Why I Love #13:The College Application Process

Hi everyone! :) So... it's been a while.

I'm sorry I vanished without saying anything. I've been really busy with end-of-senior-year stuff like studying for my last 5 AP exams & deciding which college to attend. It's been a bumpy ride - this whole college application process - and I'm so glad that it's over. I guess there's no harm in revealing this, but I have decided to matriculate at Vassar College in the fall. It wasn't my dream school when I first started looking at colleges, but it has become my dream school now.

Normally, I would start giving out advice to prospective college applicants here, but I don't feel qualified to do this. Go research on your own, take others' advice with a grain of salt, & definitely visit College Confidential. It's an amazing forum website that is sure to have an answer to all of your questions. And always remember that "brand names" and Ivy Leagues aren't the answer to life. Although they are amazing schools, don't forget that there are thousands of colleges in the United States - and even more abroad. If you've decided to go to college, then I'm sure that there will be a perfect place for you. Life isn't a competition, and there are no winners in the end. (That last part wasn't meant to be pessimistic, it's just the truth.) I guess that my personal advice would be to aim for the stars, but realize how far away they are. High school students with 2400's get rejected from some colleges; and sometimes the college decisions will just seem so random. Perfect applicants will get rejected, and some not-so-stellar students will get accepted. That's life. Go into this process with your eyes wide open to the possibility of defeat. That's what I did. Although I got rejected by numerous colleges, I knew that that could happen, and I couldn't be happier with the college I've chosen to attend.

I've actually grown to love the college application process (not that I would EVER want to repeat it again). I've realized what my strengths and weaknesses are. I've become more organized. By doing all these things to prepare for my college apps; and by searching for the "perfect college" on my own, I've developed a new sense of independence and self-confidence. I've come out of this grueling process - an ordeal in life if I ever saw one - a better person. I know myself better than ever before, and I am also SO happy. I'm happy with where I'm going for college - I <3 Vassar - and I'm so glad that I've managed to succeed during high school.

I've done so many accomplishments in high school that I couldn't have even DREAMED of doing before entering. For instance, I started this blog in December 2009 (my junior year) in order to showcase pop music and teen fantasy books that I loved. I do believe that I've managed to achieve that goal. To date, I've posted over 100 times with various things that I <3. Also, this blog (it's my only one, btw) has amassed over 3,400 views. Personally, I think that's amazing. Thank you to my readers out there! You encouraged me to keep posting - even when life got in the way. And I'm sorry I was so busy during my 19-month run on this blog.

Well, here's a final announcement that you may have seen coming: I've decided to discontinue this blog. It's not because I've run out of things to say, or because I don't love blogging. I definitely do - although it can become frustrating if you think that you're just sending ideas into the blogosphere and no one's reading them. The real reason is because I haven't had time to post in the last several months. With college starting in the fall, I really want to focus on the academics, the intellectual side, and also the social side (the reasons I'm going to college). Basically, I won't be able to fit in blogging on the side. Rather than keeping you going with false hope that I will someday return, I'm just going to say that I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. Nevertheless, I'll always treasure this blog as a remnant of my high school years (which is why I'm not deleting any of these posts or the blog itself). Feel free to comb through the archives for some of my favorite songs and books.

Throughout my years in high school, which have been invaluable, I've learned so much more about myself that I never could have imagined. Blogging was an invaluable way for me to share things that I love with others (you) and also to practice writing. You should try it out if you have any interest in it. Also, I may return to blogging someday, but nowhere in the near future. I hope to continue writing in the future - and also a possible career - which is why I am planning to major in English. I have no idea what the future holds for me - particularly since everyone seems to think that an English major = no job or career prospects. Whatever happens, I know that God will bring me through it. He is the reason I'm here, and I am so grateful to Him for everything He's done!

Well, there's no use prolonging this. Thank you, readers, for visiting my page. After 19 months, this is the end. This is Leighton, signing off. Goodbye and good luck with all of your future endeavors!

Photo credit: What's the Idea? A Brand Consultancy.
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Why I Love #12: Stopping Underage Drinking

"Alcohol? No way!"

