today's a good day to be happy

In other words, things that are making me smile (or laugh, because I'm definitely more of a laughing person) right now are:

- At last, a day with a cloudless (or almost cloudless sky) and the sun. And, today's one of those days where it's not too hot and not too cold. It's just a nice, peaceful summer day. :)

- The past few days have been filled with thunderstorms, mini power outages (or as my brother kindly reminds me the correct term each time- brownouts), and overall a very gloomy atmosphere, although...the storms did provide for some good sunset photo-ops. :P



- Spending a couple of hours on a Saturday evening reading Only the Good Spy Young and finishing up Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days. The last few pages of Dog Days are pure gold. If I wasn't in a bookstore at the time, surrounded by other people, I wouldn't have had to restrain my laughter so much (which was very hard, by the way)...


- Reading old essays, journal entries, and the like. Those are always fun to read. ;)


- Almost finishing up with my AP English homework, and starting with my AP Government homework. Reading through the entire Constitution is not as tiring as one may think, though it is very hard to concentrate when the sun is shining, and just *calling* you to run outside.

- While cleaning out my room, I found not one, but three $5 fine forgiveness coupons for my library, so now I have $15 to waive fines with! Yippee! I mean...*cough*cough* Me? Need fine forgiveness coupons for the library?! That's preposterous! Why would I need them in the first place? *cough*cough*I always turn my books in on time *cough*cough*


- Speaking of the library, I just checked a couple minutes ago, and I have this book waiting for me to pick up! For some reason, I feel really really really excited to read this book. So excited, that I'm literally bouncing as I'm typing this. I haven't felt this excited about going to the library to pick up a book since well...a very long time, and I have absolutely no idea why I'm sooo eager about this book as I am right now. Maybe it's the luscious cover? Or maybe because it involves candy?! Or maybe, it's just because it looks just plain old fun.


- Reading Shannon Hale's old interview with Brandon Mull. That picture on the bottom of that post is very, er, priceless. :D

- Seeing old elementary school friends who I haven't seen in 5 years!

- And, of course, reading through this post is certainly making me smile (and laugh along the way). :)

--------

So what's been making you smile lately? :D

Talks and Laughs

I recently ( like just about an hour and a half ago) learned how to make and edit podcasts, and I'm really excited about that that. So anyway, because of that, I've been wondering...would you like to hear audio reviews of books and/or movies perchance? It's just going to be maybe two to five-ish minutes of me talking about the book/movie/something else, saying it if I recommend it or not, and everything else that goes into a proper review, so you know, just like a typical review, except audio style, and maybe with a little music here and there. I won't stop writing reviews, and the audio reviews will be there like once a week or once every two weeks. It's just a little experiment for this blog. :)

And maybe...if it's successful, and I learn how to improve it, I'll also have a few guests on the show! (Ok, now i'm getting a little too excited...ha.)

So what say you, wonderful readers? I'm still just contemplating about the idea, so I sort of need some input. I put a poll on the sidebar. :)

And for a few Thursday laughs:

July Revelations/Thoughts

- Though this summer has been enjoyable, something felt wrong about it, and then two nights ago, I realized why! I didn't make a summer to-do list. Hehe. As an organized/ OCD person, I can't live without planning and lists. I have 21 things to do, and if I don't get them done, I'll turn insane. But I'm just so glad I figured what was wrong because that weird feeling was really getting to me.

- So it took 3 days to download Illustrator, and gah! I think it might be my favorite graphics application! And OMG, the new iMovie is simply awesome too!!!!!!! (<----- You can tell that I'm really excited about it when I'm using waay too many exclamation marks than necessary!) Since I don't need my brother to teach me iMovie like he had to with Illustrator, it's so much more fun. I feel like myself with iMovie again. Yes, I am a technology geek. :)

- I'm reading Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (about time, eh? :P), and I love Sam. He's interesting to read about, and my, all the attention and admiration the prose got is well deserved! It's gorgeous and enchanting. The only problem *ducks from all the shoes that will be thrown at me* is that Grace's life is diminishing little by little with each page since she's soo caught up with Sam, but since this is a romancish novel, it's excusable...

- On Sunday, 2:30 Eastern time, the Soccer game between the Netherlands and Spain will start! I'm so fired up for the match because Soccer is the only sport I watch, and it's the final game for the World Cup championship! Eep! I was so sure that Germany was going to take the cake this year (I mean, they beat Argentina 4-0...), but this is okay I guess, since I don't exactly have a team I'm rooting for. The match should be very interesting, and may the best man, er, team, win! If you're watching the World Cup, what do you think about the game at this point?

- And, before I forget, I created a blogroll. Tell me if I missed anyone!

Words of Wisdom from Samwise Gamgee

Because we all need some inspirational quotes to keep us going through life (me, especially), here's one of the most encouraging and inspirational quotes, I believe, ever written in literature:

"It's like in those great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were; and sometimes you didn't want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it as when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it'll shine out clearer. Those were stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances to turn back only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding onto something."

-Samwise Gamgee*

Thanks to From Elysium for reminding me of this beautiful quote. :)

* Whenever I think of Sam or the Shire, this tune starts to automatically through my head. So peaceful, reassuring, and brilliant in a way... :D