Morons

It's been a long time since I posted on here.  I'm planning on trying to fix that in the near future.

I seriously cannot stand my suitemates right now.  They're complete idiots.

If you don't have a license to practice medicine, do not argue with me when I give you information that I got from my parents who are both either currently working or previously have worked in the medical field.  They are medical professionals, you're just stupid liberal arts college students studying history, psychology, and accounting.  You are not doctors or registered nurses.  So shut the hell up about things you know nothing about and only assume you know because it makes logical sense.  Biology does not work the way you think it does.  I don't care if you think you know everything because one of you is a biology minor.  You are not freaking doctors and you do not have medical licenses.  You know nothing about medicine.  You cannot logic the issue to death and be right.

You are not entitled to your opinion.  You are entitled to your educated opinion.  And none of you could get into med school if you tried.  So shut up, sit down, and stay the hell out of things you don't understand.  You only make yourselves look like morons because you're dead wrong.

On that note, cold air does not cause sickness.  If you want to be warmer, try sleeping under your sheets and comforter instead of under your coat in a tank top and leggings, stupid.  The cold air actually activates your immune system and it kills the bacteria and viruses that make you sick.  It is the fact that you stay up all night working on homework and then stay up all day working and never sleep.

Stop telling me I'm wrong because I'm not.  It is not a freaking matter of opinion.  It is a proven fact.  We cannot agree to disagree because you are wrong.  You cannot be right when there is only one correct answer and you've picked a different one.  This isn't multiple guess or open to interpretation.  It's like math.  There is only one right answer.

Idiots.

 

It's Been a While...

I really need to blog more.  I haven't posted a thing in over three months, and I do not like this radio silence. 

I've been so busy that it's not even funny.  My Cell and Molecular Biology teacher is absolutely incompetent and has us doing constant busywork with her lab reports.  I'm really starting to hate this class, which is not a good thing.  I used to be able to do lab reports for Dr. C. in maybe three hours.  Dr. C-K's lab reports take at least six hours.  It's not the methods that are the difficult part, it's the discussion.  Half the time none of us even know what she's asking for.  It doesn't help that she still hasn't given us most of our lab reports back. 

I love my Organic Chemistry class, though.  Dr. S. is still a great teacher and I understand what we're going over - it's so much fun.  I love making things in the lab, too.  It's kind of an ongoing joke between me and Private that I always get what we're supposed to get and he doesn't.  A few weeks ago, I had a slurry of white fluffy crystals in acidic ethanol when he had brown sludge.  It was really very funny.  That and he always breaks stuff.  We've had a total of one lab this semester alone where he hasn't broken anything.  And we've had like eight labs. 

Theology is a bit boring, though.  I like Prof. R. - she's really nice and she keeps things understandable - but I already know almost everything we've gone over in this class.  I also have to work on a presentation with one of my roommates, Flutter, that goes for a half an hour during class.  About the Orthodox Church.  I can do that, but a half an hour seems like a lot.  At least she only requires one church visit, though.  Almost all of the other Theology profs require at least two to five from what I've heard...so, I have to do that when I get back.  Fun stuff. 

The only other class that I'm currently in is World Geography, which is fairly interesting, but it's really difficult to take notes in the class because Prof. B. goes really fast and the notes he has up on the screen are a bit fragmented at times...still, it's an enjoyable class and it's fairly easy. 


My PE class, which is on nutrition starts on Monday, though.  I don't know whether to look forward to it or not because it's PE and it's a gen ed class....

Other than that, I'm auditing a class called Transatlantic Literature with Dr. E. S.  That is a very interesting class.  It started out with Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and then went to Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury.  Those are very different books, to say the very least. 

Now, I'm off to do some catching up with my blog.  Hopefully I'll be able to actually keep up from now on...

Books I Finished in November

I actually didn't read a whole lot this month because I had so much going on - well, technically I did, because one of the books was REALLY long, but very good (Inheritance), and another was also just brilliant (Beauty and the Werewolf), both of which exceeded my high expectations of them.  Perhaps once finals are done, I'll actually be able to read a bit more..

