Pit Stop to Wonderland: Book

Showing posts with label Book. Show all posts

Monday, April 21, 2014

Sunday, January 19, 2014

I don't think I've ever had this dream that seemed so far yet it felt easy to achieve. I usually dream big, and when I say big I mean like travel the world for a whole year. But I've had this dream poking my heart every night since last year, and it has been to write my own book and publish it. God knows I love to read, I like to eat books (LIKE REALLY, EAT THEM jk) and I always come up with these plots for stories but I never write it down.

One day I decided to sit down and write a story I had been thinking about, and it has taken me month and a half to write only three chapters, that is around ten pages.

The book is a love story, it is a Young Adult book. And the main character's name is Elise. I won't tell much (i.e. nothing) about the story because I want to finish it first, but this is a dream I've had for a while now, and unlike other dreams of mine, this one is actually achievable.

The book has no title but I'm looking for something simple such as just "Elise" or something around there. I would die if I finish this book and it gets published, like this is something I would like to do as a career. Not a career really, but more like a gratifying (maybe paying, if I'm good) hobby.

Let's hope for the best!

"I got lost in his eyes, he was different than any other Chinese guy I've ever seen. His eyes were gray instead of dark chocolate like every other Asian".
"Corey said while smiling away. I could see his sparkling eyes from a mile away".

Thursday, January 2, 2014

BOOKS I READ IN 2013

I read 50 books last year! That's the largest amount of books I've read in a single year, and I never stopped; I mean, I started reading from January and kept reading until December. I even read entire series in half a week depending on the amount of books.

My Good Reads Awards

Best Series: Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan

Best Romance: Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker

Best Fiction: Matched by Allie Condie

Worst Ending: Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Most Addictive: Avoiding Series by K.A. Linde

Best Trilogy: Summer Trilogy by Jenny Han

Most Unexpected Twist: Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker

Most Commonly Read: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Characters I Grew Fond of: Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan

Best Plot: Ruby Red Series by Kerstin Gier

Friday, September 6, 2013

Week #19 (09/02/2013 - 09/08/2013)

Happy Labor Day! I really had nothing planned for today. At noon I went to Fresh Food Co. and ate a salad with bits of ham, or as I like to called it: ham with bits of lettuce. After lunch I was browsing through the Recreational Center's site, and I found about the Riverfront Park, which has Stand Up Paddle. I've been wanting to do that for more than a year, and I found a place exclusively for USF students that charges only $5 for a two hour rent. The lake was beautiful :) to get there I had to bike about 2 miles. I really loved doing SUP (stand up paddle) and I hope it becomes kind of like a leisure activity I'd do regularly. The view while in the lake was amazing, I even saw a crocodile! I wish I had brought my phone with me, I though it would get wet. But if you don't fall off or anything you don't get wet. Next time I'll bring my old iPhone in its life proof case and listen to music while paddling while also taking pictures. Back at the dorm I had easy mac for dinner, and Ricki (one of my suite mates) also gave me a homemade brownie. The rest of the night I just chilled in my room. Now I understand when Dorianne used to tell me how lonely she felt, at least she found some panamanian gals to make her company; and now Alex is going to Penn State so there will be more. I feel so lonely... Yesterday Jose and I were skyping and he was like go out and make social life, tell your roommate to go with you and see a movie. But I just can't do it, a lot of people may not understand but THIS IS NOT EASY FOR ME. The only one who understands is Rod, and thanks God he's the one who understands. I do have this thought in my mind that I could make the four years without a good friend, maybe I'm wrong and crazy but I do hope I can get a good friend. I'm just preparing for the worst. I thought I had a good relationship going on with my roommate but it seems that she's having more fun with our suite mates.. So now I'm all alone.

Tuesday started pretty awful, but thankfully ended amazing. I set my alarm at 9 AM to go to the gym, but guess what? I could not get off my bed, so at noon I went to lunch at Champion's Choice. My favorite on-campus place to eat. Ever since I've known the kind of food college offers and the free gym and other stuff to help you be healthy I've proposed myself to lose weight and tone up. Although I'm not going to the gym as much, I'm definitely eating a whole lot healthier. LET'S KEEP IT UP! I also found out in the morning that I had a Chemistry Lab quiz due today! And the material the professor gave us for the quiz was really long. So after my classes I went directly to the library and start reading. I get a text from David, one of the members of our lab group, and he texts me that he's also struggling with it that if I wanna come and help each other out. So I went to his hall, just before going there I stopped by the bookstore to buy my lab supplies since David told me they were going pretty quick. He lives at Kappa, and the interior is pretty much like Lambda. He was really tall, which I did not expect, and pretty Floridian. He did the quiz while I had the content out and vice versa, we both got 10/10. The conversation was pretty awkward, I don't know if it was me but he was all the time stuck to his phone. So when I left, it was pretty awkward. I had dinner at the library before going to David's, I had bought sushi from the MSC and a smoothie from Jamba Juice, I hope that counts as healthy. Back in the dorm since I finished the Chemistry lab quiz, and all the stress was relieved I started doing my Foundations of Engineering homework. Olivia and Kaitlyn were watching Greek while I was doing homework, and at one time Olivia asked Kaitlyn if she wanted some pop corn right in front of me. Like, she gave her a whole bag and totally disregarded me. So I'm all like, in my mind, I like pop corn too :( That's typically how my relationship is with my suite mates. I also forgot to tell you that I got bored of reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot, and now I'm reading the 4th book of the "I am Number Four" series! "The Fall of Five" by Pittacus Lore. I know it's a bad timing because right now I'm obsessed with the Percy Jackson series, but I think that's just how us readers feel when they have to wait too long for a sequel. Anyways, I'm on page 295/355 after just beginning on Sunday! It's not has fast as I used to read Percy Jackson but now I'm so much busier, so being on the mid 70% on my third day is amazing progress.

Target gave me a stuffed animal!

