I'M SO HAPPYYYYYY! XD

Winter Break has officially started! (Even though it still doesn't feel like winter :P)

And you know what made my day? Going home and finding a letter from Mercer that said that I had gotten another scholarship from them. Turns out that I impressed my interviewers a few weeks ago when I had that interview a few weeks ago.

So, when Shelle calculated all of the scholarships that I had gotten from Mercer, the amount totaled up to $64,000!

$64,000! 

I FREAKIN FLIPPED! And then did a happy dance, lol.

I don't know why the gifs aren't working... :(

And while my sis was talking about how I would be getting a refund check every year, I danced some more. XD

My happiness could not be contained, lol.

Man, what a great start for a break. I'm just so ecstatic. XD

And, since I was looking for dancing gifs, I found some other gifs that I wanted to show you, too.

Here's one from Despicable Me, which is like, one of the cutest movies ever.

And here's a cute, confused dog.

Now I have to go eat dinner. But there's one last gif that I wanted to share, lol.

Since it's Winter Break and Spring Break's near for college students, don't forget to...

Later~

pointy.star

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh

XD

Lol, I don't even remember where I found that picture. But really, this wasn't meant to insult you. Honest. I just saw this pic and laughed my head off. ._.

I think it's the stress getting to me... Most likely. 

Yeah, see that picture right there? That's basically how I was yesterday and will be today, only there's less studying going on today and more writing. Lots and lots of writing. I've got to finish my Crime and Punishment Reflection, which has to be a two pages long and single-spaced, write a poetry response and tech article, remember what to talk about for my lit project, and study since I have the second part of my Calc test tomorrow. I'm just glad that Fitz decided to have a Physics test after the break. 

I'm so ready for Winter Break! I hate how we're always rushing during the last week before a break to get tests and projects in. It's so friggin stressful. And what sucks is that I can't seem to make myself stop griping about all that I have to do. 

It's like I have to constantly remind myself and my friends--who are also suffering with me--what still needs to be done because I can't get over the fact that I have so much non-fun stuff to do.  -__-" Like I don't have anything else to talk about because deadlines are looming over me, silently suffocating me, and I'm just talking, grasping at straws, gasping for breath, doing everything I can to not just get the stuff over and done with. Because I'm so friggin lazy.

I hate having senioritis. :\

Anyway, I'm going to quit procrastinating (or at least try :P) and attempting to do something so that I won't have to stay up later than midnight and get some much needed sleep. 

Later~

pointy.star

Mini Reviews: Let It Snow, The Iron Thorn (Iron Codex #1), S.L.H (Stray Love Hearts) vol. 1

Title: Let It Snow
Authors: John Green, Maureen Johnson, & Lauren Myracle
Pages: 352
Publication: September 11, 2008
Publisher: Puffin
Summary taken from goodreads: 

Sparkling white snowdrifts, beautiful presents wrapped in ribbons, and multicolored lights glittering in the night through the falling snow. A Christmas Eve snowstorm transforms one small town into a romantic haven, the kind you see only in movies. Well, kinda. After all, a cold and wet hike from a stranded train through the middle of nowhere would not normally end with a delicious kiss from a charming stranger. And no one would think that a trip to the Waffle House through four feet of snow would lead to love with an old friend. Or that the way back to true love begins with a painfully early morning shift at Starbucks. Thanks to three of today's bestselling teen authors—John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle—the magic of the holidays shines on these hilarious and charming interconnected tales of love, romance, and breathtaking kisses.

3 STARS - I LIKED IT ENOUGH

MY REVIEW: 

I liked the first two stories. The third one had me really irritated with the main character. But the whole interconnecting storyline was pretty cool.

Title: The Iron Thorn (Iron Codex #1)

Author: Caitlin Kittredge

Pages: 492

Publication: February 22, 2011

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Summary taken from goodreads: 

In the city of Lovecraft, the Proctors rule and a great Engine turns below the streets, grinding any resistance to their order to dust. The necrovirus is blamed for Lovecraft's epidemic of madness, for the strange and eldritch creatures that roam the streets after dark, and for everything that the city leaders deem Heretical—born of the belief in magic and witchcraft. And for Aoife Grayson, her time is growing shorter by the day. 

