Letter to Dean Koontz

11/27/12

Dear Dean Kootnz,

I have been a fan of your books since my mother introduced me to your book Life Expectancy. I have read many of your books, and love the characters you have created. In one of my college classes we were asked to write a letter to someone in the media, asking for change.

 Now I understand that you will not change your whole writing style because some girl writes you a letter, but I hope you’ll still take the time to read it. I love your books, and have often been inspired by the characters and the difficult decisions they make. The one thing I do not like about your books is how violent or creepy they can be. I know I know, you write horror novels, but there are some of your books that are worse than others.

I love Life Expectancy in particular because of the witty humor, the amazing characters, the intricate plot, and the fact that it isn’t particularly creepy. It is a fantastic book. So thank you for that one. I don’t really expect you to change your writing style, or stop writing horror novels, because you are really good at writing them, but I just wish you could write some books that have the same amazing characters, and a little less violence.

Thank you for your time, and for your amazing books.

                                                Sincerely,

                                                Loreli Baroldy

Running Music

I used to run cross country in high school, and in practice we never listened to music and just talked to each other as we ran. I never thought I liked listening to music while I ran because I thought some of the beats threw off my stride (as I would try to match my stride to the music). My Junior year in HS I stopped running cross country, and really haven't been a big runner since. But lately I've started running again, and found that I LOVE listening to music while I run. I made a great playlist that just pumps me up and makes me excited for the run. I'd say the only downside is that I often want to dance while listening to my running playlist instead of actually running...but that's not all that bad. ;)

Brave (contains spoilers)

I saw Brave this week, and thought it was pretty good. I liked the strong female lead, and I liked that they didn't put a prince charming in there for her to fall in love with. There were some super funny parts, and my friends and I were cracking up at times. And the graphics were FANTASTIC! I thought they did a great job. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that the story reminded me of many that were done before it. The two that came to mind were How to Train Your Dragon, and Brother Bear (both of which are some of my favorites). So it felt a little bit like Pixar was struggling to come up with an original idea. But it was all around pretty good.

Firefly

A few years ago my friend introduced me to a show called Firefly on Netflix. Its basically an awesome story with cowboys in space...with Nathan Fillion as the lead...so immediately amazing. He and I watched all the episodes on Netflix (only 14 because the show was canceled) and then the movie (they made it five years after the show because the show had a huge fan base). Last night my sister and I decided to start watching the show together. I texted my friend to let him know, and he immediately started quoting it. It was pretty funny. I love shows that create forever fans, and love that it will always be something I can watch if I want a good laugh. :)

Spotify

A lot of times on facebook I will see that my friends have listened to certain songs on Spotify. I've had spotify downloaded on my phone for a while, but was never impressed because I could only listen to radio channels. I decided to download it to my computer, and then found out that I can listen to any song I choose! I spent about an hour setting up a music library and making different playlists. It was amazing to try and find songs I haven't heard in a long time, and realizing I remember the lyrics! Although I get frustrated with technology at times, I do love that I can have good music right at my fingertips.

Madagascar 3

My sister told me that Madagascar 3 was a pretty good movie, so I rented it tonight from Redbox. I really liked the first movie, and thought the second was okay, but was doubtful of this last one. The story line was weak, and there were many plot holes, but I generally enjoyed it. There was even one scene in the movie where I even got a little teary-eyed. It didn't really have anything to do with the story itself, but Madagascar in general reminds me of my family, and that makes me miss them. I just remembered that a few years ago, when the first movie came out, Denny's had a promotional menu for the movie. I was eating breakfast with my family when we realized the kids' menus had little masks of the characters. We had a Marty mask, and a Melman mask. My dad picked up the Melman mask and put it on, and we all died laughing. It was a lot of fun, and watching the movie brought back those great memories. :)

Music and the Spirit

I was on a walk tonight, just enjoying the snow and having to wear a real coat. I had no real plans when I started out but then decided to stop by a friend's house to see if I had received any mail (I used to live there over the summer). As I started my walk a couple not-so-great songs came on my ipod. My initial reaction was to ignore the bad words and just enjoy the beat of the music, but I really thought about it and switched the songs until something nice came on. I continued doing that throughout my walk (although its not like my ipod is full of naughty songs). As I got closer to my friends house I received an interesting prompting, and I later realized that if I had been listening to inappropriate music the Spirit would not have been able to give me the prompting I felt (which was to go visit a friend of mine). It always amazes me the impact media has on me, and how a simple thing like changing a song can invite or repel the Holy Spirit.

Tennis Shoes Adventure Series

I read the first four books of this series when I was in elementary school and then never really kept up on the new books coming out through the years. But I LOVED them when I was in elementary school, and often reread them through the years. I went to the Provo library the other day and rented 6 of these books! It amazes me that I could love them so much when I was young, and still love them now. They are excellent books, and really help me understand what life was like for the Nephites and Lamanites. So good. Rent them or buy them. You won't regret it. ;)

Halloween

 I LOVE Halloween. When I was little I loved getting dressed up and going trick-or-treating with my siblings and mom (my dad would stay home and give out candy). Now that I'm older, I STILL love getting dressed up (although I go to parties instead of trick-or-treating), and realized that most of my costumes are influenced by the media. I did three costumes this year, and realized that two of them are based on movie characters, and I got the idea for another from a video game. The first costume I did was the Grinch. My sisters and I LOVE the movie with Jim Carey, and quote it all the time. I decided to try making myself into the Grinch, and wore that costume to a party over the weekend. The second costume I did was an ogre, based off a video game my friend and I sometimes play together. It was an okay costume, but it was hard for people to tell what I was. The last costume I did was Two-Face, and I wore it on Halloween night. I'm pretty sure everyone knew what I was. ;)