School Update:

Semester 1 Complete!

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Semester one of nursing school was completed. It was a nice and tough semester, especially with my math class. I managed to struggle through and pass with all A’s and a B in math. I surprised myself, to say the least and I’m glad I pushed myself. Thinking back to how my learning styles have changed, I definitely see a pattern on some things. I definitely am a crash course student. What that means to me is that if I cram semi last minute I tend to retain information more and score higher on tests. I think that is a TERRIBLE habit to have, but for some reason it works for me. These last couple months I have tried to curb that habit and I actually did a little better with it. These classes were asynchronous which worked out great with my work schedules. My next semester (which starts in a week) is also asynchronous, so that kind of eases some stress. Are you wondering what asynchronous means, just like I was before taking these? Asynchronous basically means that students are given a time frame, usually a one-week window. During that time frame  they need to connect to their class at least once or twice a day. Doing it on your own with a timeline guidance is great for non hands-on classes. 

I wanted to keep tabs on how my classes are going and what grades I earn because this is a big journey for me. This also keeps me motivated in a sense to share how nursing school is and what happens throughout it. I’m excited to start my next set of classes and a little nervous as well. I’m taking a full semester with not four, but five classes! So this should be interesting. 

“Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.”

—Mother Teresa

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January: Just Read

Blogging is a way to escape. A place where you can write what you’re feeling or think the world should know. When I first started this, I was still finding out what I liked, and what worked best for me. Over that time, things have definitely changed. Im constantly learning new things. How to improve what I read, write and live about. For example, I used to goal orientate my months to the EXTREME. This caused me to panic and stress out when I couldn’t meet those goals. This year I decided against that and to just live and learn through the year.

Just Read

For the month of January I decided to go with the theme of “Just Read.” I chose this theme because I haven’t been reading as much as I’ve wanted to. With Nursing school starting, I’m bombarded with textbooks instead. While I am learning from them, I’m not relaxing with them. This month I picked up my book of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and started to read. It’s almost the end of January and the book is more than halfway read. One way I kept up on my reading so far was to try something new and kind of fun. Everyday of the month I would read the amount of pages pertaining to the date. For example, today for January 28th I read 28 pages. It’s a nice and straightforward way of keeping up with something.

What was the last book you read for fun? Any books you would suggest to read?

“The library is inhabited by spirits that come out of the pages at night.”

Isabel Allende

American Gods: Loved It.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman was definitely an interesting book. It was recommended to me by my boyfriend Chris and I’m glad he told me about it. Without spoiling anything, this book follows a man named Mr. Wednesday and a man named Shadow. Their paths intertwine and Shadow finds himself questioning certain things about the world. There is mystery, thrills and craziness. The book is categorized as a fantasy/horror fiction, more fantasy than horror.

I had received this book from Chris as a gift and it took me forever to pick it up and read it. Mainly due to the fact of not making time for myself to read and being busy with work and life. I finally was able to finish it in May of 2021 and I just wanted to read more. While reading, what I like to do is take note of words that I don’t know. This makes me diversify my vocabulary and just educate myself a little more on my own.

If you are looking for an interesting book to read, than look no further this is the one. You can find it HERE.

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Words that I didn’t know, and their meanings. This is the order that I came across them as I was reading the book:

• Oubliettes – a dungeon with an opening only at the top.
• Recidivism – a tendency to relapse into a previous condition or behavior.
• Archetypal – the original pattern or model of which things of the type are copies.
• Ornithologist – a branch of zoology dealing with birds.
• Perforce – by force of circumstances or of necessity.
• Impecunious – having very little or no money usually habitually.
• Avarice – excessive or insatiable desire for wealth or gain.
• Prestidigitation – sleight of hand. A cleverly executed trick or deception.
• Gesticulating – to make gestures when speaking.
• Omertà – code of silence, usually about criminal activity.
• Kobold – a gnome in German folklore inhabits underground places.

These definitions come from Merriam-Webster Dictionary. If you enjoyed what I had to say about this book, you should give it a read. Neil Gaiman is a fantastic author. What book are you reading now? Any book recommendations, leave them below in the comments. 😃

“What I say is, a town isn’t a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town, but unless it’s got a bookstore, it knows it’s not foolin’ a soul.”

― Neil Gaiman, American Gods

May 22nd 2021

“They tried to stand off the soldiers, but the men fired and killed them both. So the song’s wrong about the jail, but that’s put in for poetry. You can’t allus have things like they are in poetry. Poetry ain’t what you’d call truth. There ain’t room enough in the verses.”

– A singer’s commentary on “The Ballad of Sam Bass,” A Treasury of American Folklore

May 10th 2021

“I had the epiphany that laughter was light, and light was laughter, and that this was the secret of the universe.” —Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch

October 17th 2020

 “Morning is an important time of day, because how you spend your morning can often tell you what kind of day you are going to have.” – Lemony Snicket

3 Movies In 3 Days

Alright everyone, I have 3 more movies to watch, in 3 days!

