Writing for You

Things that I have recently acquired:

• 80's Glam skinny Sharpie pens and I adore them very much.
• The Taming of the Shrew and Frankenstein for school. I do not adore these as much.

Things that I am reading:

• An extremely confusing, but tolerable, biography of Coco Chanel that I picked because it had cool pictures and I have the methods of a  four-year-old
• (Rereading, actually) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, because that is my second-favorite book in the series and the book is good
• Hound of the Baskervilles. Yeah. Because Sherlock Holmes makes me wish I knew him. (Also, did you know there's a TV show? My friend showed it to me a while back on Netflix. It takes some ideas from the Arthur Conan Doyle stories, but it's not bad.)

Random somethings I have on my nightstand:

• An empty bottle of Coca-Cola that commemorates the company's 125th Birthday
• A plush bear that I think I got for Valentine's Day. It has a little pocket in which I keep paper clips. When do I even use paper clips? Hardly ever. But I have them. In this bear.
• A wooden cat, for some reason.
• A partially broken camel from Luxor, in Las Vegas. He has been dropped so many times that it is a wonder that he is only partially broken.
• A guitar pick.
• Three tennis balls for my juggling endeavors.

Things that I have realized that don't affect me in any meaningful way:

• Sandy Olsson, in Grease, looked better before she went all leather. Compare this picture to this picture. I don't know about you, but I prefer the first one.
• Whoever thought of backlit keyboards was a clever person.
• My blog is a hyperlink minefield.
• A man named Benedict Cumberbatch plays Sherlock Holmes on Sherlock.
• Is that not the most fantastic name you've ever heard?
• David Tennant, who played the Tenth Doctor on Doctor Who, is getting married to Georgia Moffat, who is the real-life daughter of Peter Davison, who played the Fifth Doctor.
• BUT
• Georgia Moffat played the Tenth Doctor's daughter in an episode of Doctor Who.
• So she is the real life daughter of the Doctor and the TV daughter of the Doctor and she's getting married to the (former) Doctor.
• Is this weird or what? It feels like this is some convoluted kind of incest when it so obviously isn't.
• Anyway, if you don't watch Doctor Who, I imagine that was somewhat confusing and meaningless for you and I'm sorry. Here is some soap that has a cookies-and-milk pattern. It even smells like chocolate-chip cookies.
• No, but seriously, you should watch Doctor Who.

Quote for Saturday, August 6, 2011:

It's okay to be fat.  So you're fat.  Just be fat and shut up about it.

-Roseanne Barr

Summing It Up

It is a new(ish) month and I, for one, will be heading off to school towards the end of it. So let me start August off with a lazy post.
Frankly, the last week of this month will involve more work than I have done these past two months. Well, three months, since I started counting school as over in mid-May.

1. I am not doing BEDAugust. I was considering it. And I missed the first two days, so honestly I don't think it counts anymore. Also, I am not interesting enough to do this twice a year. I'll stick to April. Anyway.
2. For the first time ever, I went to a real, full-blown concert. There was an enormous number of people there. It was stickily and blisteringly hot. And it might have been the best night of my entire short life. Seriously. Best day ever. Insert your Tangled gifs here.
3. I might have a job working for a company I hate. Well, I say might. They've offered. Did I imagine my first job would be this? No. Is it legal and does it pay me more money than I thought I would get at my first job? Yes. Do I need/want money? Yes. Am I going to work for Evil? ...probably.
4. Also, my friends and I registered for Pottermore beta, for which I am inappropriately excited. For not knowing what is and having serious doubts about the actual function of the site, you could even say there is absolutely no call for me to be so excited.
5. One of my friends and I spent the last thirty minutes coming up with bad pre-set Pottermore usernames, like BezoarSeeker89 or MugwumpMandrake456. Some of these have the potential to be truly atrocious usernames.
6. I am teaching myself how to juggle, and I am actually not doing that badly. I don't know where I will use this, but I do have a plan.

