For a New Year’s Resolution, I will be attempting the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge. This is better known around the web with a hashtag. So I will conform. I’m attempting to do the #52BooksIn52Weeks in the year 2015.

Simple math will tell you that the first week has already come and gone in the year 2015, and with that went Insurgent by Veronica Roth. I’m currently reading Allegiant for Week 2 to finish out the series.  I’m going to be writing reviews for these books as I go, and recently made that decision. That’s why there has been no review posted for Insurgent, but there will be soon so jeeze leave me alone I’ll get there…

During this challenge I’m going to try and set a few ground rules.  I’m allowing myself rereads because some books were very good, and I need a refreshing. Other books I’ve read have had more in the series release and I want a refresher on the first few before tackling the next one.

I will not, however, reread more than 20 books. I want to read at least 32 new books this year. Mainly I will be reading Young Adult novels, primarily in the science-fiction/fantasy genre because ultimately those are the types of books I hope to one day write. So reading these books will be research for me to learn and understand style. But I will try to branch out. Biographies, Classics, and non-fiction.

So here we go and a very merry 2015 to all of you.

Tonight, Saturday, the Eagles took on the New Orleans Saints in a game that was all set up for them to win. The Saints didn't tonight's game with a good ground game. The Eagles entered the cold playoff match up holding 10 of their last 12 opponents underneath 100 yards rushing. And now, on top of that, you're telling me the Saints are 0-5 in road playoff games and their leading rusher Pierre Thomas is sidelined with an injury? Oh the Eagles have this one for sure.

It's a good thing the Eagles offense finished the season averaging above 415 yards per game because in the one game that is win or go home they can't even get passed 300. 

Everyone relax, relax, the Eagles have the league leading rusher. That's weird, he didn't look like the leagues leading rusher in tonight's game, not even able to break 80 yards on the ground. 

If you didn't see the game, and haven't picked up on this yet, the Eagles lost 26-24. And also that I'm a huge sports fan. Those are two things I hope you've gotten by now.

So here it is to blame a Kicker who couldn't make a 48 yard field goal in the first quarter, and the first points of the game, and couldn't kick the ball deep on kickoffs. Who wants to say the wind played a factor? That's great. And I hear you. Sure the wind is definitely a factor. But it wasn't a factor for Shayne Graham of New Orleans? That's odd. How come the wind only affects one team? Possibly because Graham is good at his job and deserves his money. Alex Henry deserves to find a new team next year. I hope I don't see him back. 

One important play to note could possibly be the kickoff right after the Eagles touchdown to go up by 1, 24-23. Sproles returns the ball 39 yards for the Saints. 39 yards?!!? Can someone just tackle this guy? Oh wait, Carey Williams did tackle him. He horse collar tackled him. Well throw the yellow flag and tack on fifteen more yards to the return. 54 yards. Thats enough to be in Eagles territory to start a drive where the defense needs to keep them out of FG range. Great boys. Just great.

In a lighter note the Eagles played their last game under Andy Reid last year and finished the season 4-12. This year, they are under new head coach Chip Kelly, in his first season as an NFL coach. They don't have their number 1 receiver Jeremy Maclin, who was out all year with injury. Midway through the season, Michael Vick goes down, and Nick Foles, who did not have his history on his side, has to finish out the season. And don't get me wrong, Foles was phenomenal, but fact remains he was a back up taking over. All of these things happened to the Eagles. 

In August people we're calling into radio stations saying that 8-8 would be a great year. They'd be shocked if Chip Kelly gets a winning season. But he did. 10-6, a NFC east championship, and the first home playoff game since 2010. Chip, you did well this year. A playoff win was just to much. 

I've decided to consider this my day three entry for the New Year's resolution blog. There was a very large snowstorm today that shut down campus and left my with nothing to do for the day. I spent a large majority of it playing Xbox and watching Netlfix. For the record I love everything that is "Video Game High School." It isn't the best when it comes to computer generated stuff, but after The Avengers (2012) what really does? The writing is phenomenal. It's quirky, well thought out, and down right silly. I can't stop thinking about it. 

While I was perusing these mediums. an idea for a story hit me and I want to post it here before it gets lost forever in the always working forget machine that is my mind. 

So the concept of the story is a teenage character that lives at home with his or her parents. Consider it a high school Rom Com. Well in the first 40% of the short film, the Main Character's parents will have said to him/her: "Would it kill you to......" At this point in my thoughts I'm thinking a lot with the possibilities that would come up if it was "Take out the trash," so that's what I'm going with. 

Anyway, so you only here it three times in the first 40% and the Main doesn't do it. Never even acknowledges that it's being asked from them. But then, at the end of the story, after happily ever after has been decided, the Main goes to take out the trash and is somehow killed. I'm thinking hit by an oncoming trash truck, but again it's a work in progress.

Here's also a friendly reminder to myself to consistantly check back on Drew's Twitter, because it's got some seriously funny tweets that little does he know, could be turned into a story. And I'm hungry to write just about anything at this point just to show myself I've still got it since I haven't tried my hand at any stories since July. Well, New Year, new things. Let's hope I can remember this blog. And maybe if I begin a work, I can update my progress here.

