An Update in Three Parts

Hello, lovelies.

Today's post will come to you in three parts.

Part One--A Fresh New Look
I am currently designing a new look for this blog that will be wonderful! I'm way too ADD when it comes to blog design and I change my blog's design way too many times for my own good. However, I feel as if the current one (regardless of how much I like it) is a little all over the place. I also want to focus on giving Made Of Carbon, well, a focus.

I've decided to make a regular posting schedule on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. That's right. You get me three times a week. Mondays will become Much Love Mondays (like the Things I Less Than Three post I did recently), Wednesdays will be Writing Wednesdays wherein I'll post an excerpt or something having to do with writing, and Fridays are a free day when I can post whatever my little heart desires.

I'll hopefully bring everything together in the next week or so. I've done the preliminary design of it, and I'm so excited! So if you pop in and the place looks different, don't run away. It's all going according to plan.

PART TWO--Spring Break
I have left the freezing Utah weather for somewhere a bit warmer--Sanibel, Florida, which ranks in my top three favorite places in the world. Well, maybe not top three. But definitely top five. It is so lovely here. I've been taking walks up and down the beach every day and lying out on the grass reading books all through the afternoon.

Speaking of books, that brings me to...

PART THREE--Books That I've Read Recently
So, since coming to Sanibel three days ago, I've read two books. And they were both incredible.



First, Citrus County by John Brandon. Citrus County is the type of book in which three characters--a very troublesome, but apathetic teenager Toby; Shelby, a girl Toby’s age with her eye on him; and Mr. Hibma, a teacher at their school whose own troubles and urges are as helplessly chaotic as those of any of his students--circle around each others, their lives constantly overlapping and becoming increasingly tangled. This book drags you along in a death grip that's not entirely pleasant or unpleasant.



Second, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. My reaction to this book needs its own line:

Holy shit.

I've been hearing about this book for a year or two now, but have never really had any interest in it. However, when I picked it up off a sale shelf at a bookstore yesterday and it was thirty-percent off, I decided to give it a whirl. Because of this book, I got an hour and a half of sleep last night. I started reading and could not stop. I read this book in a little less than five hours.

This book, listen, this book... You must go get this book right now. I don't care who you are, I'm pretty sure you'll love this book.

PART FOUR--
xoxo,
Danya

The Definitive Guide to Danya's Top Three Favorite Books

I love to read. This, all things considered, is not surprising--I mean, I'm kind of a nerd that way. I am also an incredibly fast reader, thus I can devour high quantities of books in a very short period of time, which I do on a regular basis. I feel like my love for reading has allowed me to read an incredibly wide range of books.

After getting countless people asking me for book suggestions, I've decided to make a list of my top three books. These books are books I think everyone should read for the sake of leading a fulfilled life. Without further ado, here they are:

1. Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

When people ask me what my favorite book is, I always, always answer "Invisible Monsters." It is a magic book, but don't ask me to describe it.

It influences my own writing, driving me to tap into the rawest part of myself. It gives me incredible insight into the world around me--I look at things backwards, inside-out, upside-down through Palahniuk’s eyes and discover things that cause me to change my own life.

If I had never read Invisible Monsters, I would’ve probably turned out fine. My life would not have been ruined. However, now that I have read it, I can’t imagine life without it.

Read this book. It is wonderful.

2. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

I stole my copy of this book from a hostel in South Africa on a recommendation of a friend on the trip. The copy, which was originally pristine, is now worn through from my excessive reading--the cover is coming away from the binding; the pages are dog-eared and torn.

I read through this book for the first time in about three days. Once finished, I immediately started rereading.

The first two sentences had me hooked immediately: "The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of the situation. He'd been dead for ten days before they found him, you know." If they don't hook you too, there's something wrong with you. Donna Tartt is masterful at building this incredible tension beneath the surface of the story.

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

3. You Shall Know Our Velocity! by Dave Eggers

This book, in many ways, is the perfect book.

Following the story of two childhood friends who are trying to travel around the world in the week and give away $80,000 in the process, this book says everything I wish I could put into words--about travelling, about the awkwardness of life, about social interactions, about friendships, and family, and everything, really.

Mostly, I think I love it because it's describes travel so well. Even though I do not have the experiences written about in the book, I do in some ways. It's weird, but it just makes me want to fly away to some place, over and over again.

It's weird, but it's wonderful.

Honorable Mentions:

The Dolphin People by Torsten Kroll, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, Couch by Benjamin Parzybok, Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl, The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, and Looking for Alaska by John Green

And there you go: my definitive top three favorite books. Do not come looking for book suggestions until you have read all three. Only then will I recommend you a book.

