Way of Kings Release Party

Okay, so most of you probably don't know this, but I was camping out at BYU for the last three days in order to get a low numbered copy of Brandon Sanderson's new book The Way of Kings. I had been hoping to get there first, but the two people in front of me went over there Friday night and I didn't show up until Saturday morning.

Saturday: On Saturday we found out that BYU was putting on a Freshman dance and we were actually required to moved until the dance was over. I just went home then came back around 11:00 as they were picking up. Nobody else joined us that night. It wasn't terribly cold, but the cement could have been comfier.

Sunday: Throughout the day Sunday we had three more people show up and then a lot of people from about 10:00 pm to 12:00 am. I mostly did homework (read over 200 pages of school stuff and leisure reading). I tried to nap too but that wasn't very successful.

Monday: Monday morning we got our numbered tickets and we were free to leave until 9:00 that night so I got to go to my classes after all. After school I had lunch with Natasha then headed back to BYU and helped Josh and Michelle (They run the official Brandon fan website and they were the two people in front of me) and their friends set up the activities for the signing. It kept the boredom away.

Once they let us in at 10:00 pm I tried to busy myself with participating in the activities so that the waiting didn't get to me like it did last year with The Gathering Storm.

The book is 1001 pages long, plus the index. It is a beast. Tor also published the maps in color (picture below) which they rarely do because it is so expensive and the cover art is done by a well-known fantasy cover artist named Michael Whelan. If you want to know more about The Way of Kings or any of Brandon's books go to his website brandonsanderson.com or the fansite 17thshard.com or the publisher's site Tor.com. I will be posting my review of the book once I finish but that probably won't be for a while because of school.

I am so excited to camp out again this November 2nd when the next Wheel of Time book comes out!

Academ's Fury

I have finally finished the second book in Jim Butcher's Alera Codex. Here is my official review.

Grade: B

Tavi still seems too old. In this book he is meant to be around 18 years old yet at school he is being bullied, his voice is changing, and he has a 16 year old's grasp on romance and love (which is how old I decided he is as I read it).

Much of the book takes place in Alera Impera, the capital city of Alera. There is one side story which takes place back in the Calderon Valley but although two of are favorite characters, Bernard and Amara, are located here, the story is flat and boring. While reading those parts the reader can't wait to get back to Alera Impera and Tavi.

The theme of the story was well-written but rather than building, the series is written in a more episodic fashion where there is a new bad guy each episode.

The Epilogue was not needed. I felt as if the book hinted enough at Tavi's heritage that the epilogue basically shouted "Hey all you slower people, looky here." That frustrates me because if someone was unable to pick up what it was trying to say from the hints already present in the book then they can figure it out in the next book as it unfolds farther.

I did not like it as much as the first one but it did help develop Tavi and Kitai as well as introduce the reader (finally) to the overarching theme of the series which is rooted in politics and the succession of the throne of Alera.

If you have read this book feel free to post a review and/or grade as well.

Class Party

Only Jedd, Preston, and Kaila were at the class party but I think they can attest that it was worth it. We played a lot of fun games and I have videos!

Pictionary: The first game we played was giant pictionary with sidewalk chalk in the driveway. Whoever guessed what was being drawn was given a point until we ran out of things to draw. Trevor was our wonderful artist. Jedd racked it up in this game, blowing the other two out of the water.

One-Legged Race: We duct taped the kids' feet together and their thighs and had them race across my yard and back. This was probably one of the most fun to watch because they looked ridiculous. Jedd won again, by a long ways. I have the video below.



Marble Drop: In this game the kids had to pick up marbles with their toes and drop them in a cup a little ways away. They had about two minutes to get as many as they could. Once again, Jedd destroyed the other two.



Paint the Clown: The point of this game was to make it awkward for the kids. They had to hold a tube of lipstick in their mouth and paint the face of one of the other kids. They had to paint a triangle on the forehead, a star on one cheek, a heart on the other cheek, a beard, and lipstick on the lips. They were timed on who could do this the fastest and got bonus points for how well the shapes were formed. Three different videos below. Preston won this one, but not by much.







After this game we went inside because it was starting to get too dark.

Whipped Cream Whistle: In this game a bowl with a whistle in it and whipped cream was given to all three kids. The first one to find the whistle with their mouth and blow it would win. This game was won a lot faster than I thought it would. Jedd won, video below.



Chocolate Marshmallows: Each kid was given four large marshmallows smothered in chocolate. They were given one minute (which I now realize was too long) to lick the marshmallows clean and whoever had the cleanest won. Preston beat this game.



My Quarter: This next game was one of memory. I blindfolded the kids and gave them thirty seconds to feel a quarter and try to memorize it. Then I removed the blindfold and handed them several quarters and gave them thirty seconds to try and find the one they had before. Only Kaila lost this game.

Pick Up Sticks: I duct taped the kids' hands together sticky side out. They had one minute to see how many Popsicle sticks they could get. Jedd won.







The last game we didn't film but I wish we had. I threw goldfish crackers at the three kids for one minute to see how many they could catch in their mouths. It was extremely close but Kaila beat the two boys. Jedd won the whole thing and Kaila and Preston were an exact tie.

The party was a blast and I'm glad they had fun. I know I had fun watching them.

Testimony Meeting 8-1-2010

Today's testimony meeting was fantastic. I felt like it was almost tailored for me. Speakers included my mother, a girl in my Sunday school class, as well as many people I admire. The spirit was pretty strong, at least with me.

There was one young deacon who got up and spoke about his feelings about passing the sacrament. He said how thankful he was that he was able to hold the priesthood and that he recognized how much of an opportunity it was for him. It really impressed me because it seems to me that most of the boys take this for granted like I did when I was that age. It took temporarily losing my priesthood responsibilities to figure out how much it meant to me. That boy is a good example to the boys and to me.