My Life So Far

Yallfest 2017

2017-11-19T07:05:00.000-05:00

I tend to take spur-of-the-moment last-minute decision trips. The usually turn out to be my most memorable and favorite trips. Yallfest 2017 was exactly this kind of trip. I made the last minute decision to go (as in I was at work Wednesday night and thought 'what the heck, it's only a couple hours away'). This meant some quick decision making and planning on my part about where I would stay and what exactly I would do. I made a list of all the authors attending the festival (also while I was at work - a highly unproductive night) and I compared that list to my catalog of books that I owned to see if I owned anything by any of the authors attending. I knew a few names and knew that there were a couple books that I had but had not read. The part that solidified my decision to make the trip however, fell upon a Danielle Page. I didn't know her name off my list but I definitely recognized her books. She's the author of the Dorothy Must Die series, a series that I loved. I couldn't pass on the opportunity to meet her and get my books signed.

Thursday I spent more time than I should've planning the trip, getting my books organized to take with me, doing laundry so I could have fresh clothes to take with me, and cleaning out my car. In order to save money and not get a hotel room, I made the choice to sleep in my car. I knew it was suppose to be cooler Friday night (as in 40s) so I was pretty confident that I wouldn't have too many issues sleeping in the car - heck I'd done it before. I tried to get enough sleep before going to work that night but I was too nervous and excited. This was a little odd because I rarely get so nervous or excited for anything. When I went to see Hanson in concert (my childhood favorite band) I wasn't this nervous or excited and when I took the trip to Raleigh to meet my doctor, Mr David Tennant from Doctor Who, I didn't get nervous or excited until I was heading through the doors of the convention center. Let's just say my expectations were high for this trip and I wasn't exactly sure why; it wasn't like I'd been to the festival before. I've never even been to Charleston before.

Running on only 4 hours of sleep, I was able to make it through my 8 hour shift with the help of a large McDonald's coffee with a double shot of espresso added. I came home, took a shower, and laid down for a quick 45 minute power nap before leaving for the 3 hour drive down to Charleston, SC. The trip was uneventful and I aired on the side of caution due to the back struts being bad on my car and it needing new tires. I brought every camera I owned and vlogged the whole trip, see below:

I arrived Friday a little after noon and rushed to find my first author's line. Friday is called Yallcrawl where some of the authors show up for early signings which allows you to take advantage of something else on Saturday such as a panel or keynote. I waited patiently in line for Becky Albertalli who wrote Simon vs the Homosapien's Agenda and The Upside of Unrequited both books that I owned but had never read. I was too nervous to talk to her so we had an awkward signing but she seemed really nice. Afterwards, I made my way to Blue Bicycle Books which were the hosts of the festival. There I picked up a signed copy of The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas and an unsigned copy of An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. Neither book had I read but I'd heard great things about both. I tried to get a hardcover copy of The Yellow Brick War to complete my Dorothy Must Die Series but the shop only had the paperback. I would rather have all my books in a series be of the same type and my other three in the series are all hardcover. A tad disappointed, I headed over to Danielle Page's line. Her line was shorter and moved quite quickly. She was super nice and now I was a little more comfortable so we talked a little bit about her Dorothy Must Die series and I got my picture taken with her.

By this time, all of the caffeine in my system had slowly drained away and I was getting tired. I also hadn't ate all day and I was starving. I was craving pizza but as hungry as I was, I was worried I might pick some local pizza place who didn't have good pizza (plus I didn't want to keep paying the outrages parking prices $1.00 per half hour? What is this New York City?) so I quickly pulled up the nearest Pizza Hut and navigated traffic to get there. Ordering online had the added bonus of being 50% off so I was feeling good about this decision. I took my large stuffed crust pizza to the nearest Walmart and hunkered down for the night. Oh car camping. To give you an idea, I have a 2 door Dodge Stratus - not ideal for car camping. Now picture my 260lb self trying to get comfortable lying half in the trunk with the backseats laid down. Not nice at all. I ended up bringing my sleeping bag up to the front passenger seat and laying the seat all the way down. I was parked a ways away from the actual store and it was no time before other cars started trickling in to do exactly what I was - spend the night in our vehicles. I actually felt safer with these other people around and it was comforting to know I wasn't the only one who thought this was a viable and reasonable option.

Saturday morning I woke up with the sun (after about 10 hours of sleep - could you tell I was tired) and I headed back to the downtown area. My plan was to hit up an arc (advanced reader's copy) drop before getting in line for Marissa Meyers signing which started my list of author signings I wanted to get to before doing anything else. I wanted to get signatures from Marissa Meyers, Sabaa Tahir, Veronica Roth, Jeff Zentmer, and Lauren Oliver because I had missed all of them the day before. When I got there and saw the crowd of people...well let's just say I had a moment of panic.

I picked up my first two arcs before I got in line for Marissa Meyers and I enjoyed the experience of receiving something for free that very few people owned and it was also something that wasn't publicly available yet. I spent the entire hour and a half in line for Marissa Meyers watching people jump from one booth to the next getting different arcs and I just wanted to be one of them. It was only when the line started moving did I realize that I could've spent that time reading Renegades, Marissa Meyers new book that I had bought Thursday morning. I hadn't read any of her books but I had heard that her Lunar Chronicles series was pretty good and she seemed to be a popular author. Those of us in her line were given bracelets - well the first 200 people were given bracelets. I was able to get through the prologue and part of the first chapter of Renegades before I was up. I really enjoyed what I had read so far of it and I told her as much as she signed the black page in beautiful silver ink. We had a nice chat about other books I'm reading and I got my picture taken with her as well.

Instead of moving on to my next author, I made a slit decision to jump into a line for an arc. I didn't know which book was dropping but I jump in line anyways. I was hooked then. I spend the rest of the day standing in various lines for books that I knew nothing about other than the fact that they were all advanced copies. At the end of the day I ended up with 6 signed books, 5 arcs, and a crap-ton (yes it is a word) of other swag. I ended up with so much that I made a separate video just to keep the time down.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at Yallfest and I will most definitely be planning ahead for 2018. I'm pretty sure a hotel room will be in order next year as well as making a request for a day off on Thursday (if not Sunday too!) If you want to be updated on the progress and reviews of the arcs that I received, subscribe to my Youtube Channel because that was one of the dominate ideas that popped into my head as I stood in ridiculously long lines on Saturday. I am planning on doing reading vlogs for each arc I received as well as a quick review. Until next time,

Song of the Day:

Welcome Home by Radical Face

Movie of the Day:

Megan Leavey

Life Will Pass You By Before You Know It

2017-11-09T12:23:00.003-05:00

Well dang, November is already here and the end of this year is fast approaching. This year I've been able to see just how much I have grown as a person. I've been keeping a journal of all the important moments in my life this year and I think it was one of my better decisions if for no other reason than it lets me get you, my readers, up to date on everything that has happened this year.

To start off, my partner at work caught pnemonia and had to miss almost a month's time off. To fill his position, I worked continuously. I think it ended up being 21 days straight before I had a day off. By day 22, I was just in a rhythm... an exhausted, completely run down, zombie-like rhythm but a rhythm none the less. I didn't mind so much because the overtime pay was crazy good and by the end of the month, I was able to build my own custom gaming and editing pc.

