Side Effects by Amy Goldman Koss

gets 3 out of 5 stars... Although it wasn't any great piece of literary art to rave home about, it was cute, funny, and refreshing. The grave topic of fatal diseases has been in the media a lot lately, with movies like "Extraordinary Measures" and "My Sister's Keeper" topping the box office chart, but what's refreshing about this book is the stubborn, irreverant, humorous voice of Izzy, a sharp contrast to the tearjerker dramas we're used to. Izzy is an 8th grader who's used to the low of her day being P.E. - not chemo. When she's diagnosed with Lymphoma, she fights it with the fierceness that is typically Izzy. She knows very well that the Lymphoma is not going to kill her - but why doesn't anyone else seem to believe that? And why don't they have any joke books about cancer? Or at least ones that don't make you cry?
Yeah, so good book... I'd recommend it.

In other news, it's snowing like crazy here, and I'm stuck inside with nothing better to do than blog, play guitar, and eat chocolate, because the snow is like, all screwed up, and you can't have a snowball fight, because it would be like throwing rocks... so..whatever.

In which I randomly list things I enjoy

Harry Potter (It's just so... AAAGGGH... and I mean... AAAGGGHHH... And the writing is just... AAAGGGHHH)
Doc Martens (The most beautiful and comfortable combat boots on the face of the planet, which happen to go with everything I wear)
Rainy Days (Because you have a viable excuse to stay inside and sit on your ass all day, making random lists of things you like)
yellow (It's just the best color ever... and the title of a decent Coldplay song)
Tutus (I mean, seriously. Why don't more people wear tutus - they are the BEST CLOTHING ITEM EVER!)
Leo Tolstoy (ANNA KARENINA!!!!!!)
Gay People (I went out to dinner with my friend last night, and there was like this gay people sitting at the table next to us.. and they were wearing matching square-framed glasses and one of them had this giant hot pink scarf thing wrapped around his neck and spoken in the most feminine voice I have ever heard a male manage... and they were just SO ADORABLE!)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Every person on the face of the planet should read this book! I read it, and I cried the whole time - not because it was sad, but becase everything Charlie felt was just so...... TRUE.... and maybe I was PMSing, too, but it was a freaking GOOD book!)
Manhattan (Ah, Ah AAAAHHHH!! I wanna go there right now, and buy cupcakes at Jefferson Market and go the Alice in Wonderland statue in central park, and stare at the adorable gay couples walking around in Chelsea and eat a giant piece of pizza folded in half....)
G-2 pilot pens (I used to despise pens, because I just couldn't draw with them the way I could pencils.. but now... Oh NOW....)
Eleanor Roosevelt ("Do something every day that scares you")

Quoting Toy Story

Hey, kiddos! I don't know if any of you knew this, but I've had another blog, devoted to reviewing books I've reqad, called "Book a Day from the Bookworm" (lame name, I know, but shut up), and I post on it about as oftten as I post on this blog (basically, not often)... ANYWAYS, I've decided to combine the blogs, so that maybe out of the two of them, my blog postings will be just slightly more frequent.

So, for my first, Book a Day-type posting, I am reviewing James Patterson's Breakfast at Tiffany's, which gets 2 out of 5 stars. SO....Cute concept, although mostly formalic, unfulfilling, and rather Twilight-esque. Jane is a thirty-year-old woman, still hung up over her childhood imaginary friend, and allowing her boyfriend and controlling mother to boss her around. She really wasn't much of a likable character, with her constant self-depricating narration and her general patheticness. The only original concept was the whole "imaginary friend" thing - other than that, it felt like Twilight all over again, what with the whole I-don't-deserve-you-because-I'm-a-fat-clutz-and-you're-perfect and the oh-my-gosh-you're-finally-mortal-I-can-love-you-now crap. It also had that lovey-dovey stuff about how they'll never love anyone else even if they life forever. I don't think I would recommend it. This was my first James Patterson (seeing as I'm lazy and have yet to get around to reading the Maximum Ride series like all my friends have told me to), and I was rather disappointed.

In other news, I am totally and completetly addicted to the blog Style Rookie (tavi-thenewgirlintown.blogspot.com). It is a totally and completely amazing style blog, but I would most certainly recommend it to EVERYONE, because it's just THAT amazing, and I know that you'll enjoy it even if you don't know who the hell Chanel is (in which case you are an UNCULTURED SWINE!) So... yeah :D

Reasons Our Educational System Suck:

1. They don't pay teachers enough. Seriously. My teachers should get paid MILLIONS of dollars for having to deal with being responsible for educating a bunch of adolescent punks who don't care about their grades, but instead, they get paid something around twenty bucks an hour. That's what people who work at the GROCERY STORE get paid!

