Frets of AAAAH

Perfectionism is something that I strive for. I have always aimed to be better than everyone else at everything, and while I rarely accomplish that, I am usually pretty proud of what I have done. "Practice makes perfect" was an adage lodged into my brain at five, and I have never been able to shake it off completely.

But.

One downside to my quest for spotless, holy glory is that whenever I can't get something after practicing, I begin to lose it. I begin to doubt everything I've ever stood for. I fail at things I used to be good at before, like writing or standing up.

Like now.

I recently started learning how to play the guitar, like every teenager who thinks they're cool because they know how to play guitar (only I am hopefully not that annoying, because I hate people who can play three chords on the guitar and suddenly they think they're Paul fricking McCartney, and one of my fears when I started this was that I would become one of those).

And I can't get it.

I can play a bunch of chords, and I have good hands for guitar (because they're man hands, according to Ginger... *shakes head bitterly*) but I can't...you know...actually play guitar. I can play chords individually, but when I put them together, they sound like Death is skinning a drugged hyena. My fingers can't move fast enough.

And the thing is, even with all of the practicing, I can't get it. I can't get it! And I'm beginning to wonder if I am just being too hard on myself because I started a short while ago, or if I just suck at instruments and should give up now before somebody dies due to my atrocious playing, or if it just takes longer for some people to stop wanting to lie on the floor and die every time I they mess up a chord change.

Muse for Today:

This is wonderful. He's obviously making up for his stupid name.

(Source: http://thecountercurseisunjellify.tumblr.com)

A Happy Pig and Stupid Pigs

(I love this pig.) (Also, I do not own this picture of this pig. All credit goes here.)
It is 2011, a year which is almost halfway done. Wow. Time goes slowly while you're living it, but when you look back, it seems like gobs and gobs of time are slipping away.

"It reminds me that I'm closer to death!"

Ah, yes. Thank you, Cheerful Callie of Ironica, for your wise words of...cheer. Heh.

"You're welcome!"

Ah, ha! I hate you! But thanks!

So, in our seminar today, we are going to talk about something blah yeah bleh ugh.

I have nothing to say, but I wanted to put a post up anyway because I don't want to get out of practice and have to launch myself in with a BEDA-style challenge.

Again.

I have finals soon, but they start on Wednesday. I'll study. Tuesday night.

And maybe after school ends and I stop "learning" from my Spanish teacher every day for an hour (an hour where she figuratively sticks a bottle opener covered in acid into my brain and randomly pokes around in there but literally makes us write dialogue after unnecessary dialogue for want of anything better to do) my writing will not suck so much.

Or maybe it will. Who knows. I hate my Spanish teacher. What a cow. What a pig. (No offense, Smiling Pig Above.)

I also hate stupid females and males in my World Studies class. (I mean, come on. I'm not that smart, but even I know that Islam is not a country. Or a language. OR a city. I'm surprised you can even read, much less be in an honors class. And do you know how I know what Islam is? Because I actually do the bloody reading! EXTRAORDINARY!)

I'm sorry about this post. But enjoy the pig. And look at the Muse, so you can have the pleasure of reading something that is not me. Unfortunately, I am an unfaithful Blogger user, and they are all from Tumblr.

Quote for Thursday, June 2, 2011:

Never trust a pig selling pork sandwiches.

-Tom Robbins

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

Muse for Today:

MR. BEAN! PAPER HAT! *swoons and dies*: http://nerdboyfriend.com/2010/04/rowan-atkinson/
One of the funniest Tumblrs ever: http://nickclegglookingsad.tumblr.com/
Something Harry Potter related and funny because of Ron's face: http://lexcanroar.tumblr.com/post/6108987401

GARGGH

Fine. I did it. I caved.

I read the bloody Atlantis Complex excerpt.

I held out for a long while, but I am very disappointed with my self-control, or lack thereof.

However. It was a good, if infuriating, excerpt.

I was kind of confused, because I can't focus well when I read on a screen, but that will be rectified come August, when I finally get the book.