I am fully in love with JARVIS, my new pc. I personally picked each individual part on him from the processor down to the case and I love him. Of course I had to give it a name after it was built and whom better to name it after than Tony Stark's personal AI? I filmed the entire process and put it up on my Youtube channel, you can see it here where I list each individual part I used.Unbeknownst to myself, I missed one tiny detail that came back to haunt me 8 months later. In the middle of October I had the computer wake up from sleep mode and I went to get a drink. As soon as I came back in the room to see if it was ready, I watched in horror as it completely shut down. It could not be restarted and it wasn't making a sound when I tried the power button. I instantly started freaking out worrying that the motherboard had fried taking the processor with it. After looking online, I found that the most prevalent issue could be the power supply. No worries, I had one at my mom's house that I had bought when it was on sale to keep a spare. I rushed over to her house in the middle of the night like a lunatic, grabbed the power supply and my computer tools, and rushed home. After taking the computer apart and installing the new power supply, I crossed my fingers and tried the power button again. Nothing. I looked online and found a way to test the power supplies to know if both were bad (spoiler alert: they were both fine). I knew in that moment that the motherboard had fried so I got on Amazon and had a new one shipped to me with Prime's 2 day shipping. When it got here, I took the computer apart again and replace the old motherboard with the new. Resetting everything, I once again tried the power button full of excitement because I was sure this would fix it. Nothing. My hopes and dreams dashed in silence as not a light or a fan ever flickered to life. My despair was quickly filled with anger and I tore the computer apart one final time to put the old motherboard back in. After quite a few curse words were exchanged between me and JARVIS (okay, okay exclusively by me) I decided that I was done with the darn thing and I would just have to take it somewhere to have an expert look at it. I put the entire computer back together and as I placed the new motherboard back in it's box, I just happened to notice the tiny screw holes. I remembered exactly how many screws I had removed from the old motherboard when I took it out and that number mysteriously did not match the number of holes I was seeing on this brand-new-but-exactly-the-same motherboard. I recounted the screw holes on the old motherboard - sure enough, my old motherboard was missing one little screw. When I first purchased the motherboard, it had only come with 5 screws so in my haste, I had only counted 5 holes when I did the initial install. When the new motherboard came, it had come with 6 screws but I didn't take them out of the bag since the original screws would still work. Turns out missing one screw causes a short between the motherboard and the pegs that it sits on in the case. It just so happens that it took 8 months for me to move the computer around enough for the short to occur. All of my panic and angry words at poor JARVIS were caused by one little screw smaller than my fingernail. Let's just say I learned a valuable and expensive lesson: make sure you count everything, compare it to the instructions, and then compare it to the actual device being assembled. It will save so so much anxiety, stress, and money.

Now I haven't caught you up on everything but I just wanted to mention that the plan for this weekend is to go down to Charleston, SC for Yallfest, a young adult book convention that is supposed to be the second largest book convention on the east coast (behind the one in New York City). I am super excited and can't wait to see all of the books. Yes I will enjoy meeting some authors but my true love will be seeing all the books EVERYWHERE. This festival literally takes over downtown Charleston with poeple from all ages standing in exhaustively long lines to meet authors and booktubers (Youtubers who talk about books). I've been trying to move away from comic book conventions and I just happened upon finding this one. I don't live too far from Charleston so I just couldn't resist. I've only purchased two books specifically to have them signed; I am bringing a few that I already own but these two I picked out because I really wanted to meet their authors. The best thing about it is the festival is free and open to the public. You only have to pay for the keynote speakers if you want to go see them and Cassandra Claire is the only author you have to pay to get her signature (she is requesting that you pre-order or order specific books in order for her to sign anything). I didn't mind her Shadowhunter series but I'm not going to spend money on her signature when I never finished her series because I got bored with it (I think I only got to the first 4 books in her first series).

Song of the Day:

Barbies by P!nk

Movie of the Day:

Spiderman Homecoming

The Fault in Our Stars Book Review

2017-03-31T10:24:00.000-04:00

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I know the low rating is going to freak some people out but to each their own I guess.

Let's start by me mentioning that I didn't hate the book. Although I didn't love it either, I didn't really hate it so much as I'm glad it's over and I'll probably never read it again. I've watched the Vlog Brothers on Youtube and I generally considered John Green to be a fairly intelligent guy. I make this point because I think he delved too much into research for the book and forgot to give the characters believable and relatable personalities that we could love, grow to love, or care about enough to get emotional after their death. I wish I could say I'm just a cold hearted person but after all this time, I still cry when Sirius, Dumbledore, and Snape die. I just didn't feel that emotionally attached to any of the characters in this book. I think the most interesting person in the entire book is Peter Van Houten. His history could've been a standalone book and it might have been more interesting than this.

Now let's talk about the writing. This was the first book I've read of John Green's so I don't have anything to compare it to. Knowing that this book is meant for teenagers boggles my mind. Most of the dialogue between Augustus and the main character (that I've already forgotten her name) and almost everything coming out of Peter Van Houten is far beyond the comprehension and understanding of today's teenagers. Actually, now that I'm thinking of it, this might be the reason it is so popular with teenagers. It is possible that their love of the book comes from glossing over anything that they don't understand (or paragraphs where Van Houten is actually spewing some really good lines) and being apathetic about character development.

I think this book could've been a really good look into the life of a kid dying of cancer but instead had to focus on a love interest that popped up with a love at first sight cliché. It makes for an okay read if you don't care about investing in the characters. You might like the book while you read it but once it's finished, you will probably never think about it again.

View all my reviews

Book Reviews: Duff and This Is Where It Ends

2017-03-22T13:38:00.004-04:00

The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don't think I've ever read a book more true to high school than this.

I really enjoyed this book. I know a lot of people complained about the message this sent to young girls and the language used throughout the book was unrealistic to a high school student but to those people I have to wonder - where the hell did you go to school, Amish country? The language used is watered down compared to what could be heard in my school and every thought the main character has about herself and others is something that every single high school girl has thought at some point in their lives. I found Bianca to be completely relatable and I saw myself in her shoes at that age. She goes through a growing process throughout the book to the point where her unhealthy image of herself meets the more mature way of thinking and she comes to terms with who she is and who she wants to be.

The story held my interest all the way through so much that I read it in one sitting. The story is definitely character driven and they will pull you into the story to make you remember what it was like in high school and remember the thoughts and feelings you had at that time in your life. Who didn't secretly have problems at home or a crush on the beautiful dick of a jock.

Wesley is a jerk for 2/3 of the book but even he redeems himself in the end. I think it is too easy to say this book is a bad influence on girls because of the way he treats Bianca and yet she falls for him anyways. If you actually read the entire book, you would see it's not as simple as black and white.

View all my reviews This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Before reading it: A book about a school shooting? Heck yes count me in.

After reading it: Huh, that could've been so much better. It had so much potential.

The plot alone could hook almost anyone into reading it and this should've been an easy win for the author. I love the concept of being in the center of a school during a shooting from perspectives both in the immediate vicinity and outside of the premises of the school during the event. Even the characters had the potential to have huge impacts on the story but unfortunately the author doesn't take the time to make you invested in them enough to care who lives, who dies, who tells their story. The plot great and is the main pull to get you through the story. The characters don't really have the depth to keep you interested in them (although there was massive potential and their backstories were super interesting if only there had been more to pull you in).

I liked the tweets, texts. and blog posts that are thrown in but I kept getting distracted trying to figure out who they belonged to or who they were aimed at which often pulled me out of the story.

I think if you want a quick read about an interesting topic and you don't really care about a character driven story, then this book would be good. I liked it but it won't be a memorable read. Given about 200 more pages and it could've been great.