2. The kids who are barely holding on to the course curriculum are in the same classes as people who are pulling their hair out from boredom. This is SO wrong! The students who are behind continuously build up a massive inferiority complex, and the advanced students have to wait five years to learn anything! It's a no-win situation!

3. You don't have any variety. If you want to do something (like band, for instance), then that's ALL you get to do, and you have to stick with it for the rest of your public school career. So, since I'M in band, I can't just decide to do Art next year, because I would have had to do it as a prerequisite.

I would love for America to just go towards the whole European school system, where they start sorting kids into the "college" and "vocational" tracks at an early age, because it seems to work for them, but it's just kind of sad, you know? What about those kids who are put on the vocational track at eleven, and then they decide later when their sense of self has increased, that they want to college - well they can't! They're stuck! It's just a no-win situation, you know?

My new addiction... Polyvore

Catalina Summer by Hermionebookworm featuring Lanvin shoes

*sniffle sniffle*

My poor blog... It's in such a decrepit state of disrepair that I don't know how I will ever give it enough love to feel accepted ever again. It's been over a year since I started this blog, and yet, there are only fourteen posts. Ah, how I miss the days when I had amusing-only-to-me thoughts to write down. But now my mind is filled only with an excessive to-do list that makes me cringe when I think about it, and a few dead flies and bits of fluff (Harry Potter reference, anyone?). And I suppose my thoughts on how I have no thoughts are really about as much compensation as broccolli to a child wishing for a lollipop, but it is all the love I have to give, poor blessed blog.

Sleeping Beauty needs to wake up

I mean really. If you were supposed to die if you pricked your finger on a spinning wheel, don't you think you'd be a little pissed when you found out your parents never even frickin TOLD you? I, personally would be pissed that they couldn't trust me to avoid spinning wheels. It's not like curiosity would make her want to touch one. People know that guns kill you, and therefore don't touch them. It's not that hard. Sleeping Beauty needs to cut the naive act and stop romanticizing everything!!! :D ranting is fun :D

Why must guys be guys?

I hate guys so much. So very very much. The ones you like won't give you the time of day and the ones who do cinch onto you and refuse to let you out of their sight. I hate guys with a burning passion. I really do. And yet I love them at the same time. Why must I be female?????

EUROPE!!!!

Okay, my overall rating on a scale of one to ten is 9.5. I deduct the point five points purely for my dad being pick pocketed in Paris - otherwise, it was totally awesome!!!!!
I'm not really sure how I should organize this... I guess I'll start with some things I found interesting about Europe.
Okay...
- The people in Rome in their suits and dresses on motorcycles and Vespas. You have not really had a good laugh until you have seen a man in an Armani suit on a Harley Davidson Sportster.

- Oh, I laugh just thinking about this one. We went to the Piazza de Spagna/ Spanish Steps (I was the only one who actually CLIMBED the Spanish Steps :P) and got gelato at this place around the corner, and there was this dark chocolate ice cream called VIAGRA... I am not even kidding. And I mean, you would think that everyone would find this unappealing in an ice cream, but apparently not, because EVERYONE got that flavor... well, I guess that's MY family for you.

- Purple is apparently THE color in Rome, because all the clothing stores and street vendors have ALL purple stuff on display... I kept thinking of Hannah (Goins - as if that needed specification) and her hundred-day purple thing.

- I don't think I saw a SINGLE three-row car the entire time I was in Europe... and Smart Cars are like, the car to have. I think the ratio of Smart Cars to all other cars was about equivalent to the ratio of SUVs to all other cars here... they're THAT popular.. plus, in all the parallel parking areas all over the cities, the Smart Cars park sideways, like, perpendicular to the sidewalk rather than PARALLEL, entirely defeating the purpose of PARALLEL parking.

- The tour guides, man. The tour guides were AMAZING. Illyria, the tour guide we had for the Colosseum, the Vatican, and the Roman forum, was probably my favorite. She was REALLY enthusiastic about Roman history and wanted everyone else to be as excited about it as she was. And, you know, listening her say "Seeeenatore" about fifty times wasn't all that boring, either. Oh, and there was this other tour guide we had on the top of Mt. Vesuvius... You couldn't understand anything he said except "160 kilometres level up", but he was pretty funny with his Louis Vuitton purse, designer sunglasses, Ferrari baseball cap and beer belly.