On Wednesday I did my usual, I got 20 minutes early to my Chem class so I sat down next to some guy. It was until something happened that I introduced myself and he was like "I already know you", it was David! From my lab group, omg how embarrassing. This is the first class I don't take notes, read chapters ahead or anything; I feel so irresponsible. After Chem I went to the Internship and Part Time Job Fair held at the Student Services area. I took information from Target and Busch Gardens, but I think I can't apply to those jobs because I'm international. So before my Calculus class I applied to a couple of jobs on campus. I'm not searching a job for the salary but for the experience, my resume is completely blank in that area. After Calculus I met with David and Victoria, my lab group, in the library for our project. We have to do a bouncy ball. We ended up having dinner together, well just me and David because Victoria met up with another friends. He was more talkative this time than yesterday thank God. When I came back to my dorm I did some homework and I logged into YouTube, then I discovered Judy and Benji are expecting! AND THEY ARE HAVING TWINS! I'm so happy and excited for them. After that I skyped with Rod :) Just before going to bed I finished the 4th book of the "I Am Number Four" series, I thought this would be the last book, apparently not. So now I'll have to wait for a fifth book :( Anyway, I rate this book 4.2 starts out of 5.

On Thursday I woke up a 6:45 AM because I had my Chem Lab class at 8 AM. I woke up Kaitlyn but I'm not sure if she was really awake because she just went to the bathroom and fell back asleep. I went to Fresh Food Co. and grabbed a banana, since I was walking because I had left my bike at the CMC because of the rain the day before I tried to hurry. I got about 30 minutes early and just sat waiting. I saw David by the door so I stood next to him, then I saw Victoria and the a guy who I later met as Ricardo. I put my lab coat, and googles. I hate the googles, they mess up with my ears. We did the bouncy ball experiment and it was actually cool. At the end of the lab I did one for myself, which I colored blue. After lab I went to retreat my bike at the building where I take Calculus I and went to the Engineering III Building for my meeting with the Academic Advisor. I had to meet with one for one of my Foundations for Engineering assignment, and show him my semester, weekly and graduation plan. His name is John Morgan, and he was REALLY cool (reminder: always schedule with him). He was very impressed with my assignment and checked marked me all down. After the appointment I picked up some food from Pollo Tropical and ate it at my dorm. Then I biked, which I calculated now and it's 3.1 miles, to Riverfront Park to do more Stand Up Paddling. It was really tiring this time around. It may have had something to do with the song and the height of the paddle (which was way too short). I came back EXTREMELY tired and drank a couple of glasses of Sprite, and then fell asleep in my bed. I woke up with Abby and Olivia making noise, and then Kaitlyn came in so my nap time was over. Grace came over to our room and talked with me and Kaitlyn for a while. They saw the photo album I made :) I went to the library around 6:30 to do my Chemistry homework, and had to leave early because my battery was dying. The homework was really long, so I haven't finished it yet. Before coming back to the dorm I bought some Panda Express (the usual). At night I skyped with my grandparents and Cristy, I felt guilty that when I called to their house to ask for the credit card's number, Apo greeted me with a huge amount of happiness and surprise and telling me how much she missed me. So I had to skype with them, because that phone call made me miss them too. About the credit card thing, I biked 3.1 miles to the park and when I got there I realized I had forgot my credit card! So I had no way of paying and my mom can't use hers because it reached it limit.

On Friday I went to my Chemistry class and Armando sat right next to me, if I forgot to tell you I met him on another of my Chemistry classes and he's from Puerto Rico but has lived here for a long time. After that class I went to the Grad Studies office to investigate about Cristy's masters but she was right, there are no Masters in Logistics here; I also went to the Education Abroad office but no one was there so since I was at the MSC I bought Chik-Fil-A for lunch. I also realized this morning that I was accepted into the Florence Spring Break 2014 program! Just one night after I applied! I'm so happy! I was doubtful at first because I would be studying about mental health instead of Michael Angelo and the field trips to mental hospitals (creepy). But there are only two visits to a mental hospital, the rest are art exhibitions and wine field trips. So I accepted. Around 5 I went out again because I had to print some stuff and in my way to the library I bought a parfait at Jamba Juice, I liked it a first but there was too much granola. For dinner I went to Fresh Food company and ate some pork and bread. Back in my dorm I finished my Chemistry homework and tried my best at math.

A pic I took on Thursday of the sunset in front of the memorial of Martin Luther King Jr.
here at USF.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Week #16 (08/12/2013 - 08/18/2013) - Last Week in Panama

On Monday I went to my last doctor's appointment before leaving to get my last shot against some disease I don't know its name. There was something going on in Calle 50 on our way to the hospital and police cars where heading towards us. Policemen were wearing gas masks and had body shields, it looks like some professors were protesting in front of a government building. It took us over an hour to get to the hospital but we made it, I got my shot and then we headed back home. On our way home we stopped by Blockbuster so I could rent some movies and store them in my external memory to take to Tampa but I didn't found anything I liked. For dinner we had some pizza. Talking about food, my mouth still hurts and it's very difficult for me to talk or smile. It looks like I have a couple of cuts in the edges of my lips because of the dryness the day of the surgery and that hurts too.

I forgot to mention that over the weekend I finished reading "45 pounds" by K.A. Barson, and it was really hmm bad. I give it 2.5 stars. After that I started reading "This is Where I Leave You" by Jonathan Tropper, this book is kind of the ones with a low start, kind of "It's Kind of a Funny Story". Today, Tuesday, Rod came by and we hung out as always :) He had to leave early though because he had a final project to begin and to finish by tonight, two projects actually.

