Happy Tuesday Earthlings! I hope everyone had a great long weekend and is ready to take on the week. I had some free time in the past few days so, I was able to catch up on some reading. I picked up a book called Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. It had great reviews and I had recently read Wayward Pines which is a trilogy by Crouch that I enjoyed. Wayward Pines might sound familiar to you guys because Fox Network turned it into a television show. So, naturally after experiencing a great trilogy by Crouch I was all in to read his newest Science Fiction thriller Dark Matter.

Blake is great at painting dark and twisted imagery, whether he is describing a murder or the layered inner workings of String Theory. His words work as vibrant paint for the canvas that is our imagination. Dark Matter started out strong but really didn’t keep me captivated. We are introduced to a scientist named Jason Dessen. Jason chooses to raise a family and let the prime of his career pass him by. While a colleague of his seems to be living the life Jason should have always had. We follow Jason through his eminent abduction, and the last thing he hears before being knocked out is, “Are you happy with your life?”.

We are put on a very fast and winding track inside of the genius mind Jason Dessen laid to waste in leu of having a family. We uncover different realms of human consciousness, get tossed around alternate universes, and trek into dark matter. But, I almost feel like I am describing the book much better than it actually read. One of my favorite things Crouch does is his literary imagery, I mentioned it earlier in regards to his previous trilogy Wayward Pines. However, in Dark Matter there wasn’t such a distinct thumb print on the characters or the story. I feel like Crouch could have dug a little deeper and taken the story to a creepier level. The whole fun in Science Fiction is being able to use technical scientific terminology and I felt like Dark Matter fell short of that. Crouch almost dumbed it down a little to much for us laymen.

If you are a big Science Fiction buff like myself, I would suggest passing on Dark Matter. If you are new into the genre and are more focused on enjoying a thriller filled with twists and turns, than Dark Matter is a great starter novel. I still have plenty of hope and faith in Crouch blowing my mind next time around, but for now he just made it fizzle. Even though Dark Matter didn’t hold up like I expected, Wayward Pines was an excellent trilogy and I definitely would suggest that work by Crouch to anyone!

Earthlings, let us frikkin rejoice because it’s Friday! I don’t know about you guys, but I am thoroughly over this week. On top of being super eager to peace out on this week, I am also super bummed. I think I have self diagnosed myself with something I like to call “Season Withdrawal”. “Season Withdrawal” is basically binge watching all of your favorite new shows, and having to wait a year for new episodes. In my case I not only watch a ton of subscription service based TV, but I also review it all for you guys! So, sometimes I almost feel like I get dually investing in these series.

Since I write for a living I have to schedule my day or else I will lay in my bed all day picking my ass. When you work from home it’s all about self driven motivation. In the mornings I exercise until noon, I then come home to write, and then the third portion of my day is doing my due diligence for Alexis Lee Problems reviews. I get the most and best feedback from my media reviews that it’s some thing I like to focus on every week. A huge portion of that due diligence work is binge watching shows and taking notes on them. It’s literally my favorite part of the day, kind of like when you are in high school and you look forward to lunch.

Here is where the Season Withdrawal comes in! When I have completed watching all of my favorite new episodes…that’s all. Yes of course I also review books and movies, but my favorite reviews to write are of shows. A huge reason why they are my favorite to review is because I am a closet television junky. So, when I am done with all of my shows and the review is written I naturally bum out, and that is where I came up with the condition called “Season Withdrawal”. I recently just finished three new shows, and that “Season Withdrawal” is really creeping up on me. Now I must turn to books and movies to satiate my media addiction but nothing hits the spot like a good series.

Since I am experiencing “Season Withdrawal” at the moment I take breaks from reading and like to take pretty pictures of Sookie. That’s the reason for today’s shared photograph. I hope I didn’t bore you took much with my new found illness, but I have a funny feeling you can all sympathize with me. Wait…this just in hot off the presses!!!!!! Chef’s Table Season 3 was just updated on Netflix today! Consider me cured, I now have a date with a notebook and my Samsung flat screen! Have a great weekend Earthlings!