View all my reviews

2016 Is Almost Gone

2016-11-03T19:18:00.000-04:00

Wow. I didn't realize how much I let 2016 slide past almost unnoticed. I didn't write a single post and I haven't touched a single story, I'm surprised I actually made any Youtube videos at all this year but I think Youtube was actually the one place I focused my attention this year. I made more videos this year than I did in the last five years.
In all fairness, 2016 has been a rough year. My father died the day after Thanksgiving in 2015 so as you can imagine, the start of 2016 wasn't great. My mother took his death hard and I focused the first part of the year on making sure she was okay. In one month, she went from being the sad depressed widow to talking to a man on the phone and online. By August, she had been "dating" this man over the phone for a month and she asked him to move in. I thought it was very sudden but he seemed to make her happy and it wasn't my place to tell her any different. Now they are engaged and are planning the wedding for the beginning of July. Aside from the wedding being only 5 days after my birthday, something is bothering me about all of this but since I can't put my finger on it, I've been trying to push the uneasy feeling out of my head. I don't think it has anything to do with the guy - he seems to be a really nice guy; he doesn't smoke, he doesn't drink that much (they both have two glasses of wine a night - not bad at all) he doesn't emotionally or physically abuse her, and he's really good with my niece and nephew. I'm wondering if maybe my uneasiness is from how quickly they started the relationship more than anything else.
Towards the end of 2015, I also started a new job. I left the horrible woman who ran the maid business and took a job in security guarding a residential community. This week I learned that the new company that bought out the company I currently worked for is requiring all of the employees to reapply for our current jobs. I had to fill out an application and go through three interviews to determine if I get to keep my job, The good news is that if I make it through the whole process, we are suppose to receive a "substantial raise that we will be pleased with." Or so the memo from our boss said. As long as I make it through the interview process, I think I will be happy. The only problem is I had been planning on transferring at the end of the summer next year.
Okay, let me start by saying how sick I am of living at home with my parents. I am 28 this year and I have lived 23 of those years with my parents. I'm tired of living out of one bedroom, sharing all of the groceries I ever buy, paying for electric I don't use, and having my dog yelled at simply because my mother doesn't like big dogs, and lending my mother money because she is so bad at managing her own. I am ready for my own place. The problem has been affording a place to live. Everyone told us when we moved down south that the cost of living was lower than living in the north. I'm not sure what drugs they were using when they told us that but they could't have been more wrong. I have a friend who just moved out of a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house in Rochester, NY where she was paying $650 a month. On the southeast coast of North Carolina where I currently live, a 2 bedroom 1 bath trailer will run you around $650 a month, And that is inland - not even on the coast (which would be substantially more).
Around my birthday, I did some deep thinking about what I really wanted in my life and I came up with independence. I wanted to live on my own - plain and simple. The best thing about my job now is that I can transfer anywhere in the country I want to go, What this means is that on my birthday I took an oath to myself that I would move out of my parents house. I have set the date to move out as August 17th 2017 and I am looking at moving back north, I miss the changing seasons, the lower pollen count, and the ability to breathe in the summer without feeling like I live in a sauna. I set the date as August 17th because there is suppose to be a spectacular solar eclipse go over where I currently live. I think it is the best possible omen I could have ever asked for even if I really don't believe in such things - better to be safe than sorry.
Now I've been spending as much time as I can packing totes and taking all of my belongings to storage so that all of my stuff is in one place. I've also tried to spend more time with my niece and nephew, my brother, and my best friend so that when I do finally move, I know that I didn't waste all of my time in NC.
I don't think since I graduated college have I ever been so excited for a new year. Now to keep my spirits high until then.

Song of the day:

Middle of America by Will Hodge

Movie of the day:

Theory of Everything

Raleigh, NC

2015-07-20T17:58:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I took a short road trip north to Raleigh, NC simply out of the boredom of Myrtle Beach. I planned the trip out late Saturday night plotting used bookstores and writing down directions. I was hoping for the weather to be a little cooler or at the very least a drop in the humidity. The temperature didn't seem to drop very much (I think it was actually hotter inland) but the humidity was widely different than the coast. Although it was warmer, I could breathe without feeling like I was inhaling a cloud. The two bookstores I visited made the list of my all-time favorites. Reader's Corner and Nice Price Books.
Reader's Corner was the first that I visited. I picked this first because outside along the entire front of the building, they have used books for $0.10 to $0.25 each. Let me just say I filled a box full of books and only spent $3. The best part was that all of the proceeds from the sales of the books outside goes to NPR which I loved. Inside was another monstrous selection of used books where I easily filled my arms for about $20.

From there I drove a block and a half down the road to Nice Price Books. This store was partially falsely advertised with it's name. It is only half a bookstore; it is also a music shop. The selection of vinyl and compact discs along with DVDs and blu-ray was spectacular. I was able to acquire another book, a few $1 cds and a brand new Sylvan Esso vinyl that came with a digital download. As an added bonus, there is a free section where you can get local artists samplers that included country, rock, metal, and indie bands. There was free music posters, stickers, and even a couple concert DVDs. They even have artists come in for surprise concerts. This has become my favorite store, if only it wasn't 2.5 hours away.

As usual, the mini-road-trip placed me in a relaxing good mood to set the week. Only time will tell if it lasts but for now I'm just going to sit back and enjoy my music and books.

Song of the Day:

Hey Mami - Sylvan Esso

Movie of the Day:

The Spiderwick Chronicles

3 families in 1 house

2015-07-05T16:30:00.000-04:00

Everyone knows that I live with my parents. Now my brother, his wife, and their two kids have moved in with us. We live in a three bedroom two bathroom double-wide trailer which means each family gets one bedroom and two families share a bathroom. My brother (whose wife is super lazy) has the two kids one of which is almost three and the other is 6 months. They made their tiny closet into the three year old's bedroom. This only meant that her bed would barely fit in it while they surrounded it with hanging clothes. The amount of stuff they brought in with them is ridiculous. When you go in knowing that you are going to be living out of one bedroom, you do not bring your entire house with you. I live out of one bedroom and I have a storage shed for the rest of my stuff simply because the rest of the house is NOT mine, it is my parent's and I respect that. Apparently my brother and sister-in-law do not respect this because they have filled my parents' house with junk. They brought their 100 gallon fish tank simply because they didn't want to put it in storage. It now takes up one entire room. They have literally filled the family room with their stuff. I can't even comprehend how they thought it would be okay to take over my parent's house the way they did.
In other news, I have been denied for a $500 loan from a tiny finance company which gives me little hope for moving out in the future. I didn't want to buy anything, I just wanted to build my credit up (because I am in default of my student loans like a large percentage of the US population). I am now in the process of saving as much as I can to take a CDL class so I can hopefully make more money (and maybe eventually begin paying back my loans again).
Yesterday was the 4th of July which meant birthday fireworks for me. The only problem was I had to work and I have been working six days a week so I was too exhausted to even drive out for fireworks. I took my dog to the beach and stopped on the way back to buy some smaller fireworks. Luckily the neighbors set some off every year so I had those to watch as well. I leave you now with the video I made for to celebrate the 4th:

Song of the Day: Cheerleader by OMI

Movie of the Day: Independence Day

Post-Wizard Con Raleigh

2015-03-30T23:02:00.001-04:00

Words cannot contain the joy you feel when you meet your heroes. During Wizard World Comic Con in Raleigh this year, I got to meet David Tennant, the tenth Doctor on Doctor Who and currently Alec Hardy on Broadchurch. David was the reason I fell hard for Doctor Who as well as other British shows like Broadchurch. In order to meet David, guests needed to have a special VIP pass. Since David was one of the few people I would pay money to meet, I felt the overwhelming need to pay the steep $400 to meet him. I used all of my savings to pay for the ticket and book a hotel room for three nights which after I paid for the ticket and saved out enough for gas, the hotel I ended up with was a cheap run down hotel about six miles away from the convention center.
Friday I had to work so I tried to focus on my job. When I finally got out, I tried to get to Raleigh as quickly as possible. The two and a half hour ride was longer than expected because of the gloomy rainy day but it was worth it when I pulled up to the convention center. Finding an open parking garage in the rain in the dark was almost impossible and I had to trek though the rain a few blocks to get back to the convention center but when I finally made it inside with my David Tennant VIP pass, the scene was breathtaking. The vendor floor was huge, as long as a football field and was filled wall to wall with comic books, toys, clothing, and signature tables.

