team...

*spoiler alert: if you have not read the hunger games and catching fire and intend to, you may not want to this post. although, in all honesty, i don't give many details on the book so you could probably read on and be just fine. but i thought i'd add a warning just in case.

i think i'm team gale.

but i don't know. i'm as confused as kat. because when she is with peeta, i'm like "oh you should love peeta." but then when she thinks about gale and talks about him or whatever i say "oh you should love gale."

so i just don't know. but as of today, i am a gale fan. but part of me thinks she will end up with peeta just because he is a more prominant character. but then part of me thinks she'll end up with gale because if she was going to end up with peeta it would have happened by now, right? but then if she does end up with gale, the author is going to need to introduce a new love interest for peeta because you can't just leave a sweet, caring guy like peeta single, now can you? especially when there are peeta fans out there (like my dear friend kimberly). but that's just some of my thoughts. i don't know....

all i know is that i have analyzed this love triangle over and over again (seriously. it's a problem) and i have just gotta say props to the author for writing a book that isn't predictable. because i honestly have no idea what's gonna happen with these relationships. i guess i will just have to wait and see like the rest of the world.

watch her end up with nobody. now that would be unpredictable. not to mention a complete waste of my time analyzing the situation.

i did it.

i succumbed. (not entirely sure how to spell that word but you get the gist, right?)

i read the hunger games and catching fire.

i'm still twilight-free (!) but i went to the beach and asked for book donations before i left so i would have something to enjoy in the sand and my friend loaned me the hunger game series. so i read them...
and i can't lie--i did enjoy them. i'm not exactly sure how the author came up with such an...interesting (?) plot but it definitely has a way of captivating any reader. me included.

there. i said it.

now, my question to all my fellow hunger game readers out there is:
team peeta OR team gale????

you tell me what you think and then i'll share my opinion.
and if you haven't read the hunger games series yet then best of luck to you resisting. i tried. i really did. but alas, it was a fruitless effort.

(i maintain my resistance to the twilight series though)

i do not understand you.

when i was maybe ten years old, i was driving in a rental car with a cousin and a family friend who is known for his practical jokes. this rental car had a new feature: volume control on the steering wheel. my family friend decided this would be the perfect opportunity to tease my cousin in the back seat and he excitedly told nathan about the VOICE ACTIVATED volume.
"volume up." he would say and then sneakily turn it up while still driving.
"volume down." again sneakily changing the volume with the steering wheel controls.
my cousin sat in the back seat in complete and utter disbelief. this was too good to be true. how could a car really know what you were saying and adjust the volume accordingly??? he was truly amazed until we broke the news to him that there was no such thing as voice activated music. sorry. it was simply the grand invention of volume control on the steering wheel.

well, my friends, ten years later there is such a thing as voice activated music and cell phones and everything.

although, i must say, i am not a huge fan. maybe it's just because i have bad diction, but it seems that all these voice activated controls really stink at understanding what i'm saying.

for example, my friend has a car where you can hook up your ipod and then you have to talk to the car to tell the ipod what to play. you CANNOT use the ipod controls. now, while this may seem great in theory--fewer accidents because people aren't as distracted trying to navigate the car and the ipod at the same time--in reality, it was quite the pain. driving to the grocery store and back we tried, without success, to make the ipod play our favorite song. but the voice commander lady just kept saying "i do not understand you." really? really voice activation lady? isn't that kind of your job...to understand me and play the song i desperately NEED to hear whilst driving to the grocery store? now maybe it's just me, but i think that the voice activation lady not being able to understand me is just as much of a driving hazard as controlling the ipod manually. can you say road rage? okay, maybe that's a little extreme, but the fact that the lady couldn't understand me was quite frustrating and "frustrated driving amy" is probably more unsafe than "manually controlling ipod while driving amy."

...

i don't know. i guess i just think the whole voice activation idea is great in theory and truly an unbelievable concept (at least at age ten), but it has not been implemented so well, so far as i can see.

but like i said, maybe i just need to work on my annunciation.

letter assignment.

To Whom It May Concern:
I am an avid book reader. I love all different genres and I am always reading new things. I do not like reading what everyone else is reading though. For example, I have never opened Twilight or The Hunger Games. This has created a problem for me, however, because I have found myself opening books lately that I have to close just minutes later because of inappropriate content. Because I do not read the popular books, I am not able to consult with previous readers about the content of books. I do not think this should be necessarily, though. I think I should be able to read a book without discussing it first with a previous reader. One simple solution to this problem would be requiring book ratings, similar to movie ratings, for all books available in public libraries.
These ratings do not have to necessarily have age limitations like movie ratings. If they simply indicated levels of profanity, sexual content, violent content, etc. with level markings such as low, medium, and high, I believe this would make everyone’s library searches more enjoyable. They would also reduce the number of returned books for readers like me, or the occasional page ripping that accompanies my reading of inappropriate content.
I find it strange that ratings are required for movies and even video games, but books have somehow escaped the system. I think it is time that books received the same attention that other forms of media have. Reading books can have just as big of an impact, either positive or negative, on a reader as viewing a movie. For these reasons, I believe requiring book ratings is reasonable and should be implemented as soon as possible.
Thank you for your time,
Amy

i love love.