And that is all.
Music: Sunny Afternoon/The Kinks
(Deviating from my usual Quote/Muse format because I really like this song, The Kinks have recently reclaimed my heart, and I wanted to put only this at the end of the post.)

Hateful/Lovely

Hateful

1. Rude people, more than anything. If I can make the effort to say "please" and "thank you" to you, I'm pretty freaking sure you can say it back. It's not that bleeding difficult, and it makes you look better.
2. Superiors who think they can be rude to you. For God's sake.
3. Sometimes, you introduce a friend to a TV show or a band or an author, and at first you are pleased because they like it too, and now there is someone with whom you can share your adoration! But then they act like they discovered this band, and they act as though the amount of love they have for this band eclipses EVERYONE ELSE'S. This irritates me like nothing else.
4. People who try to make a point (especially, but definitely not limited to, people on the Internet) but their facts are not facts because they are wrong/entirely made-up/paraphrased to mean something entirely different than the original meaning.
5. People who think that their opinions should be the only opinions.

Lovely

1. People who hold the door open for you. This may sound simple, but it doesn't happen that often anymore.
2. People who say exactly what they think, so there are never any mixed messages. It doesn't mean be rude, it just means be honest. You always know where you stand with these people.
3. When adults find a way to treat a child like a child without babying him or her.
4. When people are willing to deal with you even though you are acting like a harpy and probably ruining their mood. Sometimes it's nice to know that people can deal with you if you act like that occasionally. Occasionally, permanent harpies of the world, occasionally.
5. The genial idiocy of a group of people at three o'clock in the morning when they like each other and have had a sizable amount of sugar.

Quote for Sunday, July 24, 2011:

Angelica: After all, I'm playing the most dangerous game of all!

Chuckie: Musical chairs?

Angelica: No, dummy! Love!

Muse for Today:

Glorious.

Summer Supremes

It is June 18th now, I've been out of school for a whole week (summer goes faster than you think it will) and I am fulfilling my vision of what I thought my summer would be like: sitting in pajamas  in front of the computer, eating cereal, writing, and making plans to do stuff (unlike last summer, I plan to actually leave the house once in a while this year).
This is definitely not my favorite part of summer, but, you know, it's familiar. And summery, I suppose, because what other time of year do I really get to do this?
So, I am making a list of my favorite things-summery things. Think of it like the song, only there is a definite absence of schnitzel with noodles.

• Going to bed late, and not having to wake up early. (That's groovy, because I reap the benefits with none of the consequences, unlike during the school year, when I can stay up as late as I want but end up having to get up at six-thirty anyway.)
• Being able to walk everywhere, because it's WARM
• The feeling of air conditioning on skin after coming in from outside
• Warm concrete
• Swimming
• The smell of sunscreen
• Freshly mowed lawns
• Ice pops
• White sundresses
• Getting my hair cut shorter for the summer
• Music releases (they all seem to happen in the summer, I think, or am I crazy?)
• Rereading Harry Potter, like I do every year
• (This summer, anyway) The last Harry Potter film
• Eating unreasonable things for lunch (like cereal...) because no one is around to tell me otherwise
• Spending time with one of my friends before she ships herself off to boarding school next year
• Lemonade
• Lemon-scented items
• Lying down in the grass and looking up at the sky
• Recycling all of last year's school papers (Except Trig. Trig goes in the blooming shredder. And is then set on fire. And then I dance around the ashes, making up a chant and then singing it backwards.) (Not really. But God, I hate Trig.)
• So. Much. Time. To. Do. Things.
• Not seeing those annoying classmates of mine whom I would prefer not to see
• Reading those books and seeing those movies you promised you'd watch over the summer (I've already read The Great Gatsby [before John put it as the Nerdfighter Blurbing Book Club Book! How's that for psychic ability?] and seen Cool Hand Luke.)
• Baking food. Like brownies or bread.
• The smell of talcum powder
• Water gun fights
• Making lists on this increasingly pointless blog I keep

Also, I am going on vacation soon! To Orlando! (Actually, basically to the South of the U.S., but ORLANDO is my main focus. Unbridled commercialism, here I come!)

