Winter Jam = Awesome!

Winter Jam is something that our youth group has been going to for several years now. It's a night where we go over to Columbus on the bus and attend a huge Christian rock concert. I have had the option to go for three years now but turned it down. Until this year.

This year was my year.

I was going to Winter Jam.

The following artists were going to be there: Royal Tailor, Jamie Grace, New Song, Sidewalk Prophets, Matthew West, Red, and -drum role please- YOU'LL HAVE TO KEEP READING TO FIND OUT!

Anyway, Ginger and I had invited our friends Lune and Hazel to go with us. All four of us were super excited. We piled on the bus with everyone else in our youth group and our leaders and started off on our 1 1/2 hour journey. I had a blast just on the bus. Lune and I sat next to each other and talked and listened to music.

Then we arrived.

We started looking at the line.

It looked like the line for a presidential candidate campaign rally.

The leaders started preparing us for the fact that we were probably not going to get in.

DUH, DUH, DUH!

Well, we had to try to get in so we got in line and began waiting.

We waited...

and waited...

and waited...

and waited...

We had to pass the time somehow so we tried out the effects of mob phsychology. It took forever but we got everyone in line to clap and cheer with the help of another youth group.

The whole time we were waiting I was telling myself that we were not getting in.

There was no way that they were going to fit all of us in that building!

We continued waiting....

and waiting...

and waiting...

and waiting...

Then we started walking up to the front doors.

Lune and I almost screamed we were so excited. We were without a doubt getting in now.

Then we walked through the front door.

WE WERE AT WINTER JAM!

It took forever but we ended up finding seats behind the stage. I know what you're thinking, no one wants to sit behind the stage. I didn't care. I could see every single person even though they only looked about two inches tall.

Now what would this post be without pictures? I'm going to post a picture of every single artist that we saw and my reaction to it. I also might talk about it a little bit (especially my favorites!).

Here we go!

 First up was Royal Tailor!

They were pretty cool. The main singer liked to dance.

I was still getting used to the whole idea of a rock concert at this point.

Then, it was Jamie Grace's turn!

She was the only girl all night but she was amazing!

Then came NewSong.

They were actually the ones who founded Winter Jam. 

Then came the Sidewalk Prophets. 

If you don't understand what I mean by words on a screen I will explain. Most of the bands would sing and you would want to sing with them but you didn't know the words. Well, Sidewalk Prophets actually had words on the screen!

Then came Matthew West.

This guy is on the River (a Christian radio station) all the time. I knew several of his songs just from listening to the radio so many times. 

Then came Red. 

Red is one of those crazy screamo artists in my opinion. His outfit was kind of creepy and there was fire behind him. FIRE! 

In my opinion, the lead singer looked like Obi-Wan Kenobi turned into a rock star! Anyway, I' not big on loud music and I only call something music if you understand the words and can distinguish the melody line. Red didn't completely meet my criteria. 

Hazel, Ginger, and Lune were rocking out while I was awkwardly sitting in my chair. 

I forgot to mention it but in between Matthew West and Red there was an intermission where Lune and I got some popcorn! It was soooooooo good! 

This next guy was in between these two I think but he wasn't a big part of it really. 

That's right, Jason Castro from American Idol was there! 

Now, it was the moment that me, Hazel, Lune, and Ginger were waiting for. Ginger and Lune were even going to have a screaming contest when this person came on stage. 

I was so excited.

My stomach was doing back handsprings.

I felt like doing back handsprings I was so excited!

That was when he walked on stage. 

That's right! Toby Mac was there at Winter Jam! 

We sang some songs that I knew and some that I didn't know. 

I couldn't believer that he was right there in front of me! 

Almost everyone there had only 15 minutes on stage. Red had 23 minutes. Toby Mac had around 45 minutes! He was the highlight of the night and it was so amazing. 

That was my reaction when he was done. We immediately left after he was gone. We had to hurry back to the bus so that we could go home. It was around 11:00 PM at the time. 

We had fun on the way back. We listened to music. I got my iPod out and played the only Toby Mac song I own. It was so cool knowing that I had actually seen him!

So, as you can see, I had a ton of fun. I can't wait till next year!

