End of August?!

Wait, it's the 31st? Calendar, are you sure? Are you absolutely sure?

Apparently it's the 31st, which means that the month of no soda and also the month of blogging every day is over! Well, almost over. I still have about five hours left. There were a few mishaps (in terms of the blogging) but I managed to end August with enough blog posts for every day in August. I wrote 13,334 words (not counting this post). After doing 50,000 words for Nanowrimo 13,000 doesn't sound like a lot, but it's still a good amount of words. I've enjoyed blogging everyday, and I hope to continue blogging more regularly than I did before.

As for what I've done on this last day of August, I jump started my September a bit. I'd been telling myself throughout August that once September started I would start seriously preparing for school. Mostly it involved attempting to get textbooks and e-mailing a teacher a few questions. I know I don't start school until September 22nd, but I like being prepared. Heck, I know someone who has already read the books for one of her classes and now I feel behind (except I don't really). Tomorrow I will probably start my Japanese reviewing and studying ahead among other things. I would also like to get a little further in my novel rewrite, but that hasn't been going too well as of late.

As a parting note I would like to wish a HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY to my friend Claire!! I have no idea if she reads this blog, but it's her birthday so I'm going to wish her a happy birthday on it. I love you dearie.

A Collection of Thoughts

Today has definitely been much better. It's kind of amazing what an actual nights sleep, exercise, and not eating complete crap can do for your mood. It's a sign that maybe this is a biological need, or something. I am currently eating a giant bowl of homemade peach ice cream though. This is the only "bad" food I've eaten all day, and this is homemade! And it's got fruit in it. Which is healthy. Yes, that's how I'm going to think about this. The rest of this blog is now going to be a collection of random thoughts from the day with no real transition between them! Now... go!

Random thoughts number one: Today I contemplated dying my hair red. Not like a bright red, but like, a darker kind of red. I've been really bored of my hair lately, but I feel like there's only so many ways to cut it. So, if you want to do something dramatic and different with your hair that isn't cutting it, what's left? I do like my current hair color, although I would like it better if it was a little light. But, I was toying with the idea (not seriously considering it) until I talked to Chelsea about it and then really badly photo shopped a picture of myself to somewhat see what I would look like with red hair. So, that might happen, but probably not until school starts. If I do there will definitely be pictures.

Random thought that occurred to me today as I was playing Borderlands: I feel like video game and anime characters can withstand WAY more punishment than an actual human being. They can also jump a lot higher. Now, in Halo there is a justification for the fact there's no fall damage and they have a ridiculous ability to jump really high, but most of the time characters are just super-humans with shields. I watched Dragonball Z as a kid and the only thing I remember about it is that battles were 20 episodes long and battles usually consisted of both opponents getting CRUSHED INTO GIANT BOULDERS as many times as possible with giant dust clouds and whatnot. I think they might have been aliens with super powers though, but that doesn't fall in the list of two things I remember about the show.

Random thought number two from THIS VIDEO: The vlogbrothers have been doing this project called Thoughts From Places which is a series of videos in which they create video blogs about places they visit. Except, it's more of a video essay than a video blog. Ever since getting into watching video blogs back when the vlogbrothers first started, I've been really interested in doing things a different way than they are usually done. For example, using a camera instead of a piece of paper/word document/blogging program to record your thoughts. I really like this idea of a video essay because I think it creates a larger space in which to do more in an essay. I like how it enables a different way of thinking and of going about such a thing as an essay. As an English major and a book nerd, I love words and I love essays. Except, they don't have to be stuck on a piece of paper or a computer screen for me to love a good story or a good thought. That's why I love movies, television, video games, and yes, the wonderful world that is video blogging.

Last random thought: I don't understand why blue is the "sad" color. Blue seems more like limitless possibilities and endless time than... being sad. When I look at a blue sky, I'm not sad. When I look at the enormous expanse of the ocean, I'm not sad. Something colorless seems more apt for sad; something colorless is empty.

Meh

I'm going to apologize now for this post, but for the past two days I've been in sort of a... a funk I suppose. I'm not sure what else to really call it. I haven't really done anything, and I don't really care about doing anything. I think I have to actually leave the house tomorrow because my brother wants to go school supply shopping, and supposedly this means I have to go. Even though I don't have school for another three and a half weeks.

I did finish Mockingjay last night, and the ending was brilliant. My favorite books are always the ones that make me want to write. Yes, I love the ones that make me think or I like ones that are fun to read, but the ones I love the most are the ones that make me want to experiment with writing and the ones that gives me ideas I want to play with. Mockingjay definitely did that for me, and it took me over an hour and a half to get to sleep because my mind was racing with ideas.

Of course this morning that desire to write seems to have left, although the ideas are still thankfully in my head. The story has been continually growing in my head now for about three years now, so hopefully one day I'll get it out. Maybe.

If This Post had a Title it Would be Something Like This

I really do love having adventures that go late into the night. But, I hate how lethargic I feel the next day. Well, I don't always feel lethargic, but I just felt awful today. So, I spent the whole day finishing Mockingjay, eating chocolate chip cookies and wishing August was over so I could just have a soda (I'm not giving up this close to the end of the month), and looking at random blogs on the internet. During which I found this adorable blog of a new mother taking pictures of imagined dreams of her baby and this crazy blog post about this artist who makes sculptures out of the graphite on old pencils.

As for yesterday's adventures, it was awesome. I got to hang out with friends I either haven't seen in a while and/or won't see in a while. I was hyper on the car ride up from eating too much of the cupcake batter and frosting while making those cupcakes (it's why I don't bake too often, I always eat half the batter before I make anything) so that made for some amusing times. Plus, Erin was in the car too and she's one of those people that makes me act as crazy as I am in my head, but in a good way. If that made any sense. Not a lot of people bring that out, but middle school has that ability to bond you to people for ever and I technically knew Erin in Elementary school too.

The sushi place we went to was awesome and cheap. And I tried a few kinds I hadn't had before, which was fun. Every time I have Japanese food (or really, almost any type of food but especially Japanese food) I try to eat something I hadn't had before. Partially because I like Japanese food, and partially because it makes me feel that if I went to Japan for three months or if I decided to live there for a while I will be able to eat a good portion of things I come across. I mean, I realize a lot of Asian food in America has been.. well.. Americanized, but part of me hopes that it still counts.

Then we went to that free concert for an hour before heading over to the beach. Then we magically got free parking (there were some issues with the little machine where you pay, so the parking garage attendant just let us out) but then we got really lost before we managed to get to the beach. Unfortunately, when we got there no firepits were open, so we ate cupcakes in the dark while finding guitar chords on my Blackberry so Tida could play random pop songs (or whatever you classify Taylor Swift and Justin Beiber as).

After a while a group left their fire, so we rushed over to take what was obviously not a fire pit. What they left was a dubious fire made from newspaper they piled up on some sand. Which wouldn't be too big of a deal, except that it was windy. Add in a few random drunk guys that came along and awkwardly hit on some of my friends and you've got yourself a classic bonfire-on the-beach-experience. Well, that and s'mores. You can't have a proper bonfire without s'mores.

We grabbed some food at a 24 hour drive-in where I had a milkshake and french fries, both of which were foods I haven't eaten in at least a month (if not more).

