studying/cramming/regretting life choices D:

I have been studying/cramming all weekend for my two tests tomorrow, and I am so sick of accounting and statistics!

I'm also really mad at myself for procrastinating on studying for so long that I had to spend my weekend in front of textbooks 24/7 relearning/remembering everything. But I mean, it's summer. I have enough trouble trying to study during the school year; how am I going to be motivated to study during the summer? :P

I'm glad I wasn't able to take that microeconomics class this summer. I'm not sure if I would have the brainpower/willpower/motivation to study for three classes. 

But yeah... I'm taking another break right now before studying for statistics since I haven't even looked at it all day even though I still haven't even finished working on the packet...

Also, I made a huge mistake deciding to read a book yesterday. I started reading Grave Mercy and it was so good that I couldn't stop myself from reading until 4:30 in the morning. So I'm half distracted because I really want to finish the book since I'm almost done. I have maybe another 100 pages or so left. :D

I'm prolly gonna finish it later tonight when my brain is too fried to study anymore, lol. This usually happens around 12-1 in the morning. 

Okay, I really shouldn't procrastinate so much anymore. I've been really unproductive all afternoon. Too many breaks...

Later...

pointy.star

To This Day Project

Last year, I was introduced to spoken word poetry because of an event at Mercer. I thought that it was really cool but never really looked into listening to anymore after the Battle of the Bands was over. That was my mistake.

Just a few minutes ago, I watched the most beautiful, powerful spoken word video ever. It's called "To This Day Project - Shane Koyczan". It deals with bullying, and it is so so stunning. His voice, his projection, his emotions were so spot on and impacting, I was just swept up into the video. And the graphics and art were equally amazing; they flowed so well with the poem and were just as dynamic and impressive as the words being spoken.

And the meaning of this whole project? It hits you hard with just how accurate it is, and it's just as devastating to realize just how many children grow up being bullied, feeling like they're less than nothing. Bullying is a big issue; it's been a big issue for a long time, so long that I think most people forget just how harmful it can become if it's taken too far. We really need to fix it, and I think that this video does a great job of pointing out the effects of bullying and its side-effects for the victims. 

Anyway, enough of my praises. Just watch the video, it's worth it.

Book Review: The Body Finder (The Body Finder #1) by Kimberly Derting

Title: The Body Finder (The Body Finder #1)
Author: Kimberly Derting
Pages: 327
Publication: March 16, 2010
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Summary taken from goodreads:

Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes that the dead leave behind in the world... and the imprints that attach to their killers. 

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find the dead birds her cat had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him. 

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved to find herself hoping that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer... and becoming his prey herself.

2.5 STARS - I LIKED IT ENOUGH

MY REVIEW:

Again, I fell into the hype trap. I had much higher expectations for this book since I remembered reading nothing but praise about it when it first came out. I should know by now to not have such high expectations.

The book wasn't awful, but it could have been so much better. I guess I was expecting there to be more depth about Violet's ability and how it affected her ever since she was a kid and the psychological aspect of it. Instead, it's mainly glossed over multiple times and only one main event is ever really mention.

And I did not expect for the romance to take up so much of the book. Even though I hadn't bothered to read the summary again for the first time in a year or two before picking up the book, I did not think that the romance would be such a big focus of the book because of the murders occurring. Looking back at the summery now, it even says that "while the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her 'power' to sense dead bodies," so excuse me for being turned off by the romance for the first half of the book.

Not to mention, during much of the first half of the book, the author did a lot of telling instead of showing, which made the info-dumps quite annoying. They were mainly about Violet and Jay's past, but still, it felt like the author was just unloading their backstories as quickly as she could to get to the main plot.

The book was a pretty quick read, probably because of the suspense, and for all of my complaints, it actually wasn't that bad, so if you have a copy of the book, you should give it a try. I own the sequel, so I'll get around to it eventually.

Reasons Why I Work Out

There are plenty of reasons to work out. Here are mine. :P

• To be more confident with my body.
• To be able to outrun people/zombies during an apocalypse.
• To procrastinate because I really don't want to study.
• To be able to run a 5K in September without looking like a failure.
• To fit in my jeans better.
• Because I want to be healthier.
• Because I've slowly become used to working out even though I dread it.

Top Ten Tuesday: Beach Reads

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

For me, beach reads are books that are light and fun or action-y and adventurous, nothing dark or angsty; that totally kills the mood, lol.

Top Ten Beach Reads:

Movie Marathon Fun

On Saturday, Shanice and I ended up having a little movie marathon/hop, lol.

We planned on going to watch The Internship and then going to watch The Purge after it since we really wanted to see Dylan O'Brien in The Internship and because we were excited to watch The Purge after watching its trailer weeks ago.

Unfortunately, The Purge was only showing in GTX at the movie theater near our house, and we didn't want to shell out extra money to go watch it. Instead, we went to the other movie theater after watching The Internship at the mall 15 minutes away, stopping by Sonic to get a quick lunch before the movie started, lol.

Both movies were pretty good! The Internship ended up being a lot more funny than I expected, and Dylan O'Brien was super cute even though his character was this snarky, sullen guy, lol. The Purge, however, ended up being pretty predictable, although it was still interesting to watch.

After we watched The Purge, we went to watch Epic since it was just starting. I also ended up really liking the movie. It was funny because I didn't really even know what the movie was about other than the fact that it was animated, but it proved to be funny and engaging with just the right amount of heartwarming family feels, lol.

After the movie was over, we contemplated on waiting around to watch another movie, but after checking the times, we realized that we'd have to wait 45 minutes until the next Fast and Furious 6 showing came on, so we just went back to my house and planned out all of the movies we were going to watch this summer. We even wrote a list to keep track of all of the upcoming movie dates, lol. It was pretty long. We're planning on having another movie marathon in two weeks when World War Z comes out. XD

Weekly Haul (72)

First time I've had a haul in a while and it's not even a haul... It's just one book, lol.

From Harlequin Teen:

Through the Zombie Glass by Gena Showalter

And ughh... Last night, I wore my retainer for the first time all year, and it hurt like a mofo for the first few minutes. My teeth were still kind of sore this morning. :\

Dusty Reads: The Monstrumologist (The Monstrumologist, #1) by Rick Yancey

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

Title: The Monstrumologist (The Monstrumologist, #1)
Author: Rick Yancey
Pages: 447
Publication: September 22, 2009
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Summary taken from goodreads:

These are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed. But he is dead now and has been for more than forty years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets. The one who saved me . . . and the one who cursed me.

So starts the diary of Will Henry, orphaned assistant to Dr. Pellinore Warthorpe, a man with a most unusual specialty: monstrumology, the study of monsters. In his time with the doctor, Will has met many a mysterious late-night visitor, and seen things he never imagined were real. But when a grave robber comes calling in the middle of the night with a gruesome find, he brings with him their most deadly case yet.

A gothic tour de force that explores the darkest heart of man and monster and asks the question: When does man become the very thing he hunts?

I won this book and its sequel in an online contest a couple of years ago and still have yet to read it. For some reason, I was sent two copies of the books, so I let my friend have a copy of them since she was interested in it. She read it almost immediately and loved it just as quickly. She's been telling me to read the series for ages now, lol.

And yet I always forget about it...

Like I say for all of my books: I will get to it eventually. :P