New Years Resolutions - 2012 Edition

Welcome, 2012! It's about time you got here.

I've been toying around with my new year's resolutions for a couple days. I'm never one to think about them before around 10pm on new year's eve, and only when, inevitably, someone turns to me and asks, "So, what are your resolutions?" It's an innocent enough question, but I always feel a little put on the spot.  What are my resolutions? I totally forgot we even made resolutions! Crap!

Being that this year is a lot like 2008 for me, I decided to look at my resolutions from that year. Let me explain - You might remember that in 2008, I graduated from high school. Things that really scared me about that was that I didn't know what my life would be like in college, what my schedule would be, I wasn't sure what I would be doing, what classes I would be taking, who I would remain friends with... so my resolutions reflected that. They included: 1) Be not afraid of venturing out by myself. 2) Turn in my college apps. 3) Exude confidence. (My favorite one was #2... because I remember I achieved that one within 24 hours of the new year!)

Numbers 1 and 3 are things that I still struggle with. While they aren't exactly worded like that in my resolutions this year, I think they're still in there in spirit.

So, without further ado, my 2012 New Year's Resolutions:

1) Don't freak out so much.
2) Drink more smoothies.
3) Get a job.

Everyone laughs when I tell them my first resolution. But seriously, it's a pretty important one. Every few weeks I have a regularly scheduled mental breakdown of some kind; they can be little (I didn't read for class, I am running late, I have three exams on Friday and I'm going to fail all of them, etc.), they can be big (I'm going to be single forever, my degree is totally useless, etc.) Usually I allow myself some good, self-pitying, wallowing time (an hour or two) during which I watch terrible tv or read some kind of trashy novel and then I get up, dust myself off, and move onto tackling the problem. I can't say that I won't have these moments (there are a lot of stressful times ahead while I look for and apply for jobs) but I don't think it's healthy to freak out so much. My roommate says that she has a similar resolution, and we'll be helping each other!

My second resolution is a thinly veiled "lose weight" resolution. My resolution isn't exactly to lose weight - it's to be healthy. Smoothies are delicious, and I have found my new favorite one: Bananas, blueberries, and almond butter. Don't question it - just drink it. DELICIOUS. (In this resolution should be something like "Less macaroni and cheese", but I don't think I'm strong enough for that. It's an excellent fallback for dinner when I haven't gone grocery shopping.)

My last resolution is to get a job. Topical, to the point. Something that is acceptable for a college graduate. I'll leave that up to the universe's interpretation.

Another thing I've been thinking about are things I'd like to do in 2012. Stuff that isn't necessarily resolution-worthy, but more like a bit of a bucket list.

1) Write book reviews. I've enjoyed writing them for my Breakathon Readathon. Often I finish a book and am not entirely sure how I feel about it (other than "I loved it!" or "I want to run this book over with my car and kill it dead!") but I feel like I could explore my reading material more.
2) Spend twenty or thirty minutes reading books for pleasure every day. Even though my reading list for school is pretty hardcore this semester, I know I spend more than thirty minutes on facebook every day. It's entirely possible to replace that time with books I want to read.
3) Be more proactive with editing and edit more thoroughly. I am always looking to improve my editing skills. I love to do it, but sometimes it feels like a bit of a chore.
4) Along similar lines, be more proactive with my writing. I love to write, and I am very proud of it... I have stories I want to start and stories I want to finish. My creative writing class taught me a lot about writing and reading my own stuff with an audience in mind - I'd like to apply it.
5) Cook from cookbooks more often and be more adventurous with recipes and food. I have a little collection of cookbooks and more often than not I surf the web for my recipes.
6) Knock a few more books off of the BBC Booklist. I have it saved to my phone and consult it every once and a while if I'm looking for a read. They propose that most people have only read 6. Well, I've read 22 of them. It's not that it's a list of the greatest 100 books, but it seems to be a list of good books that many people know and often make reference to.

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At the end of this post, I'd like to wish a very happy birthday to little Lily Grace, Miss Emma's little sister. She was born yesterday, January 2nd, and everyone is happy and healthy. From what I hear, Emma is thrilled to be a big sister, and I can't wait to meet Lily!

Breakathon Readathon Review: Leviathan

This was not a book I planned to read, but after all several of the books I have read in the last few weeks haven't been. Honestly, I was surprised at how much I was sucked into the story. It's not a book that I typically read, being that it is a steampunk book and that it takes place during a sort of pseudo-WWI. (My favorite historical novels are generally the pre-19th century kind. If there are swords involved? Extra bonus.) So I didn't expect all that much from this book, and even having heard of Scott Westerfeld's success with his other books and having heard him speak a few weeks ago at the Austin Teen Book Festival, I was dubious. (A theme I am recognizing is that I seem to be very dubious toward books I am unfamiliar with... This must change!) At the end, I was pleasantly surprised, not by the plot, but by the imagination of the book. The fascinating twist on the history in the book was that the Allied powers were called Darwinists and the Central powers, Clankers. The Darwinists flew bulbous creatures that were entire ecosystems put together (i.e. give yourself a skin and then stick bacteria that emit hydrogen as a byproduct - and then use the hydrogen as lift to fly) and the Clankers used more "traditional" machinery (though it was very advanced - the main character's mode of transportation was a futuristic Walker, with mechanical legs operated in the body). Extremely helpful to all of this were the illustrations - "A book with pictures?" you all shout; I know, I know. But it is a YA novel. They were very helpful, as illustrations generally are. Most surprising of all to me was that, at the end, I wanted to read the next one! Well, we shall see.

