It's that time of year again, folks.

Nah, not Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm talking about something even more disturbing with far less candy and cheerful carols.

Finals.

Each year, finals have been getting progressively more stressful for me. This semester, I have a paper for every class, plus three in-class exams, one take-home, a portfolio, and I'm performing in a holiday concert the Monday the pandemonium begins. Plus, I get to work all of Black Friday Weekend. It's safe to say I've been close to losing my marbles every day.

To help alleviate some of the stress, I thought it would be nice to put together a list of all the things that are helping me get through these next few weeks.

• Coffee and tea - and lots of it
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathons study breaks
• Equally stressed out roommates to share the pain
• The light at the end of the tunnel - Christmas break
• My new warm sweater-wrap I splurged on from work.
• A heated apartment
• Junk food
• Sleep - and lots of it
• Socks (preferably fuzzy ones)
• The premise of finally having time for leisure reading
• Warm showers
• Netflix
• Twinkle lights
• Thinking about my upcoming summer in London
• The hope that I'll finally get some time to work on my book after the semester ends

I don't understand all of the hate that is coming out about this movie. I absolutely loved it. Of course, I had my stipulations, but all around I really enjoyed it. And, before you ask, yes I read the book. Honestly, I am insulted you would even suggest such a thing.

A lot of the problems people had about the movie are mostly to do with it being so slow-moving. And to that I say: Have you read the book? I read it for the first time this summer when I heard the movie was coming out. I had been recommended it before but never had much initiative to read it until I saw the first trailer for the film. And, I'll admit, it was pretty hard to get through. I'd heard so much about it. Heck, even my dad read it (which isn't that much of a surprise since he's more of a SciFi nut than I am... but still!). The majority of the book takes place at battle school, as does the movie. It focuses on the many battles Ender had to face such as the battles between armies and his personal demons, as does the movie. So really, I don't get why everyone is whining so much about it being so boring. My coworker, who hadn't read the book, holds that opinion, which I respect. But I honestly don't understand why people who read the book hated the movie so much. The acting was good, the visual effects were stunning, and it followed the plot as well as it could with the book's vast timeline.

Now, I'm not saying the film didn't have its weak points. SPOILER ALERT. PLEASE DON'T READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU WANT TO AVOID MAJOR MOVIE GIVEAWAYS.

Peter. I wanted more of him. At the beginning of the book, we see that Peter is pretty much a psychopath. Now, the movie does allude to this. But then it just drops it. The movie version of Ender and Valentine do discuss later that Ender is not like Peter, yada yada yada. But if you didn't read the book, you really wouldn't understand what that meant. Peter is a guy who tortured living animals. I just wish that the movie would have emphasized Peter and his relationship (or lack thereof) with his family.

They also way overplayed Petra and Ender's relationship. I understand why - it's explained in this Wired interview with Orson Scott Card - but it was still unnerving to witness. Especially since I know in the books they have a significant age difference. *shivers*

My final point is a positive note to end on. Card has openly said that the movie is "damn good" so... there. I like it. Card is obviously fine with how it turned out. Now I'll just go off and bake a cake so we can all eat and be happy.