all sales final

Panorama taken by me at the local library

The week before finals is upon us. Fondly referred to as "Hell Week" at my school, students spend their time studying, crying, chugging coffee, and driving around looking for a parking spot at the library (aka me for the last 10 minutes). This week is one that is not taken lightly by teachers or students. Projects are assigned and collected, unit tests are taken, and (in some cases) online grades are updated for the first times in months.

The idea of final exams seem just that: final. The word lends itself to panic and thoughts of doom and destruction uncontrollable by the student. I know in my case, finals are when I realize just how important those five point assignments were back in September, or how little of AP Statistics I truly understand. Looking back on my first set of finals my freshman year of High School (I'm currently a senior) I suppose I thought they would only get easier as the semesters went on. Yet here I am, upon what I hope to be my last set of finals in high school, just as panicked as I was in 2012. I feel slightly more prepared, and slightly more anxious, but perhaps that's just the 3 cups of coffee I've had so far today.

Perhaps the most daunting aspect of finals is the idea that you're about to pull together five months of knowledge into one exam, project, or paper, and it's going to count as 1/5 of your semester grade. You have absolutely no control over what happens after you click send, or turn back your Scantron, all thats left to do is refresh the online grade-book compulsively until your pointer finger falls off. I promise it will be okay. Your fingers will not fall off (unless we get another polar vortex then I make no promises) and the world will not end.

Please join me in a toast (of a caramel macchiato) to kick off Hell Week right:

Here's to the late nights and near caffeine overdoses (yes it's possible, please be careful folks!). The endless typing, highlighting, and of course, perpetual fear that you're not good enough.

Cheers!

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

I have a confession; I love to read. I have another confession; I hardly ever read anything that's not a book for school. It's not that I don't have time, it's that I don't make time. Back in august, I wrote a blog post on my other blog that listed 18 things I hoped to accomplish by my 18th birthday which happens to be this Saturday the 10th. One of those things was reading 5 non-school books. I finished only one. I feel extremely disappointed because I know I could have read five easily over winter break, but in true Jordan fashion, I didn't.

One book that I have ready recently was: "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns)" by Mindy Kaling. This book definitely fits into the genre that I've been interested in recently which is comedian biographies. Isn't that a genre? If not I just created it so there. I'm currently also reading "Yes Please" by Amy Poehler, and hope to start "Seriously, I'm Kidding" by Ellen DeGenres soon. I'm not sure why I've been so into this genre lately. Perhaps it's been my incessant watching of both The Office and Parks and Recreation on Netflix. Both are a slippery slope folks. Consider yourselves warned.

via

I knew immediately that I wanted to read this book based on the title. I know, I know. They say never to judge a book by it's cover. But this cover was just so cute, and I immediately connected with the title! I'm not going to lie, I was half suspecting this book to be the chronicles of her time acting in and writing for The Office and The Mindy Project, but it's so much more then that. Although she does discuss her time on both The Office and SNL, she talks about her childhood and adolescence as she grew into the comedy world.

The book is sectioned off into little bite sized pieces. Some discuss her discovery and growing love for comedy while others display that comedy by for example, listing fashion advice for guys. I found this style to be very easy to read, and extremely relatable. I would categorize this book as a "Beach Read." It's content and writing style make it easy to read in a long weekend. 

I think one of the most striking themes from the book however, is the idea that celebrities lives are not all that they're portrayed as in the media. Sure, we all know that, but Mindy does a great job of not just telling, but showing us what it's like to go on a crappy first date, or not fit into a sample size dress. 

I would highly recommend this book to any girl (or guy) wanting a good laugh, and, I got a paper copy for Christmas, so if anyone wants to borrow it, feel free to ask!

(It's also availible electronically at the GPL - that's how I read it initially)