Quote for Saturday, June 18, 2011:

It is foolish to tear one's hair in in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness.

-Cicero

Muse for Today:

I don't know if you know about this already, but oh my God, this is whipping me into a frenzy. If you don't like Harry Potter, you are free to skip this link. WHAT IS JO PLANNING? But it is so groovy--SOMETHING IS HAPPENING.

http://www.pottermore.com

Click on one of the owls.

A Desperately Scattered Post

Generic Friend: Heyy

Me: Hi.

Generic Friend: What's up?!?

Seriously? I might kill you.

I don't like people who do that. If you are bored, don't spread your ennui my way. I am happy here. On the internet. Or, you know, not on the Internet. Um, yeah. That happens, um, often. All the time. *coughs, refuses to make eye contact, pulls at collar of t-shirt*

As much as I like hearing from my friends, them being bored is not really something that stimulates my interest. Become less boring, and then talk to me.

Oh. I'm a jerk. Don't look at me. DON'T LOOK AT MY TEARS

Exams are over, but I still have to get my results, and I am maybe 89.4% sure I failed math and physics, but I am not worried about anything else. Because I am totallyfreakingwonderful at everything else, right? *begins to cry anew*

Also, I finished Darkly Dreaming Dexter. The ending traumatized me because Jeff Lindsay is a brilliant, annoying sadist who likes toying with the vulnerable feelings of his readers. But I quite like the book, and I would read the second one. Dexter's an interesting guy.

Things what I did today:

• Woke up
• Took an English final
• The bell rang in a disappointingly un-High School Musical way
• But we were let out of school forever! (Until next fall)
• Walked to a restaurant to have breakfast with three of my friends
• Ate breakfast
• It was really good (banana-nut French toast)
• Wandered around my town
• Realized that if you are a group of nerdy teenagers there is nothing to do in my town
• Walked to a craft store
• Bought black half-masks
• Wore them on the street
• I'm fairly sure people in their cars thought we were crazy
• I know at least one of them stared
• Went to my house
• Watched Phineas and Ferb
• Hmm
• Anyway
• Got a shot
• It didn't really hurt that badly
• But I would say that anyway, because I want the Internet to believe that I'm not a sniveling little coward
• Ate pasta
• Gods above, I did a lot of eating today
• And putting it on this list just makes me look like a bigger pig
• Ah well
• I do like eating
• I am watching Tron: Legacy
• And it is well-made and quite technically proficient
• (HONESTLY, GUYS--THEY'RE WEARING LIGHT)
• But Disney needs to stop using the name 'Flynn'
• Tangled and Tron: Legacy had close release dates, and they had 'Flynn Rider' and 'Sam Flynn' respectively
• The next film they release will have a guy named 'Flynn Flynn'
• I wouldn't be surprised
• I am done
• I have to finish watching this film

Quote for Friday, June 10, 2011:

I assure you, a tiger, or a venomous serpent could not rouse terror in me equal to that which he wakens.

-Isabella Heathcliff

(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wuthering_Heights#Wuthering_Heights_.281847.29)

Muse for Today:

Sometimes, being with people you like very much is exhaustive, because you actually care about their opinions. I tend to be more honest with people I barely know than people whom I actually trust. Why is this?

One MILLION!

If you had a million *enter plural of currency here*, what would you spend it on?

I am fond of making lists, and I always always always think about this question. (I think in dollars because do I really have do explain this anymore?)

I am still on a bit of a happy buzz because ENGLAND IS ADVANCING after they WON a couple of hours ago, so I'll make a more cheerful list than my usual pessimism would permit.

