i think i need a new laptop...again

For the past few days, my laptop has been super laggy. Like, it would take five minutes just to switch to a new tab, and don't even get me started on how long it took to just scroll down a page! I normally have pretty good patience when easily occupied, but it was ridiculous taking an hour trying to do anything on my laptop.

I don't know what's wrong. I don't think it's because I only have around 40GB of space left on my hard drive, because it's been that low for a while now, so I'm wondering if it's because of something I recently downloaded. Or if it could be because of my antivirus software is going to expire soon and is screwing with my laptop as a result to renew itself.

Or, is it because my laptop is getting old? How long do most laptop's last? My last laptop lasted for only two years, but I now it was short-lived because I kept on dropping it off of my bed in the beginning and eventually ruined part of the pieces that held the laptop together. That, and I downloaded too many things carelessly. 

I would like to say that I've treated my current laptop with better care--definitely haven't dropped it off of my bed, that's for sure--so I'm pretty sure that whatever's causing this drastic lag is an internal problem, which is throwing me for a total loop. I don't want to have to delete everything off of my laptop to see if there was a problem internally because I have a shitload of things on my laptop. Like the packrat I am in real life, I am also a digital packrat. :\

I dunno. If this lagging problem doesn't stop itself before school starts (the lag has gotten less yesterday and today), then I'll be forced to do a complete hardware cleanup. D:

But yeah, that's the main reason why I haven't been posting lately. That, and I haven't been doing anything much, lol. My friends and I had another fancy get together on Thursday, but other than that, I haven't been doing much besides reading fanfic, books, and watching movies. 

I do have plans for New Year's Eve with my sis and friends, so there's that. :)

Dusty Reads: Divergent (Divergent #1) by Veronica Roth

Dusty Reads is a weekly post featuring a book that has been sitting unread on my home shelf for some time.

Title: Divergent (Divergent #1)
Author: Veronica Roth
Pages: 478
Publication: April 25, 2011
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books
Summary taken from goodreads:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. 

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

I've been putting this trilogy off because of many reasons, lol. For one, even before its publication, I'd heard nothing but praise for this book, so I had a lot of expectations. The fact that DIVERGENT was the first book in a trilogy was another reason why I waited to read it; I didn't want to be stuck with a cliffhanger at the end and have to wait a year to read the sequel and most likely losing interest in the trilogy because of the long wait period in between books. Plus, the page count. Even in my senior year, I didn't have enough time to read such thick books. Now that I'm in college, I really no time to read anything that long unless it pertains to class.

But, I already own all three books in the trilogy, so there goes one of my main reasons for not reading this book yet. :P Plus, the movie's coming out next year, so I think it's time to finally start reading the trilogy. I feel like the movie is going to be like THE HUNGER GAMES, I'd understand the movie more if I had read the book first. I saw the trailer during CATCHING FIRE, and it looked really good, so I'm really excited to read this trilogy. 

Winter Break is in a few weeks. Hopefully I'll get around to at least reading DIVERGENT before the break's over. Four weeks should be enough time, right? :P

tis the day to celebrate and relax

To those that celebrate...

Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you're having fun and relaxing with your friends and family. :) Christmas has never been that big of a deal in my family, but we still try to hangout and do stuff together besides giving each other presents, lol. 

But yeah, have a nice holiday!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Bringing Me

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by the Broke and Bookish.

I'm so behind on so many series that it's ridiculous, so if anyone could give me these books, that would be awesome. :D

Top Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Bringing Me:

Tumblr Pics 43

It has been unseasonably warm these past few weeks. It has not felt like proper winter at all this year, now that I think about it, especially with the rain these past few days. However, my weather app tells me that we're actually going to be in the 50's this week, so maybe I'll actually be able to wear my anoraks and boots soon. :P 

Weekly Haul (80)

I'm excited to read this book! I've been interested ever since I read the summary ages ago!

From HarlequinTeen:

Ink by Amanda Sun

Kpop Appreciation Post: VIXX, Phantom, Jaejoong

It's been a few months since I've done one of these posts. That's mainly because I haven't been on YouTube for quite a while, busy with college and whatnot. But the semester's over, so I'm slowly working my way through all of my subscriptions. I feel like I'll never be up to date with YouTube, but it's okay. I've already resigned myself to having an overflowing inbox of subscription notifications til the end of time. :P

These are some music videos that have caught my attention lately. I think most of these were released last month, so they're not that old. I just couldn't not mention them, lol.

First is VIXX's song "Voodoo Doll"! Oh man, where do I begin? This music video is dark and gory and I love it! I love how whenever VIXX goes back to dark songs, they get darker and darker with each comeback, and "Voodoo" is their most disturbing yet. Just watch it for yourself! Caution for the queasy though.

