After hearing in person or seeing the "I got into the college I applied early to!" on Facebook statuses all week, I came to a realization.


Getting into college is just like committing to a relationship with that one special someone.



Think about it. If you are the pursuer and that special college is your target, then applying to college is like asking them out. Acceptance means they agreed to your relationship and you'll begin going out next fall. Rejection is... as itself. Deferral is then like that horrid phrase, "Let's be friends for now." And the courtship before you got the nerve to ask? All those love letters in the mail two seasons ago.

If we take it even further, those colleges that spam your virtual and physical mailbox up until April are the desperate sluts that don't care who they're with. And the Ivys are those super way-out-of-your-league chicks that you can only dream about, just drooling at the mental image of you together.

Just a thought. Now back to college essay writing (procrastination) >.<

I've been meaning to post for a while, but every time I think about updating this blog, there's always something higher on the priority pyramid. With college apps coming up and the end of 1st semester coming next month, I'm not quite out of the woods yet! Despite all this, senior year has still been nothing in comparison to junior year.
Anyway, I just thought I'd give you a taste of the stuff I've been reading and what not so here goes:

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
I'm reading it for school and was initially very wary of the book since I don't really like faith fanatics and it's all about Christianity. The story goes that the father is a reverend, who brings his wife and four daughters with him on a supposed one-year mission to the Belgian Congo in Africa c. 1959. Through the eyes of the women, the story is presented in multiple perspectives, later diverging into separated narratives after a shocking event tears the family apart.
I have to say, it's pretty well written, although some of the narration hopping can get a bit tedious at times. I've really started liking it. Right now I'm kinda stuck in a rut though because this 5th book seems like one gigantic epilogue narration and there are still two books left in the novel.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
I only read this book because my sister had wanted to read it over the summer but I found it at the school library. I'd only heard a little about the story since the movie came out recently. The basic premise is this: one man, Henry DeTamble, is swept around time uncontrollably, disappearing for hours or days at a time and reappearing in a different time and place. The story centers around his time travels involving his future wife, Claire Abshire, which he first meets in his early 30s when she is only 6. Their life together with its twists and turns is an interesting tale, to say the least.
The main problem I had with this book was all the ethical conundrums the events brought up.
*SPOILER ALERT*
For example, his wife loses her virginity at the age of 18 to himself, aged 43. Isn't that just a little wrong?
And again, his wife gives birth to a child made by himself, prior to his vasectomy, several months after the fact.
Despite these major issues that I had to wrap my mind around, the book was a gripping read and their romantic tale of separation (with a minor twist) though hackneyed, was touching.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
The long-awaited sequel to The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown's latest novel deals with historical symbology in our nation's capital and the field of noetic science, a subject which blends mysticism and pure science.
I was really excited to read this despite having forgot everything that had happened in the first book. Especially because I grew up roaming DC. No matter, I had just seen the movie, Angels and Demons, and there is nothing really missing if you haven't read the other books, since all that carries over is the main character, Robert Langdon, symbologist extraordinaire.
I don't want to spoil anything, but I do have to say this. The overall plot was well constructed, but the hows and the whys left unanswered, as well as questioning his extremely irregular pacing of events, are a bit irksome. I really think the book would have been fantastic if he had cut down on the suspense in the middle 300 pages. And did that beginning have to be really so drawn out? The law enforcement characters are just overplayed.
Also noetic science. As someone who truly believes in pure science, this really annoyed me. In my heart, I know and accept that science can't explain everything. But this, a legitimate field of science? Dan Brown's brief explanations give me no grounds to base my opinions on. And since it is "new" there is hardly any information on which to discover more.
Overall, Brown does it again: delivering just what the public wants in a suspense thriller filled with controversy and intrigue. I just feel his writing has declined in trying too hard to aim towards an audience with the general public; perhaps he had made an epic novel then, realizing it would never sell, ripped out much of the substance and filled it with suspense and tried to piece it back together, creating a hideous mess.

So. I'll be back with more news later, as this post has gotten horrendously long and it is now 2:18 am.