DSED #2: Under My Bed

Today's assignment was to take a flash photo of what's under my bed. Simple, but kind of embarrassing. Here you go:

My Death Note wall scroll keeps falling down, haha. Luckily I cleaned my room pretty well last week so this isn't as bad as it could've been. What you see there is a backpack, a laptop case, a poster, a wall scroll, and what looks like a screw but who knows.

I got this assignment from Learning to Love You More, which means that if you're curious you can go and check out what other people have under their beds. Just follow the link! (Click on any of the names on the right where it says Reports.)

Project Kitty Club

So yesterday I unexpectedly got a new project: raise a kitten! Meet my new darling, Little Fighter.

One of my mom's teacher friends found him at the school they both work at. Little Fighter is only a few days old and probably the tiniest kitten I've ever seen. He has to be fed by bottle and sleep with a heating pad. Today he finally got the hang of sucking on the bottle instead of me just squirting milk in his mouth and hoping he swallowed. He also purred for the first time!

DSED #1: Audrey Tautou Movies

I used my meager skills to make this DSED box. It's truly pathetic, but I got to use up the spray paint I had left over from making my Pocky costume, so it was worth it.

Feeling a lot like Effie Trinket from the Hunger Games, I stuck my hand in the box this morning and pulled out this slip:

Do you like my grammar there? Yeah, me neither. Not sure how that happened. Anyway, Audrey Tautou is my favorite actress. She's French but she's been in a few English movies. I watched 3 of her movies today, which doesn't sound like a lot, but I have trouble focusing (the doctors call it AD-something?? I don't know, I wasn't paying attention...).

The first movie I watched was Amelie. It was also the first Audrey Tautou movie I saw and by far her most famous. It was delightful to watch again and made me giggle like a middle-schooler.

The second movie was Beautiful Lies. It's the first one I've seen where Audrey isn't an instantly lovable character. She was kind of harsh and manipulative. I like the way the father describes her character: (and this is a paraphrase) "Emilie is kind and loving, but she'll break your legs to get you to dance the way she wants." Ouch, haha.

The third movie was A Very Long Engagement. It's by the same director as Amelie, and I started watching it years ago but got confused and quit. It was very gruesome and intricately detailed. I'm not sure I picked up half of what was going on, but it made me cry actual tears, which hasn't happened since I saw Tangled.

So there we go! Day One is completed. I can't wait to wake up tomorrow!!

The New Project: DSED!

I'm not giving up on Bookshelf Reminisce. I'm just going to be doing two projects at once. (Well, you'll see two projects. I actually have 5 different projects going on at once. It's nice to be busy!)

Anyway, this new project is called Do Something Every Day, inspired by Scare Yourself Every Day, and consists of 200 things to do before December 21, 2012. I don't actually believe in the whole 2012-end-of-the-world thing, but it's good to have a deadline. From tomorrow (April 10) to December 21, there are 255 days. I only made a list of 200 things because a) it's hard to come up with these and b) I need plenty of legroom to mess up and take days off, especially if I'm on vacation. So I get 55 free days. Eesh.

I separated the 200 things into five categories:

1. Things that will require money. Some crafts, some trips, some gifts, etc.
2. Things that will require participation from other people. Photo shoots, parties, and various adventures.
3. Things that will require some advance planning. There aren't many of these, but they're the most awesome ones.
4. Things that need to be done by a certain date, for instance my birthday or the Bon Festival at the Morikami.
5. Everything else. I tried to come up with things that I could do in a day, that were challenging but doable, that were fun, and that I wouldn't normally do.

I came up with most of the assignments myself, but when I looked for outside help, I greatly appreciated these websites:

http://www.lists-galore.com/

http://perfectbucketlist.tumblr.com/

http://www.learningtoloveyoumore.com/

http://pinterest.com/

http://scareyourselfeveryday.com/

BR #7: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

(This post is part of an ongoing project. See more here.)

I know, I know, I skipped number 6, but I only have Bree Tanner as an ebook so I read The Host first. Now! On to the gushing!

Things I Realized About The Host:

1. I love it. I love it so much. It's the best book in the whole world and I will reread it over and over until the day I die.
2. It is physically painful for me when I think about the fact that the sequel isn't out yet, despite the fact that Stephenie finished writing it years ago!!!! WHAT. THE. HELL.
3. Jamie is a beautiful name and such a wonderful character and reading about him made me miss my Jamie and love him that much more.
4. From now on, when I get nervous that people won't like me, I'm going to pretend that they're all souls and will always think the best about me. Maybe that will boost my confidence.
5. A song by Eisley was in the playlist that Stephenie listened to while writing the book!! How cool is that? I freakin' love Eisley. I'm impressed now.
6. I want to be more like Wanderer.
7. Reading Stephenie's writing has inspired me so much, now that I'm planning my own book. I hope I can have one-tenth of the character development and beautiful prose that she has.

And that's all! Stay tuned for another cool project I'm about to start. Woohoo!

BR #5: Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

(This post is part of an ongoing project. See more here.)

I actually read Midnight Sun while I was reading Twilight. I would read a chapter of Twilight, then a chapter of Midnight Sun. I love Edward's point of view so much. He's one of my favorite characters of any book ever, and not because he's good-looking. I just love his take on things, the way he over thinks everything (the same way I do!).

And seeing Bella from his eyes made me realize just how perfectly Stephenie created her. Most of the time when a book is told from first person, the narrator kind of falls to the background and becomes a non-character, even though everything is happening to them. It's easy to not give them a personality at all, but Stephenie did such a great job with Bella that I feel I would know her reactions to just about anything.

I really wish she would finish Midnight Sun someday. Actually, I wish she would write anything at all. It's been far too long since I've had a new book on my top shelf.

BR #4: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

(This post is part of an ongoing project. See more here.)

I skipped numbers 2 and 3, New Moon and Eclipse, because I didn't feel like dealing with Jacob's bitterness right now. I'm so glad I did, though! Going from Twilight straight to Breaking Dawn was an interesting experience. It was amazing to see how much Stephenie grew as a writer, but without making Twilight look bad.

It's amazing to realize over and over again how detailed the plot lines were in the series, and how everything led up to the last book. Breaking Dawn takes my breath away every single time. I think it might be my favorite, but it's hard to choose...