The song is catchy, not as catchy as "hyde" but still enough to get you bopping your head along with the song, which seems inappropriate if you're watching the mv, lol. In addition, the song gets better each time you listen to it, at least for me. :)

I love the atmosphere in the mv. The scenery really fits the song along with the costumes and effects. Totally love the black blood splatters every time they get stabbed in the heart and how the props fit the song/dance, which is also really awesome.

Then there's Phantom's new song, "New Era" featuring Navi. Phantom never fails to produce really awesome songs. Like most of their songs, their songs manage to have this perfect blend of singing and rap that fits the tempo of the song. In addition, they featured Navi in here, so hearing them with a female voice was different, but her since her voice fit so well with the song that I immediately liked it.

Watch it yourself! Although, BEWARE, this mv is not suitable for young children.

If you watched the mv, you'd notice the many scantily clad bodies and the super flexible pole dancer. well, according to the comments, the pole dancer is actually a guy, which kind of blew my mind when I first read about it. There's nothing wrong with male pole dancers, but damn, I totally thought he was a woman!

I do have a problem with the music video and message of the song. They both basically objectify women, and that's something I do not approve.

They also have a naked version of the song, which I was definitely not expecting them to release, what with Korea being all conservative. I guess I shouldn't be that shocked though, since the original mv basically had naked women already in it. :P

I love Jaejoong's voice, and I love it when he does rock songs, so "Just Another Girl" is an automatic fav of mine. :)

 

I swear, this guy does not age. XD He still looks as ethereally pretty with nice arms as he ever did, lol. But yeah, I just like this song; the tone of it and his voice go well together, as expected.

The music video wasn't that interesting compared the others mentioned in this post, but I liked it enough. Crashing, exploding things are always interesting to watch in slo-mo. :P And sleeveless Jaejoong is never a bad thing.

And that's all for now, because while I'm trying to catch up on my Kpop subscriptions, I'm also spread out catching up on reading books, reading manga, reading fanfics, watching movies, and watching TV shows in addition to hanging out and catching up with my friends.

Book Review: Soul Thief (The Demon Trappers #2) by Jana Oliver

Title: Soul Thief (The Demon Trappers #2)
Author: Jana Oliver
Pages: 339
Publication: August 30, 2011
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Summary taken from goodreads:

Riley Blackthorne is beginning to learn that there are worse things than death by demon. And love is just one of them… 

Seventeen-year-old Riley has about had it up to here. After the devastating battle at the Tabernacle, trappers are dead and injured, her boyfriend Simon is gravely injured, and now her beloved late father's been illegally poached from his grave by a very powerful necromancer. As if that's not enough, there's Ori, one sizzling hot freelance demon hunter who's made himself Riley's unofficial body guard, and Beck, a super over-protective "friend" who acts more like a grouchy granddad. With all the hassles, Riley's almost ready to leave Atlanta altogether. 

But as Atlanta's demon count increases, the Vatican finally sends its own Demon Hunters to take care of the city's "little" problem, and pandemonium breaks loose. Only Riley knows that she might be the center of Hell's attention: an extremely powerful Grade 5 demon is stalking her, and her luck can't last forever… 

Soul Thief is Book Two in Jana Oliver's bestselling young adult series, Demon Trappers.

3.5 STARS - I LIKED IT

MY REVIEW:

I like Riley. She might be stubborn and make many mistakes, but she's human, and she always try to do things right. But life just can't give her a break.

The other characters also make this series interesting. You've got some unlikable characters that irritate the hell out of you because of their attitude, and you've got some mysterious characters that you're not sure if you should like or continue rooting for someone else. Then you've got Beck, who is as equally stubborn as Riley as he is protective of her, until the end of the book when he finds out what she did.

I thought that things were bad in the end of THE DEMON TRAPPER'S DAUGHTER, but the last 20 pages of SOUL THIEF managed to prove me wrong as shit really hit the fan. Although it was more of a climax of all of the bad things that had built up throughout the whole book.

I'm really interested in seeing how things turn out in the next book.

i'm slightly sick :/

Nothing like being slightly sick to start off Winter Break. -__-"

Shelle came home on Friday with a cough, which turned into the flu the next day. Of course, because we hung out for a long while on Saturday after my last final was over and before Shelle had hit the brunt of the flu (we just thought she was developing a cold), I had to develop a cough on Monday. And it wasn't just me.

My mom and bro also got sick. My bro definitely caught the flu. Not surprising since he has the worst immune system ever. My mom's sick, too, judging by her coughs and how tired she gets. I think she has the flu, too, but she hasn't really said anything. 

