School's Out for Summer!

Whoohoo! I'm done with grad school except for my culminating project! Candidacy for the Fall, and then I'll be done. Dustin's graduating this Saturday with his Masters in education--I'm so proud of him! He's going to be an awesome teacher!

Now that's school's out, I'm at a loss of what to do. I don't have job still, so that's my top priority. I'm going to look into doing volunteer work; I sit here and espouse my ideals of bettering society and mourn people's lack of empathy while I haven't done anything productive myself. I'm going to change that by volunteering at a library, the humane society, Frasier musuem or KY Shakespeare Festival. This will also get me out and hopefully, I'll be able to make new friends outside of school.

Of course, everything currently depends on my having a car; mine is sadly too far gone and expensive to fix. Right now, I have Dustin to take me whereever, but once he starts working he can't. His mom generously offered the use of her car which she doesn't drive, since Scott (her husband) got a new one, and she carpools with her mother to work.

Here are my summer plans:
-Get a job
-Volunteer at least once a week
-Work on culminating project
-Book Club (with Paducah friends) - I already finished the first book!
-Take on and complete 50 Book Challenge
-Keep up with my reading journal
-Blog regularly
-Start writing short stories again
-Spend more time editing the wiki on and writing articles for AnimeVice
-Disney World and Cruise to the Virgin Islands! (Generously paid for by Dustin's parents)

Nicholas Sparks & Miley Cyrus What Have You Done to Me?!

Hi blogosphere. I missed you and apologize for being terribly negligent. Much like my university email which is now overflowing and needs to sorted out. I've been in a state of pure apathy as of late. Not having a job really sucks. Hopefully, things are looking up, as I found out two places (though retail) are hiring currently! I applied for one and going to apply for the other tomorrow.

I'm so happy it's starting to become warm outside now! We have sun at least every other day and longer daylight hours! I can just wear a small hoodie and be comfortable! I can open my windows and let in fresh air. All this of course makes me eager to don on my cute spring/summer wear most notably skirts and dresses.

I'm by no means a Nicholas Sparks fan (never seen a movie or read a book by him), but for some reason I feel sucked in by the commercials for his latest movie The Last Song. I know it's a highly idealized, predictable, likely tragic, heartbreaking, summer, teenage/young adult romance (that's a lot of adjectives, but you can't have a Nicholas Sparks movie without every single one of those words); I kinda want to see it though. I don't understand. This is a NICHOLAS SPARKS MOVIE--meant to be cliche and force as many tears out of you as possible even if you DON'T have tear ducts.

I think it has something to do with the song "When I Look At You" by Miley Cyrus. I don't like Miley Cyrus either, but I am OBSESSED with this song. I really love the piano arrangement and lyrics--though really all I can remember is the chorus because Cyrus shouts it in her nasally voice over and over. I think there's a kind of earnestness in this song that conjures up the feelings of love and comfort. It's kind of shame that Miley Cyrus sings it because I think the song could be 20X better performed by someone else with better (*cough* actual) vocal talent. Nevertheless, I'm hooked on the song. To give her credit, she doesn't sound bad just not amazing; I mean, I still like the song and can get over her voice. Hey, everyone's got a guilty pleasure right?

Oh and I want her dresses in this video--specifically the dark green dress. I want it so hard it's ridiculous. I have spent and wasted countless hours on the 'net scouring for info on who made the dress and searching for knock-offs or similar style dresses in that color. Usually, I could care less about owning an exact replica of a celebrity dress, but this is one I MUST HAVE. I keep thinking in my head, I WOULD LOOK AWESOME IN THIS DRESS! It's romantic, flowy, and whimsical--it just screams me! Really tempted to place a commission on Etsy for it, but alas lack the funds. Just as soon as I get that job I'll...actually probably put a down payment on my wedding dress.

What do you guys think of Nicholas Sparks? Anyone actually eager enough to go a midnight showing? Do they even have midnight showings of Nicholas Sparks movies? It would seem like a good money maker for the theatres. Are Miley Cyrus's clothes not just gorgeous and don't you think it's grossly unfair she gets to wear them in an awesome music video in front a grand piano because she has low to mediocre talent not to mention looks?