SciFi Party *SPOILERS*

Recently, I've been reading a lot more than usual.  One of my favorite genres of books is science fiction.  I think that the obsession started when I picked up The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins in junior high.  Ever since I read that book (and the other two in the trilogy), I've been hooked onto sci-fi stuff.  And Peeta Mellark, of course.   

The sad thing is, I haven't been able to actually read books (that I want to read, not all the school assigned stuff) for fun since who knows when.  So, right after finishing my finals, I went to the library, headed to the new books section and checked out a bunch of the good stuff.  It turned out that I was actually right in time for the wave of new books from my favorite authors!  You know, how a really good book comes out and you have to wait until the next year or two for the second book to get published?  Yeah, that's what happened to me. 

I came out of the library, gleefully holding the new copies of Insurgent by Veronica Roth (Divergent Trilogy), Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin (Ashfall Trilogy), and The Doomsday Code by Alex Scarrow (Time Riders Series).  Of course I also had some other not sci-fi stuff: Princess Academy: Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale (quite feminist, in my opinion), Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson (a very interesting novel on the whole Peter Pan adventure from surprise, surprise, Tiger Lily's point of view!), and some other books I can't remember now. 

*HERE IS WHERE THE SPOILERS ARE INVOLVED.  I ADVISE YOU NOT TO READ ON UNLESS YOU HAVE READ THE BOOKS MENTIONED ABOVE.  UNLESS YOU TRULY WANT TO, OF COURSE*

As I read these books, some things struck my mind:

1)  Almost all of my most favorite sci-fi books are TRILOGIES.  Gah.  Drives me crazy.   
-The Hunger Games Trilogy
-Divergent Trilogy 
-Ashfall Trilogy
-Across the Universe Trilogy by Beth Revis
-Exodus Trilogy by Julie Bertagna 
-Birthmarked Trilogy by Caragh M. O'Brien
I wish that the author wrote a bit more for some of the trilogies, but others seem just right with three books.  But doesn't it bother you that so many of these sci-fi stories are trilogies??

2)  The main character basically goes insane.  Kind of.  In two trilogies at least.  

-In the third Hunger Games book, we see Katniss Everdeen basically lose it.  She can hardly think for herself since she's been through so much trauma.  Her first Games, the Quarter Quell, her sister dying, her friends dying, Peeta being captured, Gale being his usual introverted and selfish self, her own insecurities, and being controlled/used by a totalitarian government.  At the end of the book Katniss has to take morphling (morphine) to numb her emotions.  So there you have it, your average drug addict, crazy, war-like main character.  

-And now, to Tris Prior from the Divergent Trilogy.  The third book has yet to come out, but in Insurgent (the second book), we can see the beginnings of Tris becoming crazy.  Driven by guilt from killing her friend, Tris feels like she can't connect with anyone around her.  She doesn't want to admit to anyone that she killed her friend, so she harbors all these feelings inside her and becomes distant with Tobias/Four.  He becomes so bothered by her secretive nature that he threatens to break apart from their relationship.  Sad... 

3)  THE LOVE TRIANGLE.  The dreaded love triangle that makes the books have that final icing on top.  Let's see who's entangled...

-The Hunger Games: Katniss, Peeta, and Gale.  Just to make it clear, I'm Team Peeta all the way.  Gale is just such a loser!  He's too dark and stormy for someone who was already dark and stormy.  I was so glad when Katniss ended up with Peeta.   (Sorry to anyone who is a fan of Gale's...)

-Ashfall Trilogy:  Again, I have only read the first two of the trilogy because the third is still in the making.  But...  Alex, Darla, and Alyssa!  I feel like even though Alex and Darla are pretty much set in stone, Alyssa will come back and try something in the third book.  

-Birthmarked Trilogy:  Gaia, some guy, and another guy.  Sorry, I can't remember their names right this moment because I read the first and second books so long ago!  I'm aiming to catch my memory up soon; I'm holding the third book in the library!

