The first in a series of hopefully consecutive blogs

Wow. It's the last day of July.

(Stating the obvious results in short sentences. . .)

What this means to me:

1. There are exactly 23 days until school starts, in which time I will be. . .

2. Writing blogs.

3. Alternately dreading and looking forward to the start of school, because on the one hand it can't be worse than last year*, but on the other: schoolwork. And waking up at six, the ungodly hour to which I am becoming severely less accustomed to even seeing. . . And actual schoolwork. But I don't have to worry about this for more than 3 weeks.**

4. It's also Harry Potter/Jo Rowling's birthday. Short list is short.

So. See y'all tomorrow. (On the Ning. I'm horrible at remembering to cross-post things--and if I did, to where? To here on my assigned days, and then every other day on my other other blog? Complicated. Plus, I am quite fond of the Ning. It's like the mothership*** or whatever; must return to it. . .)

Footnotes:

* More challenging, yes, but I cannot mentally perceive it as worse. Sophomores have a reputation for being smug, and I'm almost certain this is why: "I've survived one year. Oh hells yes, I am a frakking CHAMPION at this."

** Barely more than three weeks. But still more.

*** Mother-blog-hosting-site?

Procrastionation, Pwned

The school year is quickly becoming an entrance to that long, dark, and metaphorical tunnel that everyone's always talking about. Given that I'm a) going to be a Junior next year which b) signifies the beginning of my "journey" through the IB program, my slight procrastination problem is looking more self-screwing that ever.

For example: right now, I should be finishing my summer math packet, be almost done with Song of Solomon, and nearly finished with the work that accompanies Act 1 of That French Play. In reality, I am a little more than halfway done with said math packet, on chapter nine (out of fifteen) in Song of Solomon, and I have yet to read further than the second page of Les Justes.

(Alex, you're not the only one who has an apparent fondness for fucking oneself over.)

So: partly* to showcase my brilliant anti-procrastination tactics, partly because I'm determined to finish this goddamn math packet before the night is over and therefore need to finish this blog up, here are some screen shots of the beautiful second "Homework" account I have created on my laptop. The idea is that I will do all computer-related homework on this account because I have blocked practically every distracting website I visit. MARVEL IN ITS GLORY.

Organized Word is organized!

New desktop background: because no matter how bad the school year gets, Harry Potter had it worse.
(Also, Harry Potter is inspiring.)

Look at how many websites I can't get access! SWEET FREEDOM.
(I have since added, like, ten more since I took this.)
(Also, after doing this, I realized that I could have just blocked blogspot.com, etc. Oh well. It's more... personalized this way.)

*Does anyone know what the difference between "partly" and "partially" is? I have trouble distinguishing between the two. According to dictionary.com, "partly" is defined as "in part; to some extent or degree; partially; not wholly" and "partially" is defined as "being such in part only; not total or general; incomplete." What? Not helpful, dictionary.com. Any advice? Is there a nuance between them?

Missing from the airwaves

So, it's 11:47 and Thursday which means 'Hello. It's time for a sufficiently sub par blog post.'

Ick. Please allow me to digress and tell you about the one thing that's been on my consciousness lately. And that is me and my obsession with deadlines*.

I've set three project deadlines for the end of this month. They are, in no particular order:

1. Finish reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
2. Finish writing the second draft of my novel.
3. Read Beastly for book club.

There was also something about finishing my art course in order to render Jake, my art mentor, completely and utterly speechless as well as pleased but that was a bit vague so it's definitely not happening.

To give you a better idea of these goals, some number figures:

• I have approximately 145 pages of Huckleberry Finn to read divided by two days which may not seem like that much as I actually enjoy the book but I still have not managed to read more than 35 pages in a day.
• I have approximately 12,201 words of outlined novel to write divided by two days which is certainly doable NaNoWriMo style but looking at my recent writing history, is going to be a stretch. I wouldn't call it writers' block, my problem, more, er... boredom.
• Beastly is going to be the easiest goal and possibly the only one I fulfill (yeah, yeah, I know I should stay positive but... really?). I've just started it today but I'm already about seventy pages in so I'm not worried about finishing it by... tomorrow at one o'clock?

Fuck, I'm screwed. Why do I do this to myself?

*If you're wondering with all the boldness and italicizing, that's because I read somewhere that you should make your blog posts easy to read or in another word skimmable so I'm seeing if that works. I'm not sure I want to be skimmed but it's possibly better than being skipped simply because sometimes I don't know what I'm trying to say until after I've divulged a couple sentences that don't follow a lot of rules of order.

Of Blenders and Blunders

This blog comes to you in. . . PARTS. To be added as I think of them.

Part ONE-- (LeakyCon and the factors regarding my attendance thereabouts)

- I do have an HP-obsessed close friend, who has an aunt who has previously shown chaperone-willingness*

- My parents:

a.) will not pay for a trip that is only going to benefit/transport one person...

b.) ...especially if that person is their underaged daughter...

c.) ...who has gone to meet various acquaintances acquired through the Internet.

- Florida is very not near my current location.

HOWEVER-

I *plan* on actually making money between now and 2011.

My parents are trusting of aforementioned friend and her relatives.

