A Defense of Black & White Films

Since Alex has finished To Kill a Mockingbird, I've been thinking a lot about it. It's one of the (few) books I have been required to read for school that I didn't hate*, rereading it, it's even better without the essays and formal debate and such. But another one of the awesome things about reading books in school is at the end of the unit/testing: Watching the MOVIE version and wasting 4 days on it. The movie doesn't maim the book**, Gregory Peck is fantastic and incredibly similar to the Atticus in my head whilst reading the book. (I also find him attractive. Glasses = Rawr.)

Beeth warned, dear blogizens, that if you for some reason dislike the non-colorful cinema of the 20th century, you will not like this movie. It's happened to me before. *sigh* Sad, sad story telling time:

My friend REFUSES to watch black and white films that are not part of the school curriculum. Even though older movies kind of rock that way. (and by "old", I mean like, the beginning of The Wizard of Oz and/or the epic win that is Young Frankenstein-- wherein the effect was used to parody the really old Frankenstein movies, but color HAD been invented.) The preceding parentheses provide good examples.*** When questioned about this all she ever does is retort, "They're OLDDD. :P". Sarcastically, but it gets on my nerves sometimes so my only reply is, "Manga is in black and white. :P" She's an anime/manga nerd, I learn towards "real" books/movies/movies based on books. Kind of the same situation as you and your proclaimed metal-head friend, Vita. It's just a different preference, (yours is more reasonable to dislike...) not like I'm going to kill her for it.

ANYwaaaay, I'm all for another book club of TKAM, as it is awesome. Thoughts?

Footnotes!

*As opposed to: Lord of the Flies (which may hopefully make SOME kind of sense if I read it now, lots of symbolism and killing things), Jonathan Livingston Seagull, (some kind of religious parallel, about seagulls. I do not recommend.) Jacob Have I Loved (Beginning: "Oh, my life sucks." Middle: "That 80 year old guy has pretty hands... my life sucks." End: "I'm an ADULT-- but my life still sucks." *headpiano*)

**Unlike some others I could mention, but right now it's The Lovely Bones. Good book though.

***Others: Persepolis (B&W AND foreign!), Roman Holiday (more of Gregory Peck!)

Water, Water, Everywhere, nor any Drop to Drink

Because my decidedly metal-ly friend's love of the band coincided with our reading of the poem "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" in English, I listened to an Iron Maiden song with the same name for the first time.

Crazily enough, I feel it, man.* I must admit that I feel un peu mauvais about admitting to liking a single product of anything by anyone with such a CRAZY LARGE (not to mention devoted) fanbase, because you will inevitably encounter the "long-time fan"/jerk who's all:

"OMGGGG UR SUCH A POSERRR!!!!!! LYK UR NOT EVEN A REAL FAN & SHUT UP LYK NOBDY THINKSSSS UR COOL K??? THXXXXXXXXBI"

Granted, this is the Iron Maiden fanbase we're talking about, so the above comment would probably be translated into something more "serious" and "mature" and equally as rude and unintelligent.

Regardless, I feel less shame in admitting it here, as I will simultaneously admit that I will most likely not go on to become a "metalhead," as they call it, nor will I begin an extensive research project into the depths of Iron Maiden-ness. I'll say that from my not-at-all-professional opinion, the band is certainly talented, but it's simply not the kind of music that I generally connect to. (And as far as I know, my friend will not disown me for liking an Iron Maiden song, so there we are.)

It's the sort of song that sinks in the second or third or fourth time you hear it, I think, more than it does the first time. The song is approximately thirteen minutes long - it's understandable that a first listen is a little much to take in. After you get the feel of it, though, it's pretty powerful, especially if you Google the lyrics, as I did. It appears to be, more or less, a summary of the poem, but it's the combination of the music and the lyrics that makes it have an effect on the old heartstrings, if you know what I'm saying.

Anyhoo, I'm no use at analzying songs, so I'll just say this: I'm interested in music, but I'm more interested in literature and the English-y and language-y parts of things. Music makes me feel things** but reading makes me feel more. I guess that this song is an example of music enhancing the reading experience, if you will. I admire the ambiguity of the poem - story is perhaps a better term - and how it trusts the reader to make their own inferences; it offers one explanation but it also allows for the possibility of an entirely different one as well. The poem could argue for the reliability of cause and effect and crime and punishment, or it could be saying that everything is determined by random chance and fate. Or perhaps it's simply emphasizing the fact that nobody really knows anything and everything is relative to each individual person. I don't know, but I DO know that the Iron Maiden song captures the tone of the poem very well.

(This is turning into a somewhat crappy essay, so I shall depart. Sorry if this isn't interesting to you; it's been on my mind all afternoon. Listen to the song if you can!)

*I like it. I do not normally speak like this.
**Joel McHale: WHY MUST JOSS STONE MAKE ME FEEL THINGS?! (The Soup, you should watch it.)

This Isn't Hogwarts

Last night I had a dream where I was somewhere and then Bad Romance by Lady Gaga came on and people started dancing. There was jazz hands and knee slides and it was all very weird. So then I woke up and ate a bagel and then I left.

As I walked to school, I noticed the general lack of people. When I arrived at the border of this particular education facility, I was surprised that there were hardly any people loitering outside. Isn't that some kind of social thing at school? Sitting outside and waiting for the bell? Do they only do that in movies? I later realized this was because I was late and the exam had started.

To the office I went, and, after some explaining, I was directed to the gym. The gym was filled with following tables and chairs. It was all very weird and formal and had a sort of stressful atmosphere. The creaky chairs and whispering teachers didn't help. I waited for someone to tell me where to go and then was told to wander around until I found the table with my name on it. What a joyful experience that was. I was also told with an undertone of exasperation that I was late and supposed to have been there fifteen minutes ago*. I found my table and sat down and then was silly enough to think I could just start. No. Exasperated Lady stormed up the aisle towards me and told me that I couldn't have my stuff with me and then lead me to the front of the gym to set it. As I was putting away my iPod, she told me there was no electronics allowed as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. It probably was to her.

What I did not do:

- Tell her that I was sick of impatient beauracrats like her and storm out of the gym.

- Respond in an equally impatient tone that I was home schooled and new at examinations and that she really wasn't making the experience all to enjoyable.

- Sarcastically mutter under my breath.

Okay, so maybe I did the last one... small success.

