Look alike?

A lot of people tell me I look like a lot of people. One of them would be Keira Knightly, and another, Nina Dobrev. What do you think?

              

<Keira Knightly>

  

<Nina Dobrev>

  

No Regrets

“Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.”

~James Dean

This quote is really the base of everyone's “American Dream” no matter what shape or form. It states that you have to dream big, take chances, and don’t regret anything. If people never reminisced about something greater and better, where would we be in life today? So many important things came from taking chances, and not looking back, and I think that is how everyone should see each moment-as their last. If you looked back on your life some day, would you be happy with what you saw? If you never think big or reach for the stars, you won’t accomplish anything. I think that this quote is so powerful in the fact that it describes what people’s lives are like, what people think, why people do what they do, and what brought us here today.


When comparing this quote to the media, I have to think of a few things, like songs and books. The song that I have stuck in my head from time to time is “Live Like You Were Dying” by Tim McGraw. This song is talking about when Tim’s father died, he had a whole new view of life, and realized how little time he really had to accomplish everything that he wanted to do. The song goes: “I went skydiving, I went rocky mountain climbing, I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu, and I loved deeper, and I spoke sweeter, and I gave forgiveness I'd been denyin'. And he said some day I hope you get the chance, to live like you were dyin'.” Obviously, this man had extraordinary dreams that he wanted to be made into reality, and he knew that if he didn’t live like every day was his last, he would never have accomplished any of it. Another thing that I can compare this quote to would be would be the book “A Child Called ‘It’”. This is a terrible, yet inspiring story of a young boy who was abused by his mother, and ignored by the rest of his family. He dreams of a life filled with love and hope, and every day he deals with his torment the best he can. Eventually he becomes free when his teacher becomes concerned and calls the police. The bravery of this little boy with the willingness to dream big, and make the best of every day was the thing that helped him to survive.


The greatest people in the world may not be the smartest, or the richest, or the most dangerous. The people who are the greatest are the ones that inspire us every day. The people who do good for others, and don’t complain about life. These are the ones that look at each day like another chance. Another opportunity to make their life better, to achieve more, or dream a better dream. Wonderful beings like this all over the world are the ones that show us what it is like to really have a great life. Tremendous things can come about when you take chances. People that think like this are the ones that have the biggest dreams. The dreamers in life are the ones that have fun and know how to live. The word impossible is simply not applied to their lives. Harriet Tubman, one of the greatest and most influential dreamer and risk taker in American history, once said: “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”


In my life, I live by a motto, “Live the life you love, love the life you live, no regrets.” I found that once I realized that life really is short, I knew that I wanted to make the best of it. I wanted to one day replay every minute and never regret a thing. I have already put this frame of mind to work a few times. This summer, I went camping in the Poconos, and a few people from the camp were going cliff jumping. I thought ‘wow what an amazing experience!’, but as i gazed off that 45 foot cliff into the black water, I was thinking otherwise. Just before I jumped (after about 20 minutes of clutching the rock next to me, shaking) a thought came to my head. I told myself over and over, “no regrets” (haha, and thought of how much I would get made fun of if I chickened out), said a prayer, and jumped. I felt the rush of air, my mind blank, and kept expecting my toes to feel the cold water long before they actually did, but eventually made a splash in the water below. When I surfaced I heard the cheers of my friends, and immediately was proud of myself for overcoming my fear. Looking back on this experience, I can check another thing off my bucket list, and know that if I hadn’t dreamed of being fearless, or thought about how little time everyone has, I would have never done it. As I continue through my life, making so many choices that I know will shape me as a person, I know that I need to dream as if I’ll live forever, and live as is I’ll die today. No regrets.

Book Review- Elixir by Hilary Duff

Elixir by Hilary Duff

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Elixir is a suspenseful, confusing, and epic telling of the twisted fate of an innocent girl. Seventeen-year-old Clea Raymond is living in the spotlight. Her father is a renowned surgeon and her mother is a well known politician, so she is constantly being watched by the public eye. Her only escape is her photography, and she has a job as a photojournalist, allowing her to travel to many exotic places. After her father mysteriously disappears while on a humanitarian mission, she starts to notice a strange man appearing in all of the pictures that she takes, a beautiful young man - that she has never before seen. Her best friend Ben, who happened to work for her father, saw the pictures, and remembered that in her dad’s office, there were pictures of her as a child with the same man in the background! He was sitting at the table behind them at a restaurant, or in a crowd of people at a public event. Soon after this, she starts having cycles of dreams where she is four other girls, from four different time periods, all in love with this man - the man from the pictures. She would either be Olivia in Renaissance Italy, trying to perfect her watercolor paintings; Catherine in rural England, a hundred years later, racing on a horse bareback through the countryside; Anneline, and stage actress in France’s finest nineteenth-century stages; or Delia, who lived during the Prohibition-era Chicago. When fate brings her and this man, Sage, together, it stirs up powerful emotions, and some trouble. The closer they get, the deeper they are drawn into the mystery behind her father’s disappearance, and they discover the truth behind their century old connection. The secret that they have to face, has Sage, Ben, and Clea racing against time to decode their past and save their futures.
“So what can we do?” I asked, “How can we find my father?
“And the Elixir of Life,” Ben added.
“There is no Elixir of Life” I said.
“Yes, there is,” Ben and Sage chorused.
One theory that both Ben and Clea’s father had was that somehow the Elixir of Life was involved with this strange man. The Elixir of Life is something that can grant eternal life; but most people believe it to be a legend, or a myth. Clea’s father, during an arceological dig in Italy, found the vials to the Elixir, but found so sign of the actual thing. When Ben and Clea are in Rio for one of Clea’s photography destinations, she sees Sage on the beach and runs after him. She and Ben chase him for a while and finally meet Sage (after running from them, he only came back after Clea twisted her ankle). While they are talking, they are attacked by people wearing all black, and somehow manage to lose them after running. They find a deserted cave, and Sage tells them everything that he knows about who was chasing them and why. Apparently, there are people who are protecting the Elixir, and Sage believes that they captured her father because they wanted to know where to find it again. Clea doesn't believe a word of it, but she ends up agreeing with the two boys that they had to find a woman who may know a lot about the Elixir, let her show them the way to it, and use it to bribe her father’s kidnappers.
“I knew he was telling the truth. His eyes were affectionate. I was his, not just in the past, but today and forever, and nothing had ever made me feel more secure.”
On their long journey to meet the “dark lady” that would perhaps lead them to the elixir, Clea finds herself falling in love with Sage. She can’t help herself. She wants to believe otherwise, then just stops trying to kid herself. The only problem is what lies ahead. So many dangerous secrets and mysteries await the trio, and nobody could have guessed what ends up happening in the end.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes suspense, action, love, and mystery. I usually could guess the ending of books, but I had no idea what was around the corner, what would happen in the next chapter, or the next. I enjoyed reading this book, and it always kept my attention. I didn’t like the ending though, only because it ended shortly, after the beginning and middle were so long and detailed. I also didn’t like the way the characters ended up, but I couldn’t imagine a different ending. It was real. No fairy tale ending, but sort of a slap of reality. It was amazingly written, and I have no doubt that I will be re-reading it.



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