Pish Posh!!

Hello everyone! I'm blogging live from the library right now. I realize I've been really lazy with all the cool little sections that I created during the school year. So this post stays true to its name and will be a hodgepodge of a couple different labels: Wednesday Advice, Cynical Book Review, App Reviews! Leggo! I also uploaded my first extensive tutorial so check it out :)
I realized it was Wednesday and I have some incredibly personal advice to share. S (who is S? you maybe be wondering. I don't believe in "character" pages because that's sort of creepy. I also don't like to blab about my friends that much on the internet. Posting all about my feelings and life stories on the internet is fine but I don't think it's fair to talk about them in depth without permission. Why don't you get permission? Erm, seriously? I do not want to be talked about on someone's blog!!! That's not something you ask about...I keep it snappy at a one first initial and occasionally a photo. But I do talk about S. . . a lot. It seems that I don't have an interesting life outside the things we do. Before you judge me, I have incredibly busy friends who are traveling the world, working in a research lab, at camp, etc. Perhaps I should've gone to a summer program. Okay um back to topic. If you really want to know, you would've read back a couple posts but of course that's too much work. Unless you actually did then, erm thanks? for all the investment in my life. He's my unofficial kind of boyfriend as of one month+ few days ago. Kay, happy? You probably figured by now)

Well he's a year younger than me (stop judging me. I can feel your judgment.), and taking honors English (MY FAVORITE CLASS EVAAAA) and so I have all the summer reading books from last East of Eden is seriously one of my favorite books ever. I treasure that book. I hadn't expected anything from it except boredom and sighs. On the contrary, I found myself riveted by page one. Steinbeck is a genius and you should all read this wonderful novel. I am also obsessed with wrapping stuff. Don't ask me why, I just am. And I love Time Magazine, you can ask me why but maybe later. I have a ton of them lying around so I decided to wrap East of Eden in a couple interesting articles from a summer issue. I taped very carefully so that it sort of forces him to read the articles I like too... hehe. Brilliant!

Anyways, on to the advice segment... (have you missed all these rambles yet?) I was supposed to drop off this little package at 9AM before I left for the library. So advice #1, make you sure you set a correct alarm. I set an alarm at the right time for Friday.. derp. I also slept with my phone on vibrate so I did not hear all his messages telling me to wake up.. So I probably wouldn't have heard the alarm go off.. Advice #2, make sure your phone is not on vibrate (if you use an actual alarm clock this shouldn't be a problem). I just felt awful because we were both looking forward to this. He didn't even give me a bad time about it which made it all the worse. Because the last time this happened (situations vice versa), I was a fuming toxic mess (granted, I also thought he liked some girl I had never met before in my life and that he didn't trust me with something that personal. oh the irony..). I get super passive aggressive when I'm upset. I start replying in word one answers and using exactly one period to end the sentence (no exclamation marks :/). Advice #3, do not download a game at 11pm. I was just bored and lonely (his family is over and so we don't talk as much) and succumbed to spend a tiny bit of the last link of my iTunes giftcard from last year (app review below). My computer cannot really handle games. The fan starts going crazy and my computer gets soooo hot. It's really loud too... I think I even smelt plastic melting yesterday... It was bad. Advice #4, sleep earlier. I stopped playing around 4:30am and then continued to read a freaking book (book review below). I don't know. So I slept until 10:30 am and still managed to only get 5 hours of sleep. The cycle ends right here. This was an all time low. We rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon...

App Review! I downloaded The Cave!! I really wanted to play it for a long time so I was glad to buy it ON SALE TOO!!!! Right now is a great time to buy it. I have some "funny" stories about my experience. I haven't gotten too far (this is where the funny stories come in) and I think I'll have more substantial review material once I finish it (hahahahhaha.... the question is if, not when).