All in all, it was a good night. I may post pictures in a future blog, but right now I've still got about 50 pages left of Mockingjay. I had to take a break from it. As brilliant as it is, it's hard to real. There's so much much raw emotion, and then Susan Collins throws that raw emotion into the realities of war. It's hard to read at times, but also necessary to read. I love these sorts of books, but they're a little more difficult to get through than something by Meg Cabot or Sarah Dessen (as much as I love both those authors).

Healthy Cupcakes?

This post is going to be a quick one because I'm leaving in an hour for Seattle! I love Seattle, I really do. I find it lame that it seems like the general USA doesn't consider it a "real" city. I mean, I loved New York and Chicago and the little bit of LA I've seen, but Seattle? I mean, it's got the Space Needle, the original Starbucks, the Pike Place...

Seriously. Seattle OWNS.

I spent most of this morning exercising and making cupcakes for tonight. I made mini vanilla almond mint chocolate cupcakes. Well, the cupcakes are vanilla, with almond frosting and half a thin mint candy and chocolate sprinkles :)

Even better than that? They're healthier than normal cupcakes.

The only issue I have with these is that if you don't get enough cooking spray into the paper cupcake cups the cupcakes REALLY stick to the cups because there isn't as much fat in them as there are in normal cupcakes. Although, I may have mitigated the "healthy"-ness of the cupcakes by putting candy and sprinkles on them. Whatever. I mean, they're cupcakes, right?

Staircases and Ladders

I really like books. I mean, I've always liked books and I assume I always will. Since I was a little kid, books were what held my attention. I went through some paperbacks in less time than the round trip to the bookstore. I love old books and used bookstores. In my dream house, I will have a room devoted to books. I hope it will be similar to Neil Gaiman's home library that I like to drool over.

A love associated to books and libraries is the piece of furniture that holds those books: bookshelves. Wednesdays have become a favorite day of the week at Booklicious where they showcase bookshelves and celebrity libraries. So, here are some of my favorite bookshelves I've found online (or have been featured in that blog).

This one came from a whole set of pictures where this couple shoved books into every possible space in their house. My favorite is this one where they turned their staircase into a giant bookshelf. Can you imagine grabbing a pillow and curling up at the top of that staircase, reading while surrounded by books like that? (Note to self, perhaps dream house home library should be in attic with a staircase like this?)

I really like the idea of painting the backs of the shelves. Especially with the rest of the room being grey like this. It's like, "Hey! Surprise! There's color back here!" It amuses me.

I think the awesome of this one speaks for itself.

Another requirement of the dream home library? It has high enough ceilings where you can have bookshelves that require ladders. Not only does it seem even more hardcore, but when no one is looking I can re-enact that part in Beauty and the Beast when Belle swings around slides with the ladder. I think it might be worth it just for that fact alone.

Also, have you guys seen those invisible bookshelves? I'm amused by the fact it looks like there isn't a shelf holding up the books, but I think I'd only use those for display books I don't actually read. I mean, I have those (like my Harry Potter collector's editions or my really old copies of Shakespeare plays)

Bonus Bookshelf:

I found this on tumblr the other day. I know it's more of a closet, but the converse fan in me squealed a little at this wonderful picture. Oh Chucks, why must you be an expensive brand name?

Oops Part 2

It seems the further I go into August the more times I simply... forget. It definitely was not a conscious decision not to blog yesterday. It was more that I just got busy doing other things. I've started using MyPlate to track what I'm eating which I think has been working really well. It's nice to be able to see everything with the graphs and the tables, and it's nice to have a concrete goal I'm shooting for. It's a lot easier to eat healthier this way than to just vaguely say, "Oh, I need to eat healthier". And I enjoy the little graphic of the glass of water filling up as you track how many glasses of water you've had that day. Anyway, yesterday I was working on that and exercising so I made sure I stayed near my calorie goal. I also got Mockingjay in the mail, so yay! I'm not done with it yet, but hopefully soon. Then we went out to dinner and went computer shopping for my mom. She's been using my brother's old one for a while and it completely died about a week or so ago. By the time we came home after all of this, I felt ridiculously tired (for reasons I'm not quite sure of) so I just went to bed and read Mockingjay for a bit. And then I just... fell asleep. Haha, yes.

So, that's sort of two days skipped now. Except I'm going to do what I did last time and just blog twice today. Again, I think it counts.

Okay, I think "Wednesday's" post is going to be short. Which is fine, because I feel like Tuesday's post was a little long...

Spoilers!

It's day 24 in the exciting saga that is my life (or, you know, not). I wonder if maybe I should have picked a different month to blog because then things would actually be happening. As for today, I spent most of the morning watching trailers on youtube. And then this afternoon I've spent most of it re-watching Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Speaking of those trailers, I was really amused because the end of the Voyage of the Dawn Treader uses the same music as the Mass Effect 2 launch trailer. I find it funny how trailers (mostly) use the same music. Like the music in the beginning of the Dawn Treader trailer? I swear they use that music in EVERY single magical happy fun, this is a family movie, type trailer. Yes, a lot of trailers use the actual music they use in the product (I mean, you made an entire soundtrack, yes? Why not use it for the trailer too?), but there are a lot that seem to the same music. Actually, I liked the music that was in the Mass Effect 2 launch trailer so much, I went out and found it (which is why I recognized it in the Narnia trailer). It's Heart of Courage by this group of makes a bunch of music for trailers. .

Which brings me to another thought about trailers. I feel like I spoil myself a lot by watching the trailers. I mean, I love trailers and I love getting more excited for things that are coming. But, I know that a lot of moments in a movie or video game would have been a lot more surprising and more fun if I had just stayed away from the trailer. Like, there were a few characters in Mass Effect 2 that were character who'd come back from Mass Effect 1. I would have been a lot more surprised and excited while playing if I hadn't watched the trailers (or scoured the internet for every single interview and news post about the game). I completely spoiled the crazy beginning sequence, which would have been more awesome and WTF-worthy if I hadn't known going in what was going on.

Sometimes you can't really avoid being spoiled, like movie trailers at a theater or some idiot in your English class explaining the ending of a book you were halfway through reading (Grrrr, still mad about that, and I STILL haven't finished The Road...) Still, I wonder if maybe for Mass Effect 3 I should stay away from trailers and as much news as possible? I've been somewhat trying to do that for the Deathly Hallows movie. The only thing I've seen is the trailer, and I'm trying as hard as I can to stay away from production stills, sneak peaks, and behind the scenes clips. I've even stopped checking Mugglenet so I'm not accidentally spoiled for how the characters look in the epilogue or where the part 1 and 2 split is. I absolutely DO NOT want to know where the two movies are split.

So, we'll see how that works. Right now I'm beginning to be paranoid about the third book in the Hunger Games series getting spoiled for me. I ordered it from Barns and Noble and am getting it shipped to my house. This was apparently a bad idea because it didn't get here today. I should hopefully be safe on the internet since, while it is pretty popular, it's not Harry Potter. For the 7th Harry Potter book I shut both my phone and computer off until I had finished that thing. No way in hell was I getting my childhood spoiled by someone texting me the end when I hadn't read it yet.

What are your opinions on spoilers? Do you not care? Do you search for spoilers? Are you like me and you would have been willing to murder the idiots who yelled out who got killed in the 6th Harry Potter book to people exiting the midnight release? Because I so would have shoved my copy down that idiot's throat if I could have. Thankfully, no such event happened at my beloved Barns and Noble. But if it had...

