30 "week" challenge- week 3!

Oopsies! I'm a tad late on this one! Oh well, there will just be 2 this week :) 

"Week" 3- A picture of the cast of your favorite show. 

Well, I'll be honest, I don't watch a ton of TV. Quite often, I'm just too busy!

However, if I could choose to be dedicated to watching a show every week, it would be...

 

The Big Bang Theory! I absolutely love the cast of this show, and every show I watch makes me laugh. 

And actually, another show that makes me laugh that is kind of embarrassing is...

Yep. Everybody Loves Raymond. There are some really priceless moments on that show..

Anywho that is all for today...sorry for being a week behind! I'll probably do another one this week to catch up!

Book #1 Review!

Hey all!

So I just finished my first book off my "100 books to read list" which is #50, Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 

Technically, as I am writing this, I have 21 pages left, but I'm technically done...right? I'll still finish it..but I'd like to get through the post before life gets insane (midterms a week from Monday! Ick!) and I forget what this was about/what I wanted to say.

So let me tell you, I wanted to give up on this book about 20 pages in. It is a very hard book to understand. In fact, I'm watching the movie to see if I can't get a better understanding on some parts of the book, specifically the very beginning and the very end. I am currently very confused with 21 pages left to go before I hopefully have some clarity. 

Essentially, this book is exactly what the title says it is. It's a love story. The "love" part is in the foreground, and the "cholera" part is more in the background of the story. 

In the story, there are really two main characters (at least in my mind...it's probably not accurate for all you English Literature nuts out there); Fermina Daza, and Florentino Ariza. Florentino is madly in love with Fermina, and throughout the first half of the book, he spends all his time trying to win her over. But then she gets married, so he realizes that he has to wait until her husband dies until he can be with her. But he thinks about her throughout the entire book. He becomes so lovesick a couple of times, the doctors think he has cholera, but in actuality, he is just lovesick for Fermina Daza. You feel like you're in a tug of war while reading some parts, because just when you think he's going to FINALLY get the girl, he doesn't, then he tries really hard again..and well, you get the picture. There is a lot of sleeping around in this book, and some husband-cheating-on-wives action too. I'm not giving away the end (mostly because I haven't finished it myself so I can't give it away..but also because I'm not into spoilers).

The plot in itself is pretty interesting, however, it's quite hard to follow. The book was published in 1985, so it's not that the English in itself is hard to understand, it's just in the way it was written.  

So I would give it 3.5 stars out of 5. The book had some interesting parts, there was a span of about 100 pages where I couldn't put it down..but that's about it! Now I'm skimming through the last bit.

I would recommend this to people who enjoy reading books set in older time periods, and I think anyone who has taken English Lit and enjoyed a lot of what was studied in that class will enjoy this book. Anyone who shudders at the thought of English Lit should probably steer clear of this one! All in all, an encouraging first book out of 100!

30 "Week" Challenge #2 and shout outs!

Hello everyone!

So the "week" 2 of this challenge says...

"A picture of you and the person you've been closest with the longest."

So for this one, I would choose me and my friend Hannah! Sadly, we don't really have any pictures together, but it still counts if I mention her...right?

I've known her since kindergarten, and we didn't hang out much in elementary school, but in high school we got really close, and now she's one of my best friends!

I'm not sure if she reads the blog, but a shout out to Hannah anyway, for always being there for me! 

So on to more shout outs! 

Yay to everyone who I know (or am slightly positive haha) has read the blog! Including but not limited to: Daniella H, Rachael P, Reyna Z, Tyler-Rae H, Josh F, Janessa B, Noeloni B, Jacquie H, Laura S, and Stefani V! THANK YOU ALL! I'm completely flattered and super excited to know that I have all you guys as readers! (Even if you've read it only once!). THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! OH! Also Kristin A! I don't know you, but I noticed you also follow Tyler-Rae, so you probably know her so thank you!


Also!


I happened to be going through my stats, and I noticed a couple random blogspot websites that I'd never seen/heard of/been to had posted links to my blog on theirs! 


