Thursday, March 3, 2011

Student of the Month: Jen From Makeshift Bookmark!


Student of the Month is an original feature where we spotlight bookish college students by means of either an interview or a guest post regarding the college life and books/blogging/writing. We also will sometimes spotlight fictional characters who are college students.


I'd like to personally introduce you to one of my blogging bff's--Jen from Makeshift Bookmark. Jen is incredible and you should probably check out her blog if you like YA fiction, keysmashing and HILARITY..and not mention great music and enthusiasm! She's a riot to talk to on Twitter as well. She's the type of blogger that makes you feel like you are talking to your best friend about a book...and she somehow manages to read and blog with her crazy busy life as a student, wife and full time employee.

 Major/Expected Graduation Date: Nursing. I'm HOPING to graduate in December of 2011... supposing I don't flop hardcore.

When did you start blogging and why did you decide to start a blog?

I started Makeshift Bookmark in September of 2010. I had been blog-lurking for the longest time and figured I didn't have anything new to contribute to the community. I actually meant to start in June 2010, but that didn't happen. I wrote lots of reviews on GoodReads and people seemed to like them, so I figured why not? Thanks, GoodReads folk, for giving me the kick in the arse I needed.

Describe your blog in 6 words or less. Keysmash. Fangirl. OMGWTF. Verbose. Kitten-y. Bitchin'.

What does a typical day look like for you?

On school days, my alarm goes off at 6:00am. 6:20am rolls around and I finally wake up. I get ready, make my lunch and soy chai for the day and am out the door by 7:00am. I fight the stupidstupidstupid morning traffic and roll up into class around 8:00am. Class goes from 8:00am - 3:00pm. My sanity is in question the whole time, especially when we watch birthing and epidural videos. After class, I usually will try to sneak in a Borders or Half Price Books trip. It rejuvenates me. 4:30pm rolls around and off to work I go. People scream in my ear until 11:00pm. I get home around 11:30pm. If I don't have school the next day, I'll usually stay up til about 2:00am to get my reading in. Then sleep comes. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Please explain how the heck you manage to balance working full time, college, being a wife, reading and blogging?

I usually feel like a zombie 99% of the time, so zombie superpowers seem like a good answer. Honestly, I just make it work. If I don't have time to blog, I'm not gonna blog. If I don't have time to read, I'm not gonna read. School comes first. Then work. Then Mr. Jen (poor Mr. Jen. He is totally awesome and supportive, however, and knows that it'll all be worth it once I'm making more money than him) and the rest falls into place wherever I can fit it. Oh! I have an awesome blogger support system that allows me to complain and cry and bitch and scream about my world coming to an end because there aren't enough hours in the day. I'm a little dramatic. Thank you, to my blogger friends, for keeping me sane. And a special thanks to my blogger "shrink." ;)

Tehe. Oh yes..I have one of those. She's pretty bitchin. One piece of advice or some encouragement for those trying to balance working FT and college (in addition to blogging/reading):

Do what you can, when you can. I was so nervous about starting school back up because I would have absolutely no time for blogging or reading for two or three straight weeks. But you know what? The readers that love you are always going to be there when you get back. Blogging isn't a job, nor should we make it out to be that. Also, know that it's okay to have a cocktail or six to reward yourself for a hard day's work. ALSO, throw caution to the wind and buy you some books at any time and in any quantity you see fit. Because hey, you deserve it, champ.

Most interesting required reading you've had for college:

In the nursing field, it's all about interventions and therapeutic communication with patients. In my third semester, I'm tackling the beautiful world of obstetrics. Of course, they make us watch the scary birthing videos. I endured that and got over it. During my most recent study session, I stumbled upon a paragraph explaining what to teach pregnant patients and their partners. This just so happens to include suggesting the most comfortable and pleasurable sexytimes positions to patients. Seriously. SERIOUSLY. I am SHAMELESS and am pretty open about most things, but there is no freaking way I'm gonna tell complete strangers how to get their freak on. I'll hand them a kama sutra book and call it a day.

You are known for having bizarre dreams about books, authors and bloggers. Please share one of the strangest dreams you've had recently.

