I Feel Sophisticated

Last night I bought a ticket to go see a symphony. Not just any symphony, but the Symphony of the Goddess. It's Legend of Zelda themed, so I suppose it's really not that sophisticated. But hey, I'm going to go see a symphony, so I feel mature. So that's happening not long after my birthday. 

And luckily I'll be working a lot to cover the price of the ticket. Actually, I can work one shift and pay it off, but I also have the Wii U and my new glasses to pay off too... But everyone is getting a lot more hours at work because we're training three new people. Unfortunately, they're all high school students, so that means they're only available nights and weekends, making it very hard to find enough time for them to work when we have people available that can train them. In other words, there are three of us that are experienced enough to train people, so we'll be working out butts off in the next couple weeks. But hey, money!

Other than that, nothing much to report on today. Tomorrow is my last shift before I get a couple days off, so I'm excited. Maybe by Monday I'll have more energy to be creative.

Sexy Nerd Look?

Today I only worked a four hour shift, so I actually had time to go out and do things. And by that, I mean I went out with my parents, because my social life has been reduced to that...

On Monday my new pair of glasses arrived in the mail though. I ordered them through Clearly Contacts, so I was never able to try them on. They're a little bigger than  had originally thought, but I still like them. I look like a true nerd now. And I can see better, so that's always a plus. I guess the real test will be in class on Monday.

And something must be different, because I had two guys talking to me today... which really says something about my social skills if I get excited over that... Heck, I get excited when anyone strikes up a conversation with me... Unless it's some old man at a bus stop, which sadly is what happens more often than not.

Anyway, apparently this first guy is also a creative writing major at my school, but we have never had a single class together. I didn't even know my school, or even my major, was that large. He also works at Chapters, so I'm jealous. I've wanted a job there for ages.

Oh my, I sound like a stalker...

The second guy was probably trying to up-sell a game at EB Games, but hey! Social interaction! You guys should be proud of me. I think a round of applause is in order.

Oh, and completely off topic, but possibly a note of interesting, I'm going to be going back and adding pictures to all of my reviews. I kept meaning to add them when I wrote them, but I always forgot. Since I know some people still judge books by their covers (I do too, I admit...) then seeing the covers may interest people.

Luck in The Shadows Review

I finished this book on Saturday night, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. Luck in The Shadows is the first book in the Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling, and was written in 1996 (three years younger than I am!) I admit, with books written over fifteen years ago, I get a little tentative. You can see changes in writing styles sometimes, such as in the last book I read (The Gilded Chain). I believe books these days are less likely to sugar coat details such as sex, nor do they spare the reader the heart-rending deaths of characters *coughGeorgeMartincough*. Now this is just based on books I have read, comparing older to newer. But onto the review!

I think what I loved most were the characters. The main character, Alec, is an adorable young man that you can't help but think of as a twelve year old (probably not the aim of the author though...) He borders on being a perfect character because of his quick learning skills, but Flewelling made him perfectly flawed. You see, he's being trained to be a spy, but he's scared of heights, revolted by corpses, hesitant to kill anyone and not all that great with a sword.

The other main character, Seregil, is much closer to being a perfect character. He is basically Alec, but fully trained and without the faults. The only thing that makes this acceptable is that he is thrust into situations that he cannot control, reminding the reader that although he may be damned near perfect, he is not a god. I should add that he's also some of the comic relief.

Now of course the story itself has faults. The biggest one that annoyed me was the beginning. It kind of reminded me of some spy movie, like James Bond (which I'e never seen, so I could be completely wrong). It was tacky, and used pretty much to set up the relationship between Alec and Seregil. *MINOR SPOILERS*The beginning starts out with Alec in a jail cell. This is actually the darkest part of the whole novel, and sets up a false tone for the rest of the book. It's clearly stated that Alec has been tortured many times, and that he is likely to be sold into slavery. Now I've never been imprisoned or tortured, but I'm fairly certain this would scar someone for life, both mentally and emotionally. However, the only time the prison is ever mentioned after the first couple chapters is when Alec is remembering how he escaped, not the experiences during his imprisonment.

