The Usual Ramblings -- But With a Hurricane

It's Saturday! And what does that mean? RAMBLING. I know, I know. If you'd rather hear more book-related things tune in tomorrow.

Or, actually, maybe on Monday. It feels extremely weird having a scheduled rambling, but I'll be out today morning (god, this feels weird), and the thunder storming and hurricane-ing is expected to commence in Maryland today afternoon. So I'll schedule a Monday and Tuesday post, and hopefully everything will be back to normal by then. I live more inland so it should be fine, but my best wishes goes out to those living along the coast or in Pennsylvania. If you're reading this in the morning and live in an area the hurricane is expected to affect, Jacqui at Single Parent Retreat posted some helpful tips.

...to lighten the mood, I quite like Hurricane Irene's name. Hurricane naming is definitely a case of personification in my eyes, and I can't help but think of a lovely storm giant. Like Hurricane Isabel (that one was bad). I guess it's truly a sign that I'm a hardcore fantasy fan, haha. :P

Anyways, I've been having this weird syndrome where I don't want to read. And then I read a book and, of course, it's FANTASTIC. And I'm like "JENNIFER, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" (Yes, follow along, I talk to myself.) Response: I don't knowwwww. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!!!!

... and then it's still hard for me to bring myself to read another book. 

I don't know what's wrong with me, and it's driving me crazy. Has this ever happened to you?

IMO, Baring The Mysterious Blather of Our Age

I think I may officially dub my weekends random brain-spew days with remotely, remotely book or writing themes. Or review attempt days. Ack, I'm sorry I've been seriously lacking in reviews lately. ): I'll look at some past books I've read and want to share my thoughts on. The ones I never reviewed because they're just weren't "in" at the time, you know?

I've been drifting away from In My Mailbox because, honestly, I haven't been requesting many books lately. I also haven't had the time to sit down and think about what I want to order with all this college ickyness swiftly approaching. It's like my brain is hard-wired to wake-up, work, blog, eat, read, STRESS, and sleep. Rinse and repeat. Repeatrepeatrepeat. By the end of all of this, I swear my brain will be thoroughly fried and my reviews will sound like a malfunctioning robot. Really.

SO, I know you guys didn't tune in to hear me complain about life but rather complain about "the mysterious blather of our age." IMO, ofc. Or maybe you were just checking in for contests, which I totally understand (HAUNTING VIOLET winner announced at the end of this post!). But I just thought I'd say this because I really, really don't want to get naked with any more people.

Did you hear that? I WON'T GET NAKED NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU TELL ME TO.

Yeah, it's the number one thing that irks me, people saying, "Please bare with me!" I'm fine with my clothes on, thanks. But I've encountered this error so often that I started to doubt myself and my "please bear with me" ways. Thus, to confirm my sanity, I referenced my trust old internet.

Bear vs. Bare 101 (courtesy of oxforddictionaries.com):

BEAR: verb [with object] 
- endure (an ordeal or difficulty): she bore the pain stoically

·  [with modal and negative] manage to tolerate (a situation or experience): she could hardly bear his sarcasm

   [with infinitive]: I cannot bear to see you hurt

BARE: verb [with object]  
- uncover (a part of the body or other thing ) and expose it to view: he bared his chest to show his scar

think: we need cute BEARs to BEAR with sadness // source

The next time I use "bare" incorrectly, like in this post title, you have the permission to gouge my eyes out. Next time I see YOU using "bare" incorrectly, I will call you a pedophile. (Haha, no. But I will give you the virtual Asian glare of disappointment.) But who knows? Maybe 10 years from now we'll all be saying "PLEASE BARE WITH ME, BBY," in which case I will gladly go back and appropriately change this post.

Moving on. Have you heard of this phenomenon called "swag?" Just in case, here's the:

Swag Usage 101 (courtesy of my teenage experience):

1) Blurt out "swag" during those awkward silences when all conversation lulls. "Swag" should be expelled forcefully with heavy emphasis and an optional accompanying hand motion (just fill it with swagger, it's hard to put into words). A pose like below is acceptable.
2) Start a "swag" chant with fist pumps.
3) As the ultimate defining adjective. The swag classroom.
4) As a noun. It should be drawn out like "he's got swaaaaagggg." 