Things I have learned:

1. I am taller than Artemis by one inch. This I do not like. It seems awkward to me.
2. He has gone mental. Why is he so superstitious? It's crippling him!
3. Adam Adamsson is one of the most unfortunate names I've ever heard, but I hate him, so that's fine.
4. It is true, and B's birthday is Artemis Fowl's birthday (September 1). Too bad she doesn't care. I would care.
5. I don't like how it's called Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex. The only series I know that can pull off the 'and the' is Harry Potter.
6. 'That sounds insane, Artemis realized. Even to me.'
7. I hate Hartemis (Holly/Artemis) shippers. I hate them I hate them I hate them. And this chapter pricked up my Hartemis sensors and made me want to spit poison.
8. Everyone seems different. That is upsetting.
9. 'In spite of their historic dislike for each other'? Trouble Kelp and Artemis Fowl? What?
10. Artemis's attitude is starting to make me hate him. He's doubting himself, blaming Butler, not being smug and snarky. What happened?
11. 'The number gods'? The bloody NUMBER GODS? ARTEMIS! GET A GRIP!
12. '"Foaly is singing," said Holly. "Surely that's illegal?"'
13. Foaly has a foal!
14. "Worry not, lesser intellect."

I am being driven crazy.

Not a Real Blog Post

I came on here and I realized that Hey, I need to actually post something today! because I want to keep up my nice little derived coincidence that I told you about in the last post, remember? That one? Yes? Good.

Too bad my brain is mush from too much music at all times, Beatlemania (about forty years too late, but not my fault: I wasn't born) and lack of inclination. I mean, I actually do nothing all day long except read and write. And there are too many other things that I should be doing. Going outside is an event for me. I need to get up and actually do something that requires movement! Effort! MOTIVATION!

So I write a blog post, which does not...actually...fully fulfill all of the requirements entirely. Do you really want to hear about all this? I'm sure you have enough in your life without hearing from me No, I didn't think so.

I'm getting off of the computer. I need to do something (anything).

Good-bye.

Quote for Thursday, June 17, 2010:

Don't yield to that alluring witch, laziness, or else be prepared to surrender all that you have won in your better moments.

-Horace, Satires

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

Muse for Today:

I was all prepared to say, "Nothing! Didn't you read the post?" but two exciting things are happening tomorrow: the Harry Potter theme park is opening in Orlando (but I can't go, so I shall have to gaze from afar) and Toy Story 3 is opening. While I am too young to fully understand The Beatles, I am far too old for Toy Story, but I shall go anyway.

Desperate

Oh, my gods.

School ends tomorrow.

It will be my last day at a school where I basically grew up, yo-yo-ed between friends and stood up for the ones I actually liked, eavesdropped, laughed, cried, worried and smiled.

Now, I am hit with the realization that I will never never ever go back there as a normal student. Only a little while ago, I would have embraced this and run out of the place screaming.

I hate change. Especially change of mood. Especially change of mood about something important.

I need a stunt. I need something big and miraculous to happen to me. I need something different to happen in my life. I always know what to expect. I hate being like this, but there is nothing exciting in my life!

BLEH.

I am in a dark-gray mood.

Which is not a mood for a Muse or quote.

If you must know.

Humans are Stupid

I think that the idea of people was bad and then it just went downhill from there. I mean, what do people do? Consume more than they produce. Pollute. Bully. Fight wars. Cut down rain forests. Take over everything. Drive H2s. Leave the lights on and the water running. Leave fast-food wrappers lying around. Have two people living in McMansions made for a small army.

And what do, say, monkeys do? They can't drive! They don't have running water or electricity! They live in the darn rain forests! They live in harmony with the environment, while humans just fight against it. What do we do so we can live? Displace animals and cut down trees and drain lakes and rivers and...and...

I need to shut up.

