Wake Contest

Lisa McMann, the author of the ever-so-fabulous book Wake, has posted a contest that's really not as much of a contest as it is a generous give-away of many fabulous autographed YA books and ARCs.

If you haven't read Wake, here's the official summary:

"For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.

She can't tell anybody about what she does -- they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control.

Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant...."

It's been a while since I read the book, but I definitely remember loving it. It was a fairly short read, but in a way that made the book work. The story wasn't so short that you didn't get a feel for the characters and it wasn't too long that the story was dragged out beyond where it was still interesting without being repetitive. The plotline was original and well developed and I would very much recommend it to anyone.

Fade, the next book, comes out in February of '09!

Abortion

Everybody argues that abortion isn't really murder because the baby hasn't been born yet. Well, if you have to kill it to get rid of it, then it's murder. Simple as that.

So am I pro-life? Heck yes I am. The only time that I would consider abortion appropriate is if the mother's life is in danger because of the baby, and possibly in cases of rape. But both of those scenarios together still only make up less than 3% of all abortion cases. The other 97% are all pure irresponsibility on the part of the parents.

If you're going to have sex, at least use protection. It greatly reduces your chances of having a kid you don't want growing in your belly. Or in your girlfriend's belly.

Even using protection though, you're still taking a chance that something is going to slip through. So to make it easy on everybody, just don't have sex when you're not in a situation where you would be able to have the kid. Like if you're still in high school or you're not married and wouldn't have a supporting spouse to stick with you through it.

Seriously, it pisses me off every time I think about all those kids that could be living regular lives, but instead were killed in the womb because of human stupidity.

Animal experimentation

Instead of using human subjects for our experimentation, we use the creatures that have a "lower quality of life" than humans. The morality of this has been debated since the beginning and I still can't decide which side I stand on.

On the one hand, the experiments have definitely benefitted us, especially in medical research as well as psychological research. We've developed several new treatments for diseases through genetic research involving animals that were previously thought to be intractable defects. AIDS research is also making progress with the help of our furry friends.

But are the benefits enough to justify it? I mean, it's not like the animals have a say in the matter. Who are we to decide that they should be the ones to die through this experimentation when they get little to no benefit from it in the end? All these diseases that animal experimentation is helping us find treatments for are human diseases. We're the ones with the problems, so we shouldn't drag every other life form on the planet into it. They've done nothing to us and we should return the favor.

The main argument that justifies using animals for experimenting is that animals have a lower quality of life than humans. I would agree with this to an extent. But then there are the severely mentally subnormal humans and anencephalic infants (infants born without a brain) that would arguably have an even lower quality of life than most animals. Yet it's still generally considered immoral to test on these people. Why is that? Is it because they have human parents? Is it our own inability to accept one of our own as less than a monkey?

Which brings up another question. How do you define the quality of life? What gives one species a higher quality of life than another? And if you go for the whole evolution theory, then really the only thing that separates us from them is a few random mutations in the DNA.

So I think I disagree with most animal experimentation, but at the same time I'm not sure I'm entirely willing to give up all the medical benefits it gives us. Any thoughts?

Heart transplant

No, not for me. For my car. Or at least, that's what it had better be.

It turns out that my car is finding itself in need of a new catalytic converter (among other things), which I'm told by the mechanic will cost fifteen hundred dollars just to get the part, plus a couple hundred for labor.

Now, I'm not a car expert. I don't even know what a catalytic converter is except that it has something to do with cleaning the air or something. But if I'm paying seventeen hundred for this thing, it had better be the freaking heart of the car.

Now, I seriously doubt that it's the heart because the car still runs. The only reason I even found out that it needed this part replaced was because it failed the emission test. So as long as I don't get pulled over, there shouldn't be a problem, right?

I really hope so. Because have you ever heard of a teenager that has seventeen hundred just on hand?

Unfortunately, I am not an exception.

My girly observation for the day...

There is nothing like jean shopping to make a girl feel fat.

The post I've been avoiding...

A long time ago I was asked to blog about what God meant to me personally. Since there really is no way to describe this (especially without the help of voice inflections and multiple hand gestures), I have been putting this post off for some time. Finally, I decided that it would just be easier to use the words of the ever amazing King David in Psalm 23.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. (Supply)

He makes me lie down in greeen pastures, (Rest)

he leads me beside quiet waters, (Refreshment)

he restores my soul. (Healing)

He guides me in paths of righteousness (Guidance)

for his name's sake. (Purpose)

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, (Challenge)

I will fear no evil, (Assurance)

for you are with me; (Faithfulness)

your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Comfort)

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. (Abundance)

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, (Blessing)

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Security)

God is everything I could ever want or need. Even this amazing pslam doesn't do him justice. Sometimes I just look out a window or something and think, Wow, God made all of this just for me. What the heck have I done to deserve it?

