Once Upon a Time Review

Over the past few days I've started watching Once Upon a Time. It's far past the time that I started watching it. In fact, the moment it came out, I wanted to start watching it, but I'm terrible at keeping up with TV shows on the actual TV. So I've been watching it on Netflix, where I can easily watch mass amounts in one sitting. (Yes, I am that lazy)

First off, I think I love this show. I now understand why so many people talk about it (especially girls). What I love most is the fairy tale element, obviously. It's the parts that go into the actual book though, in the fairy tale world that I love the most. Sure, I love seeing the modern representation of the characters, but I've always found reality and the modern world fairly boring. It's mostly why I don't watch much TV unless it's a comedy. Even dramas are boring, because they're all the same. This show may be a drama, but it's definitely unique.

It is a little slow, however. In the modern world, I just want to scream at the characters for not believing in the kid. It's so obvious to a watcher that it's almost painful. But of course, it is a TV show, and they have to stretch everything out as long as possible.

I'm very impressed with how well they can weave different fairy tales together though. How Snow White might appear in Cinderella's tale, and Belle appears with the dwarves, or Red Riding Hood appears with Snow White (Okay, Snow White is pretty much everywhere...) It's masterfully done, and gives much more depth to the old fairy tales. It really makes it seem like there is a world where all the fairy tales live, or at least a book that contains this world.

I'm still in the first season (Nearly done!) and I'm very excited to continue with this series.

New Posting Schedule.

I'm starting to feel like if I post an ipdate to my life every couple days, everyone's just going to get sick of me talking about Starbucks... So, I think for the mean time I'm going to start posting only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That way I don't have to squeeze as much creativity and new information out of myself as often.

And now onto the updates! I have an essay coming up in several weeks in my Canadian Native Cultures class (I finally memorized the name of the class... after four weeks). This means I might start talking a lot about First Nations, especially about the topic I've chosen; First Nations portrayed in the Media. I'm having trouble finding certain infomration on something called Relations, which was a kind of pamphlet sent back to England (Or maybe France) that summarized the progress made in converting the First Nations. I'm trying to get a hold of one of my old professors who had us read an essay that had quite a bit of useful information, but she's not getting back to me.

On a more interesting note (in my opinion), Girl Guide cookies are back! We had a little girl come by yesterday, and my whole family was scrambling to find enough money to buy two boxes. I remember when I used to sell them, and they were only three dollars. But I guess five dollars each is pretty good for the amazing minty taste. Now I'm drooling. Maybe I should go eat dinner...

I'm Saying it Again...

I'm sorry for missing the Monday update. I sat here for hours trying to think of something to write about, and came up with nothing interesting. As it is, I still haven't come up with much.

But I have the day off work, so that's exciting! There was a little complication with the schedule, and for a while this morning I wasn't sure if I was going to be called in. It appears my co-worker showed up to work after all, so I have a whole day to do chores and catch up on things I've left hanging.

I've said this before, but I'm saying it again. I'm going to start entering my work into literary magazines. I sent in a short story to a speculative fiction magazine, and I should be hearing back within a few weeks. The problem with literary magazines is that there are very few that have to do with speculative fiction, and that's where I'ms strongest. I write poetry, but from what I've seen, it's nothing compared to what gets into magazines and books. It seems you have to make absolutely no sense to the average person to be considered a good poet. Unfortunately, I either write cliché poems (about the female image, fear, writing, ect.) or I write comedy poems, neither of which appear to be popular in magazines.

But I'm going to join this writing group. It's only $20 a year, and I'm hoping it'll give me some help when it comes to publishing, or submitting stories. Maybe even with my procrastination. So hey! Look for my name in some magazines coming soon, maybe I'll get published.

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.