This is a "Very Special Post", dedicated to the topic of underage drinking. I realize that this strays away from my normal posts of pop music and teen fantasy books, but I believe that this is a very important topic to talk about. Plus, it's my blog - so I can do what I want with it. <3

We've all seen the alcohol ads, the anti-drinking ads, the teachers talking about it, your peers in school talking about it... there are obviously two sides to the issue. In terms of Freud (we just learned about one of his principles in AP Psychology), the Id is saying "Let's have fun & drink! You're only young once!". The Superego is saying, "No! Drinking alcohol is terrible for you & you should never do it in your life!" The Ego (or compromiser) says, "Wait until you're of legal age before you make that decision". In this case, I agree strongly with Ego. I am very proud of the fact that I have never had a sip of any alcoholic beverage in my life. I actually don't plan to ever drink - even when I turn 21.

In my opinion, drinking (and along with smoking, drugs, etc.) is terrible for anyone. I respect my body way too much to willing ingest something would damage my liver, lungs, etc. As a runner (I'm on the track team in school), I work very hard in order to "stay in shape". My belief in Christianity also plays a role in this. I would never do any type of self-mutilation - and this includes drinking alcohol. Sure, you could have fun & get high off of it. However, it's only temporary, and may lead to lasting damaging effects on your body.

My second thought about alcohol is that it is very dangerous. I hear some of my classmates in school every week talking about parties. I see the photos of them with beer cans / alcohol bottles in their hands. I even see a few smoking outside of school. It's very troubling when one considers all the negative things about alcohol. Besides for the obvious damage to one's body, it also causes whoever is drinking it to lose control of their body, emotions, everything. I've heard horror stories that I won't put here (they're not my stories to tell) about teens who wake up the next day and have no idea what they were doing the last night. Terrible things can happen when you no longer have control, and I never want to wake up in that situation. So I will never allow myself to be put in that situation. I will never drink alcohol. (This is a vow I made when I was younger, and I am very glad that I have kept this promise to myself through high school. I will continue to never drink in college - I'll actually graduate before I turn the legal age of 21. Perhaps then, I will have changed my mind, but it's not very likely.)

Underage drinking is obviously very popular among the teenage crowd. What's worse, I see a glorification of drinking / drugs in the media targeted toward these age groups. Ads, TV shows like Jersey Shore, Pop songs about clubs and drinking, movies, the Internet... all of these glorify drinking, and promote it as a regular activity or phase that every youth is supposed to go through. Along with first dates, high school proms, senior trips, the American culture has put the idea that "alcohol is all right" into most teenagers' minds. I do not accept or promote this facet of popular culture, but there is no doubt that it is present.

So what can we do? Almost nothing. As a teenager, I do not have access to the media or the people controlling the media. I can't go up to the drug addicts in my high school (a perpetual clique in almost every school) & tell them to stop. They probably wouldn't listen anyway. I can't suddenly convince every one of my classmates that drinking at parties isn't cool. (It's scary, but sometimes I see that the most popular kids that everyone wants to know are the kids who are at parties drinking and doing drugs.)

What I CAN do however is use the power in my hands. I am writing this post (using my writing talents) on my blog that I created in 2009. Sure, it's not a standard topic on my blog, but I truly believe in it. Lastly, I made this video about stopping underage drinking almost one year ago. It's seriously the nicest feeling to know that you felt the same way one year ago & haven't changed much. Although my environments & surroundings have changed, my morals and values haven't. I had different priorites and prerogatives back then, but I still felt the same way about underage drinking. In the words of my video - which I created myself for the Courageous Persuaders contest - "Alcohol? No way!" <3

Photo Credit: Jim Benton, the creator of the Happy Bunny franchise.

Why I Love #11: Pretty Little Liars vs Gossip Girl

In my time zone, tonight was the season 2 premiere of Pretty Little Liars- a typical teen drama show that won many fans last year (summer 2010) when it debuted. I'm not to lie... this has been my favorite show ever since Dollhouse on Syfy was canceled. (By the way, I will probably post a review of Dollhouse sometime in the coming month.) Anyway, I am completely convinced that Pretty Little Liars is the best show on television right now. Granted, I don't watch that much television. I think the only currently running shows that I am watching right now besides this one is Glee, Young Justice (series premiere on Friday!), and sometimes Gossip Girl.

