Your Friends' Favorite Books

By | Published Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Hello. I am still in my reading mojo and I've decided to take a different stance at picking what book to read. I already have a small list of books I would like to read myself, BUT to extend that list, I've come up with the idea of reading my friends' favorite books.
I feel like a person's favorite book has to say something about their character, and who they are. (In case you're curious, my favorite book is The Hobbit). So, I've asked the Herd for all of their favorite books, and everything they've said is definitely going to go on my reading list. 

  • Vicki - 
    • The Giver - Lois Lowry (#1)
    • (tied for 2nd)
      • Acceleration - Graham McNamee
      • Miss Peregrine's Home - Ransom Riggs
      • Crispin: The Cross of Lead - Avie
  • Amy - 
    • The Host - Stephanie Mayer
  • Rosa - 
    • Blood and Chocolate - Annette Curtis Klause 
  • Marianna - 
    • Bioshock: Rapture - John Shirley (personally very excited to read this)
    • Vampire Academy - Richelle Mead
  • Bailey -
    • Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater
Yes, those are my friends' recommendations for me. I've already finished reading Acceleration (I've completed that 210 page novel in 2 days. #Ievenimpressedmyself). I have now moved onto Bioshock: Rapture. It's the prequel to the Bioshock video game series. I haven't played any of the games yet, but I do plan on it once I finish the book. Marianna says that she'll lend me the game eventually. Very excited for that. 
It's great. As I'm reading Rapture, I can just... feel... how Marianna must've loved the book. Like, I can sort of feel Marianna's essence off of the book? If that makes any sense. 
I don't know. But I hope you catch my drift. 

So yep. That's the plan! 

I've been doing so well with reading this year so far. I'm on my 6th book. I've read the Hobbit, Grace's Guide, Perks of Being a Wallflower, A Study in Scarlet, Acceleration, and NOW I am on the Rapture. Nice. *Self-five*

Thank you for reading :)
-Jess


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YEAH BOOKS!

By | Published Saturday, January 17, 2015

Hello! Okay, I know we are well into January, and it's kinda too late for New Year's Resolutions, but YOU KNOW WHAT. IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO MAKE GOALS FOR YOURSELF. I think I've determined to do this thing a while ago when I found this photo, but I've actually begun to put the thing into action. It's this thing! 

Yeah! Check out that thing! I'm not gonna aim to check out the entire list, but I do hope that I will cross out a good heap of them. One thing I've learned is that I am actually a pretty fast reader. I managed to finish the 300ish page novel that is The Hobbit within about a week. NEAT.
 As of today, I have read 2 books. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien & Grace's Guide: The Art Of Pretending To Be A Grown Up by Grace Helbig. I wanna do a quick informal review of Grace's Guide, since that book is newer to me than the latter. 

GRACE'S GUIDE: THE ART OF PRETENDING TO BE A GROWN UP!
First of all, I'd like to say that Grace Helbig is one of my favorite Youtubers to date. (The other two being danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil). I watch all of her videos as she uploads them, because I'm kinda a dedicated fan. 
My dear friend, Amy, asked me about a month ago on what I wanted for my birthday. I gave her a list of three items: 





(I'm trying to make my blog more visual so I'm hoping that you are appreciating the extra effort in adding these things).
Yep! Those were the things I asked for. By the time she said she'd ordered my gift, the timer for the rad Misha shirt had run out. TBH although it was listed first on the list, it was the last thing of the things I've asked for that I really wanted. That Dan & Phil calendar was actually on top. FUNNY HOW THAT WORKED OUT. 
*ahem* 
So, the time of my birthday came around, and I finally got my gift! (She had me wait all day to give it to me. She wanted to wait til we got to Java Joe's and we were w/ Bailey for me to open it. The anticipation that day was killing me). And, as you've probably already gathered, that gift was Grace's Guide! It was hella ecstatic.
Within a couple of days (not immediately after receiving it. I still had the Hobbit to finish) I've finished reading the entire book!