I took a quick tour of the floor so I knew where I needed to be on Saturday and then checked into the hotel. Saturday morning my alarm went off super early and I ended up being an hour and a half early only to find lines already in place which made me thankful for the VIP pass which had the shortest line and thankful that I had stopped in the night before to pick up my pass. A man on the megaphone was trying to rouse the crowds but very few could understand what he was saying let alone hear him say it. Memories of the teacher from Charlie Brown kept popping in my head every time I could hear him.

I didn't have much cash left on me to spend and my VIP pass with David was for Sunday and not Saturday so I visited the Ian Somerhalder panel. I didn't know much about the guy but one of my coworkers loved him so I went so she could at least have a picture of him. Afterwards I browsed the artists tables and photographed cosplayers. All of the amazing Doctor Who cosplayers were either at the David Tennant panel or in line for his autograph and photo op but I did catch some superheroes.

I was also able to capture a few glimpses of stars from their signature lines. James Marsters played Spike on Buffy - the show that got me through high school. John Schneider played Bo Duke on the Dukes of Hazard and he was the first crush I could remember. My parents used to watch the show's reruns obsessively. Other stars that I couldn't get a good picture of included William Shatner (Captain Kirk from Star Trek), Kevin Sorbo (Hercules and the captain from Andromeda), Kyle Lowder (Brady Black from Days of Our Lives), Jason David Frank (Green/White/Red Power Ranger - my second crush) and Sean Astin (Rudy, and Sam from Lord of the Rings)

The lack of food choices led me to head outside in search of more and cheaper options. After walking three blocks North and getting soaked from the rain, I turned East and after only a block found the streets closed off due to Raleigh's Saint Patrick's Day Celebration. An entire festival just a block over with restaurants in the main plaza and food vendors lined down the street. By now I was freezing cold and soaked to the bone so naturally my first food purchase was fried Oreos. I purchased some overpriced blue crabs to make up for the unhealthiness of the first purchase and headed back to the car to eat and warm up. I headed back in to watch David's panel on the large screens outside of the ballroom. I finished out the day by going back to the hotel room to get rest before I had to wake early the next morning.

Sunday I was awake before the church crowd. I arrived at the convention center two hours before the doors opened but there were still about fifteen to twenty people in line before me for David's panel. When we were shuffled into the ballroom, I was upset to learn that although I had a VIP pass and was rejected from the Saturday panel because I had the wrong day pass, Sunday's panel had three rows of seating for VIPs but the rest was general public. I was pissed because I had waited in line the day before and told that since I didn't have a Saturday pass, I couldn't go in but for Sunday, anyone could go in.

The panel was amazing and David's personality is that of my dream guy. We finished the panel and had to rush downstairs to get in line for the photo op. We were ushered in like cattle but David took it like a champ and was very polite and charming. After the rush downstairs, we still had about two hours to wait for the autograph session to begin. I decided I wanted to wait with my fellow Whovians in line for autographs. We compared pictures from the photo op and talked about the show and how much we love David. He arrived early for autographs because he needed to make an earlier flight home. I contemplated having my autograph personalized (meaning my name or a personal message on it). I decided to have it personalized with my name and I'm so glad I did because when he said my full name in his Scottish accent, I don't think I've been any happier hearing my name spoken.

I finished out the weekend in a bliss but also a little saddened to be returning home. I'm not much a fan of the town I live in but my meeting with David will hopefully hold my peace of mind over for a while.

Song of the Day:

Vindicated by Dashboard Confessionals

Movie of the Day:

The Perks of Being A Wallflower

Wizard World Con Raleigh

2015-02-26T13:04:00.001-05:00

I am excited and slightly terrified because last night I purchased the VIP tickets to see David Tennant at the Wizard World Con in Raleigh in two weeks. I've been saving up to buy a motorcycle but when I found out David was going to be at the con in Raleigh I slapped down $400 without too much guilty thought afterward. I even called my place of work last night at ten pm so I could request the days off before I bought the tickets. Ususally when I make a high price purchase a voice in my head starts to tell me what a horrible idea it was and then I fell guilty but so far that girl has been beat down thankfully by the rest of my brain that loves David and Doctor Who. I've spent the day figuring how I will get there, where I will stay and shower, and what to take with me. I am on a very limited budget but I wanted to have the full experience which was why I forked over an extra two hundred dollars for a picture with and autograph of David.

My nervousness comes in because I have never been to such a large event and now I am also going to it by myself. I usually travel alone but I have never been to a place that will have so many people there as well. I try to find comfort in the fact that the last time I went to a large group gathering by myself was when I went to a Can't Stop the Serenity event in Norfolk, Virginia. I was living in New York then and I drove all the way down and spent the weekend camping at the state park so I wouldn't have to pay for a hotel. This gives me hope for my weekend trip to Raleigh. I only live two hours away which helps save gas money and if I become flat broke, I can always shower at a truck stop along the interstate. True devotion knows no bounds.

I can't wait to bring you pictures, videos, and storyies of my trip so keep up to date with me here or on my Twitter or Youtube channel.

Movie of the Day:

The Amazing Spider Man

Song of the Day:

Hit the Lights - Fucked Up Kids

Welcome to 2015

2015-02-18T20:36:00.002-05:00

My last post was a little depressing, I'll admit. I was saying goodbye to 2014 in hopes that 2015 would be a better year for me. My high hopes for the new year were well intentioned as I had a pay raise at work that meant I would be making just as much working fast food as I would've if I'd taken the security job I was offered further away. I was also registered to take a construction rehabilitation specialist class so that I could get a job in construction making enough to move out of my parents' house. Then February came.

My class that I had been looking forward to has now been postponed for two months because of low enrollment. To most people, this is not that big of a deal - two months, big whoop. To me though, two months means eight more weeks of getting paid nearly minimum wage and living with my parents. It means two extra months in between time when I can look for a construction job and finally move on with my life.

The second issue actually involved my family. My father had not seen a doctor for the past 15 years so when he finally started going at the beginning of the year, we knew his health would be bad. It turned out he had bursitis in his arm, cirrhosis of the liver, and diabetes. At the beginning of February, he started throwing up and eventually it lead to blood coming out of both ends of him. We took him to the hospital to find out where the bleeding was coming from and he went into a coma. After coming out of the coma, we found out he had cysts in his stomach that burst which caused the bleeding and when they gave him medicine to stop the bleeding, his ammonia levels were so high from the liver cirrhosis that the meds sent him into a coma. Now the issue is he needs a biopsy on his liver and they still don't have insurance so in the back of my mind I'm trying to calculate how much I'm going to have to work to help pay their bills because I know my parents and they will need financial assistance so they will be looking at me. Me that still has to live at home because I can't afford to move out. Me that had to trade cars with my brother so he could sell mine and I would have a newer model because I can't afford to fix a broken car or buy a new one. And Me, who had a $700 refund from the government that they kept because I am in default of my student loans. Yes I am fully qualified to hand out money.

Their health has made me rethink my own and in retrospect, I have now signed up for Obamacare, if for no other reason than I can't afford to end up paying hospital bills. I will now have a $30 health insurance bill that I really don't have a grasp on what exactly it covers.

