So I figured I'd put up a more random update of my life

Well I absolutely love books. Fantasy, mostly. Always fiction. I didn't read at all before Harry Potter. I'm probably my school's resident Potter dork extraordinaire.. I started reading them in 5th grade, which was relatively late in the Harry Potter franchise. I believe it was right after the 5th book came out. But before that, I absolutely despised them. I remember being in 4th grade, and there was this one kid in my class who always read Harry Potter. I thought it was the stupidest thing ever created. So I went up to him one day and said, "That's so stupid, why would you read those books? Harry Potter is fake." Little did I know just over a year later, I probably would have cried if someone said that to me. I never had an interest in it, even the movies. But one day I caught the last half hour or so of the second one on ABC Family. And I thought it was the best thing I've ever seen. So I watched the first one, and then the full second one. And I was absolutely hooked. Soon after, I picked up Sorcerer's Stone, and henceforth my destiny was set: To become the biggest Harry Potter obsessive within 20 miles at the least. It completely changed my life. I began to read other things, craving another good story, something to take me away to my own little world. My social habits changed, my attitude changed, but luckily my friends dealt with it. In fact, one of them soon after became my Harry Potter sidekick. In middle school I discovered the amazing works of Lois Lowry. She was my favorite author for the next 3 years. For any of you out there who hasn't read her books, I strongly recommend Number the Stars, and A Summer to Die. I also was a huge fan of the Mary-Kate and Ashley Two of A Kind series in middle school, and the Doll People Series. I don't really remember who else I liked in middle school. Probably nothing consistent, mainly fanfiction. In the summer after Freshman year, Harry Potter came to an end. It was really emotional and shocking. I felt as if I had nowhere to turn, like my best friend had been ripped from me. After a valiant attempt to keep it alive, I had to admit my defeat and let it go. I came across Jodi Picoult novels, the first being Nineteen Minutes. It opened a whole new chapter, so to speak, to me. I was never one for just plain fiction, young adult reads. It just seemed so unoriginal and uncreative. But Jodi Picoult proved me wrong. Very, very wrong. The way she provides an enrapturing story to keep the pages turning, despite a generally similar formula of law/romance/mystery, is a brilliance all in itself. One would think it to get rather predictable and boring. However, she then completely flips it around. Every single time. And all within the last chapter, if not the very last page. You expect the twist, because it's her signature, but it never fails to get my heart to stutter and my eyes racing. More Jodi Picoult (check out My Sister's Keeper, Salem Falls, and Vanishing Acts) and fanfiction (the legendary Draco Trilogy, quite a feat) filled the remainder of my underclassmen years. Until the end of Sophomore year. I came across Twilight in April. I had seen it countless times while browsing the shelves of Barnes and Noble. Even picked it up to read the back a few times. Pssh, vampires? This sounds so cliche, corny, predictable, pointless. ....Oh. Was I wrong. I was about to experience the filling for my gaping Harry Potter void, a rebound if you will. I finished Twilight in less than 24 hours, which is a record for me. Even Harry Potter books took me at least 4 days, if not a week. I remember staying up all night finishing it, and having to go to school without sleep the next day. I still had about 20 pages left, but I couldn't procrastinate getting ready any longer or I'd miss the bus. So I brought it to school. I finished it by my period 6 lunch. I remember going to the bathroom during lunch and calling my mom at work. "Mom, I just finished Twilight, that new book I just bought. You have to pick up the next one, it's called New Moon, it has a flower on the front. Go to Target and get it before you come home." She gets home about 45 minutes after I do. I couldn't concentrate the rest of the day. She got home, I praised her for giving me my new form of oxygen, and scurried off into my hibernation chambers to my own little world once more. Summer came, and I had created somewhat of a cult following in my school. I hadn't seen the books since I read them, you'd think I ran a library business. I made sure they were safely in my possession before school came to an end, minus Eclipse, but that was only because I had another copy, the special edition, and I knew I'd get it back eventually. Summer to me was a repetition of reading the series and counting down until August 2nd. Well, technically the 1st, because I was attending a release party with the two oldest members of my little cult. I went into Breaking Dawn a fierce Team Edward supporter. And I mean fierce. I hated Jacob so much that I fought the urge to gouge out eyeballs whenever I heard the word Team and Jacob put into a positive sentence together. I came out of Breaking Dawn with a fierce loyalty, appreciation, and respect to Jacob. It really changed the way I saw him, and I now love him like any of the Cullens. School came again, my junior year, and buzz about the movie started. Then my books were gone so fast I hadn't even had time to blink, much less give approval of lending them. Not that I cared too much. I had an extremely superior ego in regards to Twilight by that time. The movie hype came and went, and again I felt a loss as to what to turn my attention to next. When I was younger, I volunteered at the library. My grandma worked there, alongside a few other older ladies. "You like that fantasy stuff, you should read the Anne Rice books." I looked at them, they didn't look very pretty. And they were big. And old looking. And just unappealing all around. "No thanks." "Well, I've heard about another series called Anita Blake. It's about vampires." "Pshh, vampires? Lame." A month or so ago, the cashier at Hot Topic mentioned her strong devotion to Anita Blake as I was buying my 3 x 2 foot Edward Cullen poster. "You should read them, if you like Twilight. They're just more traditional, is all." Anita Blake? Hmm, rings a bell... Cue various Google and Amazon searches of reviews and summaries. Hmm, maybe I'll give it a shot....eventually. A couple weeks ago, I was with my friend in a Walden books. She wanted to buy a Twilight magazine I showed her at my house. An associate came up to us and started talking vampires and Twilight. "You guys should read Anita Blake. It's awesome. And Anne Rice too. They're a lot more traditional, but the story line is so much more in depth than Twilight." "I've heard a lot about both of those." The idea finally won me over. "Do you have Guilty Pleasures here?" They didn't. So I walked to the Barnes and Noble near by. They didn't have it either. I went home a little bit disappointed, but more anxious to start this new legendary series. I went to the Barnes and Noble closer to my house a few days later. I wanted to get the new charity book from J.K. Rowling. The lines were long, so I figured I'd browse until they dispersed a little. I stumbled into the science fiction/fantasy section. Hmm, a whole feature on vampire books? Must be the Twilight craze, now other authors are trying to jump on the bandwagon. There sat my quested Guilty Pleasures. Top row, one copy left. I snatched it and paid for it like it was my only source of oxygen, and I was running out of breath. So that's where my attentions are right now. I'm only on the second book right now, it's going pretty slow. But I'm completely satisfied with the series as a whole and I can't wait until I find out what happens next. Sixteen books? That's crazy. And yet such a relief that it will last me quite a while. I'll probably start Anne Rice after that. And I've been meaning to reread the Draco Trilogy, since I never read the last hundred or so pages and I can't just go and read them now. They have to be read together, or maybe I'm just weird like that. It's quite time consuming itself, probably the biggest fanfiction ever penned. Or typed, rather. It's also somewhat of a legend in the Harry Potter fandom. A key, if you will. I don't feel whole unless I'm immersed in something, so I'm the happiest now I've ever been.