Chapter 9: The Wilds of Oregon

I bought Wildwood by Colin Meloy almost immediately after it was released because I'm a huuuuuuge Decemberist's fan. They are hands down my favorite band. I was excited for this book not just because the lead singer was the author but the premise of it is great.

It's about a young girl named Prue who lives in Portland just on the edge of the Impassable Wilderness, an untouched area across the river which seems strangely aloof from the bustling city next to it. One day her baby brother is kidnapped by a flock of strange birds so she and her friend Curtis set out on a quest to get him back. Armed with her bicycle and her quick wits she is a formidable opponent to this strange land filled with Bandits, coyote soldiers, Avian Monarchs, and a mysterious but obviously evil ruler.

I will start out by saying that I loved this book. I thought a lot of the elements used in it were creative, original, and intriguing. The writing style was fantastic and the beautiful illustrations by Carson Ellis worked well with the text to give a really vivid picture of the world. I loved Prue as a main character, I thought she was smart and sassy and strong (exactly who I wanted to be when I was 12). But the criticism I will give it is that the plot and it's tropes are very conventional. It felt a lot of the time like a more modern retelling of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I don't want to give away too many details but let's just say that the story follows a similar arc with different characters and settings. It was enjoyable but a bit too familiar and predictable.

Wildwood by Colin Meloy (576 pages)

Judgement: Aesthetically Pleasing (7 out of 10)

{Sorcha Fails at Writing Articles but She Still Loves You}

I feel like I've really stepped up the game this time with my apology picture. It's not a cute animal in boots but I feel like it's somehow better. Look how casual the rabbits are. I'm pretty sure this is just a typical Tuesday for them.

So, bad news is I've been gone forever and only managed to write you one article before I disapeared. The good news is that I've graduated! *insert fanfare* I have my degree in English so I'm totally qualified to... keep writing this blog! Yay! Post college is scarier than I thought it would be even though it hasn't been a whole month yet. I'm freaking out a little bit but I have a lot of time on my hands so I'm hoping to get in some more reading and write up some more articles for this. I really do feel bad about being gone for so long. Also, one of my friends just opened up University of Geek Stuff so I'll probably be working on some articles for that like how I've just finished watching through Star Trek: The Original Series, maybe some anime reviews, and some stuff on books that I've read prior to starting this project so I can rant about some things I haven't been able to touch on here.

I'll try to update my Goodreads today with what I'm reading through now and some hints on articles you can expect soon. I do have a question for you guys and if you could leave me your opinions in the comments I would appreciate it. I recently read a graphic novel that I really enjoyed and I'm wondering if you think it should count towards my word goal. Obviously graphic novels read much faster and can be quite large without as much to read as a novel of the same size. What do you think? Can I count it? Should I count it for half pages? Should I just write an article anyways even if I don't count the pages? Let me know what you think and I'll let you know what I decide later. Have a good one all and keep reading (even if I'm not the greatest role model :)

Chapter 8: Space and the Illusion of Childhood

I have been working on reading Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card for months now. Though in all honesty it has probably been more of a process of years. This has been, by far, the book I've received the most recommendations for. I'm not typically one to read a book slowly. If I don't finish it within the first week or so of picking it up, it remains unfinished for years if not permanently. I have a horrid memory and typically after a few days I forget the importance of characters or what exactly is happening or sometimes even the main goal of it all (serious memory problems, I'm telling you...). However, there was something different about this book. This was one of the craziest autumns of my life so there's a plethora of reasons why it kept being put down but every time I picked it back up again, I was drawn back in and I had no problems following what was happening. I wonder now if that made me enjoy the book more because just as Ender felt things around him moving at odd pace with sudden starts and stops, so was my reading experience.

It took me a while to be really absorbed into the story (possibly contributing to my slow reading of it). There are so many strange aspects to this world that are introduced but unexplained, leaving the reader to interpret it themselves (only to have their conclusions approved or voided later in the book). So it takes a little time to get used to your surroundings. Also at the beginning the characters are so defined by specific characteristics that they become almost caricatures. This follows Ender's own thoughts, understandable ones for children, but keeps you distant from the rest of the characters, perhaps accentuating how alone he feels even surrounded by others.

I couldn't resist! Saw this and could not stop laughing!

 The plots follows Ender Wiggin, a child of seven, who has been chosen by the government to join their military training academy in space where they prepare to fight the second invasion of an alien race called Buggers who came far too close to annihilating the human species the last time they came around. Once there he realizes he is not just another soldier there for training. The government has been watching him and has picked him to act as the commander over the invading forces. The book follows his years through battle school as they push him to the very edge of his abilities in their attempt to make him the perfect tactical machine.