Wednesday was a really fun day! I went to my grandpa's to use his studio to take pictures with Alex (which you can see HERE), and we had a lot of fun :) This was like our farewell activity for the two of us. Panama's traffic was horrible and I had to pick up Alex, I had to go all the way to the Cinta Costera to end up in Calle 50 to go back to Via Israel to come back to Calle 50 and cross to Via Porras, Panama's traffic is madness itself, it's not just rush hour it's every time, everyday. After the shoot I took Alex home and went back to my grandparent's to dinner with the excuse that there would be a traffic jam, I actually did it because I wanted to spent time with them before leaving. I played Hay Day with Patty and Apo until the pizza arrived and after having dinner Tia Marilu, Patty, and I played some more. Before leaving Acun and Apo gave me a big check as a gift, Acun said that it's to be used for a car when I come back. But I'm thinking in using it to my master's degree. Either way, I'm very thankful :) On my way back home I stopped by "La Mexicanita" (my favorite restaurant in the whole world) to make and order for tomorrow's farewell dinner at my house.

Thursday was my FAREWELL PARTY! A bunch of my friends came by to my house, about 25 of them, and we hung out :) Alex came over early so that she could help me with the shopping and cleaning, so before we started working we ate some lunch: KFC. We went driving because the delivery system is stressful. We both ate a Famous Bowl (my favorite dish at KFC). When we came back Rod was already here, so we ate and then went to Riba Smith to buy some snacks and drinks. We ended buying about 6 bottles of 2L Sodas, two bottles of 2L iced tea and about a gazillion packages of different flavored Oreos. After that on our way home we saw the aftermath of an accident: a police motorcyclist on the ground without a shoe and complaining about his neck next to a Toyota Yaris with the rear part bumped. I've never witness car accidents, and I wish I'll never do. At 5:40 we went out again to pick up the order of Mexican Food from my favorite restaurant, the order was supposed to be ready by 6 and they ended up finishing it at 6:40. I was okay but Alex was kind of steamed haha. We also bumped into Ambar, Tommy and Andrew at the restaurant because they were picking up food at Nora Express (dumpling place). When all of us got home the spilling began. The tres leches cake Rod bought as a surprise, spilled on the back seat of Andrew's car; the pico de gallo spilled on our way from my car to the door and soaked Rod's socks and my arm. We finally went up and Vivianne and Alfonso were already there. We set up the food and then the party started! We talked, played heads up, ate, and laugh. I didn't really got emotional but I will really miss them all. Shey got sick during the party and after she left Rod went to the elevator and saw puke all over.. We believe it was her but she hasn''t said a word about that. Zhanzhy stayed overnight because she had no way to go home. It's so funny how Zhanzhy is like my lost sister, I feel so comfortable with her :)

On Friday Zhanzhy woke me up at 8 AM so say good bye, I asked her to do that because it's going to be the last time I see her until holidays. How cute is that she left a note on my laptop saying that she loved me and that she's going to miss me? :) At 11 AM I went to the dentist, again, to have my stitches taken out. It didn't hurt but it wasn't comfortable either. At 1 in the afternoon I went with Rod to the Causeway, and we drove the whole thing until we decided to eat at Pencas. I was craving clams really bad so I order that as my main dish along with fried yucca, Rod ordered the same, which I think is the first time we've ordered exactly the same thing! After lunch we stopped by Arrocha and bought each one a frame so we could put a picture of us, which I'll be taking with me to college. We were going to stop by Popo's after Arrocha to say my last good bye but my mom didn't let me because of traffic. I really wanted to present Rod and my grandma. I think she would be the only grandparent who would actually and genuinely like Rod. Anyway.. Rod came to my house and we hung out. We did a lot of things for half an afternoon. We played the cups song and did our own song, we watched YouTube videos, played Color Sheep and talked. I didn't get emotional but I almost cracked because I suddenly realized the absence he was going to make in my life for the next four months. After Rod left I bought my MacBook Pro! I'm so excited for that!

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Downside on Book Series

I just finished reading "The Mark of Athena", book #3 of the "Heroes of Olympus" series which is a sequel to the series of "Percy Jackson and the Olympian Gods" by Rick Riordan. Over the past 8 months I've been reading like a maniac, and lots of the books I've read are not done yet. I hate to start reading a series and have to wait half a year or more to the sequel.

Among the books I'm waiting for are:

"The Fall of Five" of the "I am Number Four" series by Pittacus Lore - August 27th, 2013
The third book of the "Michael Vey" trilogy by Richard Paul Evans - September 17th, 2013
"Emerald Green", the third book of the "Ruby Red" trilogy by Kerstin Gier - October 8th, 2013
"House of Hades", the last book (I think, hope not) of the "Heroes of Olympus" series by Rick Riordan - October 8th, 2013
"Allegiant", the third book of the "Divergent" series by Veronica Roth - October 22nd, 2013
"The Edge of Always", the sequel of "The Edge of Never" by J.A. Redmerski - November 5th, 2013
"Be With Me", the sequel of "Wait for You" by J. Lynn - February 4th, 2014
The third book of the "Avoiding" series by K.A. Linde - unknown release date

These are all the books I'm impatiently waiting for. The Downside about having to wait until these books are released is that one can forget details, passion, and even the trance you are when you are reading a series. What I hate the most is to lose my passion and affection for the characters. I just hope that by the time these books get published I'll still have the need to know what the hell happened.

Friday, August 2, 2013

Week #14 (07/29/2013 - 08/04/2013) - Finals Week

Actually is not Finals Week, it's just Finals Day which is Tuesday. On Monday I was suppose to wake up at 9 AM but I suddenly woke up at 10:30. I had a blurry memory of heavy rain in the morning and Alex reassured me of that so that must have been the reason why I overslept. Either way I started studying trigonometry after watching my daily vlogs and the Kardashians and after procrastinating for three days I finished the material in half an hour.. like are you f kidding me? I was stressed for three days about it and ended up the material in half an hour. This past weekend one of the families of the vlogs I watch had their baby! Baby Ollie was born on July 27th and that vlog made me cry (Bumps Along the Way). Also over the weekend we went for lunch to Multiplaza as always and Mackay tagged along with Cristy.. I totally dislike him. I mean, if Cristy likes him it's okay and I'm happy for her, but Mackay is so strongly opinionated it stresses me... He lacks empathy to another level. I can't wait til Tuesday afternoon to finally have my well deserved three week vacation! I've been waiting for this moment 7 months! I took a break after studying trigonometry and next thing I know it's already 4 in the afternoon! How did time passed so quickly?! By 5 PM I went to Rod's because Andrew was gonna be there to help me with my precalculus extra credit. We did that and then we played some poker. All of the guys were there, Alfonso, Keny, Andrew, Tommy and Rod. We ate Chinese for dinner and I came home by 8 PM.