Now my overall thoughts of the book in bullets.
  • Funny. Just like Grace Helbig. You can hear her voice inside of my head as I read. It was great.
  • Pretty insightful. I will say that I definitely did learn a thing or two after reading this book. For example: Deodorant is a top priority.
  • GRACE HELBIG IS VERY PRETTY. There were hella pics all throughout the book, and they were all amazing. 
  • This is not a timeless book. In fact, it's quite the opposite. It's ephemeral. (I may or may not have searched antonyms for 'timeless' to come up with that word). Anyway, the most I have to say about this book relates to this.
    It isn't the type of book, like the Hobbit, that you'd be able to pick up 100 years from now, and have still be just as effective and awesome as it is today. She makes a billion references to things that are popular today. I can imagine it becoming outdated in just a year or two, to be honest. However, I suppose I should take note that this book     was written with millennials as the targeted audience.  (You are a millennial if you were born between the years 1980 - 2000. Hey, check that out! I'm a millennial!) So once the millennials die out, so will the book.
    Seriously, though. To pick up this book in 2115 and try to read it will be like us today trying to read The Scarlet Letter. I haven't read that book, as I'm in a class that doesn't really focus on reading books, but my friends have complained how difficult it was to understand due to the Old English speech.
    And if you think that that's not true. Read this stuff:
    - imo i think ur hair is on fleek.
    - omg im hella salty
    - tbh idk. ur v cool tho
    See, I'm sure you were able to understand that just fine. It's common place for us. We internet explorers are familiar with this language that didn't exist 50 years ago. (and in case you couldn't translate any of that into plain english, lemme throw you a bone. 'In my opinion, I think your hair looks great!' 'Oh my God, I'm really annoyed' 'To be honest, I don't know. You're very cool though.')
Yep, so those are my thoughts. To give you a taste of what would be found in this book, here's an excerpt! It's from the section called "How to: Get Over a Hangover"
If you currently have a hangover, stop reading this right now. Trying to read when you're hungover is only slightly worse than trying to read when you're sober. #lol #books #irony #stayinschool #unlessschoolisntforyou
Instead, trying having a friend read this chapter to you. We'll call your friend "DR." No, not a doctor, a "Designated Reader." But if that person happens to be a doctor, kudos to you for having an intelligent friend who gets paid to touch body parts. Also, maybe ask them how to cure a hangover. 
The first step to hangover recovery is accepting that you've brought this upon yourself. If you didn't you should probably go to the police. Or stop hanging out with Chrissy. I mean, her parents named her Chrissy. Not Christina. Not Christine. Chrissy. A government employee had to print "Chrissy" on a birth certificate. Also, she lets her thong strings show out of the top of her jeggings and she's got a tattoo of a ying-yang on fire. Sorry, but she's bad news. 

Yep. So my consensus? READ THIS BOOK*. It's a fun read! I enjoyed myself. You could too!

Anyway, thank you for reading! Have a fab year. Maybe try to take part of that reading challenge! <3

 -Jess

* While it is still relevant. 

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Twenty-Fifteen

By | Published Friday, January 2, 2015

Hello! First and foremost, HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 
I don't know where to begin my story... I guess New Year's Eve.
That was a very eventful day. Around one, Amy came over my house, and we watched the Desolation of Smaug together. Me, her and Bailey were planning on watching the last Hobbit movie in theaters the day after, so it was important that she watched it. After that movie ended around four, she went home, and them my sister and I headed to the chapel to practice this dance routine for a performance in the New Year's Party. 
After practicing, my sister and I headed to the actual venue of the party.
Being the socially awkward and friendless person that I am, I brought some yarn and knitting needles and started knitting while sitting alone. To my surprise, this actually influenced people to come up and talk to me, rather than ward them away. It was weird. 

 So yeah, the performance happened, and I sucked pretty badly. There's video of it on facebook, but no where else, so I'm guessing that means if you aren't friends with me on there, you won't be able to watch it. 
I played this game where I had to wear pantyhose on my head, with a tennis ball in one leg, and knock over numbered cups in descending order. I lost. 


The humiliation. 
After the new year's party, there was an after party at a family friend's house that involved pajamas. I took no hesitation to wear my monster onsie that I love so dearly. Turns out, I wasn't the only one there wearing a onsie. Kuya Raffie, a grown man, actually was wearing a batman onsie. AMAZING. 
We all counted down til the New Year, ate, and then played a bunch of fun games. My favorite was charades. I OWNED THAT GAME. There was also this hot potato game that involved fruit. There was a mango, pear, banana, and orange. That banana, by the end of that party was brown and mushy and disgusting. 
Around 3AM, the games had ended and the energy was simmering down. I didn't want to fall asleep though, as many were doing. Heck Sid fell asleep on the floor. Like wow, man. He must've been REALLY EXHAUSTED. 
But I still had some energy left in me. So I busted out my phone and played some fab music and danced by myself until my family decided to go home around 4AM. 

By the time I got home I was dead tired. I fell asleep pretty quickly. As much as I would have liked to sleep in until my energy bar had restored, I couldn't. At noon, I was to go to the theater and watch the new Hobbit movie! So before I passed out completely, I made sure I set an alarm to wake me up at 10AM. 

Waking up in the morning, I took a shower, and got dressed. At 11:30, Amy came over, and drove us to theater to meet up with Bailey and her boyfriend, Taylor. I actually documented this adventure, so I will now present to you our movie trip video.


Yep, after that shindig, I went home and edited and uploaded that video.

Realizing that is was actually 2015, I remembered that I had a year long project in 2014! Throwback to this blog post, in which I said:
Last night, while laying in bed, I planned on sort of rating each day of the year with an emotion.
 So I did stay true to that, and here are the results!!

And that just about wrapped up my first New Year memories. Woooo!

Hope you have a lovely 2015. So much potential. 
Thanks for reading.
-Jess


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MORE JAVA JOE'S! I Seriously Love This Place.

By | Published Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Hello! It hasn't been long since I last updated this blog! Haha, so anyway, I went to Java Joe's again!
Amy, for the first time EVER drove her car with me and her younger brother, Jason, to school! NO BUS RIDES FOR US, WE ARE COOL KIDS NOW. Lol no, that's not gonna be a daily thing. Only when Amy has to work at the coffee shop. 

