Nothing

I have nothing to say today, too much to say, actually, so I will just leave this quote, which I hope sums it up. I think it does.

Quote for July 27, 2009:

It is worms which destroy a tree, it is worry which destroys a man.

-Turkish proverb

(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Worry)

Feeling blue, Indigo?

A few days ago, I posted a post about the fact that I am an Anglophile. Obviously, most of my favorite characters are British as well. Like Indigo Casson, from the books by Hilary McKay, about the Casson family. He has a friend, Tom Levin, who says, Feeling blue, Indigo? In my head, he says this in a British accent even though he is not British. He is from New York.
Our current family vacation is not quite decided yet. We could go to Mt. Rushmore, Smoky Mountains, or New York. My brother wants to go to New York, because of many reasons. One is to go to the 600th floor of the Empire State Building. Although my mother tried explaining to him that there is no 600th floor, he replied that mere mortals cannot see it. (For all non-Percy Jackson readers, the 600th floor is the location of Mt. Olympus.)
I want to go anywhere, really, but New York would be really cool. Especially because of Tom Levin! Whenever Rose, a certain character, imagines Tom in New York, she imagines him in front of a large sign that says NEW YORK. I would do the same thing, and hold up a stupid picture of Hello Kitty as Tom that happened to be drawn a while ago, despite several protests that that was insulting. Yeah. Sure.

Quote for July 26, 2009:

The family is always the family but during vacations it is an extended family and that is exhausting.

-Gertrude Stein

(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vacation)

England, Scotland

I am an obsessed Anglophile. My dreams consist of heading off to the UK when I'm older, being rich and nomadic, and living happily ever after surrounded by utter Britishness.
Enter sarcastic people, crushing my hopes and dreams with their criticizing looks. Like my brother. He dreams of going to Austrailia, and he makes fun of me. Whatever.
But that is my major goal right now. London. Or Scotland, where JK Rowling lives! (I had to do my customary HP plug.)
But the UK will have to wait! Because I, much to my dismay, am still a minor, with dreams of grandeur that might not happen, except in my head.

Quote for July 24, 2009:

I've been walking about London for the last thirty years, and I find something fresh in it every day.
-Walter Besant (1901)

(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/London)

Neville

I am, if you have not guessed, an HP junkie. It's my life. K is watching Goblet of Fire for, I don't know, the nine millionth time. And I was thinking about Neville. Oh, poor, poor Neville Longbottom. The Boy-It-Could-Have-Been. But Neville Longbottom and the Philosopher's Stone isn't half so catchy, is it? And, like Harry was wondering in the sixth book, it would have changed everything. If Alice Longbottom hadn't died for her son, if Lily hadn't died for Harry, would it have deferred to the other? Or would Voldemort still be going strong?
There are so many people at school who hate Harry Potter. My friend Lauren was saying that she doesn't like magic stories, so she doesn't read it.
As I've said-repeatedly-it's not a series of funny words and wand-waving. It's very, very principle-centered. It's about love, courage, good/evil. Besides, it's funny.
And before any sarcastic person asks me how much I'm getting paid to give a sales-pitch for these books, I'm not. I love them, the characters, how human they are. I'm doing this out of my own free will. But my wallet is running on empty. If anyone feels obliged to throw a few dollars my way, I'm not one to object.
But Neville. The name of this post. He's not my favorite, never has been, never will be. Ginny and Ron Weasley are much cooler. But Neville has always been pitiful, a bit pathetic, really. And as the series goes on, he gets stronger, cooler, actually. I can see him as the Chosen One, if it came to that. He slayed Nagini, after all. So I do like him, I suppose. But frankly, I would choose a Weasley over anyone else in the series any day.

Contests

I hate contests.
Namely, sweepstakes. Why, you ask? Because, my dear sirs and madams, I never win. It's awful not to let me win. If you are thinking about sweepstaking something utterly cool, don't even bother anymore. Just send the prize/prizes to me. Like an espionage mission, we can switch suitcases.
This sweepstake in question was, of course, a Harry Potter sweepstake. (Is it sweepstake or sweepstakes? Is sweepstakes a plural or a normal non-plural word? These are the questions that haunt me....) And it wasn't just one prize, it was several! I had so many chances, and yet I didn't get one. Grrrrr. And even if I had one, chances were I never would have used it, but now we'll never know, will we?

