Inside Kimmy's Mind

I’ve been stuck in front of my computer finishing up a presentation for class. Due to all the work I needed to get done,  I didn’t get to spend the weekend with the Boyfriend. But I did last and the weekend beforehand. He was supposed to meet my parents then, but the weather prevented it from happening. This was the second attempt and I’m not sure when we will  be able to reschedule. But since we didn’t go to my parent’s house, we decided to go out to lunch, made a trip to Half Price, and then grabbed some ice cream for dessert. :9

We went to a different Half Price thinking they’d have more of a selection. They did!!! I’m super excited about my discoveries, plus I’m excited to share them on the blog.

• Slog’s Dad by David Almond- The reason I purchased this one, it’s illustrated by Dave McKean!!! I love his art style, he’s magic personified. The story itself is magical yet dark and uplifting, the story and artwork just mesh so well together that I just absolutely love it. I always thought that Gaiman would be the only person I wanted paired with McKean’s art.  But boy was I wrong, McKean makes any story come to life, Almond has another book with McKean’s illustrations so I’ll be on the look out for that too. Along with McKean’s art books.

• The Unruly Alphabet by Aaron McKinney – I saw this book first, and I thought it had a McKean-esque feel to it. It’s has that grittiness to it and can be slightly disturbing in the best way possible. I know, I’m weird. But the cover immediately made me pick it up and read it and even after reading it I just had to buy it. It’s images are of the alphabet with weird personalities and alliteration. I’m fascinated by it and by McKinney, it must be  McK thing. XD

• Alien Isolation: Nostromo  Edition- I didn’t get this third item at Half Price, but I wanted to just add it in this entry. The last time  Kat and I did go home, was during Easter weekend and we found this at Hastings and couldn’t resist. I’ve been wanting to play this game since I saw the trailer. When Colonial Marines fell flat, even though I really enjoyed shooting Aliens, I was was really excited to see that there would be a new game. It’s definitely intense. Plus, I like the idea that Ripley’s daughter also faces a Xenomorph. Because of school, I haven’t been able to indulge in gaming. But I will soon once the semester is  over, what I have been able to play of the game has been difficult. I’ve screamed several times. That tense feeling you get when you’re excited and scared at the same time, it’s great.

I came home today after work to find someone parked in my spot. -.- I’m tired of this happening, I pay an extra 15 bucks a month to have a reserved parking spot in my complex. I’m not paying for someone else to park in my spot! I told myself that the next time someone parked in it, I would have them towed. With that being said, I called to have them towed. Kat and I went out to get something to eat and they said they would call but they never called me. Once we got home, the truck was gone but I have no way of knowing if it was towed or if they just left. Now I just keep looking over my shoulder, I just don’t want the punk to do do anything to my car. -.- For once I would just like to be a badass and not worry about what may happen, just be confident in my decision.

 That’s all for now….thanks for reading and commenting.

Kat and I went to Half Price Books last week where I found this comic illustrated by Matthew Forsythe. I had several books in my hands that I had planned on buying, but after I found this one I put the others down. I’ve been looking to illustrators a lot lately, they are again very inspiring and I really wish I could express myself creatively through illustrating.

Doesn’t mean I won’t attempt it. >.< I’ve been doodling a lot for fun, but I find myself getting frustrated when a picture doesn’t come out as well as I had hoped. The photo is from the comic mentioned above, how adorable is the art style? The artist is a one of the head illustrators that works on Adventure Time. Here’s the synopsis according to the cover of the book:

After eating everything in sight, Voguchi is sent to the market where a chance encounter introduces her to Jinchalo-a mischievous shape shifter. He sets our hungry heroine on a strange adventure into the sky, leaving her home far behind.

A little girl who eats everything?! Totally made for me. Speaking of which, my place is definitely in need of some groceries. -.- I keep putting it off, I’ve been eating cream cheese on graham crackers for dinner. Hopefully on my trip to the Kroger’s I don’t have to deal with a shape shifter. 😛 The ending sort of confuses me, so if you’ve seen it, I’d love to hear your interpretation of the ending. There are no actual words so the entire book is made up of pictures and your interpretation.  Moving on to Anya’s Ghost. Vera Brosgol is wonderful, she worked on Coraline and Paranorman, I can definitely see similar art styles there.  This and her comic, “What were you raised by, wolves?” is a bit darker. Anya’s Ghost is about a Russian immigrant who is trying to fit in her American high school, she’s bullied a bit and tends to see life in a negative way. And one day, on her way home from school she falls down a hole where she isn’t alone. Frannerd recommended this novel in her vlog a couple weeks ago, and it seemed interesting so I had to go and pick myself up a copy. I’m glad I did. I’m really loving this limited color pallet, along with watercolor. I want to start buying more Copic Sketch markers, they give off a watercolor effect. But they’re pretty pricy so it might take a while for me to get a decent collection. Plus I want to be able to use them correctly and I don’t think I know how to at this point. Also, I’ve been loving these illustrated notebooks from Scout Books. This post totally turned into things I’m currently loving.

