How to...give up on life

As a journalism student, I have this internship for a little college helper/guidance website.  I write dinky little 500 word articles geared towards mostly high school seniors and/or their parents to prepare them for college.  Eh, no big deal.  Gets me published enough that it can look good on my resume.  Anyway, my supervisor recently sent us ten interns a link to a website with article after article about how to write better headlines and told us we needed to read them all.  I'm pretty sure I got bored after number four and skimmed through the rest.  They say the same thing.  And after reading so many articles telling me that "How to..." is a great headline for a blog post, I gave up.  Is there no creativity in this world anymore?  The articles legitimately give you formulas where you plug in words to create "effective, captivating headlines that will draw your audience in."  Yes, I agree; when I see an article giving me ten ways to make my life better with little to no effort, I am intrigued to read the article.  But your headline was so unoriginal.  Let's put some creativity back in this world people.

Vent session over.  And now moving on.

Maui was...warm, sunny, relaxing, delicious and a bunch of other positive adjectives that describe a tropical beach with good weather and incredible food.  Pictures to come this week.  Not only did I run into people from home two separate times (the world is small even in Maui), but I got addicted to a few new items while there.  

1. Sun.  Not a new addiction.  Just a reminder.  I do love my snow and skiing, but I do love my sun and tan, too.

2. Reading.  Also not a new addiction, but 11 days away from school work gives you a chance to get some good reading done.  Please read "Wait Till Next Year"--a fabulous memoir about a girl's life growing up in Long Island post World War 2 while the Dodgers, Yankees and Giants all still played in New York.  It involves baseball and so many old fashioned ways of life that remind me of the old fashioned ice cream, candy, soda shoppe (like the one on Main Street Disneyland) that I want to open.  Also, if you haven't yet, you must read...

3. The Hunger Games.  Took me two days to read the first.  I'm a little bit obsessed and can't wait to go to the midnight showing of the movie this Thursday night and to buy book number 2 and read it.

4. DragonVale.  I thought this game was dumb at first, but brother number 2 and his girlfriend told me to keep playing.  And now I'm addicted.  But I'm a little bit frustrated.  I've tried SO many times to breed a Bluefire Dragon, and I just can't get it!  But I'm currently waiting for either a Sun, Moon or Rainbow dragon to hatch, and those are hard to come by.

5. Draw Something.  Yet another addicting smartphone game that tests your ability to draw dumb little pictures and guess other peoples' pictures.  It can get quite funny.  Current streak?  66 turns.  Booyah!

And then today, Mommy and I planned a little bit more of our journey this summer.  Plane tickets booked.  Some hotels booked.  Epsom Derby on my birthday.  Stonehenge, Bath, possibly White Cliffs of Dover, Belgium, Paris and then off to Tanzania with one of my best friends.  I.  Can't.  Wait.

Aloooooooooooha!

That's right, ladies and gentlemen...I'm off to the beautiful island of Maui tomorrow evening where I will be spending 9 (yes, count them, NINE!) days basking under the sun near the ocean enjoying delicious mocktails and fresh seafood.

I will be taking a book (most likely The Hunger Games), my fabulous camera I love so much and some homework to do but not too much, thankfully.

To quote the wonderful Miss Congeniality...
"In Hawaii, don't they use aloha for, like, hello and goodbye?"
"So?"
"So if you're on the phone with somebody and they won't stop talking, how do you get them to stop?  You say, 'Okay, take care, aloha,' don't they just start over again?"

Until I have a palm tree blocking my face from the heat, aloooooha!