Life of a Random

  What's Next? is a weekly meme hosted by Asma at Icey Books every Thursday. Below are some books that are on my TBR (or to be read) list. Which one should I read first?   Everything has been downhill since Zoey Trask’s mother was murdered in a random mugging. Her younger brother, Ben, is on the autistic spectrum and needs constant supervision. It’s senior year, and she’s the new girl at a weird private school in Old Town Alexandria, VA, full of kids who seem too nice to be true—including a very cute boy named Pete. Aside from half-forgotten martial arts and survivalist skills that her widowed father insisted on teaching her (because that is excellent for her social life), Zoey has nothing to offer Pete or anyone else. Then Dad is kidnapped. Zoey suddenly finds herself sole caretaker of a younger brother she barely understands. Worse, Ben seems to hold the key to their father’s disappearance in his Dream Diary, a bizarre journal of names and places ...

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where you talk about books that you can't wait to read, but that are, unfortunately, not published yet.   In a Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis Publication date: September 23, 2014 Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books The only thing bigger than the world is fear. Lucy’s life by the pond has always been full. She has water and friends, laughter and the love of her adoptive mother, Lynn, who has made sure that Lucy’s childhood was very different from her own. Yet it seems Lucy’s future is settled already—a house, a man, children, and a water source—and anything beyond their life by the pond is beyond reach. When disease burns through their community, the once life-saving water of the pond might be the source of what’s killing them now. Rumors of desalinization plants in California have lingered in Lynn’s mind, and the prospect of a “normal” life for Lucy sets the two of them on an epi...

I have ten followers!! Woohoo! I am so excited because I never thought that I would be able to get any followers. You guys are the best. I was going to post about my experiences with make-up because I just started learning how to use it a little while ago (I'm eighteen...yeah, I know.), but I'm not really in the mood right now and it seems a little boring. Talk to me, girl readers. Would you like to read about my adventures in the make-up area? In celebration of the ten followers, I am going to post a short story that I wrote and that I talked about here . You can also read the summary of it on "My Works-in-Progress" page. It might be a little confusing as it sort of jumps into a scene without any background. So to get rid of confusion, the main character is late teens to early twenties and has a daughter. She had her daughter with a guy who betrayed her trust because of his loyalty to a certain liberal organization (that's as specific as I can get right no...

I am so sorry for not posting as regularly this month, guys. It's been hectic.  The day before yesterday evening I came home from a huge two-day-long ordeal for scholarship prospects. It. was. exhausting. And my mom is horrible with directions (and I went with her ) so we got lost a gazillion times. The school is three and a half hours away. That doesn't leave much room for error. There were three major things that I had to do for Prospect weekend: 1. Participate in a group discussion, about three highly controversial topics. 2. Write an essay. 3. Participate in a group interview. The most terrifying one was probably the group interview because the group of prospects (for the scholarship) sat at a long table across from the Honors Council. Yes. I tried to give off a confident vibe but I think I probably looked slightly sick to my stomach. I also went to two fancy meals at the college. I learned many things. One of them is that it's hard to make small talk. Or a...

Woop woop! I have finally, lovelies, read Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. Almost everyone but me has read it and raved about it, and I finally get to add my voice to the total chaos. :D This isn't going to be a review. It's just going to be a list of things I like about Shatter Me and things I don't like about Shatter Me.                                     You can thank me later. Really. I don't mind.   Things I Did Like:  1. The writing style was amazing for the most part. The way Mafi portrayed Juliette's partial insanity was amazing. I loved the crossed out sentences, the halting sentence fragments, and even the repetition most of the time.  2. HER POWERS ARE AMAZING. She can legit punch through a steel door, guys. Oh, and she kicked it a little. 3. I love the cover...

Sorry this is a day late. I'm really bothered that I couldn't get it out yesterday, but I did give you a post on dressing business casual (and what business casual actually is). I know it was a boring post, but it's useful too, especially for those of you who are getting ready to go to college or are budding authors/future authors. Okay, I'm done now. Enjoy! Treasure by Bruno Mars (This song has bad language, so if you want to listen to it make sure you look up the clean version if you're not comfortable with bad language.) "Pretty girl, pretty girl, pretty girl, you should be smiling" "A girl like you should never look so blue" "You're everything I see in my dreams" "I wouldn't say that to you if it wasn't true" Hahaha, the last one! *clears throat* Sorry, it's the stress affecting my brain cells. Obviously (not). WHAT. It's funny .    

In which, I admit that I'm only going to put a short post up today and hope you will hang on until I can post something longer. I am attending a scholarship weekend (actually Friday and Saturday) at a college that has offered me a...well, scholarship. Besides having to navigate my way their with only my mom (and she's terrible with directions), I'll have to do interviews, essays, tours, and *shudder* banquets. Apparently, I have to dress "business casual" for one of the meals. After I learned that, I immediately googled "business casual outfits." Because, seriously, what the heck is business casual? The two words completely contradict each other. So my post today is in case you ever need to wear a business casual outfit and you have no idea what to wear (I'm still a little iffy on that point to be honest). Tops Blouses, plain shirts, cotton shirts, sweaters, turtlenecks (I strongly discourage use of these. Unless you like them. I don...

I am feeling very accomplished today because several things on my to-do list have been checked off. I...     Submitted an essay for a scholarship in time.     Finished my reading assignment for Sociology earl y .     Got caught up on my Economics homework.      Went shopping for clothes for a scholarship banquet.      Scheduled a campus (college) visit.     Bought a present for my mom's birthday.    Acquired three books from a certain used-books store. *wink,    wink* These are a few of the reasons that I didn't post every day in the last half of the past week and I am so glad that they are done and out of the way. Unfortunately, I didn't finish my school goals today but that was because my whole family and I went shopping for pretty much the whole day. It was totally exhausting. A few things for you to look forward to this week are: 1. A post talking...

Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days. I've just been very busy. I hope you like this post!  You know how maybe you don't want to write for your major novel project or edit the one you finished, but you still want to write? This is where writing prompts can really help. So I'm giving you a prompt and challenge simultaneously (because that's how I roll), but the song choice and prompt questions were all the work of the lovely Tansie. 1. Pick a random song from your mp3/cellphone/iPod playlist. Just put it on shuffle and skip to the very next song because chances are you were already in the middle of one.  2. Here comes the fun part! Answering the questions. My awesome sister Tansie Gray (check out her blog here ) and I are collaborating on this post because she owes me one and just because. I'll put the instructions down below, each of which will be followed by both of our answers. This is really interesting because not only do you get to see what y...

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where you talk about books that you can't wait to read, but that are, unfortunately, not published yet. This week mine is: Strange and Ever After by Susan Dennard Publication date: July 22, 2014 Perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare's The Infernal Devices series, this is the epic conclusion to Susan Dennard's trilogy that started with Something Strange and Deadly and continued with A Darkness Strange and Lovely. With supernatural forces, epic romance, and a mysterious Egyptian city, Eleanor and her team are set for an adventure they will never forget.  It has been a tumultuous time for Eleanor Fitt since life as she knew it in Philadelphia came abruptly to an end. While the Spirit-Hunters—Joseph, Jie, and Daniel—have helped her survive her brother's violent death and an invasion of Hungry Dead, Eleanor has lost just about everything.  And now, Jie is missing—...