1. I have been struggling for the past month and a half to find a book I can get into. I tried new/ old popular books, past books I loved, and even books recommended by friends. Nothing was catching my attention and as an avid reader and lover of book I was becoming frustrated. Then Amazon emailed my saying several books on my wish list were on sale so I bought....
Ender's Game is one of those books on the read before it becomes a movie list, and about 10 chapters in it has yet to disappointed.
2. Movie gift card it toll I ventured to the movie theatre last week to see the Wolverine 3. It had just come out and had decent rating and to top it off I'm a huge Marvel fan. I did not have the high hopes however because some of the past Wolverine movies were not that good and it had ninjas. Not bashing Ninjas but I have never been a huge fan of that genera of movies. Wolverine however was AWESOME. Decent story line, awesome action, a ripped Hugh Jackman, and a kick ass strong female character. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good fun action movie.
Oh and I highly encourage one to stay till the middle of the credits, you will not be disappointed and may geek out like I did...
3. Walking Dead fans mark your calendars! The awesome show returns October 13th. The trailer for season 4 was released earlier this month and I have watch it many of times since then. It is going to be an awesome season, where Rick and the gang continue to "Fight the dead, fear the living."
*fair warning the trailer does have big spoilers if you have not finished the 3rd season*
p.s. 72 days to go....
4. Summer around Macomb with almost everyone gone is lonely. I am highly thankful for those that are in town butI am looking forward to many of these wonderful people in this picture coming back.
5. Youtube has educational stuff?? Why yes, yes it does thanks to Hank Green brother of John Green who is a well know author. Hank is into all things science and has the SciShow on Youtube which I highly enjoy. A branch of of SciShow is SciShow Talk where you learn about animals and have a guest of the animal type visit. This is my favorite video (because of the space creature animal) but I highly recommed watching all of them because all of the animals on the show are really really cool.
6. The fact that I finally learned how to do this: (not the dance)
Post I read adding animation to blogger said two things. 1. It was not possible or 2. In order to add a GIF you needed to write your own code. Both of which are not true and adding one is super easy...
7. The Show Gator Boys kicked off last week (finally). It is one of the few show I watch on TV and I love it. It is educational but has just the right amount of it humor in it. Also I feel it sets itself apart for other Gator show because they DO NOT kill the animals. They relocate them mostly by taken them to their park. Gator Boy is on Animal Planet on Sundays at 9pm.
I was super hesitant to try this stuff because I cannot stand the smell of Aussie products. However when I got my hairs cut last month the sassy gay hair dresser went on and on about how thick curly hair needs a deep conditioner and that my dry scalp issues were because I was not using one. He recommend this stuff and promised it did not have that "terrible" Aussie smell. He was right in so many way.
2. Izze Sparkling Pomegranate juice.
I have not had this stuff since I visited my bro in The Big Apple years ago and I now know why. It is super addicting! It has the right amount of sweet and tangy along with a bit of fizz to make you think you are drinking something like pop. A single can is 90 calories and has 70% real fruit juice. Izze also partners with Global Education Fund to help provide the much needed education for children around the world. Downside is that 4 can cost almost 5 dollars, so it is a drink that I savor down to the last drop.
3. If you have not seen Pitched Perfect I insist you do, and do so soon. After listening to the songs on youtube nonstop I decided to buy the album via iTunes. Best decision of the week, and I still cannot stop listing to the album and this song in particular:
4. NonStick Pans/ Pots. All my previous pan were given to me when a friend moved, so I originally did not have to buy any pot or pans. Going on four years later and well, they were falling apart. They would cause the burners to smoke and once I started finding bits of black pot specks in my food I knew it was time to buy new ones. I went with the cheaper Walmart pot and pan set and boy is there a huge difference when cooking with nonstick. They even caused me to exclaim earlier this week, "Sweet Jesus so this is what this luxury is like!"
5. Central Air. I grew up with it, and even in the dorm I had it so I did not know what I had till it was gone. The past three years at my old apartment made summer feel like I was near the boarder of hell with the little box air conditioner that was LOUD and only cooled down the living room, leaving the bedroom a hot sticky mess. When I moved I made it a requirement for my new place to A. have a bathtub and B. Have central air. I struck gold with both and got the extra bonus of having a super nice place, nice quiet neighbors, and excellent landlords. Blessing accepted.
First a little history. One this day in 1971 Apollo 15 astronauts David R. Scott and James B. Irwin landed on the moon. It was the 9th manned mission of the Apollo program and the 4th to land on the moon. It was also the first longer stay mission (lasted three days), as well as the first to use rovers. So I am sure once they landed, they did something like this.
Also someone in my life named Emily was born, so happy birthday Em, keep staying as classy and as awesome as your were last year and well, people are bound to get jealous.