I then returned to my chair and read the front page. It said not to open the booklet until I was instructed to do so. And so I waited. I must have sat there for two minutes, trying to make eye contact with this woman when another teacher comes up and asks me what I'm waiting for. And so I tell him that I'm waiting to be told to start. And he tells me I didn't have to do that.

ARG! Bureaucratic goons! Get your freaking act together!

The English exam itself was fine. I read the lame pieces and shaded the multiple choice bubbles accordingly. Then I wrote a kickass essay on how important competition is to our lives. *coughit'sallbullshitcough*

With about half an hour left in the exam, I realized with horror that the phone in my bag was set to the highest volume. Then I proceeded to concentrate on making sure no one called. Of course, I couldn't go turn it off because I didn't know if I was even allowed to leave my chair. That was a bit stressful.

But I figured out that when you're finished, you just get the attention of one of the people that are constantly walking up and down the aisles watching you and then you can leave. As I reached the gym door I turned back and looked over the remaining students. And then I thanked my mother that I was not usually one of them.

Things I didn't do but really should have:

- Ran up and down the aisles humming and doing airplane arms.

- Turned around at the door and yelled "THIS ISN'T HOGWARTS! THIS IS A CONCRETE BOX!"

Math in the afternoon was somewhat less tumultuous. I got there fifteen minutes before I was told to and I sat down and I shaded the bubbles and I think I did well but I won't really be sure until I see my mark. The lady seemed to have forgotten that she was frustrated with me and I even had a bit going with one of the teachers that I was "special". The only bad part was when I was finished the nice guy practically snuck up on me and I jumped out of my seat. The worst part of this exam is that I had Road Trip by Molly Lewis stuck in my head. ARG! Try doing geometry when all you can think is 'I just grab some rubber tubing and I pull on my Depends and then I drive. It's time for a road trip.'

This has been quite long. As has been my day. My blogging life seems to have all clogged up and so I have a lot to write about (nearly finished To Kill A Mockingbird!!) and haven't actually taken time to get it out. I need to sleep now. School is so exhausting. Plus it makes me hungry. How can you survive from 8-12? I need SNACKS.

*Even though my paper clearly said to show up at 8:30am for the exam that started at 9am.

Lists Are Good

This blog shall henceforth be solely comprised of lists! Non-list segments shall be composed in somewhat Shakespearian English also proceeded by exclamation points!

Top 5 Things I'm About To Make Top 5 A List Of
1. Things that make me smile on this rather dull day
2. To DO
3. People who have entered my Subconscious
4. Animals with Awesome Names

5. Oxymorons

1. a.) The Internet, as always.And when was the last time THIS was properly bowed down to, in all its glorious simplicity? :D

b.) It has stopped snowing! VICTORY! (that makes it sound like *I* have controlled the weather, but I'm just sick of the snow.)

c.) French. Silk. Pie. Hell yes.

d.) I found 10 dollars in the snow! However, I tend to feel almost guilty when random lucky things happen to me, so I put it in the Haiti Relief Box in my Spanish class, which...

e.) Made me feel like a charitable good person, even though it was just an awkward/lucky situation.

2. a.) Math Project! BAH.

b.) An Essay on The 21 Balloons*

c.) Eating more of item 1.c.

d.) Some inevitable procrastination.

e.) Closet-cleaning BALLS OF FUN!

My dreams have doth become most vivid as of late, and frankly it's beginning to perplex me. Hence:

3. a.) Justin Bieber, for no apparent reason. Ahhhh dear Morgan Freeman I must wash my brain.

b.) Maureen Johnson. These are quite awesome, and usually involve Twitter.

c.) Morgan Freeman/

d.) God-- honestly I don't know, I woke up with a sense of not-really-deja-vu-but-more-like-what-the-hell-just-happened, but I remembered Morgan Freeman's voice. It creeps me out a little if I overthink it, like they're meant to be religious visions**, but I blame NyQuil. Ahhh, over-the-counter hallucinogens. (These all were in quick succession, like fever dreams or something; but I only had a cold.)

e.) YOU. Yes, you-- Alex and Vita. Nerdfighter gathering at what I think was a bowling alley...

4. a.) Platypus. Always will be.

b.) A group of magpies is called a murder. :)

c.) Humuhumunukunukuapua'a

d.) Meerkat

e.) Cebu

5. a.) Almost

b.) Jumbo Shrimp

c.) Buttface

d.) Sweet sorrow

e.) Monopoly

Footnotes!

*Newbery Award winner, 1948. Think Up, but with more volcanos. :)

**Which would indeed be awesome. Like The Prophet of Yonwood, or the people who find the cross in moldy potatoes:

Lucky break = YOU ARE GOD. (or at least an eBay phenomenon.)

The Twilight Cycle

Quite a few people were once Twilight fans and have since "grown out of" the books. Naturally, I've created an outline of what appears to be a common cycle:

The Twilight Cycle

1) Ignorance/Indifference - may have heard the name "Twilight" in passing, shows no real interest in reading the books. Friends may suggest the title; claims to be "too busy" or "not into that stuff." No real feelings towards the book, may not be aware of its content.

2) First Meeting/Initial Interest - is curious or is persuaded into reading the first book. May take a few days to make much headway into book. Initially thinks that the book is not all that it's cracked up to be. Interest develops upon further reading.

3) Deep Infatuation - finishes first book, is spellbound. Rereads immediately, attempts to find the next books. Reads quickly, rereads quickly. May highlight sections of the book; often inadvertantly harms the binding of the book due to constant reading. Makes the groundbreaking realization that everything in life is somehow connected to Twilight. Insists that friends read books. Professes love for Edward, Jacob, or both. Either professes profound hatred of Bella or loyally defends Bella. Joins a lot of Facebook groups with titles such as "Thanks, Twilight, for Making me Hate Human Boys." Develops a love affair with the band Muse. Purchases Twilight merchandise. Writes poetry, cries.

4) "Waking Up"/the Breakup - either suddenly arrives at the conclusion that Twilight is not likable or slowly but steadily falls out of love with the books. Feels disallusioned and possibly betrayed. Makes groundbreaking realization that not everything in life is somehow connected to Twilight. Feels slight guilt for previous infatuation. Claims that Edward and Jacob are both "gross." Vows to make others "see the light."