- St. Peter's Basilica. I thought that it was mostly going to be the Sistine Chapel that I liked in the Vatican, but it turned out that having it described by Illyria was better than actually being in it, because it was really crowded and loud, and everyone's flashes were going off, but St. Peter's Basilica was really something to see. It's so... I don't know... magnificent, astonishing, breath-taking, amazing, incredible, impressive, can you tell I'm using Microsoft synonym generator. But really. My mom said she got TEARY when she walked through the doors. (Not that it's all that difficult to make my mother teary, but still)

Wow. Have you noticed a pattern? All of these things were in Rome. Whatever, I LOVED Rome.

Sticky Notes

I love them. So very much. And now, I have this calendar made by "Post-It" that is MADE for covering in sticky notes!!!! It makes me so happy!!!! Plus, I have like every color of post-it note that they make, so my calendar will be very colorful!!!! :)

Purple Turbans

HEY! Want to know where the largest collection of people over sixty in my town is? Hmmm... Let's see.. I KNOW! The writers workshops at the library! And want to know which thirteen-year-old was surrounded by said blue hairs at the writers workshop at the library on Saturday morning? Hmmm... Let's see... THAT'S RIGHT! ME. I was. And I totally should have known, you know, when I registered for this class, because they were kind of hesitant about letting a thirteen-year-old in the class. Of course, I thought by "adults" they meant cool artistic types in their twenties, thirties, and fourties - NOT people in their EIGHTIES writing HISTORICAL NOVELS ABOUT 1940S GIRL SCOUT CAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT THEY WENT TO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm writing a book!

Yes, this will most likely amount to nothing, as I have only three chapters written, and that happens to be like a record for me, because I often get some really awesome idea and then start writing and then after like a few pages I get really bored... but whatever. Because suess what the name of my book is!? Day in the life of a freak!!! That's right. I decided to write a semi-autobiographical book about a freak similar to myself!!! I, personally, think that the three chapters that I have actually written are almost mediocre, too, so check it out!!! Here's the link: http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/hermionebookworm/401906/
And it would be totally awesome if you (five nonexistent) guys could review it!!! Just leave them as comments or whatever, and if, magically, I happen to get a response, I pinky promise that I will jump up and dance!!! :)

The new title of my blog: "Sorry I haven't posted... I digress"

*flinches from flying vegetables* Yeah, yeah, I know I haven't written on this thing in like two months, because I've been super busy (I mean, seriously. I've got softball practice mondays, TWO HOURS of percussion at the high school and my sister's softball games on tuesday, percussion practice at MY school on wednesday, creative writing club and softball games on thursdays, and the fun RESUMES on friday and through the weekend with various festivals and appointments. I hardly have time to BREATHE!) But, anyway, I have most of today to do nothing, because I didn't feel like going on the field trip. (Actually, I just never turned in the permission slip, but saying "I didn't feel like it" sounds better). Plus, this is one of the few websites I actually have access to through the school. But anyway, I'm posting, aren't I? Not that I really need to say sorry for not posting, because really, how many people read this? I supposedly have five followers, but seeing as four of those five people are pretty much obligated to follow this blog (as they are related to me and/ or are my friends), five doesn't really amount to anything. Oh my gosh... I just realized that nearly all of my blogs start with that same introductory paragraph (you know, "I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while"... digresses into something that has little relevancy). I have absolutely no originality!!! I should just retitle the name of this blog "Sorry I haven't posted.... I digress" or something like that. I mean, seriously.

ʇ,uɐɔ noʎ ʇǝq ı puɐ - uʍop ǝpısdn ǝdʎʇ uɐɔ ı

¡¡¡¡¡pooƃǝʌoן ɐunן ǝʞıן ןǝǝɟ ı (: ¡uıɐƃɐ dn ǝpısʇɥƃıɹ ǝʇıɹʍ oʇ ƃuıoƃ ɹǝʌǝ ɯ,ı ʞuıɥʇ ʇ,uop ı ˙uʍop ǝpısdn ʇxǝʇ ɹnoʎ uɹnʇ uɐɔ ʇɐɥʇ ǝʇısqǝʍ sıɥʇ ɟo ʍouʞ oʇ pǝuǝddɐɥ ʇsnɾ puǝıɹɟʎoq s,puǝıɹɟ ʎɯ ˙sǝʎ ˙ɐɥɐɥ

