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 vanderbilt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vanderbilt. Show all posts
Friday, June 24, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
You say that I've changed, well maybe I did. But even if I changed, what's wrong with it?
Third Eye Blind is wicked sweet. Scroll down for a super cool video.
So, I'm watching the Closer cause the game was totally depressing. I was hoping that Cal could pull it off and de-throne Virginia but nope. Now they're going home. Sad day. Oh well, Vanderbilt's still in it. Still wearing my kick-butt bracelet. They're gonna pull it off. Tomorrow afternoon is the big game against Florida - and I'll actually be around to watch it, huzzah! then Tomorrow night it's Virginia vs South Carolina. And I guess I should go for South Carolina since I kind of went for them last year. Until I picked UCLA. and then they beat UCLA. Whatever, go Vandy! I'm all about the "Black! Gold!"
Early morning today. Went to a Food Bank breakfast kickoff thing, as I'm co-chair for that this year. Duuude, I was not expecting there to be that many people there. This thing is like huge. And nerve-wracking. I'm just glad I got Fearless Leader on my side. She's got a plan. I just drive the truck. Which was like huge - thanks to the kickbutt bro-in-law OH! and I was totally up before my sister. Which never happens. So I gotta put that in here cause it won't happen again. Anyway, driving this big truck and then when I get back in my car I was like I felt like...you know when you switch cars and everything just feels different? Like you have to press the breaks harder on the truck than you do in my car. Which I didn't realize until I was back in my car, then I felt like I was slamming on the breaks even when I just tapped them. But I'm good now. Life is back to normal. Or as normal as my life has been as of late.
Where was I going with all this? Oh right, so we hit up the breakfast, got our posters and barrels, delivered them all - forgetting that the libraries don't open until 10 so we hung around outside one of the branches for a while, haha.
Now we're working on marketing stuff aka where to put barrels, how to advertise for them (posters, maybe a promo on the website) and then putting together a competition between staff at the branches. I'll keep you posted as progress happens on that one. Should be interesting.
Songs tonight:
"Never Let You Go" Third Eye Blind
love the live version - one of their kids is playing with them, too cute.
"Sixteen Military Wives" The Decemberists
funny video.
Tomorrow's halfday, huzzah! Thinking of writing a little more then crashing.
OUT!
So, I'm watching the Closer cause the game was totally depressing. I was hoping that Cal could pull it off and de-throne Virginia but nope. Now they're going home. Sad day. Oh well, Vanderbilt's still in it. Still wearing my kick-butt bracelet. They're gonna pull it off. Tomorrow afternoon is the big game against Florida - and I'll actually be around to watch it, huzzah! then Tomorrow night it's Virginia vs South Carolina. And I guess I should go for South Carolina since I kind of went for them last year. Until I picked UCLA. and then they beat UCLA. Whatever, go Vandy! I'm all about the "Black! Gold!"
Early morning today. Went to a Food Bank breakfast kickoff thing, as I'm co-chair for that this year. Duuude, I was not expecting there to be that many people there. This thing is like huge. And nerve-wracking. I'm just glad I got Fearless Leader on my side. She's got a plan. I just drive the truck. Which was like huge - thanks to the kickbutt bro-in-law OH! and I was totally up before my sister. Which never happens. So I gotta put that in here cause it won't happen again. Anyway, driving this big truck and then when I get back in my car I was like I felt like...you know when you switch cars and everything just feels different? Like you have to press the breaks harder on the truck than you do in my car. Which I didn't realize until I was back in my car, then I felt like I was slamming on the breaks even when I just tapped them. But I'm good now. Life is back to normal. Or as normal as my life has been as of late.
Where was I going with all this? Oh right, so we hit up the breakfast, got our posters and barrels, delivered them all - forgetting that the libraries don't open until 10 so we hung around outside one of the branches for a while, haha.
Now we're working on marketing stuff aka where to put barrels, how to advertise for them (posters, maybe a promo on the website) and then putting together a competition between staff at the branches. I'll keep you posted as progress happens on that one. Should be interesting.
Songs tonight:
"Never Let You Go" Third Eye Blind
love the live version - one of their kids is playing with them, too cute.
"Sixteen Military Wives" The Decemberists
funny video.
Tomorrow's halfday, huzzah! Thinking of writing a little more then crashing.
OUT!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Black! Gold! Black! Gold!