Other than that, the plot is enthralling, the character are (mostly) believable, and I would definitely like to read the rest of the series if I can get my hands on it.

And here are some additional cover arts, which I just found to be beautiful.

Money Money Money

I have something to confess. Last night, after seeing the Wii U Legend of Zelda Deluxe Bundle, I couldn't help but spend $300 on it. It looks amazing, and there are so many more games I can play on the Wii U that I can't play on my Wii Mini. But I can play all old Wii games on the Wii U, making the Wii Mini kind of redundant. I'm not sure if I want to sell it or not. I bought it for about $150 (If I remember correctly), so I could probably sell it for about $75, if not more.

In addition, I bought myself a new pair of glasses. They came to about $130, so about half the price that I would normally pay. They're from Clearly Contacts, so I used the First Pair Free coupon, and got a pair of $70 frames for free. They're similar to my current ones, but a little bigger, and of course the prescription will be newer.

All in all, I set my school fund back about $430. At least the shipping was free for both my purchases! I'm also waiting for something I bought in Disneyland, but I'm going to keep that as a surprise. I expect it to arrive in a week or two, so I'll post a picture of it when it arrives.

25 More Days!

I'm still really tired from work. No matter how many times I do it, and no matter what time I got to bed, I'll never get used to waking up at five in the morning for an opening shift. But hey, money! I also think I might have gotten a pay raise for some reason. My last pay cheque I was paid fifty cents more per hour.

On another note, my birthday is coming up in just under a month! I'll be turning twenty, and now that it's coming closer, it kind of feels surreal. All my friends were talking about how they didn't feel like they should be turning twenty, and I'm only just beginning to get that feeling too. I know it's still fairly young, but it still makes me feel old. But to counteract that old feeling, my friend and I are combining our birthdays (I'm on the 13th, she's on the 15th) and going out to laser tag, then dinner. It'll be a lot of fun, maybe I'll even take some pictures (because you know how good I am at that.)

And I think I'll need to put some money into getting my laptop cleaned soon. The down button has been broken for months now, and the backspace button is getting sticky, making it a little hard to type, as my sentences may now be full of spelling errors (thank god for Chome's spell check) It'll also be nice to get the internal computer cleaned and hopefully make it run faster.

Anyway, just a quick update. By Friday I might be more awake and willing to come up with something fun.

Fall 2013

As most people know, school started a couple weeks ago. I'm only taking one class so I can get my associates, and that class happens to fall on a Monday. That means that my first class was cancelled because of Labour Day, and I didn't have my next one until the next week. I'm loving it so far. The one class a week part, that is.

The actually class is a little slow. I'm taking a class on the First Nations of Canada. I took a first nations class in high school, so I figured it would be fairly easy. Then again, the class in high school required a lot of drawing, diagram making and other creative aspects. So far it looks like this class will be a lot of note taking, movie watching and essay writing. So a typical college class... I miss high school.

But on another note, I'm really tired. I have to open at work tomorrow and Wednesday, so I woke up early today (okay, I woke up at 8 and hit the snooze button...) Either way, I'm really tired and my brain probably won't be functioning for the next few days. Maybe I'll come up with something interesting to write by Wednesday.

Happy List Part 2

I did one of these lists a while ago as part of a small writing exercise, and I'm going to make another one. Because if you think about what makes you happy, then you will be happy, right?

-Being told you're doing a good job while by yourself during a busy time at work
-Any sort of cold beverage when you're really thirsty
-That moment when your nose unclogs during a bad cold (especially after a sneeze)
-Getting into a hot shower when you wake up sick
-Walking into an air conditioned building when it's hot outside
-That sudden drop on a roller coaster when you become air born and the only thing keeping you in the seat is a small seat belt
-Playing a new video game for the first time (and not being terrible at it)
-When you walk into a book store and just feel like you belong (or any store that strikes your fancy)
-When that book (or movie/CD) that you've been waiting ages for finally comes out
-Finding something that suits you perfectly and instantly falling in love with it
-Finding out that that thing you fell in love with is reasonably priced.
-Seeing your name published in a book
-That feeling of excitement before a big trip, when you can't sleep despite having to wake up early the next morning
-When you're left home by yourself for more than two days, and realizing you're more responsible than you originally thought.
-When your parents come home after a week of vacation and you don't have to be so responsible any more (and the dog stops howling and whining at two in the morning)
-When you get a day off work, and more than one friend also happens to have that same day off
-Finding someone who shares to same love of an author/book series/movie
-When you favourite author gets and award for a book, and for some reason you feel honoured just because you've read that same book

