Dream cars

Long time no see! Been super crazy busy since my last post. Finals, tornadoes, trying to find a job for the summer... ugh. ANYWAY... on to today's list: 5 of my dream cars!

***Up front disclaimer: I know next to nothing about cars, and these are pretty much ranked as to how pretty they are. :) (Although I do know a little bit about a couple of them.)

1. Audi TT

Hello, gorgeous! Ok, it's a Volkswagen at heart, and I KNOW Volkswagens have to be pampered to last, but I cannot get past how beautiful the TT looks driving down the road. Also, as a general rule I don't like primary colors on cars, but even those look gorgeous on this little beauty.





2. Porsche 911

Yes. I know Alice Cullen has one. That's actually when I started looking them up. Why did I have to look them up? Because the only Porsches I get to see on any sort of regular basis are Boxsters and the occasional Carrera or Cayenne (although I did see a Porsche sedan once - my mind was BLOWN. It was weird). ANYWAY, this is a pretty little car, BUT it's about seventy billion dollars out of my price range, so - in the immortal words of Aerosmith - Dream on, Demi. :)

3. Acura RSX

You will NEVER convince me that this isn't the prettiest car Acura EVER made. The sad thing is, they've quit making them. The last model year on the RSX was 2006. They haven't introduced a new coupe since then, and their entry-level vehicle is now the TSX, which is a pretty car, but definitely not as sporty and beautiful as this one. The good news is that, since it's an Acura (and therefore a Honda in its metal, oil-filled heart), it'll run forever, and so there will be some around for a WHILE now. I couldn't be happier about that.


4. BMW Z3

Hello, pretty-little-thing-that-would-never-make-it-up-my-parents'-driveway. TINY little car, low to the ground. It just LOOKS fun to drive. I'm sure that's a total front though, I bet it really just is NO fun at ALL. (I'm being incredibly facetious. I would LOVE to get behind the wheel of one of these little things.)

5. Mercedes SLK (R171)

These things are - apparently - wildly popular in the world of professors undergoing midlife crises. Which, really, should make it less appealing, but since I see them everywhere it kind of has the opposite effect. Also: THIS CAR SOUNDS LIKE AN AIRPLANE. One of my co-workers last year had one for a few weeks (her mom's, really) and I got to hear it every time she drove by the doors. It was FABULOUS. I love the way they sound. I asked her (jokingly, of course!) if I could drive it, and she told me that she didn't like driving it because it had too much power for her. Which, in my mind, is WHY you buy an SLK in the first place. But since it wasn't her car, I guess I can understand that.

Book boys (yummm)

I read all the time. Like, really, ALL the TIME. And - while there's absolutely nothing wrong with a straight shot of action - most of my books have plenty of yummy male leads.

Most of these are YA boys (I'm not TOO old yet) but there are some grown-up books' heroes interspersed. The list is not in order - they're all sort of tied for the top spot. In that vein, the numbers are arbitrary, there for listing purposes only.

1. Severin of Langthorne-Trent (Rosehaven by Catherine Coulter)
        ...from about mid-book, anyway. At first he's all "my way or the highway" (being from the time when it really would have been, if he'd wanted it that way), but then he gets better. Plus he's delicious, all muscle and blue eyes and arrogance. Mmmmmm.....

2. Jace Wayland (The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare)
        NO self-respecting delicious-book-boy list would neglect to include Jace. He's snarky, cocky, stubborn and tortured. He's beautiful - and he knows it. Not to mention, he's capable of turning even the most unassuming item into a weapon of lethal proportions.

3. Zane (The Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld)
        Zane's a pretty, so we know he's gorgeous and perfect. BUT he doesn't necessarily believe that it's the right way, and he's willing to risk his life to change it. Not to mention he doesn't mind doing the whole bad-boy thing and break some rules.

4. Benton Wesley (The Scarpetta novels by Patricia Cornwell)
        He's old. I'm not going to lie. WAY older than anyone previously mentioned. BUT he's awesome. He's an FBI profiler, and he's &$^%ing brilliant, and - although I haven't read the books in a long time and therefore can't be SURE - I'm pretty sure he's gorgeous, for all his old-ness.

5. Jem Carstairs (The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare)
        Everyone likes Will Herondale - snarky, arrogant, self-absorbed Will - but I really don't think I do. I mean, not with Jem around. Jem's sweet, and tolerant of Will's bad-boy act, and pretty much is the only reason Will Herondale is remotely tolerable. If Jem weren't around, all I'd want to do is punch Will. But since Jem IS around, tolerating him, it makes it easier for me to as well.