5) Revenge/Anger - believes that too much time has been lost liking Twilight. Goes onto internet fan sites and rags on fan posts, goes to internet hate sites and rags on fans. Writes essays about the ways in which Edward and/or Jacob is abusive. Takes every opportunity to put a Twilight fan "in their place." Insults Stephenie Meyer, Mormons, Stephenie Meyer, Mormons, and sparkles. Develops love for Buffy, often talks about "real vampires." Laughs far too much at Twilight parodies. Rolls eyes at any and all Twilight fans, refuses to make new friends with Twilight fans. Yells, rants, yells.

6) General Indifference - starts to more or less ignore Twilight. Enjoys poking fun at Twilight, laughs at Twilight parodies. Still dislikes or strongly dislikes series but doesn't feel the need to explain this to every person they meet. Tends to rant to fellow anti-Twilighters. Accepts the fact that some people like Twilight but still believes that series will never even touch Harry Potter/Lost/fill in the_______blank. Smiles and nods politely when friends talk about Edward's sparkles. Moves on with life.

I'd say that I went through a less extreme version of this cycle (never really actively took part of the Twilight fandom, never abused Twilight fans after the fact). Surprisingly, when I thought about it, I realized that I was only a Twilight fan for approximately five months (~March 2008 through August 2008). In comparison, I've been a Harry Potter fan for at least six years, albeit with varying degrees of interest over the years.

In any case, it's far more immature to actively harass Twilight fans than it is to simply like the books. I think it's quite fun to mock the Twilight franchise, but I think it's best to do that when you're in the company of other non-Twilight-lovers. Otherwise it's just mean.

Wordle Experiment!

So Wordle is this thing where words are sorted artistically (by a computer, wherein the only fancy manipulation required from me is the arrangement and color and font, so it looks somewhat good...) depending on their frequency. (removing words like "the" and "and" and so on) Blog feeds (such as this one) can be turned into Wordles, as well as novels, ransom notes, any documents that are stored digitally. I encourage you to do this, it makes you think about words that are overused and/or central to said document, comprising the "themes" of what has been Wordled. I've made one out of this blog. Now, to get it to show up here:




Bleh. Tis all smallish and blurry. This shall be fixed.
HERE it is in all its full-sized glory. If you look closely, you will see my name. And if you look directly to the right of that... I find that funny, almost like Wordle is accusing me of something... hehehe. >:)

I know what you're talking about, Vita. (It seems like a conspiracy though-- something the government could very well be working on. INTERNAL BIG BROTHER! :O) Not in a malicious weird way, just like, what do people notice? What are things that they see that impact them in a way that others would just overlook?

Which, in an odd and unrelated transition to school once again, is one of the reasons why I'm taking Sociology next year. (and yet they have up sign up for these things NOW.) That, and the fact that there is no final. And the assignments consist of watching The Simpsons and analyzing the human behavior or something. Interesting and easy, hoorah!

(MJ's "Actual John Green" video has sent me into pursuit of a puff wig, it's that awesome. She'd make a good third vlogbrother, especially if she had to do a PUNISHMENT.... moohaha.)

In which my Lack of a Topic is Evident

I've been wearing glasses all day and my head is starting to hurt. Ow. I'd forgotten how heavy glasses seem after a few hours.

Speaking of vision (segway segway!), do you ever wonder if the world looks different to everyone else? It would explain why some people think certain color combinations look good while others think they clash terribly. I suppose it's a matter of taste, but perhaps we have those opinions because we're not seeing the same thing. I don't suppose there's any real way to find out unless some smart person comes up with a way to get inside other people's heads and look through their eyes. That would be a little disturbing, though. It reminds me of Big Brother and wiretapping. All we need is for someone to shout "conspiracy!"

In an exciting turn of events, I downloaded an episode of Mugglecast today (the podcast of Mugglenet.com, or so they say). I feel very slightly guilty about this, having been a devoted Pottercast fan for a whole SEVEN MONTHS. I arrived at that party a little late! But it's cool, I'm caught up on what's available and if they ever randomly* upload all the old episodes like John keeps saying they might.
Anyhoo. Mugglecast, dunno if it's any good - either way I'm a Pottercast fan before all else. <3

PS, WHO ELSE IS IN FAVOR OF KEEPING MJ AS THE THIRD VLOGBROTHER? I love John and I look forward to his return, but Maureen Johnson is so damn funny. Special guest, perhaps?

Rena, I may be asking this a bit later than would be appropriate, but how do you pronounce your name? I've always said it "wren-ah" in my head but I suppose it could also be "ree-nah" or, if you're particularly adventurous, "ray-nah." I have a long history of getting on the unpopular boat when it comes to pronouncing things. I pronounce BEDA as "bed-ah," not "bee-dah" and I say "nah-no-rye-mo" instead of "nah-no-ree-mo," so I'm not entirely sure of myself.

*I'm not misusing the word "random" here; there's no set date or time or anything. It may just happen at any random moment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (You can tell it's exciting by the number of exclamation marks.)

Olympic Misfits

A while ago, I found out that the Olympics were coming to Vancouver. I don't know when but it was a while ago. Not as long as Edward has been seventeen, but a shorter while.

Then we got these mascots... behold the mutants:

Now, I don't know about you, but I don't think a sasquatch is a real animal, or suitable to be a mascot. As for the other two half breeds... what the fuck? In the past, mascots have been eagles and beavers and cute little bears and when the winter Olympics come to Vancouver, we get a band of misfits.

Anywhere you go in Vancouver, these little beasties will follow you. In every store window and every checkout aisle they are there screaming at you to shell out $15-$30 (depending on whether it's just a key chain or a massive stuffed beast) so you too can own a piece of Olympic marketing. I swear that there are enough of these toys littered throughout the province that everyone who lives in Vancouver as well as every person that comes to see the Olympics could own one and take one home for their pet dog. It's ridiculous.

Yes, they are a tiny bit adorable. But come on... Miga, or whatever it's called, is like a mixture of a panda and a penguin and Alfalfa from Little Rascals. None of which we actually have in Canada, unless you're counting zoos.

Urg, the Olympics are so absurd. It's a nice thought. You know, countries getting together in a peaceful way to have a lovely competition that brings the world a sense of connectedness and unity. But what it has actually become is a political, corporate money grab, filled with useless merchandise and companies who are all buying in so they can make more money.