Well, of course there was a Laurie Halse Anderson/Humanoid dream. More recently, I dreamt that I went to London for whatever reason and Carla from The Crooked Shelf was there waiting for me with a cup of tea. I'd like to make this happen, please. Also, Melanie from Reclusive Bibliophile was in a dream I had, too! (I actually don't think I told her about this yet.) We were at an amusement park and there was this shoddy old roller coaster that I absolutely refused to ride. There weren't even lap restraints! Melanie proceeded to make fun of me incessantly until I finally gave in. I ended up flying out of my seat, thanks to the lack of restraint, and falling to my untimely doom. THANKS, MELANIE.

If you could do a mashup of any two books, movies, tv shows what would it be called and describe the premise of it.

MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch between the Twilight vamps and the Vampire Diaries vamps. My powers of deduction have led me to believe that Edward and Stefan would both probably brood themselves to a boring and uneventful death. The Cullen parents are too compassionate, so I think Damon would catch both of them off-guard. Katherine, being a ruthless wench, would likely knock off the rest of the Cullen clan. Well, except for Alice who can see Katherine's future moves. It would be a long, drawn out battle between the two but Katherine would perish from a fatal headbutt from Alice. Those spikes should be outlawed. Damon automatically wins because the battle would end with close-up scene of the Smolderstare with some singer crooning heartbreakingly in the background and the obligatory tear would fall. Alice would drop dead as a result of the hotness of it all. Caroline wouldn't even be in the fight, because the Cullens don't deserve to fight her. She is THAT awesome.

You've been put in book blogger jail for a crime. What would your crime be, which blogger would in there with you and how would you escape?

I'd be incarcerated for attempting to "borrow" The Story Siren's bookshelves. I would totally be meaning to give them back and all, I promise. I'd need help from pretty much every blogger in existence, because well.. it's an entire wall we'd be moving, ya know? And books are heavy. But Xander wouldn't hear of it, so me and hundreds of other bloggers would all be locked up. It's a pretty serious crime, so I don't think they'd be letting me out on bail... nor could I escape. It'd be a max security prison. Yep, I'd be a lifer.

There you have it, folks. Do you understand why I love her so much? Go check out her blog. You'll see that it's full of awesomeness. I don't know HOW she manages to find time to do it all. I swear she's got more hours in the day. :P

17 comments:

  1. Hahaha! Oh, Jen. Loved this interview! It's absolutely amazing that you can balance all that at once! Yay for zombie powers!

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  2. I totally agree :-) hilarious interview!

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  3. Very much enjoyed reading more about Jen. Great stuff. Happy reading and thanks for doing this. Is she going to return the favor?

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  4. This was a great interview!

    Jen, you amaze me. You def have super powers. :P :D

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  5. Great interview! Jen is hilarious. I just subscribed to her. She sounds like an awesome blogger. :)

    Aryelle @ ReadingwiththeFishes

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  6. No idea how you manage all that, but i love your blog and the keysmashing :)

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  7. Wow, what a wonderful and funny post. I'm going to go follow her blog right now!

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  8. Jen is fabulous - just like you!

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  9. that. was. hilarious.

    i just love Jen!

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  10. You two fools are ridiculous, and I love every single second of it. <3 <3 <3 to two of my blogging BFFs

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  11. I would give all of you a kitten right now, if I could!
    If you promised to take care of it and weren't allergic or anything, of course <3 seriously. Large, abnormal amounts of love for all of you.

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  12. OMG, I just choked on my drink!! Freakin hilar!!!

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  13. I loved the cocktail or six comment! I'll definitely employ that advice after midterms!

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  14. Jen, you are my hero. I think you have hidden super powers, or maybe you've figured out how to access 100% of your brain. You know, like that new movie "Limitless" that is coming out. Bradley Cooper I think... and Robert De Niro.

    Anyways, LOVE you and Jamie and LOVE this feature :)

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  15. This interview is so epic! Jen cracks me up all the time. Also, I am impressed by how much she gets done in a day. Go Jen!

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  16. Yay, I LOVED this interview! Jen you make me LAUGH! I LAHVE (Jen's word) both of you ladies. =D

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