I'd rather be... playing Halo. What a surprise.

Why hello, Blog! And the internet! And any other piece of my audience that still doesn't feel that they're being addressed! Hello to all.

Yeah, I don't know where my brain's been at in the past week either. Probably being rattled about in my head after getting killed by SO MANY headshots in Halo: Reach.

Anyway, this past week has been a week of crazy. I feel like last year the first week of school was not nearly so busy. Of course, neither my job nor volunteering has started yet, so this coming week I'll have at least eight hours of more things to do. Which, makes me a little nervous. I moved in last Sunday, and that day was filled with hauling things into my apartment, shopping for new things, and attempting to figure out how to feel myself (it is harder than one would think). If you'd like to take a look at a little tour of my apartment, you can view my WeThreeChallengirls video from last week HERE. In theory, I'll post another video on that channel on Monday or Tuesday so subscribe if you'd like to see those. I'll probably show my newly decorated walls since I finally decorated the walls in my room now.

As for my classes, they seem pretty good so far. My Japanese class seems INSANE. My early American lit class seems interesting (the teacher is the embodiment of what you'd think an English professor should be) and my linguistics class should also be interesting. Actually, I should probably be doing homework right now, but I wanted to post a little update. Hopefully I will post again soon if my ridiculous schedule doesn't swallow me whole!

Start of something...

Tonight is going to be the last night in the house I grew up in for a while. Not that I mind this. Last year it was harder because I knew only a few people who were going to the same college I was, and I had never really been away from home for more than a week. This year, however, I have friends I'm excited to see again, a place I fell in love with and made my second home, and a good list of exciting new things to look forward to as I move back to college. Still, I'll miss my lazy summer mornings where I slept in until 10, worked out whenever I wanted, played video games without having to worry about homework, and saw my family (in person) every day. I realize that a weekend visit home, Thanksgiving, and then winter break will come sooner than I expect it to, but I really do love my family so I'm going to miss them.

But why, oh why, does moving involve so much packing! When I moved back home for the summer I literally threw everything I owned as quickly as possible into the crates I had, shoved them into the van once my parents got there, and that was that. Heck, I even had time to go volunteer for an hour and have lunch with my parents. Moving back to college, however, has been considerably more complicated. I've spent at least two days this past week shopping and compiling things I felt I'd need to bring. Then today, I woke up at nine and spent nearly the entire day packing until around six or seven. I did take an hour break for lunch and some Halo multiplayer, but still! I packed for the ENTIRE DAY. And I still have a few things left to pack and I'm sure I forgot lots of things.

Anyway, I've been up longer than I planned to, and I'm sure I'll post again soon with pictures and tales of my first days back.

Walmart mirrors make you look fat and Halo makes you swear

So, I just typed up a post, but the internet ate it. Yay internet. In other news, I've gone... six days without posting. I'm sorry, internet. Oh but look! BEDA made me feel guilty about missing six days when before the average length of time between posting was a month. I'm not sure whether this is good or bad, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless.

Now, I could say the reason I haven't posted is because I've been super busy getting ready to move back to my wonderful and amazing college town (which I'm doing this Sunday). This is partially true. I've bought some new clothes, like new jeans, leggings, a nice sweater so I don't swear a zip-up hoodie every day of my life, and a pretty blue and plaid dress because I've been wanting a dress. Although, through some weird, cosmic event I managed to lose enough weight this summer to just barely not be the size I used to be. So, much of my shopping trip was going back and forth to the dressing room to figure out what size actually fit. Which is good, but slightly annoying. I also bought some kitchen things (like a crockpot, silverware, pots/pans) because they were super on sale. I was going to go to IKEA today to look for more super cheap kitchen things, except for the real reason I've been a busy hermit:

Halo Reach.

Yes, I'm one of those people. Although, really, you should have figured that out by now. If you hadn't, well, here it is tipping its hat and introducing itself to you.

We got the game at midnight. Well, attempted to get the game at midnight. There was some issue with how the pre-order receipt was printed for my brother's limited edition Halo Reach fancy-schmancy console he got for his birthday, so he had to wait for the manager to straighten some things out. However, we did finally get both the console AND the exceedingly expensive legendary edition (although the super-nerd in my says the legendary edition may have been worth it). Then my brother felt it was necessary to very slowly and very ceremoniously open the giant legendary box. When we finally did start playing (and when I say we I mean my brother played while I watched and yelled at him to do things like watch the grenade and look out for the elite that's about to shank him with a beam sword) it was so freaking awesome. Seriously, this game is ridiculous in its awesome. Yes, there are problems, but they are definitely made up for by the positives. I'm normally more of an (alert! Nerd Acronyms!) RPG fan than an FPS fan, but this game it amazing. Plus, I'm a sucker for games where you can choose to play a female main character who kicks ass while not having to be a sex symbol. It's the little things in life, I know.

