The Sisterhood Award

Here are the rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.

2. Nominate up to 10 blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude!

3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award.

5. Remember to link to the person from whom you received your award.

I'm going to pass this award onto...

Tesnim (Arary)
Chrissy (Twilight Girl)
Dahlia
Dame Orchid
and Missy!

SimplyShy01 gave this award to me and thank you so much!

Tesnim, Chrissy, Dahlia, Orchid, Missy, and SimplyShy, you are all the best!

Now pass it on!

P.S. I will soon revise this post and add in the links!

Mini-Blog: Writing Milestone

Today is a big milestone for me. You see, today, March 22nd, is the one-year anniversary of the day I started writing. It's also the 1st birthday of the book I am writing. I'm just happy because this shows those who doubted my loving writing that I actually do, and it isn't just some fad or trend for me to follow. It also shows me that 7 o'clock (the book I'm writing) is really something I committed to, because I was scared that I would eventually give up on it when I first started writing.

So yay for me!

The Man

We've all heard the term, "The Man" but do we really know about who he is? What does he do? When is he of importance? What kinds of things does he try to censer, and so on...

Is this post I will begin an exploration into the psych of "The Man" and his place in today's society. I will do this by answering many questions from many people, whether or not they were actually asked by a real person. Actually, I making up people to ask the questions as a teaching tool. So get ready!

What's the first question?

"Nowadays, 'The Man' is defined as who or what?" asks the asker.

Well, according to Meg Cabot in Princess in Waiting, The Man is a white, middle-aged man who almost always has either great riches, influence, power, or all three. He censors all who oppose him, so everyone who goes against Corporate America, the government, or golfing.

Who has the second?

"When did this term come into use?"

It dates back to 1948 (at least, that's what Wikipedia said). It was commonly used as a code word for the prison warden. Imagine me, ten years from now, in a prison because I lit something on fire or something. This is an example of how the term would be used in that situation, which may have been the same back when it was first used:

(NADIA has a spoon, and an iron rod torn from the bed. She is digging a hole is the corner of the cell.)

NADIA: Is there anyone out there? (Whisper.)
CELL MATE: No, I don't see anyone. Keep working on that tunnel!
NADIA: Hey, I don't see you digging with a plastic spoon!
CELL MATE: Just keep digging and I'll keep watch.
NADIA: Fine!
(Two minutes later.)
CELL MATE: Nadia! Stop!
(WARDEN is close enough that CELL MATE can see his shoe.)
CELL MATE: So, The Man said, "Hey! That's my pizza!" (Laughing from CELL MATE.) Isn't that a great, perfectly innocent joke?!
NADIA: You bet! The Man was so funny! I love when The Man was right behind the other person, and--Oh, hello, Mr. Warden!

And so, our perfect escape plan won't be found out!

Third Question!

"Why does he like to censor people?"

Because the people bring it to our attention that we do not in fact live in a perfect world, and sometimes brings out attention to what The Man is doing. In either cases, it does not bode well for The Man, therefore he must put a stop to it.

The follow up?

"How can he stop it?"

By not letting it out in a magazine, maybe. As I said earlier, The Man is someone with great power and influence.

Any more?

"No."

...

Okay.

Don't Let The Man Get You Down,
Nadia

P.S. This is my 50th Post, and I feel like I should do something to commemorate it. Should I just wait until the 111th post to do something special? If I should do something right now, then what should I do? Best of The Best, maybe? I'm open to ideas!

Breathe My Name

"Frances can forgive. She can even forget. But she can never escape her past .

A compelling psychological thriller from the acclaimed author of Teach Me. Frances Robinson has the perfect life: loving adoptive parents, a great best friend, and a cute new boyfriend. But Frances has a secret.

Once upon a time she wasn't Frances Robinson. She was Shine, and she lived with her three sisters and her birth mother, Afton Jelks, far out in the country. But the loneliness overtook Afton's fragile mind, and one day she smothered her daughters, one after another. Only Frances escaped.

Now Afton is out of prison. And she wants to finish what she started. . . ."

I finished Breathe My Name by R. A. Nelson last night, and though it was a good book, the writing was terrible.

Here's a list of reasons why I did not like this book:
-R. has no idea how to write girls. They do not act like that at all.
-Nix is just weird.
-I looked, and there was not a single exclamation point in the entire book. Like right here:

A blind fury rises inside me. "I--I don't want to be your little Button anymore. I don't want to be safe anymore. I want to do things. I want to go places that aren't prefab little rich person wonderland [CENSORED]."

It doesn't say that she struggles to keep her voice down, or that she reined in her anger. She said it in a flat monotone, even though she was supposedly furious. I looked so hard for an exclamation point, and I couldn't find a single one! Also, no one on Earth says "God" so much! I'm flipping open to a random age right now, which happens to be page 75. How many times is it written? Once. Okay, that page wasn't the best example, but give me a second to find one. In two half-pages, there are five times she said "God" and I distinctly remember reading a paragraph that had 5 "God"s. It was only three sentences! My friend was reading over my shoulder, and she said, "Oh my gosh, why does she say 'God' so much? It's so annoying!"

