The Big Move

     So, as a recent college graduate I was faced with the fear of what I was going to do next. My last semester was terrifying because I had no clue if I was going to get accepted into graduate schools that I applied to or if I was going to be able to find a job. Well, low and behold! I was accepted to 3 out of 4 graduate schools that I applied to and I went through 7 job interviews and was offered a position! 

     With my company dealing in real estate and property management I had the opportunity to relocate to many different locations. I have always liked Texas and I decided that I wanted to request my first position be located there. Surprise to me I was granted that request and we are moving to San Antonio, TX and then Austin, TX! I can honestly say that I am very blessed because this company is wonderful. They are covering my move and providing housing/transportation for me and my husband. 

     Now I used to move around all the time and I always enjoyed it. But I always had my parents' house to come home to and so it never really felt "real" when I went away. This time however, we are selling the possessions we don't want to take with us, and everything is coming out of my moms house. This time I am on my own and it is very exciting yet it is also extremely nerve racking and a bit terrifying. 

     Unfortunately my building won't be ready until about August, and so I will be staying in San Antonio for 3 weeks and then going up to Austin and staying in an extended stay hotel for over a month and a half until I can move in to my brand new apartment! I am so excited for this adventure and I would love to hear from anyone who have ever been to or lived in both cities. 

     Also a side note: apparently I have gotten mixed reviews about the beginning of this blog. Some have said it is a good read, some have said it is boring (because I haven't gone on mad rants and spoken fluent french). But if you are among those who might think this blog is boring, I can guarantee you that if you stick around for a while things will get better for you! I have many rants and stories about marriage and just life in general that I plan on sharing with you. So stay tuned and feel free to write some comments to me. 

The Host

     Well ladies and gents, if you haven't had the chance to read the book by Stephanie Myers called The Host, I highly suggest that you read it. If you are skeptical about reading it because you either 1) didn't like the Twilight series or 2) think it will be just like the Twilight series, you are wrong. The quality of writing was extremely different than for any of the Twilight books. It is very detailed, intense, and surprisingly believable.

     I actually never planned on reading The Host, but once I saw that a movie was being made I decided that if I was going to watch the movie I might as well read the book. The book was a bit hard to grasp at the beginning because there is an extremely elaborate storyline going on even from the beginning. But I am very glad that I decided to stick with the book (I mean I did pay $4.99 for it) and give it a chance to change my mind.

     After about 100-200 pages (its a long book) I was completely hooked. I found myself falling in love with the characters and waiting for the next page. By the end I was putty and wished that I could rewind the pages because I was so caught up in the story that I did not want it to end. So as you can imagine I had very big hopes for the movie. Boy oh boy was I wrong.

     I decided to drag my husband to see The Host with me (much to his chagrin.) I promised him that I wasn't wrong about The Hunger Games or the Twilight series so he should trust me on this one. Still to this day I still get glares when I mention the book or the movie. Anyways, the movie was horrid. The characters were all very believable and fit well with the feel of them you got from the book. HOWEVER, the storyline was destroyed.

     It is always understandable that some things will be changed from the book to the movie (Harry Potter, Twilight, etc.) because that is just the way it is. Unfortunately, the movie was completely botched. It twisted some things that never even happened in the book, and honestly just did not improve the story at all. It also skipped over major plot developments from the book, and by the end of the movie you have about 3 story lines that were basically on fast forward and you end up scratching your head thinking "wait what?"

     Overall, I highly suggest that you read the book because it was very interesting, surprising, and overall offered a wonderful storyline. However, I strongly recommend that you DO NOT watch the movie (I GUESS renting it from RedBox is acceptable, just use the free code DVDONME so you don't waste your money.) But after the movie you will have a strong desire to re-read the book because the movie was so bad.

     I hope this post helps you, and I would be extremely interested in your comments. Do you feel the same way or do you secretly love both the book and the movie?

     Oh and PS! The only good thing that came from the movie The Host was my discovery of the song Radioactive by Imagine Dragons. LISTEN TO THIS SONG and let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy it!