Quote for July 23, 2009:

"If I win I'm a prodigy. If I lose then I'm mad. That is the way history was written."

-Artemis Fowl, from Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eoin_Colfer)

My iPod

You may not know this about me, but I am addicted to my iPod. Mostly to podcasts. In The Titan's Curse, by Rick Riordan, Apollo is obsessed with haikus. He says this one on page 155:

Dreams like a podcast

downloading truth in my ears.

They tell me cool stuff.

(I never said it was good.) But I love that haiku. I quote it all the time. My brother, on the other hand, likes the music on my iPod. Harry and The Potters, Billy Joel, Survivor and Elvis are just a few of his requests (except for Harry and the Potters, which was mine).

For a few harrowing days, it was lost! I was traumatized, you better believe it. But now that I have it back, I am going podcast crazy.

I doubt you care. Neither do I! I just wanted to do a quote of the day.

Quote for July 21, 2009:

One may live as a conqueror, a king, or a magistrate; but he must die as a man.

-Daniel Webster, from Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers, page 173

(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Death)

Rosalind Penderwick

There is a lovely series of books by a perfectly fantasic author named Jeanne Birdsall! They feature a family with the last name of Penderwick. (Isn't that a great name?) It's going to be a series of five, I believe, according to her website, which is http://www.jeannebirdsall.com/ if you want to check it out for more information, and I can't wait! Those are some of my favorite books.
My cousins and my brother and I all relate to one of the characters. My brother (we'll call him K) is Batty, my cousin J is Jane, my cousin B is Skye, and I am Rosalind! I envy Rosy her life sometimes, plus she's such a responsible, kind, just almost perfect person that she's just plain cool. (AND, AND, AND......she can bake! What could be better than to be compared to an almost perfect person who can bake on top of everything?)
Although I only have one brother, not three sisters, and Rosalind doesn't have two cousins who live sort of far away, I have Rosalind moments. Like today, it was almost twilight outside, and I was sitting with my book (a biography of Mark Twain, for anyone who cares) and I was looking around at the very summer-y world. A Rosalind moment! Hurrah!
Note: I've decided to do a 'Quote of the Day' thing. This will not be every day, just days when I find an appropriate quote and/or remember to.

Quote for July 20, 2009:

"There's nothing to tell, Daddy, really. I needed some air, so I took a walk, fell into the lily pond, and hit my head on a rock."

-Rosalind Penderwick from The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall, page 204

Aster

Aster is Vinnialia's brother, and don't make fun of his name, okay? I certainly didn't know aster was a kind of flower until my cousin (we'll call her J) told me, and Aster doesn't know either.
Anyway, Aster is a bit of a wimp. Only very slightly, though. Mostly he is brave. He's loyal, and a daydreamer, and a piano player. He has the (ahem) misfortune of having Vinnialia as a sibling, which, naturally, can get hard sometimes.
Aster dies, much to J's sadness. Aster is her favorite character, and it's "necessary" to kill him off. I explained this away by saying, "The good die young!" but now I know the reason why.
Did I ever tell you Vinnialia and Aster are orphans? Aster and Lindsday are the closest thing Vinnialia's got to family, and she is not vulnerable in any way. Aster is like her 'rock', because, quite frankly, Vinnialia is too much of an idiot to be anyone's anchor. And when her anchor gets misplaced, what happens? *da da daaaaaaaah*

Optimisim: A Reply

My goodness. What is this- my fifth post today? It's summer. I've got nothing better to do. Sorry. This is the last one.
Anywho, I was reading my cousin's blog. She posted one bit about optimisim.
BLEH.
No. I'm not an optimist. What is there to be optimistic about? Well, yeah, plenty of stuff, book releases and podcasts, and many other things, but I'm a realist. Okay? Not a pessimist, a realist. I don't look at things negatively or positively, just as-it-is-ly. Usual-ly.
So she put a link from Wikiquote. Here's a quote that I like:
I find nothing more depressing than optimism.
-Paul Fussell
That pretty much sums me up.
If you're looking for the Wikiquote page, here it is, thanks to Questa and Wikiquote:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Optimism