Have a lovely day/night/afternoon/life.

xoxo,

Danya

Things I Less-Than-Three

The internet is wonderful. Seriously. I can sit on the computer for twenty minutes and find absolutely beautiful things that make my day, and most of them are too good to not pass on. Today, as the world outside erupts in a blizzard and all I want to do is cuddle up and watch old movies, I decided to do a Things I Less-Than-Three post. I used to do these posts on my old blog all the time and I sort of miss them, so perhaps I'll make this into a thing. Maybe. Enjoy!

♥ This wonderful long-exposure picture of a bonfire. I can't wait until it gets a bit warmer so we can have bonfires! ♥

♥ This sentiment. ♥

♥ I adore Brett and Jemaine of Flight of the Conchords. This picture is adorable! ♥

♥ Baby platypuses! (platypi? platypods?) SO CUTE. ♥

♥ I love the tone of this photo. Also, I want to be friends with this boy. ♥

♥ Have a bit of Fry and Laurie to brighten up your day! ♥

Have a lovely day!

xoxo,

Danya

Windy and Writerly Wednesdays

Today was blustery.

It was beautiful and sunny and warm and the wind whipped up around you every time you stepped outside. The ground was scattered with dry leaves that swirled around in jetties of wind. Profoundly (and quite accurately), my friend Katie said, "This wind makes me feel like Pocahontas." This is not appropriate February weather.

Luckily, the weather figured its shit out soon enough. It started to blizzard. The snow, wet and heavy, is covering everything and it is glorious. As much as I resent winter, I cannot deny it is beautiful.

In this edition of Writing Wednesday (which is not technically a thing, just convenient as it's a Wednesday and I've been writing), I'm going to give you an excerpt of a story I am writing entitled There's No Such Thing As Gravity, title courtesy of my brother James. This is the first creative writing I've done in about a year and I'm pretty excited about it. Let me know what you think in the comments. Or don't. Whatever.

There's No Such Thing As Gravity

Nothing ever stands still.

Watching her sleep under the sheen of early morning light, he can't remember what happened the night before. He can see the faint outline her body makes under the sheets; shadows fall dark in the concave of her waist, sunlight splashes against the curve of her hip. She is curled towards him, her head tucked under his chin. Lying together on his mattress, he tries to remember her name.

His mouth tastes as if it's coated with a film of sawdust. He stands up, and she shifts, snuggling down deeper into the sheets, into the empty space he left in the bed. He walks to the bathroom, turns on the sink faucet, and splashes some water into his mouth. He looks up at himself in the mirror, water drooling from his lips, and swallows hard once.

Fucking idiot. He spits into the sink. What a fucking idiot. A headache pounds at his temples and he thinks, You should get out of here, go. Before she wakes up. He turns back to glance at the bed.

She's standing in the doorway, wearing his shirt. She tucks a piece of hair behind one ear. "Hey."

"Hey."

Leaning against the doorjamb, she looks like she wants to run. His shirt is too big for her--the sleeves fall down to her elbows, the hem is almost at her knees. It hangs awkwardly, like it's draped on a mannequin. She bites her bottom lip, then says, "I think I'm gonna go."

Clearing his throat, he rubs a hand over his cheek. "Right. Yeah." Trying to sound like he knows what he's doing, he says, "Do you need me to call you a taxi?"

"No." She presses her lips together, then smiles. "Thanks." She walks back to the bed, and her hair swings down the length of her back.

He thinks, Don't let her go. As she reaches for her crumpled shirt on the floor, he says, "Wait."

She turns to him.

"Do you want to get some coffee?" He fumbles with the words, and as soon as they're out of his mouth, he wishes he hadn't said them.

She chews the inside of her cheek, and she looks at the ground, at the empty space between them. Twisting the hem of his shirt between her fingers, she says, "I'm sorry." Her voice is so quiet, he almost can't hear what she said. "I can't."

"Oh." Feeling exposed, he shrugs. "No worries."

She picks up her shirt from the floor and just holds it. "It's not that I don't want to." Hesitating, she twists her hands around the shirt, as if she was wringing it dry. She exhales. "Maybe some other time?"

"Yeah. Sure."

She nods once, and pulls off his shirt.

He averts his eyes, unsure of where to look. "I'll be downstairs."

