Book Review - Scott Westerfeld: Uglies Series

These books are in no way new, but for my first book review I thought I would go with something that I was familiar with.

The Uglies Series consists of four books, Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extras.

The series is set 300 years in the future, after much of civilization has been wiped out. Only a select few cities remain, all of which are highly technologically advanced.
In these cities, when a person turns 16 years old they are given a surgery in order to make them "Pretty". "Pretty" people have perfectly symmetrical facial features, chiseled bodies, and they live a care-free life.
"Pretties" are given whatever they want, whenever they want. Until someone is a pretty, they're stuck living in a dorm-like setting, only being given things after earning enough credits doing different tasks.

The first three books in the series follow a young girl named Tally Youngblood. Tally cannot wait until she is "pretty", but soon before her surgery she discovers a deep secret that changes the course of history for her, and many others, forever.

In my opinion, the books featuring Tally Youngblood as a main character are the best.

That being said, the fourth book in the series, Extras, is still quite an enjoyable book. It centers around a girl named Aya Fuse. Aya wants nothing more to be popular, and after being sneaky, using gadgets, and worming her way into a secret clique, she seems to get her wish... until she unearths a secret that is mind-shattering. Tally Youngblood makes an appearance in Extras, which is a key factor in the book being enjoyable.

Overall, the Uglies series is a great series for anyone interested in stories about the future, science fiction, mystery, and suspense.
It is geared at Young Adults, but my mother read every book all the way through and enjoyed every minute of it.

These books are an easy read, and can be finished in one sitting if someone is an avid reader like I am. The story is unique, and at times it can be very witty and clever.
I would recommend this book to anyone, and I hope that some of you will find the time to sit down and enjoy this series.
It's worth the read.

About the Author:
Scott Westerfeld is the author of many science fiction books. His latest is Leviathan.
He was born in Dallas, TX. He spends his time working on books, and flying between New York and Sydney, Australia.
His official website can be found here.

Buy the books here, or at your local bookstore.

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On a totally unrelated note, I won a contest! Eee!

Don't forget! You can now check my sidebar for freebies, updated regularly. Check now and see what you can get!

Movin' On Up

You remember how like, 2 weeks ago I made a new blog layout?
Yeah, well that was sooooo two weeks ago.

Actually, after using it for a little why, I decided I just didn't like it. It was too... unprofessional?
Small?
Cramped?

Tonight, while looking for a template to use to make Sarah's blog, I came across this template.
So I found an image, did a lot of tweaking, and voila, I have a new layout.
I like this one a lot better. It's more open, spacious, airy.
It's more... me?

I've also decided to create new sections of the blog. Once I get them set up, there will be a section for freebies, a section for contests, and a section highlighting my book reviews. (Once I do some).
I'm pretty freaking excited. I'm tweaking with excitement.

As for what's been going on today, I went to see my eating disorder psychologist.
I never thought I could see humor in a situation like that, but leave it to me...
Imagine my surprise when I watched them march a group of anorexic girls out of the clinic, into a van, to take them to get pizza.
And imagine how hilarious it would be too see these anorexic girls looking extremely pissed off to eat pizza.

Not funny?

I guess it's just funny because I know exactly what they were thinking.
And I was jealous of those little skinny witches. Why couldn't I go to get pizza? I deserve pizza!

I also went to the DMV today to renew my identification card.
We got there at 12:00, got out of the first line at 2:00, got out of the second waiting area at 4:30, and finally left at 5.
5 hours at the DMV. The one perk? I got a guy's phone number.
Of course, I have no use for it. But it did make me feel pretty! And who wouldn't like that?

As for tonight, I'm just working on the kinks in my blog. Tomorrow I'm going to the Farmer's market, and hopefully back to the clinic to sign up for my meetings.
They want me to come 3 times a week, 4 hours each time for group therapy. They'll feed me dinner while I'm there.
Originally they wanted me to go for 5 days a week, 12 hours a day.
I said, "ARE YOU INSANE?"
They just stared at me blankly, while eating a piece of paper and growling.
Okay, I made that up.