6. Cassel Sharpe (The Curse Workers series by Holly Black)
        My adoration of Cassandra Clare's books are what drew me to White Cat. Cassel, however, is the reason I've stayed. He's just a wee bit sarcastic, but the fact that he's kinda lost and tortured, and all he wanted was the truth about himself, is so endearing.

7. The Weasley Twins (The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling)
        I can't decide which one I like better! But they're both tricksy and smart, although they neither one care about school-smart, so I guess I can just be content with not knowing which one is which, much less which one I like better.

8. Nat Eaton (The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare)
        Nat is pretty cool, for a boy in Puritan times. He puts up with Kit and her headstrongness, and takes care of Hannah even though everyone else thinks Hannah's a witch (and, by association, Kit).

9. Rab Silsbee (Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes)
        Okay. What can I say? Rab has the same fierceness that Jace has, actually. He's stubborn, and he's devoted (devoted) to the cause of American independence. Plus, he believes in Johnny Tremain before Johnny Tremain believes in Johnny Tremain. Plus my mental image of Rab, since I've got nothing to go on outside of what Mrs. Forbes offers, which isn't much, if I recall from my last reading, is delicious.

10. Sarah Dessen's boys
        They'll get their own post a little later, but for now I feel like I've got to say SOMETHING about them, because my book-boys list couldn't be complete without a mention of them. So for now, just know they're all awesome enough to make it into my book-boys list of awesomeness.

11. Peeta Mellark (The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins)
        (Added because I'd forgotten him. Hot guys (even fictional ones) addle my brain!) Peeta's sweet, smart, brave, strong, deliciously handsome, and he's completely, totally, utterly devoted to Katniss, even more than Rab is the American Revolution. He'll do anything to protect her, at any cost to himself.

Ooops....

I went to sleep yesterday instead of doing a list. Oops. :)

SO today: Two! ....kinda.

List 1: Why I love the South.

1. College Football
        I hated football in high school.
        Then I came to college, and I went to a game. Watching football on television doesn't do it justice the way sitting in the student section does. College football has become my favorite sport. I love baseball, and I watch it every chance I get, but if the Auburn Tigers (War Eagle, y'all!) are playing, don't EVEN try to talk to me.

2. Summer storms
        I love storms. They make me smile, and if there's a storm, I sleep better. And for my part of the South, we get thunderstorms in the summer like other places get snow in the winter. This is why I love Southern summers.

3. The turns of phrase
        We have crazy awesome turns of phrase. Examples: Queer as a football bat (something really strange); Sit a spell (relax for a little while); Good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise (um... my comparison may be another turn of phrase: Come Hell or high water)... I mean, these are all so Southern to me that they can only make me think of "home".

4. Guys
        Southern guys. They still have some level of chivalry (they hold doors) and a large number of them are really good-looking. :)

5. Cities
        Big cities are few and far between. There are huge expanses that have no lights at all. That way, you get to see ALL the stars.


List 2: Why I Hate the South

1. College Football Rivalries.
        Ok. We know I'm an Auburn Tiger. A few months back, we Tigers found out that one of our most treasured traditions - the two live oaks at Toomer's Corner, the trees we roll after every win - had been poisoned with a ridiculous amount of herbicide. The person who (allegedly) did it is a fan of our in-state rival, the Alabama Crimson Tide. When you get to the point where you're killing trees because your athletic rival beat you in a sport, you've gone just a wee bit too far.

2. Stereotypes
        Come on. You know the stereotype: dumb, Nascar-loving bumpkins with nothing better to do than go shoot helpless animals. However, we are not ALL like that. In fact, I'd like to say that the vast majority of us are actually NOT like that. Sure I know a bunch of people that hunt. But I know a bunch more that DON'T. But the stereotypes are there, and - until the trees were poisoned - I would have said this was the #1 reason I hate the South.

3. EVERYONE drives a gas-guzzler
        Yep. You'll see plenty of cars, believe me, but - especially in my hometown area, which is RURAL - you see more trucks and SUVs than you do cars. It's kind of depressing, actually, the amount of gas we seem to waste.

4. The humidity
        Um... all those storms? Yeah, they make it awfully humid both before and after they happen. So if it's hot, the humidity means that you can't sweat, which makes it harder to cool off, and also it means that the air outside FEELS hotter than it is. Which is NOT good, even though I love the storms.

