A Quick Quote and Hilarious Email

I don't know who said it, but I admire his/her genius.  Enjoy the amazingness anyway.

 

 “I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead."

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this short, random email.  That's what you get for being friends with me.  ;)

Sincerely, Ficklemaster

 

P.S.  Hi guys!  How are you?  (I always seem to forget that part.)

--Da Megsta out--

• An excerpt from an email by the one and only Ficklemaster.

The Fault in our Stars

Yes, another book review from the Ficklemaster.  But trust me, this one's amazing.  I read it in a day because I couldn't put it down.

I can't really write a decent summary for this novel by John Green, because no mixture of words would be able to put it to justice.  So, you're just going to need to take my word for it.

When my friend lent it to me, she made me promise I would discuss it with her as I was reading it.  Since I read it all in a night, though, I simply sent her e-mails periodically with whatever I was thinking.  My first reaction after the first three chapters was: "Ugh!  You didn't tell me it was a love story!" after Hazel (the main character) goes to her cancer Support Group one week and lays eyes on Augustus Waters--a boy who lives for metaphors.  Wait!  Wait, wait, wait.  Don't let that scare you off--the cancer or the love.  It would have frightened me away if my friend hadn't been so excited about me reading it.  I've been so exhausted with the love triangles and other complications in the novels cleverly hidden away in the teen section that I was ready to give up by then.  But boy, am I glad that I didn't.

It is so much more than that.  My friend promised it, and she was right.  It beautifully demonstrates their experiences living with cancer, knowing that every day could be their last.  They understand that sometimes people are not meant to change the entire world--just a small piece in it.  "The marks humans leave are too often scars", as John Green puts it.  In the ups and downs of love, dreams, and wishes all shadowed by the omniscient overhang of cancer, John Green put together an amazing story that I'm glad I didn't miss.

Unwind (and Series?)

 

     So, I just finished an amazingly awesome book called "Unwind" by Neal Shusterman. It is sooooo good! It's another one of those books in the future. It takes place after the second civil war over human rights. The result is that human life is protected until the age of thirteen. Between thirteen and eighteen, parents can choose to have their kid unwound, which is when all of their body parts and organs are harvested. So if someone were to lose an arm, they could just replace it with a harvested unwound's arm. This way, the unwound doesn't technically die, but is still alive. It's kind of hard to imagine, right?

 

     I don't really want to do a summary, because I agree with Ficklemaster, it does give away a lot. ... And also, I read it about a week ago, and my brain tends to forget things quickly about books except about how good or bad they are. It would be hard to do a summary right now. But, yeah, it's crazy awesome and I think there's a series! I just haven't read them all yet, and this is the first book of Neal Shusterman that I've read. He seems to have a lot of futuristic ones like this.

 

    Don't just stand there, run to the library!!!

 

    Now.

    

  

The Chasing Yesterday Trilogy

One of my best friends recommended the author Robin Wasserman while we were at the library and handed me the books.  They're very quick reads, but totally worth the day and a half I spent on them.  If you wanted a summary, I'm not giving you one.  I've always thought that summaries gave away too much.  No, I'm going to summarize the first two chapters.  A good compromise, don't you think?  The first book is called The Awakening.  It should be at a library near you.  If not, request it.  It's amazing.  Tell me if this doesn't hook you.

She wakes up in a pile of rubble.  First, the pain.  It shuts out everything.  And then, she realizes that more has happened.  She doesn't know where she is.  She can't remember how she got there.  She doesn't remember...anything.  Her memory is gone.

In the hospital, she only has minor injuries.  The doctors call her Jane Doe.  It doesn't fit.

They release her; her memory will come back, they say.  All in due time.  It will come.  There were no permanent damages to her brain.  She would go back to normal.

And then the music started. 

Quote of the Day

This quote really inspires me to excel and believe in myself and I wanted to share it with you.

                "If I have the belief that I can do it, I will surely acquire the capacity to do it, even if I may not have it at the beginning"

-Mahatma Gandhi

Book Review

       This book review is on an interesting science fiction series that begins with the book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The book, like many other sci-fi books deals with aliens, but not in the green, antennae growing, "take me to your leader" sort of way. You meet these aliens while following the journey of Arthur Dent and Ford Perfect. Their entire journey  begins when the Earth is destroyed to make way for a inter space highway. Along the way the two men meet the President of the Galaxy, an interesting woman, an extremely happy ship, and a depressed robot. The book is full of fun and excitement that keeps you wondering what happens next.  The book left me laughing out loud in an ending no one could have predicted. The other books in the series are The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life,the Universe and Everything, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, Young Zaphod Plays it Safe, and Mostly Harmless. A TV series was also created after the book, and a hilarious movie.

Food for Thought

       I won't take credit for this because it was first aired on Person of Interest, but I think it is something that everyone should think about at some point in their life.
       Pi is and infinite number. We all know that. If pi goes on forever, then it contains every possible number combination. That means it has your EXACT phone number, and mine. It has your social security number and mine. It has everyone's phone number, social security number, birthday, age, and every other number combination ever used in your life. Now, if we changed those numbers to letters, pi would also contain other things about you. It would have everyone's full name, their parent's name, and every word you have ever said. It would even contain the name of the first place you worked and the name of your first car. In fact, because it contains every possible numeric combination, and therefore every alphabetic and word combination, If the numbers were turned into letters, this very paragraph I am writing would be in pi.