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Archives for Mar 2009

• What a Difference the Weather Makes

  Mar 27, 2009

  It's a week into the Spring season and I think I'm finally feeling it. I wake up, see the sun shining brightly and feel my energy spring back up to full gear. It's amazing how much the sun and its source of vitamin D can have such a great effect on my energy level and mood. Is this the same for you? Do you feel more revitalized with the warmer weather? I love winter for many reasons but an overload of it really has an effect on my energy levels. I'm glad Spring is starting to show its face and inspiring me to go out and do more! I will be bringing my camera around with me a lot more and won't have to worry about pulling it out in the biting cold winds.

  Share your Spring awakening stories with us in this week's special mystery ARC giveaway and let us know if the weather positively and/or negatively effects your mood and behaviors! Check back here to see if you are one of five lucky winners for this Friday's giveaway! Per your request, winner announcements will be made throughout today and Monday for better chances of winning! Good luck!

  Winners List: Friday March 27, 2009

  Winner	Response
  Jake2011	I do not like winter that much. I never really have winter blues. I love the warm spring weathers. I love playing outside in the warm sunshine. When it is cold and I can't go outside I am always restless. When it is warm I try to be outside most of the time. It seems like I am mad and cranky in the cold weather more than the warm weather. I love that spring is finally starting to come even though it is snowing right now.
  The_Book_Queen	I love when winter gives way to spring, it is so beautiful to watch. I went outside the other day, on my birthday in fact, and found our tulips had already started to sprout up through the partial frozen soil, with a dusting of snow still covering them! That's spring time in Utah-- one days it's warm and flowers start to bloom, and the next day we have another foot of snow on the ground!
  CARAMELPUDDING	I do get the winter blues! I just can't wake up when it's cold, dark, and dreary outside. When spring comes around, I just feel like I have the energy to do everything. It's like I'm solar-powered - I don't operate without sunshiny weather :)
  BUNNYLEAF	I don't really like spring because I feel like all of the wasps are out to get me :[ I believe winter is the best season for reading cause you can smuggle up one day in your bed and read :]
  MAROONFALCON	I can definitetly feel a change in my mood when the spring weather comes. Technically it's spring now, but the weather doesn't show it yet. It is sunny, though, which has helped to make everything more cheery. What really brightens my mood is when it's sunny and warm and you can just sit outside in the green grass. That definitely makes me muc happier than in winter time.

  by HeadBuzzer | 21 comments |
  Filed under: ARC Friday Giveaway

• It Remains A Mystery - WIN An ARC, Today!

  Mar 20, 2009

  It's officially Spring and yet, when I stepped out my door today little flecks of snow were falling from the sky and I was glad to have put on an extra sweater. Why is it still snowing when it's time for beautiful flowers to bloom?

  Life is full of little mysteries and they will never cease to puzzle me. Just like how did the sweetbreads get their name when they are breaded and fried thyroid glands? This is just something I learned while I was out dining with family the other week. There I was thinking that it must have been a doughnut type of food when it really was not. It's a good thing I had a foodie at the table with me.t

  It's funny to think of life's odd mysteries whether serious or silly. What are the little mysteries that haunts your mind? Share your thoughts with us and you just may be the lucky winner of in today's special ARC activity!

  Remember to check back all day long to see if you make the winners list updated right here!

  Winners List: Friday March 20, 2009

  Winner	Response
  Winter0058	One mystery that i am still wondering about is what seriously came first, the chicken or the egg? Everyone at a point in their life was asked this question but was it really ever answered. To this day i still find myself wondering what actually came first.
  koalatees	Why does each day go by slow, but then all the days put together seem to go by so fast?
  rmgm	I just recently noticed that the fine frozen treat I I always referred to as "Sherbert" doesn't have an "r" before the "t". Apparently my whole life I've called it by the wrong name. It is supposed to be sherbet!!! Why is it that so many different people call it the same thing I do?
  berriesrbest	Why do Thursdays always feel like Fridays? For that matter, why do Friday's feel like days that are in the middle of the week? Why do Saturdays feel the shortest? Why does a weekend feel like a long time when it comes on Friday, but feels like it was such a short time gone by on Sunday? Why do some people think the day dragged on and others think it just flew by?
  theelvenqueen	Is the Hokey Pokey really what it's all about? I mean, seriously, aren't there more important things?! Yet the song states that the Hokey Pokey is what it's all about. What is it really all about?

  by HeadBuzzer | 15 comments |
  Filed under: ARC Friday Giveaway

• Are You Feeling Lucky On This Friday the 13th?