Tuesday I woke up at 6:30 in the morning to be early for my precalculus final so I could review with Greta. I did well on the test and after that Alex and I were supposed to go get some lunch but she bailed on me.. I stuck around with nothing to do... Then it was the trigonometry final which I did well to, one surprising thing is that on one problem I couldn't get the right answer, I tried and tried and out of nowhere I just typed the numbers in the calculator without any parenthesis, straight out of the formula AND IT WORKED! I don't care it took me so long as long as I got it right. After finals Alex had told me to go get some yogurt, and when I came out I saw that she was chatting in our friend's group and I texted her where was she, she took a couple of minutes to return my text and guess what... She bailed me again for this outing, which she proposed in the beginning. She told me she would explain later what happened but I saw a Last Seen from after we talked and she hasn't explained... If it was an emergency it's okay with me, but I feel very sad because I really wanted to hang out with her. On a happy note: I'M ON VACATIONS!! I can't believe the day has finally come, I'm SO HAPPY! Alex called me later on the day and she explained to me that she had to leave to pick up some pair of pants she needs for a photoshoot.. My steam cooled off and we started talking the usual. For dinner my family and I went to "La Mexicanita", my favorite restaurant ever! This time the beans were a little too liquid though.

Wednesday: First official day of my summer vacations. It started with errands in the morning, I finally picked up my new credit card woohoo! I also started reading "The Lost Hero" by Rick Riordan which is a series called The Heroes of Olympus that follows the Percy Jackson series. It's 3 in the afternoon and there's a severe thunderstorm, I can still see a few sun rays but other than that it's full thunders and rain. It rained pretty hard for about half an hour, now it's all dark and cold. I cleaned my room after accumulating two laundry baskets and 5 pairs of shoes laying around. I also started packing things I won't use until Tampa into a suitcase, just to scratch those items off my list. I'm addicted to packing. For the last two days Austin and Enrique have been practicing because they have a concert on their church this Sunday, right now they were playing "Hot n Cold" from Katy Perry and the singer, Austin's friend from school, is a really good singer. He has one of those different male voices.

On Thursday I went out my my mom, dad and my Popo (dad's mom) to lunch. My grandma wanted to see me before I left for college and thus we went to Lenos & Carbon in Albrook Mall. After lunch we stopped by the super market to buy her some ice cream and bread since it's difficult for her to do errands. She told me some relatives wanted her to move to Chorrera because they said her family here didn't appreciate her, I could see the hurt in her eyes like if she knew that was true but tried to denied it. It breaks my heart because I don't spend much time with her, I always say I will but I never do. I should make a quick stop before leaving and bring her some ice cream (her favorite: Casa Blanca) and hot dog bread (her favorite breakfast). Today I also learned that Ambar received the Taiwan Scholarship! I'm so excited for her, what a great birthday present haha.

On Friday I went to The Plaza in Ciudad del Saber to grab a yogurt with Alex and make some errands to the bank. Yesterday my Popo gave me some money for college and I decided to deposit it on my account. Besides that I also had a piggy bank full of coins which I also deposited, i.e. headache for the lady who has to count them. I had to use my mom's car because my dad took the Toyota because he had to go to the dentist, thankfully I did great with the car - no accidents. USF announced that they will not be accepting Visa cards for Tuition and Fees payments so my mom is now going nuts over getting a Master Card. For dinner I planned to eat a salmon and some broccoli, but the minute I saw the broccoli I chickened out! Instead I ended up eating a fish burger, yummy.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Movie vs. Book: Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief

I saw the movie years ago, and just finished the book today. I started watching the movie again to remember how was it to compare it with the book, and it definitely changed the MINUTE it started, no kidding. The movie started off Zeus accusing Poseidon's son of being a thief. In the book we don't don't whose Percy's father until chapters ahead (off course you should know by the book cover or the description). There's no Clarisse, the capture the flag teams are totally different, the whole plot is different. The search of the pearls that appear on the movie is going to another level on difference, in the book they are just trying to get to California and the pearls are a gift from Percy's father. I didn't finish watching the movie because I thought it wasn't worth it, besides the fact that I've already seen it. There are a few exceptions on movies being better than book, this wasn't one tho.

Book wins!

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Week #8 (06/17/2013 - 06/23/2013)

August is coming, and I'll be leaving Panama. At first I was, and still am, so excited. But when I think about my mom and dad, and my family; I will miss them so much. That's kind of taking the edge of my excitement. On Monday I woke up at 12:30 in the afternoon. I spent almost the whole night finishing "Ten Tiny Breaths" by K. A. Tucker which I absolutely loved. The end was so shocking. I kind of new something was up, but never imagined that would've happened. I give it 5 stars, because I really loved it. When I finish a book I suffer a reading hangover (when you are still into the previous book and can't move on to another one). I love these love stories so much, I fall in love with every guy, every story and their past. What I like most about reading is getting into the part when everybody spills out their past. Moving on, I have spent three hours watching series (Keeping up with the Kardashians and Necessary Roughness), and YouTube videos. Last weekend I was trying to convince my mom of buying a Wii U, it was a huge mistake when I bought the PS3 because I really don't like those kind of games. What I love are the fun and silly games Nintendo releases. However, my mom denied my proposal. If I still want it by Thanksgiving I'll buy it on Black Friday. Right now I'm in Season 2, episode 5; and I'm falling in love with Matt and Dani's relationship. I decided to miss MMA, I'm kind of not in the mood and I haven't finished (neither started) my precalculus homework. I'm sick of being so flaky when it comes to discipline, but I guess that's just who I am. Turned out the Sensei didn't make it on time, so I guess I saved what would've been a waste of time :) It's not the first time that I get something out of laziness.