I apologize for this rant (actually, it wasn't a very long rant. If you watch me, I could make a whole blog ranting about book banners and genocide and people I hate and embarrassing things they make us do in school like ballroom dancing, for crying out loud! What if I'm not going to the dance? Do I need to do it then, huh? Huh? HUH?) but people make me so angry. Let's take a boy who lives down the street from me. I'll call him... Boy Who Lives Down the Street From Me. BWLDTSFM is a hapless, obnoxious character, but otherwise he is okay. Somewhat. No, not really, but he...no. Anyways. Let's pretend that he has some redeemable qualities.

BWLDTSFM is a chronic litterer. Since he lives down the street from me, he goes on my bus and he is constantly chucking food wrappers and water bottles out of the window.

(On an entirely unrelated note, have you noticed that boys often spit? Like donkeys, they'll sometimes just turn their heads to the side or open the window and spit. K is starting to do this, although he is a young 'un. Why? Girls usually just swallow their saliva. How come boys can't?)

I hate him. He will one day slip on wrappers and die and I will think "I told you so!"

Another thing. Do you know how sometimes you drive by a car that has its windows open and it's blasting the music so that everyone on Jupiter is annoyed? Well, why do you always hear rap or hip-hop? Why don't you ever drive by a car that is blasting classical music?

Quote for Monday, April 26, 2010:

Ach du lieber! There's a strange little girl over there, staring at us!

-One of the Three Little Pigs from Shrek 2 (2004)

Muse for Today:

The fact that I haven't done a Muse for Today in a very long time. Epic failure.

Also, my math class. We are flying kites.

Book Banning

I mean, really?

A while back the American Library Association released their list of the most banned books for the 2000 to 2009 decade. Harry Potter was at the top, of course, because of people who probably have never read the books, but:

Junie B. Jones and Captain Underpants were on here! They were kind of high up, too!

Seriously. My cousins, my brother, me, almost everyone I know grew up with at least Junie B. Jones! How is it bad? She talks the way that real kids talk!

Some books that I like(d) that were banned:

1. Harry Potter (series)
2. Bridge to Terabithia
3. To Kill a Mockingbird (not many other people like this book, but I do)
4. The Giver
5. Blubber
6. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby (Yes. I am ashamed. This is the only Captain Underpants book that I've ever liked. I've read more (shame shame) but this is my RELATIVE favorite.)
7. Speak (actually, this book creeped me out. I can see why some parents would like to ban the books. No. Wait. Give us the freedom to choose our own books, please.)
8. Mick Harte Was Here
9. Fahrenheit 451 (I'm reading it now.)
10. Junie B. Jones
11. A Wrinkle in Time
12. Goosebumps
13. Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret (you'd be surprised how many of Judy Blume's books are banned)

To see the list I'm blathering about, click this link.

Be Useless

I found this, 'this' being the Official Crayola Website. On the Official Crayola Website, you can digitally color with crayons!

The hyperlink takes you right to the page, I think.

This is my lovely drawing. (Don't laugh. Please. Please don't laugh.)

Yes, that is a rocket ship. I do not have good digital drawing skills.

It's a...colorful picture. I think that's the most that can be said for it.

All Hallow's Eve...Eve

I am back to (hopefully) give you a decent post that you will enjoy reading.

If you don't, well, I don't honestly mind, just as long as you don't lower my self-esteem by telling me so.

I have many things slotted for today- my opinions of stuff, mostly. Fan fictions, certain (cough cough) Disney celebrities I HATE, the fact that Halloween is just one day away and I am almost jumping from excitement. Hooray!

Then there is the stupid, idiotic stupidity of a dance. A dance has to ruin my day.

I've said before that I hate school dances. Proms, homecoming, socials, anything. I do, I REALLY do. They're pointless and superficial. So I refuse to go to any.

I have nothing against people who enjoy dances (what difference would it make whether I did or not, really?). No, I have things against the times when people look at me as though I'm a few marbles short when I tell them so.

Friend: Are you going to the dance today?

Me: (VERY matter-of factly) No, I hate dances. Why would I go?

Everyone in that section of the room drops their stuff and looks- stares, actually- at me.

Egads.

This stretches farther than a dance. People are all different. Everyone likes different things, and I don't think that you should have an exaggerated reaction to my opinion just because I'm not going to do something that many other people are.