The Olympic torch is actually being brought down my street in the near future. At 6:30am. People are going to leave their warm beds at an unGodly hour on a Saturday to see a fake torch jogged up the street by one person and four security guards. Count me in!!!

Am I being to scroogy about the Olympics? Should I just get in with the spirit of it all and cheer for all those Canadian athletes*? No. I refuse.

On a happier note, I've started watching Alex Day (nerimon) read Twilight on YouTube and I have never laughed so much at Twilight. And I have laughed at Twilight a fair bit. So in case you haven't seen it, here is a link. WATCH IT!!

*I've actually chosen my favourite athlete for fun. His name is Stefan Read. He's an alpine skier. VAMPIRE DIARIES TONIGHT!!!

A Challenge!

In order to make my part of the blog different and more exciting today, I will not type any of the letter between t and u. You may have figured that out by now.

Again I apologize for your ongoing examination, Alex and Vita. EDUCATION HOLE (took me a while to come up with that...) can be quite terrible and zombie-making. I however am continuing my "YAY they're over! *dance party/ignoring actual learning time*" mode of thought.

Alex, I agree that film can be a MONEY HOLE. (I quite like the lack of FORBIDDEN LETTER in the word hole.) They are very entertaining, even the "watching people get hit comically"--type of film, once in a while. A job would really help with the filling of aforementioned money hole, but porque (why did I not think to employ foreign language more recently?!) I'm currently underage to join the workforce in IL (though I'm probably going to try to get a job next vernal equinox, yay for getting paid!), the hole will remain unfilled. :( Good luck in your endeavor, maybe it will fulfil part of your practical home-education-hole-ing? I don't know...

Becoming much more difficult not to type the forbidden letter, I'd better end here. (No *real* content, once again, but if you try to replicate what I've done, pick an uncommon letter.)

EXTRA! (Lost Blog of a Brainless Saturday)

Sorry about not blogging Saturday, peeps. *This is where I would put, "I'm not dead yet!", but that's arguable...* I had NO BRAIN. NO BRAIN is not a fun thing to have.

Honestly, after exams I wanted to go to bed and not THINK ever again, but I got dragged around into functioning society by people which resulted in a bit of a mental breakdown..... so by Saturday I'd slept until 2 in the afternoon. My other (strictly disciplinary, as opposed to this, wherein I know it's going to be read by people so I strive for the utmost quality-- meaning of course taking time to make sure it doesn't sound like I'm on drugs.) blog was blogged late at night, but it very much sounded like I was on drugs. Or something. See for yourselves.

Again, I apologize, but I had to spare you from another "AHHHHHH SCHOOL NOOOO!!! Whine whine whine. *explode*" blog.

BUT! I do have a rare QUESTION for you: (regardless of if I have answered the last one, I forget.)

If you were in a band and got to name it, what would it be called? (think about this as long as you want, thus eliminating the possibility YOU sound like you're on drugs.)

HELLO!

Oh... hey there.

I'm sorry for abandoning this blog for a week! Sad times on the internet front, I know.

Friday was crazy. It started out bad-crazy and ended good-crazy, weirdly enough. Friday began with me waking up at 4:30 a.m. to finish my Personal Project. (Why yes, I do procrastinate. Thanks for asking.) That sucked A LOT; my mom had to drive me to school because I didn't have time to finish the project and catch the bus. *facepalm* I DID finish the project, though, so good for me? Immediately after that, I had my first day of exams on Friday. Algebra II with Analysis * started at 7:25 a.m. (which is the time that a regular school day begins). Two straight hours of math is not my idea of a good time; however, it was surprisingly okay. I know I got a few questions wrong (I forgot how to do Cramer's Rule! What the hell?! I was SO GOOD at Cramer's Rule back in the day!), but I wrote SOMETHING for every question so I'll probably at least get partial credit. The good part was that I was SO AWAKE during that first exam. Whenever I only get four hours of sleep, I don't feel tired at all in the morning. (The afternoon is a different story...) My other exam for the day was for Introductions to Engineering - so. easy. One of the questions was - I kid you not - "*picture of ruler* Is this an English or metric ruler?" Uhh...

I finished exams at noon, so I ran out and got sustenance (i.e. Starbucks) before returning to school for the final run-through of the One-Acts. Perhaps I haven't explained what the One-Acts are: as the name suggests, they are a compilation of four different shows, each with only one act. Three of the shows were 10-15 minutes long and one was more than 45 minutes. The whole thing is completely student-directed and student-run (although not student-written). I must admit that there was a general feeling of resentment towards them because they were scheduled for the week leading up to exams, BUT the actual show was super fun. All of the shows were fabulous. <3 Anyhoo, I stayed for the rehearsal. It started out sluggish and got progressively more interesting and then a few of us went out for an unofficial Chinese food party. <3

A General Timeline of my Day:
<---sucky---suckish---okay---decent---good---good---really good---awesome---sleep--->
YAY.

Long story short, my life has been boring to anyone but me and I have very little to talk about today other than FUDGE I HAVE A CHEM MIDTERM TOMORROW AND I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING. And you probably don't want to hear me complain about that for lawd knows how long, so I shall depart. More interesting post Friday, I expect!

Alex, good luck with your upcoming exams. Rena, congrats on finishing yours (I think you finished yours just recently, right?).

* On my schedule, it's written as Alg II w/Anal. Whoever thought up that abbreviation clearly didn't care that they were sending it to a plethora of teenagers. Also, I'm not sure how Alg II w/A is different from regular old Alg II - all I know is that everyone in MYP gets the fun little "w/Anal" part on their schedule. FUN TIMES.

Helloooooooo?

Alrighty then. I just got back from the movie theater and I'm not happy to say that as I write this, my thoughts are being tossed around in my brain (I had absolutely no clue how to explain other than this) in an Irish accent. I see way too many movies. Seriously, I need to stop.

A PROMISE (you have no idea how long it took me to write this. Thank you Backspace key for making me appear somewhat intelligent.):

For the next two weeks, I will not go to the movies unless I HAVE to.

Seeing as how I don't actually have a job, I should really stop squandering away money on stupid things. Not that film is stupid. In excessive quantities it's a bit much. I spent more money than usual this weekend. Money that I don't have.

I need a job.