Aoife Grayson's family is unique, in the worst way—every one of them, including her mother and her elder brother Conrad, has gone mad on their 16th birthday. And now, a ward of the state, and one of the only female students at the School of Engines, she is trying to pretend that her fate can be different.

3 STARS - I LIKED IT ENOUGH

MY REVIEW: 

The beginning was kind of slow since you're getting used to the setting and it didn't help that I found the characters annoying half of the time. The last 50 pages of the book was what bumped up my rating half of a point, because that was when there were finally some explainations and twists revealed. 

The ending, thankfully, wasn't a cliffhanger, but it did stop up at a pretty good spot for the next book in the series to continue. Dunno if I'll read the sequel, though. 

Title: S.L.H (Stray Love Hearts) vol. 1

Author: Aya Shouoto

Pages: 195

Publication: May 12, 2008

Publisher: MediaWorks

Summary taken from goodreads:

On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, Kozue Hiyoki is visited in her dreams by a man who steals her heart- literally! Determined to find him and retrieve her stolen heart, Hiyoki, with the color of the man’s hair and the tattoo on his chest as her only leads, enrolls in the S-Hall dormitories of St. Nazareth Academy, but quickly realizes that its residents are not at all like she expected… For starters, they’re all guys!  

There, Hiyoki soon discovers that she has the ability to look inside her dorm-mates’ dreams, which may be the key to uncovering the identity of the thief who stole her heart…. But perhaps her biggest challenge is that most of the guys won’t let Hiyoki into their rooms, much less their hearts!

3 STARS - I LIKED IT ENOUGH

MY REVIEW: 

It's not as bad as most shojo manga, although it still has some of the same cliches in a reverse harem where the girl usually solve's a guy's problem so he ends up liking her and whatnot. 

But, the art is pretty. XD

(I'm so shallow...)

Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Broke Your Heart A Little

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

Apparently, this year's theme is ANTI-Valentine's Day, which is pretty cool for me. Unfortunately, I don't read that many books that break my heart. However, I recently read two great books that actually did break my heart.

Top Ten Three Books That Broke My Heart A Little:

Girls, Drums & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick

I cried so much while reading this book, and I was really surprised because this was my second time rereading it, so I already knew how the plot went, but I still had to wipe away plenty of tears. It's such a great book. I love the characters so much; they're so sincere and honest and amazing. 

After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick

This book is actually the sequel to Girls, Drums & Dangerous Pie, and it's just as heartbreaking and hilarious as the first book, but this time, it's from Jeffrey's point of view instead of Steven.

I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan

While this book didn't make me cry like a baby, my heart did break a little bit while I was reading this book because of all of the things that Sam and Riddle went through. They're such sweet, amazing boys that they don't deserve any of those bad things happening to them. They really don't. 

Cover Lover 16

Ugh. Such a tiring day. 

It's going to be a looooong week. I hope I survive. :P

Anyway, I'm really liking these covers, lol.

Don't Go Prom Dress Shopping on Sundays

No really, don't. Most dress stores are closed on Sundays. Even though my friends and I found that out on Friday, we still decided to go shopping today since it was our only free day. We ended up buying everything but prom dresses, lol.

And we went to a bunch of stores, even going to Goodwill to see if they had any decent dresses. Yeah...they were either hideous or way too big for any of us. -__-

On the bright side, I finally found a cardigan to go with my fancy tank tops that I bought for DECA competitions. And since there was a buy one get one free sale at Kohl's on cardigans, I bought another cardigan that's more casual-ish, but I think if I pair it with the right clothes, it could be more formal looking. 

Also, Menchie's finally opened, so we all went there to try it out. The interior design was pretty and the write-on chalkboard was a very nice touch. Plus, there were so many different flavors to choose from! Unlike La Berry, Menchie's had four or five self-serving machines. 