Yeah, so these are my thoughts on sci-fi books right now.  I hope you were able to sit through this whole thing without having endings of books spoiled.  Actually, I realize now that this whole post is kind of pointless, since not a lot of people have read the same books as me.  Oh well.  Then I hope you found some new books to read from this post!  Thanks for reading.  

Winter Manicures: Gradient Nails! (A cutepolish Design)

Time for a new nail polish design!  I was browsing cutepolish's YouTube channel when I came across this elegant but easy design.  I knew I had to try it out even though the video was called "Prom Nails".  I've also added the video on this post, so my advice to you is: 
1) Watch the video.  
2) Read my steps. 
3) Try the design by mixing the cutepolish's and my advice/steps together.
4) Like the video.
5) Share my post.  :)

Enough of the ramble...  Here it is!

A different lighting, taken at night.

I USED... 

*All of these polishes can be changed/altered to your liking.  Obviously.*

~Sally Hansen, Advanced Hard as Nails: Strengthening Top Coat

~Revlon, Multi Care Base + Top Coat (965)

~A light purple polish.  I don't really know what brand it is, because it's all written in Japanese.  I can't read that...  Anyways, any color will do for this design.  Except for very dark ones. 

~claire's cosmetics, sparkly nail polish, tinted rose-ish

STEPS I TOOK AFTER WATCHING THE VIDEO

1.  Apply your base coat!  You might want to do it several times.

2.  Take the color that you want to use (mine was the light purple) for this design and wipe as much paint as you can off on the side of the bottle.  Your brush should NOT be laden with paint.

3.  Apply whatever is left on the brush about three quarters of the way down your nail.  Everything besides the bottom portion of your nail should look like a terrible nail job.  It's your choice if you want to leave the bottom quarter uncolored.  I chose to dab a little bit of paint all the way down because I have shorter nails.  LET EVERYTHING DRY.

4.  Do step 2 again, but this time, leave a little bit more paint on the brush.  

5.  Apply the paint halfway down your nail this time.  LET EVERYTHING DRY.

6.  Gather a regular amount of nail polish on your brush and apply it to the very tip, or the top fourth of your nail.  LET EVERYTHING DRY.  

7.  Sparkle time!  Apply the sparkly nail polish (any will do, as long as it has larger sparkly pieces and the glitter isn't multicolored) on all of your gradiented nails.  This sparkle layer will kind of distort the chunky layers of color underneath and make them all blend together!

8.  And as always, a top coat will seal the deal.   

*Warnings/Tips* 

-does not work well with dark colors unless you're very, very experienced/ambidextrous.  Ugh.  I had to find out the hard way.
-work on all your nails on the same step.  In other words... do one step on all of your fingers and let it dry completely.  Starting and finishing one hand and then going on to the next makes the layers uneven (again, unless you are ambidextrous).   
-I feel like this would look really good during the winter in an eggshell blue.  Just a thought.  :D

I really really really liked doing this design.  It was beautiful and very easy.  Thank you, cutepolish!   Remember to check out cutepolish's YouTube channel for more original designs.  Thank you all so much for reading and have fun!

Blogs I Follow

Hello!  You may have noticed that my blog has morphed drastically since the last post.  First of all, the whole background/theme is more plain, with a gray-ish color scheme.  I don't really know why I changed it; I guess I wanted a blog that was easier on the eyes?  I really don't know, haha.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to figure out how to give it all a light blue tint soon though.  

Secondly, I've got some new gadgets in the right-hand column.  You can now follow my posts by email just by entering your email into the little box.  At the very bottom, there's a list of the blogs that I follow.  And here's a little rundown on what they are about...

-BEAUTIFUL STRANGERS*, Dear Libera, and Mini Angels are all blogs about the Libera boys choir.  Whenever there's new info for Libera fans, you can expect these three blogs to keep you on your toes.  