Believe it or not, when I first started high school (3 - 4 years ago), Gossip Girl was at the height of its popularity. It used to be my favorite show actually. I mean, there was the concept of a hidden blogger called "Gossip Girl" who would talk about the scandalous lives of Manhattan's elite. It sounded cool, and it was... for a while. I basically stopped watching this season. The reason is- the show is no longer as fun as it used to be. The first season was undoubtedly best SPOILERS. I will undoubtedly remember Serena whispering to Blair "I killed someone." right before the season finale for a while to come. Who could forget the creepy, eerie music that followed that statement either?

That first season was awesome. Unfortunately, it went downhill after that. I hated how the writers felt the need to pair every character on the show with every other character. I mean love triangles are fine, but sometimes, it felt like the writers at the studio were just picking names out of a hat and then make them into couples. After a while, the story no longer interested me either. Unlike other teen dramas, Gossip Girl literally has no drama. The most that happens is Georgina Sparks swoops in for a season finale and then takes off again. Ugh. Her character is so awesome, too. The most dramatic thing that happened last season was Chuck's death... and he didn't even really die! Hilary Duff brightened things up for a while (I'm a huge fan of hers), but ultimately, this show just lost it sparkle.

On the other hand, getting back to topic, Pretty Little Liars is chock-full of drama. NO SPOILERS HERE. The basic premise is that there were 5 best friends, but the Queen Bee- so to speak- gets murdered! (Right there, that's more of a plotline than an entire Gossip Girl season.) It turns out she was keeping a secret, since one year later, the other 4 best friends start getting dangerous texts from a person named A. And this mysterious person just starts to ruin their lives. It's not that difficult since all 4 of the girls have their own secrets to hide. I never read the books, so I can't compare the TV show to them; but I absolutely love the TV show! Every episode has a lot of "scary", suspenseful moments, and the plotlines/characters are amazing. Meanwhile, the mystery behind it all will leave you wondering "Who is A?!" Overall, if you haven't seen the show already, then what are you waiting for? :D

Five Stars. Completely Recommended.

Photo Credit: Pretty Little Liars advertisement by ABC Entertainment company
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Why I Love #10: Back to School Week

So you might be wondering why I love going back to school. Let's face it: everyone loves summer. Summer is that faraway dream-land away from SAT's, final exams, homework, and everything tedious about high school. It's that place where you can just relax and do absolutely nothing. So why would I want to go back to school?

After a while, summer gets boring. I mean, I'm the type of person who begins to miss studying if I don't do it for a while. There's only so much useless TV that you watch... (by the way, Pretty Little Liars is officially the best show ever. It's a new show that I discovered this summer & I really can't wait till the next season starts.) And there's only so much stuff you can do on the internet before you get bored of refreshing your email / Facebook page- checking for updates.

Over the summer, I kept listening to new pop music & reading new teen fantasy books. Some random ones I liked: Bleeding Violet, City of Bones (sort of), Nightschool, Cactus's Secret (the last two are manga). I really should start writing book reviews soon... maybe once the school year settles into a groove or something. There's no need for me to tell you what new music I like because I'm posting them now at Pop Songs of the Day. But I will start posting book reviews soon.

Anyway, yeah. During the summer, I did tons of stuff. Too much, in fact, because I ended up procrastinating summer reading until the last minute (as usual). I took math classes at a local college, got a part-time job, took driving lessons, started a science experiment, went away to camp twice, visited colleges, etc. It was hectic, and I literally would not have survived if I didn't have a handy-dandy organizing calendar to keep track of it all. Overall though, it got really crazy for a while & I ended up longing for the nice, scheduled days of high school.

So basically, I love going back to school because it gives me some structure in my life. I have to wake up at a certain time, go to scheduled classes, get homework every day. I sort of like having a routine. Of course, with my course-load this year, I will be spending a lot of my time studying. On the plus side, I get see my friends again after two months, talk about stuff, and everything that's nice about high school. I really enjoyed my first day of high school, and I hope every other day this year will be just as great!