Ironside
Star Wars: Invasions Vol. 2: Rescues
Inheritance 
Beauty and the Werewolf
 

Books I Finished in October

I actually read a lot of manga in October - twenty volumes of Boys Over Flowers, at least.  Those were pretty fun, as was Ghost Story, which only makes me want the fourteenth Dresden Files book all the more.  To Be Queen was also a good book - I usually enjoy books about Eleanor of Aquitaine, and that was certainly a good one.

Reunion
Transformation
The Dresden Files: Ghost Story
To Be Queen
Tithe
Boys Over Flowers Vol 16-36
Vanish

Books I Finished in September

I haven't actually had a whole lot of time to post over the last couple of months, which kind of stinks.  I've had a ton of work to do, so I've barely had time for anything whatsoever that wasn't school.  I wish I could post more and I hope I will be able to soon, but it's hard to tell.  I still managed to read a whole lot, though -

Dragon's Time
Excalibur (Graphic Novel)
The Water Trilogy: Ascension 
Boys Over Flowers Vol. 1-15
Ouran High School Host Club Vol. 2
Dragon's Time
A Tangled Web (From Harvest Moon)
Turn of the Screw

Also...

Just for the record, Arthurian Legend is not history.  It is fiction.  It is a story.  It is legend.  No matter how much I want it to be true.  It is still fiction.  It can't be historically accurate if it wasn't real.  End of story.

Just an Observation

I should be working on Ecology homework (I swear this class will be the death of me), but I found this on one of the Merlin Tumblrs I read when I was taking a break. 

This is based on one of my favorite television shows, Merlin.  Where Gwen is a servant instead of a princess and she is an anachronistic, boring character that I can't say I hate only because I don't give a piece of soggy bread what happens to her as long as she stays away from Arthur.  She is not my favorite character.  She is FAR from it.  Honestly, she is probably my LEAST favorite character in the whole series.  If it wasn't for Morgana, I probably would have stopped watching AGES ago.  Oh, and Sir L'Oreal (Gwaine) and Percival.  That, however is beyond the point.

The point is, no matter what she is in any story, Guinevere always betrays Arthur.  I can't think of a single one where she doesn't.  And it's usually with Lancelot (or Bedivere if it's before the story crossed to France).  It doesn't matter if she's not a princess (I'm sure as heck glad she isn't).  She loves Lancelot.  That's amazingly obvious.  (I admit, I do have a thing for Arthur/Morgana, but that is also irrelevant.) It doesn't matter if she loves Arthur before they marry - she consistently betrays him.  (And she and Arthur have NO chemistry for another thing.)

That said, you cannot say that it is something she will never do.  You cannot.  (The writers will probably do so just because they do play the important parts to legend.)  You cannot predict a show that you aren't one of the writers for.  End of story. 

This just annoys me.  I personally don't like her because I don't see anything really interesting about her character (I find her incredibly bland.  She has no real personality other than being sweet and a bit stubborn and as loyal as a puppy.  She has no flaws.  She gets all of the guys.  (She and Merlin have a thing in early Series One, obviously then there's the whole Gwen/Lancelot thing in his episodes, there's Gwen/Arthur (ick) that we all knew was coming from the start, there's a tiny bit of Gwen/Gwaine (ewww)...you get the idea.)  She's pretty much a Mary Sue. 

And this is why I love Morgana.  Anyway, I need to get back to my work.  More soon.  Ish.  I'll get back to this eventually...

Books I Finished in August

Well, long time without a post...whoops.  I admit, things have been insane here for a while.  I'm back in school now and I have homework galore already (and it's only the end of the second week/first full week).  I'm behind in everything but that, and I have a ton to do before Monday already...and I'm really tired, which is not a good combination...on the plus side, I read a bunch of books at the beginning of last month...

Excalibur
One Good Knight
The Wall
Chalice
Fortune's Fool
Warriors: Dark River 
Warriors: Outcast

Just Something I Found While Cleaning

I ran across this piece of some sort ot packaging with this on the back.  It made me smile.

Because you are my "Best Friend,"
I will keep you close to me.
Wherever I go, whatever I do.
When I'm miles from home, thinking of you,
You'll be right there with me.
You make me smile and make me laugh,
Always there for me when I need you most.
You are truly a devoted friend...
...My "Best Friend."