I'm overreacting, I know. But this has bugged me for years.

Moving on.

Tomorrow is Halloween. The one day where Stranger Danger doesn't apply- you can take candy from strangers.

That is, of course, with proper supervision. And cool costumes.

• To the stray high schooler: PLEASE be more creative with your costumes! Wearing a mask or devil horns or anything that did not take considerable effort and planning SHALL NOT be condoned! If you don't wear a costume, you are cruel. You are stealing candy from the people who deserve it. Like me.
• There is always at least ONE house with the jumbo-sized chocolate bars. Find it.
• To candy-givers: Don't open the door to any people without costumes. Or, if you have to, give them the linty ones from behind the sofa cushions.
• Never accept linty candy. Throw it back in their faces. Then run.
• Stay safe!
• And be smart, of course. I don't need to tell you that...you're reading my blog, aren't you?

Quote for Friday, October 3o, 2009:

Come not between the dragon and his wrath.

-Lear, Scene I

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

Muses for Today:

Sigmund Freud, Freudian slips, Podcast Friday, and Halloween.

Wimpy!

I've heard that there have been some issue with getting to my blog. I hope it's okay now. I didn't change the blog address, though I'm considering it. If I do, I will give you notice, unlike a certain Questa that I know who changes her blog address without telling anyone until after they get to the changed address.

I haven't done any blogging lately, so I'm slightly out of practice.
I'm also out of practice with answering my e-mails.
This is a wimpy post.
Be back later.

Frank the Sheep

<---This is a nice icon. It makes me laugh. I like Frank. Dare to be different, Mr Sheep! Don't take the peer pressure from Bob and Franklin and Simon, with their pirate hatless ways!

I'm ornery today. Frankly (ha! No pun intended), that is a new word for me. I know the meaning, but I'm not sure if I am using it correctly.

Ornery ornery ornery.

[hums mindlessly]

Well...nothing to say...

This is Halloween!

...well, no it's not.

But 'tis October! And Halloween, one of my favorite holidays (alongside Christmas and any holiday that causes a day off from school), is in October!

Stop the music! I have a problem- I don't know what to be.

I do know that despite what various people (otherwise known as thickheads) would say about my age, I am going trick or treating this year. Maybe someday I'll go to a haunted house or stay at home to hand out candy to those who come, but for now I like the idea of the one day of the entire year when you can walk up to random strangers and demand candy.

And they give it to you.

(I am wondering what Ms. Pickle plans to do on Halloween. Many murders lined up? Not me?)

K doesn't know, either, but in his typical K fashion, he wants to be- wait for it- a whoopee cushion!

I was considering being a gypsy. Or a goth. Anything where I get to wear lots of eyeliner.

The problem is my glasses. Large sunglasses would help, maybe? No. Those would look stupid.

Then I considered maybe the hated MINERVA PARADIZO! *dies*

But that, my comrades, would be hypocritical.

And I, the great F.R.A.S., am not a hypocrite.

Only in special cases.

Well. What are you being for Halloween?

Muse for Today:

Melpomene.

Quote for Sunday, October 4, 2009:

Qui plume a, guerre a.

To hold a pen is to be at war.

-Voltaire

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

Fear of...

I found this thing called 'The Phobia List.' I have always wanted one of these. I have wanted someone to just compile a dictionary of this, put it in book form, publish it for all the world to see. Have they? I wouldn't know.

The gorgeous, prayer-answering site has the weirdest, sometimes most redundant phobias ever.

Nudophobia- Fear of nudity

Chirophobia- Fear of hands

Cathisophobia- Fear of sitting

Euphobia- Fear of hearing good news

Bacteriophobia- Fear of bacteria

And the classics:

Phobophobia- Fear of phobias

Sesquipedalophobia- Fear of long words

I once saw a movie where a guy was afraid of EVERYTHING. How is that possible? How do you live if you're frightened of everything you meet? It must be awful.

