Growing up :(

I never took it seriously when my parents said to cherish my childhood. As a child I always wanted to be older and tried to act older because I though teenagers and twenty year olds were so cool. I imagined myself being tall with luscious hair and having curves but none of those really happened. I am 5’4 and get mistaken for being 16 on occasion when I am really 19. (I guess when I’m older I will appreciate that but for now I do not.) Growing up is depressing. It is nice to have more freedom to make your own decisions but making important decisions comes hand in hand with more responsibility. I miss being a kid. I miss coming home to my mom asking if I want a snack, or coming home after field hockey practice and plopping down on the comfiest couch in the world that is in my basement. I miss those days when I did not have to worry about a job or making money and saving it. I miss seeing my best friends from home every day like I did in high school, seeing them on breaks is not enough. Don’t get me wrong I love Virginia Tech, but I miss not having so much responsibility. High school was hard but not as difficult as college. I took rigorous courses in high school but I was more disciplined then versus now. I also did not have to study for days and hours and hours for tests like I have to in college. One of the causes of failure in college according to the University of Alabama is that the student does not understand the amount of work that is required (http://www.ctl.ua.edu/ctlstudyaids/studyskillsflyers/generaltips/causesoffailure.htm). Growing up is a necessity in life but if I could I would go back to being a kid sometimes. I am looking forward to what the future beholds and what my life is going to turn out being like.

Movies

I love watching movies. I could sit around for hours and just watch movies. I do not watch any TV really, except for The Voice, because I do not have time and just do not have the patience to watch TV sometimes. I like every type of movie. I am a sucker for romantic comedies and love stories, typical girl stereotype I know. But I like comedies because I love to laugh, while sometimes I like to watch war movies or action films. Some of my favorite movies include The Notebook, Mean Girls, The Patriot, Troy, Braveheart, Pride and Prejudice, The Hangover, Tommy Boy, The Godfather Triology, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Stepbrothers, 21 Jump Street, and many more including the classic Disney films such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, etc. Horror films are not my thing though. I will occasionally be in the mood for a good scary movie but I am such a baby and get scared at the littlest things. One movie that I especially like that is supposed to be a horror film is Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock. It is more of a mystery which makes it more exciting to watch because I tried to figure out who the killer was. According to Filmsite Movie Review, “Alfred Hitchcock's powerful, complex psychological thriller, Psycho (1960) is the ‘mother’ of all modern horror suspense films - it single-handedly ushered in an era of inferior screen 'slashers' with blood-letting and graphic, shocking killings.” (http://www.filmsite.org/psyc.html) . This film lead to other horror films such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween , which are also considered classics. Overall, I could sit and watch movies all day everyday and be perfectly happy.

Gas Prices

The price of gas money is very outrageous now-a-days. When my Grandpap was growing up gas was 10 cents per gallon (http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1930s.html) . The average cost has been increasing rapidly over the years with some years’ gas being lower than other however, but those are exceptions. In 2009 the average amount of gas spent per month by an American family was $173.80, increasing to $368.09 in 2011 (Rooney). Gas prices in my hometown in Fredericksburg, Virginia are around $4.00, which I find outrageous. Before Obama came into office the gas prices were a great deal lower than they are now. I am not an Obama fan and do blame him a bit for the increase in gas prices but I do not think it is all his fault like others do. I think there were many factors that affected the price of gas such as the increase in demand for it as more people are driving and issues with the United States having to depend on countries overseas for oil and gas. There are solar powered cars along with electric cars that multiple people are purchasing in order to cut down on the amount of gas they use. Many citizens over seas bike almost everywhere they go. Their cars are also way smaller than most of the cars her in America. They do not own a lot of SUVs and diesel cars since they only need smaller cars to maneuver around the cities and narrow roads. In conclusion, gas prices are outrageous and hopefully they decrease soon.

Princess Adele

Once upon a time there was a princess hidden away in a castle. Unlike many other tales where the princess is usually being hidden away, she chose to stay here. Her mom who was the queen encouraged her to go outside but she would not. The princess was named Adele and she was a teenager. She would just stay inside the castle all day and night singing depressing songs because for some reason they made her feel as happy as a giggling baby. She did not live in an ordinary castle however, which is why she never left. Every room had a different environment. One room was a tropical rainforest where there were tigers and panthers and insects OH MY. Another room contained an arctic climate where there were penguins and polar bears. One room was underwater and it depicted the Great Barrier Reef with a ton of colorful fish and even Nemo and Dory lived here. In every room the animals could talk though, and Adele sang all of her songs to these creatures.  She had the power to adapt to every environment. Her most favorite room of all was her Hunger Games room. There she became Katniss and was the star of the show. She had to fend for her life and it was like she was in a video game. One day however, Adele decides to venture out of her extraordinary castle. She steps outside only to find that the world is animated. She then turns into a cartoon character and meets up with Mario and Luigi to rescue her sister, Princess Peach, from the evil Bowser. In each environment that they traveled through, they experienced surprise attacks from zombies. There was one zombie in particular that caught Princess Adele’s eye. She fell in love with him as he gained her trust and promised that he would not eat her. Adele then killed the rest of the zombies once she found out that she could set fire to the rain. She then said that she has been waiting to find someone like him for the longest time because her ex was a huge jerk. Princess Adele and the hot zombie lived happily ever after in her castle and had many adventures with the different rooms in her abode.