Okay, so the thing about filling out forms is that if you want your child's name to be spelled right on their return letter/nametag, you should probably work on your handwriting so that it's legible on an official form. Cause really. Some of these are questionable. And I know the names of most of the kids so usually I'm able to figure it out, but this year there's some new kids - which is great - but I have no idea what some of their names are. Cause the handwriting is worse than mine.
I have a major need for counselors. As of now I have 3. Total. And the deadline isn't until the 1st of July so there's time but still... I actually get applications up until the day of camp itself so it'll be fine. I still would rather have more now.
So I'm all for Vanderbilt. They're currently beating North Carolina 5-1. My final prediction was Vandy 6-5. And this is the bottom of the 8th so there's still time. But Cal, with their true cinderella story, is quickly becoming my number two. Kept alive by donations and then making it to the CWS, that's impressive. I dunno what'll happen if they make the final two.
This game is pretty much a rematch of what we saw when we were there. Only this time the loser goes home instead of just to the loser's bracket. And it's funny because I can recognize the cheers that are going on back and forth between the fans. There's a lot of "Tar! Heels! Tar! Heels!" and "Black! Gold! Black! Gold!" (which is super amusing to text back and forth with the cool aunt btw) but there's also the general admission section specialty of "Tar Heels Suck!" which was rather amusing, even though it's insulting. When we were there it was a dude standing on his chair counting to three and then they'd all yell it. Usually right when a NC player went up to bat, or right after a big "Tar! Heels! Tar! Heels!" cheer.
Quote of the day:
Straight from Superwoman: "(insert my name) takes precedence since she has more points than you."
I had to talk to her about food drive stuff but she was already talking to a coworker that's way up in the chain of command compared to me. I felt special. For like a second, then she said she wouldn't say that again.
Song of the night:
Adele "Rolling in the Deep"
awesome voice in an awesome video.
Out early, gonna be a super long today tomorrow. Food Drive stuff in the morning then work all afternoon. I hate early mornings. gonna have to stop for coffee.
I tried to get in touch with city people all day to request a van - we're going to be driving to almost all the branches to drop off barrels for food donations - but everyone I called was either on vacation or not answering. So I called my sister and brother in law. They pretty much rock. And I'm gonna borrow their truck. Huzzah!
More on that tomorrow.
OUT!
ps - watching the Closer season six dvd, fantastic. love every scene with them in the new building and all the frustration that goes along with it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZJhdhmZLAI&feature=related
WHERE ARE FLYNN AND PROVENSA?!!
I have a major need for counselors. As of now I have 3. Total. And the deadline isn't until the 1st of July so there's time but still... I actually get applications up until the day of camp itself so it'll be fine. I still would rather have more now.
So I'm all for Vanderbilt. They're currently beating North Carolina 5-1. My final prediction was Vandy 6-5. And this is the bottom of the 8th so there's still time. But Cal, with their true cinderella story, is quickly becoming my number two. Kept alive by donations and then making it to the CWS, that's impressive. I dunno what'll happen if they make the final two.
This game is pretty much a rematch of what we saw when we were there. Only this time the loser goes home instead of just to the loser's bracket. And it's funny because I can recognize the cheers that are going on back and forth between the fans. There's a lot of "Tar! Heels! Tar! Heels!" and "Black! Gold! Black! Gold!" (which is super amusing to text back and forth with the cool aunt btw) but there's also the general admission section specialty of "Tar Heels Suck!" which was rather amusing, even though it's insulting. When we were there it was a dude standing on his chair counting to three and then they'd all yell it. Usually right when a NC player went up to bat, or right after a big "Tar! Heels! Tar! Heels!" cheer.
Quote of the day:
Straight from Superwoman: "(insert my name) takes precedence since she has more points than you."
I had to talk to her about food drive stuff but she was already talking to a coworker that's way up in the chain of command compared to me. I felt special. For like a second, then she said she wouldn't say that again.
Song of the night:
Adele "Rolling in the Deep"
awesome voice in an awesome video.
Out early, gonna be a super long today tomorrow. Food Drive stuff in the morning then work all afternoon. I hate early mornings. gonna have to stop for coffee.
I tried to get in touch with city people all day to request a van - we're going to be driving to almost all the branches to drop off barrels for food donations - but everyone I called was either on vacation or not answering. So I called my sister and brother in law. They pretty much rock. And I'm gonna borrow their truck. Huzzah!
