Under the Skin

One of the things that I wanted to do this year was really get back into reading books.  Since going to college, it had kind of fallen by the wayside, and I was never quite as happy without books as I had been with them.  So I wanted to read more books again.  So, I did.  And this post is the list of books that I have read this year.  I have included next to them a rating out of five, and if they are links, it will take you to their full review. 1. Taran Wanderer (5) 2. The Humming Room (5) 3. The High King (5) 4. The Thief (5) 5. The Queen of Attolia  (5) 6. The King of Attolia  (4) 7. A Conspiracy of Kings  (4) 8. The Goose Girl (3) 9. Small Steps (5) 10. The Son of Neptune (5) 11. The Wishlist (3) 12. Touch Blue (3) 13. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (5) 14. Joey Pigza Loses Control (5) 15. Airman (4) 16. I am Not Joey Pigza (3) 17. What Would Joey Do? (5) 18. My Sister's Keeper (2) 19. Water for Elephants (3) 20. ...

"Some people are worth melting for." I had a private little wish that I would make it to 100 posts this year.  I had written goal, but I backspaced that, because I had never actually made it something I was actively working towards, nor anything official.  But, this happens to be the 100th post.  So, wish achieved.  And it's achieved with a movie review.  Sarah (my fourteen-year-old sister) has taken a huge liking to the movie Frozen .  In fact, she has seen it multiple times in the theatre.  So, I went to see it with her, since I hadn't seen it yet, and she needed another excuse to see it again.  So, here's my review of it: Frozen is about two princesses named Anna and Elsa.  They are sisters, but the older one, Elsa, has snow-creating powers.  Eventually, in order to protect Anna (and other people), Elsa decides to isolate herself entirely from her sister.  When Elsa accidentally freezes the kingdom on her coronation day...

I am a little bit of a Christmas fiend.  And I know that a lot of people believe that if you are a Christmas fiend, you must be a commercialized whack-job.  I even enjoy the parts of Christmas that people brand as not the true meaning of Christmas.  And I'm okay with that.  Because I think that there's nothing wrong with liking happy music and pretty lights and seeing people having a good time.  You just have to make sure that you don't let that be all that Christmas is.  And I enjoy the presents a lot.  Mostly because I love picking out presents for other people. I've gotten to the place where I know that some people don't like Christmas.  I've also gotten to the place where I know that some people act holier-than-thou because they don't like the trappings and thus must have a better understanding of Christmas and it's "teleos" as the Greeks would say.  But, even if you're one of those people, I wish you a Merry Christmas and help yourse...

"Here, young Sam. Here's a bit for you. Keep it till you die, and have it buried with you. Your own little bit of Nelson."  I officially finished my internship today, I find out tomorrow what my employment situation will look like, and tomorrow, I leave for New York for Christmas!  And I can fit in another book review before leaving, because I finished a book in celebration of my official and permanent college graduation. It's another children's book, though on my latest library trip to find books for the plane, I got only one young adult, and  two are from the adult section, and none from the juvenile or children's section, so you might get some grown-up book reviews soon.  True, I never get anything from the children's section, because the Tooele County Library (that only serves the city of Tooele for free) only has picture books in the children's section.  But we have to give credit where credit is due.  I mostly searched in the age-appropriate s...

“We are like the phoenix," said Abuelita. "Rising again, with a new life ahead of us.” Grandpa and I went outlet visiting today.  We went to Pepperidge Farms, Gossner's Cheese, and Mrs. Cavanaugh's Chocolate Factory.  It was fun.  We also stopped by Carol and Keith's in Smithfield and Henry now believes that my name is "Spinster Aunt."  Oh well.  But I have another book review! I remember this book being all talked-up by my elementary school librarian in fourth or fifth grade.  And now, I just read Esperanza Rising .  I've read worse books, but I wasn't super impressed.  It has won a bunch of awards, but I think that has to do with the fact that it deals with a minority group in history. The story is about Esperanza Ortega, the daughter of a wealthy, Spanish-descent, Mexican rancher in the 1930s.  But when her father, Sixto Ortega, is killed by bandits, Esperanza and her mother are forced to immigrate to the United States where the...

