School Bothers a Petty Dork

I've gone back to school. At first it was not fine but then it gradually started getting better.
It's still not fabulous (which is a word I say now because I am Sharpay Evans?). I'd still prefer the aimless, content free-will of summer to the "I would rather lick a goat than stay here any longer but I can't just leave, can I?" structure of school.
Admittedly, some parts of school are are nice. But those parts are just the luck of my schedule, or me deluding myself into thinking school's okay so I don't explode from disdain.
After ensconcing myself into a summer-bubble of watching movies until four in the morning and spending time only with the friends I want to spend time with and forgetting that yes, I am socially awkward and no, not everyone in the world actually cares about fonts, coming back to school is a rude awakening.
A two-burst rude awakening.

1. We had to do a project that was all about us. (Because I'm not in high school or anything-- I'm six flipping years old.) This project was basically a bunch of basic questions (What is your favorite subject in school? What is your favorite snack?) that we had to answer on a poster.
One of the questions was What is your favorite band?
There was an athletic, generally popular girl who presented. We reached the music portion of her presentation.
"Um, well, I don't listen to a lot of music but I guess I like Nickelback."
I know my eyes bugged. I think my jaw might have even lowered a few centimeters.
Nickelback is one of the worst bands in the entire world. I have tried to listen to Nickelback objectively, but I seriously cannot force myself to like it. I have never met a single person in my life who said they liked Nickelback--who even said they guessed they liked Nickelback--and I didn't think I ever would.
Some things that are simply unacceptable not okay what are you doing stop stop STOP in my mind may not set off any alarms in anyone else's brain. See what I learn in school?
(But seriously. Nickelback? All of the bands in all of the world and you "guess you like Nickelback"?)

2. I like to type things, and fonts are one of my many geeky joys. I am very particular about the style of font I use with respect to the subject of the document, and I judge people based on the kind of font they use. (Also, I have an unfulfilled life and my one true friend is a sock puppet named Joe Bob.)
Now.
Teachers.
Is it okay to use Papyrus, Comic Sans, or Impact in the year 2011?
NO.
Is it bad that my AP Euro class combines the nauseating glory of all of these fonts in one fabulously horrendous homework packet?
You betcha.
Why is it okay? Who likes looking at these fonts? They're incredibly displeasing.

These two facts were incredibly important in my mind--everyone hates Nickelback and Comic Sans--but apparently not everyone knows this.

To summarize: I'm back to school and angsty about little things already. It's going to be a long, long school year.

Quote for Thursday, September 1, 2011:

I feel akin to the Platypus. An orphan in a family. A swimmer, a recluse. Part bird, part fish, part lizard.

--Trevor Dunn

INTP

This guy is called frezned. Well, actually, he's called Tom McLean, but on the Internet he's frezned. Why? I don't know. Before I started watching his videos I thought his name was Ned. It's not. He could have at least called himself freztom or something. He's just confusing everyone.

Anyway.

He is Australian, and you don't really have to watch the video to understand this post but you should watch the video anyway because frezned is HILARIOUS. Almost as hilarious as me.***

Anyway, the test he is talking about is here. There you go, just click on the word 'here'. Nicely done. You've grown up so much. I'm so proud of your clicking abilities. (Psst! I'm really not.)

As you can tell from the title, I am an INTP, which means "Introverted (I)Ntuitive Thinking Perceiving" and sorry, but I am probably not going to talk about your type (unless you are also an INTP). Because this is my blog, okay?

The description page for an INTP describes me in a very uncomfortable way. I guess it's what I would be were I being honest with myself. Except it says I'm 'familiar with the dark side' and I'm not quite sure what that means. I'm Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader? Or I am prone to doing things that are wrong? I am in touch with the bad things in life? I am slightly self-destructive and can relate to why people do bad things? Hmm...

Nope. I'm pretty sure it means I'm Anakin Skywalker. That would make sense. Yeah.

