Books of the Year 2008

1. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo


2. The Music of Silence by Andrea Bocelli


3. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis


4. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis


5. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis


6. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis


7. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis


8. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis


9. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis


10. Posion Study by Maria V. Snyder


11. Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder


12. Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder


13. Tathea by Anne Perry


14. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card


15. The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks


16. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens


17. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt


18. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë


19. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson


20. Austenland by Shannon Hale


21. Cécile: Gates of Gold by Mary Casanova


22. A Complaint Free World by Will Bowen


23. The Giver by Lois Lowry


24. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry


25. Messenger by Lois Lowry


26. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer


27. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer


28. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer


29. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer


30. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë


31. Leyla: The Black Tulip by Alev Lytle Croutier


32. Release From Nervous Tension by David H. Fink, M.D.


33. Hitman: Forty Years Making Music, Topping Charts & Winning Grammys by David Foster


34. Barrington Family Saga: Volume I, In Search of Heaven by Anita Stansfield


35. Barrington Family Saga: Volume II, A Quiet Promise by Anita Stansfield


36. Barrington Family Saga: Volume III, At Heaven's Door by Anita Stansfield


37. Barrington Family Saga: Volume IV, Promise of Zion by Anita Stansfield

Christmas Day

Christmas day was a lot of fun but hectic. My family opened presents at eight o'clock and then had breakfast. As the tradition goes some of us chose to stay in our pajamas that we opened on Christmas Eve. We went to parties at both our Grandparent's. It was fun but I'm not used to spending Christmas with so many people. For 19 years I haven't been around many extended family for the holidays. Occasionally, we come up for Thanksgiving but Christmas was always an immediate family all-day event. So the past couple of years I have felt like we have been rushed to open presents and then go visit both sides of the family. I think that they (as in Grandma's and Grandpa's) should have parties before Christmas so that the families can spend time with their immediate families more. People could have time to open presents and enjoy spending the day with family. That sentence somewhat makes this whole rant sound off but still. lol.

Oh and by the way I uploaded all the photos to MyPhotoAlbum. And I even put my favorites on Facebook. How cool is that. I actually got called out about a couple I didn't put on and had to go pull them from the many photos I took and add them to the Facebook album. It was funny. I think right now we are all good.

Oh! Have I told you about my Christmas present to myself? About a week before Christmas I bought seasons two through four (I already have season one) of Numb3rs. I love that show! I also got a SLR camera. I looked around and compared simple SLR cameras and decided upon a Canon Rebel XSi. It is so nice. I always leaned more toward Canon than Nikon and I would never go beyond the two of them. If I am going to get an expensive and really nice SLR camera I am going to stick with the high-end companies who know what they are doing. lol. But I like Canon more. lol. I love my new camera. I bought an 8G HDSD Card to go with the camera. I can fit so many photos on it. So much fun!

A Fun Night *said in sarcastic tone*

Last night I woke up at 11:46pm to voices ... and then a steam cleaner ... and then a vacuum. What is going on!? I crawled out of bed and opened my bedroom door to Dad steam cleaning the bathroom. Mom, Amber and Steven were downstairs in the living room vacuuming the carpet. And Chad and Eric were trying to mop up the rain in our kitchen. Seriously! Saturday night the upstiars toilet broke. We were able temporally fix it until today when Dad could go get the part. Apparently our fix slipped somehow and the bathroom flooded. The water leaked into the floor and the main floor ceiling, dripping onto the floor and into our cabinets, soaking down into the downstairs ceiling. Amber woke up in the middle of the night and thought it was raining. She walked upstairs and found a flood in the kitchen. I didn't go back to bed until 12:30am. We had to take everything out of the islands (which is all the pots and pans, the silverware, cooking utensils, Tupperware and lids). It was a mess but hopefully we were able to dry most of the water out.

Packages

I just looked on Amazon to track my package. Guess what!? It is here. Well, there ... at my house. It was signed for by a Higgins (according to online tracking ...) at 3:06 pm. That was half an hour ago. Exciting! I can not wait to go watch Numb3rs and play with my new Canon Rebel XSi SLR camera! So much fun! I'll post more later about the camera. I am sure I'll have lots to tell you.

Right now I have to go crash from my fun high ...

Stressful Hitman

I pre-ordered David Foster's CD/DVD a while back. On November 14 I got an email saying that my credit card was charged and that the item was shipped, via standard shipping (which is five to nine business days). Well, about a month later I still had not received it. I was starting to wonder where it was. So I sent Warner Brothers this email:

To Whom It May Concern,

I ordered "You're The Inspiration: The Music Of David Foster And Friend" by David Foster (aka: Hitman CD/DVD). I received an e-mail on November 14 saying that the item was shipped, via standard shipping, and charged to my credit card that day. My credit card has been charged and I have yet to receive the item. I was wondering when the item was going to get here.

