Let’s see, where to begin?

I think I’ll make a list of current issues clouding my sanity and try and make sense of them all, here goes…

1. UNI!

   I am studying a course I absolutely hate but am faced with the reality that I only have 5 months to go.  It would be pointless to drop out now.  Unfortunately the decision might be made for me.  I’m awaiting results that determine whether or not I’m allowed to return to Uni next semester.  Anything less than a 65 on the final, and I’m gone!  Needless to say the last week hasn’t been a very peaceful one.  I just can’t sit still.  I feel like something terrible is going to happen but I can’t do anything about it.  What happens when I open the results page and there’s a big fat F staring at me?  How do I tell my parents?  I used to be little miss perfect, but now I don’t know who I am…

2. The Wedding – This requires further dissection:

• The Mum’s – Please leave us alone!  We are the one’s getting married and footing the majority of the bill.  This is supposed to be a joyous occasion yet you’re making it anything but.  So what if the reception venue is smaller than what you’d like?  Just cut down your numbers!  We’ve already moved venues for you and you’re still not happy, where do we draw the line?
• The bridal party – Don’t even get me started!  I’m afraid to post anything on the topic at risk of offending people who really don’t deserve it.  Let’s just say that I never considered myself a fussy person, now equal numbers seem to be a big deal to me.  How do you choose someone to go when they all seem willing but you can tell none of them really want to.  Or do they?
• It’s too far away – Can’t we just get married now?  Run away?  Never come back?  Start life over again?  In my dreams right Buni? =p

3. Valentine’s Day

Today was a wonderful day.  I have been blessed with the most amazing fiance a girl could ask for.  I still can’t believe he’s all mine!  If it weren’t for him I wouldn’t be here and I really mean that.  He has helped me through so many things and continues to get me through to this day.  He inspires me to find out more about myself and to live out my dreams, he loves me no matter what and would do anything for me.  What more could I possibly ask for?  In him I have everything I could ever dream of having.

I know that because I have him, the things I worry about don’t matter.  That doesn’t stop all of these negative thoughts from passing through my head.  I want to be perfect for him but he just wants me the way that I am.  That’s all I ask of him so why shouldn’t it be the same for me?  If only life was as simple as that.  It should be.  Why does society pose so many rules on us all?  Why can’t I just do what I want to do?  I’m not sure what that is, but I think if I was given a chance to find it, without having so much pressure put on me to find it sooner I wouldn’t be in such a mess right now.  I’m going to keep searching and keep fighting.  There are too many people who rely on me, and for reasons that I can’t yet see, people who love me for who I am.  I hope that one day I’ll see what they see.  That I’ll know what it’s like to have self esteem, and to appreciate myself, look back on my achievements and be proud of myself.  I know I am blessed in so many ways, but is that too much more to ask for?

-nome5tar

Author: L. J. Smith

Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult Fiction

Publisher: HarperTeen

Year: 1991

Pages: 253

“A deadly love triangle.  Elena: beautiful and popular, the girl who can have any boy she wants.  Stefan: brooding and mysterious, desperately trying to resist his desire for Elena…for her own good.  Damon: sexy, dangerous, and driven by an urge for revenge against Stefan, the brother who betrayed him.  Elena finds herself drawn to both brothers…who will she choose?”

The first book in the Vampire Diaries series is certainly a good one, however it may have been better if I hadn’t first seen the TV show of the same name.  As the famous Twilight saga continues to wow audiences world wide, those who read it before the release of the first film of the same name are together bound in the knowledge that nothing will ever come close to matching the intensity felt in every word on every page.  The Vampire Diaries are woven in the same fashion.

With so many coincidences between the Vampire Diaries and the Twilight saga however, it would be interesting to find out whether Stephanie Meyer had done any reading of the young adult, vampire kind before Bella and Edward came to her mysteriously in a dream.  With few similarities between the TV show and the book, it is easy enough to be absorbed by the story line without knowing what twist is coming next.  Just the right mix of mystery and the vast history of Fell’s Church – your regular small town with a few spooks of its own, help to set a frightful scene for the story that takes place, which itself is a story full of love, teenage trials and a quest for maturity, as seen in any good book written for young adults.

The relationships written between each and every character have been carefully analysed, to the point that you feel as if you’ve known them your whole life.  It is easy to pick your favourites, and just when you think you’ve pinpointed a villain, you could be just as quickly proven wrong.

The Awakening is a good, quick read, however once reading, you will be left wanting more!  Luckily the story continues in Vol. 2 – The Struggle.

-nome5tar

I thought it might be an interesting concept if I assign a particular review theme to each day of the week.  I’ve found it hard lately to thing of something to review at any one time as there are so many things and I find it too hard to choose!  It could go something like this:

Movie Monday – Film Review
TV Tuesday – TV Episode/Season Review
Wedding Wednesday – Give me a chance to let out my Bridezilla before the wedding!
Textual Thursday – Book Review
Food Friday – Restaurant/Recipe/Food Review
Whatever Weekend – Reflect on the amazing going-ons of my weekends hanging with the awesomeness that is my friends and family!

So, being Thursday, I guess I better get to reviewing a book!

-nome5tar

“Scott is suddenly single and alone after his girlfriend dumps him during his marriage proposal and his room mate moves thousands of miles away.  To try and get his life back on track he invites a super-nice couple, Ryan and Mary, to share his apartment.  They soon begin to intrude on every aspect of his life including his new relationship with the girl of his dreams.  Is Scott just being paranoid or does this seemingly ‘perfect couple’ need a third wheel to keep them rolling?”