Algebra

So I'm sitting here, supposed to be working on my math homework, and instead, I feel the urge to complain about how much Algebra sucks. Because it does. It really sucks. I know maybe a couple people who are reading this might disagree with me, because, I don't know, they're just little people who have already taken Algebra and feel the need to let it go to their head and rub it in my face, even though they can't really do that, unless they comment on my post, which they probably wouldn't do, because I am taking the time to point out that to do that would be arrogant and idiotic, so, unless someone feels the urge to comment on my post purely to contradict me, which i don't think they will, because really? the only people who read this are my mom and a couple of my friends, and this girl from like, California, or something, who i don't know and probably isn't going to read this post because they probably just read this thing once and added it to their subscriptions thingie and never looked at it again, because they thought it was too time-consuming, and they're probably not so happy because I don't appreciate my anonymous fans the way, say, my friend Johnny Cash (you know who i'm talking about) does and WOW... Again with the stupid digressing thing!!!!!

oW... I hurt all over

Wow... I just come to the halting, eye-opening, enlightening, stunning, overwhelming, astonishing, mind-altering, breathtaking, staggering, overpowering (don't you just love my command of the english language?) realization that I am incredibly out of shape. In fact, i'm so out of shape, that drumming for too long hurts my wrists. That's right; practicing the drums for two straight, intense hours has somehow made me sweat. And now, because not only because of the drumline thingie at the high school, but also softball practice, EVERY SINGLE MUSCLE IN MY BODY ACHES. I am in so much pain right now, that it has taken me half an hour to type this, because my the muscles in my wrist hurt so much. So the next time you're thinking about how horribly out of shape YOU are, just think back to the poor little freak, sweating away while practicing on a 12" rubber drum pad.

******** High School, HERE I COME!!!!

And I'm so excited!!!!! And I'm also scared about being in classes with the freaky people with excessive facial hair!!!! (and yes, I am fully aware that the people reading my blog already know me, and probably aren't going to be able to stalk me based on where I go to high school, but as my family is very strict about publishing personal information on the internet, I'm not supposed to tell you that I go to ******** high school :P)

Okay, so as strange as it may seem that they're putting us through all of these meetings and assemblies about high school SEVEN MONTHS before we even GET to high school, we are in the midst of high school registration, and I am so pumped for next school year! (See! they've got me all excited, but now I have to WAIT seven months!)

The person sitting next to me is an idiot

The person sitting next to me, Tim, is a perverted chauvanistic idiot. The fact that he "doesn't hate women; loves women" is simply evidence of what an idiot he is. My stomach is also growling, and my back is killing me because I've spent the last week doing back strength exercises for drumline next year - in which I will carry a fifty-five pound instrument by a metal strap on my back - often for hours at a time. The fact that the person next to me is saying that I won't get onto the drumline because there has never been a girl to get onto the drumline is even FURTHER proof that he is a chauvanistic idiot.

Pretty In Pink is Amazing

And not just because the main character happens to share my first name. I also LOVE Duckie... he's like the best character in the entire movie. And I think the scene where he's singing and dancing in the record store along to "Try a little tenderness" is the BEST scene in the entire movie... possibly even in Movie history (actually, I take that back. The scene where Heath Ledger sings along to Frankie Valli in 10 Things I Hate About You is the best scene in movie history... Does anyone else see a recurring theme here? I love movies where guys sing)
I do happen to agree with "Princess Mia", however, about how the dress Molly Ringwald wears to the prom kind of looks like a sack, but it was still a good scene, so I can get over that.
Anyway, my 4 followers, You need to go see this movie. As I said in the title of this blog, Pretty In Pink is Amazing.

Happy Singles Awareness Day!

The Top Five Reasons I HATE Valentine's Day

1. It's an excuse for all the big commercial companies to feed off of the impulses of Americans by urging them to spend tons of money on chocolate and flowers and jewelry
2. Lovey Dovey Mushy couples making googly eyes at each other make me want to puke!! So those of you (yes.. I'm aware that there are only a whopping 4 people who follow my blog... one of which I happen to know is married, because she's my mother, but anyway) out there who have a significant other need to be sympathetic to those of us who are SINGLE on Valentine's Day!
3. It's almost impossible to find any junk food that isn't pumped with gobs of artificial food coloring for the entire month of February
4. There was this fundraiser at our school where people would "dedicate" a song to another person (of course they had to pick from a list of only, like, FIVE songs, which sucks) and this teacher at our school SANG and DANCED to "My Girl" by the Temptations during lunch to the entire Eighth Grade. And, see, when other people do embarrassing things to themselves, it makes me feel really uncomfortable, so you can imagine...
5. My two least favorite colors (pink and purple) are everywhere