But yes, I saw Leap Day. Or perhaps it's called Leap Year, I can't quite remember. And it was kind of good. I was not too impressed with the trailers, though, which were The Spy Next Door and The Tooth Fairy. I have reached the point in my existence where I can no longer tolerate slapstick comedy. I would rate it just below sarcasm on the humour scale. It's just so... not funny.

I might be starting a collab YouTube channel with friends. It wasn't my idea. *points finger at Brianne* We'll see how that goes.

I'll go read stuff now. And then sleep. And then more life.

It All Makes Sense at the End

Is the theme school or issues with school? I'm good with both.

Two weeks and counting until exams. Luckily, I have finished all math assignments on a high note and I just have to revise which basically means learning everything again in two weeks. Huzzah!

But then there's English for which I have three essays to write (not mentioning the one that is apparently in the exam). I think the person who wrote this course was a little obsessed with comparing things. First there was the Romeo and Juliet vs. West Side Story. Now I'm going to compare the Odyssey (which, thank God, I don't have to read) and Lemminkainen's Lament (just when I thought it was behind me). Then after that I'm comparing the Odyssey to The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. Then there's the essay that I have a choice of writing about either rites of passage in our society (I can pick any one I like. Yay for... freedom?) or racism in our society. So that's great. After that, I believe I'm done. Why am I not excited my this? Three essays into two weeks. Who said high school was no fun?

On a happier note, I starting going to this writing class thing on Sunday and it was AWESOME!!!!!!! I can't put enough exclamation points behind that. Here are some more!!!!!! We talked about Margaret Atwood (who is Canadian!!) at the gathering. I will share a charming anecdote.

One time Margaret Atwood was at a party and she was talking to a man who was a brain surgeon. He said that maybe when he retired he would take up writing novels and she said, saucy minx that she is, that when she was retired maybe she would take up brain surgery. Her point is not actually that encouraging to me but I must realize that apparently writing is hard. I thought it was all about hitting the right keys at the right time, but apparently there's more to it than that.

I had a dream about Maureen Johnson last night. I actually have a huge (and thoroughly non-romantic) crush on mj. She is exactly what I want to be when I grow up: a writer of YA fiction, living in a big city, in cahoots with John Green. I would like to job shadow her. But enough of my weird obsession.

You can probably tell that I'm writing this a little late because it's so scatterbrained. I think I'm seeing an equation here: Alex blogging when she wants to be reading City of Ashes + Alex blogging at 11pm = crazy blog that is all over the place with zero segues that is probably hard to follow for the untrained reader. If you're feeling confused about if and how this blog makes sense to anyone you should be comforted (or deeply worried) that it all makes sense to me in my mind.

I feel like explaining even though we're getting quite lengthy here. First I was talking about school that led to the Odyssey which led to my novel study, The Penelopiad, which is based on a character in the Odyssey. The Penelopiad was written by Margarat Atwood who is Canadian and an author just like Maureen Johnson, who I had a dream about last night. Satisfied?

Now, go home terrorist.*

*If you don't understand that reference, I am very sorry. Your life is grim, indeed.

THEME WEEK!

Oh yes, this is what this is turning into. Midterms, provincial exams, et cetera et cetera... (I'll take "Things capable of making kittens spontaneously combust" for FRENCH THE LLAMA WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THIS BEFOREHAND?!)

I explain: *big freshman n00b propeller beanie of FAIL firmly on head* This is my first time actually having midterms, meaning I had no clue (okay, a LIMITED idea of this, which until about a week ago I shrugged off completely.) that I'd need to SHOVE a semesters worth of information into my brain. Do not want. Have now been forced into position of cramming. Am currently taking convenient break so as to insure I don't go full-fledgedly insanobzonkerfuckingnuts. The situation I'm in:

a.) Really, not as bad as it seems.
b.) I mean, solid B's, not too shabby..
d.) How can I *really* study for English, anyway?
e.) Oooooh, World Studies is multiple choice. Me like.

ACTUAL ANSWERS:

a.) Oh, yes it is. You have forced yourself into a state of DELIRIUM, sad Rena. Oh, hell yes it is.
b.) My average is 86 or something, give or take for English/Spanish and math (take, crap.)
c.) I skipped c? Okay, byebye, basic comprehension of English language... I'll take this as a sign.
d.) My old buddy THE ESSAY. And some multiple choice about some passage. Ye shall save me.
e.) That's a 25% chance of guessing the answer? Hoorah. Alex, I feel quite the same way about WS as you do about Math. She just teaches it terribly. She birdcalls to get our attention and swears at us in Gaelic. I taught myself the difference between Athenian and Spartan governments by yelling, "THIS. IS. SPAAAAARTAAA!!!" after the latter list. Haven't seen the movie, but quotage of anything makes me remember stuff.

I suppose I'm in the same position as you somewhat, but only my schedule is different. No idea if either of you do it differently, but basically tomorrow I only have 3 periods-- one of which is PE, so I can use that to study for Math more yayz. I've been told to NEVER look at/possibly avoid sitting by the clock. Distraction and/or major source of pressure. constant... ticking...

I drafted this on Monday, and maybe this is the delirium talking but I'm not that nervous about much. Just Math, and that's the first one I have to get out of the way. That's a positive... (So, necessary delirium, because if I wasn't like this I'd be on the express train to Frenchthellamaville... :D)

The Pros and Cons of Being Alive

Forsooth and lack a day, methinks this week has a foul stench about.

Sorry for not blogging on Friday. My only excuse is that I really didn't want to. Last week was sort of hellish and by the time I got to Friday I didn't feel like putting any effort into anything at all.

But I am back!

Reasons this week was good:
a) Despite the full-blown, universal frustration oozing from everyone's brain cells last week, I realized once again that I love Drama.
b) I am super excited for our spring musical, which is Thoroughly Modern Millie! Anything that once involved Julie Andrews has a special place in my heart! ;)
c) I woke up today feeling REALLY AWAKE and REALLY MOTIVATED.
d) I have NO REHEARSAL this week, which means that I have ~6 hours PER DAY to study and finish crap today through Thursday.
e) Alex decided that she was going to read To Kill a Mockingbird first. And TKAM just HAPPENS to be my FAVORITE BOOK EVER.
f) I listened to an absolutely ridiculous amount of Wrock (Ministry of Magic, bitchezzzz) and Disney soundtracks this weekend, which made my heart happy.
g) I have an opportunity to solidify my B's in Math & Chem tomorrow!

