Bookshelf Reminisce

Out of the blue, I've decided that once I've finished the 900-page book I'm reading now (seriously, this thing will NEVER END) I'm going to read all my favorite books on my bookshelf again. I'm so excited, it's kind of stupid. I want to make a blog post as I finish each book and maybe write something new I got from each book, which will be hard for some of them considering I've read Twilight at least 12 times... :D

Posts relating to this project will be titled like this: "BR #1: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer". BR = Bookshelf Reminisce. Once I've finished a book and written the blog post for it, I'll link it here.

Here's the list of books I'm going to read:

1. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
2. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
3. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
4. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
5. Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
6. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer
7. The Host by Stephenie Meyer
8. Broken by InuSaga
9. The Siren by Kiera Cass
10. The Selection by Kiera Cass
11. Peony in Love by Lisa See
12. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
13. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
14. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
15. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
16. Vamped by David Sosnowski
17. Rapture by David Sosnowski
18. Impossible by Nancy Werlin
19. 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
20. Wasted by Marya Hornbacher
21. Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
22. Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
23. Runaway by Wendelin Van Draanen
24. Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
25. Gone by Michael Grant
26. Hunger by Michael Grant
27. Lies by Michael Grant
28. Plague by Michael Grant
29. Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey
30. The Fairy's Return by Gail Carson Levine
31. Ever by Gail Carson Levine
32. Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
33. The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine
34. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
35. The Wish by Gail Carson Levine
36. Gossamer by Lois Lowry
37. The Giver by Lois Lowry
38. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
39. Sierra by Kathleen Duey
40. Chat Room by Linda Hall
41. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
42. Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
43. Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson
44. Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever by James Patterson
45. Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson
46. Maximum Ride: The Final Warning by James Patterson
47. Maximum Ride: Max by James Patterson
48. Maximum Ride: Fang by James Patterson
49. Maximum Ride: Angel by James Patterson
50. Tell Me a Secret by Holly Cupala
51. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
52. The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale
53. Fear by Michael Grant

Last Minute Pocky Costume

The Hatsume Festival at the Morikami Museum and Gardens was quickly approaching, and I still had not made my costume. I had planned on being No Face from Spirited Away, but I didn't want to spend money on buying fabric. So I did a Google search for "last minute cosplay ideas" and discovered how easy it would be to make a Pocky costume.

These were my supplies. My dad had a large cardboard box so the only things I had to buy were two cans of spray paint and some glue. It came out to under $5.

Many hours of Photoshop later, I was able to cut out the letters from printer paper and make Pocky sticks out of newspaper. It all worked out a million times better than I had planned. Seriously, guys, I've NEVER done a successful craft in my life!

Katie went with me to the festival. This is a picture of her trying to eat me. O_o

And this is Katie eating a giant stick of Pocky in her fantabulous Rainbow Dash shirt while I stare, terrified. Because we're just that awesome.

I was very happy with how the costume went over. Lots of people came up and asked to take pictures with me, and one of the candy vendors even gave me a free box of Pocky!! (He wanted me to be a cannibal, I guess.) It was an amazing day!

10 Year Plan (Kinda)

I have to write this out or my brain will explode. This is a ten year plan for my life if things go exactly how I imagine (which we all know they never do). I'll probably change my mind again in a few months anyway, but for now, I just like to think about this.

1. From now until 2015, work and play and save up whatever money I can. If possible, go on that road trip I've been planning forever during this time.

2. 2015 through 2017, go to community college and get my Associates degree. Continue saving up money wherever possible.

3. 2017 through 2019, teach English in Taiwan. Live as frugally as possible so I can save as much of my income as I can.

4. 2019 through 2021, return to the US to earn my Bachelor's degree. I should have enough saved from Taiwan to be able to do this at a good college.

5. 2021 through whenever, with a Bachelor's degree and two years of experience teaching English, I can choose any Asian country I want to teach in. (In Taiwan you only need an Associates.) In the past I would probably have chosen Japan, but it's expensive to live there and you can't have pets. I'd rather choose another country and just visit Japan a lot. I'd also like to spend some time in New Zealand.

Citations and Taxes

So today I finally went to the Palm Beach County Courthouse and sorted out some issues I'd been having with my car registration. I can't tell you how relieved I am that everything worked out so easily. I walked into the building nervous and afraid and walked out with the biggest smile on my face, practically skipping.

I was on a roll, so I decided to find an H&R Block and find out why my taxes had been rejected when I tried to file them online. You can insert here the sound effect of a brakes squealing because that's what I felt like happened to my day when they told me my identity has probably been stolen. Someone else filed their taxes with my SSN. Someone else is living under my name. Just... gahhh. I don't really know yet what the consequences of that will be or how it's going to get sorted out, if at all. I just hope it does, and soon.

Racist Teeth

I have a confession: I love the Dollar Tree. Every single time I visit this wonderful store, I can't believe how much stuff you can buy for just a dollar. Potting soil! And bedsheets! And pregnancy tests! And energy drinks! And teeth whitening systems!

That last one is what I'm here to experiment with. It'll probably kill me because heaven knows if you buy it for a dollar it can't be any good, but I'm living on the edge, people! Warning: some very disturbing pictures will follow.

So here it is. One tube of suspiciously tasteless goop and a rubber tooth tray. I feel nervous.

Just in case you weren't sufficiently traumatized as a child, here's a before shot of my teeth. This scares even me.

And here I am with the tooth tray in my mouth full of foaming goop, trying not to swallow any of this potentially-poisonous substance. The instructions said to wear it for five minutes in the morning and five minutes at night until "the desired shade of whiteness is achieved." I've done it twice now. We'll see what happens. If anything happens to me, tell my mom I love her...