Likelihood I'll reread: 30% (But that doesn't mean I won't get the sequel!)
Likelihood I'll recommend: 60%

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Total Pages: 3718

Breakathon Readathon Review: The Name of the Star

Fresh out of my mood for fluff, I dove right back into the action plot! I elected to read another Maureen Johnson book that I acquired a few months ago and absolutely devoured this book. The story was dark, but not quite as dark as Hunger Games, but the violence and threat of danger was similar, which I liked. In the story, someone is recreating the Jack the Ripper murders, but while most of the murders are caught on the network of CCTV cameras in London, the killer is never visible. The main character gets involved with a special unit of the police force, and helps track down the copycat killer... I read most of it on my way out to California, and can't wait to read the next one in the series! Unfortunately, it's not due to come out for some time, so we'll see...

Likelihood I'll reread: 90% (probably when the next book is released?)
Likelihood I'll recommend: 80%

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Total Pages: 3278

Californialand!

I hope this comes as a shock to people as much as it has been a shock to me - apparently I DO have a life outside of reading books! At the moment, I am blogging from San Diego, California, where Texas has successfully trounced Cal Berkley at the Holiday Bowl. I am exceedingly pleased, as you might imagine. The final score of the game was 21-10. We played pretty well, though there were a few weak points in the game - as is to be expected, really. More on that in a moment!

My trip has been pretty simple - I flew out yesterday, I fly back tomorrow - but it has had some very nice highlights! Last night, I had delicious Mexican food with my APO friends who are also here. And this morning, a family friend, Bill, who lives in San Diego picked me up from my hotel and showed me around the city and fed me breakfast! Delicious pancakes at his house, where I also got to see one of my dog's puppies (Her name is Sangie - I didn't take a picture of her because I was too busy loving on her!)

And then it was off to the stadium! Things were a little bit smaller and better-coordinated than last time I came out for the Rose Bowl two years ago. We didn't have any trouble getting inside the stadium this time - last time we had to get our flag sniffed by dogs and we had to wait outside the stadium for absolutely forever. We opened the flag out in the parking lot to do a sort of practice run for closing it. We only had fifteen (fifteen) field passes for this game, so opening and closing that 500+ pound flag was going to be difficult, and we knew it! 

On the field, we were able to do it, although it was a lot harder with thousands of eyes watching! A big bubble of air came in under the flag and prevented me from gathering up the fabric of the flag very efficiently, and it was pretty hard to recover the bubble of flag that seemed to be collapsing on top of me! But all went well. 

We were almost immediately upstaged by what is probably the only flag in the entire world bigger than ours! A football-field-sized American flag held by 250+ Marines. Hah - we did ours with only fifteen! (Fifteen...) 

Also, paratroopers landed on the field before the game started - SWEET.

Of course, we won the game, but not before several members of our party yelled themselves hoarse!  

Tomorrow morning I fly back to Austin. I wish I could hang around San Diego a little longer, but it's been a nice jaunt out to the west coast! My next jaunt is to the east coast in a few weeks! Off to visit my Gramma for her birthday!

And now I am off to bed... I am exhausted!

Breakathon Readathon Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door

I needed a good mental break after finishing Mockingjay due it's super intense plotline, very little humor, and unrelenting action, and I chose to mentally vacation in some good, reliable, Young Adult fluff. Now, it's not that this story has nothing going for it - far from it - it has a clear message, likable, well-developed characters, and an appropriate happy ending. I love Stephanie Perkins' style, and I especially love that characters from her first novel (Anna and the French Kiss, which I read earlier this year in more or less one evening) feature prominently in this one. It was a funny, rewarding story, and a delightfully quick read.

Likelihood I'll reread: 70%
Likelihood Ill recommend: 75%

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Total pages: 2908

Breakathon Readathon Review: Mockingjay

So... I finally finished Mockingjay just before Christmas. It was a relief to finally come to the end of the third book - it was a roller coaster from the get-go, and the second book left off at a really awful cliffhanger. In what must have been my infinite wisdom (of course) I am glad I left reading these until they were all published. I would have been a wreck if I hadn't had this one at my disposal. Similarly to the first two, I read about forty or fifty pages and then put it down for a while. Some things just need time to settle - and these books, more than most I've read before, need time to settle. They're violent, weighty, dark, and absolutely unrelenting... and I absolutely loved every page. I even shed a tear. I won't say when, you'll see.

Likelihood I'll reread: 100% (Absolutely)

Likelihood I'll recommend: 100% (Already happened many times in the last two days. I want everyone to read them so we can talk about them!)

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Total page count: 2570

Breakathon Readathon Review: Seriously, I'm Kidding

This popped up in my reading list in an unexpected manner. I needed a break from The Hunger Games (which isn't to say I don't still love them - I guess I just needed some time to absorb the plot twists) and this book provided exactly what I needed. On a similar vein to reading Tina Fey's autobiography and the Daily Show's book, Ellen's was an excellent read. Along with the other two books, I feel like Ellen's voice was easily able to shine through the text of the book, and I happily devoted a few hours to reading and enjoying. It features a combination of stories from her life (which you take with a grain of salt) to imaginary letters to mall cops about how it really wasn't her fault she broke the vase in Pottery Barn, to imaginary conversations between someone named Suzie and a Psychic ("Do you want some more water?" "Yes, thank you!" "I knew that already.") to practical advice on how to become a billionaire ("1. Make lots of money, 2. Don't spend it"). I loved reading it, and, with its short chapters it'd be easy to pick up again and read a few pages in the future.

Likelihood will reread: 90% (like I said, bits and pieces)
Likelihood will recommend to others: 95% (if they like this sort of book)

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Total page count: 2180