For those of you that want freebies, I'll be posting some in the sidebar everyday, so check back everyday for updated freebies.

As a starter freebie, click the following link to get a free shamwow after you fill out a survey:
http://www.avoniablue.com/offer5_entry.php
Who wouldn't want a shamwow, I know I would. You'll Say Wow Everytime!
Or you'll say eh, this is kind of a mediocre towel. But it was free, and that guy that had his tongue bitten off by a hooker promotes it, so Wow!

I Think I Have a Problem

I've sat here, all day, applying for freebies online.
I was up until 4 am yesterday, applying for freebies.

T-shirts, bottle openers, business cards, hats, EVERYTHING.
I have at least 100 things being shipped to me.
I even got a ROSARY and HOLY WATER.
Holy water for god's sake!!
And a Jewish bible.
And a normal bible.
And a braille bible.

I told my mom everything that I got, and all she could do is laugh at me and say "You're crazy."
Which made me really happy. Especially since I figured she'd FREAK at 100 things being shipped to the house.
Nope, she just thinks it's funny.

I kind of can't wait to get these things. I'm really excited. It's something to look forward to.
Plus the fact that I might win a giveaway on top of it. That makes me REALLY happy!

I think the reason I started this is because now that I can't weigh myself obsessively, I have to obsess over something else. So, free stuff!

For those of you that asked about the Free Books for Bloggers, visit here: http://brb.thomasnelson.com/

If you'd like to find out about getting free crap, like the crap I've been getting, email me.
I've found some really good stuff. Free makeup, free bags, free candles, free clothing.

Someone needs to stop me. I'm going to end up accidentally getting a free pony.

The coolest thing I've found is through NASA. Your name goes on a microchip that flies to pluto.

Anyway, back to getting free junk... and then tomorrow, I'm working on the layouts for the winners.

I'm Addicted

This weekend I developed an addiction.
This addiction is bad, real bad. It kept me up until 2 AM.

I'm addicted to entering blog contests.
I entered upwards of 100, probably more than that.
No matter what it was for, I entered it.

I want to win at least one. If I can do that, I'll feel accomplished.
If I don't win one... I spent the better part of my weekend wasting time.

Cosmetics, candies, baked goods, clothing, toys. You name it, I entered it.
I created a separate email and twitter, I chose a lot of my favorite things from websites.
I couldn't sleep one night thinking about how much I hoped I would win.

I need it. I crave it.

I've signed up for every website that shows new blog giveaways. I've scoured other blogs looking for anything to submit myself to.
It's like crack cocaine to me. The thought that I could win something... it's like an adrenaline rush.

Man, I really do need help.

(If you know about any giveaways, post them here... I'm interested like you wouldn't believe.)

As for the new part of my blog, I'm going to try to do monthly book reviews from now on. I signed up for a website that sends books to bloggers as long as they review them.
I just have to figure out my first book to review. I haven't read anything lately, so I suppose I should start.

Now, I have a weird question for you. What is your favorite part of an oreo? The cream, or the cookie?
My favorite is the cookie... I know I'm odd, but it's so yummy and chocolatey.
I'm eating oreos right now... man, I love oreos.
Almost as much as I love giveaways.

Yeah. I need help.

Win a Rug or a Necklace!

I really want to win this giveaway, so bear with me...

For a chance to win your own flokati rug ($79) from nuLoom Inc, visit All Things Bloggy.

To win the necklace, check out http://www.papemelroti.com/contests.htm!
It's really beautiful!

I never really win anything. I RARELY do, so if I won this, it would make me have a heart attack and squeal my girly little head off.

Since it's the weekend, I think it's okay not to really "post", so... neh! I'll be back to my antics on Monday, and I'll be introducing some new things to my blog... so watch out!

Jumping the Gun - Contest Winner Announcement!

I decided it was 50 kinds of pointless to wait until tomorrow to announce the winner when the contest was over today.

I used random.org to generate a sequence of numbers in order to find a winner.

The winner is... comment #10. Brandi from Faded Pictures and Misprinted Lies!
Congratulations!