"i don't know but i think i may be falling for you...dropping so quickly."


"just haven't met you yet..."



my friend once said there are two songs that can be used to describe all byu students. either "falling for you" (colbie caillat) or "just haven't met you yet" (michael buble). i can currently be described by the latter song. but two of my best friends can now be described using the first song. they're in love. and they made beautiful brides, don't you agree?

confusion

So my media hardware has been having some issues...and it has caused a lot of frustration on my part because I do not know how to deal with computer problems. This is when I wish those Staples' Easy buttons really existed. I would so invest in one if they did.

shout out.

I would just like to give a shout out to cable TV because if it weren't for cable than I wouldn't be able to watch my beloved suns play the lakers tonight!

GO SUNS :)

family time.

tonight for FHE, we did a picture scavenger hunt! it was so fun and we got some great pictures. i'll only share a few...but maybe don't tell my "sons" and "daughters" (i'm the FHE mom in my singles ward) because they may not like that i posted these online.

picture 1: give someone an eskimo kiss.
picture 2: hold hands with a stranger.
picture 3: dancing on a stage in the HFAC
picture 4: picture with someone with a mustache (look carefully and you will see that the stuffed animal does indeed have a mustache)

*these are just a few of the fun pictures we took. it was a fun night! my team won, by the way :)

reality check

I love reality shows. They are my guilty pleasure. My two favorites are Survivor--I think I've watched all 20 seasons (don't judge)--and The Bachelor/Bachelorette. Fortunately, the timing of these shows is quite convenient. Season 20 of Survivor ended on Sunday night. I was semi-disappointed with the result, but I guess when it comes down to it, Sandra did outwit, outlast, and outplay the other 20 contestants. I still wish Jerri had won though...
Anyways, like I said, Survivor ended on Sunday and I was afraid I was going to go through reality show withdrawals because the Bachelor/Bachelorette have not started yet. FORTUNATELY, I found out a few days ago that the Bachelorette will be starting next Monday! So I only have to go a week without a reality show in my life. I think I will survive :)

Now, I do not think I'm the most persuasive poster so most of you won't start watching the Bachelorette on Monday just because I say I like it, BUT if you do, I would just like to express to you all what my mom has said to me many a time after I tell her about my love for the Bachelorette: "That's not reality. That's not how love really happens."

Yes mom, you're right. But it's still fun to watch!

Crashed.

My computer has been down for about a week now. The last time I had it on, all these virus warnings came up and I have been too busy to deal with it so I have just been using my roommates' computers or computers on campus. It's amazing how much more time I have to do productive things--as opposed to checking facebook--when I have a limited amount of time on the computer each day! As productive as I've been, though, I still want my computer back! Hopefully I'll find some time to have it looked at soon...

emotions

it's crazy to me how one small exposure to the media can affect our emotions.

The media can make us laugh.
Exhibit A: (i'm not sure why i found this commercial so hilarious but i did)



The media can make us cry.
Exhibit A: watched Pearl Harbor with the roommates on saturday night. every single one of them cried when danny died (i would have cried too if i was a crier...but i struggle with that emotion)

The media can make our day.
Exhibit A: one new text message from __________
Exhibit B: one new facebook notification
Exhibit C: one new blog comment
Exhibit D: you've got mail!

the list really could go on and on....

bookworm

in my last post i discussed favorite music and favorite movies and now i have an assignment to discuss my favorite books.
once again, picking a favorite is pretty much impossible. there are just too many choices. i mean seriously, have you been in a library before? books everywhere! how's a girl to choose?
but i guess if i had to pick a favorite, i could narrow it down to a series. namely, The Children of the Promise books by Dean Hughes. these books are LDS novels written about a fictional family that lived during WWII.
i read these books when i was about 16 and they have remained my favorite books ever since then. i attribute it to the fact that i am fascinated with learning about World War II. add that to the fact that i love LDS novels, and we have ourselves a winner i suppose. i would highly recommend these books to anyone :)

now readers, what is YOUR favorite book? and if you can't narrow it down like i had trouble doing, favorite series? or genre even? i'm always looking for book recommendations so let me know!