And now totally unrelated to this day in history is my own personal flash back of Little Sid. Who and what is Little Sid? While have a lookskie below:
As you can see Little Sid is a kitten, a kitten that my floor mates and I snuck in freshman year and then kept hidden from our RA. Why would we do this? Well, we were weak of heart, and Little Sid was on the kill list* at the animal shelter (and I quote myself back in the day "Save a kitten save your soul?" I really wanted an illegal cat on the floor and can also really dish out the peer pressure yes I am the one your D.A.R.E. officer warned you about...). My neighbor who had the nickname "Sid" adopted him and then claimed our floor as a sanctuary until fall break came two weeks later and Sid took Little Sid home. To avoid suspicion Sid room hopped, above was one of his nights with me. Our RA never found out, or did find out and just did not care.
*For all you animals lovers out there you will be pleased to know that the animal shelter was taken over and is no longer a kill shelter, they foster or relocated the cats and dogs instead.
Monday was suppose to be the "let's not post, so you do not seem obsessed with your upcoming blogging schedule. Yes, I set a schedule... (we'll see how long that one lasts.) but after todays events I felt the need to share what goes on in little old Rachel's head.
After an eventful morning of running around like a crazy person I returned home. About 20 minutes later I had a "what is that smell ??" thought. I did a pit check, took out all the garbage, checked the fridge the sink and the nooks and crannies of my place for dead beings and found NOTHING. Now by this time the smell had become a horrific rotten egg smell and after a goggle search (google and webmd are going to be listed under causes of anxiety is the new DMS-6*) I knocked on my neighbors door to ask if they smelled the rotten egg. They could and after a small discussion we decided to chill on the porch and call the landlord.
It is probably a good time to point out that our building is entirely electric and upon checking the basement there was no smell or sewage leakage. So back on track.... neighbor calls the landlord, he does not answer so he calls his wife ( joint landlord) and she gets ahold of him yada yada yada, he cannot come till he gets off of work at 5, and it is 3:30. So we chill outside a bit longer, upon that time I find out that the suspicious dudes across the street are indeed suspicious. They are drug dealer and the police are fallowing them due to a spree of car break ins. They all have multiple babies mamas and have had multiple drug raids. ( Stay classy Macomb). Good old neighbor bonding right??? Too bad I do not smoke or we would have been besties. We eventually all decided to go in and if it is sewer gas, it cant be that bad and if it is only the good die young or at least that is what I told myself.... 40 minutes later Landlord arrives to the smell being totally gone. Vanished in thin air, and I am pretty sure he thought we were crazy, but tried to make us feel better by saying "call if it returns." I however had only one thing on my mind the whole entire time. Creepy Are you Afraid of the Dark pool monster. Not only did the 90's make my childhood awesome but they forever changed how I will react to smells... like rotten eggs. Because what else would cause a mysterious nasty egg smell besides a creepy water monster? But be warned water monster I am onto you and will have "monster spray" and Holy Salt at the ready.
and if you are truly bored the whole episode (click below)...
1. These Jelly Fish who know how to trick us silly humans:
2. This Dolphin that just wants to spread the good news:
3. Señor Shark that is always misunderstood and "just has a lot of feelings"
4. This Sexy Smolder
5. And this old man Sea Turtle who is tired of those "Dangnabbit kids messing up his turf."
*It took 2 attempts of spelling resurrection before Chrome recognized my feeble attempt at spelling, but hey at least I did not have to ask anyone how to spell orange.
Almost a year ago to the day I finally thought that I had things figured out. I had been taken "kicking and screaming" (figuratively) to visit a religious order for a long weekend that I had been dodging all summer. To my surprise when I got there I felt something that a had not for a long time. A sense of family and belonging. Within the next few weeks I filled out the necessary paperwork to enter. I was really really happy but then things got complicated. Certain people got scared about my past and struggle with mental illness, and they kept putting my entry off. 3 months turned into 4 and then 6 and then 8. While others moved on with their process I was still "stuck". If I was going to enter it was silly to find a full time job, so I stayed working 2 part time but as time went on I was becoming miserable. I was sick of waiting, sick of being judge for a past I had no control over any of it. Finally I made a decision not to join the sisters. It came down to them wanting me to wait even longer to enter under conditions that no one should be put through. While I was happy and at ease with my decision I was still hurt and let down. I had finally left I had found my "calling" and then it was ripped away from me. To make matters worse I suddenly was facing having to leave my main job due to an injury ( one on which I will be having surgery on soon) I was suddenly back where I was three summers ago, depressed, no job and under a lot of stress. I grew angry at God and being to close myself off. Then slowly through time and prayer I began to realize that none of this was or is God's fault. It was life and how others reacted and treated me. However, it did not change the way God felt about me. I was still his favorite and there was nothing I could do that would take that our His love away from me. I yet again learned who my real friends were and grew closes to some very special people in my life and learned how much they care about me. It is not to say that the fight is not over. I am still facing an upcoming surgery and up to a 6 month recovery. I still need to find a "big girl" job, still struggling with some mental health issues, and eventually want to leave Macomb and move on. Yet, through it all I have come to realize that I have never been without what I needed. If I were to look ahead to this point a year ago, it is defiantly not where I wanted to be but I do know that even though its not all good it will be ok, because in the end it always has.