Wow. Well, that didn't take long to mess up. Some resolution that was. But, nonetheless, I will get past missing Day 2, and get to it now. Possibly post later on again today, most likely after midnight. 

I've had a new laptop since before Christmas, but only today have I just installed Microsoft Office. I'm exited to have Word now on my computer and perhaps begin writing a new story. I still need to find a way to get Celtx on my computer and continue working on my screenplays, but that may just be something I have to leave on my old computer. 

This next section of my post will include SPOILERS!!! so, SPOLIER ALERT here I don't want anyone who randomly stumbles upon this to be upset if they did not yet read the book or see the movie. 

SPOILERS AHEAD

In mid December, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug released just 364 days after it's predecessor The Unexpected Journey. And with this movie, the explanation of "How can they possibly make this low hundred paged something book become a nine hour trilogy?" Tauriel, a lady wood-elf of Mirkwood played by Evangeline Lilly, was introduced to the big screen and to Tolkien Fan boys everywhere for the first time.

The first time? But I don't understand the Hobbit was published in 1937? So after almost 80 years people are finally meeting a character? Yes they are. Because Tauriel of Mirkwood is not a character of Middle Earth created by J. R. R. Tolkien during his lifetime of writing. No, instead this was a character created by Peter Jackson for his Hobbit Trilogy. What could he possibly need a lady elf for to tell his version of the Hobbit? Could it be the rise of lead heroine's in cinema lately? Could it be the numbers making out to see the Hunger Games Series? No, instead it seems to be a more traditional ploy, one I didn't predict coming from Jackson.

Legolas, a name familiar to those who've seen the Lord of the Rings Trilogy produced by Jackson early last decade, but not a name written in any of the pages of Tolkien's 1937 The Hobbit novel, makes it back to the big screen in this second installment. So you may be thinking that Tauriel and Legolas are put together in a love story to add a subplot and another dimension to the story. But here is where I tell you, from my own observations, that that is not true. What's more dramatic and heartwarming than a woman falling in love with a man? A woman forced to choose between two men. But not just two men, two males of different races. An elf, and a dwarf.  A female character who must chose between two males of races that don't like each other? Sounds like a terrible Stephenie Meyer novel.

But that wasn't entirely Jackson's thought process. Here is where Jackson proves he's not a dumb director fooling with an 80 year old story. For many of those who haven't read the book, don't know that Tauriel has been completely developed for the sake of touching their hearts. In The Desolation of Smaug, Tauriel takes a liking to one of the dwarves in Thorin Okenshield's company. But wouldn't you know that the one she takes a liking to doesn't live to see the last page of the story? Yes. If you've continued to read this far after I have specifically stated there would be spoilers ahead, you now know, Kili is killed in the Battle of Five Armies. 

So here's where Jackson made the decision to make a more emotionally drawing story to those who have never read the book, and annoy those who have. 

In the third installment of Jackson's trilogy, There and Back Again, set to release in mid July of 2014, Kili will presumably fall in battle as he is supposed to. But what will be different in Jackson's movie is not only will his twelve dwarf buddies and Bilbo feel the pain of his death, so will his newly created lady friend Tauriel. Man, wouldn't that be a tear jerker in the audience?

So here's my last prediction. You've got the love story of Tuariel and Kili. Two people who love each other, despite being from different races and having families who do not want them to be together. The male lover dies. Do I sense some themes from Romeo and Juliet? Is it possible that after Kili dies, Tauriel goes into overdrive and wields her bow for the last time and dies a heroine? Would sure make explaining her random disappearance in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy a lot easier. 

As it is the first day of the new year, I have decided that for a resolution I can try to keep up with, I will gear it towards technology. It's something that I am apart of everyday so any excuse for not fulfilling the resolution is lame. My 2014 New Year's Resolution will be to write, one entry, once a day, to this blog. It's not a blog that I expect many eyes to see outside of my own, but it will be an achievement I can look back on as proud. 

I don't know what I plan to write about, and I'm not going to limit myself to specific options. Nor will I give myself a length requirement for each post. It is for me to write every day, something I have continually put off, even if it's the one thing I wish I did more.

First, for New Year's, Happy New Year's. Congratulations on surviving another year in this crazy and generally cruel world. 

The last thing I'll leave myself with and anyone else who stumbles upon this blog willingly, or unknowingly, is that everyday you will see something different. No day is the same. It is in these moments that a story is created. Whether it be a funny tweet that you read, a strange person acting out because of his or her high, or even just a thought that crosses your mind while you're aimlessly letting your mind wander into space, you have created an idea fit for a story. There is no length requirement for a story. No one says that squirrel fighting a group of pigeons for a french fry needs to be the next big break out novel, but it could make an interesting short 3 paged story.

So my advice to myself and you if you're reading is write these things down. See them in real life, reimagine them in your mind, and embellish them to your desire on paper. At the end of the day you may wonder what you've actually done with your time, or what this story you've made is good for, and I will tell you. 

YOU have created something. Something unique, and something that is your own. Something that no one else can say they have done. And if you can do that each and every day, then each and everyday you have done more than someone else. More than the other people around you. I can live with that. Open your eyes. Look. See. Imagine. Discover. The story is out there, waiting for you to find it.