My Bucket List

Everyone has a bucket list, so here is mine.  When I made this list, I thought about all of the things that would make me the happy.  I narrowed it down by rating them on the possible opportunities that I would get to them.

10.  Get a full week of having no responsibilities
I have never had a full week of completely doing things for myself.  During this week, I would probably get a massage, hang out with friends, go shopping, and do charity work.  I would get a massage to feel relaxed.  I've never had one from a professional and would like to feel like all of my problems went away.  I would hang out with friends as much as possible because it always puts me in a good mood.  Crazy, funny things always happen that are priceless.  When I would go shopping, I would buy things that I wouldn't normally buy.  I would do charity work because I don't have time to do volunteer work and would like to help people who are less fortunate than I. 

9.  Watch all of the movies on my wish list 
Watching movies is a favorite pastime of mine because I like to see the different plots and what directors and writers choose to do with them.  It could be the kind of plot that would make you sneer when you heard it.  It's the storyline and graphics that make the movie.

8.  Read all of the books on my wish list 
I would read all of the books on my wish list because they have details that movies don't have.  When reading, I'm instantly transported to the setting of the book.  It's like taking a vacation without ever leaving home.

7.  Learn at least two foreign languages 
I've always marveled at how people can speak more than one language.  It amazes me when people speak with such fluency and would make you think it was their native language.  I want to learn two languages because it's the number of favorite languages that I have.  I would learn Spanish and Italian because they sound so musical.

6.  Be friends with someone who previously lived in a different country 

It would be great if I could be friends with someone who lived in a different country because they could tell me about all of the experiences that they had there.  My foreign friend could tell me interesting facts about their culture and country that I didn't know before.

5.  Hit all of the people that have been a pain in my life with no consequences :) 
This is one of my favorites because the people on my mental "Pain in the Butt" list have been constant annoyances and have caused me more stress than joy.  It would give me a great satisfaction if I could hit all of them and have no consequences.  The fear of consequences is the only thing that holds me back from punching people.  If I knew that I could hit them and no one could do anything about it, then I would do it as hard as I could. 

4.  Meet a movie star 
Meeting a movie star would be incredible because I want to see a character from a movie in person.  I would try to ask that person questions without sounding like an obsessed lunatic.  I probably ask about past movies that they've been in, movies that they're currently working on, and random questions that give me insight to what kind of person they are.

3.  Go to Italy   
I want to go to Italy before I die because Italian food is amazing, the language sounds pretty, the history and art is interesting, and the churches are beautiful.  Italian is my favorite food because I just happen to like more of the dishes than any other type.  Italian sounds so pretty because it reminds me of music and water; they both rise and fall.  I would go to Italy, hopefully, after I learned the language so that I would be able to get around easily.

2.  Get a decent boyfriend 
I've never had a boyfriend before, but I'm not willing to lower my standards so that I could say that I have.  To be honest, my standards aren't that high.  It's just that I haven't met a guy that's mature enough for me.  I would like to have a boyfriend that's mature and kind before I die.

1.  Go to a Bruno Mars concert with a backstage pass and get to hang out with him for a day 
It would blow my mind if I went to a Bruno Mars concert and got to hang out with him for a day.  Bruno Mars is my favorite male singer because his music makes me feel happy, especially "Just the Way You Are."  If I spent a day with him, I would find out his likes and dislikes, his favorite song that he wrote, and more insightful questions.  This is number one because if this happened, then the others on my list wouldn't matter to me. 

How to Read a Book and Like It

Some people don’t like reading because they think it’s boring.  This is because they just don’t know how to pick a book that would suit them.  Some people pick a book and end up not liking it because they thought that it didn’t have a good storyline, it was dull, it was too long, etc. If you continuously have these problems, then all you have to do is follow these simple and easy steps and you’ll actually like reading.  You don’t need any specific materials, except patience and time.  Here are some steps and tips to help you pick a book that you like.

Step 1:  Find out what genres you like to read and which ones you don’t. This is the most important step.   Do you like fiction or nonfiction?  Do you dislike fantasy or historical fiction?  Genres are mainly categorized into two sections: fiction and nonfiction.  If you like fiction books, then you like stories that aren’t real.  Nonfiction books are books that are about real events.  Under fiction you have fantasy, adventure, mystery, science fiction, historical fiction, and more. 

Step 2:  Decide what your favorite book length is.  Do you like short books with 350 pages or less?  Do you like long books with 350 pages or more? If you don’t like to spend too much of your time trying to finish a book, then you should probably stick with the short length books.  Short books are good for people that like a nice quick story and don’t like anything drawn out.  Long, thick books are good for people that think the more details, the better.

                     

Step 3:  Pick your book.  When picking your book, you should take into consideration what genres you like and how long you think the book should be.  Don’t just randomly choose one.  This can result in a waste of your time/money.  Tip:  When deciding between books, read the synopsis located on the back or jacket of the book.  It tells you a little of what the plot of story is based on.  This helps in choosing because you will have a better chance of enjoying a book with an engaging excerpt than one with an excerpt that you haven’t read.