Probably not a film I’d watch more than once, it reminded me too much of past obsessive relationships I’d rather forget!

Season 7 Episode 1
Original US Air Date: 14th September, 2009
Directed By: Clark Mathis
Written By: Mark Schwahn
Starring: James Lafferty, Sophia Bush, Bethany Joy Galeotti, Austin Nichols, Robert Buckley, Shantel VanSanten, Jackson Brundage, Lee Norris, Antwon Tanner, Lisa Goldstein & Paul Johansson

After devouring the first 6 seasons of this amazing TV series, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the 7th!  That was until I learnt that Chad Michael Murray (Lucas) and Hilarie Burton (Peyton) would not be renewing their contracts.  How can you  have One Tree Hill without the Lucas/Peyton relationship saga we’ve come to know and love?  Is there even a Tree Hill without them?  The season 6 finale was the best series ending i’ve ever seen and to be honest, it would have been a great one to finish the series on (although I still would have been devastated!!) 

It was with great skepticism that I sat down to watch the first episode, but alas, it was everything the first 6 seasons were and more!  Set a year later than where it left off in season 6, the characters posses a level of maturity that totally extinguishes the whiney/pouty/my life sux feel sorry for me-ness that was exaserbated my Lucas and Peyton, bringing a refreshing sense of reality back into the show.  I can’t wait to see more! The two new main characters, Quinn (Haley’s sister) and Clayton (Nathan’s manager) seem promising and I wouldn’t be surprised if a romance ensues between the pair.  Here’s hoping our favourite Tree Hillians can make it through a whole season without being killed, maimed, or kidnapped by psycho nannies!

Favourite moment in the episode:
Mouth and Skills in the nude professing their love for each other…

-nome5tar

Season 1 Episode 1
Original US Air Date: 10th September, 2009
Directed By: Marcos Siega
Written By: Kevin Williamson & Julie Plec
Starring: Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder, Steven R. McQueen, Sara Canning & Katerina Graham

Based on the L. J. Smith novels of the same name, the TV adaptation of The Vampire Diaries has been on the top of my “to watch” list since I saw the add on Go! last month.  This is due mostly to the fact that for the past 6 years, I have been completely obsessed and in awe of the entire Vampire culture and am taking advantage of the recent surge in Vampire media availability due to a little thing called Twilight.  Unfortunately I haven’t read any of the Vampire Diary books as they aren’t available for sale in Australia and I haven’t gotten around to ordering a copy online, so this review is solely based on the first episode and nothing else.

 Let’s see, where can I begin?  The pilot episode did little to entice me into coming back for more.  The story line was a bit too familiar and the actors a bit too fake in their portrayal of the all American teen.  I found it extremely hard to believe that these “kids” were actually kids of school age, when the majority of them were sporting wrinkles and receeding hairlines.  A clear plot seems distant but hopefully it will become apparent over the next couple of episodes.  Although I wasn’t overly impressed I will of course keep watching as i’m sure all the other “twi-hards” out there will, and just pray that it gets even remotely better and fast!

-nome5tar

09/09/09
I met Chris in the city for dinner.  He took me to the Sydney Tower Restaurant, which was amazing!  If you haven’t been there it’s a revolving restaurant that looks over the whole of the city, really romantic!  They take a photo of you before you go up and then try to sell it to you.  Ours looked HORRENDUS! So we didn’t buy it, at this stage I had NO IDEA what was going to happen.

We then drove to Milsons Point and sat on one of the gazebos overlooking the harbour and the Opera House.  We talked for ages and then decided to leave, but Chris had some unfinished business and he proposed! It was beautiful and romantic and everything I could have imagined! I’m so happy =D And so completely in love!

-nome5tar

She’s about 3 years old, a fantail goldfish.  I’ve tried several things to try and help her out already but nothing seems to be working.  I’m almost at the conclusion that maybe she just enjoys swimming upside down!

The pH levels in the tank are fine, I replace some of the water each week, i’ve tried feeding her peas incase she has swim bladder but it doesn’t seem to help, although she does seem to enjoy woofing them down, that is if her right side up companion doesn’t get to them first.  I even went so far as to buy them a bigger tank recently, thinking she might have been cramped, but alas, she’s more upside down than ever!

I know she’s capable of swimming right side up, I sometimes catch her doing just that.  Is it possible that she just prefers to swim upside down?

-nome5tar

I can’t wait until Thursday to see Funny People!  I’ve been hanging out for the next Adam Sandler flick since, well, Bedtime Stories.  I’m a HUGE Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow fan and this movie just looks awesome.  I really hope it lives up to my expectations.  He’s certainly come a long way since Going Overboard…

-nome5tar

Genre: Romantic Comedy

The material used to promote this film and the MA15+ rating had me expecting the comedy of the year out of this film. It seems I should have payed more attention to the fact that it’s classified as a ‘romantic comedy’ before I went to see it, because that’s exactly what it was, and not much more. The first half of this film had me searching the walls of the cinema for something even remotely interesting, however I must say it did improve as it went on.

The story line is predictable from the word go, and Katherine Heigl’s performance is nothing in comparison to what we’ve seen of her in the past. The $38 million budget must have been spent on something, i’m just not sure what. But enough of the criticisms, there were some highlights! One being a restaurant-orgasm scene to rival Meg Ryan’s in When Harry Met Sally. Perhaps if this film was marketed differently I would have enjoyed it more, it was just so far from what I was expecting! I’m tempted to recommend it as a chick flick, however I know for a fact that the guys enjoyed it, possibly more than the girls did!

-nome5tar