-Booyahitsriya is a blog made by a close friend of mine.  Her blog features fashion, make-up tips, and of course the ever popular music of the month.  

-hello...mero is also a blog by one of my friends.  I don't really know how to describe it though, since it covers anything that crosses her mind.  She's currently studying in Singapore (lucky duck!  I've always wanted to be a transfer student of sorts) and she updates readers on her latest experiences.   

-MY MILK TOOF (the cutest blog EVER): I've already done a post on this, so check out the link here.

-The Christian Pupil (my cool Christian blogger friend :)): same for this blog, check out the link right here. 

Please, please, please check out these amazing blogs!  Meanwhile, I'll go finish my post about the new nail design...

Finals Week O.O

FINALS WEEK.  In other words I am totally sleep deprived, studying (more like cramming) my butt off for stuff I should have started reviewing a month ago, having study parties with friends (in which we don't study much at all), being very jealous of the kids that had their finals before winter break (it forces them to study, you know?), and... lacking on blog posts.  

Yes, yes.  I know that I still need to tell you all about my onething experience.  And yes, I do have a new nail art/manicurish thing to share, but I do need to have priorities.  So I'm very sorry if you don't hear from me until sometime next week.  But don't worry, I have a four day weekend to waste after finals.  HUZZAH.  Wishing the best of luck the unlucky students that also have not taken their finals yet!! 

Libera: Flashback on 2012 Concerts

Here's a great video by a fan, Yuki BOL, that captures bits and pieces of almost all of Libera's amazing concerts during the year 2012.  The first part covers the choir's meet and greet/autograph session after their concert in Singapore.  The second part has pictures and short videos of Libera in the Channel Islands, Ireland, and a couple more places.  They've gone to so many locations in Asia and Europe, and they've even come here to the US (though not during 2012, and sadly before I found out about them).  I believe that Yuki has gone to almost all of their concerts this year, except for one.  Wow... that makes me a little jealous, but very impressed at her great fandom and ability to travel at the same time!  To keep up with Yuki and the latest news on Libera, check out her blog, Dear Libera.  She also has a Youtube channel that can be found here.  Take a look and remember to like the video if you enjoyed it!

First Post of 2013!... Plus Some Other Stuff

Woohoo everyone!  We made it to the year of 2013!  I'm so glad and thankful that I started this blog.  And I also appreciate you faithful followers that read all of my posts, whether you found it boring or not. 

Source: dryicons.com

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas; I certainly did.  My family has a tradition of getting together with all our extended family and just having a huge party just like that.  We eat, talk, play Just Dance 2 (every year without fail), watch movies, and pray for the new year to come.  Unfortunately, I'm about four and a half years older than all of my cousins, so I had to entertain myself with an assortment of kiddie toys.  But how can I complain?  My cousins are the cutest, the food was awesome, and the gifts I received were awesomer!  Please excuse my grammar.

As for the new year, I was privileged to be able to travel to Kansas City, MO with one of my best friends.  We attended the onething conference hosted by IHOPKC (Dec. 28- Jan. 1), which was one of the most uplifting experiences of my life.  It was just something about being in the Kansas City Convention Center with about 25,000 other people in a darkened room with spotlights, and singing and worshiping your heart out about how much you love Jesus (That was definitely a run-on sentence, but it's the only way I can describe it).  And it's just so amazing to be able to celebrate the new year by praising God in the middle of the night.  Or rather the morning, since it was 12 am.  I promise I'll be posting more about the conference when I'm finished with my homework that I should've done last week (seriously, it should be considered a crime to give out homework over winter break!). 

One last thing before I go, I've updated all of the pages: playlists, my music archive, and my book archive.  Be sure to check them out for my favorites from the last few months!  

Thanks for reading, and I hope you had a very wonderful Christmas, an amazing New Year, a Happy Hanukkah, a great winter break, and any other holiday you celebrate!