Step 4:  Pace yourself.  You should read at a pace that is just right, so that you can understand and enjoy what you read.  If you read too fast, then there is a possibility that you won’t comprehend what you’ve read.  This might cause you to feel confused by the book and dislike it.

With these steps, you'll be devouring books in no time!

Review of Heaven - Alexandra Adornetto

Heaven is the last book of the Halo Trilogy.  This story is about the struggles that Bethany, an angel, and Xavier, a human,  have to go through to finally be together.  The book starts off with the two getting married despite of Heaven's will.  When they got married, Bethany and Xavier never expected innocent people to die because of their union.  After witnessing the death of the priest that married them, they left town with Gabriel and Ivy, Bethany's archangel brother and seraphim sister.  The rebel military group in Heaven, called the Sevens, is after them. and wants them separated.  Xavier and Bethany, husband and wife, hide in plain sight at a college with the guise of a close-knit brother and sister.  It works for a while when the leader of the Sevens catches them and kills Xavier and his roommate just to prove a point.  Xavier was almost gone until Bethany guides his soul back to his body.  With his death, more trouble came.  Lucifer possessed his body and claimed that he would release Xavier if Bethany brings his son, Jake, back from the dead.  Jake is brought back and wants Gabriel's wings for the releasing of Bethany's husband.  Always determined to protect human life, Gabriel complies and gives his wings up.  Without his wings, Gabriel is able to experience human emotions that he wasn't able to understand before.  Ivy and Gabriel finally reveal to Bethany and Xavier about who he is.  Ivy and helped his mom get pregnant years ago and because of this, Xavier is half human and half angel.  Later that day, a hostage situation rises.  The leader of the Sevens has Xavier's sister and will give her back in exchange for Bethany.  She gives herself up and is carried back home to Heaven.  In Heaven, she is put in a type of psych ward for angels. Determined to get back to Xavier, she asks around and discovers that to get back to Earth, she has to give up her wings and become human.  She agrees without hesitation and is spurred on by a vision of Xavier, her husband, about to jump off of a cliff.  After the process is complete, she feels the most intense pain.  She finds her way to Xavier through it all and discovers that she has been gone for two years.  With nothing else in their way, Bethany and Xavier look forward to growing old and dying together, their version of heaven. 

 



In this picture, a man is pushing a rock up against a steep mountain.  He keeps pushing even though gravity is going against him because he doesn't want to give up.  This picture represents the most important component of Heaven because Bethany and Xavier are determined not to let the Sevens get the best of them, knowing that they have little help.  It seems like everything and everyone is pushing against them, but they refuse to give up and accept defeat because they have faith that their love is stronger than all of it.

I loved reading Heaven because there was a captivating conflict around every corner from beginning to end.  This moving story made me not want to put the book down because it made me empathize with the main characters.  I understood that the journey was taking its toll on them between the deaths and the fights and made them wonder if they were ever going to be able to live in peace.  I rate this book five out of five stars because I thought it was the perfect ending to the trilogy. 

I like the story just the way it is because it couldn't have ended better for Bethany and Xavier and wouldn't change anything.  They both got to spend their lives together.  Because they were both human now, nothing stood in their way.  I think Alexandra Adornetto did a fantastic job writing the conclusion to the trilogy by writing a happy ending for each character.

CUPID Brings Hope for Hearts

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-drug-treatment-heart-failure.html

This link is basically about how scientists have found a drug that can possibly treat or prevent heart failure. CUPID stands for Calcium Up-regulation by Percutaneous administration of gene therapy In cardiac Disease.  In this study, scientists observed that SUMO1, a protein, was very low in failing hearts.  They then injected failing hearts with this protein and found that they improved.  Scientists also found that when they injected SERCA2a, there was increased cardiac funcion; however, the SERCA2a stopped working after a while.  Two experts at Mount Sinai School of Medicine discovered that SUMO1 is a regulator of SERCA2a by increasing its function, stability, and enzyme activity.  Scientists hope that with more tests, it will lead to the treatment and possibly prevention of heart failure.

I think it's good that scientists are looking for ways to prevent heart failure because it means that this is one less reason to get a heart transplant.  If someone is suffering from heart failure, then they'll need a transplant.  If everything goes well with the trials, then people can get injections instead.  Injections would be better than transplants because it's easier to get injections than it would be to wait for someone to die that had the same blood type.  There are many people on the waiting list that may not live long enough to get a heart.  Because of this, I think this treatment can lead to saving more lives.

In the future, I think this treatment becoming a big success and leading to the development of other treatments.  From this trial, scientists can get the same idea and apply the same principle to other organs.  I think this treatment would be more common than having a heart transplant because it's more convenient and less risky.  This study shows a lot of promise for treatments of the future.