More on that tomorrow.
OUT!
ps - watching the Closer season six dvd, fantastic. love every scene with them in the new building and all the frustration that goes along with it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZJhdhmZLAI&feature=related
WHERE ARE FLYNN AND PROVENSA?!!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Yeah... still gonna call it Rosenblatt. + 0-6, 0-6, 0-0-0-6!
Yesterday. OMG. Woke up 6:50 AM went to bed 1:30 AM.
Started off completely awesome, had my iced coffee and even though it was raining the weather turned out perfect. The breeze kept us cool and the clouds covered up the sun. Plus Cool Aunt got us awesome seats! George W! Bush threw out the first pitch for the new stadium. That's right, opening game of the college world series in the new stadium! Vanderbilt vs. North Carolina, we went for Vandy since they're the underdogs. I think I'm going to pick them as winner overall. Or at least cheer for them. Virginia will be fun to watch as well and I'm looking forward to watching A&M tonight to see if they're any good.
But we went early enough to enjoy breakfast, hit up all the giftshops, find out seats, explore the new stadium - even got a commemorative coin which is super cool. After the game/more shopping we headed back here. I took a shower, and Smo and I hit up our 5 year class reunion for some high school fun. Soo much fun. Pizza and beverages galore.
Lots and lots of quotes from yesterday. I'll divide them up.
GAMEDAY:
Cool Aunt: I like pasty eggs.
this was at breakfast, we went to a brewery and enjoyed mimosas... yes it was only 9AM but it's never to early to drink when you're celebrating.
Cool Aunt: Just sitting here, enjoying my hummus.
yeah, K caught a foul ball before the game even started. it was coming straight for us and I yelled ball! it bounced and he caught it. it was awesome. but Cool Aunt was not paying attention at all as she was enjoying her hummus on pita. yes, they have hummus on pita at the college world series. they also have an entire booth dedicated to gluten-free food, i was impressed. anyway, we decided then that we needed a codeword for when a foul ball was headed straight for us. after a few suggestions we went with Rosenblatt! or...
Us: BLATT!!
for short. we yelled it many times.
Cool Aunt: This snow cone is very enjoyable.
she was really diggin' it.
Crowd: "BLACK!" "GOLD!" "BLACK!" "GOLD!"
cheering for vandy. we decided we could yell out other colors with them and they wouldn't notice. RED! BLUE! GREEN! WHITE! but we all went for Vandy so we were glad they won.
Me: You're the tar to my heels.
that's all i could come up with for the tar heels. cause really, what kind of a mascot is tar heels? commodores? totally cooler. i'm going Vandy all the way!
then there was a reference question:
Where in the Sam Hill did the phrase "What in the Sam Hill" originate?
wikipedia lists many theories. i want the truth!
Overheard at the class reunion:
Smo: I could have taken off my clothes and no one would have noticed!
that's more of a long story. gotta love a small town with no traffic.
Smo: You're younguns! I own this song!
smo to her kids about baby got back.
Smo: Show me your T-Magic!
taylor martinez was at the bar we went to and she debated running after him.
Em: You cook when you get married. They forgot to tell me that.
em's response to me asking how married life was. so funny to have a reunion and half our class is married or engaged.
Juwanna: That's why I don't know anything about babies, I ran after you!
okay, so basically, i'm the queesiest person on the planet. if i even hear you talk about blood i run to the bathroom, pass out, hit my head on the sink and wake up in the dorm mom's apartment. proven fact. so, when our teacher decided to show us a video on birthing during Life Skills class, I ran to the bathroom, and though most people are just used to it, my roommate decided to run after me to see if I was okay. now she blames me for her lack of birthing knowledge.
Morning after was all Smo:
-Where's my toe nail?... Well, it's better than where's my pants.
-I have frogs in my purse.
-Why is your car hood up?
Work today was good, and flew by, but I'm thinking I'm going to nap/watch CWS for the rest of the day so I can be back to 100% tomorrow. Even though I'm done with grad school and don't have to spend every other minute reading I still gotta get going on camp stuff. So today I sleep, the rest of the week is going to be skits, schedules, volunteers, assignments, and more skits.
Songs for this weekend are from the game:
"Boogie Shoes" KC and the Sunshine Band
totally jammin.