Screensaver Picspam of Awesome

If you've ever hung out in my room long enough you might have seen a glimpse into what I call my screensaver folder. I have this habit of saving every odd thing I come across, and that habit has crossed over from the physical into the virtual world. Every time I see a picture/ad/product/whatever I like on the internet, I save it to my screensaver folder. So, for today's second post I thought I would share some of my favorites. Unfortunately, I don't have the picture credits for all of them, so if it's yours and I didn't credit it leave a comment and I'll fix that.

(Want. So. Badly.)

(Actual children's book)

So, yes, that's a small glimpse of my screen saver collection. It currently has 1,039 files. Wow, that number even surprised me a little bit.

Pushing Forward

So, you may have noticed that there is no entry for the 22nd of August and that it is now the 23rd of August. Unfortunately, there will never be a post for yesterday because (in a sense) I've "failed" BEDA. No, I did not blog every single day in August, but I think there's more to this than that. I think there's more to this project than simply putting something up on the internet every day.

Yesterday was not really a good day for any of my projects. I didn't exercise at all over the weekend. Not only that, but yesterday I definitely ate potato chips out the bag and more microwavable food than I've had in the past month. So, after playing Halo 3 on legendary difficulty with my brother for six hours and then suddenly realizing that it was 12:30 and thus had failed BEDA, I went to bed feeling pretty crappy. Okay, the Halo was awesome. I don't regret playing Halo for 6 hours with my brother (and I swear the last Halo 3 mission on legendary is even more epic and crazy than on normal or heroic difficulty, but that's a different story). Partially because I love video games and I love doing things with my brother. No, it's not the Halo I regret. But, when I went to bed last night I had horrible headache and that sort of achy go-away-world feeling.

This morning, however, was different. I woke up, ate breakfast, and made sure I ran on the treadmill for an hour before doing anything else. Then, after talking with my mom for a little bit about running shoes, I decided to drink a protein shake while writing this blog. Because, I think more than anything else, giving up at this point would be more like failing than just not posting yesterday. Not getting up and deciding to get back on the treadmill would be failing. A few days ago I posted a list of random things about myself. However, I feel like I left something off. The thing I hate more than anything else? Giving up. Giving up and not sticking to what you said you were going to do, even if you messed up a little. I think that's something my parents have always drilled into my head, and there's a part of me that's afraid if I give up once I'll see how easy it is and will continue to give up. I don't want that.

I am continuing BEDA. Not only that, but I think I'm going to post twice today (this post this morning and then a post tonight) so I will still have 31 posts for the month of August. So I didn't fail BEDA, I just tripped a little. Which, honestly, there's nothing wrong with that.

As long as you don't give up.

Blast from the Past

Today's post is sort of a guest post. Who is this guest poster you ask? Why, it's six-year-old Heather! I mean, I wrote a letter to my 30-year-old self and I keep talking about the future and becoming an adult, so why shouldn't single-digit-aged Heather have a go?

When I was little I LOVED making picture books. I would write little stories, then I would draw pictures for them and bring them to show my preschool teachers. One day, my mom thought that we could type up one of my stories on the computer and print it out so it would look like a "real" book. Six-year-old Heather was, of course, ecstatic about the idea. Now, due to motherly genius and the miracle of technology I have this treasure to share with everyone today. I'm pretty sure I was the one who typed this, but I think Mom may have helped. Microsoft word probably did some auto correct stuff too (I don't remember how well that worked in 1997). I have not edited this to keep the integrity of the story and the time traveling intact.

The following story is actually from my six-year-old brain. I can't make this stuff up. Well, I used to be able to (apparently) but now I can't.

***

the angry rainbow

once there was a rainbow who was angry because he like the shade better than the sun. The sun was to bright and he didn’t want to work in the sun but rest in the shade.

He was also sad on the inside because he missed his family. His family moved far away while he was at school.

One day there was a little rainbow who came to the land of rainbows. The angry rainbow was surprised by the baby. The baby was scared of all the stranger rainbows.

one day the angry rainbow had to take a test. the test was a math test to see if he could add points in games. he had 10 minutes to take the test. he did takes-aways and he did addition.

he did 1 to 10 he did 10 to 19 he did 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19.

he did 20-21-22-23-24-25-26-27-28-29-30 he did all of those numbers to 30 and he wins.

But he will always have friends like his and everyone was surprised that he was happy and he sang the ABC song. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz now I no my ABC’s next time wont you sing with me .the end

***

Okay, leave it to six-year-old me to write a story about an EMO RAINBOW. I think I took the happiest thing in the universe and made it sad. That's talent right there. Or, well, it's something.

If only I could find the printed and "illustrated" version of The Angry Rainbow. That, my friends, would be what one would call "comic gold".

Random Heather is Random

Due to the fact it is now about two-thirds of the way through BEDA, I'm running out of original thoughts. What does one do when they're out of original thoughts? Steal thoughts from other people of course!

Today's post is stolen from Chelsea where she lists random things about herself. I don't feel too bad about stealing it though, since she originally took the idea from facebook (you know, those "List 25 random things about yourself then tag 25 people who in turn have to to list 25 random facts and tag 25 people who... Well, you get it).

I still check my old Neopets account to collect my bank interest and play the arcade games. My first nanowrimo novel is technically a trilogy (but, honestly, how pretentious is that?). I've recently decided that I am definitely a Gryffindor. Reading Harry Potter instantly makes me feel better no matter what is going on. So does huckleberry ice cream and almost anything with chocolate and peanut butter.

The first computer game I can remember playing was either Winnie the Pooh or something to do with Barbie and horses, but I played games on my Dad's old Super Nintendo before that. I (mostly) single handedly won a reading competition in my first grade class. The class was split into two teams and we competed to see which team had the most reading hours. I was the only one who turned any hours in (save for one guy who turned in an hour or two), but my "team" still won.

I'm a sucker for anti-hero, rogue-ish, and villain-turned-good types of characters. (Example: Han Solo is better than Luke. Prince Zuko in The Last Airbender was my favorite character from the first episode). I actually remember little things about the day my little brother was born and the day he turned a year old (for those who don't know, I was only 2-years-old when he was born).

I've read half of each of the books in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: The first half of both The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, and the second half of The Return of the King. I have read all of The Hobbit.

I love bright colors. It bothers me when the label for something is giant and in the middle of whatever it is. Like t-shirts that have the brand plastered across it. I love covering things with stickers. I collect action figures and comic books. My favorite class in high school was my calculus classes (not, as one would think, my English classes although I did really like my English teacher Junior year). I know how to use basic to intermediate HTML, CSS, and PHP coding because I used to have my own website (it was called only-three.com). I used to be really afraid of elevators, but now I'm only kind of afraid of them (due to the fact that they're kind of a presence in our everyday lives). I'm afraid that I'll back out of doing the things I've dreamed of doing.

I work really hard to make the people around me feel loved, but most of the time I feel like I don't do enough (or say it enough).

Most of my favorite things have been things my brother really liked and introduced to me. The West Wing, Doctor Who, video games in general, and Babylon 5 are a few of those things. Harry Potter, however, I read first. My brother and I used to play Nancy Drew games together all the time when we were younger. When we were really little he also played Pretty Pretty Princess with me when I really wanted to play but there was no one else around to play it with me (because he is the best brother ever).

And I feel that now I have listed enough random things although I didn't really count how many I listed. Anyway, that last paragraph started being more about Nathan than about me. Which is fine, because he's awesome.