I feel like dying every Tuesday morning, I literally just want to drop this semester and do nothing until Fall. My bf came to my house and we played Monopoly, watched TV, and kind of just chill out. I have nothing to tell from Tuesday ha ha, it's been very boring.

I don't know why I keep trying to wake up early on my free days when I know it's not going to happen. Wednesday I set up my alarm at 8:30 AM and ended up waking at 12 in the afternoon. Although I woke up pretty late, I got to finish both my precalculus and my trigonometry homework before 2 PM. I just discovered that University of South Florida has granted me an in-state tuition fee, instead of an out-of-state because I received an International Student Scholarship. That's awesome! Now instead of paying $15000, it's $5000! That's so crazy. I thought about exchanging to a more recognizable university, but at this price I don't see that coming. I was very insecure with my choice to go to Tampa. I mean, it's not a well known institution, but it's taken me months of confidence speeches to myself to be comfortable with my choice. I know I'm judged by grown ups every time I tell them where I'm going, but it's not like I'm rich to go where ever I want. I started a new book, giving up on my reading hangover of the last book. I'm now reading: "Falling Into You" by Josinda Wilder. So far it's been a little bit boring, but the start is always a slow process. At 5 PM I went for a run on the rooftop, gosh! I'm so out of shape! I only ran less than 3 KM. I feel so bad about myself. I always leave my English homework for the end of the day, because I know I'm capable of doing it quick enough to go to sleep and if I get stuck I can make up something random and leave it like that. But this homework has turned out very difficult and it's for the next day. I'm really worried, even my friends are confused. So far I hate ENC 1102. I dislike everything that has to do with reading comprehension and reasoning and blah blah blah. 6 and a half weeks more and Summer Term is finally over! Off to college (real college, not like a community college)! I really am excited and stressed at the same time, because for me to get there I have to accomplish what I've started.

Although I had a bizillion stuff to do for Thursday, it was a more relaxing day than Tuesday. I had one test, one midterm, one quiz and two homeworks I did great on my examinations, and stayed up late finishing my English homework. I did my trigonometry homework at school two hours before it's due, because I didn't know we had one assigned. At lunch I went to my car and tried to get some sleep, I even brought a pillow. Yes, that's me: forever alone. On my way back home I bought a fro-yo (banana and strawberry) and stopped by the bank to deposit my refund from the course I dropped ($693.00). I also pumped some gas because I was running low, and had to pay with cash because I wasn't sure how much money I had on my visa. Thursday was a REALLY productive day, and it wasn't even 3 o clock! A few days ago a started playing Hay Day again on my iPad. IT IS SO FREAKING ADDICTIVE. I can't stop playing. And my mom, my aunt, my uncle, my cousins, even my grandma plays it. Thursday and Wednesday have been so frustrating because I don't know what's the matter with my internet but I can't load Necessary Roughness' next episode, I'm right at the middle of Season 2 and the curiosity is killing me! Also some YouTube videos get stuck in the middle, and from the anger I just close them. I hope this issue gets fixed soon. At night my bf came over and we just hung out, chilling and talking about life.

Finally Friday! A day to relax and prepare for the weekend :) Just finished catching up with Necessary Roughness and finally got to the episodes where John Stamos appears! From now on, I won't be addicted to watch episode after episode. I'm back to my regular weekly scheduled series. It was also revealed that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's daughter is named North West, are you serious? That sounds like an airline or something. From so many names that rhyme with West, they go with North... Also, my best friend Alex came over (not really, I had to pick her up at church) we hung out and talk, and watched YouTube videos. I love that girl, I will miss her when I go :)

On Saturday me and my mom went to lunch as always at Leños y Carbon, Multicentro. We ran into my grandma's club friends, Linda and Casey. At lunch I told my grandparents about the grand savings I'll get from the scholarship and they were shocked! I haven't told my dad yet because he's not here. He just entered this new schedule of two weeks in the outskirts of town and for free days in the city, I am so excited to tell him. Around 2:30, mom went to a new hotel at Albrook Mall that was hiring people. The hotel was hiring minimum wage staff, but mom went to see if she could get something higher. When my mom came back she said that the manager asked her to come back on Monday so that the event's manager could take a look at her! I'm so excited for her, because she left her job to raise me, and she's done hell of a job.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Week #7 (06/10/2013 - 06/16/2013)

Monday started great because I woke up at 11:30 am compared to Saturday and Sunday when I woke up around 2 and 4 on the afternoon! Monday was homework day! I did my math homework at 1 am and in the afternoon I accomplished to do English. I hate English class... I like it if you only had to write essays and stuff, but when it comes to reading comprehension.. it just not suits me at all. I mean, is not that I can't do it, but it takes time and effort and those are not big qualities of mine. I finally came down... I started to watch The Bachelorette, this is the first season I've ever watch and I started because the majority of my series are done for the season and I desperately need something to watch. At the end I went to MMA and it was so great! I'm not sure if the teacher congratulates me because I did great or just because I'm the only girl in the class, either way I like those compliments because they boost my energy and focus. I also started reading a new book. When I was on the plane on my way to Seattle I started reading "Boy Meets Boy" by David Levithan, but as always I never read it throughout the trip because there are funner thing to do there. So when I came back I returned to my reading but found no interest, and that's why now I'm reading "Ten Tiny Breaths" by K. A. Tucker which so far is really good.