As he turns away, she says, "Wait." She stands there naked, hair pulled to one shoulder. Her hands are fidgety, fingers drumming on the outsides of her thighs. She says, "Maybe I could go for some coffee."

xoxo,
Danya

Why I (At Least Somewhat) Enjoy Valentine's Day

First things first: I found a blog-friend! Her name is Holly and she lives two doors down from me and she is lovely and you should get out her blog because she's so lovely: Contemplations of my Reverie. Go. Do it now.

Onto business: today is Valentine's Day. I like Valentine's Day. I do not have a valentine, nor do I have the opportunity to get one before the day is out--regardless, I like Valentine's Day. It provides us with a day focused completely on telling people you love that you love them. While if you need a day to remind you that you love the ones you love, you might need to refocus your priorities, I appreciate the fact that Valentine's Day gives me an excuse to tell people I love them, to reconnect with old friends, and to spend a day surrounded by love.

I have quite a number of friends who refer to Valentine's Day as Single Awareness Day, but, even though I'm single, I don't consider it as such. For me, the point of Valentine's Day is your love for other people, not others' love for you. You feel me?

So, even though I have no boyfriend or girlfriend to spend the day with, doing romantic things like staring into each other's eyes for hours (NOT a staring contest), I am filled with love today.

And so I leave you with a video from the magnificent John Green in which he discovers toward the end of a game of Chubby Bunny that it is Valentine's Day and then discusses love while walking around the mall:


I hope you have a lovely Valentine's Day and spend it with people you love. <3

xoxo,
Danya

Eighteen Before Nineteen: Revising My Priorities

In conjunction with my last post regarding wasting time, I decided to try to start figuring my shit out. I realized my priorities are warped. I obsess over things that don't matter--wasting hours upon hours mindlessly surfing the internet, playing the game over boys who are maybe interested in me--because I have no clue what I want to do.

Well, in some respects that's true.

More specifically, I don't know what I want to fill my time with. I don't know what I want to do in the moments when I'm not stressed about homework or goofing off with friends. I want to be productive, but I don't know what I want to accomplish in the smaller scheme of things--not necessarily talking about in the perspective of my life, rather, just my day-to-day accomplishments.

So, taking inspiration from the lovely Miss Elsie of A Beautiful Mess, I made a list of things I want to do before I turn nineteen. Some are rather silly, others more serious, but they are all things I can fill my time doing. They are all things that will make me happy. And, because I am sick and tired of wasting my time obsessing over playing the game, I consciously excluded any goal about boys or relationships. Because, in the end, I'd rather spend my time focusing on defining who I am and who I want to be and what I want, rather than on getting a boyfriend.

Loves,
Danya

P.S. Sorry if this isn't the most coherent post. It's one in the morning and I'm exhausted and I'm trying to update every other day and stay on that schedule, but I procrastinated today and waited until the last minute. Sorry! (For whoever's reading this, if anyone.) Goodnight.

P.P.S. I'd love to know what you'd like to accomplish before your next birthday! Leave your list (or a link to your list) in the comments.

Procrastination, Wasting Time, and Kittens

Is it unfair to say I'm a procrastinator by nature? I generally find that I'm a fairly motivated person, but it's not uncommon for me to wait until the last hour to finish my essay or do my drawing homework the morning before class. Even when I try to get ahead on assignments, I usually slip up and fall under the ever-growing pile of work I need to do, surrendering into my procrastinating ways.

However, this wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing that's so much more important than homework. So much of my time just slips away, wasted, with mindless stumbling on the internet. I stare at a screen for so many hours of the day, justifying the hours by saying I'm learning--I'm finding new artists, discovering new music, exploring the archives of different video bloggers--or that I'm socializing with friends on Facebook (which deserves its own post).

But the truth is, the majority of this time I spend "learning" is actually wading through a tremendous amount of quasi-entertaining sites that provide me nothing but a video of kittens maneuvering their way down a slide. Pages upon pages of wasted time. I waste time could be spent doing at least somewhat productive. Or at least something that doesn't leave me with a collapsed feeling under my skin and a headache.

A part of me says that life's too short to be concerned with productivity--use time in whatever way makes you happy. But then I question how happy surfing the internet makes me. Because generally I'll look up from my screen after hours of staring at it and realize how unhappy I am. And then, at the crux of it all, I discover: I waste time on the internet because, regardless of what anyone says, being engaged in life is hard. It's much easier to spend hours stumbling or creeping on Facebook than it is to figure out what I actually want to do and accomplish that given day.

But I don't blame the internet. It's not the internet's fault for being so damn distracting. I use the internet like I do because it's an easy way out of figuring out what I want. But I'm sick of wasting time. Maybe if I stop wasting time like I do, I'll actually get some of my homework done on time.

Loves,
Danya