Some things it says that are sadly true about me: I don't like happy people, I don't think I am weird but others do (I mean, I know I'm weird. It's just that I am even weirder than I think I am. Apparently. Talking to other humans lets me know this is true), not punctual and frequently loses things (*sighs, shakes head sadly*).

Anyway, quite a bit of this is true about me. So I looked up what the polar opposite of an Introverted Intuitive Thinking Perceiving is, and it is an Extroverted Sensing Feeling Judging. And that one makes me sad. Almost nothing on that personality box is true for me.

And the moral of this story is: Um, all I really wanted to do was watch old frezned videos, but instead I wrote a post. So when you want to do something fun, instead do something fun that involves more work than the first fun thing. Yeah. Wait, that's a rubbish moral. Maybe I should stop now.

***Far, far, far more hilarious than me. Also more Australian than me, which makes him better than me in every way. EVERY. WAY. He also makes quantum physics jokes that I don't understand and does fancy computer stuff for fun. This makes him so much better than me that after I finish this post I will cease to exist.

Quote for Monday, May 30, 2011:

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.

-Francis Bacon

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

Muse for Today:

This thing. I suppose it's really the opposite of a Muse, because instead of making me think or making me curious, it is WIPING ALL THOUGHT FROM MY HEAD. I keep listening to the Supa Dance Mix over and over and over and over and over and over and over ad infinitum.

LOOK, QUESTA. LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE. YOU'VE CREATED A MONSTER.

Too Lazy to Put A Title. There.

I have three posts in drafts but I really just wanted to take this video from YouTube and put it here instead of putting anything that I wrote myself.

Why? Because I'm bloody original, that's why. Oh, YEAH.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy6wo2wpT2k&feature=player_detailpage#t=140s

I first saw this movie in the fifth grade, and this is one of my favorite songs in West Side Story.

(Sorry, but the Jets win favorite song with this. I mean:

"Gee, Officer Krupke- krup you!"

and their rushing around and stupid voices are completely but appealingly insane.

"Hey, I got a social disease!"

Even a ten year old can appreciate that.)

I love it mostly because of Anita's singing. "You forget I'm in America!" and the way her voice deepens on "Everyone there will have moved here!"

Also, it is a fun song, but the material of it isn't entirely just fun.

Gods, I love old musicals. The acting is cheesy, but the music is usually better.

This is grea- no! It makes no sense!

I am ashamed to admit it, but I really like clothes. I like books and music plenty, but shopping for clothes gives you an immediate magic.

"The reason consumerism is alive and well in America is because of people like you, FRAS."

-Everyone who has ever heard me talk about buying things

It's an instant kind of judgement that isn't quite imitable, shopping for clothes. Shopping for books is calm, organized, systematic. Shopping for music is a drawn-out process where I end up buying nothing because I cannot commit to anything. Shopping for food is one where I just feel tempted to toss some pudding and fifteen packets of gum into the cart and call it a week. (I wonder why I don't do the shopping at my house...) Shopping for shoes is basically a wimpy battle: 1) I want these shoes. 2) Walk out of the store buying shoes that are infinitely cheaper but ultimately worse than the shoes I wanted. Shopping for clothes is the calmest frenzy. It's an organized tornado of efficient but looping shoppery.

Did you know that this was the very first music video ever shown on MTV when it launched back on August 1 of 1981?

• Look how far music videos have come in 20 years, as far as technology is concerned! (I mean, plastic tube? Odd bodysuit woman? Shaky camera work? [I'm not really sure if the shaky camera work was intentional or not, actually.]) Look at how MTV has destroyed itself by not playing music anymore and instead inflating the egos of tanned morons who don't have talent but want to be famous anyway? Ha! I am so full of whimsy!
• I find it funny that a song called Video Killed the Radio Star was the first music video on a channel about music videos. Killing the radio star, one music video at a time. And MTV had to rub it in everyone's faces. Good job, MTV. You used to have a sense of irony.
• Also, I enjoy the "Oh-wha-oh-wa" women in the background. I always pretend to be them.
• It strikes me that this song actually makes no sense on its own, and the video clears up nothing.
• Why did you meet the children? What were you doing in an abandoned studio with the Radio Star? How in the name of alfalfa do you even know this Radio Star? It's not like you ran into her shopping for bread. Even if you did, you wouldn't recognize the Radio Star. The Radio Star didn't go on video. And you were the first/last WHAT? Dear Buggles, what are you trying to tell me?
• And in the video, I assumed the blond kid was you. I assumed the Radio Star was the woman in a bodysuit. So why did the blond kid morph into the Radio Star?
• Heh. Turns out I hate this song.

