Random Friday: Bookworm Things

Hosted by Awkwordly Emma

This is my first Random Friday, but I've really been wanting to do one, and how could I resist blogging about books? 

1. Never having complaints about the book selections for English class because you're READING! During the school year!
2. Watching your TBR list grow and grow and grow while your "read" list never seems to change.
3. Going to the library and seeing the second book of every single series you want to read, and dying inside.
4. Being accused of lying about the number of hours you read because the number is so high.
5. Waking up nearly dead in the morning because of how many times you told yourself "one more chapter."
6. When the package of books you got for Hanukkah was so heavy that the wrapping paper fell off when someone tried to hand it to you.
7. The giant smile that spreads across your face when a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card falls out of your Christmas stocking... and you don't even celebrate Christmas!
8. Having so many piles of books on every surface in your room that there's nowhere to put anything.
9. Your family hates you because you have started each one of them a stack of books that they need to read.
10. You have gotten in trouble in school multiple times for reading in class.
11. Even when you're not reading, you're still completely lost in imaginary conversations with fictional characters.

Merry Christmas!!

No matter what anyone tells you, I'm pretty sure Jews enjoy Christmas even more than those who actually celebrate it. Every year on Christmas Eve, we always sleep over at our grandparents' house. We go out for a fancy dinner, have ice cream for a late-night snack, and then wake up and get stockings. It's just a really fun time to spend with my family, especially when there's nothing else to do anywhere.
After we came home, we all lounged around in pajamas, worked on a jigsaw puzzle, and played the game Logo. Obviously, we had to go out for Chinese for lunch! It has been such a relaxing day.

I haven't worked on any homework yet today, which is probably a bad thing... you would think that they could give us two weeks off, but instead I have so much to do that two weeks isn't enough to get it all done. Remind me what fun is again?

Back into School Mode

It's that time of year again, and I must say that I'm pretty excited. Yesterday our schedules were accidentally released onto a website nobody uses, but once word got out that they were there...
Anyway, mine looks great! I got all of the teachers I wanted, the lunch period I wanted, and several classes with most of my friends. The only bad thing is that no two classes in a row are on the same floor. So. Much. Running. (My school is really big). It also hit me for the first time yesterday how demanding my classes are. I knew I was signing up for 3-4 AP classes, but for some reason something clicked yesterday.
I just got back from my final for the health class I took over the summer, and practiced parallel parking in front of the school. A school without buses should really have parking lots! I'll be back at the school a second time today when I take my sister to her high school orientation.
I should probably go finish that homework before Monday...

Yay!

Last night I finished this 1,000-piece puzzle, and earned myself an 11:00 PM trip to Cheescake Factory. Just felt like sharing!

Next up: A working, 6-ft tall clock puzzle that my parents got me for Hanukkah last year.

School Supplies!

If you don't already know, I have a minor major obsession with school supplies. Back to school shopping makes getting ready to start another stressful, sleepless year a little more bearable. Starting in July when back-to-school sales are advertised, my mom, sister, and I go from store store getting whatever freebies and penny items each store is offering that week. Our main game? To see how many paper folders we can rack up for a penny or less. This year's total so far: 30. No, I'm not particularly interested in counting how many from years past are sitting in our basement at the moment... LOL. We probably have even more filler paper.
Yesterday we did our more expensive shopping trip, for binders and notebooks and such. Because I love school supplies so much, I'm posting pictures.

Here are my binders- Purple for Spanish, blue for AP BC Calc, red for English, teal for AP Economics, and green for AP Chemistry.

 My notebooks follow the same color code, but because my math class is three semesters, I didn't have to buy new math notebooks for this year... they're somewhere, hopefully where I can find them.

I'm kind of infamous for having an overstuffed pencil case. I have my thin markers, 2 black pens, a thin and a thick sharpie, 2 highlighters, a wite-out pen, and some mechanical pencils. My sister found the most amazing colored pens at Five Below yesterday, so I also have those. They write perfectly, and they were $5 for two packs of seven.

Hope you enjoyed my obsession as much as I do! xD

My First Teaser Tuesday

Hosted by Should Be Reading

~Grab your current read

~Open to a random page

~Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on the page

~BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! ( make sure that what you share doesn't give away to much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)

~Share the title & author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

- Then go on over to Should be Reading and share your teaser in her comments section!

Sometimes a meal is just a meal, and eating with others is simply eating with others. More often than not, though, it's not.

-Page 7, How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster

At the moment, I'm not in the middle of any books besides this one for school. Luckily, I'm not finding it too terribly boring so far. I think it will prove to be a must-read for high school students because it explains how teachers come to the far-fetched conclusions about symbolism in literature.

