Life Lately – November 2015

Phew, I know I often say this when I write these posts, but it really feels like I’ve been waiting ages to write one of these up again. Life has just been lifing around, busy and stuff.

So what’s new? It’s been more than a month now since my father’s passed away. It is still incredibly hard and I miss him very much. You can’t really understand the feeling if you’ve never been there. I was able to sit with a friend who lost her father last week and empathize, so I am grateful that this loss has enabled me to actually help someone else too.

I have had the worst Pharyngitis and Bronchitis for a week now. I’m nearly back to a subhuman level where I can talk without coughing my lungs out, so there has been improvement. Lessons learnt: 1) go to the doctor 2) I am a terrible patient.

I’m in the middle of exams now. I have no idea what made me choose Physiology as a major. Talk about HATE. So bleak that I’ve done all my Microbiology work already because that is interesting. I hope to struggle through and pass these monsters. Also, writing Medicinal Botany the 20^th, but after watching the Martian I have accepted that Botany has value and will study hard in the likely event that I get stuck on Mars.

I am also currently way behind with Blindspots – I have three left (The Prestige, The Good Life and Pulp Fiction), and I’m sure you realize that it is way too many. I hope to get through two of them within next week when I have a really quick break between my last two tests.

I’m currently reading way too many Nora Roberts romances – they are such silly, quick reads that my exam brain just laps it up. Have you ever noticed how improbable the men are in these? Amazing. I am also reading the Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger, and am having such a good time with that. It really is just chick-lit but it is well written and a really good look into the politics of a first job. I am about half way with Angels and Demons – it really isn’t bad and of much better quality than The DaVinci Code, but goodness, can Langdon be anymore pompous and annoying??

Listening – mostly to Adele’s new song (yeah, totally on that boat). I have to say I’m shockingly impressed with the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack. You can see what I thought about the movie here, but I think the soundtrack was really well put together. Also – Ed Sheeran. He is not really my ideal idea of a date, but he can sure sing. Rampant thought for the week: Am I getting old or is most music just truly shit these days? I so rarely enjoy anything I hear on the radio these days.

Excited about: Firstly, my new job. I initially thought that I could hold out at my current company until I received my degree, but I don’t think so. I am starting a new job in December and I have to say that I’m pretty amped. This year has been so terrible and a part of that has come from the fact that I’ve reached my expiration date with my current company. It’s not a bad place and I really love some of the people here, but you know when you’re done, you’re done, right? Anyway, I am terrified and excited and everything, so I just can’t wait anymore.

I’m also pretty excited about the New Year, mostly because I am 100% certain that nothing will suck as bad as 2015. It is going to be hectic – I already have three weddings lined up (pretty sure that I will soon star in the sequel to 27 Dresses!) and have three practical modules due, but I am so ready to drown this year in a substantial amount of alcohol.

List of things I really hate at this point of my existence:

Paper finishing in the printer. I mean really, who needs such negativity in their life?

Kardashi-anything

Scanning things into a PC. Most hated part of my job.

Sitting in an office next to the big boss.Really not on.

Studying, for obvious reasons.

Things to get done:

Watch Pulp Fiction

Watch The Prestige

Watch A Good Year

Mockingjay, Spectre, Possible Star Wars in cinema.

Finish: Angels and Demons, The Devil Wears Prada, this list.

Make new tabs on blog for: Links I Love, Blindspot.Possibly new theme for Blog. Used to love the minimalist lay out, now it only looks meh.

I really want to watch Vikings Season 2 now. It is terrible that I’m this behind!

Really amused by:

I’m pretty sure this one guy isn’t wearing underwear to work. It’s quite hilarious, though it does get awkward from time to time.

Well, now that I’ve left you with that titbit of information, what’s going on in your life?

November 5, 2015November 4, 2015 by Natasha Categories: Life LatelyTags: 2015, Adele, Angels and Demons, Blindspot, Dan Brown, Ed Sheeran, Fifty Shades of Grey, fun, Lauren Weisberger, Lauren Weisenberger, Life Lately, music, Nora Roberts, Studying, The DaVinci Code, The Devil Wears Prada, Weddings 8 Comments

5 Things Friday: 5 Books I plan to read in the next few months

Happy Friday everyone!

I am totally getting my book reading vibe back. I’ve been reading some Nora Roberts and John Green, as well as finishing the Davinci Code. Here’s a list of the next few books I’m planning to read. Let me know if you’ve read them and what your opinions have been about it 🙂

1. Looking for Alaska: John Green

Since this book is busy getting organised into a movie, I really want to read the book beforehand to be able to properly compare. I really enjoy John Green’s writing as well – he is such a brilliant author!

2. The Woman Who Stole my Life: Marian Keyes

I’m always really excited when one of my favorite authors brings out a new book. YAY!

3. The Ruby Circle: Richelle Mead

I just really want to finish the series and see what happens to Sydney and Adrian!

4. Angels and Demons: Dan Brown

I really didn’t like The DaVinci code. However, I’ve heard that Angels in Demons is actually much better, so I am willing to give it a try.

5. Atonement: Ian McEwan

The movie is just the saddest watching experience ever, and I just really want to see how everything unfolds in the book, even if I know the end.

What books are you planning to read?

