Divergent

I final finish the Ender's Game series, which I loved, but was a long read.  I wanted something that was quick and consuming for my next read and I found it.  Divergent only took me a few days to read and it only took me that long because I have a life that needs a lot of my attention. 
I really enjoyed this book. It is a lot like the Hunger Games, in the future, part of a three book series (the last one isn't out yet), and a strong girl as the main character. Plus there is a love interest. There are plans on it being a movie series after they finish the Hunger Games movies, so if you want to be a head of the craze go read it now. The second book is waiting for me as I speak, so I got to go. :)

me

I think it is as good of time as any to tell you all that I am an atheist.  I know that this fact alone may make some of you who are reading this to stop reading.  This is just me.
Most of my family knows and when I first told them it was like I was come out of the closet. My parents are not religious, but like a lot of people still thinks there is a god and there is a heaven.  They don't judge me, but they also do not understand.   My in-laws on the other hand may know, but the subject has never been discussed and they probably don't want to know. My grandmother, aunts, and uncles are all religious and are all very concerned about my eternity.
Let me say that I did not come to this realization quickly.  I grew up in a household of no religion.  I had almost no exposure to it except by friends.  This made me more interested about it then most I think, so in middle school I started my journey. This journey was not well accepted by my parents, but I had to go on it and they couldn't stop me.  I went to so many churches I lost count.  Some of them I went to for months and others I went to just a few times.  I was searching, for what I wasn't exactly sure. I told myself that I just had to find the right one, the church that made me feel, I don't know, like my questions were answered. I continued this all through middle school and high school.  By the time I got to college I had met my future husband.  He was a Mormon, which my parents were really freaked out by.  This is when my religion/god search really speed up. I started to take religion classes at the college and doing a lot of my own research.
The more that I looked the more it became very clear to me why religion is so popular, why it would get started in the first place.  Everyone has all of these questions that I have and everyone wants answers. It occurred to me that it would be really easy to just pick a religion and have them tell me what to do with my life, how to live, why things are the way they are.  The point is these questions are not easily answered. They are big questions that probably will never be answered.
People are scared of the unknown.  Instead of getting comfortable in the unknown they put up blinders and stop questioning.  I can't.  I question everything.  I am comfortable in the uncomfortable.  God is a too easy of an answer for a too complicated of a question. Zeus does not create thunder, Poseidon does not rule the sea, and God did not create this.
I usually don't tell people about me being an atheist for a while.  People have such a crazy idea of what an atheist is.  I also get a huge kick out of knowing someone for a while and finally telling them.  Their reactions are priceless. It usually goes like this, "You are! I had no idea. Wait so you don't believe in God at all?".
I want to do my little part in making it okay for someone to say that they are an atheist and to change the stereotype of what that means.

TV show recommendations

My last post mentioned my recommendation list of television shows, so I thought I should share some others on that list.  I am sure there will be a lot of common ones on here, but please feel free to let me know of other shows that I may be missing out on.

So here it goes. . .

Firefly
Doctor Who
Battlestar Galactica
Big Love
Breaking Bad
House
Deadwood
Dexter
Supernatural
True Blood
Kings
Survivors
Justified
Community


There are of course many others that I just can't remember right now and may add later.  Also there are tons that I watch, but would not recommend (guilty pleasures).

Deadwood

I will be the first to admit that I am a tv addict. Well I don't have cable, but I still get my tv show fix online easily.  I actually really enjoy watching shows online.  It gives me an opportunity to watch complete series all in a row. My latest favorite is Deadwood. I hate that it ended so soon.  Can anyone out there please tell me why all of the good shows get canceled so early.  The show ends abruptly and without ease, but the series up to the end was very good. This is on my recommendation list! 

Long time no write.

I know it has been a long time.  There is no excuse.  I have still been working, but I have been off of school. My husband works at a year round preschool, so he had the last six weeks off of work. His first day back to work was today, so for the last six weeks I have just spent a lot of time with him.  So I am back and will be way more consistent, I promise.

DON'T DO IT!

As I have previously posted about, the glass on my ipad 2 had shattered. I looked into getting it fixed somewhere when I had the brilliant idea that I could do it myself.  I went to amazon.com and bought everything that I needed to replace the glass. It arrived today.  Before I go on let me tell you that I have always been a pretty good do-it-yourself kind of person. I am an engineering student and actually was looking forward to the challenge. I even watch a couple of youtube videos on doing the glass replacement yourself, but let me make this very clear DON'T EVER DO THIS! No matter how much money you are going to save doing this yourself it is not worth it!  After spend a lot of time scrapping glass shards that are glued to the base and finally getting the new one in, the volume button doesn't work anymore.  Let me just say that the glass replacement is in and it looks okay and for the most part everything works fine, I can deal with the volume thing. But it was a headache and there is so so many things that can go wrong just go pay someone to do it, it will be worth every penny!

Speaker for the Dead

I am a huge fan of reading. Most of the time I don't have much time to read, but I make sure that I at least read a little before bed every night. Since school is over for the semester, I hope to read a lot more.  Currently I am reading the Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card.  Last night I finished Speaker for the Dead.  It is one of my favorite books in the series.  The series can be read in many different orders, but this is the order I have read them in so far. Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, Shadow of the Giant, Speaker for the Dead, and now I am reading Xenocide. If you are going to read this series I think this order is by far the best and I am so happy that it is the order that I read them in.  After Xenocide there is one more book in the series Children of the Mind.  I have really enjoyed this series. The characters become a part of you and this book was unlike all of the others in the series. There are new people and a new environment. I don't want to say to much because I want you to read it.  Highly recommended!

During my long hiatus we finished Battlestar Galactica.  What a great show! The ending, like most endings of a series, didn't  answer all of the questions and lose ends and even created new ones.  But in the end I really liked the show.  It has everything a person could ask for drama, suspense, thriller,  comedy, medical, war, romance, and robots. This is a show that I will be recommending people to watch for a long time!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post.  There were many reasons. First my laptop died on me, which was fine for a while because I had my ipad 2. Unfortunately that then fell on the tile and cracked. In between all of that I had finals, my birthday, and my sister's graduation. So I am back with more time and energy! Many more posts to come!

My husband and I have been watching Battlestar Galactica together over the last few months whenever we get a chance.  We only have about 3 episodes left, but we can't bring ourselves to watch it because we don't want it to end! I love this show and I highly recommend it. It may have surpassed my second favorite show ever, Firefly. I will let you know after we finish it.

Well, here I go! 
I have had a blog for several years now.  It was created so that all of my family and friends, who live out of town, can keep up with my life. It was great except that I felt so limited. I would hesitate to post things and express opinions because of what some of them would think. I wanted a place to express myself, to reflect on my life, and be open. Maybe no one will read this, but it will be a place for me to be me. 
The name Always Challenging was chosen for two reasons. The first is that my life is very challenging.  I work 30 to 40 hours a week, I am a full time student studying Bio-systems Engineering, and I am married and have four pets. My life is very busy and stressful and it is a challenge just to get the basics done most of the time. The second reason for the name is that I like to challenge almost everything. I am rarely satisfied with taking things at face value.  I am always learning new things and changing my opinions and adapting.
I am sure most of my post will be very random, but I hope you enjoy!