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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2016 Is Almost Gone

      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

      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

      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

   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

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