I Don't Get It

I just don't understand people sometimes.  I really don't. 

I'm a bit of an Arthurian scholar.  And I might be a little bit obsessive about Arthurian Legend right now.  It really doesn't help that the fourth series of Merlin was teased at San Diego Comic-Con recently. 

Anyway.  The thing that is really getting on my nerves is the fact that everyone in the world seems to consider Morgan le Fay to be evil, vengeful, or something of the sort.  She is expected to be this evil queen or evil sorceress that is always out to get Arthur (and Merlin in the television show). 

What people don't understand is that Morgan - Morgana as I prefer to call her - is not evil.  She has become portrayed as evil, but she never was like that.  Not originally.  She was a powerful sorceress from the isle of Avalon.  She was a shapeshifter and a healer.  She was the eldest of nine beautiful sisters.  She was not evil.  Not until she was made to be. 

She was not even Arthur's sister until the time of Chretien de Troyes, who wrote for the daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine.  She was not even vengeful until the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and that was only when Arthur killed her lover.  

Some people have tried to shift her portrayal back to how it should have been, but it never lasts.  She is the victim of so much misportrayal.  It actually makes me a bit sad to see what people are doing to her.  


The way she is being portrayed in Merlin is one of those ways.  In series one, she was amazing.  She was my favorite character.  In series two, her romance with Arthur was dropped inexplicably, even though it was beautifully done before and absolutely wonderful (anyone notice that they decided to make her Arthur's sister after that?  Stupid writers) before that.  She was overlooked and manipulated.  It only gets worse from there, and now even the actress who plays here considers her darker side to be the true Morgana.  Lovely.  


I don't think that's how Morgana is supposed to be.  Maybe that's just me and my love of the legends, but I don't think it's fair for them to do this to her character.  All she ever gets is the blame.  That's just not fair to her.  Would it kill people to treat her character properly?

Books I Finished in July

July was a really busy month for me, I have to say.  I was out of town a couple of times, always on the go...I actually didn't get a whole lot read, to be honest.  I wish I had read more.  I really do.  I loved the books I read, but there just wasn't enough time...

The Winter King
Ouran High School Host Club Vol. 1
Honored 
Enemy of God

These were all interesting books (or in the case of the manga, it was funny).  The Winter King and Enemy of God were the first two books of The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell.  I actually just finished the third one (Excalibur) today.  It's another take on Arthurian Legend that was very, very good.  I would highly recommend it, though it is a tad bloody and a more adult version of the tale.  It's not really graphic, but there is a lot of death in it.  It's still a really good read and a lot of fun. 

Books I Finished in June

It's once again been a while since I posted anything on here.  I kept meaning to, but I keep forgetting.  And surprisingly, June was a slow month for me as far as books.  Not as slow as July has been, but I've been super busy in July as of yet.  So, these were the books I read last month..

The Iron King
The Iron Daughter
The Iron Queen
The Sleeping Beauty
The Snow Queen
The Looking Glass Wars

They were all very good.  The Sleeping Beauty and The Snow Queen are both part of a series called The Five Hundred Kingdoms, which I love.  And they're books that can be read out of order because there are a couple of recurring characters at most.  There are currently five books in the series, and I've read three of them (#1, 4, and 5).  The Fairy Godmother, the first book, was a little more graphic than the others and did have some sexual content, but Mercedes Lackey is actually a very good writer and the other two don't have anything bad in them whatsoever, which I liked a lot.  I've got the other two - One Good Knight and Fortune's Fool - waiting to be read at this point.  However, being as busy as I was for the last week or so, it was hard to actually read a more than a bit of One Good Knight while I was traveling...

Anyway, all of those are great books - I loved the Iron Fey series and I'm looking forward to the next book The Iron Knight coming out this fall.  I'll write more on those later, but that's it for now. 

Arashi - Truth

I love this song. A friend of mine introduced me to K-Rock and J-Pop (Korean rock music and Japanese pop music) a couple of years ago and I fell in love with this song when she sent me the link to it. The sad thing is that they aren't very well known here in the States, it seems, and this was practically impossible to find on YouTube because the official PV (promotional video) was taken down some time ago. So, enjoy the music, ignore the video. It's just Kingdom Hearts...