Reasons this week was bad:
a) One Acts ACTUALLY couldn't have been more inconveniently scheduled if they TRIED. FUCK YOU ONE ACTS
b) ...There isn't anything particularly bad about this.
c) This feeling slowly diminished over the course of the school day. I'm still a little bit motivated, but not as much as I need to be.
d) ... I won't be going to bed until after midnight tonight.
e) I have very-nearly-literally NO TIME, so I won't be able to reread it until... like... February. fuuuuuuuuuu
f) The reason I had to listen to this much music was because it was the only thing stopping me from going INSANE.
g) Provided I don't fail (aka get a C or worse) both of my unit tests!
h) My homework grade in math went from 100% to NINETY NINE POINT FIVE or something similar. :( It probably went down half a percentage point again today. Sad times. (The reason I am sad is because homework is the only thing I ever get 100% on in math because I am dumb.)
i) I AM REALLY TIRED.

Fun story: after midterms (which, assuming I don't get sick on an exam day, finish next Thursday), I'm probably going to celebrate going out to lunch after school and... far more excitingly... by reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. HOO HA NERDFIGHTERS!

Math woes

I'm kind of mad at my math teacher/mentor. I know I should really call him mentor because that's his title and plus he's never technically taught me anything, but there are some things that are deeply ingrained in my mind and calling the people in charge of my school courses teachers is one of those things. However, I am willing to try. Mentor, mentor, mentor, mentor.

So I have a provincial exam at the end of the month and though it doesn't actually add up to much of my final mark and I'm not to concerned about grades anyway, I still want to do well. I don't have to do the test. But I kind of like tests. Plus even if I get half the answers wrong that's still more than I got from not doing the test. So it's kind of a win/win if you look at it that way.

This test is on January 28th. At a school. I have to go--at like 8:30am, no less--into a school and presumably sit with other students and write a test. Presumably on paper. I have never done that before. The thought is kind of scary. The other scary thing is that January 28th is like 18 days away. And I don't even understand trigonometry yet. Or sampling.

*tries to take deep breath* *puts on I've Got a Feeling, by the Black Eyed Peas* Okay, we're calm again. Home schooling problem: You, the learner, are responsible. For everything. Do you feel the pressure? Yeah.

One of the reasons that I don't understand trigonometry and the like is because of the way the course is written. Sometimes it's stupid and unclear and I've even corrected it once when the answer was wrong. This is somewhat disconcerting. I try not to blame my mentor but when I email him with a problem and he emails me back and I still don't understand it makes me feel stupid. And nobody likes that. So am I supposed to email back and say I still don't understand and could you please dumb it down a little? It's already the stupid people math. If you don't understand stupid people math, what do you understand? It's not a self esteem building activity, I can tell you.

*sigh* Okay, I need to move on. I need to stop procrastinating and ask for more help. I can do it. 18 days is a long time. Lots of days and hours and minutes to be learning mathematics. It's cool.

I don't think I ever answered your question about charities, Vita, so I will tell you now that I am a fan of Free the Children. It's not exactly the same as Save the Children, but it was started by a 12-year-old boy who is now like 22 and it's the largest network of children helping children through education. They build wells and schools and send kids on trips to build schools and wells. ;-)

Cheating

This blog is hereby completely CHEATING the standard rules of blogging because all it shall consist of is this:



I approve. It's late, but moreso than that excuse is that today was just NOT good for me for reasons trivial and uninteresting to the general blog-viewing public.

PS: "Significant others come".... heh. heheheh...;)

GONE, a review (plus LOTS OF CAPITALS)

I just realized that it's 10:30pm on a Thursday and I have not written a blog today. That won't do, will it?

I finished a book called Gone last night at 12am. I don't know what the chances are that either of you have read it but here's a quick summary: One day in the small town of Perdido Beach, California all adults and teenagers 15 and over disappear. Poof. They're all gone. Then they realize that they're enclosed in some kind of dome that burns to touch and is basically a wall that they can't get around or out of. It's advertised as if Stephen King had written Lord of the Flies, it would look like this. Oh and did I mention that some kids have MAGICAL POWERS?!?! Because it's true.

SO, I read it for book club and if it hadn't been for book club I probably would have given up after the first 100 pages. It was just so lame. After the initial 'OMG, they're all gone,' there was no action. It was dreadfully slow. Plus the characters were really 2002.* They were terrible cliches like Astrid the Genius and Sam and Quinn, the surfer dudes. It was awful. Also the dialogue was often painful. I kept on reading. I am just that dedicated to my book club**.

Then a bunch of stuff happened really quickly and I was hooked until the end.

Sam, the main character, only gained respect from me after he badmouthed the seriously twisted bully (with telekinetic powers, no less) and made a Harry Potter reference. After that I was totally on his side. I felt like I was his motivator and he was my charity case. Every time he did something smart I was totally surprised and enthused and every time he did something stupid I was totally pissed of and yet unsurprised. It was kind of a love/hate relationship.

The dialog was still bad sometimes and when the author tried to add some romance I totally cringed but it was good after those first 100 dud pages.

I don't know if I'd recommend it to anyone as there's a lot of other (better) stuff out there but I will be reading the sequel. Let's just hope that Michael Grant talked to a real teenager between writing the two books and realized that we don't actually talk EXACTLY like that.

I'm not sure what's with all the capital letters today. AHA! That was ONLY 17 minutes. 18 by the time I hit publish, I'm sure.

*'That's so 2002' is something I'm trying to make happen. Basically, it means that's so lame or notsome or whatever. I don't know what 2002 did to deserve this dishonour, but it just happened and I'm obsessed with it. Although really, obsessions are so 2002. ;)

**SPEAKING of which, what happened to that?

Schools for Dentists****

In regard to Hogwarts being real, BUT having to deal with the fact that *I* could not get in:

I'd be kind of mad, I suppose. Why not MEEEEE*, and on and on for a bit, but then I'd be cool with it. Just because I personally couldn't get doesn't mean it shouldn't exist for other people. It would be like telling me one day, "Hey, didja know there's a school for DENTISTS in Oregon?" (This, of course assuming I have no desire to be a dentist*********)

On various current movies:
Princess and the Frog: YES!!!** Naveen! Yay. As much as the story and characters are fantastic, I really like that Disney finally made a "normal" animated movie for the first time since... Mulan? That was the last good one. Possibly a "statement" finally renouncing classic Disney racism? But, if the setting/characters were changed, I don't think it would have nearly as good. (comments lengthened in footnotes, must get to other movies.)
Whip It: Also really good. Quirky and funny and featuring professional female kickers of ass.***
Sherlock Holmes: Now I really don't want to see it. I like the mysteries somewhat, but the fact that they turned it into an action movie completely erases the interest I had in it.
Pirate Radio: I'm going to have to go see that... *checks box*

Multiple footnotes:
* I was 10 when I started to read HP, my hopes were so incredibly crushed that summer. :( That's what I was like the first time, I might regress for a while if exposed to its reality.