The good news of 2015 has been the birth of my first nephew. Bryson is a healthy baby bow who at a month old can roll over and almost sit up on his own. He and his big sister have finally made me rethink my choice of having kids but now I need to find my forever guy to help. A hard to find mission if there ever was one, seeing as how I am a hardcore atheist living in the Christian occupied South. Maybe it won't be as bad though because the oldest woman in the world swears she has lived so long because she did so without a man. I honestly think I would take a loving husband over a long life any day.

Song of the day:

Bastille covering Miley Cyrus' We Can't Stop

Movie of the Day:

Kingsmen: The Secret Service

Here's to 2014

2014-12-19T13:06:00.001-05:00

2015 is upon us and now is the time to review the year. For me the year has been terrible. I still live at home with my parents, I still work a minimum wage job, and my financials are like ghosts in the wind. I was in my first car accident where I received a ticket and made my car insurance double. I have lived without air conditioning for an entire southern summer and I've lived without running water for the longest period of my life over a silly little water well pump. I have attempted dating through various websites and only found responses from weird and creepy guys or guys simply looking for a good shag. My high school and college friends are doing well with getting married, having babies, and losing a spectacular amount of weight. For some people they would get discouraged and fall into a deep depression. I won't lie that I don't have depressing moments where I lie awake at night racking my brain or crying myself to sleep but I have the uncanny ability to distract myself. My willpower to not think about my problems has allowed me to not become so depressed and focus on the good parts of my year.

The good of 2014 included finally getting my motorcycle license, getting a new puppy from the local shelter, and my brother got married. As you can see from the list, the bad outweighs the good but as I am writing this I continue to distract myself by having a slit screen and watching a television show. I think my dependence on television and video games has come from my need to distract myself from becoming depressed. I read books before I go to work so I can calm myself and take my mind off of my home problems. Luckily at work there are other people who have problems who also like to talk about their problems... extensively and in detail. Their problems also help me keep my mind off of my own home issues but sometimes I feel a little judgmental towards their problems like a cheating boyfriend and a suddenly out-of-the-closet lesbian best friend are not real problems compared to being a 26 year old living with parents and working a minimum wage job with $80,000 in student loan debt from an unused bachelor degree.

Every new year I make plans for the coming months. My goals for 2015 include getting a more financially stabilizing job, a motorcycle, and once again to move out of my parents house preferably out of the area that I currently live in. For now I will settle with getting through Christmas and waiting for the birth of my nephew.

Movie of the day:

Rise of the Guardians

Song of the day:

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas by A Great Big World

Spring means Gardening!

2014-04-17T10:39:00.004-04:00

Now that Spring is officially here, I am excited for one of my favorite hobbies which is gardening. To begin with I have found some tips for composting and what you can compost around the house. Composting is the process where you gather unwanted garbage that you would otherwise send to the dump and let it decompose so that you can use it as fertilizer in your garden. The link to the page is 100-things-you-can-compost. I honestly did not know that tampons, latex condoms, latex balloons, or the contents of your vacuum cleaner can all be composted. If you are an avid gardener or are just starting out, this article is a must read for anyone interested in composting - if nothing else, this how much money you will save on fertilizer simply from throwing your garbage into a separate bin.

Something else to consider if you live in a limited area is container gardening. Something like this:

This is perfect if you don't have a big yard/garden.

The verticle or hanging garden can be built out of pvc gutters and this site hanging-gutter-garden shows you how along with everything you will need to build it. Wooden pallets can be used to build raised garden beds as well as cinder blocks. A perk of raised garden beds is that weeds are less likely to overtake your garden which has been my downfall the past couple of years. This site 20-creative-ways-pallets-in-your-garden/ shows your some really awesome ways to use pallets in your garden and for cinder block gardening, have a look at this:

If you would rather, you can always stick with potted plants for your garden but you can also go DIY with that and use old containers as pots. Coffee cans, milk jugs, juice containers, yogurt cups, and pretty much everything else that holds a liquid substance can be used to grow plants (just remember to poke a couple holes for water).

Another tip is to use hay underneath pumpkins, squash, and melons to keep them from rotting when they touch the soil.
Pine needles can be used as mulch in a garden as nothing can grow through it.
Pine cones and/or packing peanuts can be used to fill the bottom of large pots to cut the weight and improve drainage.
Baking soda can be placed around the outside of your garden because nothing will grow in it which allows you to keep weeds and grass from invading your garden.
A simple cheap laundry basket can be used to grow potatoes.
A plastic tote can be used as a compost bin.
Milk jugs, water bottles, and soda bottles can be used to irrigate plants in your garden if you cut off the bottom and place it upside down in the ground/pot next to your plants so that it drains like a funnel.
You can plant the top of a pineapple in a pot and another pineapple will grow from it.
Tomato plants can be grown in garbage bags.
Vinegar can be used to kill your weeds on walkways and around the edge of gardens but don't use it near your plants (and it is better for the environment than Roundup). For in the garden, smother weeds with newspaper.

The best part about gardening is that you have the fruits of your labor, no pun intended, that you can eat later as part of a healthy diet. Strawberries, melons, tomatoes, and so many others are fairly easy to grow in your own backyard so get out there and play in the dirt for a while. At the very least you can say you spent some time outside.

Song of the day: Doctor Who Theme metal version

Movie of the day: The King's Speech

Another Job Down

2014-03-29T19:34:00.000-04:00

When I first started this blog, I described myself as an unsuccessful college student because although I have a bachelor degree I have yet to use it. When I moved to North Carolina, I was excited because there was supposed to be a lot more jobs. My first job down here was as a waitress and I left that because I didn't like working all night long, only getting paid $2.15/hr and earning tips that only amounted to $15-$20 a night. I went to work as a pizza delivery driver and that was when I broke my pink car.
Some of you might know that when I first went to college, my parents bought me a Dodge Neon and painted it pink for me. This was my dream car as a teenager and I always wanted my first car to be hot pink so that was what my dad painted it for me. I've had that car for the past 8 years but while I was out on a delivery one night, I took off from an intersection and heard a very loud grinding noise by my rear tire. As it turns out, the frame of the pink car had broke. This was the first time I had ever heard of this happening and I was completely lost because I don't know a lot about cars but I know that the frame is like a skeleton but when it brakes it cannot be put back together. I was able to use my parent's vehicle for work until I was able to save up enough to buy another neon. This neon was fun because it was a manual so I was having a blast driving around all the time for work and I finally had enough power to spin the tires.
Last weekend I was working and it was raining really hard. I was on my way back from a delivery when I hit a pool of water in the parking lot. The car instantly started rattling in the engine. I couldn't see the water at first because it was raining so hard but it must have been at least knee deep because when the car hit the water, the main splash was up over the hood and the spray was over top of the car.
Now I am working with my brother to remove the engine from the pink car to put in the blue car and I have spent my entire savings on car parts. I haven't worked since the night I broke the car but now I have been job searching again to no avail. I've applied to a security firm and taken the security guard training class so now I am waiting for that but I've also started working towards setting up my own photography business. With photography, I am pretty good at light painting, landscapes, and adult portraits but I suck at kids and baby portrait.

movie of the day: Frozen

song of the day: Pollyanna Rose by Billy Burke

Doctor Who

2013-12-22T21:59:00.002-05:00

My new interest has sort of hit me like when you accidentally run into a wall. I watched the first season of Doctor Who on Netflix somewhere around a year ago but it interested me enough to watch all of the Torchwood episodes. At the time, I really liked Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and I couldn't really picture David Tennant as the same character so I didn't watch much of the second season or beyond. I don't remember how exactly but somehow I heard about the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who was coming up and BBC America was going to be running an entire week of Doctor Who to prepare for it. I loved the first season so I said what the heck. I started getting up super early in the morning the first day the marathon was on and I watched a couple episodes of David as the Doctor and I kinda liked him so the next day I returned and Matt Smith was the Doctor. I watched a couple of his episodes before I went to work that day and then sometime during the day I decided I would go back to Netflix (using a different email so I could do a free trial) and watch all of the episodes from season two on. Of course after I decided to do this I ended up having to work a second job all the way up to the day of the 50th anniversary. I got home from work at about 10 that night and I stayed up until 1 am just to see the anniversary episode. Of course after watching that I was hooked.
I have now spent every night watching at least one episode no matter how tired I am because I am determined to finish season 6 before the Christmas episode which is only three days away (season 7 isn't on Netflix). I want to get used to Matt Smith being the Doctor so that I can have the proper reaction when he regenerates. I know I will learn to like him because after continuing past season 1, I have fallen in love with David Tennant. The episode where he regenerates was a spoiler for me because I watched it on BBC America before I went through the entire couple of seasons with him as the Doctor so now I don't want that to happen with Matt Smith.