Now, I should really be getting back to the packing I mentioned somewhere near the beginning of the post. I can't quite remember due to the Reach block that's currently inhabiting my brain. Yes, I could go pack, or I could go play Reach especially since I finally got an Xbox Live Gold Account so I can play online multiplayer. Yes, maybe I will do that.

Yay for procrastination.

Forks on the Road

If you've been paying attention at all to pop culture in the past five years, you've probably heard about that little Twilight series. Yes, that one. The one with the vampires and the girl who doesn't realize she's in an abusive/controlling relationship.

Anyway, the reason I initially read those books was because someone told me they were set in Washington. Not only Washington, but small town Washington. Things are hardly ever set in Seattle, let alone in an average Washington town! I love Washington, so I jumped at the chance to read something that takes place there. Of course, I was disappointed due to the fact that the reason it's set in Forks, WA is because it gets the least amount of sun out of anywhere in the US (or so the book says) and that Stephenie Meyer hadn't ever been to Forks (or Washington really) before writing the books.

Despite the long list of disappointments that stem from those books, I have decided not to take them too seriously (beyond being slightly afraid of the influence they have on young girls) and be generally amused by them. Which is why when Chelsea and I decided we wanted to take an end of the summer road trip to the Olympic Peninsula, we HAD to go to Forks. Beyond the fact it's an excellent source of amusement, it's also a really pretty area and near some good campsites.

Chelsea got to my house Tuesday afternoon. After she got there we spent most of the afternoon/night playing Fable 2 and Assassin's Creed (I played Fable, she played Assassin's Creed), getting lost in my hometown while I was driving, getting groceries and packing for the trip, and whatnot. Oh, and Chelsea broke the internet. Well, it was more that her computer decided that it wanted to take over the internet at my house and not let anyone use it. I blame Windows Vista which should have never ever ever been produced.

The next morning we got up early, packed up Chelsea's car with the random assortment of camping supplies my dad collected for us, and headed off. It took us about five hours to get to Forks, mostly because both of us kept getting lost and missing turns. Still, we did eventually get there, and oh was it worth it.

Or not.

Forks is a really small town. There's really only one street going through the town that takes a little over two minutes to drive through (and that's including the time spent stopped at the one light). There probably wouldn't be anything to do at all in the town, except for all the random Twilight stuff. There were two Dazzled by Twilight stores in Forks (there's at least one more in Port Angeles), a Native to Twilight store, Twilight rooms at the motels, some store Alice "likes", a Dr. Cullen parking spot at the hospital, Bella's house, two trucks that resemble Bella's, and some sort of reference in every single business in that town. There were signs advertising stores that Bella would frequent (like the Pharmacy, haha) and signs advertising a THREE HOUR Twilight tour. I'd really like to know what they do for three hours. I suppose they visit all of those things I just mentioned, and maybe a tour of the house (which, by the way, we did not go see).

We did go into one of the Dazzled by Twilight stores. Mostly, I was amused by most of the merchandise. I was tempted to buy the shirtless Jacob action figure, because I have a weakness for action figures (and you thought I was going to say I had a weakness to hot, shirtless guys). Except when I saw that the price was around $35 (it might have been $25, I can't quite remember) I opted not to buy the overpriced nonsense. I did buy a few postcards, because I love postcards and funny things. There was one extremely creepy sticker that read, "Edward can bust my headboard, bite my pillows, and bruise my body anyday!" This sticker pretty much sums up the two main things I don't like about the series. One, the writing is horrible ("anyday" is not a word, just in case you were wondering). Two, the "bruise my body" bit is frightening no matter how you spin it. I mean honestly, doesn't anyone proofread?

That night, we camped at a campsite near Rialto Beach and we managed to set up the tent AND cook our food despite our lack of height and camping expertise. I'm actually really proud of us both with how well the whole camping thing went. The next morning we packed everything back into the car, and stopped at Rialto Beach before heading back home. The beach itself was really pretty and the waves were gorgeous. After watching the waves for a bit, I attempted to skip rocks and to teach Chelsea how to skip them. Except those aforementioned waves kept causing problems.

On the way back we stopped for amazing Thai food in Port Angeles, and we also drove through Chelsea's home town so that I could see it. I enjoyed seeing some of the places she'd talked about and the school she went to.

All in all, it was a good trip. If you'd like to see a little bit more of a dynamic (and shorter) record of the trip, check out my video about it at this link here. Subscribe to my youtube channel if you'd like to see more vlogs from me in the future. I might not update my blog every time I post a video, so subscribing to the channel would be a good way to keep up with the vlogs.

Trying To Figure Itself Out

I find I get the best bouts of inspiration at ungodly hours. Namely, those hours being after the time one should be in bed if that person wants to wake up before noon the next day. If I decide to wait until the morning to climb out of my bed and turn on my laptop in order to take advantage of the inspiration, it's gone by the time I wake up. If I decide to stay up and take advantage of the inspiration, I feel awful and will refuse to do anything the next day. My muse is evil. Or amused with him/her/itself. Or both. Yes, probably both.