 Strait after school ended, the two of us headed to Java Joe's. We jammed out to my phone's music, including Robin Sparkles' "Let's Go To The Mall", OK Go's "The Great Fire", and when Amy had 3 minutes to get to the coffee shop before being late, "Where Did The Party Go" by Fall Out Boy played to hype us up. 

 We got there JUST in time. 

 Bailey was in the coffee shop, although it wasn't her shift. From the chaos of yesterday, she had managed to lose her voice. She didn't stick around for long because of that. She just wasn't feeling well. 

 Rosa had told me that she'd be arriving soon, so I sat around on one of the couches of the coffee shop and knitted as I waited. 
Later, Rosa updated me that her mom decided to do some Christmas shopping, so she'd be later. I took this as cue to just order my food myself. Around this point in time, Tyler (Have I ever mentioned him before? Well in the time that I write this, he is Rosa's bae) arrived, so we ordered food together, and ate at the bar. I had realized that I only had with me five dollars, but noTHING ON THE MENU SOLD FOR FIVE BUCKS. So Amy so kindly let me 'borrow' (which I will return in the form of a mix CD, probably) money from her own wallet. That doll. 
Tyler shared a similar predicament, so Amy lent both of us money. Heh. Thanks, Amy, you're fab. 

 I ordered the Cheese Steak, and Tyler got the Triple Grilled Cheese. The service at the moment is kinda slow, but I'm sure that it'll improve as time goes on. I mean, it is only the 2nd day of business. I also hope that if business gets better, the prices will be able to go down, because phew 8 bucks is kinda a stretch for a couple of high school students without a job. 
The food was seriously DELICIOUS. It was SO. GOOD. 
At one point, Tyler left his seat to check out the arcade, and I grabbed his plate and 'hid' it. I vowed that I'd get take pics of record things in Java Joe's, so here is a video of what happened when Tyler got back.

Yep! 
Okay, so I finished my food, and payed for my meal. Tyler put the remains of his grilled cheese in a to-go box for Rosa's later consumption.

When Rosa DID finally arrive, the three of us headed to the arcade and played FAMILY FEUD! A hecka old game inside a box that was dusting, and the information extremely outdated. But oh man, was that game INTENSE. Saving you from the anger, frustration, anxiety, happiness, and all the other emotions that were wrought from that game, I ended up winning. 

 Once that was through, we exited the arcade to find that it was already dark outside! WOW the time had really passed. 
For the remainder of my time there, the three of us (and occasionally RJ) sat at the couch I was at before, and read from my book of Politically Correct Bedtime Stories. Hilarious. That book's rendition of The Princess and the Frog (Renamed 'The Frog Prince') was... it was a shock. I was horrified. It started out so, y'know, politically correct, and ended with politically justified murder? 

 And lastly, here an unflattering picture of us hanging out on the couch and things.


Thanks for reading!
-Jess

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JAVA JOE'S

By | Published Monday, December 22, 2014

Hello. It's kinda late as I write this, so I'm gonna keep this as brief as I can, while making it detailed enough so my future self can read this and be brought back in nostalgia. 

 SO TODAY, DECEMBER 22, 2014, BAILEY'S MOTHER'S COFFEE SHOP, JAVA JOE'S HAS OFFICIALLY OPENED!! I was able to go there tonight and seriously, I love it.
The walls are a nice, calming light green. As it was an hour til closing, it wasn't as jam packed as it's been reported it had been earlier. I ordered a small hot cocoa, (ugh so delicious) and my dad got a mocha. 
The entire staff is filled with people I know from school. Amy and Bailey, Matt, Tyler Sansone, John Grady, Padrick, Jen, and one other kid spotted from the kitchen that I didn't recognize. 
Matt was the one that took my order, and for him actually being nice to me, I gave him a considerate one dollar tip, which realllyyyy excited him. (Kinda cute). 
Rosa came over, and while we drank our hot cocoas, we caught up briefly. It's hard to believe that I haven't seen her in person in a month. Like, it feels like no time had passed, but when you think about it, Nerdsgiving, the last time we saw each other, was essentially today, last month. WOW. 
Anyway, it was real nice seeing her again, as well as Crystal Caruso. She was like "JESS! I MISS YOU, MY SWEET SAMSON!" to which Amy, who was manning the cash register, was amused by my nickname "Sweet Samson". IDK Crystal's always been calling me that. It's like the name that ONLY SHE is allowed to call me. She also sometimes calls me Jessica Samson (my full name). But 'My Sweet Samson' is her preferred name. 
Crystal was playing chess with Marcus at the bar. 

 After finishing our hot cocoas and snacks, Rosa and I headed over to the ARCADE (YES. THIS COFFEE SHOP HAS AN ARCADE.) and we played pool! It was my first time EVER playing pool, and guess what? I WON!!! I BEAT ROSA!!! AYEEE!
Amazing. 

Not too long after that, it was time for me to depart. 
I really enjoy Java Joe's. I'm going again tomorrow after school. 

 Thanks for reading!
-Jess

 P.S. 
I really wish I had taken pictures. Maybe I'll film a video of the Nerd Herd hanging out there for the ShowsBeforeBros channel?? :)

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