*X9 a. Really I do not. Mouths of people. Sharp objects. Not for me.
b. But, in this context where "dentist" means "wizard" I DO have quite a desire to... yup, I'd be semi-bitter(sweet chocolate chips! :D) for maybe a week if I'm being honest. Then I'd be happy for the lucky ones.
c. Why Oregon? Far enough away to be out of mind, a la magical England.

**WHY DO I SEEM SO EXCITED? RAHAHAHA! (mania over, I'm not *that* fanatical about the movie, I'm just like THIS. TODAY.)

*** I want a roller derby name. I do NOT want to participate in roller derby. You have to be quite intimidating. I am not. Roar.

**** The Muggle equivalent of (sadistic) wizards, maybe. Hermione's parents are, anywhoz. (dentists, I mean. Not sadistic.)

Humans have a knack for choosing precisely the things that are worst for them...

I have a question for you. It's not mandatory to answer (is anything ever mandatory?), although I'd be very interested in hearing what you think -

If Hogwarts and that whole wizarding world was real and actually existed in the world, but you were NOT a witch or anything magical (i.e. you were a Muggle), would you want to know that that world really existed?

This popped into my head a few days ago. Initially, I thought, "Well, of course I would..." but upon further reflection I decided that I wouldn't want to know. Lord knows that I would LOVE for it to be real. No joke, if heaven is real, I hope mine includes Hogwarts. * But to have something like that so close yet so far, as they say, would be incredibly difficult to live with. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'd be bitter my whole life about not being a part of it, but I'd most likely be some mix between really sad and really happy - wistful, I suppose. I wouldn't want to have to keep thinking about what could have been and I wouldn't want to have to compare everything in my life to what it would be like if I was a witch... I wouldn't want to be driven crazy by a desperate wish to be involved in a world that I could never truly be involved in. I mean, I wouldn't want magical folk to avoid me (I'd love to be friends with Harry Potter, even if I didn't know he was a wizard) but I wouldn't want them to cast one spell and then walk away forever. (o noez, emooooo)

That said, I'd make an exception if a close friend/boyfriend/family member was a witch/wizard. In that case, I'd definitely want to know. Also, if I encountered that world first-hand, I wouldn't want my memory erased (like whenever a Muggle sees a dragon or whatever in the books, they have people from the Ministry who erase it from their memory), although really, how could you know that that world existed unless you experienced it first-hand? I'm not sure of the logistics of that, but I still stand by my answer.

* Some hard-core Christians would probably see this as sacreligious. Luckily, I'm not religious.

A Movie Blog

My hair is pink. Or at least the front. And it's not really pink pink, like a bubblegum pink but more like a dark pinky purple that looks brighter in the sunlight. I was going to say it sparkled in the sunlight but then I stopped myself.

Thinking about the colour pink reminds me of the fact that my sister used to state her favourite colour as bluey-pink which seems quite ridiculous now. Bluey-pink is not a colour. Blue and pink don't even mix. If you put together blue and pink it turns into purple, or something like it. End of story. Bluey-pink is a ridiculous thought.

I feel like talking about movies. I think I will do that. I've recently realized that my family is movie obsessed. We go to see, own and watch more movies than any household I know of.

I just saw Sherlock Holmes. Like, I literally just got home for the theater. I went because everyone in my family went which I don't normally do but today was an exception. Sherlock Holmes is not my type of movie. I'm not a huge fan of loudness, action or violence. Sherlock Holmes was a big mixture of all of those things plus some mystery solving stuff and funny-ness. The mystery stuff and funny stuff was enjoyable for me but the rest was not. Have you ever wanted to see the cross section of a pig? I didn't think you would. I had to close my eyes, and at some particularly explosive and loud parts ears, multiple times.

I got The Breakfast Club for Christmas, which I think I will watch again tomorrow as a reward for finishing my schoolwork (including but not limited to my essay on Romeo & Juliet/West Side Story). I love The Breakfast Club. I think it's a great story and you can really feel all the changes each character goes through during the ONE DAY of the movie. It always astounds me that all that happened in ONE DAY. Plus there's the great screenplay and humour and themes and message and stuff.

A couple weeks ago I saw a double feature of Pirate Radio and Whip It. Pirate Radio was amazing. The soundtrack alone is genius but the actors, screenplay and story were also excellent. Another strong point was Tom Sturridge who I think I have said is the most beautiful person ever. I need to see the movie again just for him. Great film. Gorgeous guy.

Whip It was also good, but was slightly overshadowed by the brilliance of Pirate Radio. I love Ellen Page. She's great. Despite following Pirate Radio, it was still funny and quirky and witty and awesome. The message was a marvelous, Nerdfightastic one: Do what you love; be who you want to be, etc. etc. Roller derby looks interesting but not something I'm interested in participating in.

After Pirate Radio and before Sherlock Holmes I saw The Frog Princess, another splendid addition to the Disney princess collection. Another strong message and can I just say that I loved Prince Naveen? He is, by far, by favourite Disney prince ever. He actually had a personality and made a progression through the movie. I know Vita's has seen it but I don't know about you, Rena. You have to see it while you can. Or you could wait for the dvd. Anyway, my favourite scene, which nearly made my cry, was when Naveen was going to propose and he made that ring out of the mardi gras beads and that dinner of minced veggies and it was the most adorable thing I've ever seen a frog do. And then he kept messing stuff up and it was so cute and pathetic and I'll stop before I spoil too much but it was really good. Another wonderful mix of funny and cute stuff and mushy stuff and magic.

I'll go now. Good luck on the going back to school.

2 resolvz ur nawt 2 resolvz...

