Summer Distractions 2013 Edition

Hey All,

So i've been pretty inactive for a long time, and there's a bunch of reasons for it:

1. I have a class this summer.

         It's a cool class, and I really like it, but it has me reading a lot of stuff for it, so there's not a lot of time to work on my other blog (theblondereviews)






2. I have two jobs this summer.

        They both suck.

3. I'm on an InuYasha kick.

          Anyone who doesn't know what InuYasha is, it's a pretty great anime, but it's really long...like, 200 episodes long. plus four movies.

Uneventful Day

Hello All,

Today was completely uneventful and has me begging for the fast-paced lifestyle of my Boston school life. I don't even care that I will obviously need to do homework and classwork and lots of boring textbook readings while I'm at school, at least I'll be working, and I'll have my friends back with me, and I'll be doing SOMETHING productive!

I was really sore from the gym the last two days, so I took a day off today, and I think it really messed with my day's motivation, because I told myself that I was going to write at least 10 pages of one of my stories, but I got down maybe two pages of one story, and then I started to switch to another but I got distracted by a twitter video from Disney and from the fast-fading light of the day outside, and it's difficult to write in bad lighting.
Also, am I the only person in the world who still writes their stories in a notebook? I realize this probably makes finishing something that much longer to accomplish, but I just feel like it's more personal and more a part of me and my mind and my soul if I take the time and energy to carve it out on lined paper and pen ink. Don't you? Or am I just being a sentimental, tree-killing fool? Even if I am, it will probably take a long time for me to change my ways, anyway. Probably the only that could give me a motivation to do such a thing is a VERY high paycheck, and even then I'll probably still try to write as much as possible down in my favorite college-ruled notebooks.

I've also learned something today:
Writing while watching movies/tv is not very productive, writing-wise. Its just plain distracting, and it throws off your focus and makes it difficult to concentrate on either project, the story or the movie, and you just waste time. Music has a similar affect on me, unless it's wordless background music. If there are words, and I know them, I won't be writing, I'll be singing, and I can't do both.

I'm watching Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" right now and it's SUPAH cute! Love this movie so much.

also, just saw this commercial when I signed on to YouTube to look for the "Spirited Away" commercial. Cute and it gets right down to the point, plus I LOVE FUNIMATION Studios!

That's all, I guess.
Oh! Also, I finished "Clockwork Prince", by Cassandra Clare, and I think it's my favorite. I am in love with Jem. I'm only very scared that he won't get a very happy ending in the last book, "Clockwork Princess," but I hope to God he does -he's my favorite character right now, and I really think that if Tessa could man up and give him a chance, she and Jem could be very happy together.
But anyway, you should read the series. Start with "City of Bones" and go on from there.
It's an AMAZING series.

That's all,
Thanks for reading!
Amy Liz

April Fools?

Hey All,

So apparently Mother Nature has decided to play a fun little joke on all of us here in the New England region. It's April 1st, and Boston is covered in a beautifully wet and slushy layer of snow. And it was so nice last Friday, over 60 degrees!! Thanks. We get it, don't get too complacent in the certainty that winter HAS to end by the time Spring comes around.

So there's that wonderfully distracting twist of weather affecting all of my work, but there's also...

Did you know that one of the most distracting places to try and get anything done is your room? I didn't until I tried doing my homework in the library and OMG I got so much accomplished!! In just two hours at a little study desk in the library, I got a whole weekend's worth of homework done, and I only checked Facebook and my email twice! I know that this is supposed to be describing all the ways I'm NOT getting my work done, but I found this discovery of studying in another location fascinating, I needed to tell the world (the incredibly small world of people that actually read this blog).

Back to distractions:
I started reading a new graphic novel series early in December, called Kobato (by CLAMP) and it's absolutely adorable, and I was really sad to find out that there's only 3 volumes out so far in America (only 5 in Japan). Then I googled the series and found out that it's a television show, as well...a COMPLETED ONE.
Needless to say, I spent the last two weeks avoiding my homework to watch the show. Absolutely adorable, and I now own the DVDs. I won't be getting much work done anytime soon -I must rewatch them all! lol

Another distraction:
Some of my younger friends are in the period of their lives where they must decide on a future (aka respond to college acceptances) and a few certain people are (in my opinion) choosing a very "difficult" path for themselves, and are choosing to ignore my well-intentioned advice. Whatever. Go ruin your lives, why should I have to baby them?

More!
Sometimes people can be really REALLY dumb. And repetitive. People have patterns and habits in their daily behaviors, so they can also be very predictable. I've recently discovered this first-hand, and while I like to think of myself as an intelligent individual, maybe I'm not, because I simply cannot fathom why someone can keep repeating the same actions over and over again, expecting a different result, yet secretly knowing that they're just going to get hurt again. Whatever, I mean, it's not my life, and I guess I can't really force other people to do what I think is right.

Well that's it for now,
Thanks for reading,
Amy Liz

Spring Break Distractions, 2am Edition

Hello again,

So it's pretty late tonight, and I can't really get to sleep, so I'm chattin' with some people online, and listening to music (Avril Lavigne's new cd, Goodbye Lullaby -so far, so good) and reading some random fanfics.

Yes, I just said "fan fiction." I know I've done such a "great" job of hiding it, but I'm a geek. So anyway, I'm tired, and I'm basically rambling right now, so I thought I'd give out credits to my favorite fan fiction story, talk about my recent re-obsession with one of my favorite video games, and maybe talk about the books I plan of reading at some point this year.

First off, there's my favorite story about my favorite anime, Princess Tutu.
For the few people who do read this and don't know what Princess Tutu is, it's a twisted version of Swan Lake, the ballet, with a little duck that transforms into a girl and a "super hero" who's trying to save her crush, a fairytale prince, from an evil Raven that's trying to take over the town and kill the prince. It's amazing and adorable and it's storytelling at it's best. Check it out.
Anyway, the end of the show leaves faithful fans very unsatisfied concerning the relationship between the main character, Duck (Ahiru, if you're more into the Japanese version, despite ADV's fantastic dubbing) and the male lead, Fakir (not the prince). This fan fiction, This Pendent Heart: A Princess Tutu Fan-made Light Novel, by LunaSphere and Mangaka-chan is a continuation of the story from where the show left off, and it's incredibly well written and the characters are very true to their personalities from the show, and you really get the feeling that this could be an actual continuation of the show.
I love it, and I needed to gush about it.

After Kingdom Hearts, one of my favorite video games for the PlayStation 2 is Sly Cooper and it's respective sequels. Over break, I made it my mission to play the second game, Sly 2: Band of Thieves again, and it's a little "all consuming", if I'm just sitting there with nothing else to do all day. It's a huge, interactive world, and you can play as one of three characters, play out different missions and fight bosses and creepy cops and stuff...it's awesome. I like the second game a lot more than the first, but I think that's only because the first one was harder, and the third one was just a really bad story line, so I think Sly 2 is a good balance of easy play and good story.

Finally, I'll leave you with my book list for now until the end of the semester:
Red Riding Hood (based on the movie with Amanda Seyfreid)
Good Omens, by Neil Gaimon
Devil's Kiss, by Sarwat Chadda

Okay, I think that's it for tonight. I'm going to bed.
Thanks for reading,
Amy Liz