5. Cities
        There's nothing to do! If you're in a small town like Auburn is, or - even worse - a rural area, there is NOTHING available to do outside of things at your house. Which isn't exactly what most teenagers (or young adults my age) really want, although I'm content as long as I've got a book.

Car Supplies

Open my trunk (back doors, passenger doors, sunroof...) and this is what you'll find under all the junk. This is not a list of things you should always keep in your car. However, it is a list of things I consider important enough to stay in my car.

1. Blanket and pillow
        Important if you're ever stranded. Also important if you ever discover yourself to be unoccupied near a park on a beautiful day. If it's hot, you can lay ON the blanket in a grassy spot. If it's cold, you can cuddle up UNDER the blanket on a bench or something. Options galore!

2. Notebook and writing utensil
        I have a bunch myself. I've got pens tucked into the glove box, pencils in the pockets on the back of the front seats, a Sharpie in the center console, and notebooks anywhere out of the way.

3. A book (or six)
        I've messed up my fair share of books keeping them in my car. Fair warning: Hardbacks warp in the sun, and paperbacks get squished. However, once a hardback warps it's done. Paperbacks can usually be coerced back into some semblance of a uniform shape.

4. Change of clothes
        Grass stains, random spills, getting shot by a water gun loaded with red fruit-punch drink.... you never know when you'll want something not-yucky to change into. A change of clothes is your ticket out of the brand-new white T-shirt the little punks just turned pink and sticky.

5. Scissors
        Not related to above punks. Sometimes you just need scissors. Like when you buy something in those annoying sealed-plastic boxes, or need to clip some strings off a shirt, or free someone bound with zip-ties or rope. However, as they are sharp, I recommend keeping them in the glovebox to prevent unnecessary bodily damage in the unfortunate event of an accident (knock-on-wood).

6. Baby wipes
        For the occasional exploding Frosty, something to clean up with is good. Baby wipes, Clorox wipes, Armor-All, whatever. Just get the ^#*$ing Frosty off my leather.

7. USB-to-cigarette-lighter charger
        Oh no! My phone died! I don't have a car charger, but I've got the USB cord! Problem solved.

8. Auxiliary input of some type.
        For me, this consists of a cassette (yes, I've got a tape deck AND leather. I'm awesome) with a headphone cord coming off of it. Voilà, escape from that horrible song you hate. AND since you've got your USB charger, you don't have to worry about your music player (iPod, mp3, smartphone) dying. Unless it's a Walkman circa Y2K. Those don't have USB cords.

#3, or Why I Hate Tuesdays

Today has sucked. It seems to be a theme with my Tuesdays recently. SO I decided I'd do a list on WHY, exactly, I hate Tuesdays.

1. The Monday Hangover.
        Mondays suck. It's a pretty much proven fact; nobody likes Mondays, and it ALWAYS seems like, if there's gonna be something that goes wrong, it's gonna be on Monday. On Tuesday, you're always dealing with whatever went wrong on Monday, creating (surprise!) the Monday Hangover.

2. Class.
        I have night classes. I have class on Monday and Thursday too, of course; it's not JUST Tuesday that gets ALL the suck. The problem with having class on Tuesday stems from the fact that I have class on Monday, so I have to get up and work Tuesday morning on the homework I otherwise would have done Monday night. So there's that.

3. The crazy schedule.
        As a result of my Monday class, my Tuesday is ALWAYS rushed. I get up, do my homework - which takes, if I'm lucky, three hours - take a shower, go to work, leave work early for class, and then go tutor two girls. Which means I am usually lucky to EAT on Tuesdays, and my poor cat gets completely neglected.

4. Homework = Early to rise
        The fact that I have homework to do means that I have to be up at, like, 8. Which isn't really all that early - except that, since I've got night classes and a job that starts at 2, I don't have to be up before noon. I usually wake up around ten. On Tuesdays, I don't get that awesome luxury, which also means I can't really do anything Monday OR Tuesday nights. I still DO sometimes, but those Tuesdays are always the ones that suck the most.

5. Low fuel
        Mondays usually take it out of me. I work with kids, so Monday and Fridays are always the most difficult days of the week - after the weekend everyone is keyed up, and Fridays it's the weekend already and all the kids (and us) are ready to go home - but with Mondays, I haven't got the weekend to recover. So I go into Tuesday running low on patience and tolerance and energy already, so I can only handle so much.

Tomorrow I'll get back to something more interesting / upbeat. Just frustrated today haha.

#2, or Favorite Books of All Time.