PS: sorry I didn't get this post out sooner. I've been sick. 

Evidence That Ron Doesn't Like Twilight!

I was thinking about Twilight (the popular paranormal romance books and movies, not the time of day) when this quote popped into my mind.

Now, for those of us who know what was said right before Ron said this, we are beginning to understand. For those of you who have not read the Harry Potter books (and you really should!) Hermione Granger has begun reading a story called The Tale of the Three Brothers. This is how it begins. 

"There were once three brothers traveling on a lonely road at twilight..." 

That was when she was rudely interrupted by Ron. 

Don't you get it?

Ron is against twilight so much that he stopped Hermione from saying the word! Even better, his mom never even said the word twilight which could mean that the entire Weasley family is against Twilight!

So was J. K. Rowling just trying to be funny or did she hide true meaning in those words? The first book of Twilight did in fact come out two years before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It is possible. 

Was this quote meant to start the timeless war of whether Harry Potter or Twilight is better?

Was J. K. Rowling trying to show us her true loathing of Twilight?

We will probably never know but we can always imagine J. K. Rowling at the head of Harry Potter supremacy over Twilight! 

Please Pray for Lia

This isn't my normal happy post today. You all know that my sister Lia is adopted from China. Well, she is what China classifies as special needs.

She has a blood disease which causes her to have low platelets. Someone with low platelets bruises easily and can have unstoppable bleeding. She gets her blood checked every once in a while.

A few days ago she had a platelet count of 23,000. A normal person has 250,000. We checked again today and she only has 6,000.

She has never gotten that low before.

She is at the hospital right  now about to get a treatment.

Please pray that she gets better. We're all worried about her.

Hopefully the next post is a bit happier!

edit: she's at home now and doing well 

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Book Review

Hola, once again my dear readers! I'm back again with another exciting (hopefully) post!

Okay, I had to tell you this. My little sister Lia saw the first post I put on here and didn't know what I was doing. I showed her the rest of my blog and she was so amazed by this blog. When she saw herself she said, "Uhhh... Why you do that?" It was pretty funny. She couldn't imagine what I was doing putting pictures of us on here.

Anyway....I finished PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (the book) last night and I wanted to post a review on it. I will be including some pictures to make the whole thing a lot funnier. I will not be including any spoilers, just some elements of the story.


First off, I would like to say that this book was amazing! It was almost another book that I don't even know why I enjoyed it (To Kill a Mockingbird was the same way). Here is my review.

rating: 5 stars!

favorite part: I loved the part where the Chandelier fell and the end, the torture part was kind of interesting

least favorite part: I found the graveyard scene kind of boring

part that I wish they had included because it was in the movie: I wish they had gone into the Phantom's background story more, they only did in the epilogue

part that I wish they had included in the movie: The Persian! He was pretty cool

age to read it: probably 13 or 14

would I read it again?: Yes!


Now we all know that we have to consider more when it comes to choosing a good book than a good story. We have to look out for language and excessive violence sometimes (it really depends on what your parents say). Here is some of the questionable material in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

language: there was not a lot of language like I was expecting

inappropriate stuff: they kiss, nothing bad really

violence: there's quite a bit of violence in this book. Raoul and the Persian are tortured physiologically, people are killed, Christine tries to kill herself (that was the worst of it and it's only her hitting her head against a wall and it bleeding)

if it were a movie it would be rated: PG-13, this book had more of a reason to be rated PG-13 than the movie did

Despite the violence and creepiness of this book, it was completely amazing. Now, like my review of SHADOW OF THE LIGHTS, I am going to include some pictures of how I felt during the book!

So that was how I felt about PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. A big thanks to Harry Potter and the random baby for helping me illustrate my feelings! 

I hope you enjoyed reading my review and I hope it compels you to read the book. 

Adios, mis amigos!

SHADOW OF THE LIGHTS: A Book Review

How many of you have two friends that just happen to be amazing writers? Well, I do and they are none other than Lune Violette and Madison Louise (look them up on Amazon). One of them, Madison Louise, has two books published with two more on their way. Lune, has written her first finished novel during National Novel Writing Month and I cannot wait to read her book!