YEAH, ABDC got SWAG. // source

... I don't get 1) or 2) either. But it works, for some inexplicable reason. Try it. I dare you.

Finally, just general chat acronyms. I remember when I was first introduced to acronyms. Back in fourth grade playing Runescape (a classic MMORPG for those in the know) when I first heard "LMAO." My reaction: ... Is that supposed to be some twist of "lame?" LMAOOOO. Is that a panda sound? The world has just grown x3405976 more mysterious. D:

And I can guarantee I sounded extremely stupid going "afk" like it was a word. Or "brb."

"Lol" is a huge plus, but some of these acronyms I can't help but giggle-snort a little over (courtesy of webopedia.com):

HFAC -- Holy flipping animal crackers

MTFBWU -- May the force be with you

SHID -- Slapping head in disgust

TYAFY -- Thank you and *freak* you

^URS -- Up yours

I WILL USE THAT HOLY FLIPPING ANIMAL CRACKERS IN A FUTURE REVIEW. It's awesome. Sillyness aside, to survive in the chat world, I'd say a necessary addition to the laugh and talk-later acronyms for online chatters is asl or a/s/l. Age, sex, location. Which is one I actually didn't know, so I thought I'd tack it on just in case. Even though I'm sure there are many of you more txt- (I don't text *gasp*) and chat-savvy than me.

You've just heard my random view from Saturday. This is Jenn signing off, and hopefully you'll leave this post with some new tidbit of knowledge. Or, at least, amusement. 

P.S. HAUNTING VIOLET winner: Alyssa! Congrats, I've already squeezed HAUNTING VIOLET into its lovely orange envelope home. <3

More Winners & IntenseDebate Opinions

...are you tired of them yet? :>

First, some TTFOS winners didn't respond, so we all know what that means: redrawing! New TTFOS winners are:

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab & swag – 

Cara; chaxxx@gmail.com

Fairy Bad Day by Amanda Ashby –

Rebel; rebxxx@gmail.com (third winner that has won twice. o_o)

Dead Rules by Randy Russell –

  Cassandra Hernandez; herxxx@yahoo.com

And more winners:

Beautifully Broken by Sherry Soule –

SpadesHighReads; TVaxxx@gmail.com

My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody – 

Victoria Zumbrum; torxxx@aol.com 

All winners can either email me with your full name and address or wait for my emails, which will be sent out tonight. Again, 48-hour limit to reply and redeem your prize. Congrats, and thanks to all who entered!

Moving on to IntenseDebate. I've had IntenseDebate for a few months and while I like the reply feature, I hate all the complications that have been popping up (i.e. now it's erased all my older blogger comments...; it switches off-and-on). And it sucks using it for "comment-to-enter-this-giveaway" method. BUT it's like a Catch-21 in that if I uninstall it, all ID comments disappear. At this point, I'm just frustrated and resigned.

What are your thoughts? Have any of you been/are in this position? Does IntenseDebate encourage you to comment or is it more of a hassle?

ID is turning me into something like this... // source

Am I the Only Blogger/Reader Who...

source

• Just reads her review books whenever she wants, wherever she wants (as long as the review is on time)
• Feels stifled when scheduling posts
• Now writes reviews in a stream of consciousness, without multiple edits
• Needs occasional blog hiatuses 
• May have her fidelity questioned by her 492 literary crushes
• Picks up whatever is lying around when reading and uses it as a bookmark
• Often cries in empathy over literary heartbreak
• Thinks she's pretty prepared at this point for a vampire takeover or the fall of society
• Feels like a disappointment if she can't keep up with upcoming releases
• Sometimes pretends she remembers a little more about a book than she actually does
• Still isn't completely sure where the reviewer line lies between brutal honesty and brutal attack
• Is, at times, too emotionally-driven and impulsive -- and regrets some of her previous posts
• Gets intimidated meeting authors and other bloggers face-to-face
• Would be happy if her life mirrored THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, INKSPELL, or HARRY POTTER
• Needs an about page -- WHEN DID THIS ABOUT PAGE TREND START *rageface* (forever ago, sigh)
• Wishes some of her books could have lovely book cover babies together
• Can't help but want to review like some other bloggers she admires -- and sometimes tries and fails
• Frequently has a hard time seeing past eye-searing blog designs, but it's possible
• Still pictures a computer behind every blog (though I SHOULDN'T, AGH)
• That doesn't really have a social life, but is okay with her life the way it is
• Is shy as a caterpillar in real life -- and is scared of caterpillars in real life
• Is putting an end to her struggles over these two years and finally resolves to BE HERSELF 24/7 (as lame as that is)
• ...sucks at resolutions

It's a mix of blogger and reader, serious and non-serious things up there, but some of the blogger bullets are legitimately areas that I feel... alone on? Like a disappointment as a blogger.