Photo credit: The Paly Voice (Palo Alto High School online journalism)
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Why I Love #9: Pop Music Artists with Personality

No, "pop music artists with personality" probably does not mean what you think it means. I don't mean artists with a bad reputation or criminal history- like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. And before you say anything, I am huge fans of both of their music. I don't judge songs based on who sang them, I judge songs based on their content regardless of who the singer is. So yes, I do have "Nothing in this World" and "Ultimate" on my list of fave songs ever.

Pop Music Artists with Personality actually refers to pop songs themselves. I <3 when I hear a song and can tell who the singer is immediately without knowing before. This could be because of the singer's distinctive voice, or because their songs all have a certain "style" to them. Seriously, I doubt anyone would confuse a Ke$ha song with Taylor Swift one- or even a Lady Gaga song despite both being dance music. (By the way, I'm a huge fan of Ke$ha... I might devote an entire post to her one day.) I love artists that let their personality seep into their songs.

So the reason I'm bringing this up now is because I mentioned "personal style in music" in the past two posts. CRITICAL WARNING: Miranda Cosgrove fans should skip the rest of this post. Okay, I love teenage singers just like everyone else. And Miranda's songs are admittedly very catchy. I do have her CD in my collection because the songs are awesome. However, I recently read an interview where Miranda stated she tried to put her "own personal touch" on all the songs. Wait up! This is the girl whose biggest hit, About You Now, is a Sugababes cover! In fact, in her debut album, she covers Avril Lavigne "Daydream", Ke$ha "Disgusting", and my fave song on the album "Shakespeare" is also a cover- though of a less-known singer/songwriter.

When she only co-wrote one song on the album "There Will Be Tears", it's pretty hard to put a personal touch on an album. Her singing voice, though pleasant, is not very distinct by the way. So now you're thinking, she's just a manufactured teenage pop star- like Miley Cyrus. She can't help it. BUT SHE CAN. One of my fave singers is Keke Palmer, who is also a teenager star with a Nickelodeon TV show. One listen to Keke's album "So Uncool" and you'll instantly realize what her style is like. Whereas Miranda's album is just a mix-and-match of a bunch of random pop songs, Keke's album is actually cohesive- the songs work well together as well as being catchy. Though both of these stars are similar in ways, Keke managed to show her personal style on her debut album, and that's why I like her songs better. I hope you understand now the type of singers who I consider to be true pop music artists with personality. Thanks for reading!!

Photo credit: GenusPhotography
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Why I Love #8: Alice in Wonderland

So I recently saw the new Alice in Wonderland by Disney that was directed by Tim Burton. I'm not really a Tim Burton fan.. I think I've only seen "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "9" before this. No, I have not seen The Nightmare Before Christmas, but based on the hype, I was expecting something more out of Alice in Wonderland. I mean, even though I haven't seen Nightmare, I've seen all sorts of merchandise and heard good reviews of his films.

Before I write about the film, I just want to say that I am huge fan of books like Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz (especially this), the Chronicles of Narnia, and others. I like the idea of children journeying into magical fairylands and the power of imagination. I read a lot of these before I entered high school, and the land of Oz was definitely my favorite. I had read Alice in Wonderland before, but I never really liked it. I think that the various adaptations in comic books, other movies, and various merchandise are much better than the original book. Of course, without the original novel by Lewis Carroll, none of the current adaptators would have been able to "put a spin" on it.

(Spoilers after.) So the new movie was disappointing. With the grown-up Alice twist and the star cast (including Anne Hathaway), I expected more of a spin on the original tale. I'm not sure, but I think this was supposed to be a remake instead of a sequel. (Or vice versa?) But the entire film was just like the Disney cartoon one EXCEPT for the fight scene at the end between Alice and Jabberwocky. Everything else had already been done before in the cartoon or was completely uninteresting. And the revelation at the end where Alice goes "Oh! Those weren't dreams (where I was in Wonderland before)... those were actual memories!" was so completely obvious that I wanted to say "No duh!" I mean, even a child could have understood that from just watching the movie without her saying it. Seriously, they just copied everything from the cartoon and then added a mediocre fight scene.