Vacation Part 3

After three days in Disneyland, we spent a day shopping, then a day at Knotts Berry Farm. Unfortunately, we didn't take many pictures, so you're going to have to read my rambling instead of looking at it.

I'm a pretty frugal person (except when I see I got a huge pay cheque and get a little too excited), so I really didn't spend much other than on food and drinks. For our shopping day, I bought a really nice red blazer that has a kind of ruffle at the bottom, five pairs of underwear, two of which didn't fit (can't try underwear on), a new Sims 3 game (It has dragons!), a loose red tube top (it actually fits without falling down!) an inexpensive plain black sweater, two pairs of shoes (black pair of sneakers for comfort and a light brown pair of slips ons), and a box of taffy. Note that pretty much everything I bought was under twenty dollars... So yeah, a lot of my money went toward food and drinks.

By the time we went to Knotts Berry farm, I was beginning to feel a little sick. My throat was sore and my head hurt, but I ignored it for the first few hours. The roller coasters there are amazing! Unfortunately, they're the roughest rides I've ever been on. The wooden roller coaster would have been a lot of fun, but I felt like I got whip lash. It was easily the bumpiest ride I've ever been on. There was one coaster that was closed down the majority of the time we were there. Vanessa and I managed to get on it right after it opened, and about five minutes after we got off, it closed down again. Close to the end of the day my knee pretty much gave out, and I was feeling grumpy. My toe on my left food really hurt and my knee on my right leg wasn't bending anymore, so I probably looked like a penguin waddling along to try and keep the pain to a minimum. At least I got a nice souvenir cup that I refilled for free about five times. The final time I just had ice cold water in it to keep on my knee...

When we got home, I took my shoes and socks off to find a massive blister on my big toe, right between it and the next toe. It made for some awkward walking when I tried not to pop it. And since I've barely had a day off of work or school since I got back, my knee is still sore. I really need to rest it up for a few days, but we're really short on staff at work. At school on Monday, it nearly gave out twice while walking.

And of course, my cold got worse. By the time we left California, I could barely talk, and my voice was even worse at work the next day. I still have an annoying cough, which is causing my throat to hurt again, and my nose is only just starting to clear up. Some morning I wake up with a head ache, but it normally goes away after breakfast or a shower.

So there we are, my vacation summer up pretty well. Maybe for Friday I'll try to post some pictures of what I got, I'm just too lazy right now.

Vacation Part 2

Before I forget, today is my first day back at school. I'm only taking one class, so I'm working most of the time. I'll post on Wednesday with a quick update on how my class is.

But back to my vacation! I rarely post pictures on my blog, so I think I'll overload this post with pictures. I'm also feeling a little lazy, and I'm still sick with a cold.

As we were leaving Disneyland to go home for lunch, we ran into Cinderella near the park entrance. The line was a little long, and we were pretty much the only people over five that wanted a picture with her. This was before we actually posed. I had said something funny, and the person taking the picture managed to capture this moment. I think it looks amazing.

Merida! She's my favourite Disney princess, so I was really happy that she was there.

Aladdin and Jasmine were the first characters that we got a picture with (sorry, these aren't in order...) When I was standing next to them, Aladdin made a comment about my Deku Tree shirt. Aladdin plays Zelda!

Unfortunately Sianna got cut off in this picture, but it made me laugh, so I had to include it. 

I was very tempted to buy this hat, but it was fifteen dollars, and I had no where to wear it other than Disneyland, so it would have been a waste of money.