And yes! A movie is finally on the way! IMDB says November 1, 2013

One of my favorite parts was actually the subplot where Ender's older siblings Peter and Valentine, who are also young children as well, take on alias's and invade the nets, spreading incendiary political theories, commentaries, and ideas. Peter, the more violent one, takes on the aspect of the more rational while Valentine, the empathetic one, takes on the more radical. These segments focus on her perspective as she tries to understand and condone what they're doing regardless of Peter's less than pure intentions.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (324 pages)

Judgement: Psychologically Stimulating (8 out of 10)

{Post-Holiday Ponderings (accompanied by excuses)}

So another huge gap... I'm sure none of you were surprised by this. I wasn't either. Just for the record, it's not that I haven't been writing because I haven't been reading. It's because I haven't *finished* reading anything other than the bazillion plays and essays and blah-de-blah I had to read for school. Luckily, I'm almost finished with that chapter of my own life, only one more semester left. What I'll do after that, I honestly have no idea right now. It's all a little scary and chest pain inducing at the moment. But anywho, I've been sloooooooooowly working my way through a couple of books. Now that I'm on vacation for a few more weeks, perhaps I'll be able to finally finish and get some nice posts up for you. In the mean time, here is yet another farm animal in boots! Because I know you liked it so much last time...

If you don't forgive Sorcha for her absence, I'll nom all your books!

It was a very busy holiday season this year. My grandmother moved to town, my parents moved apartments, and my fiance is moving this week. I had weird work hours so money was nowhere near as plentiful as I would have liked (perhaps I should have tried to get in on the whole seasonal retail thing again but after the literal physical torment I suffered last year I decided not even try...) and that was quite hard in getting presents for everyone. But this year was the first that I tried to host Christmas for my family and it was a crazy awesome success!

Sab cooked some delicious quiches, potatoes, and gingerbread pancakes for brunch while I played barrista. The food was phenomenal and everyone loved it. For presents I made everyone a personalized mug and a stocking that was mostly candy but had at least one big gift for everyone. I got some great stuff, apparently my family really gets me because they seem to always know just what I want. It was so much fun but now I feel a little exhausted and quite honestly, a bit lost. I have a couple weeks left with nothing to really do and that's such a daunting idea! What am I going to do with myself other than sit around eating the rest of the Christmas sweets, growing rounder by the minute, continuing my Star Trek Marathon?

I need projects, I need something to think about, I need something to keep my brain from rattling around my head going "WhatcanIdo? WhatcanIdo? Gimmesomethingtodo!" So maybe it's time to try for some new resolutions? This wasn't a bad year but I definitely wasn't at my best either. What can I try this year to make it even better?

I guess I'll just have to ponder that for a few days and get back to you. Anyways, as a Holiday bonus, here's a picture of me in my new bacon and egg scarf!

Happy Holidays and a Merry New Year!

Domestic Dimanche: My Story Ideas

I'm sure most of you know this already because even those of you who don't know me personally have probably already figured out that I'm the type, but I don't just read, I write as well. Or at least, I write occasionally. I hate that I've fallen into that grown up thing where I'm like "OMG! I never have time for anything!" when I've watched the first two seasons of Supernatural this week and I've gone a good chunk into the third (seriously, why did I wait this long to watch it? I should go back and slap my past self!). It's more of a matter of: I go to class, I go to work, I do homework (which is 99% of the time just reading so it turns something I love into a chore >.>), and then with the energy I have left I don't want to do anything productive. I just want to watch Sam and Dean exorcise things and throw salt everywhere for a few hours!

So, as a kind of way to kick myself in the pants about some of my writing projects I've decided to list each of them here with a bit of a description. Maybe having them gathered here will be a helpful reference and maybe some of you guys will poke me about ones you like so I'll have more motivation. Either way, here's some of the ideas that have been floating around in my head for a while. Oldest first!

Inbetween - Ella
This is probably one of my more complicated stories that I thought up. The main character, Ella, has dropped out of college in an attempt to finish the book she's been writing for years. She's almost done but can't get the ending quite right when she's in a car accident and falls into a coma. The story flips back and forth between her internal world which mirrors the world of her book except that it is continually being attached by shadows and whole pieces of the land go missing, and the external world where the taxi driver who was driving her when the accident happened is slowly falling in love with her and obsessively inserts himself into the lives of her friends and family.

