Secrets revealed.

Do you snack while you read? If so, favourite reading snack:
I don't really snack while I read. I mean, if I'm hungry I will, but not just "oh I'm gonna go get food cause I'm reading." 

What is your favourite drink while reading?
Again, same as the answer above. Right now, I'm feeling either Lemon Propel, as that's what I almost always am drinking, or lemonade. Just cause I'm craving lemonade.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
It doesn't horrify me - I like when I find books at the library or something that have a little sketch or initial on the corners. But I don't do it myself. 

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
I usually either leave it open or try and remember it. I usually don't remember the exact page, but I can remember what was happening, so I can find it pretty easily. 

Fiction, non-fiction, or both?
I like fiction, with the one exception of memoirs. I don't know why, I just love them a lot :3

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?
I can stop anywhere. 

Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?
No, I'll probably just sigh annoyedly. 

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
No - if my mom is around, I'll usually ask her. But otherwise, I just read through it and try and understand on my own. 

What are you currently reading?
Nothing, actually. I need to start a new book. I just got a bunch from the library, and my friend Ava lent me The Pact by Jodi Picoult, and my mom is gonna let me read her copy of Are You There Vodka, It's Me Chelsea, which is a memoir.

What is the last book you bought?
The last book I bought myself was Nightlight, the Twilight parody. But the last books that my mom bought me [that I know of, since my birthday is on Friday! Eeeek!] The Diet for Teenage Girls ONLY! and The Secret Life of Prince Charming by Deb Caletti.

Are you the type of person that reads one book at a time, or can you read more than one?
I really can only read one at a time - which really sucks when we've got books we have to read for English class. I mean, I can read more than one if I have to, but it's hard. 

Do you have a favourite time/place to read?
Anytime, anyplace dude.

Do you prefer series books or stand-alones?
I don't discriminate! 

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?
Little Brother by Cory Doctrow. I loooooved that book. 

How do you organize your books? (by genre, title, author's last name, etc.)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I don't organize. Anything.

I've been up for five hours already, and it's eight o'five in the morning.

So as I said in the title, it's 8:05 in the AM, and I've been up since three. Coughing. And unfortunately, I've kept my mom up with me. [Just a side note - in case any of you were wondering, I've just spent the better part of an hour watching charlieissocoolike and nerimon, and the voices in my head as I type are speaking in British accents.] She couldn't miss anymore school though, so we're going to the ER after she comes home.

I'm kind of exhausted, but the coughing thing really isn't all that conducive to sleep. It's about time for some more cough medicine, but that would mean I have to get out of bed, put on a pair of pants, and walk downstairs. And once I'm downstairs, I won't want to come back up, so that would mean I had to bring down everything I could see wanting in the foreseeable future, and it would just be a large mess. [Insert long coughing break here.]

I've already had two cups of tea and two puffs of my sister's inhaler, which the pediatrician told me to do. My nose hurts like all hell because it's raw and gross from being blown, but getting something to make it stop hurt would mean going downstairs, and we've already been over why I don't want to do that. I'll probably head down soon, though, in order to a) take my pills, b) get a drink, and c) take advantage of the fact that I am home alone and can watch whatever I want on the Wii Netflix thingamajig.

In case you were wondering, I didn't ever get that black tea I wanted while at my dad's. [I have an empty mug that used to hold it right next to me now, however.] He made me some icky tea that I don't even know the name of since he wouldn't tell me, and then they tried to make me drink carrot juice. I took one sip, almost puked, and then pretended to drink most of it but really poured it down the sink. I understand that this stuff makes you healthier, but you don't really want to be drinking/eating gross stuff when you feel crappy.

Anyway. In other news, I just read + finished The Secret Life of Prince Charming by Deb Caletti. She's officially made it to my list of favorite authors now. Although admittedly, the love interest guy in this book was a bit one-sided, but for the storyline, it worked. Basically, Quinn and her younger sister Sprout [who's real name is Charlotte] have been taught by their mother for their entire lives that most men are assholes, and their father is the biggest one of all. He came back into their lives three years prior to when this book takes place, and had a girlfriend named Brie. But all the shit hits the fan when Brie and Quinn's father break up, and Quinn discovers artifacts that her dad has stolen from six women he's dated and/or married. She then calls up her half-sister Frances Lee from her father's first marriage, and they go on an epic quest to return the items to their rightful owners.

I read the entire book, mainly, in one day. [I got maybe seventy pages in on Saturday, but finished it off yesterday while the fam was watching the Survivor finale.] The book made me laugh and want to cry, which is such a cliche, but a true one about this book. I don't know - I feel like it spoke a lot of truth about the relationships kids of divorcees have with their parents, and subsequently, the people around them. The dad in the book reminded me a lot of my own, 'cept for the fact that the fictional dad was a bit of a manwhore.