Thus, I was really disappointed by this movie. I did not like it at all, and I think the Alice mini-series on Syfy was much better. In fact that cannot even be compared to this remake. So don't watch this movie. Not recommended. 3 out of 5 stars. Just because it had nice special effects and for the awesome new Alice merchandise. Watch the Alice mini-series on Syfy instead. Seriously =D

Photo credit: Disney's Alice in Wonderland poster (2010)
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Why I Love #7: High School Stereotypes

So... I haven't done a "Why I Love" post in a while. It's been Pop Songs of the Day for over a week now lol. Anyway, so today, I'm going to write about why I absolutely <3 high school stereotypes. (By the way, I'm not saying that stereotypes in general, because sometimes they are untrue and hurtful.) However, the high school stereotypes are typically funny, because most people do not fit into only one mold. See the picture on the left? That "was" High School Musical, the most popular thing before teen vampires. One of the things that has struck me since I watched those movies (besides the inability of any of the HSM stars to put out a successful album) is the "Stick to the Status Quo" song. The general message of the films was that a person could be whoever he or she wanted to be. For example, a basketball team star or a science geek could both become musical stars if they wanted to. Well, in reality, it would be very hard for a guy or girl to be on a sports team year-round if he or she also had musical practice every day after school. Although I know plenty of overachievers (like me) that are in several different clubs that meet once a week. Anyway, this is a topic for another day.

The real point of this post is to point out how most ppl do not fit into any ONE high school stereotype. Most can fit into two or more. For example, a geek can be on a sports team, just like an emo person can be popular. There are many stereotypes in high school that are true, but very few people fit into only one. That's why I love movies that have the "be whoever you want to be in high school" msg- like High School Musical and Bratz. It's kind of funny that 8th graders go into high school expecting there to be cliques of people who fit the traditional stereotypes. I certainly don't see this in my high school. So, in conclusion, I love the irony of high school stereotypes. Be whoever you want to be! Don't change yourself in order to fit in! Just be friendly and follow your dreams! =D

Photo credit: Disney's High School Musical
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Why I Love #6: Movies That Aren't Sad

You know what's one thing that always manages to get me down? (Well, besides for the usual everyday things in life, of course.) Sad movies. I absolutely do not like sad movies ie. My Sister's Keeper. I have seen enough of them to last a lifetime, believe me. I mean, is there really any point to have the audience leaving the movie theatre thinking, "Wow, that was so... SAD!" Ok, so I understand that sometimes there are reasons why the movie has to be sad. For instance, My Sister's Keeper is about a family's struggle when they realize that one of their daughters has cancer. (Hope I didn't spoil that for anyone.. there's also a twist at the end, that I totally wasn't expecting & so I didn't spoil anything really.)

So sometimes, it is necessary to make a movie sad because the subject material itself is aad, and it wouldn't make sense to turn a bad situation into a comedy. (Oh, I just realized that the title I put onto this blog post was a little ironic. Yep, we are not going to talk about something I love today.. instead, we are going to talk about the opposite of the title.) The thing is, I just really don't like sad movies at all. If a movie wants to make me cry, then I think, "Why did I just watch that movie?" I mean, real life is depressing enough. Do we really want to depressed over fictional characters that we don't know, also? I guess the answer is yes, since there is such a high market and large audience for these "sob story" movies. Do people honestly need a movie to get their "sad fix" or something?

So yesterday, I rented My Sister's Keeper from a local Redbox. (You can read more about my LOVE of Redboxes in a previous Why I Love post.) The thing is, I knew already that the movie was going to be pretty sad. So you might wonder why in the world I want to see a movie that I knew was going to be sad if I really really don't like sad movies. Well, the answer is that many of my friends/acquaintances had been going on and on about the movie lately. And I would hope you would know by now, I only watch new releases. That is, if I have time. (I rarely ever have time to sleep, let alone watch a 2 hour movie.) But I enjoy watching new releases, just so I can talk about them with people when it turns out we've watched the same ones. I guess you could call me a pop culture junkie.

Anyway, many of my friends on Facebook have been saying, "This movie was so sad... it made me cry." and such. So I decided to see the movie just because so many people that I know have seen it. I believe that you could call this "peer pressure" of a sort, because I watched it only because I didn't want to be left out. In conclusion, I watched the movie. (I don't normally watch a movie for the acting, plot elements, lighting, or anything like that... so don't even ask that.) Instead, I realized again exactly why I hate sad movies. Because... it was sad! Duh. Not to say that the movie was horrible, because it wasn't. I'm sure that someone in the world out there would praise the acting, the twist in the plot, etc. But I'm not going to.