Chocolate Muffin Tales (Note: Not About Food)

My brother is standing here, eating a chocolate muffin, and asking me why I don't write about him. So I will. Go away, brother!
My brother is a few years younger than I, and he is a really typical brother. He's messy, and scruffy, and annoying. He has been known to not have stains all down his shirt, but I think that was a rumor. He really, really loves animals, especially baby animals, fish, puppies, horses, and my goodness he loves birds and ants. If you step on an ant he will hardly talk to you, which is hard for him, because he is an epic chatterbox. People tell me I don't talk enough/loud enough, and then they tell him to be quiet for a minute. He adores playing video games, sports, and even writes stories of baseball players that are rather good. He laughs really easily, and is currently wending his way through Harry Potter and Percy Jackson and The Olympians. He enjoys grabbing my precious iPod whenever he can, which is not often.
I hope that's enough about him, he should be happily honored by this post. If he can read it with those chocolate-y crumbs all down his face.

The Last Lecture

Part of my summer reading list was to read The Last Lecture. That was a book I liked. It was funny, and nice, and it was fun to read.
*crowd of slack-jawed people stare in astonishment* Yes. It's true. For me, school books (books assigned by teachers) tend to be never fun to read. That was the story of my entire last school year! It wasn't a school book, however. It was something I might've read on my own.
I was thinking about the achieving your childhood dreams part. I've still got time, I haven't grown up completely, right? There are lots of cool stuff to do. Like I've never been to Disneyland, I've never scribbled with crayon all over a wall, I've never met JK Rowling, I've never written/published a book, I've never waved from the top of the Eiffel Tower and I've never checked my watch against Big Ben and I've never, ever beaten my brother or my cousin at Mario Kart. (Nor do I think I ever will.)
There's a lot more stuff I'd love to do someday (like be British for a day). In the book, Randy Pausch did stuff I'd never dreamed of doing. My favorites were being in zero gravity and, naturally, painting on the walls of his room! That was fabulous. Amazing. Brilliant. And when it comes to books, I usually know what I'm talking about.

Too bad!

I've been wondering why in the world I even got a blog. Some of the stuff I say is long and ranting, most just plain stupid.
The truth is, I don't know. Maybe it's because my cousin got a blog, and her blog is pretty interesting. Maybe it's because I want to say something, to everybody. Does it matter? Well, yes. Yes, it does. But if you don't like the blog, too bad! I'm here to stay...until I forget.

Alter-Egos

Have you ever been an alter-ego? Have you ever had one? If you haven't, they're very amusing. Like mine, an evil mastermind named Athena Endene! She lives normally, but takes revenge on all who anger her!!
(So when I am being her, pass the salt without complaint. Clean my room. Do my homework.)
She's very useful, though, seeing as she enjoys math and I do not. She can do my Kumon while I do the plotting of dastardly deeds!
(Of course, I know she's not real, but don't burst my bubble.)

Vinnialia

*singsong voice* You don't know who Vinnialia is...
...so I'm going to tell you. (I've stopped the singsong voice.)
Vinnialia M. DeLunes and Aster and Lindsay England are all book characters! My book characters, to be exact! My first, to be even more exact!
Vinnialia is greedy and selfish, so naturally, she's my favorite. She's brazen, brave, and strong, too. So something needs to stop her, to scare her. Almost nothing's unstoppable. (Except for maybe Chuck Norris.)
To go off on a tangent (I'm famous for that), I just saw The Dark Knight, that Batman movie. The Joker, who is creepy in the extreme, is hanging off a ledge on a rope by his ankle and saying, "So this is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You're incorruptable, aren't you?"
So what does happen? Is Vinnialia unstoppable? Immovable? Incorruptable? *suspenseful music*
I bet I'm not keeping you in suspense very well, but I'm hanging on the edge of my seat!
No, I don't think she is. But it's all in due time, m'lad! All in due time... dinner time! Yes, it's dinner time. That good time of the day!