Both parties aforementioned have discussed a joint venture to Florida**, which would benefit multiple people***

Part TWO (In which this post becomes more than my squee-ing over LeakyCon)

. . .alright, all I was going to do was squee over LeakyCon. . . did you know that today was Barbie in a Blender Day? Very cool, lawsuits about the first amendment and so forth, and now it's a holiday. Oh, and it's also International Blondie Month. (Not the hair color, not the pastry, the band.)

Part THREE (A tangent in which my blogging character-traits are strengthened)

Very early memory proving my uncoordinatedness, which I will be reminded of until the death of radio-- my mother was teaching me to dance like a raver to this song (by Blondie. . . you see my thought process?), which I quite enjoyed because it consisted of jumping up and down like a hyperactive child set to music. Socks + hardwood floor + overenthusiastic jumping = SCARY SMACKING SOUND****, face on floor.

Footnotes:

* Although this was to an anime convention, ~30 minutes away from current location.

** Specifically The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park, which is close to LeakyCon.

*** I don't know why I'm fixated on benefitting multiple persons, possibly so I don't seem selfish?

**** Cue laughter (mom), screaming (me). The sound made it more painful.

EDIT: YES to the week-of-imitating. (Blogger isn't letting me post comments, meh.)

LeakyCon '11

As you two (Alex and Rena) are aware, LeakyCon is next year. Now, I don't know how serious you two are about going, but I for one would love to go if it proves to be at all possible. However, there are several rather large problems that may prove difficult to resolve. I'm going to list them out here just so you know where I am, registration-wise, and as you may have the same problems, perhaps we can discuss them and see if going to LeakyCon is at all feasible...

1) Firstly and most importantly, one must be eighteen or older to attend LeakyCon unchaperoned. Unless you two are planning on aging two+ years in the span of one year, this presents a problem, namely that none of us are going to be eighteen next summer. (Unless, of course, there is something you're not telling us. But I have faith in you.) Essentially this leaves us with the option of attending the conference with either a parent or with another 21+ "chaperone," which is unfortunate but unavoidable. I can think of two solutions to this problem:
a) Get fake ID's/passports that make us out to be eighteen or older. However, I do not recommend this solution as
i) It is illegal and I would rather not have the government angry with me,
ii) It is illegal and also sneaky and I would rather not have my parents disown me*
iii) Regardless of the aforementioned flaws, it is illegal and I would rather not spend all that money only to have the LeakyCon people somehow find out and kick me off the premises.
b) Have a parent and/or 21+ person come with me, which is more difficult than it may sound because
i) We do not have tons of money to throw around all willy-nilly and neither of my parents would be keen on spending upwards of $200 dollars (including a plane ticket or gas money) to register for a conference that they are not the least bit interested in attending,
ii) I don't know very many people who are 21 or older, by which I mean I am not good friends/family friends/etc. with anyone who is 21 or older who also loves Harry Potter enough to pay to go to a conference about it.

2) LeakyCon is pretty expensive and while I'd argue that it would ultimately be completely worth it... it's expensive. Between now and the time that registration closes, but preferably between now and September because after the latter prices go up, I would have enough money to be able to afford paying for the conference and a plane ticket. Still. It's expensive. And yes, I would have to pay for it myself... my parents are wonderful people but they don't buy me everything I want, especially not a $200 conference registration.
a) There aren't really any solutions to this problem, except to, like, make money. w00t.

3) I don't know about y'alls, but I actually don't know very many Nerdfighters/other hardcore HP fans. Of course, it can and should be correctly argued that HP gatherings are the perfect place to meet people, but they are also not the sort of place you want to go to completely uninitiated, you know? It wouldn't be a problem if, say, you two attended, but. (Always 'but.') Easier said than done.

Sadly, LeakyCon '11 is looking to be a mere dream, BUT perhaps it will work out somehow. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! :)

* They wouldn't actually disown me, but they would be very very pissed off, to say the least. Also I don't think there is any way I would be able to sneak off to Florida without them suspecting something, namely that I snuck off to Florida.

Nerdfightersecrets

Re: Jeeber-- I don't outright hate him, I hate his haters and I hate his fangirls. Both of which he hath spawned. It takes an incredible person to generate the kind of reaction people have to him. It's nearly scary. If all of those preteen girls devoted as much enthusiasm/time/money to *insert worldsaving cause here*, it would be fixed by now. He's like all of the Beatles* in one terribly feminine package, plus the Internet.

It's funny, one man's deep dark secret is another's "Pssh, yeah, so?" is another's "Yeeeeah... I can top that."** This reminded me of something I've come across on the Nerdfighter Ning, wherein secrets (Nerdfighting-related, of course. There's a more general one, but I haven't looked at it) can be posted anonymously. Some are silly, which might be the point of the blog, to have people read them and relate to them, and chuckle to themselves and feel more connected to Nerdfighteria/thousands of faceless entities in their computer. Others are just fracking deep and sad. Some are a bittersweet medium. Two examples, because I don't want to spoil the rest for you...

1. "Sometimes I wonder what John Green smells like."

2. "Do I love Doctor Who because the show is awesome, or because I'm waiting for the Doctor to whisk me away? I wish there was, just, more to life."***

* Excuse the comparison, Jeeber doesn't deserve it in my opinion, but it's the best I could come up with.

** I don't know what I was expecting from Vita's, I'm just melodramatic with an overactive imagination.

*** I feel the same way, only because after 4 years I've finally accepted that the whisking away isn't going to come in the form of a Hogwarts letter. Oh, fiction. How you burn.