Quote for Saturday, May 7, 2011:

Quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit.

-Oscar Wilde

(http://thinkexist.com/quotation/quotation_is_a_serviceable_substitute_for/180217.html)

And so it is.

Muse for a Day:

Songs that tell stories.

Not songs that are about a girl, or a goat, or a garbage truck (while I do love a good toe-tapping garbage truck song), but songs that go through a little plotline in a melodic way. Such as the album Tommy by The Who, which tells a whole dysfunctional story about a boy named Tommy who unwittingly makes himself deaf, dumb, and blind but becomes such a master at pinball that he manages to start his own cult. Freaky, but interesting. Or Catsongs by Tom Milsom, three songs all about a cat named Livia who dies and how the family deals with it. (Also, Catsongs is hilarious in its own right. Catsongs III, when Livia responds, makes me laugh even now.)

Elevator Music

My first post for November- happy November, everyone!

(A bit late, but that can't be helped anymore...)

Right into our main topic-

If you read Blue Roses, you probably have read Questa's post about Olympic elevator music.

Four words: Olympic. Elevator. Music. STINKS.

Not, sadly, that I would know firsthand, but when (Spoiler Alert!) Percy wonders whether he should have given up immortality to change the awful elevator music, it gives you the idea that it is not the best.

(Who chooses the elevator music? Apollo? Zeus? Random Maintenance Guy?)

The only reason I bring this up is that K, my wacky brother, is playing one of his favorite Wii games ever, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, and he is going "Staying alive! Just barely!" and Stayin' Alive is one of the perfectly horrible songs on the Olympic Elevator-ing System.

Here is the video for the song. Enjoy. Or not.

[Warning: If you have an aversion to tight pants (like me) you might want to skip this video. Think: All the Jonas Brothers. Put together. *shudder*]

Even if I think Stayin' Alive is a horrible song, my ABBA and Green Day and Led Zeppelin and Simon and Garfunkel and etcetera punky music is probably not music to someone else's ears, so ignore me.

(K likes this song.)

One cool things about this song is you can sing Stayin' Alive while doing CPR. Why? Because (a friend told me this) the song has 100 beats per minute, the recommended number of compressions per minute for CPR.

So sing Stayin' Alive to yourself the next time you perform CPR.

But if you're singing that, they may pretend to not be breathing just so you'll leave.

Quote for Tuesday, November 10, 2009:

In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them.

-John Von Neumann

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

(You just get used to the varying feelings of confusion.)

Muse(ic) for Today:

The Bee Gees!

Eye of the Tiger

There is some stupid thing called a 'meme' and I'm not sure what it is, but I got it from Libba Bray's blog, and thought it could be fun. So here.

RULES:

1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.

4. Tag 15 friends

5. Everyone tagged has to do the same thing. (Except only if you want to.)

6. Have Fun!

IF SOMEONE SAYS 'ARE YOU OKAY' YOU SAY?

Hey There Delilah (Plain White T's)

Hmmm.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?

I Am A Rock (Simon and Garfunkel)

I am gray and hard, with pockmarks. Yes, sounds about right.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?

With or Without You (U2)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?

Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock! (Harry and the Potters)

...well, he can't. (I'm starting to believe this is rigged.)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?

The Longest Time (Billy Joel)

WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO?

SPEW (Harry and the Potters)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?

Jailhouse Rock (Elvis Presley)

They think I'll get thrown in jail and do a song-and-dance? Sadly, that's not hard to believe.

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?

Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own (U2)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?

The Weasle (Harry and the Potters)

Need I say any more?