Delain - Invidia

I found this song about a week ago via Pandora on my phone. It played on the main channel I listen to and it was so good that I had to e-mail myself before I lost track of it. It really fits a couple of the characters I write and I love the name of the song itself. The word is fun to say, that's for sure. And it's a pretty word. Invidia actually means 'envy: spite and resentment at seeing the success of another (personified as one of the deadly sins),' which I think is actually a pretty interesting definition.

Well...

It's been a while since I blogged about anything.  Heck, it's been a while since I logged into this account to do anything.  I haven't really had a whole lot to say, I suppose.  Things have been a big crazy at points - we went to an amusement park at the beginning of the month and I've been cleaning my room while attempting to make a dent in my other goals.  So far, my room is a lot cleaner.  Well, my books are organized, mostly.  I've been trying to get through a bunch of those, too.  So far, five books this month and I'm in the middle of another one right now.  Things have been a little busy, really.  I've been trying to write, on top of all of the other stuff I've been doing.

Today was a big day as far as the cleaning went.  I had a bunch of boxes that were just sitting in my room that had stuff in them - they're all ready to go to the storage locker except for one, which I'll be working on when I go back upstairs later.  I feel like I've really made a dent today as far as that goes.  It's empty under my bed now and I've gotten a bunch of clutter put away on my dresser and everywhere else.  I'm pretty proud of myself, really.

Other than that, the only major thing that I can think of is the season three finale for Sanctuary.  I love the show, but I hate the finales because they are ALWAYS cliffhangers.  Always.  Even the mid-season finale was a blasted cliffhanger.  I got to that one right after the next episode came out, though, so that one wasn't a big deal.  This one, though, I have to wait until fall to see.  Ugh.  Not cool.  And one of the other shows I watch is on the bubble right now.  There's no news as to whether or not it's been renewed or canceled.  Really kind of annoying, if you ask me.

Anyway, I'm going back to writing...

Review: Solitary

I should probably start out by saying that this is not the kind of book that I usually read.  I'm a fantasy/sci-fi kind of person, mainly.  I don't read a whole lot of YA (Young Adult) stuff anymore with the influx of everything vampires, starting with the infamous famous Twinkle Twilight Saga.  Vampires are not my thing, but that's a tangent that I don't need to go on.

Solitary was pitched to me as Travis's take on Twinkle by the author himself.  I took a brief two-week class with him through my school in January (which I loved), and one of the things he did was give away a free book to anyone who wanted it.  After we chatted after the class for a while, he said that I would love this book.

Boy, he was right.  I was hooked on it before I was even done with the first chapter.  I couldn't put it down.  I was, quite unfortunately, interrupted and forced to go to bed in the middle of it.  I was not pleased by that, to say the least.  Anyway, when I finally did get a chance to finish it, I couldn't put it down again.

Chris Buckley is a normal kid who moves to a town called Solitary in North Carolina after his parents split up.  There, he meets a mysterious girl named Jocelyn who is the most beautiful creature he has ever laid eyes on.  Their relationship has a very interesting dynamic - one moment they're friends, then the next she pushes him away.  As Chris becomes more involved with her, things start happening.  For one thing, he decides to go down this hole in the neighbor's yard.  Not a good idea, Chris.  Suddenly, a creepy voice floats out of the darkness, and Chris bolts because it scares the heck out of him.  Much later: new creepy hole beneath the cabin.  The creepy voice returns, saying 'I see you, Chris.'  It scared me half to death, but in a good way. 

Between said dark hole and creepy/scary/probably demonic voice and something else that happens, I was scared half to death.  I have never been so scared after reading a book.  The weird thing?  I loved it.  I don't know why, but this seemed like a good kind of scared.  I wanted to know what was going on.  I wanted to know what was happening and I was really mad at Travis when the book ended because it just wasn't fair.