Shut Up and Let Me Shoot Things

Every time I go grocery shopping these days (usually with one of my parents, because I'm lame) I think a lot about how in a month I will have to go get groceries for myself. I will have to cook for myself. I will be living a little bit more on my own than I did last year. Admittedly, I'm still in campus housing (in the on-campus apartments) so I don't have to really pay bills and that sort of thing since all that gets lumped in with my tuition. However, it's still that little reminder of, "Hey! Guess what! You need to sort of start acting like an adult." Well, maybe more like a mature child with more responsibilities. I don't feel like I'll be out growing toys (like, I want THIS really badly) or making up worlds for my imagination to play in any time soon.

Anyway, I've been working on trying to learn more recipes and cook more things as the summer goes on. Recently I found this website devoted to healthy eating and working out and whatnot, and have been wanting to try a bunch of the recipes on there. So, I picked up a bunch of stuff to make things like protein pancakes, cucumber salad, healthy cupcakes (this one I'm really curious about), and sweet potato fries. I made these peanut butter bites from that same website tonight after dinner, and oh wow 0_0 So. Good. Then again, I have a special weakness for peanut butter. Add chocolate to it and you've got my kryptonite.

Other than contemplating the impending stroll back into adulthood and real life, I've spent most of the day listening to my brother berate my video game playing. Like, "Wait, you're using THAT gun?", "Seriously, just go for the head shot. Head. Shot. One shot kill. Really useful", and "Hey, you know what helps? Having ammo and avoiding getting shot". Yes, thank you Nathan. Because I'm sure you've never run out of ammo and have never been shot. Shut up and let me shoot things before I grab one of your airsoft guns and shoot you.

Unfortunately, if I said that, he'd probably laugh and say how that isn't really a threat because A) half of them are broken and the other half are finicky and B) I'd probably miss anyway.

English Major-y, Fan girl Rubbish

So today I finally watched the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet (with David Tennant as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as Claudius) after getting it from Netflix about a week ago. When I say finally I kind of feel like I've been waiting to see it since it was in production in London two years ago (wait, two years ago? Is that right?). I'm not sure why I waited so long to get it from Netflix, but it was nice to finally see it.

As for my thoughts on it, I liked it. MILES better than the Mel Gibson version. Then again, that isn't too hard to do. Honestly, the Mel Gibson version is ridiculous and he sounded weird when trying to do Shakespeare. I know I would also sound weird (pretty sure I would completely botch the iambic pentameter) but I'm not trying to get paid for it, now am I?

David Tennant, on the other hand, sounded a lot better to me. Although, I wish someone would do a slightly more controlled Hamlet. Sometimes I feel that actors just kind of go as crazy and rip through the scene as much as possible. Although, I feel that everyone criticizes everyone's version of Hamlet by saying the actor went a little overboard. So, I liked Tennant's portrayal of Hamlet. Except I kept thinking like "OH GAH please fix his air already!", "Wait, why is he not wearing shoes?", and "What's with the jeans? The other guy is in all-white fencing gear". Plus, the back of my mind kept migrating to the fact that it was the Doctor (David Tennant) versus a hybrid of Captain Picard and Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart). So, you know, my appraisal of it isn't entirely English major rubbish. Some of it is fan girl rubbish.

Other than spending some time with Hamlet, I attempted to play Halo 3:ODST since I finally finished my playthrough of Star Ocean at 2:30AM this morning. (Side Note: I forget how ridiculous and how long the end of Japanese games are. The ending battle and subsequent cut scenes shouldn't take two and a half hours). Now, while I enjoy games like Halo I absolutely suck at them. It seems like I die every five minutes and I get annoyingly lost (despite the overall map, map markers, and the giant compass at the top of the screen). Still, I enjoy the story and the fact that Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, and Alan Tudyk do voices for three of the characters. It's like a Firefly reunion, except Wash shoots things and is really good at blowing things up, and Jayne gets bigger guns and fights aliens. And there's no great crime capers or train heists, which in my opinion, is in itself a crime.

Dear... Me

Today has been a bit of a lazy day. I didn't get back from seeing Prince of Persia last night until 1AM. Side Note: Awesome movie! I mean, if you love cheesy movies with cheesy slow motion action secquences, deus ex machina, and video game plots, then you'll like it. Which I do. I honestly can't wait until it comes out on DVD). Anyway, when I got home I figured since I was up late anyway, I spent a good amount of time reading City of Ashes, and I still got up at 8:30 this morning for no reason whatsoever. I really did not have any energy for anything beyond working on a few crochet projects and attempting to finish up my Star Ocean playthrough. So, being productive and working out will continue tomorrow! Yes, that it will. Or perhaps tonight. I can still technically do something before going to bed.

Anyway, as for the point of this post, yesterday as I was browsing through my youtube subscriptions, I watched this video, and this video. I have been 20 years old for about a month now, so these videos got me thinking about what I want in my next 10 years of life. I mean, in the past ten I did the usual graduate from high school, go to college, get a driver's license, and whatever else the average American teenager does.

So, this post is sort of to 30-year-old Heather (egads, that sounds... weird) and also to 20 year Heather so that she remembers she wants to do these things.

Which, by the way is the first thing. I hope that 30-year-old me has stopped chickening out of doing the things you (I) dream of doing. For example, I'm hoping that you didn't decide that studying abroad in Japan was too hard or too scary. I'm also hoping that after you graduated you worked as hard as you could to get into that program so you could live in Japan for a year. If you did that and didn't get in, I understand. Then again, I suppose you could have changed your mind and found another dream? However, considering the me you were ten years ago, I highly doubt that.

I wonder if you're married. Although, again, judging from the me you are in 2010, I'm not too confident in that. I hope you prove me wrong. With all the crazy I'm currently planning for you, you might not have time.

What I hope most of all is that you kept the people you were important to you, and that you still realize that they're important so that you work to keep them. That, no matter what goals you achieve and which ones you don't, that there's always someone there that has your back. And whenever they need someone? That you're there for them too. But, as I keep saying, 20-year-old you doesn't think that's going to be a problem.

Sincerely (cause, you know, saying "Your friend" or "Love" in this case is weird),

20-year-old you

P.S. Man, I'll bet the English teacher you are now probably wants to strangle past you. I know when I go back and read the stuff 10-year-old Heather wrote, I cringe every few seconds.

Ridiculously Prepared

As I'm going to a 10PM showing of Prince of Persia tonight at the $3 theater with a few friends, I decided it might be a good idea if I didn't wait until I got home to write up today's BEDA blog. Not that writing it earlier seems to be doing much for inspiration, but the fact is that the post is here! Again, like nanowrimo, I feel that it's more about the fact that something exists rather than the quality of that thing existing.

Besides planning on seeing Prince of Persia tonight, I've done a lot of preparing for the coming school year. I looked up the textbooks I need to buy (and they're actually cheaper at Barns and Noble for once, yes!), checking on some financial aid stuff (yay! So. Much. Debt. Urg), and played around with the planner I bought a few days ago. Why I bought a planner in the first half of August when school doesn't start until September 22, I don't know. Currently, I already have my fall quarter schedule written down, various other dates that seemed important, and the fact that Nanowrimo begins November first (not that I needed reminding). Then, because I like to prepare for things six months in advance, I looked up when my finals will be since they have a schedule based on what time the class is held on my school website. If all of my classes have finals (which, I'm not entirely sure on that front) I'll have a final Monday, Tuesday... and Friday. Yuck. I guess I'll be really prepared for my Japanese final unless something changes when, you know, I actually start school.