Now, as a special treat I decided that one runner up would receive a free custom blog layout.

The number sequence continued as: 10, 33, 35, 7 which means that the runner up is-

#33 Sarah from That's What She Said!

If either of the winners don't respond back, or decide they don't want a layout, I will go to the next numbers in the sequence!

Congrats guys, you'll be hearing from me soon!
(Hey Sarah, email me, you don't have your email public! lee_fink@yahoo.com)

(If you're still dying for a new layout, but you didn't win, email me and we'll talk.)

Time to Come Clean

Alright, I try to refrain from doing "serious" posts, since most people don't want to read these mopey blogs that are a downer.
But for once, I feel like it's necessary for me to address some things in my life that I've been keeping to myself.

I have an eating disorder.
Two, actually.
I'm anorexic and bulemic. I'm not bulemic in the sense that you all think of, but I am bulemic nonetheless.

When I weighed 142 pounds, my mom would poke fun at me. She'd tell me I was chubby, that I had a muffin top, that I had "junk in my trunk". People don't realize that what they say leaves a lasting impression. When she called me chubby, or chunky, or anything similar, I would break down inside.
So when I started losing weight, I wanted to get as far from "chubby" as I could.
I started with treadmill, added in situps and leg exercises, and I got down to 125. My goal weight.
But then the weight kept coming off. 125 turned to 118; 118 turned to 115; and 115 turned to 112.
I got power hungry, determined to keep dropping weight, no matter how low I got.
When I popped back up to 114, I was angry with myself. Why couldn't I lose more? Why am I gaining again?

I was weighing myself 10 times a day, after every meal, after every drink, after exercising, when I woke up, when I went to sleep.

This started the struggle in my head. "What if I gain it all back?" "What if I get fat again?"
So I stopped eating.
Well, I didn't necessarily stop. I just ate less. I counted calories on everything. I know I'm supposed to get 1500-2000 calories a day, so I aimed for 1000. And ONLY 1000.
While I'm not like most anorexics, that eat almost nothing, I still starved myself of nutrients and foods that I needed.

When my weight popped back up, even by just a pound, I popped laxatives. This is where the bulemia set in. I told myself that they were only vegetable laxatives, not the really serious ones. I would pop 5, even though the recommended dose was 2. This would leave me in agony, because everything was rushed out of my system so fast.
I would wake up in the middle of the night and run to the bathroom over and over again.
I told myself that what I was doing wasn't wrong.
I know it was wrong.

After popping another 5 laxatives a few nights ago, I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't stand what I was doing to myself. I told my mom what I did, and I asked her to get rid of the laxatives and get me some help.
She poured them down the toilet, and we talked for a while. I told her it wasn't something I could control. I knew that what I was doing was wrong, but I couldn't stop myself.

So yesterday she called around and found me a counselor that works specifically with teens that have eating disorders. There's also a nutritionist, and a few other people that I could go see if I needed to.
She also hid the scale so that I couldn't weigh myself anymore.
My mom decided to create a new diet plan for me. Instead of 3 big meals a day, I get 6 small meals. That way I can't complain about being "bloated", because there isn't enough food inside of me at one time for me to complain about.

Today I feel fat, miserable, and ashamed. Which is even more shaming. I know that I'm fine, but my mind tells me otherwise. When I look in the mirror, I see all of my flaws. My thighs jiggle, my hips are wide, my stomach is a little poochy.
But hopefully with the help of my counselor, I can learn to take it day by day.

Frick and Frack

Shelby and I went to Laserquest yesterday, because we didn't really know what to do to kill time.
I mean, there's only so many times you can sit there and say "What do you wanna do?" before the whole day goes to crap.

For each game you have to come up with a codename, so Shelby and I wanted matching names for each round.
The first round we were "Frick and Frack" at the suggestion of my mom.
The second round was "Mac and Cheese".
The third round, which sucked balls, was "Lion and Lamb". Which we kind of regretted. It wasn't that funny.

I got second place as "Frack", and third place as "Mac".
"Lamb", I got seventh place.
We won't be talking about that.