And the spoons are so legit, lol.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of both the spoon and what I got (a mixture of NY Cheesecake and Pomegranate and Raspberry Tart frozen yogurt with frosted animal crackers, mochi, almonds, and crunched up chocolate malt balls), so here's a pic that I found on the interwebz! Lol. 

the pic came from here

And I found this awesome card design over at The Oatmeal a few weeks ago that I kept on forgetting to post on here. Wouldn't you want to give this to all of your loved ones? XD

Anyway, it's getting late, and I'm tired from shopping for five/six hours, so I'm gonna go to bed now. 

Night!

pointy.star

Manga Review: Zombie-Loan vol. 1 by Peach-Pit

Title: Zombie-Loan vol. 1
Author: Peach-Pit
Pages: 208
Publications: October 17, 2007
Publisher: Yen Press
Summary taken from goodreads: 

Michiru Kita's a weak-spirited girl who has a hard time saying what's on her mind. One day, she notices mysterious, ring-like markings around the necks of two of her classmates, Chika Akatsuki and Shito Tachibana - two boys who miraculously survived a horrible accident six months ago. Michiru, possessing the rare ability to see these rings, knows that they warn of impending death. Thinking that, perhaps, she can do something to save her classmates' lives, she approaches them...but it seems the boys have already made a different kind of deal and garnered themselves a heavy debt.

1.5 STARS - IT WAS OKAY

MY REVIEW: 

It's hard trying to connect with a main character who keeps everything inside while letting everyone walk all over her when you're the type of person who's pretty vocal about her opinions and is too lazy to do half of the stuff that people ask her to. 

That, and the stilted, cliched lines used in the action scenes made me want to quit the book after the first two chapters. But I forced myself to finish the volume because I wanted to give the book the benefit of the doubt, hoping that it would get better at the end. 

And it did, if only just a little bit. Michiru finally grew a bit of a backbone with Chika and Shito's help, but it was still pretty annoying since they had to figuratively keep on pushing her into a corner so that she had to finally speak up. Who knows what would have happened if she hadn't stuck up for herself; she'd probably just continue to fake a smile while continually regretting her decisions, which would have been so completely angsty and unneeded. 

I would have probably burned the book if it went like that. 

You wonder why your life sucks? Well, it's probably because you DON'T DO ANYTHING TO TRY TO CHANGE IT and let people treat you like a doormat. You have no hope, no reason, and therefore, no will to live, and because of that, you're practically already dead, just like Shito tells her. 

She really isn't the most likable protagonists.

Anyway, I'm going to continue reading this series, mainly because I had already bought the next two volumes since they were on sale a couple of weeks ago, and also because I'm really hoping that Michiru will experience some character growth in the next volumes, or else I really will be wasting my time. 

EDIT: I've already read the next two volumes, and even though it wasn't as annoying as the first volume, there wasn't much character growth and it was still pretty stilted, so I'm not continuing the series and can't bring it in me to review the two volumes that I read.

Nevermore AKA THE END OF THE MAXIMUM RIDE SERIES

THEY FINALLY HAVE A COVER FOR THE LAST BOOK OF THE MAXIMUM RIDE SERIES. 

I CAN'T EVEN. OH GOD, I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M FEELING. :c

I'm conflicted. 

On one hand, I'm glad that it'll finally be over, that there's going to be an ending--closure and whatnot, and that I can finally see who Max ends up with (it better be Fang). Then, on the other hand, I don't want it to end since this is one of the few series that I actually keep up with, even though I didn't like a few of the books in the middle.

I started reading this series when I was in middle school--in 7th grade, I think. I was in love with the first book, and then the second and third book. The fourth and fifth felt more like fillers than anything else, but the sixth and seventh books brought me back into loving the series because of all of action and drama and twists. 

And now it's going to be over. 

This book better be epic. 

A little bit late to point out, but I might as well throw it out there, this cover is completely different from the rest of the series. The font's the same...but everything else is different. I wonder if they're going to re-do the covers for the rest of the series...

I'M SO EXCITED! ARGH, WHY IS IT COMING OUT IN AUGUST? I WANT IT NOW. XD