Welcome...
The idea to include information about myself and my journal is stolen shamelessly from my best friend,
Laura. I have divided the entry in sections, to keep readers from getting lost within the the content.
(written 26 March 2007; updated April 2, 2008)
About Me
My name is Shauna, and I am a 23 year old college student. I'll be graduating in Spring 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Sacramento State University (I was also an English major for a long time, but have since reduced the English major to minor status). I'm a good student when I put my mind to it, and I finally acheived my goal of earning straight A's during the Fall 2004 semester. It hasn't happened since, but I'm okay with that. Now, I just want to graduate and be done with it all.
When most people hear my major, they assume that I want to teach. Not at all- the very last thing I want to do is become a teacher. I've worked in education, and at this point in my life, I just don't think teaching is what I would want to do. I can barely convince myself to write my papers sometimes, so I doubt I could convince myself to grade dozens of them.
My current relationship status is single, and while it's hard to be single while the rest of my friends are in serious relationships or have already gotten married, I am where I need to be right now. I'm still trying to figure out where I'm supposed to be. Being in a relationship at this point would just complicate things. But when the time is right, and "Mr. Hot Reading Guy," as my other best friend
Nicki likes to call my "dream guy," does come along, then all bets are off.
My not-so-secret secret dream is to publish a novel- either a young adult or adult novel. I feel that too much of the young adult literature market is being saturated with petty, let's-see-who's-richer-and-can-out-bitch-everyone-else novels and series. Admittedly, I've only actually read one such series, but I've read enough book jacket flaps and back covers to understand the basic plot. At any rate, my dream is to publish a novel that bucks the trend. Or perhaps I'll write historical fiction, and combine my love of history and literature. However, I don't spend enough time writing and working on my in-progress manuscript to make it happen. It may never happen. I have yet to actually finish a story, and my writing style wants practice and an improvement in skill.
The more likely career path is becoming a librarian. I currently work as a library assistant at the public library the next town over from my north Sacramento valley town, and I love my job. I've been at the library for almost two years, and I couldn't imagine better coworkers or a better environment. My library is cute. It was built in the late 1970's and it's a circular building. The paint is hideous, and I wish we could get rid of the off-whites and orange paint and the funny tiles that hang from the ceiling, but at the same time, it's charming. The only thing keeping me from becoming a librarian is that pesky Master's in Library and Information Science. I will probably go to graduate school to obtain it, but honestly, I can't bear the thought of adding two or three more years onto my school career at the moment. I think I need some time off from school before I can really make it happen.
My Interests
As is probably clear by now, books are an important part of my life, and my primary interest. I've always been an advanced reader, and I would get in trouble in elementary school for being ten pages ahead of the rest of the class when we would read out loud. I was reading (and understanding) books written for adults when the rest of my classmates were struggling with the Babysitter's Club. My greatest accomplishment as a sixth-grader was reading a four-hundred page adult novel in a weekend. This was before the days of Harry Potter; the book was In My Father's House by Bodie Thoene.
I still read quite a lot, but unfortunately, I now lack the time to read as much as I would like to. I love classic literature, and my all-time favorite novel is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Other favorite authors include Dickens, Diana Gabaldon, the Brontes, Elizabeth Gaskell, C.S. Forester, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien. I don't care much for twentieth century literature, or American literature, but I love F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, both of twentieth century American literature fame. I also love quality contemporary novels, and my second favorite book is Ian McEwan's Atonement. It is my goal to have as many people read Atonement as I possibly can. I love McEwan's other works as well. Nick Hornby is another favorite contemporary author, and of course I love the Harry Potter series as well. Say what you will about the content or Ms. Rowling's writing style; the reality is that she's gotten kids excited about reading again, and to me, that is most important. For further information about this obsession er, hobby, please see the link to LibraryThing in my links list.
I watch a lot of television. More specifically, I watch a lot of television shows on DVD. My absolute favorite shows are Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars, and I died a little inside when they both ended in 2007. But I will cherish the fact that they are on DVD for me to enjoy for the rest of eternity. I also love Bones, House, Grey's Anatomy, CSI (the original), Chuck, and shamefully, Gossip Girl and Greek. Angel and Buffy are two favorites of mine that I never watched when they were on the air, but came to love through the miracle that is Netflix.
My taste in music is pretty broad: I love rock music, and 3 Doors Down is my favorite band. Other current loves include Muse, Rilo Kiley, Daughtry, Snow Patrol, Evanescence, Nickelback, The Brody's, the now-defunct Paradigm and their lead-singer-turned-solo-artist Shannon Curtis, the Beach Boys, Michelle Branch, Jon McLaughlin, Over the Rhine, and the list goes on. I listen to hip-hop and rap sometimes, but please keep the country away from me. I also love classical music, and I love to listen to that while I'm studying.
My taste in movies is pretty broad, too. As a girl, I like romantic comedies sometimes, provided they aren't too patronizing. I like dramas, period pieces, intelligent films, biopics, and occasionally comedies. I don't much care for action films, and I detest the current trend in horror movies. I am the girl who over-thought The Ring, after all.
What to Expect When Reading My Journal
I use proper capitalization and spelling. It's just a personal preference as a writer. I use too many adverbs still, but I have had the word "anyways" forcibly beaten from my vocabulary.
I talk mostly about school and everyday things in my updates. I complain about hot weather, but love the cold and rain. I talk about my books, and my TV shows, and of course my friends. I sometimes discuss sports, but this is mostly during football season. I post some memes, and some pictures, but my journal is predominantly text. I think LJ tags are the best invention ever. I don't update half as much as I used to, but I love having a way to organize and categorize my entries.
My Other Journals
shootingstarr7: My reading journal. Updated sporadically at best. I usually just talk about the books here.
starrs_icons: My icon journal, naturally. This is a work-in-progress. It is where I will store my icons for the icons100 challenges I participate in, as well as icons I make just for the fun of it.
Both journals are completely public with all public entries.
If you have any further questions, leave me a comment!