  Mar 13, 2009

  Happy (lucky) Friday the 13th, Random Buzzers! If you're superstitious you might think that no good can come out of today but we'll try to add a little luck to your day by giving away more Random House ARC's!

  Are you feeling lucky today? We sure hope so. We'll be giving away five random ARC's throughout the day to members who participate in our latest ARC Friday activity. This week's giveaway asks you to share with us one lucky moment you've had in your life. Enter the activity NOW and check back to this post to see if you make it to the winners list!

  Good luck, all!

  Winners List: Friday March 13, 2009

  Winner	Response
  CosmicDustBunny	I remember when my older sister told us she was pregnant two years after she got married and we were all so happy for her! Now her daughter is two years old and she is pregnant again with another beautiful girl!
  Capubria	Hmm... Overall, I'm not that lucky of a person. Although I can think of one funny/lucky moment that was really cool. Last year I went to Paris for a few weeks visiting some friends that were living abroad for the year. I was in a restaurant looking at some stuff when I heard my name. It turns out that this girl that I had met once 3 years earlier at a mutual friend's party was now living in Paris. She was French and was from the countryside of France but had moved to Paris two weeks earlier and it was her 2nd day working at the restaurant. The owner of the place thought the story was so funny that we had our entire meal on the house. So I felt really lucky that day!
  mgs1992	Well, for lack of a better idea... When I went to go get my license me and my mom went to a little practice course for my manoverablity test, I got through it once, there wasn't a cone left standing. I was in tears, I thought I was going to fail miserably, but tried anyway and when I actually took the test it was if I had been driving my entire life and passed with flying colors. If that's not luck, then I don't know what is.
  Rainfeather	The luckiest moment of my life was getting into the Aggie, the uber-selective agricultural high school that i go to. i was one of the first 130 people to be told that i got in. i didn't even have to be put on the waiting list.
  Tracy6425	It's Friday the 13 TODAY, and I got lucky. I was supposed to have a poem for my Theatre class, (I wasn't able to get one) but my teacher didn't exactly feel like working with them today... so, instead, we watched the move Cars! (That's such a good movie!) What a relief, I get a couple of extra days to get it now!!! :)

  by HeadBuzzer | 13 comments |
  Filed under: ARC Friday Giveaway

• Delve into the Faerie realms with Janni Lee Simner!

  Mar 9, 2009

  For the past couple of weeks, we’ve had wonderful conversations and insightful thoughts on a new book, Bones of Faerie, and we’re keeping it going with a special visit from the author herself, Janni Lee Simner. Imagine the world as you know it suddenly warping into a different place can be a little overwhelming but also very fun to think about. Random Buzzers have already begun to explore the many “what ifs” but there are many more we have yet to explore! As we wander from The Forest of Hands and Teeth and head into the Faerie realms in Bones of Faerie, there are even deeper, darker and more mysterious questions that have yet to be answered. 
  The first chapter of Bones of Faerie is available for you to read on Teens at Random and we’d love for you to check it out then let us know what you think and any questions you may have!

  We are very excited to delve into Bones of Faerie with Janni Lee Simner as she makes her way here to the Random Buzzers forums beginning today Monday, March 9th to discuss the book and much more! As we eagerly wait for her arrival, she wanted to share a little message with you first:

  ---

  Hi, Random Buzzers—thanks for having me here!
  
  Bones of Faerie has been out just a little more than a month now, but I first started writing it more than a decade ago, when the opening chapter came to me in a rush and just wouldn’t let me go. The only problem was—I had no idea what happened after that opening! So I went off and wrote other things instead, but that first chapter kept haunting me, until finally I had to return to it and find the rest of the story.
  
  The book takes place after a catastrophic war between the human and Faerie realms that destroys our world. Nothing has been seen or heard from Faerie since, but the land the war left behind is filled with deadly magic: trees that seek human blood, glowing stones that burn with cold fire, forests whose shadows can swallow a person whole.
  
  Ever since writing Bones of Faerie, I’ve had a fascination with the end of the world myself. Not the real end of the world—which I’d rather didn’t ever happen, thanks very much—but with stories about the end of the world. Sometimes I walk around looking at the things in my life and wondering what would survive a fictional apocalypse (plastic bottles and nylon thread, probably; my cell phone and laptop, not so much). I love to read other postapocalyptic YA novels, too. I especially loved Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life as We Knew It and Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, and as I write this I’m eagerly waiting for Carrie Ryan’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth, too!
  