I've been holding onto this plot idea since around 7th grade and it's changed in minor ways but for the most part, it still follows the original idea. The reason I've been so hesitant to start on it is I basically have to craft two worlds, the dream and the real, and figure out how to splice them together so they work. Not to mention I have a CRAP TON of characters I wanted to put into it and I keep getting distracted by trying to tweak them.

10,000 Miles Away - Pirates!
If you were to ask the people I know to tell you one fact about me, one you would hear a lot is that I love pirates. I'm obsessed with their history (which is freaking fascinating... maybe I'll write an article about that later...) and their "mythology" and their music! Which is how this story was born. It is based on a sea shanty called "10,000 Miles Away" in which the main character is a Navy sailor who leaves home and when he returns finds that his love is being taken away in chains and he wishes he was a strong/brave enough man to save her.

The story follows Meg and Liam. After Liam joins the navy his ship disappears and Meg turns pirate in an attempt to find him (as no navy ship would ever allow a woman on board). He makes his way back to England and becomes a high ranking pirate hunter. Who's his target? Meg! Does he know who she is? Nope! In the end one of them will have to choose a side because there no way that pirate and navy can coexist. Right?

Lisbon Corp - CATS!
Ok, so I'm not going to tell you what this idea was based on because 1) you'll think I'm crazy and mock me for one of my favorite childhood VHSs and 2) it's so far removed from the original that it's barely recognizable at this point.

There is a corporation called Lisbon Corp which specializes in immortality. They run a program called the Cat Program where, if you are extremely wealthy, you can have your consciousness transferred to a new body. No more will terminal illness, violent attack, or old age destroy you. However, you only have 9 chances at this. Some people are really good about taking care of their bodies, able to live around 900 years old! Some, called Body Burners, aren't so lucky. Garnet is one such person. About to lose her 9th body to the same disease that has been stalking her since body 1, she's desperate to get another chance. However, upon discovering the corruption behind Lisbon Corp she finds a way to destroy it and chaos ensues!

This is meant to be a collection of 9 short stories, each of which follows a different character and what happens to them as they begin to realize the immortality is no longer within their grasp.

The Vampire and The Ghost - Children's Story
This is my newest and quite possibly my cutest story idea XD There is a young girl named River who is lonely because she is a Vampire. She isn't allowed to go out in the daytime and none of the other kids are allowed to go out after dark. She really wants to go to school and be around other kids but she can't. While she's playing in the graveyard behind her house she meets Walker, a young ghost boy who becomes her friend and they learn they don't need to be normal because they're perfectly awesome the way they are.

This one is my current favorite. I don't think it will take me long when I actually get to writing it but I've been dawdling. I also need to get an artist to illustrate it for me. I know so many of those it can't be too hard right?

So, those are my stories ^^  I hope they were at least mildly entertaining. Let me know in comments what you think about them and if you like writing/if you have any projecting hanging around like I do.

Domestic Dimanche: The Best Game Series of All

I'm not ashamed to say. One of my first big crushes as a child was this guy.

Oh Link! My Link!

The only problem was, I was terrible at Zelda games! My Aunt had the classic Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64 and every time I would visit my cousin and I spent hours in the basement playing. Despite all this (granted, we were often yelled at for spending too much time on it and booted outside) it was years before I even got to adult Link and not long after I beat the Forest Temple, the game was lost and we never got to finish.

I know! One of the most horrible fates to befall any gamer! But don't be too upset. See, I'm an adult now and as I'm quickly learning, that position comes with perks. My favorite of which is the ability to buy any game I want and play it as long as I want to. Last summer I bought my first game system (the rest of which had been handed down by my awesome brother), a little Game Cube named Merlot. Yeah, she's old and outdated and her internal battery is shot so she's constantly asking me to reset the time BUT for this, it's totally worth it.

Look! It's totally me ^ 3 ^ Malon is definitely my favorite character.

It took me a while and lots of screams of "Gaaaaaaaah! I hate Volleyball!" but I finally beat this game! I don't even think I could express to you how excited I was. It was like a little piece of my childhood that I got to revisit and give a satisfying ending to. It felt great. So what next?

"We got this?" "Yeah, we totally got this."

