A Little More About Me (higher education related)

It’s been two weeks since I started up the spring semester, I’ve only been assigned one assignment so I figured I could explain a little more about myself.

I literally am in my mid twenties at twenty five years of age. I’m hoping to graduate next year with a BS in Environmental Science. I’m not happy it took this long, but life does alot of things to you. Did I have the option to graduate sooner? Yes and no; I started college as an English major, upon getting into upper level English courses I discovered I really didn’t like the degree program (I think I have about twenty hours of English). So I changed my degree, however my math and science hours were useless in a science for education degree so I had to take College Algebra, PreCal, Cal, and actual biology classes in comparison to my Biology for Non-science major classes. I was offered the chance to get a BMS (Bachelor’s in Multiple Studies), and I spent about a week thinking about it; the reason why this was offered to me was because I kept on getting waitlisted to be admitted to the school of education. After much thinking, input from friends and professionals, and googling I decided that if education was that important to me I’d get an alternative teaching certification. After a chapter in Ecology in a Biology class I felt called to know more about the environment and discovered I loved it! So my degree change/interest in science is something I wished happened sooner in my life.

What about your painting?

In all honesty I didn’t start painting until 2011. I had been more into drawing when I was younger and learned to draw from anime and manga. I kind of realized when I was young that I wouldn’t be successful (and by successful I mean having a stable income, three meals a day, shelter, and air condition with heating), so really painting and art is a hobby. I make spare cash with it sometimes, but it’s not my main thing. No my parents had no say in any of my artistic endeavors growing up outside of “why can’t you draw The Virgin Mary, or something nice?”

God?

Yes I believe in God, yes i go to church, yes I’m Catholic. I can’t say I’m religious, but I will say it is important to me.

Liberal?

HELL YEAH!

Doctor Who?

OH MY GOSH YES!

What’s with the books then?

Well I’ve really been into books since i was  eleven; I wanted to become an author of the science fiction and fantasy genre since then. So I did logical thinking and went into college for an english degree. I honestly was miserable in that degree. After three years of not writing I returned to it, I’m working slow on a few projects. I would like to get them published.

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Thoughts on Paper Towns and an Update

Today I finished my second John Green book Paper Towns and I think I’ll do something a little different. Like many other books at the end of Paper Towns is a group of questions to be asked incase the book is being read as a group so for this review I think I’ll just be answering some these questions along with the actual review. Before that though, the spring semester has started again so I probably won’t post anything for the next couple of months. I’m not quitting, I just have priorities.

Spoilers from this point forward
I liked the book, it was very strange and had more quirky moments than The Fault in Our Stars. THe story concentrates primarily of the disappearance of Margo and how it affects the people in her life and Quintin’s life. I think it’s interesting that she chooses a moment in time where feelings and emotions are at the strongest for teenagers. Their last year of regular education before going off to college where they realize they may miss the people they grew up with.
True colors of Margo’s friends begin to emerge which is something I felt was needed to be seen; in fact true colors of most of the characters are seen and it just so happens most of the characters are kind of assholes. Even our main protagonist Quintin falls under the asshole category with his obsession of finding Margo, granted he is very worried for her safety and scared she may have committed suicide.
I’d say the only character’s who aren’t complete jerks are Lacey, Radar, Angela, and nearly all parental figures. The argument is made that Margo’s parents are jackasses because they’re so hard on her. Understandable, but did anyone besides Q’s parents think that maybe they wouldn’t be such jackasses if Margo wasn’t such a bitch to them. It’s one thing to be a wild child, but it’s another to be out of control and not give a shit at all to what the people who clothe and house you.
Yes it is lame of me to take the side of Margo’s parents, but some of the shit she pulls would drive me nuts too. I don’t feel bad for her when her parents “kick her out” because honestly after having my trust betrayed so many times I’d probably do the same. My thoughts on Margo can be summed up by this quote from Lacey “Actually, yes,” Lacey says. “And actually he’s great. And actually you’re a bitch. And actually, I’m leaving. It’s nice to see you again, Margo. Thanks for terrifying me and making me feel like shit for the entire last month of my senior year, and then being a bitch when we track you down to make sure you’re okay. It’s been a real pleasure knowing you.” For those that read this blog, this is the part where Lacey became my favorite character in the book.

Now that I’m done ragging on Margo, let’s actually talk about other people. I gotta say I’m impressed that John Green has a generally accurate idea of what teens are kind of like. Alot of them are jerks, I’m still not sure if they drink as much as I’m led to believe in movies, books, and television, but then again I was introverted in highschool.
I like that Q didn’t put up with the sentimental garbage that is present in the last few weeks of highschool. Granted I was in a similar situation my last few weeks, but I just walked away.

Now onto answering questions;
WHy do you think margo picks Q as her accomplice on her campaign of revenge?
Convenience. Her statements at the end of the book are probably true too.

Do you think the characters Margo targets for revenge get what they deserve? Does Lacey deserve to be included?
Sure, and no. Lacey probably didn’t realize what she was doing and was clearly hurt by Margo’s actions.