Tuesday went better than expected. I'm always so disgusted by Tuesdays because they really are like my Mondays because I have Mondays free, so you kind of get me right? The thing is that although precalculus was crap, English was cool. The teacher let us out 1 hour before time and I got to come back home for a little break. I had to go back for trigonometry and well... let's say I tried to learn. This is how the topics change in this class: trigonometry - math related - career life - history - FOOD. It always ends with food! Is the professor hungry or something? Well, after that I came back home and it was the rainiest I've ever drove through. It was pretty scary because I had to change lanes and stuff. The rain wasn't that bad after a while, but I wanted to train a little on the rooftop and couldn't because of the wet floor. At 8:30 pm I fell asleep and woke up at 10:00 to fall asleep again. Lately I've been very sleepy and I don't know if that's a bad thing, because in psychology they taught us that if you don't sleep much or sleep too much you should see a doctor.

Wednesday I put an alarm at 10:00 am, to fix my sleeping problem. I pressed snooze until it was 11:00 ha ha. The maid came today to clean up the house and spent over an hour cleaning my room! My room hasn't been cleaned in ages, and well she did a great job. I also created a new blog: undergroundp.blogspot.com which has self written work. I also started watching Necessary Roughness, just because John Stamos appears on it. Okay... I admit it, I have a HUGE crush on him. I love it when you start a series and it's on its 3rd season or something, and you just see episode after episode all in one day or as many as it takes. Also I got my dorm changed! I was first assigned to Castro Hall (University of South Florida) which is a traditional style, and now I'm in Delta Hall! which is a suite style. I just can't stand the chance of sharing my bathroom with a whole floor.

Thursday was strange, I woke up

before my alarm but after taking a shower I felt sleepier than ever. My first period was awesome, because we solved the homework on the board and it wasn't boring at all because I was trying really hard to understand. English was also awesome, besides the part when I discovered we had a quiz 10 minutes before the class. Well, it was awesome because the professor let us out one hour and 30 minutes earlier! And the positive vibe kept coming when the trigonometry professor didn't put the quiz scheduled for that day. At the end of the day I went out on a date with my bf to my favorite Mexican Restaurant ("La Mexicanita" in Panama is situated in El Dorado). Also I found a green juice recipe. I'm not a fan of veggies, and I was watching It's Judy's Life (YouTube Vlog) and her husband is like an organic maniac and has a YouTube channel of recipes and stuff; and I found the green juice video, so I'll definitely do that to stay healthy.

Friday was errands day, bummer. I went to two banks, and spent more than 4 hours in them. I had to update my accounts because I'm not a baby anymore and I need adult accounts. The ladies who took care of us were nice but the waiting line was horrible! After that we stopped by the supermarket to buy my green juice ingredients, what happened? A disaster. The thing is, here in Panama, they don't sell fresh spinach everywhere so I had to buy canned spinach. And it was horrible, oh my God :S And throughout the day my muscles have been screaming with pain. Not bad pain, but pain from the workouts. At the end something really awesome happened! At mma I had my first combat, and I think I won! It lasted only a couple minutes because it was just a test.

Saturday was a really fun day with my mom. We went shopping and bought a father's day gift for my grandpa. We bought him a pair of shorts, plaid ones; I wanted to buy him some red ones but he'd never use them, sigh. After that, we went to Blockbuster and rented a bunch of movies. Today I watched The Watch, starring Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn. I though it was a comedy but it's more of a hmm alien/comedy/action movie. My mom and I are planning to buy my dad a tablet for father's day! He's never wanted something expensive because he feels like it's a waste of money, but mom and I just want him to feel special on his day. At the end of the day mom, dad and I went to an Italian restaurant: "Los Toneles" (situated at El Dorado, Panama. And has been renewed.). Mom had raviolis, dad had fried rice with seafood, and I had a pepperoni pizza. Usually our conversations at the table when we go out to dine are super awkward, but today was cool because it had a flow. We talked about when I'll go to college in August, about a future trip to Asia, among other things. I love my dad, he is awesome.

And oh yeah, there's a party downstairs, like 9 floors down, and I can hear it like it's in my living room. Tonight's gonna be a good night, not.

Happy Father's Day! Sunday was a lay back day. Mom and I went to buy dad's new tablet! Which will be delivered on Monday or Tuesday because they where out of stock. We also did some grocery shop and I bought again the ingredients for the green juice but this time I bough fresh spinach (had to go to a different super market). I did it and it turned out all right (Note to self: peel off the apples because the skin does not blend well. I also added a little bit of orange juice to camouflage the spinach flavor). And for dinner the whole family gathered and we had Chinese, where I ran into my favorite uncle. He's quite young for being an uncle and we used to go to the movies together. He's distanced himself for a couple of years now and I do miss him, but whenever I see him I feel that uncle to niece spark we've always had. At the end of the day we went to my grandpa's house to see the pictures we all took in a big screen with a projector. It was fun, I love to spend time with my family; if only some of them would like that too, sigh.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Good Reads #2

For most of you is summer time! How exciting? Well not for me, I enrolled in summer term. Nevertheless, I still read quite a lot. And here are some readings I would like to share with you:

This name will sound totally bizarre and it's not one of those, let's call them cliche book, those who become famous and have a movie and so on. This book was written in 2009 and it's called "Tales of the Madman Underground" by John Barnes. It took me more than my average time to finish this book, besides that is over 500 pages, I had a really rough week that week. So back to the book, is about a group of teenagers who call themselves the Madmen Underground, this group was created in school to help children that had problems or act abnormal in class. The truth is, they do have problems at home, but the group never changed a thing because the instructors where, well... incompetent. This book narrates the story of Karl Shoemaker and peeks into everybody in the group's troubles. I learned a lot of humble from this book. It reminded me a little bit of "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", they don't have as much similarities but still.