Anyway, I was taking a break from reading Phantom of the Opera when I tapped on a book called SHADOW OF THE LIGHTS by Madison Louise (I have a kindle touch). I started reading it and became immediately entranced by the story. I had to force myself to get up and do school. I ended up finishing SHADOW OF THE LIGHTS the same day. Here is my book review of it.


rating: definitely 5 stars

favorite part: I love the end

least favorite part: when everyone keeps telling Pearl that she can't celebrate Christmas

age to read it: It's appropriate for any age but because Pearl has a crush on someone and you kind have to understand what that is, I'd recommend it for 11 year olds

would I read it again?: Totally, I'm going to read it again around Christmas time

Now, I have to make this review more interesting by adding some pictures of how I was feeling throughout the book.

Once again, I highly recommend SHADOW OF THE LIGHTS by Madison Louise. 

So long!

Coming Soon: PHANTOM OF THE OPERA:  A Book Review

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA: Every Fangirl's Dream

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has got to be my absolute favorite movie and, as you can probably tell, it's also every fangirl's dream. I mean, it has great songs, amazing costumes, and the best plot. What's not to like?

First off, there's the main character, Christine Daae. She's a chorus girl who got her big break after the margarita walked out. She's a fantastic soprano who can hit superhuman notes! When her life seems like a dream come true she is kidnapped and well, you'll have to watch the movie or, better yet, read the book. (I can't believe I just wrote a run-on sentence! How could I!)

Yes, this is the Phantom of the Opera himself. If Lune or Hazel are reading this, I know you are creeped out by this picture. Anyway, the Phantom is the coolest of the characters. He wears a mask to cover up his deformed face and is quite touchy about people taking it off. He is an awesome musician and completely ninja. Not to mention that he has an amazing singing voice!

Then there is, of course, Raoul. Raoul and Christine knew each other when they were little and were childhood sweethearts. When he sees Christine singing on stage he falls in love with her again. Unfortunately (there's always an "unfortunately" it's what makes a story good) the Phantom is in love with Christine as well. This turns into the well known story of two guys fighting over a girl. Even though Raoul doesn't have as good of a singing voice as the phantom, he makes up for it in his looks and his niceness. 

I had to include Carlotta in my discussion of the characters. Carlotta was the margarita (leading lady) that Christine replaced. Carlotta also can hit those superhuman notes but isn't as good of a singer as Christine. She has a tendency to always demand her own way and is always focused on herself. Carlotta is automatically the least sympathetic character (those of you who have studied literature terms will understand that) in the entire movie. 

So, if you haven't read the book or seen the movie, what I have written above will hopefully have inspired you to go read and/or watch the movie soon. Trust me, it's the most amazing movie/ book (with the exception of the Bible of course) ever! 

For those who have already read the book/watched the movie and know how amazing it is, you are prepared to fangirl about whether Christine should have gone with Raoul or the Phantom and go on and on about your favorite songs. 

For those of you who haven't read the book or watched the movie, I'd recommend not reading the comments because of obsessive amounts of fangirling. 

I hope you enjoyed this post. 

Now, go watch the movie!

Hola, Mis Amigos!

Hi, everyone and welcome to the Life of a Full-Time Rice Candy Eater. My name is Jade Kanani and I am a teenager.

Now, I'm not really one of those teenagers who goes to parties all the time and is obsessed with their cell phone. I am, in fact, a homeschooler and a huge reader.

There are five people in my family. Here is my little sister Ginger and I. I am the one with the long hair and braces. Ginger is the other one. Ginger and I are best friends most of the time and enjoy joking around, talking, and watching movies together. The two of us are exactly 2 1/2 years apart. 

Here are some funny pictures I took with my other little sister, Lia. You have probably noticed that Lia doesn't look like me or Ginger. That is because last year, my family adopted Lia (her Chinese name is actually Yang Rui). She's seven now and is learning how to read. We don't get along as well and me and Ginger do but she's my little sister and I love her. 

Enough about my sisters! Let's get to the more about this blog. On this blog I will post about my life and what's going on. I might also post about books or movies that I absolutely love. 

I'll post more later!

I'm off to practice piano, the wonderful piano....

coming soon: PHANTOM OF THE OPERA: Every fangirl's dream!