The first one I noticed was from: http://miketonia.blogspot.com/. Thank you so much! I have no idea where you found me, but I definitely appreciate you linking to me! (You're kids are super cute by the way!) 


The second one I noticed was from davesgolffoursome.blogspot.com. I went to check out the site but apparently you need permission to enter. Which makes me wonder two things: 1) What is he discussing on his blog? and 2) Why would he link me? WEIRD. But anyway, it's still cool...just a bit strange!

So anyway, that's my fun shout out/ 30 week challenge post for you. Thank you all again for reading and being so encouraging! I couldn't have done it without any of you! If I forgot anyone, I am sorry! I still appreciate you I just either forgot you read the blog or didn't know you read it! Let me know if you want to be shouted to in the future :) (In a good way of course!)

Awkward conversation time!

Hey all! 

So this is an awkward one today kids. 

I have to be honest and say that I've written and re-written this about 4 or 5 times now. This one is difficult for me. I'm not 100% sure where I stand, even though I do have my on opinions, and I'm also terribly afraid of offending people on this as it's a touchy subject all around.


Controversial topic for January: War.


YIKES!


I've wanted to write about this for a while, and what really sparked my interest is a video I saw from one of my absolute favorite youtubers; Philip Defranco. The video is from his main channel where he talks about news stories, and gives his own opinion on them. I have multiple videos I recommend you watch today, and this one (even though I love him) is not really relevant, so watch this one last if you'd like to watch it at all. The link is: http://www.youtube.com/user/sxephil?blend=1&ob=4#p/u/62/02ODXd_fddo

Before I continue, I have 2 videos I really recommend you watch, however, they are really long, so I will rank them in order of "importance", both coming from http://www.collateralmurder.com/:


Video #3- U.S soldier Ethan McCord's Eyewitness Story
Video #1- Short version


Moving along.


War is an unfortunate reality. It's one of those things that because we aren't perfect, there is war. Because we are all different and have this getting along issue, there is war. 


I don't love that there has to be war, but there isn't much I can do about it. It it was it is. 

And I don't mean to sound like I don't care that soldiers and civilians are dying because there is war, because I do. My heart aches every time I see on T.V that a soldier has died, or that there was another suicide bombing or something. It's not fun and as much as I would like to see peace on Earth; I don't feel as if there is much we can do about it. I mean, war has been going on since Biblical times. If they didn't stop fighting then, I can't see people stopping any time soon. 

I came upon a video a couple moths ago through a Facebook friend. He posted a link to a video saying how he was so disgusted with the army etc etc. It intrigued me as I have become more fascinated with hearing about people's war experiences etc, so I watched it. I think I must've had my mouth open in shock for a solid 90% of it. It is unbelievable. The website is www.collateralmurder.com. At the very least, watch the short version if you are at all interested. I will warn you that it is very graphic.

I'll give you a bit of a summary. 


The video is shot from the viewpoint of a helicopter. And you hear conversation between multiple helicopters I believe (I wasn't quite sure of that). What happens, is that there are 2 men working as war photographers, taking pictures of sites for newspapers that kind of thing. The soldiers in the one helicopter see these 2 men, and a bunch of people begin surrounding the 2 men and so the soldiers begin to feel threatened because they mistake the camera for a weapon. So the one helicopter requests permission to fire. They get the permission and kill these people. Then, you hear the soldiers say that there is a van coming to pick up the bodies and minutes later you see the van coming. The men get out of the van, and the helicopter starts shooting at the van and the people picking up the dead bodies. What makes matters worse is that there are children in the van who are seriously injured. I'm not sure if they die, but they do get sent to the hospital. 


I have so many thoughts and no idea how to put them into words.

Originally, I thought the van was just coming to pick up the bodies, however after re-watching, the men state that they are coming to "pick up bodies and possibly weapons". So I understand the threat, however, I still have a hard time with that. Because in my opinion, and from what I understand after watching the third video (which I'll talk about in a bit), they would've engaged at the van even if they KNEW they were coming JUST for bodies. That is what I have a hard time with. There is nothing threatening about just coming for bodies. At least have a LITTLE more respect.



It's hard for me to talk about this because I'm sitting here in my bedroom perfectly comfortable, and with a full understanding of the situation. However, these guys have little to no prep, no understanding really of the situation, and they are just supposed to go by spur of the moment. So as critical as I may sound, I do understand that it's a very spur of the moment type situation. 

A second thing that disgusts me in that video is the laughing after they fire and kill all the people. Killing people is no joke. Iraq is no video game. So don't laugh after you've killed a group of people. I don't care who they are. Oh, and "Good shootin'"? Freakin' A...


I started watching the third video on that website, and it's a response from one of the soldiers working at the time. I really admire him. He is truly disgusted by the goings-0n in Iraq. He talks about how the commanders would tell them to kill everyone on the streets, and how a lot of the soldiers wouldn't do it. They were also told that if they felt threatened, they could engage (hence the first video). He says "if you didn't fire, the NCO's (Non-commissioned officers) in your platoon would make your life hell". Ok. If you feel threatened, fine. I understand that. But the part that I have a hard time with is how they say if a guy gives you a funny look, or just "shooting through roofs of buildings" you can shoot them and you're fine. That's where my struggle comes into play. 


There is only one statement in the entire video that I agree with: "well it's their fault for bringing their kids into a battle." 

What kind of parent does that? Leave your freaking kids at home. You'd think that it would be a universal idea to want what's best for your kids. I guess in Iraq that isn't the case. 

What's even worse is that that isn't the case in the army either. The soldier who put the kids in a van and sent them to hospital (Ethan McCord) was told to "quit worrying about the fucking kids". Oh awesome. This just gets better and better...


And it does. "needing to talk to somebody constitutes as a crime". Oh. My. Goodness. No wonder so many soldiers come home and have so many mental issues. They have no support at all, and really aren't allowed to be human. 


There is so much more to talk about, but I would like to stop here. I have a hard time respecting commanders that tell soldiers to "suck it up" or "forget about the kids". However, I can respect soldiers who remain human in Iraq, and come home, and are brave enough to share their stories of anger and hurt. 

Something tells me there will be a part two on this topic...

30 "week" challenge part 1!

Why hello!

It's been a terribly long time since I've blogged. Which does not make me so happy. But life has been insanity since about December 9th so having the time to blog....well there hasn't been any!

So I thought I'd start on one of my new topics for the blog!

I don't know how many of you have seen this/done this on Facebook, but there's a "30 day challenge" going on where you post a photo every day and there are questions you have to answer. I thought instead of doing one a day, I'd do one a week.

Here's a song of the day before you begin to read!

The topic for week one:

"A recent photo of you and 10 interesting facts about yourself"

It's not 100% recent but it's recent enough!

  

1. I love to crochet. (Sounds lame I know but it actually comes in handy!)

2. I love music. A lot. My parents have told me that they used to put me in a play pen in the living room and then turn on the country music channel (my taste has improved I promise) and I would start groovin'. I still love music, (country well....it has its moments) and I will probably never be able to narrow my list of known artists down to one favorite.

3. I hate sports. With a fiery passion. I'm not coordinated that way at all, and I just get embarrassed. 

4. Even though I hate sports, I took dance lessons for 11 years straight. I took a wide range of dances from Jazz, Ballet, Tap, Hip Hop, and Highland. 

5. I love to bake. Cooking, not so much. I could stand and bake for an entire day if I had the opportunity, but I find cooking more stressful. 

6. I hate heights. With a fiery passion. 


7. Winter is not my favorite season. The snow is pretty, but I hate the combination of being cold and wet. And this is what usually happens when you go outside in the winter. 


8. I am an only child. How do I like it? I've never experienced anything else so I can't really tell you :)

9. I would love to travel to Africa. As sketchy a place that it is, I would love to see all the animals in their natural habitat! I think I would like to go twice though. One for a missions trip, and the other just for a vacation. 

10. I love the ocean. When I get old and have a ton of money, I will probably get a vacation home on Vancouver Island or something. I love vacationing in the summer by the ocean. 

  So that would be me in 10 facts. Hope you enjoyed it and learned something new! I challenge you all to join me whether it's on Facebook or a blog!