Can you believe it? Just one more month to go and I’ll be officially all wrapped up on my first real semester of nursing school! This summer is seriously going to be soooooo amazing! I’m just going to take those three months and wash all the stress away. No more reading, no more homework, no more quizzes, no more tests, no more skills check offs, no more clinicals, just FREE TIME! Ohhhhhh it’s going to be so WONDERFUL! We’re down to the home stretch right now though and I’ve got to keep my grades up. Don’t want to choke in the 4th quarter now that I’ve got a lead. Gotta keep the gas on the pedal and finish. LET’S DO THIS!!!

artofmixedmessages:

fuckyeahawesomehouses:

THAT LAST ONE. So perfect, especially with the drinks close at hand.

By the beard of Zeus! 0_o

Started reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and I’m loving it! Maybe it’s just because I haven’t read something that wasn’t nursing related in a long time, but I find reading to be so relaxing. Just pulling yourself into a different world and all sorts of characters is such a thrill. If you have time, I’m being serious, pick up a book and start reading. Stimulate your mind and you will be better for it!

The amount of reading required for nursing is INSANE. This doesn’t surprise me, I knew it was coming, but what I want to know is how does ANYONE go through this nursing program without getting all their core classes done before starting the program!? I can’t imagine having to do all this reading, studying, and work and STILL have to take regular classes like statistics and history and what not.

Oooooh! They have Howards End on Netflix! For sure going to check that out once I finish reading the book. Only two chapters in, but I’m finding it quite intriguing so far. Here’s a few words I didn’t know/didn’t know the exact meanings of.

Facile - (of a person) having a superficial or simplistic knowledge or approach OR (of a theory/argument) appearing neat or comprehensive by ignoring the complexities of the issue; superficial.

Reticent - not revealing one’s thoughts or feelings readily.

Self-efface - reluctant to draw attention to yourself.

Impetuous - acting or done quickly without thought or care; impulsive OR moving forcefully or rapidly.

The more you know… lol

I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower for the first time yesterday. I honestly can’t remember the last time I read an entire book in one sitting, but I ran through that book in a couple hours yesterday. I seriously couldn’t put that thing down. I was a bit apprehensive coming into the book because I’ve heard a lot of good things about it and I was thinking “another introspective book about someone who feels misunderstood? How original.” But as I’ve said with movies though, the same goes for books: it’s all about the execution. The narrative is quite unique because the main character writes letters to an anonymous person a first hand account of the details of his life. Perks has some great insights into what being a teenager is like. The constant insecurities, the awkwardness, the loneliness you feel at times for absolutely no reason, etc. all encapsulated in this little 213 page book. I can see why this book is so revered amongst teens, people in their 20’s, and beyond. I got a lot out of this book and I think that most people will definitely be able to relate to this book in more than a few ways.

*note: wrote this over the summer, never finished it until now*

I just read The Magician by the unfortunately named Lev Grossman (see Tropic Thunder), and although I haven’t really reviewed books on my Tumblr, I just wanted to jot down some thoughts. Movie reviews are really easy for me because I have a standard template of 1) thoughts before the movie (such as early reviews, word of mouth, trailers, key players, etc. and how they affected how I came into the film), 2) thoughts of the movie both good and bad, 3) final thoughts and my recommendation. I’ll try to stick to a somewhat similar format for this, but no promises. Also, no spoilers as always, I fucking hate people who spoil stuff!

I had first heard of The Magicians two years ago when I attended Azkatraz in the summer of 2009 (note: Azkatraz was a Harry Potter convention held in San Francisco in ‘09, revel in my geekiness lol). The first chapter of the book came in an excerpt with a whole bunch of stuff we also got for registering at the convention. I never read the first chapter because I read the synopsis and thought it was interesting so I figured I’d pick up the book and read it then. Flash forward to two years later, I’m browsing the bargain bin at Borders and they have it for 3.99. I remember the book and think to myself, “oh what the hell, it’s only 3.99 and I’ve been wanting to check it out,” so I pick it up.

Some of the reviews in the book said that The Magicians was “an adult Harry Potter” and if you know me I fucking LOVE Harry Potter. They also allude to the other classic fantasy novels of our time such as The Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings in other reviews. I can safely say after reading The Magicians that there are parallels to be drawn to each of the three series, but The Magicians certainly brings enough to differentiate itself.

This is not a book for kids strictly speaking. It’s an “adult Harry Potter” in the sense that, yes, they go to a boarding school, but The Magicians isn’t focused on the magical learning, which is where we spend most of our time in the Harry Potter world, but more so the outcomes of magic and what comes AFTER the education is finished. Admittedly, about half of the book is spent at the school, Brakebills, but the second half deals with the consequences of magical learning in the real world, something that is almost never dealt with first-hand in the Harry Potter series.

The adult themes are dealt with more in The Magicians versus Harry Potter. There’s swearing, sex, drugs, and just some heavy real world shit that Harry Potter doesn’t delve into. Harry Potter does make parallels to the real world, but never as gritty or as brutally as the way Grossman does in The Magicians.

There is also an existentialist bent to the book where it deals with the meaninglessness of human existence. The book is relentless in its dealing with this theme, especially through the eyes of our main character, Quentin. None of the characters here are ever the way we want them to be, instead, they’re played up more so as real and flawed human beings. There’s no Mary Sue’s in this book or morally/ethically “perfect” characters who always “do the right thing.”

What I loved about this book was the way it dealt with the way the average reader idealizes fantasy books and fairytales. Our main character thinks that once he leaves behind his average “normal” life, he will be happy. We find that this isn’t the case throughout the book. You may “change” when you go from a normal person to a magician, but the your mindset of life remains the same. It’s like how people say to single people that you won’t be happy in a relationship if you can’t be happy on your own.

The way the book makes almost all the characters egotistical assholes was pretty brilliant as well. Brakebills takes the best of the best and every single student is used to being at the top of their class, which creates this insane competitiveness amongst all the students.  So it makes sense that all of these students are kind of assholes about their accomplishments because they’re used to being the top of the class. 

I don’t necessarily think that this is a book for everyone. If you think it’s going to be a whimsical fantasy adventure, I’d say look elsewhere. If you think you might enjoy a fantasy that delves into heavy doses of existentialism and a more modern and less romantic view on fantasy novels, you might want to give it a go. I know that the sequel, The Magician King, was just released this year and I’m raring to give it a go. I just need to get through the 50 or so books sitting on my shelf first haha.