THINGS I'M SCARED OF:

Coulrophobia- Fear of clowns

Didaskaleinophobia- Fear of going to school

Arithmophobia- Fear of numbers

Scopophobia or Scoptophobia- Fear of being seen or stared at

Phalacrophobia- Fear of becoming bald

SCARE OF THE DAY:

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia- Fear of the number 666

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia- Fear of long words

I almost fainted. What's fear of fears that have names that are too long?

Quote for Saturday, September 26, 2009:

A timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time, and a courageous person afterward.

-Johann Paul Friedrich Richter

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

Muse for Today:

The Phobia List, of course! Fear, oddly enough, inspires me today. Like fear of my teachers if I don't finish my homework.

Ranting About School

Why do some people do what they do? I say, but that's general. Some people are just crazy. But:

WHY DID MY TEACHERS BECOME TEACHERS?

They probably didn't realize that they'd get trapped with a lot like us.

I mean, you'd think that after so many years of being in school, you'd rather do anything-anything-but go back there.

Our teachers are great teachers, they all know what they're talking about, they like the subjects they teach, but-

Our grade is just not cool when it comes to 'respect' and 'being quiet' and 'listening' and convoluted stuff like that.

That is all. Carry on.

Captain Obvious and Things Not Obvious

This is a lovely picture, and one of my many sarcastic catchphrases. I got it from the MuggleNet Wall of Shame. This was at the very bottom, when someone tried a formula for how much hate mail Emerson Spartz, founder of MuggleNet, gets.

Needless to say, it was epic fail.

Moving on.

I have this book that is quite nice, called Fact of the Matter. It has random facts, trivia, and it's really really cool.

I can't find a page to cite it. Grr. Here's the ISBN: 978-81-89906-12-2. Does that count? I hope so.

• The oldest known goldfish lived to be 41. Its name was Fred.

This is quite heartening, seeing as I have two goldfish, and one is named Fred. (The other is called George, in case you want to know.)

• Elephants only walk on their tip toes, because the back of their foot is complete fat. There aren't bones in the back to support their feet.

This means that elephants could conceievably do ballet. It's not a fantasy anymore. Ella and the Dancing Elephants: Coming to a Dance Theatre near you.

• The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar and England in 1896, when Zanzibar surrendered in 38 minutes.

Must have been dinnertime, huh? I wondered how much that 'war' cost. It's about the length of a TV program, for Pete's sake!

Quote for Sunday, September 13, 2009:

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.

and

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.

-Mark Twain

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

Muse for Today:

Euterpe, Muse for Music.

I Am Epic Fail

Unanswerable Question for the day: Shoot. I forgot.

I'll come back.

Cash Cab and Ace of Cakes are my two favorite shows. Maybe because they're reality TV...but not? I hate real reality TV. I have tried watching them, oh I really have, but they bore me so much! Cash Cab is nice because it takes place in a taxi cab, plus it's a quiz show, and I'm not sure about Ace of Cakes. Maybe because....because they make cake. What other reason does one need?

Now that I have introduced by talking about television, of all the limely things, I will try and find a topic to speak of.

[awkward silence]

Oh, for Pete's sake.

Oh, discussion topic! At school, my friends and I are making it a point to 'discuss' one topic a day. Today, I brought up the question- is a hallway considered a room? We found out no, it's not, and we agreed the most random state discussion (also brought up by me!) is best.

We should also agree that this discussion is not. I'm going to end it right here.

Quotes for the Second Ever Podcast Friday, September 4, 2009:

One of television’s great contributions is that it brought murder back into the home, where it belongs.

and

Seeing a murder on television can…help work off one’s antagonisms. And if you haven’t any antagonisms, the commercials will give you some.

-Alfred Hitchcock, National Observer 15 Aug. 1966

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

Bonus Quote!:

All of us learn to write in the second grade. Most of us go on to greater things.

-Bobby Knight

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

Muse for Today:

None. As you may have noticed, every muse has abandoned me today. Today, however, will be Erato, Muse of Lyric Poetry, because I like the name. Ooooh. 'Erato.'