And with that, I'm gonna leave you. I need to go downstairs and watch some Law and Order: SVU and possibly maybe get some sleep.

AWESOME CONTEST THINGY.

Okay, I know what you're thinking. "Wow, Hannah doesn't blog for like a million years, and now there's TWO in ONE DAY? This is CRAZY TALK!"

It probably is, BUT - I was just stalking Aleka's blog again, and saw this amazing contest thingy. This awesome person named Valerie is pulling an Oprah and giving stuff away for her birthday! She's got two prize packages - A Reader's Prize, and a Writer's Prize. I myself am entering for the writer's prize. [Surprise, surprise.]

I've read through some of her older posts, and I'm so mad I didn't find her earlier! She's quite delightful.

Here's the link to the blog: http://valeriekwrites.blogspot.com
And this is the link to the contest: http://valeriekwrites.blogspot.com/2010/05/contest-massive-birthday-extravaganza.html

Cross your fingers for me?

Sick sick sick.

Long time no speak, eh? Life has become quite busy - the teachers are all piling on projects for the last few weeks of school. But, as I have something resembling the flu, my mind is stuffed, so none of my homework can really get done. That sentence didn't really make sense, but oh well. Making sense isn't my strong point right now.

I'm watching Jimmy Neutron - something I haven't done in a few years. I may put Harry Potter 6 in soon - I don't know if I can get out of bed though. The parental [aka Dad] may make me at some point, though. I'm having a huge craving for something cold and carbonated, though. Like a cherry coke! Ooh, or a Dr. Pepper. I have some cherry peel Twizzlers that I could eat, but I don't know how good those would make me feel :\ The weird thing about being sick is it makes me want to write more. Like, I feel more inspired, but I also feel so gross that I don't want to write at all.

My throat hurts. I can't stop coughing and my nose is all stuffy. I wonder if I could get my dad to make me some tea. Not like herbal tea, although Aleka over at Lale on Lit told me to drink some ginger tea - I have an aversion to all weirdly flavored teas, other than raspberry. There are some others that I like too, I guess, but I'm mainly a black tea with sugar kind of girl. If I rest the steamy cup on my chest, it usually helps my coughing. Plus, it'll help with my nose. Probably. Maybe?

I'm all over the place, can you tell? My stepmom, Patricia, made me take a hot shower last night, which I guess helped a little bit, but now my hair is all ratty. Lovely, right?

I've got a new roleplay character on Polyvore. Her name is Rebecca Ainslee, and she's part of Daydream Believers. It's really a lot of fun.

Okay I'm going to go now. Maybe try and sleep some more. Or get the father to make me some tea.


xoxoxoxoxo.

Books are just great.

So is having a job at the bookstore. I just finished reading The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong, the third in the Darkest Powers series. [On a side note, I can't believe that we're not supposed to underline book titles anymore. That's a total WTF moment for me. Anyhoo.] I got the ARC of it from work, and just let me say this: ALDKFJALKDJFALKSJFALKSFJASDLKFJAS KELLYE ARMSTRONG I LOVE YOU.

I understand that that probably wasn't comprehensible, but I don't care. I absolutely adored this book. It was cute and amazing and just everything I wanted it to be. I don't know if Lale has finished it yet, what with her being away at a boarding school for geniuses and a heavy course load, so I won't say much about the story, just that I loved it, and the ending made me go "awwwwwww."

Anyway. In other news, I took my SATs yesterday. Some people said they were horrible, but to be honest, I just don't see it. Were they hard? Definitely. But honestly, I think you're fine as long as you don't psych yourself out. Plus, I think it kind of helps that right now, my dream is to go to Sarah Lawrence [who doesn't look at SATs], graduate with a major in creative writing, and work at a coffee shop in NYC or Boston until my novel sells. Maybe meet a few guys in between, get a nice[ish. I'm not unrealistic about a barista's salary.] apartment, a dog, who knows. Maybe I'll get to college and decide that what I really want to be is a meteorologist. [Not likely.]

My new favorite song as of right now is Speakers Blown by Hit the Lights. IT'S AWESOME. But I mean, I do have a soft spot for their kind of band. BUT WHATEVER. I also love Cartel a lot recently. And the song "We Were Merely Freshman" by Third Eye Blind.

Okay, so I just had to take a break from this blog post. Why, might you ask? Oh, just because my mom's boyfriend let his dog off his leash on a walk, the dog ran here, I let him in, my mom wasn't picking up, I thought they might be coming down our road, the dog ran off, I had to run down the dirt road in barefeet and my PAJAMAS [no bra, might I add] to make sure the goddamn dog didn't get run over. And then had to walk him back to Neal's house. It was RIDICULOUS. And now that I am sweating like a pig, I'm going to go.

Until next time, my dears.