Book #2 I recommend is called "The Edge of Never" by J. A. Redmerski (btw. just dicovered that it has a second part, I'll be giving you feedback of this one later when it's published). This book is not the normal romantic novels in which the boy meets the girl in school and they both have superpowers or whatever and they fall in love and more BS. I liked this book because the place they met was unusual, the activities they did were too. I mean they were on the road. I think a story is more exciting if it's on the road rather than a specific place. This book was one of the first ones I read after my three year long reading break, and I totally fell in love with it. The end was super shocking (in an amazing way) and I'm super excited to read the sequel. In conclusion, this book is very different from those you've read, and it'd worth a shot.

And finally, book #3, for the fans of superpowers and heroes, is the Lorien Legacies. The Lorien Legacies consist of four books so far: "I Am Number Four", "The Power of Six, " The Rise of Nine" and soon to come out "The Fall of Five" by Pittacus Lore. I actually watched the movie several years ago, but as every reader tells you: the books are so much better than the actual movie. In this case the movie changed a lot of things. One thing I don't like about movies based on books is that most of the time they skip the very beginning of the book; usually the beginning of the book is the principal telling you his story, how he or she got there or just a peek of their personal thoughts.
I actually discovered the book after I saw a movie, and I was in no intention to read the series. But one day at Target, I was searching for the Divergent series in hardcover so I could have it in my bookshelf additionally to the kindle version I have. And as I was walking through the aisle an old lady saw me taking a book: "Free Four", which was a little extension of Divergent; and asked me if that was part of the Lorien Legacies. I politely said no, and recommended the Divergent series, because the old lady was looking for something to read. As I recommended her my favorite book at the time she did the same, and I ended up purchasing "I Am Number Four".This book is about a group of alien kids than come from a just-destructed-planet, and their mission is to stay alive and develop their powers. They are distributed all over the world (initially only 9 kids), and their enemies are on the hunt for them. The thing is: they can only kill them in order, that is 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on. This book was very very good, and for fiction fans this would be like the next Harry Potter (but not as great OBVIOUSLY).

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Week #3 - Vacay (05/06/2013 - 05/12/2013)

Monday I slept until 11:00 A.M that's not late for me, that's usually the time I wake up when I'm neither tired nor hyper. But today I had the privilege because I'm on my one week vacation! I went for lunch with my two best friends to La Nostra Pizza (which if you are in Panama, is located in front of Do It Center in El Dorado). We shared a Big Jim which had pepperonni, salami, chicken and ham. I also got a roommate request via RoomSync in Facebook (I'm going to University of South Florida this Fall). I never though I'd get a request... I'm shy, quiet, and pretty much a couch potato. The good news is my maybe roommate is too! How exciting to have someone as your roommate who is almost exactly like you. And at night I went to MMA. Today was full locks. Yuck! I got a sweat bath again.

My anniversary outfit: Wool sweater from
Zara and a Tribal skirt from Forever 21

On Tuesday I went to lunch with my BFF again to T.G.I. Friday's. We had the executive lunch where you can have an entree, main, and dessert for only $10. Then she came to my house and just hung out and watched YouTube videos (she's a big Rita Ora fan). At 7:00 P.M. my boyfriend took me out for dinner for our third anniversary. We went to La Hacienda Real, which is a Guatemalan steakhouse, my boyfriend ordered entails and I had a filet Mignon. We joined our meals with an amapola and a melon smoothie, and for dessert a strawberry cheesecake. The service was really good, and the quality of the food was outstanding. The tenderness of the steak was unique. And at the end of the day I fell asleep reading "Ruby Red" by Kerstin Gier. So far it's been a really good choice of reading.

Wednesday was a lay back day. I woke up at 11;00 AM, did nothing for a while, had fried chicken for lunch, and went out to buy those plastic bags that shrink your clothes for my trip to Seattle. I also rented some movies in Blockbuster ("The Five-Year Engagement", "Rise of the Guardians", "Iron Man 1", "Wreck It Ralph", and "Here Comes the Boom"). I watched "The Five-Year Engagement" starring Jason Segel. I give it 3.8 stars. The beginning was a bit off, but I liked the end, plus I love Jason Segel. And at 9:30 PM I went for my MMA class. Guess what? I was the only one who showed up... Is it better to be the only one? or worst? In my case, it was for the better. The coach focused more on my techniques and helped me with special movements, because I'm very short, and some movements are harder to do the regular way.

On Thursday I woke up early to play tennis with my two cousins in the Sheraton Hotel. We are awful, but we play because we have played our whole life (that we have played our whole life doesn't mean we are good at it). After the match we went for lunch with our moms and our grandma. I had a sancocho (Panamanian soup), my younger cousin had some waffles, my older cousin a wrap, and mom and my aunt a salad and my grandma had a bandeja tipica (a dish full of native food). Have you heard "Warrior" of Demi Lovato? The lyrics are insane! I love how Demi writes, and also the way she sings it; because I can feel the pain in her eyes, even if I'm not seeing her. It's amazing. I also finished "Ruby Red" by Kerstin Gier, the epilogue blew my mind! However the actual ending of the book was kind of lame, although the end of "Ruby Red" was kind of lame, I bought "Sapphire Blue"(the sequel).

Friday, May 10, 2013

Good Reads

Here are some books I recommend for this month of May:

"Wait For You" by J. Lynn is about a freshman who decided to leave her hometown in Texas and go to an out of state college. She decided to leave due to reasons of her past (boy problems), and she had no intend to have a relationship in her new life. However, she met Cam. Cam is so so so so sweet! I fell in love with him. Their love story is amazing. I give this book 4.8 stars.

"Avoiding Commitment" by K. A. Linde is somehow like "Wait For You", somehow in the sense that their present lives are affected by their past actions. However, I liked better "Avoiding Commitment". This story was so much original, and captivating. "Avoiding Commitment" as a sequel: "Avoiding Resposibility", which if you read the first book I'm sure you won't resist reading the sequel. I give this book 5.5 stars out of 5! I won't tell you who I fell in love with, because that would spoil you so bad.