On the one hand, I feel like I should continue this week's theme of blogging about the previous year and post my resolutions for the coming year.

On the left hand, I feel that it's sufficiently past New Year's and also that I have tweeted my only slightly nonsensical list of resolutions. What to DO, what to DOOOO....

I know, Google! (which has lead me to THIS prompt site.) Unfortunately, most of them do not apply to me "Describe your favorite vacation from your married years" "What's in your car trunk?" "Funny things your kids did when they were young" Oh, here's one!

"High school reminds you of..."

This could be turned into one loooong metaphor using a road, a jigsaw puzzle, a crystal ball, who knows? I'm choosing Tetris. Yes, Tetris. Think about it. We're all Tetris pieces, and some pieces form clumps that are beneficial to actually winning the game, and they just stay in their own little corner; and sometimes a bunch of those S-shaped pieces plie up on top of each other and screw the entire thing. Some special people are the magical straight piece, slipping in where the other pieces have created the perfect hole for it, doing no work but getting all the credit.

In real life, I believe these people would be classified as lucky bastards.

Okay, metaphoric thing over.

Rereading that, that last paragraph seems incredibly bitter. Rest assured I'm not, really, this is just an attempt at being witty.

Oh! Thing I learned today: It is possible to LOL-cat EVERYTHING. A quote from the Lolcat bible:

"An Ceiling Cat gotted all teh waterz in ur base, An Ceiling Cat hadz dry placez cuz kittehs DO NOT WANT get wet. An Ceiling Cat called no waterz urth and waters oshun. Iz good. An Ceiling Cat sayed, DO WANT grass! so tehr wuz seedz An stufs, An fruitzors An vegbatels. An a Corm. It happen. An Ceiling Cat sawed that weedz ish good, so, letz there be weedz. An so teh threeth day jazzhands."

Srsly. LULZ.

I Never Know if "New Years" has an Apostrophe or Not

(I apologize for the not entirely accurate capitalization of the title; it bugs me when I have a string of uncapitalized words in a row. Perhaps I need to start using more important words in my titles...)

It's the first day of the new year and I've already failed my New Year's resolution, which was not to procrastinate.

The first thing I thought this morning (other than the usual "blllgeeeeeeeeeghhhhhhh") was "I should probably work on that project today." My second thought, which was unfortunately not meant to be ironic, was "I'll do it tomorrow."

Mind you, I've been saying this to myself for the past week. Just a few hours ago I told myself I'd finish all my homework tonight so that I could work on the project for a good chunk of Saturday and Sunday. Right now it's 8:54 pm and I've only finished part of my English homework and what I know how to do of my math homework (i.e. not very much at all, but I don't have all my notes written down so I can't really figure the rest out until Monday - blaaaah). Perhaps what makes this situation even more pathetic is that ALL of this homework was technically due last Monday, but we had three days off for the snow-barf (as Maureen would say) and then winter break. I've decided that I'm not going to sleep tonight until I've finished my Chemistry and read chapter 17 of my "Enduring Visions" textbook. *

We can further explore the depth of my procrastination when we consider the things I procrastinate on that I quite like doing, such as practicing guitar. The strange thing is, I don't mind practicing guitar. I actually like it. It's frustrating at times, as I expect it is with most instruments, but it's not like it's a torturous process. If I hated it, I would quit, but I don't. It's just the thought of practicing that puts me off. I don't understand why; it's just yet another thing that I say I'll do in an hour and then it's two days later and I still haven't done it. I suppose it could be because I know that I'll most likely make a few (...hundred?) mistakes, but that doesn't sound credible, even to me. Being terrified of failure is not a characteristic of mine and I don't think anyone would consider making mistakes whilst practicing to be a type of failure anyhow.

I think one of the real reasons that people are so terrible at keeping their New Years/Years'/Year's resolutions is because they feel that if they go astray once, they've failed themselves and may as well give up. I read somewhere that we ought to rename them "New Years/'s/s' Goals" and I definitely agree. The resolutions shouldn't be something that makes you feel BAD if it's difficult to finish. The whole idea is that it's a new year, a new beginning, a new leaf, and that you should change your habits accordingly. Really, as long as you've made a positive, consistent change in whatever behavior needs changing by the time 2011 rolls around, I think you can say you've accomplished your 2010 resolutions, even if you DID get off track once or twice.

I DO have the first post of 2010 (I KEEP ACCIDENTALLY TYPING 2012), so I may as well list the rest of my resolution type things, which I think are pretty self-explanatory:

- Don't procrastinate (or at least procrastinate less)
- Get a for job this summer and beyond
- Start doing yoga (okay, this one requires some comment. I've always liked yoga but I've never done it for real. I feel like people either see it as the routine of a laid-back vegetarian Californian, a pregnant woman, or a middle-aged lady who wants something to do, but it's really not. For one thing, there are tons of types of yoga, from the relaxing kind to the really intense workout kind. I'd really like to be more flexible [I can, for example, touch my toes without dying, but still]. My sister used to do Pilates as a mandatory part of her ballet class, so whatever, b*****s. Also, yoga pants are really comfortable. Just saying.)
- Make an effort to be more sociable
- Acknowledge people in the hallways in a more obvious fashion (I'VE always thought it was obvious, but apparently it isn't to some people - perhaps they need glasses? ah well)
- Regardless of whether I do IB or AP next year, meet the classes and work head-on and take them down like a b****
- Actually study for the math part of the SAT so I can hopefully get some sort of scholarship to some university

And, most importantly:

- Put more effort into my blogs on this blog so as not to completely bore you lovely people :)

Happy New Year!

* This textbook is simultaneously the most amusing and the most frustrating non-mathematical/scientific textbook I've ever encountered. It has this really weird way of describing things that have made me burst out laughing a few times (peculiarly - not inappropriately but certainly peculiarly - it called Aaron Burr a "womanizer." What?) However, that hardly even begins to make up for how much useless/irrelevant information it contains, AND a VERY STRONG grieviance of mine, which is that it will occasionally say something to the effect of "this event/person/handkerchief was very important for the future of America for three reasons" AND THEN IT ONLY LISTS TWO. This is NOT because I have poor reading skills - I have REREAD THE SECTION OF THE BOOK MULTIPLE TIMES and THERE ARE NOT THREE REASONS. AAAAAAHHHH.