I despise the writing. The ending was weak. Frances/Francine cries and freaks out too much. The dialogue wasn't very authentic, but it was okay. The characters were unrealistic. However, the climax was exciting, and I loved the twist, as well as the plot.

All in all, the book gets 6.9 or 7 out of 10 stars.

A reader who needs a book with good writing,
Nadia

The "I Love Your Blog" Award

Lookie my prize!:
I got it for having an awesome blog. :D Thanks, Dahlia, who passed the award on to me.

Here's how it works:

1) Show off! Put the award logo on your blog somewhere.
2) Aren't they nice? Add a link to the person that gave you the award.
3) Share the love! Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4) Links galore! Add links to the blogs you nominated.
5) Let 'em know! Leave a message on the blogs you nominated (they can't accept an award they don't know about).

Now, here the the blogs I have chosen to receive the "I Love Your Blog" Award. If yours isn't on here, it's because you've already received one.

Teen Tuesday
Writing Is A Drug
I'm Just Shy
A Community For Bookworms
Tesnim's Not So Exciting Life
Twilight Girl's Stuff
Storyworld

Congratulations!

P.S. I had soccer practice, and it was only mildly suck-y.

S.O.C.C.E.R.

S.O.C.C.E.R. stands for all the things I love and hate most about soccer. Let me show you what S.O.C.C.E.R. means.

S is for being Sore.
O is for the way the Opposing team suddenly becomes so Odious when the game starts.
C is for Competitiveness.
C is for all the Cringing I do.
E is for the Epic-ness
R is for the Running.

I, personally, love being sore after playing a sport I love, because it shows how much you practice and how hard you worked.

The O is strangely true and...strange. But in the good way.

I love competitive sports. What motivates you if you're not trying to beat someone?

I hate it, but there are multiple times when people aim for my face, and reflexes force me to cringe, which makes me look stupid and I end up hand-balling, most of the time.

The shots that are made in professional soccer are AMAZING! It's so exciting and EPIC! Even watching elementary soccer can be cool. It's one of those sports where you can easily find yourself yelling, most of the time at the players (which is a very bad thing to do. You can't do it any better, so don't heckle. Then of course, you don't say that you are good at soccer, but they do, and they suck, so perhaps in special circumstances it would only be right to heckle).

I hate the running, mostly because I get winded extremely quickly.

From Your Soccer Obsessed Blogger,
Nadia.

P.S. Sorry for all the soccer-related posts. I know they're boring. I'm just nervous/excited about it. My first practice is tomorrow (and I'll get my jersey!). Unfortunately, it's outdoor soccer, and it'll be 37 degrees where I live.

Mini-Blog: Flash Cards

I am a total Liz Sutton. I'm studying soccer. At first I used tutorial videos online, and then I realized that I didn't know fouls, kicks, or even positions. And so, I am using an online soccer dictionary, and I am making flash cards to study the terms.

OH MY GOSH! How nerdy can I get?

By the way, I have my first-ever soccer practice this week. Wish me luck!

Also, if anyone has any soccer advice, I'd REALLY appreciate it if you shared with me.

Thank you!

Leprechaun Boy

I am 99% sure that one 6th grader at my school is a leprechaun.

First of all, let's list the traits of a leprechaun:
-Red Hair
-Superhuman hearing
-Superhuman eyesight
-Small
-Short
-Irish
-Creeeeeeeeeepy

This kid has all of the above. Except for the Irish part, as far as I know.

"Okay, how could you possibly know that he has 'superhuman' senses, huh?" says that reader I thought I had gotten rid of.

*Death Stare*

Well, I said to my friend "Hey, who does he remind you of?" and then the Leprechaun Boy turned around (we were talking about him) and double-raised his eye brows at me (which proves the creeeeeeeeepy part). He was thirty feet from me! I was whispering! The hall was filled with the hustle and bustle of people, all fighting to get to their lockers, and somehow, above the sound of teacers yelling at students to get to class, he heard my quiet whisper to my friend, from down the hall. Superhuman hearing all the way!

Instance of superhuman eyesight: my friend has never met Leprachaun Boy. However, one day she was holding her lunch box which had her name on it in small letters, and his telescope eyes (have you ever heard that songby Eisly? It's good but sad.) zoned in on the itty bitty words on her lunch box and he said, "Hey, [insert her name here]!" Also creeeeeeepy.

And the short thing! He once passed me, and I know that sixth graders are small, but Leprechaun Boy barely reaches my elbow! And I'm only 5"1'!

His hair is red enough to wake you up as you go into school, even on a Monday!

With all this evidence, he's got to be a leprechaun! Do you believe me?