Reading ♥

I'm enjoying my free summer a lot more than I thought I would, namely because I have a ton of time to read. With the amount of work I have during the year, I don't think I've read a book that wasn't for school since 8th grade. That was two years ago- wow!

Right now I am working through the Dream trilogy by Nora Roberts. I am on the second book, and they're really great! Nora Roberts has written over 200 novels, so I think I've found much of my reading material for the rest of the summer.

Here are the rest of the books in my library stack at the moment:
The Pursuit of Lucy Banning by Olivia Newport
The Pretty One by Lucinda Rosenfeld
The Covenant by Beverly Lewis
The Druggist of Auschwitz by Dieter Schlesak

Just a note for anyone taking book recommendations from this list: I take books out of the adult section of the library. It doesn't mean that everything I read is inappropriate, but the content isn't necessarily censored, so err on the side of caution if you are only allowed to read "clean" books.

Summer Homework Update

I know, I know, homework is just everyone's favorite thing ever. Lucky for me, none of my teachers wanted me to be the least bit bored over the summer. *eyeroll*
At the beginning of this month, I had a little panic, with school being less than two months away, and that paired with my lack of creativity caused to me to stop my Camp NaNoWriMo novel a few days in... I may still come back to it, but no intention of winning anymore.
Here are all of the things I have to do:

• Read City of Thieves by David Benioff and How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster- So far City of Thieves is a really good book. I wasn't able to put it down this morning until I made myself stop for breakfast. I will probably finish it today, and then start the other book.
• Watch two economics-related documentaries and prepare notes to turn in- hopefully this won't be too bad.
• Keep a journal of five economic decisions I make over the summer- I'm really dreading this, as the teacher doesn't want them all to be about purchases, and I have no idea what else to write. Also, she didn't specify length or anything.
• Write three journal entries in Spanish- I've done one, and it wasn't two bad. 10-15 sentences isn't very long, and I didn't have too hard of a time. The other two should be just as easy.
• Read three things in Spanish and summarize them- Hopefully this will be fine. The only requirement is that whatever we read has to be over 300 words. Children's books count, so this may actually be kind of fun.
• Listen to three things in Spanish and summarize them- This wouldn't be a problem if I could find things. I was hoping to just turn on the Spanish channel on the TV, but it seems to have disappeared. I have 7 Spanish radio stations in my car, so I'm hoping to pick up enough while driving to write good summaries.

Fun summer, huh? I also wanted to start my National History Day project and study for SATs/ACTs, but those aren't as urgent.

How are your summers going? Busy?

Piano Love

Tomorrow I am starting my second week of piano camp, and I absolutely love it. Basically, it breaks down to 1 hour of music history, 2 hours of practice/lessons, half an hour of another class, and half an hour of break. I really love the group of people. Because there are only about 10 of us, we are pretty close. I especially love working on my duet, because I never get to play piano duets.

After listening to so much great music in our music history classes last week, I decided to go out and buy some new music to work on. I bought the Schirmer Sonata Album and a Schirmer Solo Performance book- the pieces are amazing. I know how I'll be spending my summer once I get through the camp recital!

Here are links to the two pieces I am playing in the recital this week in case you want to hear.
Handel Sonatina in a minor (solo): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVtYpT-iElM
Mozart Sonata k. 381 in D major, I. Allegro (duet): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95W5bNvO7ys

Some Things About Me

Welcome to my blog! I've had blogs in the past, but they always end up dying because I don't post often. Now it's summer- plenty of free time, and I think I will be able to update often. Below are 6 facts about myself to start off with.

1. I am Jewish. I'm not very religious, but nevertheless, still very involved. Between Hebrew school, services, and being the president of my USY (United Synagogue Youth) chapter, Jewish activities take up the majority of the hours in my week. I love to discuss religion and learn new things about other faiths.

2. I love music. I have played piano for 9 years and violin for 6 years, and I credit both for keeping me sane. There is no better form of stress relief than sitting down at the piano for 3 or 4 hours and really working on details.

3. I love to read, even though this summer is my first time in years being able to. I am usually too busy, especially during the school year, to read for pleasure, but I already have a large stack of books in place for this summer. I have seen a summer book recommendation challenge floating around some other blogs, and I may participate.

4. I really enjoy reading blogs, which is why I want to start a successful one so badly. The blogs I read tend to be about special needs children, homeschooling, and religious Christian families (I don't know why they fascinate me so much). In a later post, I will give links to my favorite blogs.

5. My favorite TV shows are Dance Moms, 19 Kids and Counting, and Good Luck, Charlie.

6. I am a major overachiever, and have no regrets about it. I take all of the AP classes available to me, participate in several extracurricular activities, and really obsess over my grades.