May 22, 2015May 21, 2015 by Natasha Categories: Books, Five Things FridayTags: Angels and Demons, Atonement, Books, Dan Brown, Ian McEwan, John Green, Looking for alaska, Marian Keyes, Reading, Richelle Mead, The Ruby Circle, The Woman who stole my life 13 Comments

Book Review: The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)

Plot: An ingenious code hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci. A desperate race through the cathedrals and castles of Europe. An astonishing truth concealed for centuries . . . unveiled at last.

While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbols. As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci—clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Even more startling, the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion—a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci—and he guarded a breathtaking historical secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle—while avoiding the faceless adversary who shadows their every move—the explosive, ancient truth will be lost forever. (via Goodreads)

Rating: 5.5/10

I’ve been hammering on this fact for ages to anyone who would listen: Dan Brown would never have achieved fame and movie contracts on his books if he didn’t write about controversial topics. His writing style is nauseatingly flamboyant and his ideas of plot twists are just sad and unoriginal.

I would have liked the DaVinci code much more if it had been 150 pages less. That end is the longest conclusion to a story that I’ve yet found and it feels that Brown was desperate to end it with a bang and make it more dramatic than it needed to be.

Langdon, the main character, was an endless source of irritation. He’s written as a brilliant Harvard professor, the best in his field. I know people how are the best in their respective fields, I deal with them daily, and they are neither shocked, nor flustered, nor endlessly flabbergasted by an event that happens in their expertise. He would just never classify as a person I would have time for in real life, no way. I did like Sophie Nevue. She was strong and had direction and dealt better with the exhausting amounts of plots and turns that Dan Brown wrote for his central characters.

Another thing that irritated me and it is a topic that constantly irritates me, is the blatant attack on the Roman Catholic Church. Do they have a violent history? Yes, certainly. Are they likely hiding magnificent artifacts from the world? I’m not discounting it. Do they have corrupt officials? No doubt.

However, I think it is a recurring theme in modern society to constantly attack the Roman Catholics and that is not okay. I am not even part of their Church, but I find it offensive and unnecessary to constantly pick at them.  It is the easy route to go if you plan to take on a religious organization in your book – other religions do not take it lying down when false truths are spread about them. We live in a society were tolerance is constantly blasted out over social media to all forms of religion, so let’s all actually live in tolerance, eh, Dan Brown?

The last thing I absolutely hated (before I attack the flamboyant writing style), is that Dan Brown writes at the beginning of the book that all his data in his novel are factual. Can someone just film me while I go off the rocker about this? What utter bullshit. I absolutely loathe, LOATHE people who passes sensation off as fact. You can’t state something is true if you don’t have ACTUAL EVIDENCE SUPPORTING A STATEMENT.

Now, for the writing style: I would have enjoyed this book if there weren’t overly dramatic sentences of flustered emotions and stunned realizations and deep breaths everywhere by our special Mr. Langdon. The constant explanations of completely unwanted information left me incredibly frustrated. This book could have been good – I can enjoy controversial books and I can even read books that I don’t agree with and still have fun, if it is well written. The book had the possibility of being a great adventure but even that fell flat with the endless descriptions of artifacts in the book.

This book was really not one of the most moving pieces of literature I have ever encountered. Have you read it? What did you think?

May 19, 2015May 16, 2015 by Natasha Categories: Books, ReviewsTags: Books, conspiracies, Dan Brown, desperate attempts to make money, Reading, Robert Langdon, Roman Catholic Church, Sophie Neveu 9 Comments

Weekend 16-18 August 2013

Hello

Who else feels that the weekend went unnaturally fast? Really, they always feel as if they had flown, but it just seems this one really went at break-neck speed.

I have been dieting the entire weekend. I simply realized that weekends where you eat what you want just means that you will gain weight, and I am tired of it. It was the most successful two days I have had in a while. I am not weighing yet, since I think it is a too short amount of time to see results, but I am so focused on it right now. I am NOT gaining any more weight.

On the series front, I am watching The Mentalist Season four as well as Desperate Housewives. Both are really good and entertaining. I need to start on Sons Of Anarchy Season three – there is no way I cannot know what happens to Abel.

I watched two movies this weekend – Bride Wars and The First Time. I’ve seen Bride Wars before, but watched it with my mom as it is mom-friendly. I have to say I am really impressed with The First Time. It is really rare to come across an original, true, heart-warming story.

Books:

I haven’t made much progress. I am currently reading Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons, which is fantastic, and Stephanie Meyer’s Eclipse (two very different books) Both are good in their own way.

Wedding

There is so much left to do! My sister’s bachelorettes is NEXT WEEKEND. It is way too close for my liking. I feel like I have a million things to do. I will probably turn into a lunatic sometime. That said; some of the wedding party must watch it. Upsetting the Bride, my sister, anymore, will have severe consequences. ‘Nuff said.

How did your weekend go?

August 19, 2013 by Natasha Categories: Books, Breaking Dawn, Movies, WeekendsTags: Angels and Demons, bachelorettes, Bride Wars, CBI, Dan Brown, Desperate Housewives, Dieting, Eclispe, healthy lifestyle, Mentalist, Patrick Jane, Red John, Stephanie Meyer, Teresa Lisbon, The First Time, wedding, Weight, Weight loss, Wisteria Lane 2 Comments