I found Chris's narration easy to read and very easy to get into.  It was like I was actually Chris.  I felt his pain when he was upset and I could easily relate to everything he felt.  He was a great narrator and an awesome character in general.  I really felt bad for him because he was really the only responsible one in the house with his mom acting as she was...which was probably because of the divorce.  Then there's his missing uncle.  It's like he disappeared without a trace.  Yet another thing for Chris to wonder about as he has to get used to a new town, new friends, and people acting weird.

Then there's Gus.  He was a good character and a believable bully.  I didn't like him because of that, but I think he really made Chris's situation really realistic.

I really liked Jocelyn, too.  She was another really great character and she was really sympathetic.  I really felt bad for her as things went on and how things went down as time went on.  Her relationship with Chris was really well done and she seemed very real.

Overall, I really loved this book.  The plot was amazing and left me hanging on every word.  I fell in love with the characters and I want to know what's going to happen next.  This book easily rates five stars out of five for me.


Yes, it's better than Twilight.

And now, I'm going to go bother my mom to make an Amazon order.  I want Gravestone...

Books I Finished in May

Things have been soo crazy for the last couple of weeks.  Being home makes little difference in how busy I am, it seems.  Unfortunately, it also meant that I didn't have to read as much as usual, even though I was in Florida for a while.  I ended up with only these books read...

The Mists of Avalon
Warbreaker
Solitary

They were all really good.  The Mists of Avalon was partially for class - we read the first part of it for Arthurian Legends, but I read the rest of it even though I didn't have to.  Warbreaker was amazing.  I read that one while I was on vacation and I loved it.  Brandon Sanderson did it again.  He's really a brilliant author.  Solitary was also excellent.  I have a review for that coming eventually (I'm in the process of cleaning my room, so I don't have that much time on my hands).  All I can say is that it really evoked everything it was supposed to.  Travis scared the heck out of me at one point and there was a point I nearly burst into tears.  It was so good that I can't wait to get my hands on the next book of the Solitary Tales series.  More on that later, though.

Till I Forget About You - Big Time Rush

I love things song, and the band. They're really awesome.

Yes, I'm a sucker for good boy band pop. BTR (Big Time Rush) and BSB (Backstreet Boys) are some of my favorites. Plus, their music is really upbeat, which a lot of my music isn't...

Icons - Merlin 20in20

So, there's this challenge I found on LJ for people who make graphics like I do.  I like it, but I don't have an LJ, so I can't sign up.  I decided that I would participate in it unofficially.  I picked my favorite character to make icons for - Morgana.  For this challenge, you have to make ten icons with specific themes, five with a theme throughout, and five that are whatever you want them to be, provided that you use your character or romantic pairing.  These are mine.  The theme for the set was 'Same Episode.'

Annoyed	Cheerful	Fade
Gradient	Horizontal	Legs
Lips	Polaroid	Sun
Triangle	Theme #1	Theme #2
Theme #3	Theme #4	Theme #5
AC 1	AC 2	AC 3
AC 4	AC 5

Resolutions Update

I figured I might as well make an update on my resolutions for the year...


1. Read all of the books I've accumulated in my to-read pile
 
This one I'm going to be working on for a while.  I got more books, too.  And there's about twenty of them in the bag on my bed in the hotel right now.  Yeah.  But I've read a lot of them already, too...

2. Lose the weight gained last semester plus more and keep it off

 I'm still working on the first part of this one.  It's kind of hard to do that during finals.  And during vacation...
  3. Finish Never Surrender, one of my Robin Hood (BBC) stories, and Beauty Will Rise, the next one on my to-write list

....So far, nothing.  I need to work on this one...


4. Complete a partial draft of an original novel

I need to figure out which novel first.  It'll probably be either Shadowlands or Darkness Falls that I end up working on...

5. Make progress on my in-progress stories, preferably 6+ chapters for each story, or completion to the ones I'm working on that will be done before there are six more chapters, even if they aren't posted.

Umm... sort of.  So far it like this...

SoG: +2
NS: 0
Frozen: 0
SLSB:  +2
BE: 0



6. Get a 3.8+ GPA next semester and the fall semester

Success for the first semester!  My GPA for this past semester was 3.874

7. Clean my room until it is actually clean and organized like it should be. 

Working on it during the summer with Mama...

Well, it's going...