Basic synopsis: 7 random people with an assortment of skills are ready for some cave exploration. They all have a dark side and ulterior motives for being there. The Cave (the narrator) talks to you briefly and explains why they're each here. The Time Traveler is here to right a wrong because "yesterday is a new day" and the adventurer is trying to find her fellow crewmates and a fabulous wealth "not necessarily in that order" and the hillbilly is trying to find his past love but "he may be a little too devoted." You pick 3 of the 7 people for your team. Everyone has a different skill that comes in handy. The Scientist can hack stuff, the twins can separate their soul and body (so they can make ghost selves), the knight can be invisible, etc. My favorite character is the Time Traveler who can phase through walls.

The Cave has little pieces of each person's story. You only get the stories of the people on your team though. I'm not too far yet. I haven't figured out anybody's dark past yet.. This game totally creeped me out the first moment I opened it. It's an adventure/use-your-brain type game. You have to be observant of clues and timing and being in the right place at the right time. I love the music and even the creepiness grows on you.

Funny story: I picked the hillbilly the first time. I have no idea why and I so regretted it. I regretted it so much that I started over (not knowing the scientist couldn't control the fuse box either). I started over and got on level 3 (there are 3 levels regardless of who you choose and one unique level per character) with the help of some clues. I'm not smart enough for this game.. I was about to play level 3 when I realized I left the crowbar behind. I don't know how that happened. So I think I actually have to start over, again. Grr!

In other words, I'm totally obsessed.

Book review! I recently read I Have Your Number by Sophie Kinsella again. Although I loved all her previous books, this one was not my favorite. (Spoiler alert. Stop reading if you hate spoilers). Poppy Wyatt is a fun character who likes to please others and not face confrontation (it sounds a lot like me actually..). She loses her ring at a Marie Curie Champagne Tea and soon her phone is stolen too. Miraculously, Poppy finds another phone in the garbage. She takes it, connecting her life to Sam Roxton. (Okay seriously! Spoilers coming up). Poppy is about to get married after knowing Magnus for only a month. His super genius intellectual family freaks her out. Poppy soon gets tangled in Sam's life while trying to handle her own life.

What I liked: the footnotes! Those were poignant and perfectly funny. I didn't see why they had to be footnotes though. I laughed so much at them. The jokes and details were wasted on footnotes. Sophie Kinsella does what I do with parentheses in footnote form. Sam's change in character throughout. He's not the same stoic guy at the beginning of the novel. This is shown through his use of varied sentence length and smiley faces (on text). Poppy's quirky character was fine. The other thing I really loved was how Poppy and Sam are so different. She has a problem with telling people what she wants and putting herself first. She always uses fifteen exclamation marks and tons of kisses (xxx) while his replies are always two words, no emotion.

What I didn't like: Oh my. The haphazard plot twists. When Lucinda shows up at the wedding rehearsal bringing the lost ring, I cringed AT Poppy, not WITH Poppy. She's there parading her fake ring, trying so hard not to upset her soon to be parents-in-law. Poppy accidentally sends emails under Sam's name (they have some weird agreement going) and invites his "dad" for a drink. She doesn't realize that this guy isn't actually his dad but rather DAD is a set of initials. Although they seemed funny and sweet in Shopaholic, they just seem a bit contrived in this book. Magnus was also absent from almost the entirety of the book. Maybe that was the point, to show how noncommitted he is and how Poppy doesn't really know him. It needed more substance from me. Magnus is suddenly the bad guy towards the end of the novel and it would've been way better had she included more subtle hints to show a crack in the perfect facade. There was way more character development with Sam. I felt the same thing about Wanda Tavish (Magnus's mom). Sophie Kinsella tried to set it up so that there's a huge misunderstanding to show that Wanda actually really likes Poppy. I couldn't stand having bad feelings toward Wanda the whole half the book and a SUDDEN switch to understanding, caring, not entirely brainy. People don't switch within a 10 minute talk. Gillian Flynn was a master of this in Gone Girl. Anyone who is not as skilled as her shouldn't try this...

I hope you guys enjoyed all my mishmash of reviews and sassiness! Have a great Wednesday.