Bliss Moment #1

Welcome to Bliss Moment #1! 


I'm writing this and not feeling very "blissfull." Oh well. C'est la vie! 


If you have no idea what I'm talking about, see the previous post. There it will explain what the idea is behind "Bliss Moments". 


So, getting on with it; the first bliss moment is....

Noticing a piece of gum on the ground before stepping on it. 
(I told you they were going to be basic...) 


This piece of good fortune and totally awesome thing happened to me about a week ago, (yeah yeah it's taken me a while okay? Don't judge.) My mom and I went shopping, and as I was getting out of the car, I happened to notice a piece of gum a couple of inches away from where I was going to place my foot. I was very happy to be paying attention, otherwise I would've suffered the misfortune on stepping on the sticky, gooey substance! 


I don't know about you, but one of the most annoying things in the world is stepping in a piece of gum. I hate that feeling of your foot sticking to the pavement, even if it's only for milliseconds! 




And that was my moment of bliss! 

Introducing...Bliss Moments.

So I want to just write a short introductory post to a new thing I'll be doing. 

So basically, whenever the urge strikes me, I'll be writing of things that make me happy, or are just generally awesome. It was actually suggested that I do this a long time ago, but I really didn't know what that would mean for me until just recently. 

If you've ever heard of "The Book of Awesome", it'll be something similar to that. The Book of Awesome is also a blog, which I highly encourage you to check out. It's absolutely fantastic, and it'll give you a glimpse of what I will be trying to accomplish with "Bliss Moments". 

Look forward to a Bliss Moment soon! (Maybe even today, we'll see what happens!) 

xo

Book #7 & #8 Reviews

Hey all!


I've been getting behind on the book updates, and I haven't actually blogged in forever, but here I am with a couple book reviews! I'm trying to get myself back into actually blogging, so hopefully I'll get on that and put one up soon! 


So, on to books!

Book #7 is a book called The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold. It's a very depressing story, and it's a book I would not recommend reading right after reading The Flying Troutmans; which is what I did. It started to become too much, and I actually found myself having to read The Almost Moon in parts. I have actually tried to read this book before, but couldn't get past the first few pages. 


The first chapter of this story tells the gruesome tale of a woman killing her mother. It's a disturbing way to start a story, and it made me wonder if I should bother reading it to the end. I decided to give it a chance though, and I ended up being disappointed. 


The next chapters follow her life after the murder. You'd think to start a book with such a disturbing beginning would be bad enough, but the story just gets even more disheartening as it continues on. 


There are some authors that can write dark and disturbing stories and make them bearable, and Sebold succeeded in that with The Lovely Bones, but she failed to accomplish this with The Almost Moon. I can't even imagine thinking of a plot like that. 


If you like dark, bland tales, then this is for you. If not, steer clear. Choose The Lovely Bones instead. The Lovely Bones is another dark tale, but it's a really well written book that I thoroughly enjoyed sinking my teeth into. 

The next book is #2 in a trilogy by Stieg Larsson. It's called The Girl Who Played With Fire. I read the first book (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) before I decided to start the 100 books in 1 year challenge, and also while I was in school. Which was a big mistake. These books are incredibly addicting, once you get into them. It takes about 200 pages or so to get really addicting, but once you get there, it's hard to put them down.


It's hard to even describe what this book is about. The novels are very suspensful, and very complex. I'm currently on the third one (the second one ends with a cliffhanger, so I went RIGHT into the third one!) and I would definitely recommend them for summer reading. 


If you enjoy books with complex plots and many characters, I would definitely recommend this for you! Give them a try, you won't be sorry. 


Happy Reading! 
~xox 

Book Review #6

Book #6 is by one of my favorite authors. I read Miriam Toew's book "A Complicated Kindess" a couple years ago when I was on vacation with my family and I couldn't put it down. I had the same experience with book #6 which is The Flying Troutmans. 

This book follows Hattie Troutman, who is the sister of Min Troutman. Min is a troubled woman with 2 kids; a daughter Thebes and a son Logan. While Hattie is living in Paris with her boyfriend, she gets a distress call from Thebes as Min is being admitted into the psychiatric ward. Hattie returns to her hometown to be with the kids, and decides to take the kids on a "road trip" of sorts to find their father, Cherkis. It's definitely not your typical "family bonding" story, because I'm not even sure that's what happens to the three of them. However, they have quite the adventure, and as dark as the story is, Toews manages to throw in a bit of humor every now and then. It's a book I would highly recommend. 