(Sorry. World Cup fever. Normally, I hate organized sports, especially on the wretched box, but my father and brother don't like the English team, so how could I resist rooting for them? It's an effect of living in this house.) (Yes, the United States is advancing, too- but shut up, Sarcastic Susie.)

So. England.

What would I do with a million dollars?

• Go on a trip to England
• Gloat to my brother that I have more money than him
• Buy myself enough sandwiches for the rest of my life
• Save at least a quarter of it
• Buy myself The Beatles Box Set
• Give maybe about half to my parents
• I would go and buy up a Barnes and Noble (or at least all of the decent books in there. I would also save money to buy books online.)
• Donate some to the library/cancer research/are there any orphanages around here? Then I could donate there/The Nature Conservancy/PETA/a science lab/anything else that comes up
• Buy that ridiculous number of nice t-shirts from Threadless
• Buy jeans. I need some jeans.
• Buy some magnetic chalkboard paint (because I'm not sure if it exists) and paint the wall in my room with it
• Go to visit my cousins
• Buy a guitar (so that I can carry it around and look cool, even though I'll probably stop practicing three minutes after having it)
• Bribe someone into giving me a copy of The Lost Hero early, because I made the mistake of reading the excerpt and now I can't wait for it to come out!
• A microphone!
• A black light
• Whipped cream- enough to swim in. And then I'd swim in it, and it would be amazing. But there'd still be enough to eat.
• Music? (I'm actually running out of things to write. I can't believe that.)
• I'd leave it aside until I thought of other stuff to buy. Or save all of it.

My conclusion? Money can't buy most of the things I want, like to actually finish that story that I started two years ago. Perseverance and determination can! *heroic music plays in the background*

And I don't have too much of those, so...

*Music fizzles out*

So.

What would you do with a million dollars?

A Trying Feat

Look! I am back!

(Although you probably had no idea that I was even gone, since my posting is infrequent at best.)

I really am back, though. I just came back from a trip to Arizona yesterday. But more on that later.

I am trying to orchestrate something marvelous. It has almost been one year since I started this blog, and this is my ninety-second post. I am trying to have my one-hundredth post on this blog's one-year anniversary. This, however, requires more posting than I am used to.

So. It is now June 10th. I have a month and eight days to post eight times.

GRRR. It's not like I ever have anything useful to say, anyway. I mean, just blather on and on all of the time. I'm sure I can make it. I hope.

So. Arizona.

F.R.A.S'S Rules for Visiting Arizona:

1. Bring a water bottle. Honestly. We went in June, and that's not even the hottest month of the year. And it was really, really hot.
2. Bring chapstick. Arizona is one dry state.
3. Go there for kind of a long time. DO NOT try to squeeze all of the sights into one or two days. You will be half-dead by lunchtime. Spend all day at the Hoover Dam, all day at the Grand Canyon, all day at Montezuma Castle, all day at wherever-else-you-are-going.
4. Jeans are a bad idea. Especially if you're hiking all day- they start sticking to you. I saw this fate in most of the hikers we saw at the Grand Canyon. Yuck.
5. Make sure your camera has a wrist strap. Actually, make sure that you have a camera before you buy a wrist strap. There are lots of things to take pictures of, and lots of places where you can lose your camera.
6. Do your research first. There was this great place called Oak Creek Canyon. It's called the 'cousin to the Grand Canyon.' (Why?) Well, my parents read about it in an outdated guidebook that didn't mention how you can swim in the creek. There's this bit that is all slippery, and people sit on the current and just slide. K and I didn't bring swimsuits. So we just went down in our clothes. It was really, really fun, but I do not recommend it because it took all day for my clothes to dry off. So plan ahead! Make sure you know what you're doing, and bring everything you might possibly need.
7. Bring lots of books and notebooks. This is only if you drive around a lot and like reading and writing. My family and I had a lot of time in the car, so I read and wrote. Just bring something to do, like a music player, for the driving.
8. Bring a camera charger. Actually, bring a charger for everything. Battery runs out fast.
9. Don't go on a plane. Where did the peanuts go? No snacks? Only drinks? They charge you for blankets and pillows ($8). It costs twenty-five dollars to check in one piece of luggage. Flying on planes in America used to be fun. Now it's just vaguely annoying.
10. Bring lotion! My mother and I snuck into a Bath and Body Works at an Arizonian mall so that we could use the testers of lotion and perfume there on our hands and dusty feet. Planes don't allow the full tubes of lotion, and hotel lotion stinks. So bring the sample sizes. You'll need it.
11. Don't go with your brother. He will drag you into stadiums and cry when they aren't open. LEAVE HIM AT HOME.