In other news, it's still hot. It took a lot longer today for things to creep up into the higher temperatures and it hasn't gotten as hot today (yet) as the forecast was promising. Still, I'm not a fan of temperatures above 85. Not that the current 90 degrees is too much different, but that extra five degrees gives me something to complain about, darnit! Would I be from Washington if I didn't complain about the weather? No, I would not.

Despite the fact it's still hot I managed to work out this morning (I woke up early enough to where it was still *only* 70ish degrees) and managed to get five miles into the time that last week I'd been managing about 4.5 miles. Although I think I stopped for water more often. Not sure on that one, but still!

Alright, I'm going to go back to farming for experience and random items in Star Ocean: The Last Hope so I can finally finish that game. I've had that game since it came out in February 2009 and I still haven't finished it.

Side note: I currently have Hamlet (with David Tennant), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Heath Ledger's actual last film), and Grave of the Fireflies from netflix right now. I can't decide which to watch first. Any thoughts/opinions/votes on the matter?

LITERAL hotness

What? It's 11PM again? I haven't blogged yet? I NEED TO BLOG?!

Apparently BEDA is making me go crazy. It's also making me repeatedly break my unwritten rule of not writing things in all capital letters.

Or possibly it's this random heat in Washington. It's not supposed to be above 95 degrees here. That's why I like Washington weather. It's not usually too hot or too cold, but apparently the universe likes to laugh at Washingtonians who don't have air conditioning because it's not hot here. So, I've mostly been milling about, being lazy and sitting in front of a fan. I did manage to get up and run this morning before it got too unbearable, but I didn't run as much as I usually do. Because it's hot. Yuck.

A side effect of it being hot is that I really want to go on a road trip. I'm not sure why, but I feel like there's something in my brain that decides when it's hot I need to go on a road trip. Except I have no idea where to go, and not much money to go anywhere. Except perhaps camping. I could go camping.

To make up for this post, here's a youtube video that amused me. Actually, this guy makes a bunch of videos like this and they're generally amusing. My dad, my brother, and I had fun for a while watching his literal trailers. You might want to go to youtube to watch the actual video so you can watch it a little bigger. I had to make it small so it wouldn't stretch the page awkwardly.

Color=Healthy

Somehow, this has been one of the longest and one of the shortest summers I've ever had. It feels like I've been on summer vacation for ages, yet it also feels like I just got out of school so I don't see how I'm going back in a little over a month. I've seen so many of my friends this past week, which has been really nice. Hopefully I'll see more of my friends in the coming weeks, as quite a few of them are jetting off (or driving off) to college. Oh silly schools on the semester system. The quarter system is where it's at.

Another thing I've been working on this summer is trying to cook meals for myself. Mostly, I can manage breakfast pretty well. Admittedly, things like oatmeal, eggs, or pancakes isn't that hard, but I can cook those things well at least. I was proud of the oatmeal I made this morning, so I took a picture.

Yum! I like how the strawberries instantly made it more colorful. I feel like there's a part of me that believes that the more colorful a meal is, the healthier and more delicious it is. I'm sure there are foods that can prove me wrong (like Fruit Loops or something) but I always have more fun eating food in happy colors.

So when I made lunch (two scrambled eggs and vegetables because I'm tired of grilled cheese sandwiches and quesadillas which are the only two lunch foods I seem to make) I decided to add celery (green) and carrots (orange) so my meal wouldn't just be an off white, yellowy sort of thing.

For dinner we went out and ate at California Pizza Kitchen, because it's hot and no one wanted to cook. Admittedly, it's not ridiculously hot, but it's hot for Western Washington. It got into the 90's, which makes me sound like a wuss to some of you who grew up/live in hotter climes, but whatever. No one has air conditioning here, so it's too hot to use the oven. Anyway, I ordered an Italian Tomato and Basil pizza with thin crust. Yum.

So there you have it, the foods I ate today. I think there was a peach as a snack in there somewhere too, and lots of water. I'm not entirely sure why this blog turned into an episode of "What I Ate Today", but I hope at least the colors were entertaining.

Subtract Two Minutes From Awesome

Let me start off by saying I had an awesome day. I managed to wake up before nine (which is something I've been trying to do all day), I had breakfast while playing video games, and then I spent the rest of the day watching Disney movies on VHS with awesome people. It was so ridiculously hot, and there were a lot of people, but I LOVE watching Disney movies with large groups of people. I love singing obnoxiously loud to the songs (and I must say, I'm pretty beastly at "One Jump Ahead" from Aladdin because one day last summer I decided I had to learn all the lyrics) and analyzing the weird things Disney sticks in movies and hopes no one notices. I don't think I've ever analyzed Mulan as much as we did tonight. Like, why do they unroll scrolls and read them horizontally when they're written and supposed to be read vertically? Or where does that doctor come from when they're on the mountain and Mulan (as Ping) got injured? Things like that.

Due to this awesome afternoon of Disney movies and watching Jessica burn off some of the hair on her arm, I was going to make this post about my favorite Disney movies or my favorite Disney characters. I had a list going as I was driving home, and I was already thinking about the pictures I have on my hard drive that I would use.

Except when I was driving home, in the last two minutes of my drive the 10:00 show came on the Christian radio station I listen to. Now, I know that people are going to think differently from me, and I know that some of those beliefs may be offensive to me. And, honestly, I get to a point where I just try to ignore it because it's going to either make me mad or make my a hypocrite to call them out on it. However, when they start to belittle my own beliefs? Then I have a problem.

The radio program was discussing how freedom of religion is being attacked due to Prop 8 being overturned in California. That, by validating same-sex marriage, public education will somehow attack freedom of religion in this country. Now, I understand that some people are afraid of change and afraid of things they don't understand. But then they went on to say how "there are even some Christians" who think that what two consenting adults do is between them. Which I agree with. I also know the fact that everyone sins, that God loves everyone despite these sins, so I try very hard to love and accept everyone no matter what they do or what they believe. I may disagree with them or think that they're wrong. So when someone else tells me that as a Christian I should believe something else? That bothers me.

Anyway, that was really the only bad part of my day. So, two minutes out of the rest of the 24 hours of awesome? I'm okay with that. Still, I guess I don't understand why we must fight wars and hate other people over a difference of opinion. I know I'm not perfect myself, and I get angry with people sometime. I just wish people would try harder sometimes.

Teaching Fiction

Like a lot of people (especially those in my generation) I go through another re-read of Harry Potter nearly every summer. This summer I've been restricting that re-reading to when I'm on the treadmill to help get me to exercise more often. While it has definitely helped to make me run longer on more days, I'm not going through it as fast as I normally do. Today I FINALLY got to Harry's first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson with Lupin, and it made me think about how awesome the teachers at Hogwarts are. Except for most of the Defense Against the Arts teachers, and Snape (I LOVE Snape as a character, but hate him as a teacher).

Which then got me thinking about teachers in fiction in general, which THEN prompted me to make a list of my favorite fictional teachers. In no particular order, here are five of my favorite teachers (actually based on whether or not I'd want them as my own teacher).