Miriam Toews touches me in a way I can't really describe. It's difficult for me to describe her writing as dark because the stories she tells are so bizarre and absurd they're hard to believe. And yet, as crazy the tales are, she writes them in a way that makes them slightly believable. If you read The Flying Troutmans and enjoy it, I would highly recommend A Complicated Kindness as well. It's quite a bit different and that story is definitely dark, but it's got that same Miriam Toews touch to it that makes it hard to put down. 



Happy reading!

Book #4 and #5 Reviews

Wow you guys, I'm so far behind on this whole blogging thing it's not even funny. 

Anyway, so I've finished 5/100 books. I've got a long way to go! 

So first things first, I jumped right into another Jodi Picoult book. Holy can that woman write! 

A couple weeks ago, I finished her newest (I think?) novel called Sing You Home. It's quite different from House Rules, but it had the same profound effect on me. 

As in House Rules, she writes the book in multiple perspectives, but the majority of the focus is on Zoe; who at the beginning of the story is trying to have a baby with her husband with no success, and as the stress becomes too much, they separate. Zoe isn't a woman with many girl friends, or many friends at all for that matter, but soon after her separation, she makes a new friend, and it takes a turn she doesn't expect. 

Another similarity to House Rules is that there's another court case in the story. I don't know if this is very common in Picoult's writing, but I enjoy it, and it fascinates me how she manages to incorporate law into her writing. 

I love how much Picoult puts into her writing. She doesn't just sit and make up a story and have it published; she does her research. She sits with people that are similar to the main character in the most important aspects (for example: Jodi Picoult worked closely with someone she knew who has Aspergers when writing House Rules). As a reader, it makes for a really good read when the author has put a lot of time and consideration into their writing.

It's quite controversial, but if you keep an open mind while reading it, it can really challenge your way of thinking, and perhaps allow you to be more open minded when faced with certain situations. 

Book #5 was a bit of a lighter and a heavier read all at once. 

Book #5 is Holloway Falls by Neil Cross. I picked this one up at the $5 table at Chapters. Let me tell you, it was good, but I wouldn't have paid more than $5 for it. 

I actually took quite a risk when buying this book, it didn't really have a description in the back, but I had read a couple of pages before purchasing it, so that was my 'justification' of sorts. 

It's written like an English Mystery, except it's a bit lighter. However, many parts left me confused. There are quite a few characters, and quite frankly, I'm still confused about some of them. 

One of the main characters is a cop by the name of William Holloway. Years ago, his wife cheated on him with another man, and Holloway is out to seek revenge on him. However, a woman that William slept with was murdered, and it's believed that he did it. However, another man enters the story who believes that he knows who did it, and it wasn't Holloway. 

If you're into thrillers and mysteries, definitely check it out. However, at the very end there is quite a bit of blood and gore described, so if you don't like that kind of stuff, just skim over it. 

Happy Reading!

Book #3 Review

I'm only on #3 of 100? Gaaah....

Anyway, I'm waay behind on this review. I finished this book a good 2-3 weeks ago, and let me tell you, it was a lot better than I thought it was going to be! 

Audrey Niffenegger's book started off to be very very dull. She wrote the book from the perspectives of Claire Abshire, and Henry DeTamble; Henry being the time traveller. Obviously. 


The reason it's so dull in the beginning, in my opinion, is it's just a constant flip flop between perspectives, circling around one event. So for example, you read about the moment Claire and Henry met for the first time twice in a few short pages, because the first perspective is Claire's and the second is Henry's. Of course, one of the two perspectives is a bit longer, but still, it gets to be a bit bland. 


Honestly, the only reason I kept reading this book, is for the mere fact that I figured something exciting needed to happen. They needed to at least end up together, which was a given anyway, gathering from the title. 


Am I ever glad I stuck through it. 


It takes a while, and a bit of skimming, but after about 100 pages or so, you start to get into a rhythm, things start to happen, and eventually, you cannot put the book down. 