Last night was one of those nights after I watched The Young Victoria with Emily Blunt playing Queen Victoria. A friend recommended the movie to me, and after I watched the trailer I knew I had to see it. Plus, I have LOVED Emily Blunt sine I watched her in The Devil Wears Prada. Thankfully, it's on netflix play instantly at the moment (I freaking LOVE that part of the service) so I watched it. I really enjoyed the movie and, according to Wikipedia, it seems somewhat historically accurate (although a few things are changed for the purposes of drama as all movies based on historical events are). Although, it's odd because Prince Albert is played by the same actor who plays Mr. Wickham in the recent Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice. Except, the guy is absolutely adorable and awesome from the moment he appeared on screen, and I instantly wanted to marry him. If you're into movies like Pride and Prejudice, or any sort of period drama with a bit of romance, you should check this one out. I'm tempted to watch it again right now actually. Again, I know I love a book/movie/story when I want to start writing after I watch it, so this one is going into the favorites.

Speaking of writing, the rewrite is going surprisingly well. I thought I would hate rewriting it, but I'm loving how the story is changing and morphing into something better as I go along. This attitude will probably change once I hit those lovely moments of getting stuck, but for right now I'm having fun with it and not minding the whole rewriting thing. I'm not sure what will happen with the rewrite when November comes and I attempt to write its sequel (which has been in my head since shortly after I wrote the first one for Nanowrimo in 2007), but it'll probably just go on hold until December.

In other news, I have finally started using the crafting blog I set up ages ago. If you ever looked at my profile and saw a blog called "Stardust Stuff" sitting there doing nothing, this is what it's meant for. You can find it at http://starduststuff.blogspot.com/ where I've currently got an introductory post set up. Check it out if you're interesting in my crafting adventures.

I'm not sure when the next time I blog will be as I'm going camping with the lovely Chelsea this week, but when I return there will be tales of epic road trip adventures! Or complaints about how it always rains when you go camping in the Pacific Northwest. Or both. Yes, probably both.

Waffle About

It may be September, but I'm still blogging! I took the first few days of September off partially because I did write 31 entries in 31 days, but also because I am one of the most boring people in the summer and had nothing to write about.

However, inspiration came in the form of a random conversation that occurred while dishing up waffles for dinner tonight between my dad and my brother.

Dad: Wait, what are you doing?

Nathan: (After going through all the waffles before picking one) I like strong waffles.

Dad: Strong waffles?

Nathan: No, I mean crisp waffles. Crisp might be a better word...

Dad: (Still going) Waffles aren't strong. Waffles are waffles. They waffle. That's why they're called waffles. Actually, I don't know why they're called waffles.

Which then got me wondering why waffles are called waffles. I started my academic venture in the place where almost every student starts and the truth dies at the hands of crazies and juvenile pranksters: Wikipedia. According to said wealth of information, waffles originated from wafers. Chaucer even mentions them in his classic work, Canterbury Tales, in both the Miller's Tale and the Pardoner's Tale. The only thing I remember about Canterbury Tales, when I studied it in high school, was the awkward puppet show I put on based on The Knight's Tale for a group project and the fact that The Knight's Tale was the MOST BORING out of all of them. Everyone else's tales had sex jokes that they got to tell under the guise of a group project, while all mine had was two guys fighting over some girl.

Also, they had waffle irons (then called wafer irons) in the Middle Ages! Guys! Waffle irons! I am fascinated by this because every time I think of the Middle Ages I picture paintings with odd perspectives depicting hell or the Virgin Mary and serfs toiling away under lords on farms they never leave in their lives. I realize that they didn't plug into the wall back then and were no more than two metal plates they stuck in a fire, but still! Next story I write that takes place in a middle ages type setting I'm going to feature waffles. And waffle irons.

I was curious about this, so I thought I might check a few other sources to make sure some crazy somewhere wasn't pulling my leg. TIME (in theory a much more reputable source) put out an article last November about the history of waffles at the beginning of some Ego waffle crisis (which I didn't even know existed until about five minutes ago). The article also discussed the presence of waffles (and waffle irons!) in the middle ages, although waffles apparently occurred in Ancient Greece first. This wasn't surprising as it seems like every accomplishment that happened in Western Europe either happened in Greece or China first.

Waffles, as mentioned previously, came from wafers for the purpose of religious festivals as Catholics couldn't eat things with animal products during times of fasting. Wafers did not contain animal products, so they were the perfect mid-afternoon snack. Wikipedia states (although without any citations) that apparently the market for waffle vendors was so high and occasionally violent, that a law had to be put into place stating waffle vendors must keep at least 4 meters from each other. Apparently Medieval England was more dangerous than New York because during my trip all the street vendors were usually only four inches from each other.

Now, hundreds of years later I can eat waffles from a pre-made mix with whipped cream and fruit on top. And then proceed to post and awkward blog about the history of waffles based on odd internet articles. Oh, 21st century. While amazing, you have nothing on the Ancient Greeks. After all, they invented WAFFLE IRONS.