The answer: Absolutely nothing. It makes me smile to realize there's someone out there who loves me that much :)

I've recently been discovering the amazing-ness of oldies music. I never used to be a fan, but as I listen more and more it's really starting to grow on me. Little Richard, Cat Stevens, The Hollies and a heck of a lot more are slowly finding their way into my music library.

My sister has been making fun of me for it, but I know she's just jealous :P

The Invisible Spot

I know someone who, when he was a really little kid, hit the back of his neck on some unremembered sharp object and had to get stiches. Now, he was too young to remember any of this happpening and grew up never knowing that he had a long scar on the back of his neck until one of his parents mentioned to him that he had had stitches there.

I don't really consider myself vain, but when I heard about this it kind of got me worried that I might have some hidden scar or something on the back of my neck. And I mean, you wouldn't really know because, come on, who would tell you? I mean, can you just imagine how that conversation would go?

Person: "Wow, where did you get that scar on your neck?"

Me: "Scar?"

Person: "Yeah, it looks like someone took a hatchet to the back of your neck."

Me: "Oh. . . really?. . . Good to know."

It would just be awkward all around. So to save myself from awkward conversations and to satisfy my own curiosity, I decided to see for myself:

Instead of asking someone to check for me, I decided it would just be easier to snap a picture, and after several attempts, this is what came out. (Since I was taking the picture myself, I had to crane my neck really far forward so that the camera could reach. That's why it's at kind of an awkward angle.)

The flash on the camera also kind of glares off the skin making it hard to see, but as far as I can tell, it looks scar free :)

(Exciting Title)

This is something I've been thinking about lately and, in my efforts to break my terrible habit of blogging about once a month, I decided to jot it down here.

I've got two younger brothers that I have quite successfully learned to completely tune out over the years, and I've noticed that I apply this skill to other unnecessary background noise as well. There have been many times when someone has complained about a noise that's bothering them or keeping them from concentrating or something and I'm almost embarrassed that I hadn't noticed the noise until their complaint. It makes me feel extremely unobservant.

And it's not just me. A couple friends who also have younger siblings, and in one case a particularly loud and obnoxious stepfather, have found themsleves doing the same thing. Where they block out whatever noise they're not concentrating on, I mean.

And have you ever heard the expression "the buzzing silence" before? (I have a point to this, I swear) Maybe this is just me, but whenever I'm sitting in complete silence, it's like my ears decide to go haywire on me and blott out the silence with this low buzz that gradually builds as I concentrate on it. It's like true silence is unattainable.

So this is where we get to that idea that I've been rolling around in brain for the past couple days. Could it be possible that there is actually a sound wave or pulse or something (if it sounds like I have no idea what I'm talking about, it's probably because I don't) that comes from some unknown source and that we hear all around us without realizing it? I mean, if we've become so accustomed to tuning it out basically since birth, then it makes sence that no one would realize it's there.

The same can be said for the other senses too. Smells and tastes that are in the air that we've ignored for so long we can no longer distinguish them from anything else. It makes you wonder just how much of this world we've lost purely in our efforts to bypass what's unnecessary and only use our senses for the new and exciting.

It's kind of depressing. And now I really want to know what air tastes like...

This totally made my day:



(Stolen from Betsy Whitt)

Well ok...maybe it doesn't beat ALL...

Since the last post was all about how fabulous Colorado is, this one shall be about how unfabulous it can be sometimes. Because, after all, no place is perfect.

The first unpleasant thing about Colorado that always comes to mind is our drivers. Most drivers in Colorado are horrible. Blinkers are unheard of and stop signs and speed limits are considered mere suggestions. But of course, none of these are problems for such angel drivers like myself... yeah, ok, I rolled my eyes at that one too.

The number of homeless people that wander the streets is also kind of a flaw. Not that homeless poeple themselves are a flaw, just that you would think the state would see how bad of a problem it's becoming and would do a little more to house and feed them or something. Granted, with the economy down the drain I guesss there's only so much you can do, but still...

As was pointed out to me after the last post, Colorado is incredibly boring. I make no effort to deny this because, except for the mountains and maybe the Cone Zone*, Colorado has very little to offer that you couldn't find just about anywhere else.

Flaws are, however, what make a place realistic as well as keep things interesting. They give a place a little personality. So I guess they're not all that bad.

*A small ice cream joint that makes what is quite possibly the most amazing blueberry cheescake ice cream known to man.

Colorado beats all

I was reading some of the older posts over at b. and Reese's blog for their arguements and they were each giving their own spiel about their own state being the better. It got me thinking about what made Colorado so great. So, naturally, I decided to lay down my own spiel here on my blog.

Well, there are the obvious things about Colorado like the mountains. Not only are they gorgeous to look at while walking to school in the mornings, they also provide a very handy little compass because the mountains are always to the west. An important detail for someone who gets lost as often as I do. They're also great for skiing and camping, though a pain to drive through when it's snowing. Which, since it's the mountains, happens a lot.