Buying a plastic Merida bow and arrows wasn't a waste though! This thing kept me entertained for a long time. The window at the hotel looks like it was attacked by an octopus or something, because of all the suction cup marks. For the record, I know this is not how you're supposed to stand when shooting an arrow. My right arm is too high, my left arm needs to be fully extended and I'm not putting equal weight on each foot. but I'm standing straight!

There you are, a simple picture post for today. There was more, I might add in a few details later.

The Gilded Chain Review

I'm going to interrupt my story about my vacation so that I can review a book I finished. I just don't want to forget anything about it.

I finished reading The Gilded Chain by Dave Duncan near the end of my trip. It took me forever to read because the writing was terrible. The plot was interesting though, and that's the only reason I continued to read it.

The very base of the book is the idea that specially trained soldiers can be connected to someone by having a sword driven through their heart, therefore making them unconditionally loyal to this person. If their ward dies, especially if it's violently, they'll pretty much go insane. They're able to be released, or retired though, if they're knighted.

Sounds pretty interesting, right? It'll be easier to just make a lit of everything I found wrong...

1) The narrative was bad. It was written as if the main character was speaking, but the book was in third person. if Duncan had written it in first person, it would have been amazing, or if he had not included the thoughts of the main character in the narrative.

2) It went way too fast. I understand skipping several years while someone was growing up, then skipping a few uneventful years later on. However, Duncan skipped two years while the main character went on a journey, and later mentioned things such as shipwrecks, pirates and sickness, all of which would have been fascinating to read about.

3) He uses multiple names for characters. Even the main character has two names; Durendal and another that I can't remember at the moment. When it's the main character, you learn to remember the multiple names, but Duncan would on occasion use nicknames or pet names for other characters, making it hard to follow.

4) It kind of feels like he was writing the whole book with a thesaurus open next to him. It's a fine line between sounded smart and sounding fake when it comes to using large and fancy words. Personally, I don't think it fits when it comes to speculative fiction. Keep it for literature and non-fiction, because most people who read speculative fiction are doing it as a escape, and don't want to have to keep looking up words.

Now of course there were some good aspects about the book, or else I would never have continued with it.

1) The descriptions were very good, especially of the people. It was very easy to envision everyone, except for the main character. This is probably due to the fact that the narrative is almost written in his voice, and would have sounded even more unnatural.

2) The plot. As I mentioned before, the plot is very good. I love how it runs along a timeline, rather than a few days or weeks with flashbacks and complicated twists. This means it's strictly linear and easy to follow, even with several time skips. It's also kind of broken up, so that once one plot twist ends, another begins.

And that's all for this book. It's a good read if you can get over the poor writing. I should also mentioned that this book is about fifteen years old, so there has been lots of time for potential improvement. I have another book by Dave Duncan that I'll try reading later. Unfortunately, it happens to be the third in a series (I bought it at a library book sale), so it might take me a while to get the first book.

I'm Back!

Oh my, I have so much to blog about now. I think I'll cut my vacation into sections to conserve all this material.

So the first day of my vacation we woke up at four in the morning, then realized we could have slept for another forty minutes or so. Either way, we stayed awake, and made it to the airport by about six-ish. I think I'm finally getting the hang of flying and travelling. It's not as complicated as I originally thought. It also really helped that my friend's mom kind of walked us through everything...

One boring plane ride later, we arrive in Los Angeles. Our hotel was really nice, though it was more like an apartment, as we had our own kitchen. While buying our food, I found out that Vons is a part of Safeway, and I was able to use my Club card, which meant I saved us fourteen dollars. I then proceeded to waste those savings by calling a taxi without a long distance plan, because my friend's phone, which does have a plan, wasn't working. Yay for Virgin and their amazing reception! Ends up all my friend had to do was turn her phone off and on...

We spent a bit of time in the pool and hot tub, then watched Wreck-It Ralph. We turned in fairly early, as we were going to be up early for Disneyland, and we were all tired from our early morning.

Anyway, my injury count for that day was one sunburn on my chest and a blister on my toe, along with some sore feet from inappropriate shoes.