If this matter could be looked into I would greatly appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Krysta

I got this reply from Warner Brothers yesterday morning:

Dear Customer:

We apologize that you did not receive the order. Unfortunately, this item is no longer available for us to replace. Therefore, we applied a full refund to your credit card. We apologize again for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Sincerely,
Warner Bros Records Online Customer Support

I was pissed off after reading that. Where was I going to get a sold out PBS special by David Foster!? The only other places I saw the CD/DVD was Barnes and Noble and Target. And at each place I only saw one copy. So after work I went to Barnes and Noble to see if I could find it again. I couldn't. I was starting to panic at that point. When I was on the train I called my brother and asked him to go to Target and get the other copy that I saw. At least look for it. It took him at least half an hour to find it. But he found David's CD/DVD. I was so glad and relived. I didn't really sink in until after I got home. *sigh* Now I have David Foster's Hitman CD/DVD. And I am really happy.

Slowness

Today has been really slow at work. All last week it was slow and we are expecting next week to be slow too. It is so boring. I played games online all day. I think I have done maybe an hours worth of work today. No one has anything to do. I updated the rest of my photo album. So now every picture is up including the ones from August. I still have to go Christmas shopping for some family members. I don't know what to get them. I have been on Facebook all day playing The Dot Game with some friends. I should go hang out at FOJG. Maybe I'll do that now.

This is hilarious!

Thoughts and Wants

I have had a fun morning. I awoke to snow. I hate snow. lol. Last night I was watching PBS because they were playing David Foster's Hitman, again. I love it! The bad thing about that though ... I have yet to receive my copy of the CD/DVD. I really want my David Foster CD/DVD! I emailed Warner Brothers to see where it is. Some other random things ... I have been looking around Facebook and played a bit around there. I have changed some things on my blog (like the color scheme and some links). Now I am on FOJG. I don't think I'll be on much longer though. My Internet is really slow.

I still have some Christmas shopping to do. I would go but I have no idea what to get anyone. I know what I would get myself. lol. I need to buy for others first before I can splurge on myself. I don't really think anyone will get me my camera so I don't feel too bad about getting it now. Have I told you about that? I am planning on getting a Canon Rebel XSi. After researching which SLR camera would be the best I decided upon that one. And I was always leaning more towards the Canons more than the Nikons. I love and trust Canon. lol.

Photography Final

Well, I am done with school. Yeah! The final was a take-home test that was really easy. I think the hardest part was choosing the photo that I would print. We had to bring a 8x10 photo to class to be "judged" for part of our grade. I finally decided on this one. I love it!

Facebook Surprise

So on Facebook I was on my homepage seeing what my friends were up to ... reading and commenting on status reports and the such. And I noticed that, yesterday, my cousin became a fan of Tickle Me Pink. I started laughing. I had posted a status saying "Krysta loves Tickle Me Pink and recommends you listen to their CD, Madeline." on December 4. Now I don't know if that influenced him to listen to it and become a fan but I think that is pretty cool regardless. Tickle Me Pink, the greatest band on the planet, has a fan page on Facebook! I love Tickle Me Pink! Sean is an amazing song writer and singer. And consequently I am now listening to Madeline because that's the way my mind works. You mention something and I have to listen to either the song or the whole CD, depending what reminds me.

No Sleep

I am really tired of having no sleep. (No pun intended.) I don't know why I can't sleep I just can't. Last night I only got three hours of sleep and amazingly, today I have been rather sane. lol. Only around lunchtime did I start to lose it. And then I ate and I was fine. But I have been rather quiet. On Friday, I called in and told them I wasn't coming into work because I didn't feel well. I slept until 1:30 in the afternoon. And I did the same thing on Saturday. Am I just getting to much sleep? Is that why I feel so drained and ache everywhere? I have thought before that I might have depression. But I can't figure out why I would have it. ... Actually, this whole paragraph has been a lie. I really do think that I have some form of depression due to all the pressure from everywhere. Some factors that I think have made it worse (and I am in no way blaming anyone!) are: (1) Mom and Dad want me to start dating, (2) Chad and Amber are having a baby, (3) my thoughts are not always the way I would like them to be, (4) I feel I need to move out of my parent's house but have no money, and (5) (the biggest factor I think) I feel very alone. I have tried everything I can think of, within my limited means, to change my life. I have colored my hair, which has helped some. I am planning on buying a SLR camera, which I have always wanted. I try to talk to people, mostly Chad whom I respect very much. I try not to think about anything while going to sleep. Thinking about it seems to make things worse. Last night, around 1:30 in the morning, while not sleeping, I was so scared (for reasons I cannot explain). I was sitting on the stairs (because I couldn't be in my room) hyperventilating and resisting the impulse to run! *sigh* I don't want to live my life like this anymore.

Photo Album

It has been many months (four to be exact) since I updated my photo album. I have put more photos up but I don't think I will EVER name them. I want to, but there are just too many. I have decided to update the album often and start naming my photos as well as tell you where the photo was taken (even if it is a general location) and maybe put some camera information too. I haven't decided on that last one for sure or not. But it could be interesting to know later.

Part of August is not up yet because I didn't know I needed those photos. Therefore, I didn't grab them. lol. Come to think of it I don't remember if there were any other pictures that needed to go in the August album. I will check and if I need to I will put them up tomorrow. lol. I just can't think right now.