I hope those rules helped.

Quote for Thursday, June 10, 2010:

Richard: His head is shaped like a football.

Emily: It is not.

Richard: If he fell asleep in the park, someone would try to punt him.

-Gilmore Girls: Season 2 (Sadie, Sadie)

(

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gilmore_Girls/Season_2

)

Muse for Today:

Twitter. How can such idiots be on Twitter?

What do I love?

• Right now? Not much.

I'm still running off of yesterday. The hatred is still present. Hopefully not perpetually, because that would make me an angry teenager. That is too cliche for me. And I don't know how to be a goth.

I Hate...

• the song 'Hips Don't Lie' by Shakira.
• various people with whom I go to school.
• war.
• the presence of war in Social Studies. Can't we talk about anything else?
• Math. Especially GEOMETRY. My hatred for Geometry deserves its own post.
• e-mail. Not all of e-mail, actually. How I DON'T CHECK IT AT THE RIGHT DARN TIMES.
• people who chew their gum like cows.
• book banners.
• bullies.
• the song 'No One' by Alicia Keys.
• people who look sad all of the time/are always crying.
• tests. ESPECIALLY MATH TESTS.
• stupid project partners who don't do their work.
• stupid friends who act like they're not your friends sometimes.
• secrets.
• feeling helpless.
• speaking in front of people.
• mannerless people.
• any song by Ke$ha and Justin Bieber. They could be lovely people, just please don't allow them to sing.
• Sundays.
• Mondays.
• dances.
• dancing.
• it when people say that seafood is not meat. Yes, it is.
• people who have obnoxious laughs.
• several game show hosts.
• when it's too too hot or too too cold.
• unfair teachers.
• people who are too too perfect/too too nice because they are definitely hiding something.
• backstabbers.
• traitors.
• reality show people.
• people who are angry for no reason.
• people who are not angry with me but take it out on me anyway.
• bad books.
• corrupt politicians.
• several people who go to my school. Did I say that already?
• when the Internet dies.
• cleaning my room.
• cleaning anything.
• Susan from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle because she's such a doofus.
• Twilight ripoffs, like this one book called Fallen (don't ever read it, it stinks SO MUCH).
• angry silence.
• the sight of gratuitous carnage/blood.
• certain boys who go to my school.
• certain girls who go to my school, especially one who fake-bakes and looks orange. She also wears too much makeup- you can see the oil building up at the side of her nose. We have the same birthday.
• that that girl and I have the same birthday.
• phonies.
• when things don't work out.
• people who roll their eyes when they think that you aren't looking.
• MTV. I thought they played music. Apparently I was wrong?
• Sonny With a Chance. The only good thing that came out of that was "Really, Chad? Really?" Well, that's not the only good thing. But it stinks now.
• vomiting.
• people who won't read.
• people who won't read and convince others not to read.
• Wizards of Waverly Place. That show is just plain bad and I knew it from the start.
• headaches.
• bad soap operas.
• bad movies with bad actors.
• sexual/violent video games.
• memorizing nonsense.
• writer's block.
• pongal, which is an Indian food that you might have had before. If you haven't, you are missing nothing.
• when people act like they're really cool when they're not.
• petty anger.
• hypocrisy, which I am displaying a generous amount of with this list.

And this isn't even all. I might have to do a Part Two to this.