Hunga Games 2

I saw the Hunger Games in theaters Thursday night at midnight and it was awesome! It was very true to the book, which most books that are transpired into movies are not so that was very nice. There were a few events that were altered and a character that was missing but other than that it was pretty good. The Harry Potter movies are tweaked way more than this movie was which surprised me. The casting for the Hunger Games was spot on which was very relieving because in a lot of book to movie movies the characters are totally different than you had imagined in your head while reading the book. A number of movies based off of books are either totally different than the book or are way worse than the book. For example, I read the Twilight series and really liked the books so I was pumped when I heard a movie was being made based off of the books. The movies definitely did not exceed the quality of the books, which was very disappointing. So the producers of the Hunger Games did a fantastic job. According to an article in Today, “…The Hunger Games opened with a staggering US$155 million (S$196 million) at United States and Canadian box offices, the highest domestic opening for a movie that isn't a sequel, and established what may become one of Hollywood's biggest blockbuster franchises.” (Today) The success was unexpected by many people. The Boxoffice.com editor stated, “"Harry Potter had seven movies before it got to that point, and Dark Knight had years and years of building the Batman brand. This movie comes and hangs with them in the same league.” (Today) So the fact that the Hunger Games had such great success is amazing. In conclusion the Hunger Games movie did exceptionally well and I would definitely suggest seeing it!

http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/Movies/EDC120326-0000083/Hunger-Games-gorges-on-S$270-million-global-debut

Music

Music is a wonderful thing. It can be a remedy for many situations by affecting your mood due to the mood of the music. Many people make fun of kids who are in band in middle and high school and I’m not going to lie, some of them were a tad weird, but I really enjoyed playing an instrument and it is not a weird thing to create music. I played the trombone from 6^th grade to 12^th grade and it is really odd not being in band anymore. I actually enjoyed it making music because it is a very good stress reliever. You will walk into class and the first thing you do is unpack the instrument and then warm up by playing long tones, so multiple whole notes until your lips and mouth piece are warm, which makes it easier to create pitches and notes. If I was having a bad day then I would just blow as hard as I could into the instrument and it was an equivalent feeling to screaming into a pillow. I also liked band because my best friend was in there with me and sat next to me for all 7 years so we would goof around and just enjoy playing instead of following all of the rules. I was also the only girl in the low brass section in my class so that always wasn’t such a bad thing.  Girls typically play woodwind instruments such as the flute, clarinet, oboe, or the saxophone. The brass instruments are predominately male instruments. The trombone was originally called a “sackbutt” and was invented in Belgium circa 1450 (Monks). It was then renamed later and there were a few modifications of the trombone until we have the current model of it today. The trombone has come a long way and is a popular instrument today.

http://www.blackdiamondbrass.com/trbhist/tbonehist.htm

HUNGER GAMES

I used to read a lot of novels when I was in Elementary school and Middle school. I have a few books that I absolutely love and would love to reread but I do not have that kind of time anymore. Over the past month I picked up my past hobby and starting read the Hunger Games series. They are by far my favorite books that I have read in a very long time. I finished the first book of the series, The Hunger Games, in about three days which is a record because I’m normally a very slow reader. If you are not familiar with the plot, I will give you a little synopsis of the order of events.

The story takes place in North America in the future where the United States and Canada does not exist anymore and instead North America is split up into districts. There are thirteen districts and they are governed by The Capitol, who are tyrants and do not treat the districts with respect. Most of the people are starving and if any one goes out against authority then they are disciplined harshly. To remind the people in the districts to not up rise against The Capitol, each year there are a boy and a girl picked from each district that go into the Hunger Games and fight with each other to the death in an area created by the Gamemakers in The Capitol. The story unfolds from there and I cannot say much more because if you are planning on reading the book I could possibly give valuable information away.  As you might know, the movie for this book comes out in theaters March 23 in a little under two weeks. They have an official website that contains all of the information one might need to know about the film. The catchy line of the movie is, “The World Will be Watching,” which is a line stated in the book that has significance and what is on the official website to catch the viewer’s attention (HungerGames.) In conclusion, these books are very good and I would definitely recommend reading it!

http://www.thehungergamesmovie.com/index.html