The only positive thing that it did to me was open my eyes to what someone going through cancer has to go through. It was very informative in that way, and I learned a lot from this movie. (Note: it must be horrible to have to bleed and throw up and everything, and I feel really bad now that I'm saying that I didn't like this movie). The truth is, I chose My Sister's Keeper as a subject on this blog post simply because it was the first sad movie that I have watched since I got this blog. It could have been any other movie out there, so please don't hate me if you're a huge fan of My Sister's Keeper or something. Lastly, I hope that next time a really popular "sad" movie comes out, someone will remind me not to see it =D
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Why I Love #5: Kamen Rider Dragon Knight

Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight was literally the best show that I have ever watched in a long, long time.. and it aired on the unlikeliest of places because it was supposedly "aimed" at boys 7-12, or something like that. So the reason for this blog post is to the lament and sad and painful death of a truly wonderful show. Unfortuately for fans everywhere (I'm sure that there are some somewhere), Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight was officially cancelled due to low ratings- 2 episodes before the series finale. Yes, that's right.. they taped 40 episodes altogether, but they didn't air the last two. Two whole episodes. Redefines cliffhanger, doesn't it? Anyways, there's no use talking about it now.. I feel kind of powerless, like when I used to watch Pokemon back when I was little, and I didn't know anything really about the world. I would just be happy in my little bubble of what I knew and not care about anything else.

So I guess I better start talking about why I <3 Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight. Well, first off, from the picture, you would probably think that the show was like Power Rangers. The truth is, that is not even the littlest part true. Apparently in Japan, they have a whole genre of TV shows devoted to shows like Power Rangers and Kamen Rider- so no, it's not a Power Rangers rip-off. The fact is that Kamen Rider was intended for more mature audience. Sure, Power Rangers might have adult fans, but the storylines are obviously intended for children. With Kamen Rider, the storylines could be complicated, characters could be complicated (instead of just good or evil), everything just seemed more mature.

I guess I can compare it a little to Digimon or the first Pokemon movie. Back then, I think that there was less control over what children saw (with parents' groups and stuff, but that's a whole other topic). Digimon had very very dark and scary moments, and thinking back, I wonder if they would let kids watch it nowadays. The first Pokemon movie (if anyone remembers it?) also had the main character basically die- although he gets revived in the end. My point is that because Kamen Rider was not written entirely for children, young adults (like me) and people of all ages and genders could love it too. The plots were great, the characters were believable.. it was also unintentionally funny sometimes. With one word, I would describe the humor as "campy"- which I define as being a movie or TV show being unintentionally funny due to a low budget or other reasons. I loved tuning episodes of Kamen Rider & wondering if little 1/2 my age were watching the same show.

Overall, I guess this is good-bye to Kamen Rider.. with the show cancelled, even a DVD box-set would take some time to be released. I really hope that it does come out though- so that fans can finally see how the storyline gets resolved. Kamen Rider brought much joy into my life- especially since it was so different than all of the other shows. I'm sad that it's cancelled, but what can you do? Shows like this rarely popular anyway.. thank you, readers, for following along on my rant. If you want to check out Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight (and I recommend that you do), just search for it on Youtube on something. Let's ride!!
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Why I Love #4: Redbox

So I know what you're thinking... why would I <3 redboxes? I mean, they're cheap, dirty, and red DVD rental machines! What could possibly be lovable about them?! Well, to answer your questions, I only need one word: convenience. They are most convenient thing ever! I don't know if there are any where you live, but in case you don't know what they are, they can basically be summarized as "DVD rental machines". Basically, you pay $1 to rent a DVD for a night, and when you return, you can rent another DVD for the next night for... $1. Yeah. So the concept is pretty simple, but whoever thought of them is a genius. No longer do you have to buy the DVD in order to view it, or waste time in theatres, or pay Blockbuster ridiculous amounts of money in order to rent them for a week. (Who needs a week to watch a single DVD anyway?) I live right by a Redbox, so whenever I want to watch a movie that just came out, all I have to pay is $1. Seriously, I <3 Redboxes.
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Why I Love #3: School breaks