We have the Denver Mint, one of two in the nation. Not much else to say about that one.

The people here are fairly environmentally friendly, except maybe in downtown Denver where the brown haze of pollution can sometimes get so think you can't see the tops of buildings from a distance. The poeple here are also a very courteous bunch and most would lend a hand at the first sign of need.

Hmm... I can't really think of much else off the top of my head and I'm feeling too lazy to actually go research or something. So I guess that's it for now.

Why is it called a meme?

I have been memed by the fabulous b. It looks interesting.

Rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Skip to the 5th sentence.
4. Post the next 3 sentences.
5. Tag 5 other people.

The nearest book to me right now is 501 Spanish Verbs. But since that one doesn't actually have sentences, just verb conjugations, I'm going to skip over it to the next one. The second nearest is Obsessed by Ted Dekker.

"Stephen's backpack sat on the floor, contents dumped out and thoroughly examined. Piles of kitchenware were stacked neatly on the dinette. The knickknacks so carefully arranged by Rachel Spritzer had been taken from the walls and shelves along with the paintings."

It says I'm supposed to tag 5 other people, but I can't really come up with any names for tagging that haven't already been.

I was reading through some of the older posts on one of my favorite blogs. The post that I'm mentioning in particular was a list of things that truly bug this blogger.
The commenters, of course, agreed or disagreed with what the blogger had said and were happy to add their own tidbits to the list. One commenter in particular wrote about his distaste for zero hours. (in case you don't know, zero hours are high school classes that are only offered an hour before regular classes start for the day)
While reading the comment, I immediately sympathized with this guy because I, too, have taken a zero hour class before.
Then I finished reading the comment. He said that he hated how the zero hours at his school were at 7:30 in the morning.
My sympathy dried up completely.
My regular school day starts at 7:21 am. A zero hour at my school starts at 6:19 am.
I loathe high school.

Til it's gone...

It's funny how you can take something completely for granted and look back and it later thinking, Wow, if only I'd known then that that would be the last time, I would have made it special.

Like at Thanksgiving 2 years ago, our whole family went up to Chicago. If I had known then that that was the last time we would go up there as a whole family, I would have done everything I could to make the memories more special, maybe even spent some more time with my dad. But I didn't know, and a week later my dad moved out.

It's the same deal now, except almost worse, in a way. My friend ran away 2 weeks ago, on a Monday. I had spent the entire weekend with her on a youth retreat with our church. I talked with her, I joked with her, I played Apples to Apples with her sitting right next to me. And all that time I had no idea what was going on in her head. I knew that she was having a few problems with her aunt, who she lived with, but I didn't realize just how bad. And I didn't take the chance to find out.

I saw her and talked with her on Sunday morning, before we all headed for the vans to go back to the church. Monday, she took off. Nobody heard from her for a week and a half.

Then, 3 days ago, we find out that she was found in California. Social services had her and they were going to keep her there. Which means that I will more than likely never see her again.

If I had just talked to her more, given her bigger hugs, been a better friend, would she still be here? Would she have decided not to run away after all because there was someone here who wanted her to stay?

If I had known on that Sunday as I looked through a rack of earings with her that that would probably be the last time I ever saw her, what would I have done differently?

Or would it have made a difference anyway?

The New Years resolution that isn't

I can't really say that this was my New Years resolution, because it was pretty far past New Years when I made it, but I've decided to try to eat healthier. I was looking at my main source of food consumption and discovered that junk food played a pretty large part in it.

Side tangent: Did you know that in Spanish, they say la comida basura for junk food, which literally translated means "trash food." Kind of fitting, don't you think?

Back to the topic now. So I've decided that I would try to eat food that's healthier and it's harder than I thought. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those picky eaters that actually like about 5 things total that can be found in the healthy prart of the food pyramid. But it's still annoying to grab the waterbottle from the fridge instead of the much more delicious-looking can of Mountain Dew. It was also a slight struggle to only take one slice of the extra cheesey, extra greasy pizza we had the other night rather than my usual two.

And then, there is the greatest sacrifice so far. I have been eating regular Cherrios (which are still delicious) rather than the ever-favorite Lucky Charms.

I'm not sure how long this little health stint will last, but hopefully longer than most New Years resloutions.

Wow. I have not posted in a really long time.

Here are my thoughts for the day*:

1. Parents should listen to their kids when they say not to date someone because the kid generally knows the parent better then the parent does and knows when the match is good or really really bad.
2. Strawberry chapstick smells a lot better than regular
3. Most guys are very immature
4. The Afters need to just come out with a new album already
5. The subjunctive is a stupid tense and the spanish should stop using it

Actually, I had many more thoughts. My brain does not generally only have 5 thoughts in a day, I swear. I'm going to use the cliche excuse that I'm tired and needing to do algebra 2 homework.

*okay, I admit it. I just discovered the list option and really wanted to test it out.