And if you are tired of silly romances and want some goddamn action on your readings, here is: "Divergent" by Veronica Roth. I read "Divergent" on December 2012, and every time someone asks me for a recommendation I recommend this book. Personally I didn't like "The Hunger Games" that much, and I would definitely choose "Divergent" over "The Hunger Games". Divergent is about a society divided into different sections depending on your personality. Amity (friendly), Erudite (knowledge), Dauntless (brave), Candor (honesty) and Abnegation (selfless). A war develops because the bad guys are trying to eradicate those who can qualify in more than one section (divergent). I'm into romances a bit more than action novels, but this was definitely a 5 star.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Week #2 (04/29/2013 - 05/05/2013)

Monday was free because of Labor Day (here in Panama), so I decided to wake up at 7:00 AM (didn't happen) to spend the whole day studying for my math test. It all began with my finger touching the snooze button, one, two, three and plus more times until is was 9:30 AM. I can't believe I spent from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM studying, that's a new record for me! Of course I had my little breaks (including random dance breaks).

I did my exam on Tuesday, I don't wanna jinx it so I won't tell you how it went. Later in the late afternoon I went for a jog. I love running, because there's nothing else to think about than to keep up. I love the soreness in my muscles, and the pain it brings afterwards. I feel great with myself, inside and out. There's just one thing.. Every time I run I feel like I'm getting bigger rather than smaller, unlike MMA that does make me smaller. Today I ran 4 km. I also finished "It't Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini, totally recommend the book. I read Little Women when I was in 11th grade, and lately I've been craving to finish it. So I bought the Little Women series (Little Women, Good Wives, Little Men, Jo's Boys).

On Wednesday I spent the WHOLE day studying for my Biology Final. Thank God "Little Women" only cost $1 because I got pretty bored, so I decided to leave it alone until I crave it again and leave it again. So, new book: "Ruby Red" by Kerstin Gier. My boyfriend gave it to me as a gift for our 3rd anniversary this May 7th :).

I did my one to last Final Exam on Thursday, it was Biology. 5 chapters in one exam, studied in one day: INSANE. I think I did pretty well, plus there were like 20 points of extra credits and extra credit assignments. I mean.. with that much extra credit who wouldn't go well? The rest of the day I just battled with falling asleep while studying for my Psychology Final.

And finally Friday! I did great on my Psychology Final! The rest of the day I slept, saw "New Year's Eve", and doodled. I did a Pikachu, I'm not that good at drawing but it makes me relax and have fun. About the movie, I can't believe I haven't seen it until today. I already saw the one of Valentine's Day, and I like these movies. It's funny how you can tell many stories in one movie and connect them someway at the end. What we need now is a funny Thanksgiving's movie.

Enjoy everyday as if it's your last.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

A Powerful Mind - How To Manage Stress

There are two types of stress for me: the one where you are totally blocked and you barely make it through just before falling into the deadly tentacles of death, and the one where I feel it extremely easy to finish a task thanks to the motivation of stress.

Now. How do I transform the first type of stress (let's call it the Tentacles of Death), to the second type (the Anchor To Happiness)? For me it's simple, maybe for you it's different but we may have some similarities. What I do is visualize myself finishing everything I have to do, and when I finish visualizing it I realize it's really simple. And that whatever is stopping me from getting there is pure bullshit.

So whenever I'm blocked I just visualize, for example: today I have to study five chapters of Biology for the day after tomorrow. Gosh that sounds like a lot doesn't it? Well maybe if I just spend an hour on each chapter without any distractions, I might finish and still have time to catch up on my reading this week (It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, that's where I got the tentacles and anchor stuff).

The only obstacle in between you and your Anchor of Happiness is yourself (actually just your mind), and how can you counter the Tentacle of Death? With mind itself. Mind vs. mind. You are your own enemy.

Recommended book: It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, what I learn from this book (and I haven't finish it yet) is that school might seem like a huge problem, like getting a job and having a place to live are all you need. But really, that's not the meaning of life. It's not up to me to describe what's its meaning, but I think you get the idea.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

A Male Baboon Displaying Full Threat.

It looks to me that he's just tired haha

Monday, April 15, 2013

Jesus is..

I am an active reader. I read whenever I can. Usually I read Young Adult books that involve romance or even some sci fi books. But this week, as I was scrolling down goodreads.com I stumbled with a book I've heard of. I'm not a believer at all but when Justin Bieber made a shoutout of the book it intrigued me. "Jesus is: Find a New Way to Be Human" by Judah Smith.

"I don't mean to insult anyone. But freedom starts with honesty. We aren't doing ourselves any favors by defining ourselves as good and others as bad. Let's just agree we all need help, that we are all in this together."
Now, isn't that so true? When you compare yourself with someone 'worser' and tell yourself you are not that bad considering. I'm only by page 50 so far, and I have highlighted 13 segments I have loved.

What do you do when a friend or family member is doing something considered bad? Come on.. Think about it. The book says that "if Jesus had one shot at fixing us, he'd tell us how much he loves us". Does that makes any sense to you? It does to me. It's not your job to tell wrong from right and apply those as laws for a good morality. Everyone has their on level or grading of what's right and what's wrong. I think Jesus handled the fixing very well. When you are doing something 'wrong' you normally think about yourself and no one else. But what I feel when Jesus tells me that he loves me, is that there's someone who cares, there's someone expecting me to do the right thing. Althought you shouldn't do something for anyone than yourself, it feels pretty damn good to be kind of a role model or making somebody proud.

Jesus is our friend. Don't forget about him, he's what keeps you from falling.

Book recomendation: Jesus is: Find a New Way to Be Human by Judah Smith.

Pending: watch Judah Smith's youtube videos.

Pit Stop to Wonderland

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