Do you share any of the same bullets (serious or no)? Are there any things you do/habits you have/etc. that you feel alone on?

Why I'm NOT blogging...

Just saying. I'm finally watching Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows Part 1 right NOW. As in 1 hour 33 minutes right now. IT'S SO INTENSE. Though did that locket horcrux's buzzing noise hurt anyone else's ears?

And hey, I hope it's a good enough excuse. With some eye candy:

has anyone NOT seen this? 8DDDDD

I find it interesting how the light blocks most of Ron's face... and H&H are together.

I really wish I could go to the midnight showing of part two (with my HP/just Harry-obsessed friends!), but I'll be doing a week long summit for my internship. ): But:

Are YOU going to a midnight showing? How are you showing your HP pride? :D

Anyways, back to HP craziness. OHMYGODRONNNNN. *flails* I NEED TO GO BACK NOW, SORRRRY. More TFFOS goodness coming tomorrow, and I hope everyone had an awesome weekend!

Dinoland & Wither Love

As promised, a bit of random:

background

It's still not completely finished, but I thought I'd share some kind of art since I'm not doing YA Chibi-fied this weekend. We're going to do some Statistics monopoly with it, so it's not a masterpiece by any means. But I tried to make the soft colors match the game pieces one of my friends designed:

cuuuuute! <333

(Please don't take any of the graphics, but if you're interested in using them to play some Dinoland monopoly, feel free to shoot me an email!)

As for the book-related aspect of this post, Lauren Destefano is giving away ARC's of both Wither and Fever, the sequel! I'm sure some of you have already heard about it and entered, but if you haven't, enter HERE before May 31st. :)

(... when I was just about to post this, my little sister ran down with her demented Furby which first sounded like a cicada, then went "furbbby *grunt* oink *snort*." Freaking scary. /end random.)

I'm not doing an IMMM this week, but feel free to leave a link and/or tell me what you got! :D

Features? & Non-YA Books I've Been Reading

I haven't been around for a while, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on the two features I started. I made it a survey in case anyone wishes to remain anonymous, but it should only take a minute or two. If you could please click below and answer the two questions, I'd greatly appreciate it, thanks. :)

SURVEY

Moving on, I'm going to pass on the IMM because I haven't been buying many books recently, just a couple here-and-there mixed with some interesting fan-fiction (P&P, Howl's Moving Castle... :D). So instead I've elected to share a couple books I've read lately that are not young adult:

Frindle by Andrew Clements

I saw this on the hospital shelf while I was volunteering yesterday and, remembering how much I loved it as a little kid, had to reread it. I love Nick Allen's spunk, so if you haven't read this one, go write it down with your frindle. ;)






Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman

I recently finished this one for English class, and I definitely say READ IT. I wouldn't recommend it for younger readers since it essentially asks: "What would you do if you saw the man that raped you in your house?" The play brings up great questions about the nature of truth and justice, and it's a plus if you're already interested in Pinochet and the Chilean Truth Commissions. If you're sensitive to bad language, I would recommend staying far away from this one, but it's very thought-provoking without being graphic. (As an alternative, there's the rated-R movie, though I haven't watched it yet.)



The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat -- currently reading

I just started this one last night, though I've read some of Danticat's short stories before; her writing is beautiful. If you haven't read any of her works, I can't stress enough that you're missing out and need to start remedying that situation like... NOW. Here's a sample from the first chapter:

"I'm like one of those sea stones that sucks in colors inside and loses its translucence once it's taken out into the sun, out of the froth of the waves."

-pg.2

I really admire Danticat's skill in quickly conveying the main character's insecurities without the off-putting self-pity, and I'm loving the book so far.

So any other Clement-lovers here or anyone that's read the above-mentioned books? I'd love to know and hear your thoughts! :D