We ended up liking Frick and Frack so much that we decided to keep those nicknames.

We got home and decided to decorate a tote bag with iron ons. Yeah, our lives are exciting.It says "We Love People" because we saw a car driving by yesterday that had "I love people" written on both sides. It was a trashed car, but seeing that phrase was hilarious.Of course you know why it says "Frick and Frack".They give you very limited felt iron-on letters, so all we had enough for left over was "Woot". I guess it works, right?

That was pretty much my day. Now I have a headache.There's only a couple days left to enter my contest, don't forget!

Have You Missed Us?

Weekend Recap

On Friday my dad came over and took me to see Carrot Top.
First we went to "Dick's Last Resort", a lovely theme restaurant.
The theme?
All the waiters are complete dicks.
And I LOVED it.
But why wouldn't I? I've been known to be a dick at times.
I do what I do what I do what I do.

Our waiter was a swell guy, gave me a pretty hat to wear while I ate my dinner.After we left the restaurant, my dad told me I should put my hat back in the car.
What, I'm too weak to carry around a paper hat for the night?
We walked back to the car, but my girly high-heeled feet couldn't take it, so I waited outside of the parking garage while my dad put the hat away.
I took off my shoes, checked my feet to assess the damage (5 blisters, for the record), looked up from my bare feet, and BAM Carrot Top is standing right in front of me looking at me.
He waved at me, smiled, and said hi.
Here's the sudden wave of emotion that I experienced:I mustered a kind of muffled hi. It was warped by the giggles that I was trying to hide.
I've met plenty of celebrities. But I guess the fact that I saw him without my parent's help kind of made it feel special.
Plus for some reason I've had a crush on Carrot Top since I was 12.I never said it was a logical crush. Even I don't understand it.

On Saturday I was bored, alone, and in a productive mood since Drew was at work all day.
I decided to re-do my room. I finally put up my cork board.
You wouldn't believe how many bottles of wine I had to drink to get enough cork for it.
Kidding.
(I just drank it for fun.)

After I put it up insanely crooked the first time, and upside-down the second time, I finally got it up and decorated.I left space at the bottom to add things as time goes on. I rubber-cemented pictures of the Twilight cast onto it. The same hearts that were on my dinner table during my birthday.
I'm not obsessed. I'm infatuated.
THERE'S A DIFFERENCE.

I also put up a new Twilight poster... or should I say a New Moon poster.
You know what? Make fun of me all you want. No one else has a Wall-o-Twilight as organized as mine.
Most teenagers don't take the time to frame posters. They grab some tape and go to town. But no, no way. These posters deserve some respect.I've saved two spaces on the same wall to add the last two movie's posters. Plus maybe a couple extras if they come out with some amazing as hell New Moon ones.
And Eclipse.
And Breaking Dawn.
Okay, FINE. By the end of it, my walls probably won't have any white on them. "Oh, there's some! No, wait. That's just Edward's skin."That butterfly? Yeah, it'll probably end up being the Volturi or something.
Eventually Drew won't be able to come into my room because he'll roll his eyes so much he'll get nauseous.
But me? I'll sleep like a baby. "Thank you for watching over me Edward. *swoon*"
Shut up. It's not that creepy.

Today we went to the mall to visit Forever 21.
That's where my mom got me clothes for my birthday. The pants she got didn't fit. They were 7s, but they were way too big. I tried on a size 5, but they were still a little too loose.
I decided to just get a couple other clothes, instead of the same pair of pants.
You see, I believe in quantity. Get me a million packages of bubble wrap instead of an Ipod and I'll be happy just to have a million things to open.
This is what I wound up getting:I really loved this dress, and it was only 10 bucks. It's SO soft, and it's such a light material that I can wear it with some flip flops and go to the store.
Yeah, you heard me. I wear dresses to the store. I like to look high class in the 99 cent store. I want to look like a whole dollar.Pretty good considering I'm not wearing makeup. This is the other shirt I bought. It was 20 bucks. I like it because it swishes, even when I'm not walking. *swish swish*

I also got some really adorable sunglasses. We all know how much I love sunglasses.I spent my nights on Saturday and Sunday watching Rescue Me season 4. We actually got all of the DVDs through Netflix. 3 at a time, we've watched from season 1. God, this is a depressing show.
Makes me feel better about my life.

