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

(Lack of Title Skillz)

Apparently staring at an inbox devoid of Pottermore emails does not make them show up any faster.

Also, asking Pottermore why it doesn't love you makes you socially abnormal.

These are things I learned today.

It's utterly gorgeous outside, and I am looking wistfully into the last vestiges of summer because my school starts up on Wednesday morning.

This was a good summer, really. It treated me well, and I am not ready for it to be over. My coping mechanism, as school inches closer, is insane denial and not packing up my school stuff because I believe that will fix something. Like maybe school won't start until I'm fully prepared.

That is a crazy idea, but one that I wish would come true.

This is another thing I learned today.

Some of the media I've absorbed recently:
--The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty. It is 400-some pages long and I finished it the day I got it. It is really super good and I plan on reading everything Jaclyn Moriarty has written ever.
--K cajoled me into seeing Rise of the Planet of the Apes with him and my dad yesterday, and... and....
Um.
It was honestly the most horrifying thing I've ever seen in my life.
Not horrifyingly bad, mind you, it was actually fantastic and well-made and I liked watching it, but the way the story ran was terrifying, with the apes taking over and the Golden Gate Bridge and the ALZ-113...
I suggest you watch it, but I think I am done with the Planet of the Apes movies after that one. Oh.
--Primary Faction, which is the prequel to a television-show-hopeful called Chronicles of Syntax. I first read about it here, where it is explained thoroughly. There are twelve episodes of Primary Faction, and the first one is up here, in playlist form. I tried listening to it without bias (the bias being the fact that Liam Dryden is in it and is to be a main character), and it is excellent. I hope it does get picked up as a TV show, and that I can find a way to watch this show from America.
--Sketches from Catherine Tate (a former companion on Doctor Who), which are hilarious, like this one.

Quote for Sunday, August 21, 2011:

"A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment."

-Mr. Darcy

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

Muse for Today:

Should people be allowed to choose the way they die?

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.