As usual though, my nerdyness has taken over me and gotten out of control. In the past couple of weeks since the 50th anniversary episode aired, I have bought two Doctor Who books, two single comics, a full comic book, and a 7 pack set of Doctor Who themed socks. I am also trying to save up $300 so that I can buy the dvd set online. I can't wait until XCON 2014 (Myrtle Beach's comic book convention) because this past year they had a Dalek, a Tardis, and sooo many Doctors; now I can fully appreciate the experience.
Now you know my latest addiction, I will leave you with this: Watch Doctor Who. You can start from the first season in 2005 so that the special effects are better than the original series and watch until you get to "Are you my Mommy?" because I think that is the episode that accelerates your love for the show. After you have caught up, go back and watch the original series (this is my plan) because I think the plot lines, characters, and overall story will make more sense.

Instead of a movie of the day I have a clip of the day. This is a clip in between season 1 and 2 of Doctor Who where the Doctor has regenerated with Rose in the Tardis:

Song of the day: Say Something by A Great Big World feat. Christina Aguilera

Photography and Where's George as a Hobby

2013-09-27T11:17:00.004-04:00

Hobby: Something to take our minds off real life.

      Over my twenty five years of life I have picked up many hobbies. When I was in grade school, I collected rocks and minerals. I then moved to collecting comic books, dvds, and coins. When I was a kid I loved to ride my bicycle and this has continued into adulthood but now I've made a hobby out of adding upgrades and attachments to my bike. My most recent hobby has become photography and more specifically light painting photography.
      I know photography is a common hobby among the young and old but I never realized how many elderly people were really into it until I moved to a coastal community where many people came to retire. I am enrolled in a photography class at the local community college and the majority of the class is above the age of 50. I am the only person under the age of 30 in the class and this surprised me until I saw a picture in the local newspaper about a photography club that meets in town. There were about a dozen people in the picture showing off their award winning photographs and all of the people had white hair (ie they were definitely retirement age). I noticed that all of the older people did either landscape photography or wildlife photography. In my class now, the older people want to do landscape photography and the "middle-aged" people want to do portrait photography. As a youngster in this group, I am completely beside myself. I want to do something different that other people haven't thought of or really seen that much of.
      I came across light painting when I first got my camera and I was looking up all that it could do. I was watching Youtube videos (which is how I learn to do most things anymore) when I came across a man named Wes Whaley who was in a video doing a pregnancy portrait using light painting to do something different than the usual 'pregnant woman posing' picture. I fell in love. This is what I wanted to do. I found some more graffiti looking pictures taken using the light painting technique and I've used those to help get me started. I bought a couple different flashlights at Walmart and Home Depot and most nights I go outside after dark simply to mess around to see what kind of effect I can get out of each flashlight and each mixture of different flashlights together. This is what I've come up with so far:

Now I work as a waitress at a Waffle House and we work off of tips. My next new hobby came from a one dollar bill I received as a tip. I had a stamp on it that said "Track me to see where I've been www.wheresgeorge.com" I was curious about the stamp so I checked out the website (hoping my virus software would protect my computer from any unwanted viruses or hackers). I was fascinated by the ability to track a piece of money all over the world. I tracked my bill to Ohio and California. I was hooked. I looked up some videos on Youtube (of course) about Where's George and found that thousands of people track these bills and there are actually a lot of people who stamp every bill they receive and register it on the website so that the bill can be tracked later. My curiosity grew until I marked a few bills of my own, registered them, and sent them out into the world. My intention is to forget about it for a while until I receive an email that a bill has been tracked or I receive another bill with a stamp on it because I think it is in the excitement of not knowing when you will find one or when someone will track a bill you sent out that really catches peoples attention as well as seeing how far away a bill has traveled that now sits in your wallet. My challenge to you is to go to the website next time you find a bill stamped www.wheresgeorge.com and I promise the site is not a plethora of viruses.

Movie Reviews: Star Trek Into Darkness

2013-05-16T18:49:00.002-04:00

Today I went to the theater to see Star Trek Into Darkness. I was lucky enough to be able to watch it a day earlier than the national release in the US. I've seen most of the other movies in the Star Trek series and I think the other movies allowed me to appreciate this movie even more so if you haven't watch Star Trek The Wrath of Khan, I would advise you to do that before going to see this movie because there are many similarities and even a reference to it. I think JJ Abrams did a really good job with this movie, he took the Wrath of Khan and updated it to flow with the newest movie. All of the acting was very well done and the plot/storyline was really well written. Most of the best jokes were given to Scotty and they are mostly one-liners. I loved the switch that occurred from the Wrath of Khan to Into Darkness with respect to a Spock/Kirk scene that really shows how much changed since Nero changed history. All in all, the movie was really good, I laughed, I cried, I waited to see who would live and who would die. There were a couple parts of the movie where I had to remind myself that JJ Abrams was directing instead of Joss Whedon. Not only were some of the camera directions similar but JJ started pulling a Joss stunt where he likes to kill main characters - not to spoil anything but you will have to watch the movie to see what I mean. Overall, I highly recommend this movie for your summer entertainment (although I did prefer Iron Man 3). This movie should not disappoint the Trek fans.

Cue trailer:

Happy Mothers Day! and Preview Agents of SHIELD

2013-05-12T12:47:00.002-04:00

      I hope everyone is enjoying their Mothers Day with a mom, wife, daughter, sister, etc. I didn't have much money to buy my mom anything so my genius plan was to bake her a cake. First let me mention I have never baked a cake before. Now that being said, the baking part was no problem. My problems came when I first started to decorate the cake with frosting. The frosting was a little cup of Pillsbury frosting that I got at Walmart and it said to give it some flavor, you could mix it with Cool-Aid. I tried a little frosting mixture first to see how it tasted. It was horrible. It was okay for the first couple of seconds but the sour hit you like a sideswipe with a bus. I didn't want to waste the frosting though so I put it towards the center of the cake and used the un-sour frosting to cover the rest of the cake. This way my mom will enjoy the cake when she starts at the edges and then when she gets to the center it will be a BAM moment.
      This weekend was also the start of Bike Week in Myrtle Beach, SC. My parents went and when they tried to get me to go with them I gave the excuse that there wasn't anyone there that was even remotely close to my age. When they got back, the let me know that it was a lot of fun and I should've went down with them. After a short inquiry, I learned they had spent the day bar hopping and riding on the motorcycle with 11 other people. That all sounded fine until I learned that they were one of the youngest people in the group. I had the sound of brakes squealing inside my head. They really wanted me to spend my weekend hanging out with geriatrics? If they were the youngest, I would look like an infant. Absolutely not. I've spent the remainder of my weekend desperate to find people my age in my area to see what they do on the weekends.