Seriously, who doesn't love school breaks? I mean, if you're like me, you've worked hard on projects, regular homework, studying for tests, etc. Whenever a schedule school break comes along, I always feel like "I deserve this." LOL if you want. I've spent many sleepless nights finishing homework for teachers, and I think that I deserve all the breaks that I can get. So... it's not spring/summer break like in the picture obviously. And it's freezing cold outside, but still. A break is a break. Enjoy it while it lasts. (In my opinion, breaks always go by too fast- like the current one.) I always plan all these big things that I'm going to do during the breaks, but I almost never finish all of them, and I'm left doing some homework that I wish I had done earlier the night before I go back to school. Hopefully that won't happen this time lol. I have "school" things to do this break- including science projects, research papers, studying for SAT's. But I also have "me" things to do- like writing a bunch of poems so I can enter more poetry contests, keeping this blog up to date, and working on my itunes. Note: despite the huge amount of music on my laptop, I cannot seem to find time to put it all into itunes & sync it onto my ipod. In fact, my ipod is basically empty when compared to the music on my laptop. Anyway, back to the topic. So yeah, I <3 school breaks. There's not much to explain actually... I'm sure you all love school breaks, too =D

Photo credit: Ouran High School Host Club anime
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Why I Love #2: When It Gets Dark at 5:00

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So I know there's apparently a whole facebook group that's dedicated to "hating when it gets dark at 5:00". However, I actually LOVE when the days start getting darker. I don't actually have a reason for this. Maybe it's because there's a certain feeling that you get when you think "oh, it's getting dark soon... I have to hurry home". By having a longer night (that is darker and scarier) to contrast with, it makes the thought of home a lot more comforting. There's also that thrill that you get when you're with friends at night & you know that you'll be safe as long as you stay together. Often, when I am outside alone at night, it feels very romantic and inspiring- although I always wish that I had a friend with me. Watch Avril Lavigne's "I'm With You" or Queensberry's "I Can't Stop Feeling" music videos if you want to understand what feeling I'm talking about. Maybe I should feature them as Pop Songs of the Day later =D Overall, I love when it gets dark at 5:00; although come summer, I will probably like the longer days.

Photo credit: Nicolas Perriault's Flickr.
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Why I Love #1: Tamora Pierce's books

I am a huge Tamora Pierce fan. I read a lot of her books during my middle school years, and I am proud to say that I have read every single one of her books except the recent ones (like Melting Stones and Bloodhound). Like with most of the books/authors that I will feature on this blog, Tamora Pierce generally writes young adult or teen fantasy. Don't think of her as another Twiilight rip-off though.. Tamora Pierce is an actual accomplished writer, and her books are amazing.

The first book that I read by Tamora Pierce was Alanna: The First Adventure, which was amazing. The most memorable thing about Tamora Pierce's books are her characters. I was able to picture exactly how every single character looked in all of her books, and I'm sure that any other reader will be able to, too. Her characters have very distinct names, appearances, and personalities, and they actually sound like real characters. Forget about flat characters with stereotypical personalities. After you read one of Ms. Pierce's books, it'll seem you've known the characters forever.

Another thing that I noticed as I read her other books (See: the Circle of Magic series, the Trickster series, etc.) was that Tamora Pierce is a very good storyteller. The plotlines are amazing, and their genre can range from romantic, action, mystery, and fantasy, to anything. None of the storylines were predictable, but every time I finished a book, I remember a feeling of satisfaction- like a "that was exactly how the story was supposed to end" feeling.

Thus, the storylines are perfect, the characters are amazing.. what more could you want from a book? The books are also very good because they are fantasy. I think that every book features magic, spells, or some figment of imagination of some sort. The fantasy element adds much to each book, and you will often be entertained by some event that could not possibly have happened in the real world. Although the Song of the Lioness quartet holds a special place in my heart (being the first series that I read by Tamora Pierce), my favorite is Terrier from the Beka Cooper series. It's the most recent book that I've read by her, and I remember reading it like it was yesterday. As with all of her books, the storyline and characters were perfect, and I remember thinking that the fantasy elements in that story were cooler than usual. So... what are you waiting for? =D

Click HERE to visit Tamora Pierce's official website.
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