TWILIGHT PRINCESS! Sab got this one for me at the BEST ANNIVERSARY PRESENT EVER! (thank you!) and I beat it just before our next anniversary. In my defense, I took a bit of a break from it half way through but it was more because I got distracted and forgot than anything else. I'd played a little bit of this game after it came out (true story: my math teacher sold it to me for $30 in high school but the GC I played it on wasn't mine and the owner took my game with them when they moved... no, not bitter at all...) and I looooooved it! It was my first time really playing a game on my own and even though I didn't get very far the huge sense of accomplishment I got from killing my first big boss on my own was great.  Quite honestly, this is probably my favorite of the series.

So what distracted me from Twilight Princess you ask? It was when one of my friends was kind enough to lend me this! Ta da!

So jwoienflkgo freaking wmeoirjowei CUTE!! <3

Oh my god! Windwaker is one of the most adorable things ever! I love this game if for nothing more than the derpy pigs and SPLOOOSH sound effects and little bird girls that play harps and everyone nubby limbs! Though seriously, the gameplay was great too. My main problem was that the items were so different from typical LoZ games and I kept forgetting about stuff I needed to solve puzzles >.> Also, the Forest Temple is the most evil thing in the world. I literally lost my voice after screaming at the TV in rage (ask Sab if you don't believe me! o 3 o).

So, after beating all three of these I settled down into the thought that my time with Link was over for a little while. I was a little sad but I figured, hey, I've got some good memories and I can totally start replaying if I feel nostalgic. And then... *insert heavenly choir here*

I don't usually ship Link/Zelda but in this game, how can you resist?

Skyward Sword!! O 3 O I didn't think we had the money to get a Wii but once again on our anniversary Sab surprised me with video game goodness! I'd resigned myself to not being able to play this for another few years but I'm ecstatic I don't have to wait. I haven't been playing long and I'm not really used to Wii controls so I'm a bit awkward (you know that warning screen it shows to keep you from hitting people in the face? yeah, totally almost did that today trying to do a spin attack >.< Sorry!) but I'm having fun with it. Also the music and the graphics are beautiful.

So I wanna hear from the other gamers out there. Obviously, Legend of Zelda games are the best but what are some of your other favorites and your stories about them? I'm especially interested in games you felt kind of defined your childhood like Link did for me. See you in the comments!

Chapter 7: Whether there Will Be Weather

So, as I mentioned in my last post, this book was suggested to me by Felicia Day who is totally my role model. She's so cute and smart and talented *sigh*

At least I have the red hair going for me right?

Anyways, as I also mentioned before, I didn't have very high hopes for Ill Wind by Rachel Caine, the first book in the Weather Wardens series but I thought it looked like a fun book and something light that I could enjoy before jumping back into my lit classes (my semester started this week by the way and despite having 21 textbooks, it doesn't seem like it will be horrible...yet). And I was right!

The book takes place around the modern day but there is this society (semi underground semi not) called the Wardens who are responsible for keeping Mother Earth from swallowing us all whole (sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally!). Wardens come in three basic favors: fire, earth, and weather which I thought was an interesting touch on the traditional four elements ideas. People who have a talent in one can study it at the college level and then join the Wardens in a kind of environmental police type of capacity. The twist is that there are also Djins (think nontraditional genies) that have all three powers and are in service to Wardens so they can be used as an extra power boost. I won't give away too much of the actual plot since figuring that out is most of the point of the book but it starts with the main character, Joanne, running for her life and in a lot of trouble.

Now, I won't say this is the best book I've ever read but it was certainly fun! Joanne is really candid and sassy (hmm, reminds me of a few people I know) and the humor is great. I like the writing style a lot, there is definitely a lot of creativity in plot and word choice alike. I'm also a huge fan of the backwards story where you start in the middle of the plot and figure out what's going on later. It's kind of like jumping into a movie near the middle and you get to guess not just the end but the beginning.

 This was one of those books that I rarely run across where I just wanted to be reading it all the time! I was heartbroken when I had to put it down for work and anytime I ran to the bathroom, ate lunch, or hopped on the bus it was glued to my hand. Maybe part of that is there's only like 4 chapters so nowhere is a safe place to put it down! There's always more to know. I really appreciated that because it helped to remind me what a real love of reading can feel like. I love really deep, introspective, life changing books but sometimes you just need something light to make you smile and make you gasp and make you yell.

Let's just say this, I definitely want to read the next book in the series. However, the library is taking forever to get it to me so I've picked up something else to tide me over in the mean time. I've been told once I pick it up I won't be able to put down so hopefully you guys will have another article before too long!

Ill Wind by Rachel Caine (337 pages)

Judgement: Addictive Summer Read (7 out of 10)