Now, let's hope the rest of my week is just as exciting.Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Don't Forget...

Enter my contest, and get the chance to win a brand new blog layout and a $10 Starbucks giftcard!

I've decided not to do posts on the weekend anymore, since no one's really around, and it gives me a break and time to just relax.
Expect a post from me tomorrow, and enter the contest while you have the chance!

Harry Potter, and Bitter Disappointment

My mom and I went with Drew to see Harry Potter today at the 11:50 AM showing.
I went in with low/medium expectations.
I try not to go in with high expectations. I always end up getting burned.
Haha, I made a pun. I'm super punny.

My brother, who's a potter head like my mom, had called my mom ahead of time and told her that they had changed certain things from the book in the movie.
I'm not going to spoil anything, so don't run off screaming LALALALA with your fingers in your... eyes.They did change a lot of things, and they left many key things out.
One key thing missing?
Voldemort. He wasn't in the movie at all. You never saw his face once. Nothing.
I don't think that counts as spoiling, right?
I'm just telling you someone was left out.
Which is really freaking ridiculous. Where's the danger if they most dangerous person in the story is missing?
Uh, helllo?

Another problem was how BORING it was. All of the other movies were exciting, thrilling, full of adventure.
This was just "Eh".

My mom came out of the movie and said "Ask me what I thought of the movie."
"What'd you think of the movie?"
"Ptttttttttttth."

It's a shame. My mom is such a potter head that she has her own wand and hat. Watching her come out of the movie with a look of disappointment was devastating in it's own Harry Potter way.
It was as if she had just watched Harry Potter die right in front of her, screaming out for her in pain and desperation.
"Save me Carol, save me!"
But she can't. She doesn't have her wand with her, so Harry is left to die an excruciating death.

Sadly, now she has very low hopes for the next movie. She wants to kidnap the director and force them to get someone that can actually direct.
I'd help her with that, but jail isn't good for me. I wouldn't be able to do my hair, and I'd end up looking like this:I mean sure, my mother's happiness is important to me, but so is hygiene.
And not being someone's "pet" in jail.

So Harry Potter was a disappointment, and I almost wish I hadn't seen it and ruined the rest of the series for myself.
What did I think of the movie?

"Pttttttttttth."Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway!

A Giveaway? Hurray!

Alright, so most of you already have your blog layouts all settled in, but I know that some people have no choice but to use premade layouts.
While premade layouts are pretty cool, I've always thought that you blog just has a certain something when everything is customized to your liking.

Since I've caught the design bug again, I thought that I would host a little contest for those of you that have been searching for a new look for your blog.

For the winner of this contest, I will create a full blog layout, complete with a grab button for your blog and anything else you can think of.
While I can't make you an image, I can find an image based on whatever you want, or you can supply me with as many as you would like. (I'm up for anything!)
Because everyone needs a treat while they're blogging, I'll also be giving away a $10 Starbucks giftcard to the winner!
To Enter:
- Leave a comment on this post (One entry)
- Follow my blog, and leave a separate comment telling me you did so or that you already do (One entry)
- Post about my giveaway on your blog and link back in a separate comment (One entry)
- Post my giveaway button on your blog for the duration of the giveaway (One entry)

Limit 4 entries per person.

If your email isn't available publicly, let me know. I'll email the winner to let them know that they won, and if I can't contact you, I'll move on to someone else!

Enter by July 25th, and the winner will announced on the 26th!

<p align="center"><a href="http://cossiethegreat.blogspot.com/2009/07/giveaway-hurray.html"><img src="http://i26.tinypic.com/1zl3ryt.png" /></a></p>
Good luck, and happy entering!

While you're at it, check out Kelsey's blog K..is Not You Average Girl.From now until the 18th of July, she's hosting a giveaway. One lucky winner will receive coupons for free Oikos Greek Yogurt! Good luck!