5. Minerva McGonagall-Harry Potter

I know, I didn't pick Lupin or Dumbledore. I didn't pick either of them because they get enough love, and Professor McGonagall doesn't get nearly enough. I love how she respects her students, and genuinely cares that they succeed.

4.Mr. Holland- Mr. Hollands Opus

I think it's interesting how he "gives up" his dream, but finds a life he loves better. Plus, he's a band director. EPIC awesome :)

3. Professor Keating- Dead Poet's Soceity

This will probably be the only time I approve of ripping pages out of books. I mean, diagramming the value of a poem? Lame XD Professor Keating on the other hand? Uber awesome.

2. Mr. Feeny- Boy Meets World

If I have to explain this, you've obviously not seen it.

1. Mrs. Frizzle- Magic School Bus

She'd probably be a nightmare for any school district's legal department (can you just imagine the potential law suits from random parents who don't even have kids in that classroom complaining of child endangerment?) but how awesome would it be to go to outer space? Best. Field trip. Ever.

Remember that was in no particular order, just me wishing I could have a teacher who would take me to outer space in a bus or transform into a cat during a transfiguration lesson.

(Still) Writing

As I sit in my ridiculously warm living room (with all of the lights off in an effort to cool it down a little) I'm struggling a little to come up with what I should write about. I've just spent the last 30-45 minutes clicking random websites I have bookmarked, going over the small amount of things I did today in my brain, and reading blog posts by other bloggers I follow. While the act of simply blogging every day for BEDA has been difficult, I've found the most difficult part is trying to come up with something new to write about each day. When you're only blogging once every few weeks/months every blog can easily be, "Whoops! I haven't blogged in a while, but here's a long list of things I've done and I promise I'll blog again soon," so it's not that difficult. The things I've been reading and the things I've been doing actually change when I only blog every few weeks, so things sound more exciting.

Except when you're blogging every day you realize you do the same things every day and you've been reading the same thing for the past three weeks.

So then I try coming up with other things to say, things that aren't based on events that actually happened. Although, today I did go over to a friend's house expecting a third friend to show up, but we didn't communicate with the third friend well so we had to call. And aforementioned call woke her up. Then, I failed at playing Cooking Mama on my friend's Wii. I also borrowed a copy of Ocarina of Time for GameCube because apparently you can play GameCube games on a Wii (once you get a gamecube controller and a gamecube memory card, which is fine with me. I've been meaning to get those anyway).

But another thing happened today made me grateful for BEDA. That friend we woke up with that phone call? Her older sister has been working on a novel for a while now (I'd heard about it a few times from my friend and my friend's sister, in addition to being updated on its status from the sister's blog/twitter) and apparently it's finished. Barring grammar and other sorts of smaller editing sorts of things. In the general sense of the word, it's finished.

Which then reminded me of my own projects that I meant to work on a lot more this summer and how I've been spending a lot more time playing video games and knitting/crocheting than I have writing. And writing was a big thing I wanted to do this summer. Yes, a revision of my first Nanowrimo novel has been in the works, but it's definitely been more of a back burner project. But what has been nice about BEDA is that it's something that makes me write every day. It's something that makes me think about writing, and then once it's written putting that writing on the internet (which, honestly, should be more frightening than it sometimes is. Although, a small audience definitely makes it easier).

Then again, this BEDA project isn't even half way over yet, so by day 20 I may be singing a different tune. For now, however, I'm happy that I'm writing again. Even if it doesn't (always) involve swords or epic quests.

(Still)Currently Reading: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (but I've also started City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare)

(Still)Currently Playing: Star Ocean: The Last Hope (I'm finally on the world where you get to capture a GIANT pink bunny so you can ride it over this quicksand desert. Except I'm also at the point of the game where the hero is questioning his life/decisions/motives/etc so he's a bit... depressed at the moment. Which is not so fun)

A final side note on today's blog: To be fair to myself, my friend's sister has been working on her novel for seven years, and has also lived longer and has had more experiences than I've had. All of these being things that I know writers need in order to be better. The point of this post wasn't to complain about myself or lament anything, but to be happy about simply writing and also that I'm happy for my friend's sister. Writing first draft is no easy task, let alone writing seven drafts of a novel over seven years.

I feel like...

I feel like today was a place holder. Almost like when time travel is invented, I will come back to today and then I will get to do what I was really supposed to do today. I didn't run 4.5 miles like I wanted to this morning. I didn't study Japanese. I didn't even leave my house or change out of my PJs. So, life, can I call a do-over?

...

Wait, I'm not in a video game? I don't have any extra lives? THERE ARE NO SAVE POINTS?!

Which, (not so) funnily enough was what I was saying for an hour and a half when playing Star Ocean: The Last Hope today while I was playing through an seemingly endless dungeon. This particular dungeon was characterized by fighting lizard-men and fearing the glitch that happens in that part of the game where the game will freeze and you lose an hour of your life. This glitch happened to me at least twice in my first play through of the game, but due to some miracle it didn't freeze once and I got all the treasure. Yay :)

I do love playing Japanese RPG's, despite the endless lists of item gathering and creation, annoying 9-year-old children inexplicably joining in on quests to save the world/universe, and painfully horrible English dubbing. However, the ONE THING that always annoys me is the lack of ability to save whenever you want to. I understand that there was a need for them back in the days of Final Fantasy VII when the technology wasn't quite as advanced. However, most games of the RPG type not only have the ability to let you save nearly whenever you want, they have auto-saves and check points where the game saves for you in case you're an idiot. However, JRPG's apparently have a nostalgic penchant for save points that they really need to get rid of. Now, thanks to the shiny orbs/discs showcasing that you have finally come to the point the developers have ordained that you may save the last hour of your life, I am conditioned to feel a sense of relief and achievement whenever I see shiny random objects. Because I really needed help to be distracted by said objects.

Apologies for the nerd-rant. Apparently this blog has turned into a constant discussion of video games with occasional mentions of real life and my either failing or being awesome in running shoes.

Again, any requests for topics? Or are the sarcastic nerd-rants sufficient?

Klepto-Glasses

So, I'm sitting here with about a half an hour left to post a blog entry because I didn't realize I'd be out until 11PM tonight. Basically, tonight was just a whirlwind of crazy, sketch parks, and me committing minor felonies (except not) with a bunch of my high school friends.

First, we attempted to eat at Olive Garden, except the one near my house is ridiculously busy all the time, even on Monday nights, so it was a 2 hour wait. Not feeling the need to wait until 9PM to get food, we drove over to the Old Spaghetti Factory. Now, when you order an Italian soda there, you get to keep the glass, and this is the entire reason why I ordered it. My friends, however, did not realize this, so when they saw me putting the glass into my bag they thought I was stealing it. Because I make a habit of stealing kitchenware from restaurants I go to.

Then we went to a few different sketchy parks in the dark, including a private one where we were definitely trespassing(sort of). So, in conclusion, I was able to put both petty theft and trespassing on my list of crimes committed today. Except, not.

As I'm really tired from running 4.5 miles this morning (Woot!) I'm going to go to bed so I can get up and do that again tomorrow morning.

As a side note, I'm a little worried that I'm going to run out of things to blog about, so are there any suggestions out there on what you think I should write about?

Bleh

Today was just one of those off days. I can't say that is was a bad day, but just that something felt off the entire day. Plus, you know that feeling you get right before your foot goes to sleep and you know that if you sit there too much longer that you're going to get those tingly needles once you move your feet? Yeah, I felt that way like every where today. I'm not sure if my circulation just sucks, or what. Anyway, that is why this blog post is probably going to be short, and feel really weird and just... off.