I haven’t been keeping up with my disposable camera challenge, but the month isn’t over yet so I will make sure to try and get some nice pictures. I’m excited not knowing how they’re gonna turn out. Thinking back, that’s what I loved about it when I used them on class field trips back in the day. XD Of course, we would always wait years until we got them developed. I don’t intend to wait that long with this one. Let me know if you’re attempting the challenge.  That’s all for now, until next time…

Thanks for reading and commenting.

I’ve always had a love for writing and reading, I don’t think I could be who I am if I didn’t. But it wasn’t until I reached the fourth grade that I discovered this fact about myself.

So yeah, I own a Nook Color. The weirdos gave it to me, I have been reading a book on it for pleasure and one for class. And let me just say how satisfying it was to push that confirm button and end up with a book before me…it was 2 in the morning. I should admit this now, but I am horribly addicted to online shopping. Thank goodness I don’t have any credit cards or I’d be in serious trouble. I enjoy ordering things online it’s the waiting process that I hate…anyway. So of course the ability to purchase a book in my pajamas and get it within minutes is pretty awesome. Also, I can watch Netflix…that has nothing to do with books or reading but is still is pretty awesome. Not to mention I can carry multiple books with me. This is great for school…minus the part where I can’t sell any books back. But let’s be honest, I’m lucky if I get five bucks back for the novels I buy for lit classes. Some teachers want me to get certain versions of the books so I won’t be able to use the Nook but for the ones I can it will be nice. This does not mean nor will it ever mean that I will stop buying hard copies of books. Nothing could ever stop me from that. Click the books or the, I pledge to read the printed word button on my sidebar. Speaking of books, I have tons of things to read at the moment but last week I picked up the book, The Underachiever’s Diary and I’m loving it so far. Bought it at Half Price for a dollar. Love Half Price. And it’s moments like these that I will always enjoy buying and reading the printed word.

Nook or Kindle? How do you feel about Ereaders, or books for that matter? Also, if you’re in Houston in the month of April then you must come to The Indie Book Fest. If you’re a bookstore owner, self published author or small press owner and are interested in getting a table I can also help you with getting you on the right list, let me know. Just shoot me an email at Kim at mind-speaks dot com.

Thanks for reading.

Fruit by Brian Francis

I bought this book at Kaboom, one of the best used book stores in Houston. I fell in love with the place, and their prices are fantastic. I enjoy Half Price, but Kaboom has them beat. It’s own by the greatest couple too, they hold readings in the back of the store and it’s just a really nice place. I mentioned it in this post awhile back but deleted the pictures because I went with the ex. I just never got around to adding different pictures to that post so I’ll do that here as well. But first, back to the main reason of this entry. A book review. Now I’ve discussed books that I’ve read before but you can’t really call them reviews. You would think after 3 semesters of creative writing and I would be able to write an awesome book review. Well it’s my opinion about it so here it goes. I purchased a review copy, so I’m not sure how much of the story was changed in  the actual published version. But I absolutely loved this book. Both as a reader and as someone who enjoys writing. As I’ve developed my writing skills, I’ve discovered that I enjoy writing coming of age stories. So when I read a book that has taken something we have all gone through and made it relatable while at the same time different, I can’t help but swoon.And that is exactly what this book did for me.

Synopsis (found on the back of the book)

Thirteen-year-old Peter Paddington is overweight, the subject of his classmates’ ridicule, and the victim of too many bad movie-of-the-week storylines. When his nipples begin speaking to him one day and inform him of their diabolical plan to expose his secret desires, Peter finds himself cornered in a world that seems to have no tolerance for difference. Peter’s only solace is “The Bedtime Movies”- perfect-world fantasies that lull him to sleep every night. But when the lines between Peter’s fantasy world and his reality begin to blur, his hilarious adventures in overeating, family dysfunction, and the terrifying world of sexual awakening really begin. 

After reading that I just had to buy it. I love the style that Francis wrote this book in. It’s in first person from the POV of Peter. Although it is relatable, everyone experiences adolescence in their own way. This story was entertaining and it definitely made me think a lot about my own experiences, that awkward stage in life. While reading this book I laughed a lot…and out loud. I feel as though I should actually get my hands on a published copy so I can compare the two. Another thing I found interesting was the fact that it was about a boy and not a girl. As a female, the male mind is somewhat out of bounds so reading this from the perspective of a thirteen year old boy was another reason I enjoyed it. After reading this book, it made me want to start working on some short stories. I might share a few that were inspired by this book.

