Looking Back at my Blog

I will be surprised if any of you still read my blog; it has been a full year since I posted anything on it. When I first started this blog, I wanted it to be like a critic's view on media that interested me (just like other bloggers do). I was a girl that wanted to be known for her writings and reviews, possibly earn some money while writing about things she loved. There came a time while writing my blogs that I entered a state of depression. I was starting to realize that I was a lonely person that still lived in her old town with no friends except the ones on the computer. Sure, I had old friends that would visit our home and school towns, and I could have easily picked up a phone and called some of them, but I was becoming so depressed that I didn't want to talk to anyone. I lived with my parents and I still felt like I was becoming a ghost in my own home. During that time, I lost a pet that I grew deeply attached to during it's short life. I'm in a better place now, but I look back at some of my poems and short stories during that time, and I can't believe it was me that wrote such dark stuff. Depression was taking over my life. It wasn't until early 2012 that I had an old friend break down my dark and lonely walls and made me feel like I was a person again and that I meant more to someone else (either than my parents) and that I could do anything in the world. He has made my life complete. Three years down the road, and he still makes me feel like I can do anything I want to do. Some of you may think this is gushy or lame, but once you have someone there for you that stands by you, even at your worst times, and pulls you out of your depression and makes you happy, you will feel and think what I do: he saved me.

Now I make a lot of excuses for things. Hell, I read some of my blogs. I know I told you I would write more if I find the time, or if I get this or that done. The truth is I don't write reviews/blogs much anymore because I found things that keep me busy now. I work at a job that I like, but I am exhausted usually by the end of the day that I just want to relax. When I'm not at work, I'm cleaning my apartment, or running errands. I'm a college student (again!) and during the semesters, I'm constantly reading and writing. Sure, I could be reviewing and writing during the summer break. I could be finishing up my book that I've said I'm almost done with for four years now (literally just a few chapters and an epilogue to write). I could be posting more a Capella videos up on my Youtube channel. But right now, I am content on what I do now in my life:

• I read 3-5 books simultaneously
• I work almost every day of the week to earn my share of the rent 
• I clean my home when I'm not exhausted.
• I love every single minute I'm with my sweetheart
• I tell myself I need to practice my Spanish, yet I talk to my Spanish-speaking customers all the time
• I take care of a pet I never thought I would love having (a snake!)
• I'm loving my life and where I'm at right now.

Like I stated before, and this goes to anyone that's reading this, you might think this is lame, but I love it. I am content with where my life's at and wouldn't have it any other way. If I write on my blog, it will be because I want to and when I feel like it. It could be tomorrow, a month, or even eight months from now that I write on this blog, but it will be when I want to when I think I have the time.

This blog is basically now just a random blog of a person's thoughts :).

Why I want to be a Writer

Note: I wrote mainly for a class discussion that was assigned to me a few weeks ago. I thought others would like to know my reasons for wanting to be writer, so I'm sharing this with you all. If you have dreams, try for them, and don't let other tell you any different.

Why I want to be a Writer

When I was asked the question what I wanted to be when I became an adult, I said I wanted to be a singer. By the time I was in Jr. High, I said I wanted to be a crime scene investigator. Towards the end of my high school education, writing was a great idea but history was my passion at the time; I decided to become a museum creator. By the time I got my associate’s degree, I had changed my major from history to journalism, and to finally English. Looking at the changes, one would think I either couldn’t make up mind or I was someone who could do almost anything I put my mind to. Thinking about it now, I think the only thing I wanted to do when I grew was do something extraordinary or make a great impression on the world that everyone would remember. I believe my writings will do that someday.

I didn’t know I wanted to be a writer until I was a senior year in high school, when I first started writing my idea for a novel (which led to the idea of making it into a trilogy someday). The first story I can remember truly writing out of pure and raw imagination was when I was in second grade, about a parrot who said accuse me when he sneezed. I hadn’t thought about that story in years until recently. By the time I was in sixth grade, I started writing poetry – that wasn’t a school assignment – and noticed I had potential for something I used to despise. By eighth grade, I wrote two short stories for two assignments, and I had gotten my first taste of approval and praise for my works from others. After that, I was  hooked, and I’ve been writing since. Since then, I have written and finished three short stories, I have many ideas for several books, and I am in the process of finishing my first book that I started writing when I was a freshman in college.

Growing up, I was so focused on wanting to be a singer or what others wanted me to be. When I finally took a stand to those who said my dreams were only dreams, I noticed I still wanted to be known for greatness. Yes, anyone can write book, sing a song, or act in a movie or on a stage, but I also noticed there something that made my writings unique and different from others. I can be my true self as a writer. Writing makes me happy, and it’s also a way to let my thoughts run wild. And since I am going into an English degree, I decided after I got my Associates of Arts that I would someday like to be either an editor or publisher, or work as a literature historian. Anything involving books and writing have been a great passion of mine, just as much as singing has been. But I am not putting this dream to the side. Despite what others have said in the past, I will become a writer, and someday, maybe, my writings will be so renowned and different that they will be put in student textbooks and I will be on the Bestsellers list. Anything is possible, especially my hopes of being a writer.

