Three in a week?! What madness!!

That's right, three posts in one week. Someone hit me with the blog bug!!

Anyway, this post is entirely about a funny quirk of mine--there isn't going to be a moral. Anyway, I have this habit of immediately picking up on patterns. Now you might be saying "Arika, there's no problem with picking up patterns; in fact it's probably very useful!" to which I would reply, "Right you are, Stranger! But you have yet to enter my mind!" When I pick up patterns, they are generally the parallels that leave me feel like a totally obsessive freak/nerd/geek. Take, for instance, when Aiden, Jassy, myself, and a very close male friend of ours we will refer to merely as Max, all chose our immediate colleges, the result was, of course, Aiden and Jassy going to one while Max and I stayed at the community college. Now, let me add the tidbit that, at the time, both Aiden and Jassy would have preferred entering Gryfindor, while Max and I knew we belonged in Ravenclaw. Coincidence? I think not!!

See? I'm a nerd.

Anyway, I only mention this because I suddenly started looking at powderpuff girls again this morning. In the past, I have always been considered blossomish, so, for a rare occasion, I wore pink.

Now, as anyone who watched the power puff girls will remember, the girls had opposites known as the rowdy ruff boys. Well, when I went to work, I thought it would be fairly hilarious if the guy I'm currently confused about wore red, like Brick, Blossom's opposite.

I bet you'll never guess what happened.

That's right, he wore red.

COINCIDENCE?!?! Yea, probably; but for a minute, I had the worse case of jawdrop on earth. Good thing he didn't see it, otherwise he would have been just as confused as I was.

See where patterns lead?

Btw, if anyone is confused about the spelling when it comes to the powerpuff girls, I apologize, my iPad seems to refuse to land the cursor on the correct line, so I can't fix it. But I'm sure you know what I mean :)

Until next time,

Arika

Mediator Series!

Oh how I love books.  They are honestly my best friends (don't tell Jassy and Arika).  It seems that no matter what problem I am dealing with currently in my life, I am able to get through it by reading.  Why is that?  Oh you know, after reading a book with a hero or heroine whose problems are much worse than mine seem to put mine in perspective.

Currently I've been reading The Mediator Series by Meg Cabot.  If there was one author I would like to be like it would be her.  She is funny, sarcastic, and an amazing writer. What else do you need really?

Anyway, I recently finished the third book in the series Reunion.  But before I tell you about it, I better talk about the first and second books.

Shadowland starts out just as any great YA book does.  The main character is Suze (shortened form of Susannah).  She seems like a normal young woman, except of course, for the fact that she can see and speak to the dead.  See, Suze is a Mediator.  It is her job to help Ghosts finish whatever business they didn't get to in their life.  It isn't exactly all bunnies and happy meals, as the reader comes to find.  Not to mention the fact there is a really hot ghost named Jesse who haunts Suze's bedroom.  Oh mom, don't worry, nothing bad (read: immoral) happens.  Jesse was born in the 1800's so his morals are off the chart.  On top of that,  her mom remarried and moved them across the country to live with her new husband (who comes fully stocked with three sons).  Of course there is a girl who died recently, and whose job is it to take care of her?  That's right, Suze. The only problem?  This girl is on the hunt for blood, and it's up to Suze to stop her in her tracks.

The next book in the series, Ninth Key, starts fairly soon after the first ends.  And despite of Suze's rather tough attitude, she is one of the most popular girls in school.  It certainly helps that she helps the weak and the defenseless.  Unfortunately, she has bigger problems than how to juggle her school life with her home life.  One of them being her personal life.  Specifically, the possibility that the guy she recently went out with, Tad, is totally fixated on sports, can't remember her name, and oh yeah, might possibly have a vampire as a father.  But when Suze looks into it, it seems that Red Beaumont may be the real thing, with real people's deaths being his fault.  How's that for a parent interview.  Suze must solve all sorts of clues, and make sure that Tad asks her to Prom (though she really has a thing for Jesse, the guy that still 'haunts' her bedroom), even if she is planning on staking his dad.

Finally, the most recent book in the series I've read is Reunion.  Sure enough, recently, four teenagers, nicknamed the RLS angels, died in a car accident after a school dance.  But when they begin looking for someone, someone they are intent on killing, Suze decides to step in.  It seems after talking with the Angles, Suze can't help but feel suspicious the other party in the car accident might have murder on his hands, and he's just getting warmed up.

If you haven't read these books, please do yourself a favor and do.  They are great fun to read and to talk about.  Not to mention, it's helpful that Jesse is the perfect ghost. I only wish I was a mediator.  Sometimes.  :)

Onto other news, Jassy is gone.  Back to college. I miss her a lot, but we have Skype, so it's not as bad.  Not to mention, I get to hang out with Arika a lot more often since I am back home until April.