      In other news, SHIELD has a new promotion video out on Youtube. You can view it here:

I am really excited about this show. I loved Agent Coulson and to have him back is simply awesome but to have him back in a television show instead of a movie, I think, is spectacular because we will get more of him than just a two hour storyline. I really liked the Avengers movie and I am a huge fan of Joss Whedon (I grew up on Buffy) so I can honestly say I have never been so excited for a show that hasn't even aired yet.

Happy Mothers Day Everyone!!

Movie Reviews: Iron Man 3

2013-05-05T22:14:00.001-04:00

      I went to a special 9pm screening of Iron Man 3 on Thursday May 2nd and I got to see it in 3D. I loved the movie. I was a little worried about what direction the movie would take in a post-Avengers world but I think the writers did a very good job making a story realistic after the revelation of god-like aliens and an alien invasion. I think they did a really good job giving Tony Stark PTSD after everything he went through in New York and it helped the storyline make sense with him not simply calling his Avenger friends for help. I loved watching Tony Stark deal with PTSD because he is such a narcissist, this was an interesting way to delve more into the character. I really liked the interaction between Tony and Harley, a kid who shows up with sarcasm of his own to help Tony when he needs it. Usually kid sidekicks are annoying and wine a lot but Harley was a fun annoying because he annoyed Tony and Tony would say things to the kid that most adults wouldn't. The interaction was fun for me as a viewer. I found the movie had equal parts of humor, action, and romance but the Shane Black, the director made it feel more like a Bruce Willis is Tony Stark Die Hard Iron Man movie. I think Jon Favreau did a better job directing the first Iron Man. One part of the movie that will inevitably be a hot topic among hard core Iron Man comic fans is the portrayal of Mandarin. I really loved Ben Kingsley's Mandarin but I hadn't seen him in comic form. I do know that the movie version of the character needed to be more realistic and that is why he was changed but he has become one of my favorite movie villains.
      The scene at the end of the credits is also worth mentioning. I enjoyed it and found it comedic even though it wasn't a preview of the next movie in the series coming out. I don't want to give any spoilers but another Marvel character joins Tony Stark and the two have worked together in The Avengers movie.

      I hope you all watch Iron Man 3 in theaters and enjoy.

Movie Themed Bedroom

2013-03-29T15:33:00.003-04:00

There are very few good things about a housefire but the one thing I have enjoyed is decorating my new bedroom. To honor the filmmaking industry of North Carolina, I came up with the idea of doing a movie theme with the colors red and a "gunmetal" grey on the walls. I got most of my decorations from Cracker Barrel and one from Hobby Lobby. I found a Love Actually poster at a flea market and a Repo! The Genetic Opera poster at the local comic shop. The poster Done The Impossible is from Amazon because it was less than $2. I even have a pair of Harry Potter 3D glasses from the last movie and a little Joss Whedon next to my tv.
I love movies so I thought a movie themed room would fit perfectly. I collect movies the way nerds collect comic books and jocks collect trophies. I used to have a bookshelf that I emptied off to put all my dvds on and I did have close to 300 dvds. One of the things I am most passionate about is movies because like books, they allow you to escape reality if only for an hour and a half. They have the ability to teach kids about right and wrong, good and bad, and that life can suck sometimes but you have to bounce back. I don't have a favorite genre because I love almost everything from Harry Potter and Star Wars to Taken and The A-Team to Dear John and PS I Love You to The Incredibles and Finding Nemo to It's a Wonderful Life and Singing in the Rain. I have found that the more a movie includes a good family dynamic (whether blood relatives or not) I will usually enjoy it. My most favorite movies involve a strong father daughter relationship which might say something about my own. Moving on, my movie theme - here it is:

Movie of the Day: This is 40

Song of the Day: The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows by Brand New

Teen Television Shows: Then and Now

2013-03-21T16:10:00.001-04:00

      I've been skipping through the channels lately around 8pm looking for a good teenage drama tv show that would remind me of my teenage years. I was disgusted at almost everything that is aimed at teen viewers. Other than Switched at Birth, I really couldn't find anything good that I would want to watch if I was a teenager. I remember growing up on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, 7th Heaven, Dawson's Creek, Charmed, and One Tree Hill. There was a short lived show called Life Unexpected that reminded me what good television could be but it was cancelled after its second season. Pretty Little Liars, Greek, The Lying Game, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager are all teen shows but as an adult (and showing my age) I wouldn't want my teen watching a tv show that makes it look okay and easy to be a pregnant teen. I don't really like the idea of any teen tv show that has lying and liars in the title - I think teens have enough problems with lying without tv shows telling them that it is okay. As for Greek, I didn't really like sororities or fraternities in college so that kind of skews my view of the show.
      I remember how excited fans of Buffy and Angel got over the characters, the actors who portrayed them, and the creator Joss Whedon. Now Joss Whedon is a commonplace name after The Avengers but he was already well known and well respected by fans of Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse. The shows that are aimed toward teenagers these days don't give them the same passion to follow the stars or the creators and the characters don't grab your heart from the first show. Anymore, the looks of the character is more important than how the actor portrays the character. It seems like the shows are trying to pick no name actors and actresses with no experience making the show a stepping stone to bigger and better jobs. The only problem is the actors they are picking to portray the characters are not good. Buffy casted people who had been on soap operas where filming was almost every day all week all year. Actors these days don't have the opportunity to come out on a soap and gain experience. They gain experience by being awful in a position that should've been a good story.
      I miss caring about characters like they were family. I started watching NCIS, Castle, and Grey's Anatomy after high school (when all the good shows ended) and they appealed to my adult side but they still had characters that captured my attention and my heart from the very first episode. Very few new shows capture my attention these days but I've found Revolution, Arrow, and 1600 Penn to begin filling the gap between good character driven television and mind numbing cliche television (although even that is better than reality tv shows with the exception of The Biggest Loser which actually helps people). Even when I was a teen, the most influential show I watched was The West Wing. I think teenagers these days need a show like that that gets them engaged with current issues and makes them care about something other than themselves. In most of the teen shows on the CW or ABC Family, the characters all seem winy and they complain about every single thing bad that happens to them. We need more characters like Buffy who instead of bitching and moaning, actually do something productive.

As a side note: Joss Whedon is a part of making the new show SHIELD so I guess there is still hope for the human race.

Movie of the Day: Abduction (yes it's the Werewolf from Twilight but shut up cuz it's a good movie)

Song of the Day: Before My Time by J. Ralph feat. Scarlett Johansson and Joshua Bell

The Hollow Oak

2013-03-18T18:35:00.002-04:00

I have finally gotten settled in the new place and by that I mean I actually have furniture. I am still missing my books, movies, and cds but I can live without those for a while. This past week I got a job working as crew for an independent film called The Hollow Oak. It is a horror movie about a girl who goes to a family campground with her mother, makes a bunch of new friends, and is then terrorized by a ghost. I spent the entire week living out of a camper with the cast and crew and working 16 hour days. This was my first opportunity to work on a film set and I really enjoyed my time. I learned a lot about how a film is made and all of the jobs associated with making a movie.
The film has taken on a curse of its own though. The main character has already been recast five times and is in the process of being recast again. Almost the entire cast and crew were replaced and everything had to be refilmed. On my last day working, the lead and her character's boyfriend both quit so now they have to be recast and everything has to be refilmed yet again. The director was in tears and the film is supposed to be finished by the end of May. Honestly, I don't see the film being finished in time. I enjoyed my time on set but I am weary of working with the people again.