And these pictures pretty much describe my feelings on today. Like, perfectly.

I straightened my hair again today,

because

I woke up 20 minutes earlier

than I needed to. And

then, because I am super classy,

I took webcam pictures of it in my

PJs.

That was definitely just a random sentence I wrote down, and then due to accidentally formatting things weird when inserting the pictures, it's almost a poem. Okay, not even almost. It's kind of like it might have been a poem, but then it got hit by a car and is now freaking out little kids with their parents having to assure them that "it's only sleeping" to avoid the screaming.

So I was watching some science-y sort of channel of these guys diving into some sea somewhere looking for hammerhead sharks. Apparently the diver just felt so sure that the sharks were going to be there, but then it turned out that like 90% of the sharks had been fished out of that sea so they could use the fins to cure cancer. Then, they decide that during what looks to be an impending storm, they should dive into the water to look at these squid that have taken over at the top predator since the sharks are all gone. As the divers are getting ready, they describe how the squid have an affinity for pulling down divers to the DEPTHS OF THE SEA. Or something like that. This is extreme marine biology, kids.

See? This whole thing has been odd and disjointed. I'm going to go before I start talking about 10-year-old Hitler again.

Oops.

The Conversations I Get into with my Brother (Part 2)

As I was working on last night's blog post, my brother and I got into one of our usual conversation topics: how close I am to his definition of a hardcore gamer. Most of the time during these conversations I feel like it's easier to achieve self actualization than for him to consider you a hardcore gamer, so I asked him to explain his hierarchy of gamers. After he finished explaining, I told him I would turn it into a blog post complete with a paint diagram.

You can sort of read it in its smaller form, but if you click on it you can see it a bit larger. If you can't tell, he decided to explain his views in the form of an analogy, comparing the levels of gamer to levels/layers/whatever of the Earth.

Alright, here we go. We start in the inner core of the Earth, because that's how Nathan explained it to me. Here you have hardcore gamers. As the inner core of the Earth is solid, it is "hard"core. Yeah, I'm not making this up. Apparently to achieve this level of awesome you have to have almost all of the following characteristics: be interested in and enjoy playing nearly every type of video game genre out there, be good at most of those genres, have completed at least one 24 hour gaming session, and own an Xbox 360. You might get somewhere if you own a PS3 instead of an Xbox, but knowing Nathan he might not let it slide if you don't own a console that can play Halo. If you own both a PS3 and an Xbox you're golden. He does, however, allow for hardcore Wii gamers, but he didn't say where handheld console lovers fall into this category. Sad face for my DS lite :(

Next is the outer core layer, where I apparently have moved up to recently (I guess before I was in the mantle? He says my Assassin's Creed obsession is to "thank" for this graduation, but I feel like his placement of people is slightly arbitrary). These are the "core" gamers. You are still in the core, but you are in the fluid outer core so you are not hardcore. What exactly denies you entrance into the inner core? I'm not sure. Maybe if you suck at FPS (like I mostly do) or don't like some genre of video game. Nathan's reason for baring me from the inner core is that I don't like those RTS games, like Starcraft 2 and Halo Wars. I mean, I do like Starcraft 2, but that's about it. I find most of them boring due to the waiting for units to be trained or for them to gather resources. I feel like this layer is also the same thing as when teacher's give you an A- on something, and I've always viewed the A- as an unnecessary grade.

The next layer out is the mantle. Here, you have average gamers. Nathan says these are the people who only like one type of genre or one type of franchise. For example if I played a lot of Mass Effect or Assassin's Creed, but not much beyond that. I feel like he's placed me here forever because when we were kids I ALWAYS beat him at Super Smash Bros. Kirby FTW.

The crust is for casual gamers. Here lies the Lego Star Wars/Mario Party/general party game lovers. So, if you only really play the occasional Pokemon game or game at your friend's house this is where you go. He has nothing against casual gamers. I mean, casual gamers get water and plant life and things. They get the whole Earth to explore instead of being inside a cave playing video games all day.

Casual Wii gamers get their very own section; he launched them to the moon. Hey, I still maintain that the moon is cool. The moon gets Kirby's Epic Yarn.

Lastly, he's exiled the most casual of wii gamers to some asteroid that was going to destroy the Earth. I suppose the idea behind this is that casual gaming is leading to the downfall of core gamers, and caused Microsoft to come out with Kinectimals* and Kinect Adventures!. Which, honestly, was not as cool as I was hoping Kinect (formerly called Project Natal) would be. I've added my own classification for this one as well: people who give their money to facebook games. Ridiculous.

So there you have it. Nathan's classification of gamers. Where do you fit?

Currently Reading: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (also just ordered City of Ashes and City of Glass by Cassandra Clare)

Currently Playing: Star Ocean: The Last Hope by Square Enix and Tri-Ace

*Yeah, Kinectimals looks cute with that baby tiger named Skittles, but how stupid are you going to feel petting the air? I felt dumb speaking into the DS mic when I tried to play Nintendogs.

The Conversations I Get into with my Brother (Part 1!)

I talk about a lot of things with my brother. We talk about books, and we talk about video games. He also explains to me entire plots of Star Wars novels that I'm never going to read. Things like that.

On the way to VBS this morning we were both incredibly tired, and I was in an odd mood from having to deal with small children who were managing to stretch my pretty good amount of patience to its breaking point. Due to this, our conversation drifted to weirder areas than it normally does. We started talking about how despite the fact that kids can misbehave and be ridiculously hard to handle, I've yet to meet a kid that I would call a bad kid. I'm sure other's might call them bad, but I don't think kids can actually be bad. Then our conversation went something like this.

Nathan: So, what would you have done if you met 10-year-old Hitler?

Me: Was Hitler killing Jews at age ten?

Nathan: Yes, you watched him kill his first one.

Me: Honestly? I would be really freaked out at what his home life and what his parents were like. Actually, that's another thing. I would probably just go up to him and ask, "Now, where are your parents?" (said in a sort of stern voice emphasizing each word).

Yes, these are the things my brother and I talk about. I was going to explain in detail the other conversation we just had, but I feel like that deserves its own post. So look forward to that tomorrow! It will even have its own diagram.

And I apologize for the large amount political incorrectness of his post, but it was early this morning and this week has driven me a little crazy.

As a side note, according to wikipedia the whole "Hitler was part Jewish" thing is actually a myth (although it was generally believed until the 1990s). Apparently, Hitler's father was an illegitimate child of a woman who was working for a rich Jewish family, so it was guessed that someone in that family might have fathered Hitler's father. Except, no one can really prove one way or another. Hmmm. This kind of feels like the first time someone tells you that scientifically tomatoes aren't vegetables.

Being a Nerd

If you know me in any sort of capacity, be it solely online or in real life, I'm sure it did not take you long to come to the conclusion that I am definitely a nerd. Maybe if you only sat next to me in Chemistry in 11th grade you might not have realize that. No, that's a lie. I talked about video games with the guys next to me in that class. Maybe if you sat across the room from me in a class I never talked in. Then maybe in that case you would have missed the undeniable and nearly unmissable fact that I am a proud card carrying member of Geekdom and Nerdfighteria (By the way, that second one is real. Unfortunately, we don't carry cards but we definitely should).