"Sweet Caroline" Glee version, go Puck!
love it. they also did some sort of glee at the white house thing so here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YputDVO0ywY&NR=1 you can see michelle obama dancing to it with the girls. awesome.
Alright, out for the weekend. Gonna watch the game and take lots of naps.
Started off completely awesome, had my iced coffee and even though it was raining the weather turned out perfect. The breeze kept us cool and the clouds covered up the sun. Plus Cool Aunt got us awesome seats! George W! Bush threw out the first pitch for the new stadium. That's right, opening game of the college world series in the new stadium! Vanderbilt vs. North Carolina, we went for Vandy since they're the underdogs. I think I'm going to pick them as winner overall. Or at least cheer for them. Virginia will be fun to watch as well and I'm looking forward to watching A&M tonight to see if they're any good.
But we went early enough to enjoy breakfast, hit up all the giftshops, find out seats, explore the new stadium - even got a commemorative coin which is super cool. After the game/more shopping we headed back here. I took a shower, and Smo and I hit up our 5 year class reunion for some high school fun. Soo much fun. Pizza and beverages galore.
Lots and lots of quotes from yesterday. I'll divide them up.
GAMEDAY:
Cool Aunt: I like pasty eggs.
this was at breakfast, we went to a brewery and enjoyed mimosas... yes it was only 9AM but it's never to early to drink when you're celebrating.
Cool Aunt: Just sitting here, enjoying my hummus.
yeah, K caught a foul ball before the game even started. it was coming straight for us and I yelled ball! it bounced and he caught it. it was awesome. but Cool Aunt was not paying attention at all as she was enjoying her hummus on pita. yes, they have hummus on pita at the college world series. they also have an entire booth dedicated to gluten-free food, i was impressed. anyway, we decided then that we needed a codeword for when a foul ball was headed straight for us. after a few suggestions we went with Rosenblatt! or...
Us: BLATT!!
for short. we yelled it many times.
Cool Aunt: This snow cone is very enjoyable.
she was really diggin' it.
Crowd: "BLACK!" "GOLD!" "BLACK!" "GOLD!"
cheering for vandy. we decided we could yell out other colors with them and they wouldn't notice. RED! BLUE! GREEN! WHITE! but we all went for Vandy so we were glad they won.
Me: You're the tar to my heels.
that's all i could come up with for the tar heels. cause really, what kind of a mascot is tar heels? commodores? totally cooler. i'm going Vandy all the way!
then there was a reference question:
Where in the Sam Hill did the phrase "What in the Sam Hill" originate?
wikipedia lists many theories. i want the truth!
Overheard at the class reunion:
Smo: I could have taken off my clothes and no one would have noticed!
that's more of a long story. gotta love a small town with no traffic.
Smo: You're younguns! I own this song!
smo to her kids about baby got back.
Smo: Show me your T-Magic!
taylor martinez was at the bar we went to and she debated running after him.
Em: You cook when you get married. They forgot to tell me that.
em's response to me asking how married life was. so funny to have a reunion and half our class is married or engaged.
Juwanna: That's why I don't know anything about babies, I ran after you!
okay, so basically, i'm the queesiest person on the planet. if i even hear you talk about blood i run to the bathroom, pass out, hit my head on the sink and wake up in the dorm mom's apartment. proven fact. so, when our teacher decided to show us a video on birthing during Life Skills class, I ran to the bathroom, and though most people are just used to it, my roommate decided to run after me to see if I was okay. now she blames me for her lack of birthing knowledge.
Morning after was all Smo:
-Where's my toe nail?... Well, it's better than where's my pants.
-I have frogs in my purse.
-Why is your car hood up?
Work today was good, and flew by, but I'm thinking I'm going to nap/watch CWS for the rest of the day so I can be back to 100% tomorrow. Even though I'm done with grad school and don't have to spend every other minute reading I still gotta get going on camp stuff. So today I sleep, the rest of the week is going to be skits, schedules, volunteers, assignments, and more skits.
Songs for this weekend are from the game:
"Boogie Shoes" KC and the Sunshine Band
totally jammin.
"Sweet Caroline" Glee version, go Puck!
love it. they also did some sort of glee at the white house thing so here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YputDVO0ywY&NR=1 you can see michelle obama dancing to it with the girls. awesome.
Alright, out for the weekend. Gonna watch the game and take lots of naps.
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