getting to know you

i met someone new today. we talked for a while, getting to know the basics: name, where you're from, major, family info.
but right after we discussed these things, his next question was: "so what's your favorite movie?" followed soon after by the question "what kind of music do you like?"

this got me thinking about how much the media we expose ourselves to can say about a us. if it wasn't such telling information, these questions would not be so high on the "getting to know you" question list. right?

it also got me thinking about how difficult these questions are for me to answer. i'm not sure i have a favorite movie. i like most movies that i see. so when asked what my favorite movie is, i usually just refer to the last movie i watched. using this strategy, my favorite movie right now is "Confessions of a Shopaholic."
one word: hilarious. the dancing scene is probably my favorite. and i do a pretty great imitation of it too. just sayin.

as for favorite music. that is probably an even harder question for me to answer because i usually just let my friends decide what i like. i give them my ipod, they fill it up with their favorite songs, and pretty soon those songs become my favorites too. it's a pretty good system, i think. it introduces me to music that i would never just pick out to listen to but i find out later that i actually really like.

exhibit a: i was running today with my ipod on shuffle. a techno song came on. i thought i hated techno music. i was wrong. turns out, techno is great running music. who would've guessed it? not me.


*if you don't like techno, please don't judge.

sleeping beauty

sleeping is one of my talents. i am proud of it. i can sleep in nearly any circumstance: lights on, lights off, in a bed, on the floor, with covers, without covers, with five pillows, with no pillows, right side up, upside down, etc. etc. (if you don't believe me, ask my roommates or my mom. they can confirm this) until thursday night, i thought there was NOTHING that could prevent me from sleeping. turns out, i was wrong. there is one thing that can hamper my ability to sleep. namely, music. i never realized how impossible it made sleeping until my new roommate moved in. she likes to listen to music as she falls asleep. and it's not like she is listening to rock or rap music. it's calm, peaceful, beautiful music that i would suppose calms most people. however, for me, there was nothing more distracting. i laid in bed for two hours unsuccessfully trying to fall asleep and that rarely, if ever, happens. i don't know why it made sleeping so impossible. it is quite strange to me especially since nothing else seems to prevent me from sleeping. i can sleep through movies and other noises. there is just something about music that makes sleeping difficult. and i can't figure out what it is...

on another sleeping note:
yahoo is my home page. usually i don't pay much attention to the articles that make the web page, but on friday morning, after my restless night, this article popped up and i was intrigued. so i read it--take a look if you're interested. it's an article called "what does your sleep position reveal about your personality?"
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/what-does-your-sleep-position-reveal-about-your-personality-1338293/

what sleep position am i??? well, according to the last three night's of sleep, i am part of the 5% that changes positions from night to night. i like to switch it up :) unfortunately, there were no explanations regarding this rare 5% and their personalities. maybe that means my personality isn't consistent either. i don't really know. all i know is that i like sleep. and i'm fascinated with what the media has revealed to me about my sleeping habits over the last few days. who would've thought that even the sleeping mind could be affected by the media?!

picture perfect

this probably isn't the best way to start out a blog about the media, but i just need to complain for one second about digital cameras. actually, it's not even really a complaint. just a comment about my digital camera use, which can be summed up in one word: excessive. i take so many pictures. and it is a huge problem, especially when trying to pick a picture to display at the top of my blog. i mean, choosing a picture is kind of a big deal, right? it's the first thing people see and it's HUGE--mostly because i can't figure out how to make it smaller but still...i have so many pictures of myself and i just couldn't seem to pick which one would be the best. should it be a serious picture? a cheesy picture? a classy picture? so many pictures of myself made the choice rather difficult especially since i look super great in every single one of them--HAHA. i probably shouldn't tell you this but i have been sitting at my computer for about an hour now going through all the many pictures of myself trying to decide which one would be most appropriate for this blog. such the dilemma...
now, if you happened to miss the picture when you first logged on (which was probably difficult to do considering the size of that thing!) just take a look right above this post and you will be able to see the lucky picture that got chosen. now, many of you may be wondering why i chose the picture i chose. well, this is what i eventually had to do because sometimes i lack assertive decision making skills: randomly select an album, pick the thirty-seventh picture in the album (yes there are at least that many pictures in each of my albums hence the dilemma. also 37 is my favorite number f.y.i.) and wa-lah! picture problem solved. my roommates may not be too happy about the decision (they're the girls with me in the picture) but to them i say, i'm sorry. this was the only solution i could come up with and personally i think they look great!

so now you know a little bit about how this blog came to look the way it looks. and to those of you out there thinking about creating a blog of your own, i have just provided you with a way to choose your blog picture. what can i say? i'm here to help.

well that's all for now. more significant media posts to follow :)