I love both webcomics and comic book stores. I think the most peaceful place is in the back of used bookstore, hidden between ceiling high bookshelves crammed with books. I enjoyed the free response section of the AP Calculus BC exam. I think grinding is something you do in dungeons against monsters, not on the dance floor. My ideal guy is more likely able to pwn me in video games (which, despite my love of video games, isn't that hard) than able to bench press some impressive number. I'm offended when people mix up Star Wars and Star Trek. I can easily rank my favorite Star Trek captains (Janeway, Archer, Picard, Kirk, Sisko) although my favorite Star Trek series doesn't exactly correspond to the list of captains (Voyager, Original, Enterprise, Next Generation, DS9) (and to all you Star Trek fans aghast at my list, you try watching The Next Generation the first time for four days straight while you're throwing up and then see if that's a good memory). The list of science fiction shows I've watched is ridiculously long, and the average person hasn't heard of half of them (Babylon 5 anyone? Farscape?). I learned how to knit because I wanted to make my own Gryffindor scarf (because I've FINALLY decided that I'm a Gryffindor). And if you understood everything I mentioned in this paragraph you get +10 to INT. (If you read the entire paragraph, you get +5).

If you're still reading this, I've probably trained you to be impervious to ridiculous amounts of nerd lingo, you were already a nerd when I met you, or I turned you into a nerd. Unfortunately for you, I'm not exactly sure what my point is in this post beyond just trying to make a post for BEDA.

If anything, this post was spurned on by a conversation I was having with Chelsea earlier: my place in Geekdom is in danger until I have played Final Fantasy 7 (or really any Final Fantasy title). It's like my nerd blind spot. I realize Final Fantasy can be mainstream nerd at times (if there is such a thing) but still. One day I will find it, play it, and it will be awesome. Or I will complain about it because it's an original Playstation game. One of the two.

Onigiri!

Today after a much easier day at VBS, I came home and my mom and I decided that it was high time to break in the new rice cooker she bought. Due to the fact it arrived on Saturday (right before VBS) no one has felt a desire to cook anything more complicated than pasta or take-out food. I've been trying to eat a little healthier this summer, so in an attempt to do so I ate grapes while we figured out the rice cooker. As a side note, this rice cooker electronically "sang" Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when we started it. Oh Japan and the things you do.

An hour later when the rice was done, I felt that just putting the rice in a bowl to eat it is a little boring (although still delicious), so I made some onigiri (rice balls).

My onigiri making station! Except I already made them all. The bowl on the far left had rice in it and he stuff in the little canister on the right is some wasabi furikake I bought ages ago that I've been wanting to try.

Yay onigiri! And then after my lunch I did a walk/jog/run thing for four miles. Which was awesome, and hopefully as I go through blogging every day I can also manage to exercise everyday. I don't really feel like making it an official part of my blog, but it's definitely a goal that's there.

On Puppy Love

So I was all ready to make today's blog about all of the ridiculous, weird, and stressful things that happened today. I had half a blog post written up in my head about how I was sick of being me, and tired of hitting my head up against the wall while doing things I thought I was good at. I did get to see a friend I hadn't seen in a very long time for about an hour today. However, my day was mostly a mix of that feeling you get when you hit all the red lights when you're really late, and when your computer crashes right before you finish a project/essay and you have no back-up.

But then I decided to ignore the universe and a large portion of the people in it by running on the treadmill until my feet couldn't quite run anymore while reading Harry Potter and listening to Superchick songs. While this definitely helped, I was still kind of angry at myself and the things that happened today, so I sat out on the deck in my backyard under a pretty blue sky in the shade while my dog switched between running around me, licking my face, and sitting down as close to me as she possibly could.

I really don't understand people who don't like animals because my dog honestly made everything better.

Because this post isn't sappy enough as it is, here's a picture with both a puppy and a little kid (even though I think half the people that read this blog have already seen this in some form or another).

That's me right after turning nine, with my dog pretty soon after we got her. Complete with an old Sunday School craft colored by a meticulous eight-year-old who didn't like coloring outside the lines (but couldn't quite stay inside them).

Hopefully I will figure out a way to make tomorrow's BEDA post more fun than the first three. Until then, farewell internet!

On Numbers and Umbrellas

Hello internet! It is my second day of BEDA, and due to today being day one of Vacation Bible School, I am still ridiculously tired. I'm about to go to bed at 10, which hasn't happened since... sometime during spring quarter. And that didn't happen all that often. However, I'm still going to blog because I'm determined to do this. I just wouldn't expect any works of genius in the next week. Or in the next month really. Similarly to nanowrimo, works of genius don't usually happen during months of frenzied writing. Instead, they happen in the fictional world of revision. Fictional for me anyway.

My only thought on VBS right now is that I never want to see that stupid catdog umbrella ever again. I swear, I might kill someone if he brings it tomorrow. Just saying. Yes, it was in the midst of ridiculous problems of volunteers not being there at the time they were supposed to, way more kids attending than anyone really expected, and kids throwing up/hiding in bushes/etc, but that umbrella...

For the end of this post I'm blatantly stealing Hayley G Hoover's BEDA blog posting idea so this post feels a little meatier.

Today, I saw: More kids than I expected to see. I might complain, but I'm glad that every one of them came.
Today, I heard: Songs that will be stuck in my head for the next 50 years.
Today, I touched: My keyboard for way too long while I was level grinding in dungeons in an MMORPG (because I'm a nerd)
Today, I smelled: Honestly, nothing really stands out. That's unfortunate...
Today, I tasted: Sweet, sweet strawberry lemonade.

On BEDA and Going Without

Today is the first day of August, and for some this means BEDA (Blog Every Day in April August) that was started last year by Maureen Johnson, writer of young adult books and twitter aficionado. She is also an avid blogger. Well, usually she is. Right now she's working on some top secret project, so she isn't taking part in the internet fad that she herself started. However, I only watched other bloggers attempt to blog every single day in the month of April (changed to August this year), but this year I wanted to try it myself. If anyone else would like to attempt, I encourage you to join me. It's more fun when one has friends to work towards a goal with.

The problem with today being the first day of BEDA I am so ridiculously tired right now I have literally no idea what to blog about. My brain is saturated with things I need to do for my church's Vacation Bible School this week. Vacation Bible School, for those who don't know, is a camp-like thing that takes place at churches where little kids come and learn stories and sing songs about God. I've helped out with VBS for about 7 or 8 years now. I'm a crew leader that helps oversee a small group of elementary schoolers to make sure they don't maim themselves with scissors or run out into the street. I'm also head crew leader that oversees all of the high school crew leader volunteers and makes sure that they don't maim themselves with scissors or run out into the street. Or, you know, something like that. I also help my brother with the graphics for the visuals we put up during the worship time, and with my mom who runs crafts. Needless to say, I'm going to be pretty busy for the next week and I'm already tired.

To make matters worse (or better I guess?) I'm attempted to go the entire month of August without drinking any soda, and soda is my main source of caffeine. Yes, I realize there are other ways to increase one's caffeine intake, but I never seem to have caffeinated tea and coffee isn't much healthier than soda. I love coffee, but I treat it the same way I treat ice cream. Freaking amazing, but intake should be monitored so I don't go into some sort of coma.

So August for me is a month of goals. A month where I will attempt to be a little healthier and to blog a little more. And to make sure I don't maim myself with scissors or run out into the street.