Today I give you gorgeous Earthlings a clip, not just any clip. This movie clip is probably my most watched and adored clip of all time. Sometimes people listen to motivational speeches to seek positive reinforcement, but since the age of 13 I just watch Almost Famous. There is really something about a kid going on tour with a rock band to later become a writer for Rolling Stone that really grabbed my heart. I always wanted to be that kid, but as I got older and my life kind of sloppily unfolded in front of me I realized I was never going to be him. A college drop out can’t bag a job at Rolling Stone in this day and age, a young girl can no longer pile herself into a tour bus and not be considered a groupie, and I just realized I was not the next William Miller. But, this clip has stayed with me, because Penny Lane reminds us that “It’s all happening”. No matter how shitty I feel or how hard I work as a writer and sometimes don’t see the pay off, I always know that “It’s All Happening”. Even when times get hard and you feel like there is too much noise in the background of your dreams, just remember it’s still all happening. That’s what Penny Lane meant when she said it, the world is always happening. I recently have been coming into who I truly think I am as an individual and I think my mantra is finally coming true. Maybe it’s all happening, but I actually think that it’s all finally happening to me. Grasp the good when it comes, and run as fast and as far with good opportunities that present themselves. Never say no, always try, give it your best, and just keep reminding yourself that it’s all happening. <3

Love is super weird Earthlings. I frequently sit and think to myself, have I ever been in love? I mean I would like to answer that with a yes, but I honestly am not sure if I have or haven’t ever been. The big question about love is, is love something that happens in an instantaneous moment or is love something that blossoms over time? Seeing as that I am not even sure if I have ever really truly fallen in love I thought it would be interesting to uncover the mystery of love. Is love something that shows itself right away off rip, or is love an uphill journey on a steep mountain that doesn’t become actualized till you meet its peak?

As most of my loyal followers know I am currently single. By currently single I mean I am single right at this moment and have been riding solo for the past 3 years. My solemn path as of now has been chosen, I could currently be in a relationship but I am finding that I am most comfortable with myself at the moment. I think I am in a great position to break down love, because I am not in love at the moment. It is best to pull something apart that you aren’t close to, it gives me the ability to judge love in a third person view. Now with all of that being said let’s see the two different case scenarios.

Can love be weighed? Can love be measured? Is love even tangible? The answer to all three of these questions is hell no. Love is something that presents itself and then quickly morphs into something else. For some love turns into marriage, sometimes it results in a family, and other times it just brings togetherness with no commitment necessary. Love is one of natures most easily camouflaged emotions, love is a tool. As humans, we use love to cope, to come together, to understand, and to accept. So, now that we know love’s ultimate necessity, let’s see if it grows or shows itself.

There are plenty of situations where people fall in love with their best friends, in that respect love is one hundred percent a grower. Friendships are based upon love from the start, but it isn’t a romantic love. It’s a love that is forged through trust and mutual respect. Now, if you have fallen in love with your best friend than, I would definitely have to say love is a grower and less of a shower’. It took time for that romance and passion to root itself within the friendship, this love wasn’t discovered on its own. If you ask me the growing type of love is a good base for a long term and happy life with someone. You guy’s have already done the work as friend’s and now as time and experiences flow through two people it sheds light on a more mature love. A love that took time, a love that needed attention, and ultimately a love that needed to be nurtured.

Now, we can get to the type of love I may or may not have experienced before, lol. Sometimes you will spot someone who crosses your path and in that exact moment you feel something. Now, here is where growing vs. showing comes in clutch. Is that immediate passion love? In that first second that you saw said stranger and you got that feeling of complete passion…what would you describe that passion as? Would that be love at first sight…maybe. If you ask me that passion of first sight is just that, passion. I belong to team grower, as I write this and dissect my own experiences I know that I have had that first sight passion. As we talk about love and discuss its inner workings I can say that I have experienced passion at first sight, but never love. So maybe its all about growing, feeding a need, learning a person, and understanding faults. That’s what love is, and on going growth of two people together. So, call me myth busters because I cracked the case!