On to a happier note, my brother, his fiance, and my niece visited over St. Patrick's Day weekend. My parents and I were trying to convince my soon-to-be sister in law to move down to North Carolina. We took them to Margarittaville and Ocean Isle Beach. They found some really nice sea shells and they really enjoyed the nice weather. We took them to a fun center where we all played mini golf, pool, and arcade games. I think we finally convinced her but now we just have to wait for my brother to gain some experience in his job so that he can move without any economic problems.
In my last post I crapped on the Canon T3i/600d because mine froze and wouldn't turn on at all. I have no idea what the problem was but after three days of sitting and doing nothing it simply turned on without a problem. I'm still cautious about using Magic Lantern on it now but it has been running fine since it's reincarnation.

Movie of the Day: Atlas Shrugged

Song of the Day: I Don't Wanna Be by Gavin DeGraw

Canon T3i 600d Review

2013-03-02T16:20:00.001-05:00

      Well my beloved T3i has 'shit the bed' so to speak. It was only two months old, I got it for Christmas and I can't believe it stopped working. So here is what happened:
      I was filming a Youtube video but I wanted more space on my memory card so I took the sd card out of the camera to put in my computer. I emptied everything off of the card and placed it back in the camera. I tried to turn the camera back on and I got nothing. Even the LED light doesn't come on even when I take the battery out. I've recharged the battery, tried another sd card, cleaned the battery connectors, removed the battery pack, downloaded Canon's origional firmware onto the sd card, downloaded a led blinking test which didn't work, I downloaded a startup logger that didn't work, and checked the card slot to make sure none of the pins were bent or broke.
      I've been checking online and the camera not turning on is a common problem. I wish now that I had done more research and went with my initial choice of a Panasonic Lumix GH2 but I chose the Canon T3i because it was cheaper and more easily accessible (even Walmart sells it) where the GH2 I would've had to buy exclusively online. I've had a Canon camcorder for almost two years and I love the little thing so I figured Canon would be a good brand to buy. I couldn't have been more wrong. Now I have a very expensive paper weight.
      My overall view: good camera if you can afford $700 every two months otherwise choose a different brand of cameras.

Movie Review: Mama and Warm Bodies Preview

2013-02-16T21:56:00.001-05:00

I am finally moved in, well, with the exception of furniture and clothes. Okay so I have a bag of clothes, a tv, an Xbox, a stereo, and a sleeping bag so I am set. Since my parents are letting me live with them, I have been helping them fix up the house they bought. The house they paid cash for was a repo so naturally it needed a lot of work. I ripped out all of the carpeting except for my bedroom, I painted four rooms, and I helped lay laminate wood flooring in two rooms. Needless to say I've been pretty busy. I just came up to visit my brother and get some more clothes a couple of days ago. The climate difference is astonishing. In the middle of January in North Carolina is around 65-70 degrees and it is cold if it drops into the 50s. I come back up to New York and anything over 45 degrees is a heatwave. The good thing has been the snow. I've been able to take quite a few steel wool pictures. If you don't know what they are, they look like this:

One of the first things I like to do in a new town is go to the local movie theater to see a movie. I like to see how theaters differ based on location. The first movie I went to see in my new town was Mama. It is a horror film about two orphans who are raised by a ghost. When they are found in a cabin, they are sent to live with their uncle and his rockstar-wannabe wife. The basic 'BOO' scenes are included with more family drama than a usual horror film but that might be the result of it being rated PG-13. I thought the movie was okay but it was not terrorizing. I don't think I would take a thirteen year old to go see it because there are a few scenes that make you jump. This movie is the product of a drunk one night stand between The Messangers and The Grudge. Aside from the creepy 'mama' I found the children to be fairly creepy. As they say, "pound for pound, Ghost children are the creepiest." Of course these children were not ghosts but when they are first found in the cabin, it is difficult to tell what they are exactly. The movie starts out really spectacularly but I won't spoil anything for you. The ending I thought was pretty good for the movie's pace and storyline. Overall I would say if you are in the mood for a horror movie that isn't going to give you nightmares for the next year then this is the movie for you.
A movie I really want to go see is Warm Bodies. It is a new take on zombie movies (and in my opinion, it kinda sounds like a better love story than Twilight). It is supposed to be about a zombie kid who falls in love with a human girl and loving her starts to turn him back human. I think this is an ingenious idea but I never would've thought it could work. Just the previews have made me change my mind. I love the new take on an old idea.

Movie of the day: Warm Bodies

Song of the day: Comes and Goes (In Waves) by Greg Laswell

Do you like to travel? I used to.

2013-01-14T20:54:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year everyone!

     What happens when you live with your parents and their house burns down? You end up spending three months bouncing between friends and family residences and hotels. I used to love to travel and spend the night in a hotel. Now I am so sick of spending almost every moment with other people. I miss my sanctuary of a bedroom. I have been looking for an apartment but with all of my college loans, I really don't have enough money to pay for an apartment too. My parents have been looking at houses in North Carolina and are about two weeks away from having a house just North of Myrtle Beach. My mom is almost begging me to stay with her while my father makes me feel like it would be better if I lived in my car. I know I would enjoy the change in scenery and living that close to the ocean I think would motivate me to exercise more. I can knowingly tell you that eating out is not good for you no matter where you eat. I may not have a scale but I can feel the extra weight.
      One of my many Christmas presents this year was a Canon T3i. I mention this because I found that it is a good source for exercising. When I visited the beaches in North Carolina, I was running around like a crazy person taking pictures. Just from walking on the beach for a little while, I can feel my breathing increasing. I love it. I know when I exercise I feel better afterwards and I always have a better nights sleep after exercising.

      Everyone makes New Year's resolutions and only 8% of people succeed in their resolutions. Aside from making a resolution to being one of the people who succeed in their resolutions, my resolution is to eat healthier. My thought process goes that if I eat healthier, I will have more energy to exercise and if I exercise more, I will be able to lose weight. This being said, I will check back in at the end of the year to see how I've done.

For now I will say Zai Jien which I believe is Mandarin for 'see you soon.'

Movie of the day: Les Miserables

Song of the day: Better Dig Two by The Band Perry

Movie Reviews: Playing for Keeps

2012-12-14T12:21:00.001-05:00

      I recently went to the theater to see Playing for Keeps and I was completely disappointed. When I went in, I was expecting a really good romantic family film. The story had promise in the teasers but after watching the film I think the teaser was the best thing about the movie. If you watch the teaser you will know what's going to happen in the movie. The whole 2 hour movie was far too long and could've been told in less than an hour. It was completely drawn out and predictable. I thought with all of the big name stars in the movie it would be really good but it left me wondering why so many stars lowered themselves for such a terrible movie. My advice, wait to watch it until it is in the $5 bin at Walmart and don't worry because it won't be long until it's there.
      In other movie news, the Hobbit came out at midnight. So far I've heard it's good so I might go watch it tonight. Also, Les Miserables comes out on Christmas and no other movie has had me so excited (since The Avengers). I loved the book in high school and I actually have the Liam Neeson version of it so I am really excited about watching a version where they were filming live action singing.
      The final movie I am excited about (for now at least) is Promised Land. I worked security for the hydrolic fracking gas companies. I know a little about the process and from working with the companies I realized that I actually know more than the general public knows about the process. I worked for Shell and I know that they are one of the better companies who use a plethora of safety precautions to make sure safety is the number one priority. That being said, I think there are a lot of other companies who are only out for the money which is why spills and contaminations happen. If I were a landowner, I highly recommend doing research on the company wanting to lease the land; some are good but others are really bad.

Movie of the Day: The Santa Clause

Song of the Day: Thinking 'Bout Something by Hanson