From One Nerd to Another: December 2013

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Lips like water. Kiss like air.

They say

a good kiss

is like drinking water

after a life long drought.

I began to realize

that kissing you

it’s not like water

because you can go hours

days even without

water.

Your kisses

are like air

I can get all I think I need

in that moment

and seconds later

I’m gasping for more

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Book of the Year!

I did this thing last year where I named 2012's 'Book of the Year' so here is 2013's edition.

The criteria that I consider is that I have to have read it that year (duh.), it has to be a book I've never read before, it has to top all books I've read that year new and old, and finally I have to feel like this book can be universally liked and enjoyed by relatively anyone. Of course you can disagree with any or all of this. It's a personal thing, like all my book reviews, and of course up to interpretation.

So 2013's Book of the Year is:
Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

Of course you've probably, if not watch for yourself, heard of the new Netflix series that came out this summer Orange is the New Black about a sweet little white woman who goes to jail for carrying drug money ten years ago. Well this is the memoir that the show was based off of (if you look at a lot of red carpet events for the show you'll actually see Piper Kerman is in a lot of them with her real life husband Larry, who's also in the show). I myself have seen the first season of the show and loved it! So I did some digging and me being the book nerd that I am decided to read the book!
The charter on the show is based off the memoir's author Piper Kerman. The book explores the act and relationship that lead to her incarceration. She then goes into detail of her 15 plus months at a woman's prison and then her trial and time done in Chicago leading up to her release.

I give Orange is the New Black a 9 out of 10

I know it's strange to give the Book of the Year a less than perfect score but hey, my blog my rules.

Kerman has a wonderfully blunt and beautiful voice to her writing. She spares no detail of her very graphic experience. Where the show dramatizes and changes quite a bit, Kerman's writing is incredibly human. At some points it may drag slightly but it's only because you are brought along on every detail of her experience which makes the end incredibly painful as she spends her time in Chicago but insanely liberating as she describes being set free.
It's hard to rate a memoir and many have their reservations about them at times but this is definitely worth the read. Whether you liked the show or not Kerman's memoir is beautiful and haunting and leaves you with a great message about our prison systems and what justice really means.

Taylor Schilling (who plays Piper Chapman on the Netflix series
with Piper Kerman the author of the memoir

Friday, December 27, 2013

Hell yeah it is.

I just saw this and it couldn't be more perfect

My New Year.

Hey everybody!
SO! A LOT of my life will be changing with the start of 2014. AND, I'd be honored to share every step of the way with all of you!
First off I'll tell you where I am in my life right now.

I am no longer going to school at Millikin University. I returned home December 20th and will be continuing my sophomore year of college while living at home and going to Moraine Valley Community College to finish my associates degree hopefully in a year.
Now let me explain why. Millikin University is a great school. I loved some of the teachers and the people I got to work with, but it just wasn't for me. I know that sounds crazy and ya know it kinda is, but it just wasn't for me and I could feel it in everything I did.
As someone who has lived her whole life down the street from the city of Chicago being in the middle of nowhere was almost literally sucking the life out of me. Also I was studying Theatre which at this point in my life or simply just at Millikin wasn't for me. I just felt so unhappy. I was so far away from anyone who loved me and just felt so alone.
Have you ever been driving somewhere and you're supposed to turn on a specific street but you realize you have NO idea if you're supposed to turn right or left so at the last minute you make a split second decision and turn. And as you are driving in that direction you slowly become more and more certain you are driving in the wrong direction?
That's exactly what it felt like.
So 2014 is me making my U turn.
They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. And I realized that I was so unhappy at Millikin and trying to just stay there and hope things got better was insanity. The nights of panic attacks, self doubt, and just sheer loneliness were big warning signs. So coming home, working, being around family, friends, and the city is my change in hopes of making myself feel whole again. Going back to where I knew who I was and working from there.
So this is where I'm at. I'm trying to live better, treating my body well with yoga, eating right and getting out more. Read more, write more, set goals, work harder, take more chances, the whole works. Now I'm not saying I do this an SNAP I'm a happier me, but it's the start of a long process. The journey of a million miles begins with a single step, right?
And with these new goals, one of them is revamping this blog. There's going to be an influx of book reviews, seeing as that was the originally for, and hopefully more poetry mixed with short stories of this new year. So if you've been enjoying with you see so far PLEASE continue to read on, share with your friends, send me feedback!
For anyone else who has felt lost from both the world and yourself. This is my way of saying. I'm there, and if you are too, well you're not alone. We don't have to be.
Hope you all enjoy the holidays, and please stay tuned for my new year.