List #2 is on deck now, pretty much pumped for his chance at bat. Another top ten:

My Top Ten Favorite Books of All Time, in No Particular Order

First off: I'm an AVID reader. I read EVERYTHING. So this took a while to put together in some sort of logical form. But here goes.

1. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

        Sarah Dessen, in general, is one of my favorite authors. I've got every one of her books in paperback (because they all have to match). Just Listen is one of hers that I can read OVER and OVER again. It's YA (as is most of my library) but there's nothing wrong with that.

2. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

        Yes. I'm one of THOSE. These, I have all in hardback. It took me about six months to get them all. Hardbacks are expensive, y'all.

3. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

        I. Love. This. Series. I recommend it all the time, to anyone who asks (and some who don't), because it's so good. I could go on and on and on about the Uglies series. But... I won't. Read them.

4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

        See above. Different style, same idea. Hunger Games is, granted, vastly more popular, and - since there's a movie - will be even more well-known.

5. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

        It's a 5-book sequence, complete with Good, Evil, magic, and British accents. Read them, but don't watch the movie (it sucked).

6. Rosehaven by Catherine Coulter

        Hey! First grown-up book! It's good. Romance, hatred, revenge - it's all in this one, plus it's a historical novel (set not long after the Crusades, if I'm not completely mistaken) AND there's a marten (see: stoat [see: weasel]) who is a strong supporting character.

7. The Shining by Stephen King

        Got this one for my birthday one year. Sat under a tree on campus reading it; every time someone saw me they scared me. My boyfriend at the time found it hilarious. My heart? Not so much.

8. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

        Back to the world of YA fiction! The entire Mortal Instruments series (and The Infernal Devices, the "prequel" series) should be on this list. Yummy guys. Magic. Vampires, werewolves, faeries, warlocks, angels, demons.... Must... Continue.

9. Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

        They're phenomenal. They're really quick reads, because they're actually a little younger than YA. But they can be read and enjoyed by adults - perhaps even more than the age group they seem to be geared towards - because they can provoke a lot of thought. 

10. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

        I was given these - in a single volume - for my 13th birthday. I. Was. Ob. Sessed. I read them about a gajillion times between my August birthday and the release of the first movie that December. I wore leather pants and pretended I was an elf in the woods. It was really really bad. :/

The first list! (Or, What to See Before I Die, Top 10 Version)

I like lists. They organize things into some sort of understandable, logical shape rather than discombobulated and confusing.

For starters: 

Where I'd like to go before I die: The Top Ten

1. PARIS, FRANCE

        Yeah, I know. Cliché as hell. But that's ok, because the City of Light is a cliché all its own. Also, it's called my name since I started taking French seven years ago, and - since I never stopped taking French - the sound has never stopped.

2. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

        It's LA. 'Nuff said.

3. NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

        Stuff happens in NOLA that couldn't possibly happen anywhere else. The combination of French and Spanish influences supposedly make for a very interesting amalgam of culture. Lastly: Beignets. Actually, firstly AND lastly: Beignets. They're fluffy fried pillows of delicious sunshine.

4. LONDON, ENGLAND

        Yeah, yeah, another cliché. But you know what, that's ok too. There's all sorts of things you could do there besides harass the Queen's Guard.

5. DUBLIN, IRELAND

        Welllllllll actually I just wanna see all of Ireland, but since Dublin is the city EVERYONE knows.... and what's not to love about Ireland? Well except that it supposedly rains all the time.

6. ITALY

        Rome, Venice, Florence, Naples, Verona, Pisa. Italian food (real Italian food, not Olive Garden). And hey, who knows? Maybe I'll pick up a little of the language, since it's not THAT far away from French.

7. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

        The Windy City? I think I'd like any place that earned a nickname like that. Also it seems like a pretty cool place to hang out.

8. BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND

        It's not in Ireland, although it's on the Irish island. It's a part of the UK. If I'm on the Irish island, I oughta get the whole perspective, right? Right.

9. WALES

        Love the idea of going to Wales, and maybe watching an actual shepherd with his collies. In fact, I think that one of these days I'll just hop around the whole UK, and France, and Italy, and maybe hit Spain and Germany and all sorts of other places too and just see it all.

10. NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

        ....okay. I've already been there. A couple times, actually. But really, I've only spent three days in the City itself, since most of the time spent in the state of New York with my family is spent in the relative peace you find so easily on Long Island. You could LIVE there and not know all there is to know about the City That Never Sleeps, so three days in the City means I know basically nothing about it. Except that New Years' Eve on Times Square is one of those things that can be done once and understood completely.