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?

Mamma Mia (ABBA)

I don't have a best friend, but sure!

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?

Burnin' Up (The Jonas Brothers)

No comment. (My life story is by THE JONAS BROTHERS?)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

White Horse (Taylor Swift)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?

We Didn't Start the Fire (Billy Joel)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?

The Sounds of Silence (Simon and Garfunkel)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?

I Have a Dream (ABBA)

Dreams? No! NOOOOOO!

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?

America (Simon and Garfunkel)

WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?

Love Song (Sara Bareilles)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?

The Weapon (Harry and the Potters)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?

Eye of the Tiger (Survivor)

Mysterious Ways

One day you will look... back

And you'll see... where

You were held... how

By this love... while

You could stand there

You could move on this moment

Follow this feeling

That's from the U2 song Mysterious Ways. The song reminds me of certain curtains. The curtains are dark silky purple, with black velvet stars and moons all over. The mysterious curtains frame a picture window at night, sweeping the floor elegantly, gathering dust and making people sneeze. There is a group of four people sitting on the window ledge: one, a boy, dozing as he holds an open book in his hand; another, his sister, a skinny girl with dark hair, frowning and sulking with her back to the sea; their older sister, plucking nervously at a silver bracelet she's wearing, staring at the ocean as though it had taken something irreplaceable from her, long ago; and the last, the oldest brother, tall and serious, who is waking up the younger boy while keeping an eye on the shady shape lurking at the door.

The youngest boy, Quinn, wakes up and sees how the moon shines through the curtain, making it glow in the dark. Mother's favorite curtains. Do they really have to leave them behind? Now?

"Quinn, let's go!"

This scene is completely made up, of course, but the curtains, though lengthened, are not. I have them! Oh, gorgeous curtains! Lovely!

Quote for Friday, August 21, 2009:

Resolve to take fate by the throat and shake a living out of her.

-Louisa May Alcott

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

Oh, U2!

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to get more into music. I was very limited in my choice of music, and I knew it. And I think my music choices have certainly gotten broader and better.
Recently, I was reading The Artemis Fowl Files by Eoin Colfer, and Butler's interview said that U2's song I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For could have been written for Artemis. He (Artemis) is my favorite character, so naturally I went to YouTube and looked up 'u2 i still haven't found what i'm looking for'.
Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.
How have I not heard them before? Of course, I've heard of them, but I didn't know anything about them, or their songs. I guess I didn't think they were much.
That is the exact kind of music I think I've always wanted to listen to, but I didn't think that anyone wrote that kind of music. I was amazed. Intelligently, I shall say again: Wow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fBj2wsimvQ&feature=related

Songs in a Circle

I am sorry I've not been blogging for several days. I'll catch up on posts, hopefully. The only disadvantage is that there won't be any quotes for those days. Ah well. Maybe I'll do several quotes today.
I am one of those random people who always has a certain song or fifty-three million playing in my head all at the same time. Lately, it's been Harry and the Potters, and their song We Save Ron's Life, Part 8. Very amusing. He does save Ron a lot. (Look! Even my music is Harry Potter related!)
What I find horrible is when a song is awful, just horrid-ness put to music, and you can't get it out of your head! Or the lyrics are awful, or something, and it's like glue. Gah! Some of these songs come from my brother, of course, because our tastes are so different it's just irritating. (He enjoys game shows when people fall off of large objects and into vanilla pudding. He watches them religiously and will cry if he misses it. I don't. Enough said.)
Sometimes though, it's very useful to have some mindless music going on in your head all the time, because if someone is bullying you (say, making you walk across a large object under which there is a whole mess of vanilla pudding) or yelling at you (about having vanilla pudding on your new shirt), you can play some song, and nothing but the lyrics will register.
Of course, if you begin to sing the song out loud (yes, I've done that) you could get into trouble, but playing a song in a loop in your head is convenient and completely useful.

Quote for Some Day I Missed:

Music makes one feel so romantic - at least it always gets on one's nerves - which is the same thing nowadays.

-Oscar Wilde

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