  But in spite of my postapocalyptic fascinations, I’m actually a pretty cheerful person. :-) When I’m not writing, I enjoy hiking and camping here in Arizona, where the trees really do know how to bite and the dandelions really do have thorns, but where the desert and mountains are also stunningly beautiful.
  
  I look forward to talking about reading, writing, life in general, and—of course—the end of the world in the weeks ahead!
  
  Janni

  by HeadBuzzer | 25 comments |
  Filed under: Bones of Faerie Janni Lee Simner

• Start Friday Off Right By Winning a Mystery ARC!

  Mar 6, 2009

  Random Buzzers is happy to kick off its ARC Friday Giveaway by giving out a mystery ARC to five lucky members who participate in our first ARC Friday Giveaway activity! We thought it would be funt to start it off with a little mystery so make sure to check out the latest activity (you only have today to enter this!), participate and come back here to let us know what makes a great mysterious character to you!

  We'll also be announcing winners throughout the day on here so make sure to check back and see if you make it on the winners list!

  Winners List: Friday March 6, 2009

  Winner	Response
  Mel_Marie	I think the kind of personality that creates the most mystery and intrigue is "the silent, quiet type". The people who aren't very open, and you have to work at learning about them. Especially when they tend to hang out by themselves and stay away from other people.
  sagiwolf	A mysterious person would have characteristics like being able to mask how they were feeling, giving people a sense of unease when around them. Someone with a personality of giving that sense of unease creates the best intrigue in a book because they can be unpredictable.
  a bright side of lif	I love characters who's actions can't be understood. The most mysterious are the ones who are hot and cold, and hot again. If I read a book with such a character, I can't stop thinking about it. I want to know what makes them do it.
  brightwishes	I find the constantly cheerful and friendly ones, who mask their pasts and their emotions with a general genial air the most mysterious. The typical silent, brooding kind is obviously hiding something - but the former appeals to me as deeper and more layered in terms of depth and personality. There's more digging to be done, to get past that friendly face into all the nitty-gritty things they clutch so stingily.
  RhiaRaye	For me, a mysterious character needs a hidden past. One that they are always aware of. They constantly nearly bring it up, but then think the better of it, and immediately change the subject, causing their fellow characters to become both confused, yet intrigued. It adds to the intrigue and confusion when their personalities sometimes change; one day outgoing and talkative, the next quiet and reserved.

  by HeadBuzzer | 23 comments |
  Filed under: ARC Friday Giveaway

• Random Hour #29 - Friday I'm In Love

  Mar 4, 2009

  As I was trudging through the snow this morning trying to avoid the huge slush puddles on the side of the road (I knew I shouldn’t have worn heels) while attempting to catch the bus, I knew that this would be the start of another typical Monday. I have always dreaded Mondays. The sound of my alarm clock blaring in my ears at 6 am always seemed to immediately shock me back into reality and to all at once undo any relaxing and distressing that the weekend may have brought. Sometimes, it seems the only thing that gets me through Mondays, is knowing that Friday is only four days away. The thing is though; it doesn’t matter how much I dread Mondays or wish them away, they will always be an inevitable part of life, sort of like eye exams and going to the dentist.

  
  I got to thinking about life, and how sometimes in order to see the rainbow, you have to put up with the rain. If everyday was Friday, then Friday wouldn’t be so special. Maybe if there were no Mondays, then we wouldn’t appreciate Fridays so much.

  
  I was inspired to write about my love for Fridays in celebration of Random Buzzers new Friday Advanced Reader Copies Giveaways. As if you didn’t already have enough reasons to love Fridays, Random Buzzers is giving you one more!

  
  Leading up to the excitement of our first giveaway this Friday, many of you answered the question - Why do you TGIF?

  
  Check out some of your fellow buzzers’ great submissions and hear why they love Friday! :

  
  “Because I can let my mind free. No bells, not having to pay attention, no dress code, for even a weekend...it helps me regain my identity.”  - Xanorath

  
  “I TGIF because now that is the weekend, I will have more time to read, which is my most favorite thing to do!” – Mistwraith

  “10 reasons to TGIF: 10 hours of sleeping, 9 (non-school) books to read, 8 friends to party with, 7 websites to visit, 6 assignments to procrastinate on, 5 laps to run, 4 hours of volunteering, 3 video games to play, 2 days of no school, 1 book to win!”  - Imperfectionists

  by Buzzgirl | 14 comments |
  Filed under: Random Hour