Luckily for me, I just have a cough and mild fever. I think my fever's passed since I'm not fluctuating from too hot to too cold anymore today, so I just have an annoying cough along with the constant urge in the back of my throat to hurl. Yeah, that's a recent development. -__-

But yeah, I haven't felt like doing much these past few days because I've been so tired. That might be because I still haven't been getting enough sleep, which I will get into in a bit, and also because of the medicine making me sleepy, except for at night when I actually welcome its effects drowsy, to want to do anything. :\

Seriously, I tried going to bed early around 11 Monday night, but I woke up around one and couldn't go back to sleep until around five. I guess my body thought that I was taking a nap and woke up after a few hours instead of letting me get more than six hours of sleep. -__-"

But my lack of sleep might also be because of my current sleeping position. After my last final on Saturday, I went out for lunch with Cam to celebrate the end of the semester. Then, because I've been thinking about getting my ears pierced again since my birthday, Cam took me to a tattoo parlor to do it. We actually went to two parlors; the first one's piercer wouldn't be in until a couple of hours, which we didn't have time to spare, so we went to another one that Cam went to before to get his nipples pierced. 

So, after some paperwork and waiting, I got my cartilage pierced on both ears. The thing about newly pierced ears is that you're not supposed to sleep on them for a couple months. Seeing that I usually sleep on my right side, I knew that getting both ears pierced was gonna make it impossible to sleep anyway but flat on my back. And that was fine with me; I've slept on my back plenty of times before. I really didn't think it would get in the way of my sleeping, especially since I'm usually so tired that I almost immediately pass out whenever I go to bed, and with the last week staying up late everyday because of finals, I thought that it would be easy to sleep.

I was wrong. Maybe it's also because of the medicine and being sick, but it still takes a while to fall asleep. In addition, my internal clock still likes to wake me up around 8:30 every morning, so there goes my hope for ever sleeping in, lol. 

You'd think taking naps would be the perfect solution, but you're wrong. For me, naps just screw up my sleeping schedule even more, so I avoid naps as best I can, which is difficult when almost all medicine makes me sleepy, even if they claim to be non-drowsy. 

Anyway, I don't feel terrible, so hopefully I'll get over this mild flu by the end of the week, because I would really like to hang out with my friends some time soon. :P

Top Ten Tuesday: New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by the Broke and Bookish.

Looking over my list of books read this year, I've realized that I read a lot of books by the same authors. That, or I read a lot of series, lol. But these authors have definitely caught my interest, so I'm gonna give their other books a try (eventually :P). 

These are the books that I read by them. 

Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2013:

tv shows are my new obsession

If you haven't noticed lately, I've kind of been ignoring reading and Kpop in favor of watching tv shows ever since this summer when Shanice and I watched Season 3a of Teen Wolf together. Actually, it started a lot earlier than that now that I think about it.

In May, I ended up going to the movies a lot with my friends and family for some reason. Then I watched an amazing drama and an equally amazing anime before Shanice and I started movie hopping the rest of the summer. It just kind of spiraled downhill ever since then, especially because of Teen Wolf and Supernatural. 

Once I finally got hooked into Supernatural, I knew that I would be spending a long time catching up with the series, but man, it's one thing to think about it in the beginning with no real end in sight and another to realize that I've basically spent this whole semester watching Supernatural in between classes and projects and having some form of a social life.

It's kind of crazy to realize that I'm finally, basically, up to date on Supernatural (I've only got a few more episodes to catch up with this season). c: Now I don't have to automatically scroll down whenever someone reblogs a Supernatural post on Tumblr so that I won't accidentally read a spoiler for this new season, lol. I'm kind of sad that I can't just watch as many episodes as I can whenever I want for the new season though since it's not over yet. XD

But yeah, my summer was full of movies and my fall semester was full of tv shows, and I've barely had anytime to read anything other than fanfiction. :\ Now that I'm basically caught up on Supernatural, I can finally get to some other tv shows on my list in Netflix, like season two of Once Upon a Time and Fringe and starting Dexter and Revolution. :D

Not to mention, I've been meaning to start watching some of the new series that's come out this fall to see if I'll stick with them in the long run like The Tomorrow People, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Sleepy Hallow, which I've heard good things for all three shows.

The semester's finally over, which means three glorious weeks to do whatever the hell I want, which means catching up on shows and my YouTube subscriptions. XD Though, of course most of the current shows' last episode aired last week or will air this week before resuming after new years, which means that I'll be halfway through with a season before completely forgetting about it once classes start up again. -__-"

But hopefully I'll get around to reading at least some books, because I still have an unhealthy amount of unread books in my room, lol.

Weekly Haul (79)

Finals week is finally over! I have survived! \o/ And my books came at just about the right time. c: Hopefully this will motivate me to start reading books again. :P

Bought:

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Wintertown by Stephen Emond

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Cover Lover 37

I wish I could stop procrastinating this week... I have roughly 30 hours to write a 10 page research paper in addition to studying for an exam on Saturday morning. 

I really regret my life decisions during finals week. D: