Well, the final tally is in with the verdict 1,029 points out of 1,030 points possible. And I was doing so well up until that last submission! Messed up on a citation - big surprise there - but was a total pro up until then. Out of the like 20 something citations, no wait it was 5 citations per book cause you had to do one for the book, one for the author's website, 2 for published reviews and then one for a book like it. So 5 per book and I read 12 books. And had a perfect score until the last one. Man. Grad school. Just... You know... One point, that's just... mean. But I'm done for the summer and I have a new summer song which surprisingly hasn't driven me nuts yet as pop-y as it is. I got sick of Whine Up about a month in.
But I'm done! Cause now I have my final grades, sent in my thank-you's, all that's left now is to write the reviews, oh wait I haven't called my mother...give me a minute.... Called my mother, she told me to celebrate so huzzah!
I'll watch the CWS, route for SC and drink something. Like a Mike's. If I have a Mike's.
*celebration ensues*
Moving on.
I told you earlier I would hit you with the book reviews once the class was finished. Then I got busy with other stuff and after that I just didn't want to do it, but now I have time. There are 12 books, but there's no way I'm reviewing all 12 now. I'm thinking 4 per day. It'll give me something to talk about for the rest of the weekend.
Okay, here we go.
So Book #1 was "Revolution" by Jennifer Donnelly.
Basically, the story is about Andi, a student about to graduate high school. Her brother is killed, her mother goes crazy so her father decides to take her to Paris. Her father, a famous geneticist, is there to test a heart that people claim to be the heart of the dauphin of France. The dauphin of France was the son of the King and Queen during the Revolution. His parents were beheaded and he was imprisoned so the people could live in a democratic world no longer ruled by royalty. While Andi is in France she discovers a diary in an old guitar case that belonged to Alex, the official companion to the dauphin. Alex took care of him, entertained him, and after he was imprisoned tried to free him. The story bounces back from Andi's life to Alex's journal entries. As Andi gets drawn in by Alex's story she notices things in her world start to overlap with Alex's. She must know whether Alex was able to save the dauphin or if it really is his heart that her father is testing.
Scale of Awesome rating: 10/10 - The book is great if you're a fan of historical fiction. Donnelly does a great job of explaining the French Revolution as she's telling the story. I actually researched it after I was done with the book because I became so interested. You learn about it without feeling like she's drowning you in it. I was very impressed.
Book #2 - "Hold Still" by Nina LaCour
Caitlin is the main character in this book. It starts right after her best friend, Ingrid, commits suicide. She doesn't understand why, she has a lot of rage, and then suddenly the summer is over and she has to go back to school and face everyone. Then one day she finds Ingrid's journal under her bed. While reading the journal she begins to understand not only about Ingrid but about herself - as cheesy as that sounds. It's a good book,
Scale of Awesome says: 7/10 - It's a really quick read and actually really different from what I'm used to reading so at first I was resistant. After she found the journal it was hard to put down.
Book #3 was "Bruiser" by Neal Shusterman
This book is told from many perspectives, it kind of bounces back and forth. Tennyson and Bronte are two siblings growing up and going to high school. The book starts just as Bronte starts dating this guy that everyone calls Bruiser. He's big and awkward and doesn't talk to anyone. After finding out that his sister is dating Bruiser, Tennyson decides to follow him home finding an uncle who beats him, a fears-nothing-cause-he's-young brother, and a dead bull. In their front yard. After helping him to dispose of the bull - so glad he only gave us the before and after of that part - he and Bruiser become closer and he begins to notice things. Like, why all of his injuries just suddenly don't exist around Bruiser. I can't really say anything more than that without giving anything away, but read this book. Because it's fantastic.
Scale of Awesome rating: 9/10 - I loved this book! It's funny, it's mysterious, and it's a quick-read. What more can I say?
Book #4 was a Golden Sower nominee "Extra Credit" by Andrew Clements
Abby is awesome at rock climbing. She is not, however, so awesome at everything else, say school. She's failing. And they're going to hold her back. Her only option: extra credit. The teacher gives her choices and puts them in a hat, she pulls out the pen-pal option aka write to a different country back and forth with a pen-pal. This is how she finds herself in contact with Sadeed who is from Afghanistan. Sadeed is the most qualified student at the school her letter was sent to. He knows English so he would be the one to write her back, except, it's improper for a young boy and a young girl to write back and forth in their society, so he writes what his sister says instead. After getting tired of being the scribe he decides to write his own letter and send it along with his sister's. Then Clements throws in some cultural differences, there's drama, and that's all I'm gonna give you cause it's a short book.
Scale of Awesome - for me I'd say 6/10 but it would be a perfect read for a younger adolescent who's wanting more to read than just basic chapter books. Super quick read with big font and not so many pages.
Cool Aunt and I are sad since Vandy is toast. They lost to Florida this afternoon. Total downer man. No more "Black! Gold" this season. Although I may continue to text her that randomly throughout the summer as it is rather amusing. Now I'm saying South Carolina. It would be cool for them to win the last game at Rosenblatt and the first game at the TD-whatever-I'm-still-going-to-call-it-Rosenblatt stadium.
Okay, I have to say I'm really enjoying these Super Cuts commercials on ESPN. I think they're fantastic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvfWUjHBNJY
and Esurance
"Raise the roof 1999." that's our victory dance at the smaller branch.
I'm all about raisin' the roof.
Songs tonight:
"Barbara Ann" The Beach Boys
gotta love it.
"That's How Country Boys Roll" Billy Currington
they love mama and jesus and jones...
and yet "Run, Joey, run, Joey, run...." is still in my head. ugh.
OUT! Go SC!
Showing posts with label hold still. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hold still. Show all posts
Friday, June 24, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
So you'll remember what I forgot to say...
Write this down!
Class today was awesome, as always. Had to stop for gas on the way. See, Maggie used to beep at me when I was running out of gas, Jarvis just has this light in the corner of the dash. And I'm soooo good at checking the dash...not. Ask my parents. "How long as that oil gage been broken?" "Um, a while?" "WHAT?!"
So, 12 books in 6 weeks. 2 down, 2 for next week. Soon it'll be an audio book, got it off Amazon.com and apprently it's really long but since I'm not driving back and forth between practice and here anymore I'll have to load it on my computer and put it on my ipod. That's always in my pocket...along with a quotebook, flashdrive with my grandpa's journals and all my camp stuff on it, chunk of concrete from junior year of college (long story), a business card and a bunch of slips of paper that seem to accumulate as the day goes on. I used to write notes on my arms and hands to remember things but it's probably unprofessional to do it in public service so I write them on paper instead.
Okay so now I can officially review them.
Book #1 = "Hold Still" by Nina LaCour
Caitlin finds her best friend's journal under her bed after she commits suicide. Story follows her journey dealing with grief and moving on with her life.
It was okay, nothing I plan on reading again because it was depressing. But it was quick read with a lot of journal entries and some cool pictures.
Book #2 = "Revolution" by Jennifer Donnelly
After her brother dies and her mother goes crazy Andi's father decides to take her to Paris where she finds this diary in an old guitar case that belonged to a girl from the French Revolution. The girl was the official companion to the Dauphin of France - the son of the King and Queen during the French Revolution.
You MUST read this book. I can't say anything more about the plot without giving things away. But you MUST read this book. If you like Historical Fiction it's the perfect read. Even if you don't like Historical Fiction it's a great way to get you interested. I rarely read it but I was hooked from the start. It's funny, it's educational - I seriously looked up facts on the French Revolution and Louis-Charles after I was finished reading it because I had to know - because it's based on a true story. Read this book.
Library Goddess-isms...wait, do I have to do citation for these too?
-"Learning lamaze" lots of deep breathing
-"They don't believe in vowels, what's with that?" roster last names
-"What color was the car?...blue..." a totally indepth question...not.
-"Ha! plus five!" pronounced a difficult last name correctly
-"Donkey Hotey" okay...I can't explain that one
-"I don't care if you have a girl middle and a boy high or a boy middle and a girl high...school! High school!" yeah...haha, gotta include school on that one.
-"Take the call but go down the hall, don't say Hey by the door. We don't care about your hey." but it was like "Hey" as in "Hey, Ho, Hey, Ho" hysterical.
-"Have your dog look at it, I don't care." there were a lot of dog references
-"You will not get a handout for your marriage." true dat.
-"iPad, uPad, we all pad" I don't remember what we were talking about but it was funny
-"There's language we use with our friends and language we don't use with our grandmother." yeah.
Songs for the day:
"Write This Down" George Strait
think I posted this one during 90s week but it's been a while
Tonight I'm going with Grandma (26-year-old-coworker) who I, from now on, will refer to as "Slim Shady" because it's shorter and funnier, are going to see a friend from work's band play. It's Slim Shady because at inservice they made the people who were working on the software transition stand up. I said Stand up Slim Shady and it was funny because that's like anti-her. I'll make it work.
Out!
Class today was awesome, as always. Had to stop for gas on the way. See, Maggie used to beep at me when I was running out of gas, Jarvis just has this light in the corner of the dash. And I'm soooo good at checking the dash...not. Ask my parents. "How long as that oil gage been broken?" "Um, a while?" "WHAT?!"
So, 12 books in 6 weeks. 2 down, 2 for next week. Soon it'll be an audio book, got it off Amazon.com and apprently it's really long but since I'm not driving back and forth between practice and here anymore I'll have to load it on my computer and put it on my ipod. That's always in my pocket...along with a quotebook, flashdrive with my grandpa's journals and all my camp stuff on it, chunk of concrete from junior year of college (long story), a business card and a bunch of slips of paper that seem to accumulate as the day goes on. I used to write notes on my arms and hands to remember things but it's probably unprofessional to do it in public service so I write them on paper instead.
Okay so now I can officially review them.
Book #1 = "Hold Still" by Nina LaCour
Caitlin finds her best friend's journal under her bed after she commits suicide. Story follows her journey dealing with grief and moving on with her life.
It was okay, nothing I plan on reading again because it was depressing. But it was quick read with a lot of journal entries and some cool pictures.
Book #2 = "Revolution" by Jennifer Donnelly
After her brother dies and her mother goes crazy Andi's father decides to take her to Paris where she finds this diary in an old guitar case that belonged to a girl from the French Revolution. The girl was the official companion to the Dauphin of France - the son of the King and Queen during the French Revolution.
You MUST read this book. I can't say anything more about the plot without giving things away. But you MUST read this book. If you like Historical Fiction it's the perfect read. Even if you don't like Historical Fiction it's a great way to get you interested. I rarely read it but I was hooked from the start. It's funny, it's educational - I seriously looked up facts on the French Revolution and Louis-Charles after I was finished reading it because I had to know - because it's based on a true story. Read this book.
Library Goddess-isms...wait, do I have to do citation for these too?
-"Learning lamaze" lots of deep breathing
-"They don't believe in vowels, what's with that?" roster last names
-"What color was the car?...blue..." a totally indepth question...not.
-"Ha! plus five!" pronounced a difficult last name correctly
-"Donkey Hotey" okay...I can't explain that one
-"I don't care if you have a girl middle and a boy high or a boy middle and a girl high...school! High school!" yeah...haha, gotta include school on that one.
-"Take the call but go down the hall, don't say Hey by the door. We don't care about your hey." but it was like "Hey" as in "Hey, Ho, Hey, Ho" hysterical.
-"Have your dog look at it, I don't care." there were a lot of dog references
-"You will not get a handout for your marriage." true dat.
-"iPad, uPad, we all pad" I don't remember what we were talking about but it was funny
-"There's language we use with our friends and language we don't use with our grandmother." yeah.
Songs for the day:
"Write This Down" George Strait
think I posted this one during 90s week but it's been a while
Tonight I'm going with Grandma (26-year-old-coworker) who I, from now on, will refer to as "Slim Shady" because it's shorter and funnier, are going to see a friend from work's band play. It's Slim Shady because at inservice they made the people who were working on the software transition stand up. I said Stand up Slim Shady and it was funny because that's like anti-her. I'll make it work.
Out!
Monday, May 9, 2011
Just wave.
Oldest sister has this story that's kind of turned out to be a great life analogy. Basically, back when she was in high school, she was told not to ride on this guy's motorcycle and then of course she did it anyway. And, while riding in town, she passes our parents. Knowing she's already in trouble she just waves. It's a good life motto - along with "that's something to scrapbook". Life is crap. Or so I was told today. So the least you can do, when times are bad and you know you're in trouble, is wave. I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of waving this week.
Play practice today was interesting. The performance is Thursday but there were no jitters. Actually, there was no interest at all. They wouldn't stand still, they were talking when other people were saying their lines, they didn't speak out - I was in the third row and I couldn't even hear them. I'm beginning to be glad this is only going to last 25 minutes instead of the usual 45. So, we're not doing commercials anymore and the kids gave up on their rap-off at the end. It's a whole mess. But, with all the bad timing - got the script late, during sports seasons, almost end of year and they just want to be done with school - what else should I expect? But whatever. I'll wave for that too.
And I guess there was good with the bad. They're all out of their books - except one and that's allowed because she's the reporter and can read from the script - and the songs are better than the weird versions in the script now that Nic has fixed them. I applaud her patience with kids. I only come in like once a week - well, now like once every two - but she has them every day. Yikes. See, this is why I dropped out of the Ed program. Kids...not my strong point. Good thing I direct a camp, huh?
Anyway, my camp director partner and I - because he's involved in like everything - hooked up some mics and stuck them around the stage so we should be able to hear the kids through at least the third row.
And, we got to talk about the joy that is camp, and the preparation process that goes along with and hasn't started yet even though it should have. I have people asking about information already, usually we wait to send forms out until school is out for the summer but that is coming a lot more quickly than I'd like it. So, I get the joy of coming up with new forms, sending them out, sending everything new to our website guy and hoping he has time to update it, plus do grad school stuff and work both jobs. This is going to be a fun couple of months.
After original application forms are out we work up a mock schedule and I start a spreadsheet of the campers as their applications come back. Then we have our meeting where we decide the specifics about the schedule. Then my director partner and me - and my high school friend if she still wants to help out, not sure as I haven't talked to her in a while - assign kids to counselors and counselors to cabins, finalize the schedule on an official form we give the kids, plan a packing list and send it out to all the campers along with information for the parents. After all that joy is printing out nametags for all the lanyards - and cleaning all the lanyards before we put the new ones in which is just gross - and then we're about halfway done. Haha.
Then it's songbooks with Liz - my mentor for all things music and camp - and I get the pleasure of writing and assigning skits for grades 3-8th. Oh, and assigning teen helpers to cabins and other stations. The teen helpers are always an interesting bunch. Either they're super excited to be there so we put them in cabins or they just want to get away from their parents in which case we put them at a station we think they'll be good at. I cheat because I get first pick for skits and worship with me and Liz. We get the best ones - aka play guitar and put up with our antics.
So, all that, while worrying about budgeting, volunteers, oh and this year we're going to have to find new lifeguards as ours might not make it. They're lifers like me, but all good things must come to an end.
Like I said, fun couple of months. There will be a multitude of waving.
Songs for the day:
White and Nerdy - Weird Al
So yes, I am a fan. And yes, I do sing this at work.
...
Sorry...Victoria....I can't pimp this video enough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkrbXvo5fVQ
Mike and Molly - Victoria steals every scene!
"Misery Business" Paramore
No she's not the brunette, hold out til the end. I was super confused. Think I'm still super confused.
But other than sleeping in - huzzah! - watching NCIS and Body of Proof, going to play practice, hanging with my family, then driving back here to my big fat cat there wasn't a lot going on today. Oh, I finished my book. Eh. I mean, it was good. But when I was done all I could think of was, "Well, that was super depressing." and "Why would you leave her journal there?" Tomorrow I have to find Book #2 and fast as I'm not sure how many pages it has. Gotta read it and write some sort of analysis question about the both of them.
Alright, out for the night. Hope you have a good week!
Play practice today was interesting. The performance is Thursday but there were no jitters. Actually, there was no interest at all. They wouldn't stand still, they were talking when other people were saying their lines, they didn't speak out - I was in the third row and I couldn't even hear them. I'm beginning to be glad this is only going to last 25 minutes instead of the usual 45. So, we're not doing commercials anymore and the kids gave up on their rap-off at the end. It's a whole mess. But, with all the bad timing - got the script late, during sports seasons, almost end of year and they just want to be done with school - what else should I expect? But whatever. I'll wave for that too.
And I guess there was good with the bad. They're all out of their books - except one and that's allowed because she's the reporter and can read from the script - and the songs are better than the weird versions in the script now that Nic has fixed them. I applaud her patience with kids. I only come in like once a week - well, now like once every two - but she has them every day. Yikes. See, this is why I dropped out of the Ed program. Kids...not my strong point. Good thing I direct a camp, huh?
Anyway, my camp director partner and I - because he's involved in like everything - hooked up some mics and stuck them around the stage so we should be able to hear the kids through at least the third row.
And, we got to talk about the joy that is camp, and the preparation process that goes along with and hasn't started yet even though it should have. I have people asking about information already, usually we wait to send forms out until school is out for the summer but that is coming a lot more quickly than I'd like it. So, I get the joy of coming up with new forms, sending them out, sending everything new to our website guy and hoping he has time to update it, plus do grad school stuff and work both jobs. This is going to be a fun couple of months.
After original application forms are out we work up a mock schedule and I start a spreadsheet of the campers as their applications come back. Then we have our meeting where we decide the specifics about the schedule. Then my director partner and me - and my high school friend if she still wants to help out, not sure as I haven't talked to her in a while - assign kids to counselors and counselors to cabins, finalize the schedule on an official form we give the kids, plan a packing list and send it out to all the campers along with information for the parents. After all that joy is printing out nametags for all the lanyards - and cleaning all the lanyards before we put the new ones in which is just gross - and then we're about halfway done. Haha.
Then it's songbooks with Liz - my mentor for all things music and camp - and I get the pleasure of writing and assigning skits for grades 3-8th. Oh, and assigning teen helpers to cabins and other stations. The teen helpers are always an interesting bunch. Either they're super excited to be there so we put them in cabins or they just want to get away from their parents in which case we put them at a station we think they'll be good at. I cheat because I get first pick for skits and worship with me and Liz. We get the best ones - aka play guitar and put up with our antics.
So, all that, while worrying about budgeting, volunteers, oh and this year we're going to have to find new lifeguards as ours might not make it. They're lifers like me, but all good things must come to an end.
Like I said, fun couple of months. There will be a multitude of waving.
Songs for the day:
White and Nerdy - Weird Al
So yes, I am a fan. And yes, I do sing this at work.
...
Sorry...Victoria....I can't pimp this video enough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkrbXvo5fVQ
Mike and Molly - Victoria steals every scene!
"Misery Business" Paramore
No she's not the brunette, hold out til the end. I was super confused. Think I'm still super confused.
But other than sleeping in - huzzah! - watching NCIS and Body of Proof, going to play practice, hanging with my family, then driving back here to my big fat cat there wasn't a lot going on today. Oh, I finished my book. Eh. I mean, it was good. But when I was done all I could think of was, "Well, that was super depressing." and "Why would you leave her journal there?" Tomorrow I have to find Book #2 and fast as I'm not sure how many pages it has. Gotta read it and write some sort of analysis question about the both of them.
Alright, out for the night. Hope you have a good week!
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