I am still here!

Hello followers,

 I can't believe it has been almost two years since I have written on this blog. A lot of things have happened since then, and most of it for the better.

First off, I must apologize for abandoning my blog for so long. For some time I was in a bad bought of depression, and everything I found joy in were almost lost. In the middle of April 2012, I was, in a way, saved by the love of my life. After I met him, my life was starting to get better. I got a job that year as well for the first time in two years, and last year I started taking classes again, in order to get back into the pace of school (I plan on going to a university soon to earn my bachelor's degree in English :-) ). I know this is a long explanation, but I wanted to show how my life has changed and my reasons for not writing as much as I should have.

 So, since it is a new year, I would like to try to make a promise. I would like to at least write a few blogs this year; I am trying to get back into some of my old -good- habits. But I must ask you to have patience with me if I don't write as much as you want me to; with the combination of school, work, and my every day life, I tend to be too busy to get on a computer or use my tablet.

 To conclude, I would like to wish you all a happy new year and I am glad to be back on my old blogspot.

Hipsy's View: The City of Lost Souls

How many of you have gotten the chance to read the fifth Mortal Instruments installment? How many just started reading it? Are you almost finished with it? Or are you rereading it? How many of you have Mortal Instruments hysteria?! Okay, I might be going a little overboard there, but you can't tell me I'm the only one who enjoyed The City of Lost Souls, the fifth book in Cassandra Clare's popular series.

Image sourced from Goodreads.com

As many of you know, The City of Lost Souls came out in May of this year. I may not have been one of the first people waiting in line at a store to buy the book, but I was one of the first to check it out of my local library. Now, with most of the stuff going on in my life at the moment, it has taken me a little longer to read than usual (the first book took me as long to read as this one, but I read two through four within a month and a half!) But I got through it, and I loved it, especially the ending.....*wink* (you want to know the ending, then read it! lol)


Now, if none of you have yet read past The City of Ashes or City of Glass, take heed in reading the following; it's filled with spoilers.


In this one, Clary and the gang are back, and this time they're trying to find a way to save Jace (yet once again) and separate him from Lilith's curse that bound him to Sebastian, the real Jonathan Morgenstern, and Clary's brother. It looks as though Sebastian is planning on carrying out Valentine's plans, but with Jace's help, and possibly Clary's. Throughout the whole story, though, the characters face "daily" life problems. Simon has to find a way to tell his sister Rebecca about himself being a vampire; Maia and Jordan need to face their shared past and see if they can move on; Isabelle needs to tell something to Simon but doesn't know how to blurt it out; and Alec and Magnus seem to be falling apart. At the same time, they all need to find a way to save Luke from death and a way to break Lilth's spell on Jace (whether it be from Heaven or Hell). Will all this be done in time?


Now all that is left for those of us who love this series so dearly is to wait for the sixth and final book, titled City of Heavenly Fire, and is expected to be published on March 19, 2014. Maybe, just maybe, I will be able to wrap my mind around it and finally read the prequels to the Mortal Instruments during this long wait. Until then, I hope you get a chance to read City of Lost Souls and enjoy the book as much as I did. I give this story a 5-star rating.

Hipsy's View: Blue Asylum

Image sourced from Goodreads.com

Iris Dunleavy has been declared insane, not only by her slave-owning husband, but by a Virginian sheriff and a doctor that's experted in "the hysteria of women". In order to be "cured" and made a proper woman and a good wife again, she is sent to the Sanibel Asylum, on an island in the Keys. Can she prove she's not a lunatic and escape the asylum where the cure for everything is in the color blue? Or will she stay trapped on an island populated by everyone that is affected by the war and some type of lunacy (including the doctor)?


I had the privilege to get to read an advance copy of this book (because it is one of my Goodreads First Reads). I found it a little hard to finish, but what kept me going were the characters' stories all broken into pieces. So whether I wanted to give up on finishing the novel or not, a part of me was dying to know more about the characters' personal histories that brought them to the island's asylum. Though the main character refused to admit to being a lunatic, she could not deny that there was something that did push her - and others- close it, especially in a time of war. If she is not crazy, then who is? Is it the superintendent that has to deal with all the patients' problems as well as his laudanum-addicted wife's and his own? Or his twelve-year-old son who has declared himself a lunatic? Or is it the Confederate solider that is haunted by a dark past he faced during the war? Perhaps they are all mad, and the best place for them all is the asylum where the color blue leads its patients back to sanity.