Do you think margo wants to be found? DO you think margo wants to be found by Q?
I think she wanted the attention regardless of her answer to Q’s questions in the long run. Yeah she definitely wanted to be found by him.

Discuss the scene where Q finally finds Margo. How does her reaction to seeing her friends make you feel? Do you believe that she didn’t want Q to come find her?
The scene is pretty interesting, Margo is clearly a little happy to see her friends. She’s happy and forgiving enough to hug Lacey. Her reaction to seeing her friends further supports my thoughts on her being an ungrateful and uncaring attention seeking bitch. She wanted Q to find her.

Why do you think Q makes the decision he does at the end of the book? Do you agree with his decision to turn down Margo’s invitation?
I think Q rejects Margo’s invitation because he realized that they weren’t compatible people. Sure she taught him to man up and open his mind, but at the same time she’s fairly closed minded at the thoughts and feelings of her loved ones and only claims to be aware of them despite acting only on impulse. I agree fully with Q’s decision to go to college; being a nomad may sound nice and it may satisfy Margo in the long run, but Q realizes the reality of his life and that drifting around NY and the US was not a lifestyle he desired. Fun Fact-mortality rates that Margo states as being about thirty were only that way because of infant mortality. Alot of people lived beyond thirty.

With which characer’s version of the “real” Margo do you most agree?
As much as I disliked Ben, I gotta say he knew what the deal was with Margo just wanting the attention.

Okay that’s enough for this blog.
ALl in all I really did like Paper Towns, who knows I may even watch the film adaption. Yes I will be reading more of John Green’s work, but first I’ll probably go back to The Lunar Chronicles and read Fairest.

Getting Hugged by Your Old Bully

Today was just like every uneventful friday. Well aside from it being the friday before the start of a new school term. I cleaned a little, went to a meeting concerning an upcoming event for a church group I volunteer with, played with my dog, and worked on a painting that I’m giving as a gift.
My parents decided to invite me to IHOP and I decided to tag along. For almost a year now a waitress I know from highschool has been working there. The thing is, she is a very good waitress and is always considerate of the customers and is friendly towards my family in particular.
What exactly is the big deal about this waitress? She bullied me in highschool. It’s that plain and simple.
It was only for one year, I kept to myself and she made it her life’s mission to bother everyone. Unlike most people in my life who picked on me, I didn’t hold a grudge. I don’t know why I didn’t hold a grudge, I think it’s because I had to deal with peers who treated me worse than she ever did. In junior year she came out as a lesbian. I cheered for her for five minutes and moved on with life.
I figured after graduation I’d never see her again. Then again after graduation I also figured I’d be done with higher education in four to five years (HAH!) Then one fateful tuesday (I know it was tuesday because my friend and I love Half Off Tuesday at the movies and that’s the day we went to Ihop) I ran into her. I realized who she was in five minutes.
She didn’t acknowledge who I was until we were done with our meal. When she did she was very polite about it. She mentioned being around Texas a few years until getting bored with being a nomad and asking her mother if she could move back in.
From that point on I wasn’t sure how to handle the situation; do I stop going to the only Ihop in town? Do I find out her work schedule to avoid her? Do I ask for seating outside of her turf? I decided to just let it all go and continue on with my life. She’s been a very good waitress, she’s met my extended family by chance. They don’t know she once picked on me, I’m not telling them because that’s in the past. The cool thing is she once gave me free hot apple cider.

Thoughts on Fangirl

Happy New year everyone who reads this. Let’s skip all the holiday stuff and go straight towards my thoughts on Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Generally around Christmas time I was exhausted from shopping with my mother and forgot to bring a book/my ereader with me. Luckily we were breifly at a Target and I walked to the book section
I gazed through the books available and I had the choice between John Green books and other YA novels. I then saw Fangirl and it sparked my interest because the plot involved a girl who was a big fan of a Harry Potter expy. She wrote fanfiction and entered college with the intention of becoming a writer. THe book follows Cath, a fangirl who is abnormal to the rest of the world since she is a fangirl.
Her twin sister Wren was once a fangirl too, but wants to move on with life.
Spoilers Start Here.
Generally through most of the book Wren is a bitch. She behaves recklessly during her first two semesters of college while our hero Cath is concerned with her school work and keeping up with her fanfiction for Simon Snow.
I like that the book concentrates primarily on Cath adjusting to a life outside of her comfort zone and I like that Rainbow Rowell had Cath slowly adjust to living like a normal person without sacrificing any of her fangirl mannerisms.
The only problem I had with the books is when Cath reads her fanfiction to her love interest Levi and while it is sweet that the two bond over her reading out loud to him, I wasn’t interested at all in hearing about her fanfiction (if I don’t read fanfiction in real life why would I read fictional fanfiction,) generally the fanfic portions of the book can be skipped without missing much of the plot.
Although the book was entertaining, I feel a little misled. I still give the book a B-.