Yallfest 2017

      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

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

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.

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Book Reviews: Duff and This Is Where It Ends

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.

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