"I can't come with you. I'm not like you.  I'll never be like you." -Peter I am so close to being done with my internship, it is not funny.  And I have read a fantastic series of books. So, I will share them with you. These books are the "prequels" to Peter Pan.  A lot of the aspects of Peter Pan are explained, and some of the characters are more fully explored. However, as well as being the prequels, they are supposed to be the "true story," of Peter Pan .  The Indians are actually Islanders named the Mollusks, and the chief's daughter is actually named Shining Pearl.  Pixie dust can't really make you fly, starstuff does, etc.  It's as though the original Peter Pan  was a corruption of these stories.  It's kind of fun in that regard. I will begin by saying that I loved these books.  They are fun, creative, inventive, funny, adventurous and engaging.  Also, the two men who wrote them seem to be little boys at heart, ...

This past week, I spent three of the five weekdays working with Festival of Trees.  One of the other days was spent in getting my brother to his mission.  I share a few thoughts about these experiences with the class. First, my brother.  I am quite close to all my siblings, but I think I may have always been the closest to Caleb.  For many years, I called him my best friend, and it still might be true.  From our days as the King and Queen of the wonderful country known as Haca, to that time I had to give him the money at the movie theater to buy our tickets to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban because they didn't believe that I was thirteen (even though he is younger than I am), I have always gotten along well with Caleb.  And this isn't to say that we never disagreed, but if we were mad at each other, we were remarkably good at walking away and then thirty-minutes later coming back and being completely happy with one another again.  I didn'...

You may be an MLS if… Most people have the shirt drawer, the pants drawer, the underwear drawer. You have these too, but you also have a drawer dedicated to scrubs At-work-discussions have led to a coworker saying, “My platelet count always runs low. I mean, I don’t have any thrombocytopenic symptoms, it’s always just hanging out down by the bottom limit.” A coworker has said you have a bruise. “Yeah, it doesn’t surprise me. My PT is about 12.7. All the time.” You know things about yourself that would usually only be tested in severe organ failure (yes, I know my K-value, my protein electrophoretic pattern, what my blood looks like under Kleihauer-Betke stain, and more) You have ever tested your own urine Discussions at work have ever gotten around to urine colors The phrase, “That was really bad streaking,” has ever been uttered by you, and you are not an exhibitionist. You have ever seriously considered making a karyotype out of gummy ...

"All our days are numbered.  But that number is infinity." Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  And tonight I finished a book.  I still have a lot of books that I've been meaning to review, and we will get there.  But, today, we have Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go . Milton and Marlo Fauster, after dying in a tragic marshmallow explosion, learn that there is more to the after-life than they thought.  Since they are not eighteen, they are darned to Heck, an after-life reform school, taught by teachers such as Richard Nixon the Ethics Teacher, Lizzie Borden the home ec teacher, Mary Mallon the biology teacher, and Blackbeard their "meta"physical education teacher, as well as Maria Von Trapp the music teacher who is actually an angel, but teaches in Heck in the interest of educational equality.  You don't have to second-guess why Marlo is sent there; she's a goth-girl kleptomaniac who has never respected authority and has no intention to start now.  But not e...

"'Percy Jackson. Your destiny was written long ago.' 'I write my own destiny.'" So, this is a belated movie review, but here you are.  A few weeks after my engagement was called off, I decided to take myself on a date.  It was a Friday morning when I wasn't at work, and I hadn't seen the Percy Jackson 2 movie, even though it had been out for close to two months (or it might have even been two months).  Whatever it was, I went to a matinee at the Tooele Cinema. It was partly to keep myself satiated until the release of Heroes of Olympus: The House of Hades (which I still haven't read due to the excessively long hold list). Because the movie had been out for two months and it was a matinee on a school day, it was excessively cheap and I was the only one in the movie theater. This was kind of fun in the sense that I could talk through the entire movie and discuss it with myself.  But after I told Beth about my date she said, "Hannah, I think ...

I like writing.  I have for many years.  I am not a creative person.  For those of you who know that I'm a Medical Laboratory Scientist, this may not come as too much of a surprise.  I don't think there's a lot of room for creativity when we are talking about doing manual differential on a complete blood count.  My creative outlets aren't very CREATE-ive.  I like to dance, and I like music, but I don't create them.  I dance in only one style, and it's one of the most structured forms of dance out there (maybe second to, but probably tied with, ballroom).  Irish dancing is very strict in its form, and even in choreography, there isn't a lot of room for breaking the form.  I like music, but I don't create music.  I just play what others have already written.  I'm not bad at that, but I can't make new stuff.  So, writing is the only time I really create.  The hard part about that is that I am sometimes a great writer. Sometim...