Part of what makes the book interesting, is how different the two perspectives are, and how different their lives were, not just for obvious reasons. Henry could've had a semi-normal childhood, had he not been a time traveller. The two seem to just quietly respect their differences, and just make their goal in life to make it work. There's only one person who has trouble accepting his time travelling, which makes "making it work" a bit difficult...which I'm not giving away!


I would highly recommend this book. Even if you've seen the movie. Take it on vacation, it's a good read for the summertime when you need a good, long book. Once you're into it, it won't be long until you're finished! Niffenegger wrote a book after this one called Her Fearful Symmetry, which I may read and include in my 100 books in one year challenge. 

(By the way, I've got 2 books on the go right now which I'm almost done, and many more to read!)

Crisis

Hello all!
I absolutely love this song. I may have posted it before, but I could listen to it over and over and over again. Thanks to TRH for posting this on her blog first, which was my introduction to an artist whom I now love :) 








I hope things have been going well for all of you :) Especially to those, like me, who are in the midst of writing finals. I hate this time of year! 

Like any normal person in the midst of exam time, I always get stressed this time of year. It's a last minute scramble to make sure you understand everything, and are doing well enough to at least pass those courses that you absolutely dread. 

This year, exam stress gave me way more than I bargained for. 

Not only was I freaking out about "so much to do and so little time to do it all", I was going through a "mid life crisis" of sorts. 

It started about a month ago. And it started with loneliness. I felt as though I had friends, but no one I really connected with. I felt lost because I didn't have a group of friends that all got along with each other that I could just call up and be like "hey, let's go to a movie" or something of that sort at a minimum. It seems like a petty thing to cause loneliness, but underneath, I felt like I didn't belong. I didn't feel like I had a purpose.

I go through loneliness phases from time to time, but this one hit me quite hard. I in fact, was ready to start looking at schools other provinces, and pack up my stuff next year and hit the road, start somewhere new. Because for a while there, I didn't feel like I mattered in Kelowna. Or to the people I considered my friends. 

After much thinking, and a lot of relying on God, I was reminded that I had a place here (for now), and so I am here, and am a happier person now in that regard. I also started to ponder about what my priorities are, and what they should be. Which is a difficult one that I will probably always struggle with, but this is the first time I've actually faced it.


So after that crisis, I moved on to a new one. 

It's amazing how frustration builds and builds, and you don't realize it until you hit the 'climax' of sorts. 

I realized, a couple days ago, that I was really frustrated with where my education was going. I've been going to college for 2 years, and for about a year and a half of that time, I've had no sense of direction. I've just been taking courses to get credits. I started to become more and more frustrated with myself, as it feels like I am the only one in school right now that doesn't have a sense of direction. Well, didn't I suppose, because now I am 99% sure of what I want to do. But it's a really scary feeling to watch other people who know exactly what they're doing and pursue it with passion, when you just feel like you're floating along with no direction. 


So thanks to many people in my life, I had my little freak out, and now I feel back on track. I've set short term goals for myself, in order to give myself direction. I find it really really difficult to set long term goals for myself, so instead, I'll do short term, complete one thing at a time, and see where life takes me from there. 

One of the short term plans I've set for myself involves fitness. I've decided that by the end of the summer, I want to be able to do Knox Mountain runs. I've never, ever considered doing this before, but I know many people that do them, and I think it would be an accomplishment that I could truly be proud of. I've never been athletic, and have never achieved anything great in terms of fitness. So to be able to do runs on Knox Mountain would be a great achievement for me. 

The other goals are hard ones to share, they are personal ones involving how I perceive myself. They're hard goals because not only do they force me to look inside myself and ask some difficult questions, but they're hard to set specifc goals for. However, I still hope to make changes throughout the summer, and I will probably provide updates as I start to perceive changes. 

I am grateful to the people in my life who have kept me sane over the last little while, H.B, S.H, A.Z-G, D.H, B.G, and JJK are only a few people who have kept me calm/brought me back to sanity/been an encouragement to me. So I thank all of you for helping me remember what's important, and for giving me the encouragement that I needed! I couldn't have arrived at the mindset I have now without all of you. 

Have a happy week, and if you haven't made any short or long term goals for yourselves, I suggest you do it! Think of things you really want to accomplish in your life and work hard to get there. It's amazing how it will change your mindset on life!