ick.

How Busy Can I Get?

Apparently very.  As it turns out, I'm spending 28+ hours in the HSC (the science center) between classes and research.  That being said, as of tomorrow, I'll probably be carrying 19 credits instead of 17.  That would be because I'm adding the field experience course to my credits, too.  It's actually quite fun.  The main reason I'm doing that is because I've got about 23 hours racked up so far and the professor I'm doing research with is leaving at the end of the semester.  He also happens to be my adviser.  Because of that, I'll be switching advisers at the end of the semester, too.  That way I actually have someone I'm comfortable with for the time being.  The new Ecology professor might end up as my adviser eventually - since my future plans are either veterinary medicine or a Ph.D. in Biology with a Zoology or Ecology emphasis so that I can teach at the college level - but who knows how that will turn out.  I've been super busy because of the research I'll be doing anyway. 

Surprisingly, that hasn't stopped me from getting more books.  Or reading a lot of books so far this month.  I think I'm up to like five or six.  And if I didn't have to read The Problem of Poverty for History, I would totally be reading The Reckoning by Beverly Lewis or A Kiss Before the Apocalypse by Thomas E. Sniegoski.  Both of which I'm in the middle of.  Library books and new books.  Even though I haven't actually finished most of the books I have in my room...there are still a dozen in my room that I haven't read.  Not including school books.

Currently, I'm in the middle of Solitary (Still.  Great book.  I just keep forgetting because I'll clean my room and everything I was reading will disappear except for my library books.), A Kiss Before the Apocalypse, The Reckoning, and Millennium Falcon.  Only one of which is a library book.  That's probably not a good thing.  Whatever.

I've also been watching this show called Sanctuary.  My best friend got me into it.  Again.  She does that a lot.  The last time she did this, I fell in love with Castle.  That's one of my favorite television shows ever.  So much so that it's on my birthday list.  It's right under Robin Hood (The BBC tv show, not the movie) and Merlin.  

But yeah.  That's what I've been doing.  And now, I had best get back to reading The Problem of Poverty.  I have to do it by tomorrow and answer discussion questions.  Oh, and I have a meeting with my Psych prof at 7:40 tomorrow.  I can't forget that.  I hate mornings.  Why did I register for 8 a.m. classes again?  Oh, right.  That was the only time Fundamentals of Chemistry is offered.  Right.  And I already had a 9:30 class Tuesday/Thursday.  Note to self: try to avoid 8 a.m. classes next semester if possible. 

Books I Finished in February

It's getting to be a bit later in March than I intended to start posting for the month...whoops.  But, I figured I might as well post this while I was at it.  These are the books I read during February...none of which I have reviewed yet.  I should probably do that when I have time to do other stuff.  Other stuff meaning things that aren't school related.  Bah.  Either way, most of these were pretty good.  I'm not going to review On Christian Liberty because I already wrote a paper on it..

The Lady Elizabeth
Midwinter
The Shunning
The Black Prism
Firelight
A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
Ascendant
On Christian Liberty