a list of my favorite books

1.        The Bartemeus Trilogy, Johnathan Stroud

2.        The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

3.        His Dark Materials, Phillip Pullman

4.        On The Jellico Road, Melina Marchetta

5.        Mistborn Trilogy, Brandon Sanderson

6.        Let the Right One In, John Ajvide Lindqvist

7.        Warbreaker, Brandon Sanderson

8.        Steelheart, Brandon Sanderson

9.        The Stormlight Archive, Brandon Sanderson

10.     The Raven Boys, Maggie Stiefvater

11.     East, Edith Pattou

12.     Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling

13.     Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead

14.     Bloodlines, Richelle Mead

15.     Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor

16.     Coraline, Neil Gaiman

17.     Revolution, Jennifer Donnelley

18.     Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

19.     Eragon, Christopher Paolini

20.     Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan

21.     Howl’s Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones

22.     Frankenstein, Mary Shelly

23.     A Great and Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray

24.     Lord of the Flies, William Golding

25.     Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

26.     Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine

27.     Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card

28.     The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

29.     The Scorpio Races, Maggie Stiefvater

30.     Penryn and the End of Days, Susan Ee

31.     The Darkangel Trilogy, Meredith Ann Pierce

32.     The Thin Executioner, Darren Shan

33.     A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess

34.     The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

35.     Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare

36.     Entwined, Heather Dixon

37.     If I Stay, Gayle Forman

38.     Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech

39.     An Abundance of Katherines, John Green

40.     The Fault in our Stars, John Green

41.     Enchanted Forrest Chronicles, Patricia C. Wrede

Wanted: Name for Fabulous Houseplant

What should I name it? Right now I'm kinda thinking "Malvolio". 

a post because Jessica told me to

I am probably the worst blogger in the history of blogging. But never mind that.

As a preface to the story I am about to tell, last January, I decided to follow my life-long dreams and become an English/Creative Writing major instead of following the extremely boring path of Electrical Engineering.

My first semester at college (when I was still intimidated by things such as "the job market" and "being a starving artist"), I met this guy who was from somewhere in Africa (Ethiopia?) who was also part of the wonderful electrical engineering program. We met in the Junction and discussed our mutual engineering-ness and other such things. I saw him from time to time; basically we had the sort of relationship where I would wave as I passed him on the sidewalk and he would nod in return. I only really ever had that one conversation with him.

Last week the new semester started, and I was going happily along, excited for my schedule full of English and Literature classes. As I was walking, I saw this man again. As we were walking in the same direction, there was plenty of time for some conversation instead of the usual head nod. I was actually surprised that he remembered my name and such as it had been almost a year since we talked.

Anyway, it came up that I was no longer an engineering major. I'm not sure what sort of reaction I was expecting for this news, but I was definitely not expecting a lecture. For the extent of walking from somewhere around the education building to the library, I got to hear the reasons why engineering was the best major, and switching to English basically meant I was throwing my life away and giving up my one chance to change the world.

Well, thanks for that.

I'm not sure if there's actually anything interesting about that story, except for this: don't criticize people when they've finally gained the courage to follow their heart instead of going along with the expected "job stability" course, even if your intentions are good. It's not cool.