Ever since my engagement was called off, I have had a very roller-coaster-like life.  Some days, I sit there and think, "I'm better off without him!"  and then other days I want to climb into my emotional cave.  However, what I've found odd is my connection to two songs in regards to this: 1) You've Got a Friend In Me I cannot listen to this song at the moment.  I associate it with my ex-fiance.  For a few reasons, but mostly because he loved Woody as a child.  I hope that this eventually wears off, because it's a fantastic song.  In fact, I have some CDs that I burned from my iTunes to listen to in my car, and my Disney sing-a-long CDs feature this song, and I just have to skip it. 2) A Thousand Years  (by Christina Perri) The only bad part of this song is that it was written for a Twilight film.  Other than that, it is a wonderful song.  And in fact, it was the song Brian and I danced to the night we got engaged.  And it w...

“If every person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary - the world really would be a better place. And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God.”    (This person is quoting J.M. Barrie “Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always try to be a little kinder than is necessary?”) I am enduring sporadic bouts of repeated computer failure.  Eventually, it should work the right way again, but I don't know that for sure.  We'll see what happens.    But I got to read a book.  This marks the first book that we on this blog that was specifically recommended for review.  Recommended by my Aunt Evelyn, we have here a book review on Wonder . Wonder is a book about August Pullman, who has a craniofacial abnormality.  A...

I had a very jam-packed week, and the next one won't be much different.  However, it's not that much longer before I will be released from craziness, so I can make it.  In the mean time, there isn't much better than books to keep me sane.  And because of that, we have some book reviews.  In my younger years, I really liked the Spiderwick Chronicles.  I thought they were fun and fast, and I also liked how the fantasy had more than just "perfect life" kids on an adventure.  The family situation added a whole level to it, and the personalities of the three children's response to their father leaving them was masterful.  However, when I learned that there was a spin-off series being written, I must say I was not super enthused.  I felt like The Spiderwick Chronicles ended it in a good place, and I wasn't too interested in another series.  And yet, I read the second series.  These are easy-reader chapter books, so it wasn't much of a...

At the end of my college life, I impart what wisdom I gained.  Here's my wisdom:  go outside of the box.  Never again will so many opportunities just ask to be taken advantage of.  Here are ten out of the box things that I don't regret having done in college (actually 20, because there are two groups). First, Ten Courses I Took In College That Were Not Required For My Major that I Have Never For a Second Regretted Taking 1. Advanced Ethnic Irish Dance :  I love Irish dance.  But I majored in Medical Lab Science.  At the same time, this was an opportunity to really indulge in my hobbies and learn a lot more about Irish Dance.  And get college credit for it. 2. The Old Testament:  We all know how much I love the Old Testament. This class only helped solidify it, and helped me to understand it so much better.  To have a man who has dedicated his life to the study of the Old Testament sit up there and explain Ezekiel to you?  The...

As many of you know, I am a big fan of the Old Testament.  It is actually my favorite standard work.  At BYU, you kind of got dirty looks if you ranked any of the standard works above The Book of Mormon, but it's true.  I still believe in The Book of Mormon, and love it dearly.  However, I identify with the people of the Old Testament more and it speaks to me. I think part of why people don't like the Old Testament as much is that they don't think that it is as relevant to them.  I beg to differ.  You just have to know where to look in the Old Testament. Today, I share an important lesson from the Old Testament.  It's a lesson that answers what I think is the most-commonly asked question in the LDS Church:  How do I know when the Holy Ghost is giving me inspiration, verses me just wanting it and imagining the inspiration?  It's a very valid question.  I know sometimes I have asked it. However, the answer is given in Chronicles 17....

So we talked about fictional characters that won’t die.   However, sometimes fictional characters will die.   And I am a crier, so I usually get hit pretty hard by these deaths. For me, it’s easier to be emotionally involved in fiction, than it is to be emotionally involved in real life.   Pathetic, but true.   Most of the time, I cry the first time; but then I get over it and each time I read it, or watch the movie, it becomes more acceptable.   On the other hand, some of those deaths, I want to cry just thinking about it.   And here are some of those deaths.   WARNING:   If you hate spoilers---there will be spoilers.   Don’t read if you don’t want spoilers.   I’m talking about characters that will die.   I’m going to spoil things.   Oddly, I’ve heard that a lot of people feel this way about a lot of Hunger Games characters, but I don’t.   I think it’s because the deaths in Hunger Games are so quick and then the s...