This Pandemic is still going on and many of us may still be finding ourselves with a lot of free time on our hands. These 3 movies can keep you entertained, and are fairly long so it will definitely help pass the time. These movies I’m talking about are: The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons and Inferno. I found this trilogy to be quite captivating. The movies are inspired by the book series by Dan Brown. Tom Hanks portrays the main character in all of these movies, which is nice because the same actor is kept playing the role. Ben Foster, Ewan McGregor and Paul Bettany also play roles in these movies. I watched part of The Da Vinci Code when I was younger, but didn’t quite understand it. Then again, I maybe got 20 minutes into it and switched it off. It wasn’t exactly the type of movie I was interested around that age. Now that I’m older and have a different outlook on movies, appreciation of history and good musical composition. I decided that I might actually enjoy it. So we, my boyfriend and I decided to watch these on our movie night.

The Da Vinci Code

This film was produced back in 2006 with Tom Hanks cast as the main character. It dives straight into secret societies and their hidden past dating back to the birth of Christianity. The main character Robert Langdon is basically thrown into all these whirlwind events. The movie is a race with Langdon to uncover the truth about what happened and why. Over a span of about 2 hours and 30 minutes, its on the longer end, but well worth it. The musical composition is also amazing and makes you feel more in the movie. If you want to hear some of the musical pieces on Spotify, click below:

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Angels and Demons

This second Fim , we find ourselves right back at it with Robert Langdon. This time he’s called upon because the Illuminati have surfaced and there are puzzles only he can figure out. Langdon eventually finds himself searching through Vatican City to find the clues to stop the massive destruction of the city.

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Inferno

This is the last movie of the trilogy. Inferno starts off again with Robert Langdon suffering from retrograde amnesia, he’s told from trauma to the head. He is needed to decrypt hidden messages and stop a deadly virus from being unleashed on the world. Watching the first two movies comes, it to no surprise as to why they want Langdon in the first place. More secrets, more puzzles to solve all while running from multipe government agencies. Who can he trust? This movie also has a wonderful composition. Just listen for yourself down below.

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I would have never come across these unless Chris suggested the, because he wanted to watch them. These movies had long been out of the spotlight and overshadowed by the more recent comic book films. We decided to just watch one movie each night, so we could unwind and look forward to something to do the next day. I thoroughly enjoyed these movies and the music that emphasized them . They were extremely entertaining and fun to watch. Grab some snacks, kick back and get comfy. I hope you enjoy the movies as much as I did. 💚

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“Nothing is more creative… nor destructive… than a brilliant mind with a purpose.”

― Dan Brown, Inferno

More movies to watch while still quarantined click below:

My Top 5 Movies on Quarantine

February 25th 2020

“When the stars were right, They could plunge from world to world through the sky; but when the stars were wrong, They could not live.”

― H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

February 21st 2020

“I didn’t know why I was going to cry, but I knew that if anybody spoke to me or looked at me too closely the tears would fly out of my eyes and the sobs would fly out of the throat and I’d cry for a week.”

― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

Four Books For A Rainy Day

Some of my Favorite Books for the Rain

First off…There will always be a never ending list of books that will be amazing to read in the rain. The list will always change and everyone has their own views on whether or not a book is worth reading or not. Why specifically reading in the rain you may ask, simple, it is some of the most calming (in some cases) weather there is. I’m sure many of you have heard that rain can make you sleepy or feel more calm that’s because rain tends to be white noise or what some call pink noise. Pink noise allows you to focus on just the sound of the rain and nothing else. This allows your body to rest, focus and to destress in a sense. This is why reading in the rain is calming and one of my favorite times to get cozy on the couch with a book. Here is a small list of my favorite books to read while it’s raining.

• The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. This comedic book series gets you through the galaxy over a span of 5 books! It keeps you entertained and glued to the pages the whole time! They also have a movie based on the books and a radio series that was done.
• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. A very gripping story that tells the chilling tale of Susie. The movie was also just recently released.
• The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman. Four different women whose lives intersect around chaos, keeping secrets about themselves and who they love. A captivating well researched and written novel. Fiercely independent and mind provoking.
• The Pact by Jodi Picoult. This is a heart wrenching love story between two teenagers with a tragic story to tell. It’ll keep you guessing until the very last page. I loved this book so much I actually wrote a post about it, which you can read here.

This is just a short list of a few mesmerizing stories. Each book will fill your soul with happiness, sadness and every emotion in-between. Reading not only stimulates your brain with creativity and calmness. It allows a little time of escaping to just be you and not have to worry about anything for another chapter. Even if it isn’t raining, you should still give these books a good read. So sit down, have some tea, get cozy and start reading.

“You are only worthy of what you prove yourself to be.”

―Alice Hoffman, The Dovekeepers