Jellicoe Road, 17 Again, and Lemurs

Here we go, readers: This'll be a book review, a movie review, and a journal post! Since my poll said that the majority of people who read this blog (which, I'll admit, is very few) enjoy a variety of topics, I'm going to try to give more variety from now on.

Jellicoe Road was recommended to me by every single member of my bookclub that had read the book. I'm just going to say this now: If you are capable of reading, then I don't care what type of books you like, you have to read this book.

No matter who you are, what you're into reading, or how old you are (actually, scratch that, any kids reading this should be warned. Maybe ages 12+ or something) you'd get pulled into this book and sucked into the plot. It's impossible not to.

This book is set in Australia, and it is told from the view point of Taylor Markham. Taylor is about 17 years old, and her mom abandoned her a long time ago (I think she was 9) at a 7 Eleven on Jellicoe Road. She goes to this boarding school-ish place there for kids with issues (mostly kids without parents) and is the leader of her school when it comes to the territory wars. Taylor's school, the townies, and the cadets all fight over territory with each other, and there are many rules and regulations to follow about these territory wars found in what they call the Little Purple Book.

One day, the only person in Taylor's life that she really cares about, Hannah (she's the one who found Taylor at the Seven Eleven, and is not really a mother figure to Taylor- more like an older sister), disappears. Hannah's left behind this manuscript that she's written over the years, and this manuscript contains many secrets about five people who met on the Jellicoe Road a long time ago. Their names are Narnie, Jude, Webb, Tate, and Fitz. Taylor doesn't know anything about this seemingly fictional manuscript, but soon its secrets transform her life forever.

To say that this book is well written would be an understatement. The author did a remarkable, fantastic job with weaving an intricate and mysterious story. Words cannot describe how powerful this book was. Every emotion that Taylor felt hit me as hard as if I were the one experiencing it.

What really made this book a winner for me was the story, though. Everything part of it works together marvelously to help you figure out Taylor's past, and it all comes to you in little pieces throughout the book that make you extremely curious about how it all fits in together. Please, if you're reading this, give Jellicoe Road a chance. Go check it out at your closest library and I promise that you will not be disappointed.
Me, I hate High School Musical. I complain about it almost everyday with my friends 'cause we are forced to sing a song from the 3rd movie in my chorus class (we're doing a fun end-of-the-year Disney themed concert). Having said that, my brain associated Zac Efron with Disney because of High School Musical. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised when I watched 17 Again with my friends yesterday.

It was a very teen-ish movie with lots of teen humor in it. My friends and I all liked it, we were all laughing a lot (and crying a little at one part). It was a very fun movie, but not one that I'd recommend seeing with parents (GOS, I'm saying that for you're benefit).

Anyway, this story's plot is a bit done (very similar to Back To The Future in several parts) but it was still very good. Overall, I thought it was quite fun, and very appropriate for our mini Girl's Night Out : )

I don't think I really need to give much of a plot overview for it, though. Here's a short one: A man named Mike O'Donnell is getting divorced with his wife, Scarlett. He loves his children, but he doesn't really know them. When he meets a mysterious old man, he gets a second chance at being 17 years old. He tries to fix things with his family as a 17 year old that they don't know, and he gets into some hilarious situations along the way (with his friend Ned, who's played by Thomas Lennon. He's hysterical).

I thought it was great, so if you're in the mood to watch something fun with your friends, think about 17 Again. And for you boys out there: It is not a chickflick, so don't try that excuse if your girlfriend asks you to see it with her : P

Now, my Lemurs topic. I don't want to reveal where I live on this blog, so I'm just going to say that I spent the day with my family at my brother's college. I recently decided to support a lemur at this program that they run, so I sponsor a Slow Loris named Doodlebug with about $50 a year. Today I visited Doodlebug and all of his lemur friends : ) He looks something like this:

It was dark in there, though (he's nocturnal) so all I could see was a general view of him running through the branches. He's about as small as a squirrel, and very quick! The diurnal lemurs I got a better look at, and they were very interesting as well.

Here's a fun little video of a slow loris (not Doodlebug) getting tickled. My friend Alanna saw this on youtube and sent it to me after I told her about Doodlebug:


After our lemur tour, my family and I went to visit the school's gardens, which were lovely. There were many ponds, flowers, bridges, ducks, geese, etc. It was like a gorgeous park but with tons of college students studying everywhere/hanging out ^_^ It was very relaxing strolling through the gardens on such a sunny day, everything about it was picturesque. There was even a wedding going on, so there was nice music playing by one of the ponds. My brother says that there are always weddings in the gardens because they're so beautiful.

After the fun activities, we started to help my brother move some of his stuff from his dorm room back to our house. School's almost over for him, so he's not moving out of his dorm yet, but we decided that it's going to take us two trips to get all his crud out of there (it still boggles my mind that such a tiny, cramped dorm can hold two boys and all of that crap they have). I helped without complaint, but that's mostly because we had the door open as we cleaned/packed with my brother, and several hot guys tend walk through my brother's dorm halls shirtless. Also, one of his friends dropped by to help us, and he was really nice and funny so that also made the dull (and slightly disgusting, when we got to the closet) work go by faster.

So for me, this weekend has been really fun so far. I had a great time yesterday watching 17 Again with my friends (who I don't get to see nearly as much as I'd like to) and today I was outdoors enjoying the nice weather with my family. The icing on the cake would be if NHC and I get together tomorrow, but he didn't call me today to set anything up. Actually, he hasn't called me in a while. *Sigh* It takes a lot of effort to make a relationship work if you don't go to the same school as the person you're dating, maybe I'll call him tomorrow... Wish me luck.

~Comments are appreciated!