Books

I have blogged about some pretty heavy subjects lately, and I plan to talk about some lighter topic today. I want to discuss some books that I have read recently. Here is a book list that I have deemed interesting enough to fill up my time.

1. The Gossip Girl Series – OK, so I know the people who know who I am will look at this in wonderment and ask, “Why are you recommending this series?” My answer is that its actually pretty good. Although offering a thoroughly fictional viewpoint of the New York elite, its very interesting to delve in fictional “real life” characters once in a while. There is some moderately strong language here and there in the series, but on the whole, very good.
2. Twilight series – I might sound crazy, but there is a reason why the series became so popular throughout the years. Even people like me like the series. Although I disregard the kissey-kissey parts, Stephanie Meyer has made being a vampires sound kind of fun. I don't know how many times I imagined having vampire superpowers. Its crazy what books can do to your imagination.
3. Harry Potter series – I don't need to explain why this series is in my must-read list.
4. Ranger's Apprentice – When I started this series a couple of years ago, I didn't really like what I was reading, but I started this series again recently, and I changed my mind. Characters are original, and the reader will find that they will start rooting for Will under every circumstance. The author really makes reader want to read more about the story.
5. Pendragon Series – This series is more sci-fi/action series. The author D.J. Machale really draws his audience into the story. I could seriously imagine going through the different adventures with Bobby. Its a really good series, lots of good imagery.
6. Eragon Series – Dragons, magic and battles. That pretty much sums up the series but its really good. Very original.

As of now, these are the 6 series that I can think of. I really enjoyed reading these because the books really took me to another world, in imagination at least.

-Gina      

My Favorite Fictional Character

I was inspired to write about this topic when I read an article online about how a girl found inspiration through a character in her favorite book. Without a doubt, my favorite fictional character would be Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series. We share a surprising amount of qualities that I did not realize as I was reading the series before.

The first quality that we share is ambition. Hermione is perpetually trying to do the best she can in every situation possible. She is at the top of her class, and is afraid to make the slightest mistakes. Being the perfectionist that she is, she can't help but to make a few enemies, namely the few that call her a teacher's pet. Although I am not the smartest person in my class, let alone my grade, I can claim that I share the same intensity or inner fire that possesses Hermione. Throughout the 7 books in the series, Hermione is always nagging about grades, exams, and homework. I myself find it hard to concentrate outside of this arena. School takes up my whole life, as it does Hermione's. This, I believe, is the most important trait in personality that we share.

The second quality is loyalty to those around us. Whenever I do a favor for a friend, I never ask for them to do something in return. What I mean is that Hermione does not do favors for her two best friends just because she wants something off of them. She does these favors because she does it from the bottom of her heart. From the first book to the last, she remains loyal to both Harry and Ron despite the obvious hardships that they go through. In this fashion, I am more like Hermione than in almost any other fashion. I am steadfastly loyal to my friends whether that person is popular or not. Hermione's character is wronged during the beginning of the first book when she is characterized as a bossy, overconfident girl with bad hair. This is later refuted as Hermione proves her courage through the various “adventures” that they experience together.

The third and final trait that I share with Hermione is that we love to read books. I can tell you here and now that I am the world's biggest book fanatic that you have ever seen. As soon as I get a job and start earning money, I would stock up my shelves and start reading away. This fanatical love of reading is reflected in Hermione. Over the summer, she always does some “light reading” so that she has already read all of the textbooks before term starts. I can safely say that my reading speed is most likely right up there with all of the Hermione Granger's around the world. This intense passion for reading is entwined with the ambition for learning.

Throughout the entire series, I admire how smart and quick Hermione has been to solve problems. Without her, Ron and Harry would more than likely have died in the hands of Death Eaters. I believe that the traits that I share with Hermione are most, if not all, fundamental. These traits are the main reasons in what makes Hermione my favorite fiction character of all time.

-Gina  

Day Job vs. Passion

Not very many people can say that they love their day jobs. Even less can say that they are following what their heart is telling them to do. In this post, I would like to talk about how to find what your “day job” is and what your “passion” is.

First, let me clarify what a “day job” is exactly. What I mean by day job is the job that feels like a chore. Those of you who are employed, the job that you go to everyday but don't enjoy, that would be your day job. Day jobs are those jobs that you do but you don't enjoy it. For people my age, our day job would most likely be school. Not the funnest job to do, but we have to do it, like it or not. These jobs feel like a burden, whether you're a student, accountant, teacher, whatever. If you don't like what you're doing, I mean, what are you going to do?

I know that sometimes when you are pursuing your dreams, you kind of have to leave reality to accomplish what's in your heart. For most people, this is not possible. Their boring, everyday job is the only thing that is supporting them or their family. I believe the easiest solution for people is to start young. Take me for example. I blog, and although I want to be a doctor later in life, writing is what I do for fun, and I don't feel as if it is a burden. See, the magic is to find what you love and start there. Then everything would be much better. I'm 16,and because of that I don't feel any financial burden to go out there and do something just for money. I'm still deciding whether to pursue music or writing. People like me still have time, it's not like we're 40 and we have families to support.

As I said, the key to finding your passion is to find what you love to do. Then, you WANT to do it, and that attitude is what changes the whole game. For teens like me, our views are basically shaped by our parents. This fear of parent disapproval has shaped generations of jobs. The few that were brave enough to follow their dreams are successful. For example, I had a substitute teacher that's into music and design. He has a degree in business, but found out that he didn't like it. Now, he works as a substitute during the day and in the evenings he's doing music. I mean, that's really cool, the way he's doing stuff. Cool people do that: they keep going after what they want, no matter what others tell them. That's called being able to preserver against a stronger tide.

As of now, my day job is school. Although I really like seeing my friends at school, that's about it. School is not my passion, writing and music is. The only thing in my case is that high school is just a period of time. It's going to be over in four years (about a year and a half in my case) and I can major in anything that I want in college. I can even do something like major in a field that would get me a job and then pursue my dreams. This would have me able to earn money when my dreams fail. The thing with me is that I've toyed with the idea of starting a band with my friends, but practically none of us have time outside of school. Our studies and our parents won't let us out of the house. I've been saving money to buy a guitar, but that would take a long time. Recently, I researched guitar prices, and the prices are, like, up there. They are so expensive. I'm determined to get them and achieve my dream. That drive can only be duplicated when you are doing something that you love.

As explained in this post, your day job and your passion are two totally different things. They're so different that you can quite literally feel the energies that are coming off of them. I hope that this post was helpful to you in finding your passion.

-Gina