This story was good, and I would recommend it to anyone that is interested in the back stories you never hear mentioned during the Civil War. I would also recommend it to anyone that likes to take their time to read a story.

Hipsy's View: The Woman in Black

     If you enjoy a good thriller, then I have a treat for you. But be warned: if you fear the dark and believe there are evil things in this world, take caution in watching this movie in the dark and after the sun has gone down.

During afternoon tea

There's a shift in the air,

A bone trembling chill

That tells you she's there.

There are those who believe

The whole town is cursed,

But the house in the marsh

Is by far the worst.

What she wants is unknown,

But she always comes back.

The specter of darkness,

The woman in black.

     Now I am not one for scary movies. When I watched The Grudge, I had a hard time going to sleep for a few nights (especially when I knew hiding under the blankets would not protect me). There was one movie I cannot remember the name of it (and prefer never to see it again), that ruined a Grimm Fairy Tale for me and scared me so badly that my mother had to baptize me and said the Lord's Prayer over me for me to calm down. You might think that strange, but I was raised in a family and town full of superstition and old legends. So I am very wary when it comes to scary things. But I have to say, though spooky, The Woman in Black was a good movie, full of suspense, mystery, and hope for the better. 

     The story follows a young lawyer (played by Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe) who has grieved the death of his wife for four years, and in that time raised their toddler son. He travels to the town of Crythin Gifford to tend the papers of a late client, Mrs. Alice Drablow, and prepare her estate to be sold. Though warned not to by the locals, Arthur goes to the estate of Eel Marsh House. There, he learns the truth of how the woman in black came to be and why she haunts the town. Can he find a way to bring her peace and save his son from a fate only she can cause?

*Image sourced from imdb.com

     I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was watching this movie. Though spooky and good, I did my best to not be out in the dark after watching the movie. It kind of reminded me of one of the versions of a Hispanic story called La Llorona (The Crybaby). I know of at least four versions of the story, but the one this movie reminded me of was the one where a woman had gone mad and killed her children by drowning them in the river near her home. Once she realized what she had done, she became worse and dug her nails into her face before she committed suicide. Legend says if she comes upon you at night, she will dig at your face and scream like a mad woman. But you know when she is coming; you can hear her wailing everywhere near you.

     Though not exactly like this, the woman in black did go mad when her child was taken from her. And also like La Llorona, though she scares me, I feel pity for the woman in black. The saddest thing I can think of is losing your child. In a way, you can somewhat understand why she wanted revenge for her child's death (spoiler alert, sorry).

     So if you have not seen this movie yet and enjoy spooky thrillers (or this story seems intriguing to you as it did to me), I'd advise you to watch it. I give this movie four stars (I liked it, but it still scared me; that's why I give four stars instead of five).

Hipsy's View: Jane Eyre (2011 Version)

Well, I know that many of you that have stuck through reading my blogs (yes, I know it's been awhile since my last blog and I'm sorry I haven't posted anything lately) may have already seen the movie I am about to review. But if not, then welcome to the first Hipsy's View Blog of 2012!!!

Today, I am reviewing a movie based on one of my favorite books from the Romantic/Goth Era, Jane Eyre. In fact, I may have never read this book if not for my high school Honors Senior English class, so a shout out to my English teacher, Mrs. Burgoyne, for having me read the novel. 
Anyway, I must say this motion picture version of this classic story has to be one of my favorites between the two I have seen (this version I am reviewing and the 1996 version, starring William Hurt and Charlotte Gainsbourg). The plot of the story follows a young governess in her personal journey in finding her place in life, and on the way she discovers pain, fear, anger, hope, and love. This movie's plot stays very close to the novel and I think the cast was chosen very well. Mia Wasikowska does a well job as "poor, obscure, plain and little" Jane, Judi Dench was perfectly chosen to be Mrs. Fairfax (in my opinion),  and Michael Fassbender's portrayal of Mr. Edward Fairfax Rochester is exactly how I imagined him to be as I read the book. Even the setting of Thornfield is wonderful and well-placed. The only things that I judged against were the portrayal of Blanche Ingram and the ending. I had always imagined young Ingram as a proud woman, with blonde hair, and a little older than Jane (but not by much). And the ending, I think, could have had more, even though it was a wonderful ending.
If you have not seen this movie yet, I advise you to watch it, especially if you are a Romantic (like myself when it comes to books and movies). Even those that have read the book before watching any of the Jane Eyre movies would enjoy this version, I guarantee it. And if you have not read this story before, I highly advise you to read it; classic stories like this one are always fun and interesting challenges to ensue. Until next time, this is Hispy telling everyone to enjoy your books, music, and videos.