So if you are looking for a fun book to read I highly recommend Fruit. What style of books do you find yourself drawn to? And if you have book suggestions, let me know. 😀 Thanks for reading.

Another entry!!!!

So today was my second class of math and I still feel the same about math. I HATE IT!!!! I will probably have to go to tutoring every now and then. But I will do whatever it takes to pass this stupid class. Anyway so I fully intended to vlog today, but I just didn’t have a lot to say…well now I do and I could have very well filmed a vlog but we went to Hastings today and I bought two books. Everlasting by Alyson Noël is the finale to the The Immortal series and One Day by David Nicholls. Which brings me to the next thing I want to mention.

MOVIES!!!

One Day was also made into a movie, it should be coming out some time this summer. I’m soooo excited for it. But until I get to watch it, I will read the book and then be able to compare and contrast. Another movie that I want to watch is  The Art of Getting By, it comes out next week. But sadly my small town wont have any showings. They never show any sundance films!!! WHY THE HELL NOT?! I love indie films, those are usually the best.  But I can’t wait to see these movies.  Now on to a movie I watched the other night. An Invisible Sign, it was soooooo freaking cute. These are the types of movies I love. And I’m always left with such a happy feeling after watching them. Now this movie involves math, which is the  pain of my existence. However, I couldn’t help but fall in love with the main character. I’ve never  actually been a fan of Jessica Alba but she was so adorable in this movie. So if you enjoy cute artsy movies, then I recommend this one.

And of course I’m gonna be vain real quick and add a picture of myself. XD

Song of the day is Sunny Day by Joy Williams, I heard this song during the credits of An Invisible Sign and just fell in love with it.

In the words of Mija,”Why can I never love anything?” She is over dramatic at times and she exaggerates. Unlike me

What I want to discuss is the book Shrimp by Rachel Cohn. I ordered it off the Borders website and I was hoping to get the cover that I clicked on but apparently that doesn’t matter. I am really annoyed by this. I thought that if I were to click on the green cover that, that would be the cover I would receive in the mail. But thats not how things work I guess. And now I have the completed series but the second one as you can see from the picture below does not match the first and second one. This bugs me so much.I know this might not seem like such a big deal. Oh but it is. And not something one would get angry over, but I am not a sane person. I have problems. Matching problems. I have this issue when it comes to things matching. Like for my books if I am reading and buying a series and the first one is paper back and a certain cover than the rest of the books in that series must be the same. Otherwise I will not purchase the book. Of course if you have read my previous entries then you are aware of the fact that I wasn’t able to find the green cover of Shrimp in any book store. They were all out of stock. But if I ever see the green cover in a store I will buy it to make the series actually complete. Again I have issues.

Today is also Fathers day and I just want to say that I am so thankful for my dad. He is truly one of a kind, and no matter how annoying he can be he is also amazing. I couldn’t ask for a better father. After church, I wanted a supreme croissant, and even though he didn’t feel like eating Jack in the Box he still went there for me and my sisters. Awww my Dad. I took a picture with him when we got home for my Dailybooth. Of course he doesn’t know that.

“You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.”- Neil Gaiman

A very interesting thing happened today. Something that is even more rare then pigs flying and blue moons. Dun dun dun….my cats slept next to each other. *GASP* Tis an unusual sight. But then I missed it up when I went outside to get a better picture and Kozi got up and left Mr. alone with the leaves. Poor Mr.

After dad finished eating dinner he let Misto inside and held him and proceeded to tell us for the 100th time that it looks like Misto is wearing chaps. Lmao! Oh how silly. Well this weekend was completely uneventful. I did absolutely nothing on Saturday. Sunday I went to bed at 4:30 in the morning, and woke up at 6:30am to go to church with dad. I washed my clothes and then took a nap and didn’t wake up til like 4 something. I’m just messing around on the internet. Sigh wow boring blog. I need to finish reading NEVERWHERE by next week. But I’m also watching the television show that aired in 1996 on BBC Two. Neil Gaiman is so fucking awesome. I need to straighten my hair. I now hear Mr. fighting with another cat or something. I swear he makes the strangest noises. Oh you should look up songs by Melanie Horsnell. Her songs are used in a lot of commericals. My favorite one is this McDonald’s one. So cute. So yeah recap, I did nothing and now I am updating my blog with pictures of my cats and fast food commercials. How pathetic am I? Well this week on Wednesday I don’t have any classes. Hurray! So I can film my KimCateKat video. And put it up on the 6th. Hopefully. Well I’m going to straighten my hair and watch/read NEVERWHERE. YAY.

Life — and I don’t suppose I’m the first to make this comparison — is a disease: sexually transmitted, and invariably fatal.- Neil Gaiman (I thought this one was hilarious)