Well, that's all for me! Have a great weekend.  I hope you don't see too many ghosts.

Aiden

It must be the end of the world!!

Because I'm actually writing two posts in a row!!! *gasp*

I know, I know, this crazy talk, but really, it is me. I have apparently worked too much this week, so now I'm not allowed in until 2:30....

Details aside, today is an important day! January 6th is the epiphany! And that is the extent of my biblical knowledge on the subject...nim not very well versed, he he he...... Anyway, aside from the three wise men visiting baby Jesus (ha, caught you there, didn't I?!) today marks the end of the twelve days of Christmas, so the holiday season is officially over. That means no more Christmas lights or decorations, no more of that amazing spirit that normally takes hold of your heart and mind for one fabulous month. Now we get into the depths of winter-- the cold, heartless period. Well, heartless until everyone gets lovey dovey in February.

And yet...

The skies are beautifully clear, and with the long nights, star gazing has become my favorite pastime. Last night, when I looked up at Orion, I found that I could clearly see the red color of Betelgeuse and the blue of Rigel. To see the colors so clearly without a telescope and not outside of the atmosphere is rare. I felt so happy for that brief moment, I wanted this winter to last and last.

Never forget how beautiful the little things are, like looking at the stars. It makes the bad things seem that much better.

Arika

That post-holiday madness

Heeeeeeyyyyyyyyylllloooooooo!!!!!!

So, Christmas and New Years has come and gone, yet again, and I am writing this post from my *drumroll* BRAND SPANKING NEW IPAD!!! *crash of the cymbals*. And I've already found out that, when writing you should never ever touch the UNDO button, because the beautiful sentence you just spent time building is GONE--FOREVER! (ok, technically, not forever, but the odds of me remembering an exact sentence I have not written down and repeated several times is low to none)

And I haven't written on here in a while... Sorry... He he he....

So, I spent the new years doing something quite admirable: I told someone how I truthfully felt about them (note the past tense). I should probably mention that the person was drunk and brought the conversation on themselves. But anyway, the reason I mention this is not because I'm still thinking about what was quite possibly the weirdest conversation I've ever had, but for two other reasons: 1, that was my first time telling someone I liked them without knowing with a high certainty that said person liked me back, and 2, when the conversation was done, I didn't feel embarrassed--I felt like I had a huge release, and I felt fantastic!

So moral of the story: if it won't cause some huge, apocalyptic ending to your life (be it physical, mental or social) tell the truth. It feels so fantastic, it's worth it.

Also, for a brief time over the holidays, I had both of my sisters back home!!! It was so wonderful to see Jazzy again, and I'll miss her so much over the next few months :'( But on the bright side, I have Aiden back for the next four months!! :)

Talk to you later!!

Arika

P.S. because I read the other posts afterwards XD my new years resolutions include living an overall healthier life, being an honest, good person, and working hard in order to get into a four year come two years from now :)

Ta ta for now!!

2012 . . . I will survive you!

Apparently my sisters didn't see my last post.  That's OK, I didn't tell them I had written one.  :)

I wrote two chapters today and my third book in a trilogy is currently at +12,000 words!  Hopefully this is a good sign for the new year. I can actually remember what it felt like this time last year.  I was going to write so much that year.  Truth was, I did.  I wrote 5 full books and finished 1 other I had been working on.  In total, I brought my written book numbers to 8.  How happy does that make me?  Pretty darn happy.

I will be working this year to write, edit, and read a book a month.  Reading should be easy (or would be). The thing is that I promised myself that I would read a book that I haven't yet read (ever!).  This is a big stretch for me.  I tend to stay with books that I know I love.  However, I figure that The Chronicles of Narnia series takes up 7 of those twelve I would like to read.  Other than that, I really want to read Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.  I read the first five chapters of DSB and the writing is amazing.  Arika tells me that Divergent by Veronica Roth is very good.  I have been following Ms. Roth on her blog for some time and believe in this claim.

I suppose we will see how everything goes this year.  I have decided that writing series is hard.  It is difficult to make sure that everything is being brought up as it should and that you haven't written something already.  It is rather stressful, but that's OK, the uncertainty is what makes the work fun.

I figure that I can write 5,000 words for six days of the week and 7,500 for Saturday.  After two weeks, I would have 75,000 words written.  That is pretty awesome since I usually stride for at least 55,000 words in a YA novel.

I am sure that there are some days I will not write, that is what happens in life.  But I hope that with the disappointment, I will be able to pick myself right back up and keep on going.  I am a writer, and writers write.

Have a great New Year!