Inspiration

Welcome,

     Seeing as how this is my first blogging experience ever, I would like to introduce myself to you. My name is Kaitlyn Garrett and I am 21 year old college graduate struggling to find my place in the world. In a more optimistic light, instead of saying I am "struggling" how about we call it an adventure! Not only am I on an adventure to find my place in the world, I am also trying to make sense of the people and places around me. We all have experiences with strange people and places that leave us scratching our heads. I would say that I find myself scratching my head more than ever these days. Alas, this is how Reality Check was born. 

     As I said before, I have never before had experience with blogging. I have always seen blogs here and there on the internet, and of course I have seen bloggers on television, but never before have I explored this new world. Then again, I was never one for writing in a diary or journal either, so maybe that explains it. Nevertheless, I hope that this is a rewarding experience that I can share with anyone who happens to stumble upon me.

    Last Saturday I graduated college, and it has left this wide open hole of free time. I thought I would be more excited to have so much free time, however, I find it is fairly boring and somewhat lonely. I would say that was reason one for inspiration to start a blog. The second reason or inspiration for this new beginning is my complete feelings of being fed up. Have you ever been out and about and experienced someone or something and you just want to scream? Unfortunately this seems to be my main experience with the outside world lately and I have had enough of keeping my mouth shut. I feel like one can only take so much before they must scream from the mountain tops, or in this case, a blog. My last inspiration for starting this blog is just the will to share everyday experiences, whether that be with music, movies, technology, etc.

     So, welcome to my blog. I hope you enjoy all that I have to share with you. And I hope it compels you to do the same and share with me. This world is so large and there is so much to experience and learn. Join my adventure and enjoy the ride! 

     

Walmart

     Maybe one of the strongest inspirations for me to start writing this blog was an experience I had at Walmart about a week or so ago. Before I go on let me give you a little preface about me. I graduated with a BS in Psychology and I have studied many diversity style classes. By no means am I a racist or do I endorse racists beliefs/comments. However, throughout this blog I will periodically call things as I see them. If you can't handle that, then I suggest skipping to the next post :-). 

     Anyways, Walmart. Now I never expect to make a trip to Walmart without seeing something absurd. However, there was one special trip in particular I am going to share with you today. I would also be interested to know if any of you have experienced this. I was doing my thing like normal at the checkout line, putting up groceries one by one on the conveyer belt. By the time I was done I expected the woman infront of me to be done checking out. Just from first impressions she was a white female, dressed in the most expensive clothes and jewelry and she had a very expensive smart phone. I also couldn't help but notice her continuously throwing items off the conveyer belt because she decided not to buy them. Because I had nothing better to do than stand in line I then started to observe her groceries.

     Now I am not one to judge anyone based on their groceries, but it is always interesting to me when people buy super expensive groceries without coupons or taking advantage of certain sales. I happened to then notice her continuously counting her cash and watching her total. All of a sudden she tells the lady to stop because she doesn't want the rest of her groceries (which happened to still be a lot.) I also noticed that she had many items underneath her cart that hadn't been wrung up yet.

     The reason this is so annoying for me is it held up the line for about 20 minutes. I am not always in a hurry, but that doesn't mean I enjoy spending extra time waiting in line for no good reason. My other complaint deals with the fact that she knew she had an exact amount of cash to spend, yet she paid no attention to how much she was putting in her cart. As anyone who has to work with a budget understands, use a CALCULATOR! Surely on that very expensive smart phone a calculator app is built in. Not only that, but I could have bought 4 times the groceries with the same amount of money she spent on what she bought due to poor choices.

    I find that experiences like this leave a very bad taste in my mouth. While I understand that everyone has the right to make their own choices, I am still amazed that some people are that stupid (yes, stupid.) I would personally be extremely embarrassed if I did not have enough money for my groceries, let alone the fact that I was holding up a very long line behind me while I go through things to put back. I guess this is why they say we are all "unique" and different. Hopefully next time I end up behind someone less "unique" so that my groceries don't spoil by the time I get to my car.