THREE MINUTE BLOG

EGADS! I currently have THREE MINUTES to post a blog before I have missed the deadline for a post today.

Things that happened today:

Going back and forth between campus because I kept forgetting things.

Signed up for a pilates class with my roommate.

Being coerced by that same roommate to go to school 2 and a half hours early tomorrow morning because she is manipulative and adorable.

And I spent about an hour reading Pokemon related articles because I'm super excited for Pokemon Black/White (I think I'm getting white). Nerd? Yes. Were you aware of this already? I hope so.

Show Stoppin'

For today's post, I honestly had no idea what to write so I asked my ever so helpful roommate Emily who said I should post about "Show Stoppin.'" I kid you not. I think part of this came from the fact that the idea for us to dress up as those orange construction cones and this would be a show stopper. And now I have nothing else to say about show stopping. Except for the fact that I find the positive connotations of show stoppers odd, especially because technically technical difficulties will stop a show but they're definitely not positive.

I apologize for the lack luster quality of this post, but I really have no focus and have little brainpower to spend on anything. I still have 60 pages of Gravity's Rainbow to read, and I really don't know if I'll be able to finish all of those pages before tomorrow. On the plus side, the first 25 pages of my reading has been populated with more bananas than I've ever experienced in literature and a dream about a giant adenoid swallowing up London. I think that's what happened anyway. I'm not entirely sure what is going on in this book.

WTWA: Today was a "go to class in the sweatpants you slept in" kind of day. This might sound bad, but getting to the point where you really just don't care anymore has its benefits. And the benefit is not caring that you're still wearing the clothes you slept in. YES.

Snowcone?

"At the best of times his face was unreadable. Now his face was a book written in a language long forgotten, in an alphabet unimagined. Silas wrapped the shadows around him liked a blanket, and stared after the way the boy had gone, and did not move to follow."

This quote is from The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman which I just finished reading for my children's literature class, and I'm not sure why, but I was honestly amazed by this book. I mean really, read the above quote again and tell me that's not amazing. When read in context it'll send shivers down your spine I swear.

Besides going to class, going to work, finishing up The Graveyard Book, and doing other homework energy has been a little crazy around here with the current crazy snowfall. The snow has already piled up considerably, and it's still going strong. My roommates are hopeful that it'll keep snowing and we'll get school canceled tomorrow, but in all liklihood it'll either A) Start raining in the early morning and the snow will be mostly slush by the time we get up or B) There will still be LOTS of snow but the school will tell us that we should "use our own judgement" which will mean I'll need to get to school. I mean honestly. I have classes where if you miss more than three times you fail, or you lose 2% every time you miss. I know that in reality if I seriously couldn't get to school it would be fine, but meh. I just want classes cancelled.

Anyway, regardless of whether school is canceled tomorrow or not, I'm currently eating a snowcone made from actual snow. Which, by the way, is why today is awesome.

W3CG Video about Books!

Here's my WeThreeChallengirls video for the weeks in which I talk about the craziness of my life and books. Mostly books.

The links to the sites with the award winners are this link for the Printz award and this link for the other ones like the Newbery award. I'd really like to read Ship Breaker and Moon Over Manifest personally. Anyone else see an award winner that strikes your fancy? Or did you read a children's or young adult book in the past year that you think would have deserved any of these awards much more?

When it's New

Despite the trepidation and fear people have towards change, I feel like most people experience some form of excitement about new things. And when I mean things, I mean both physical objects and doing new things. Learning a new skill is often exciting and practicing that new skill is often way more fun when it's brand new. Going to new places is fun and exciting. Forming new friendships. Learning new things. New. New. New.

I always get a little excited when I get new classes at the beginning of the year/quarter. Getting new books and starting off with a clean slate is always a fun experience. This quarter the things I was least excited about were the things I'd already been doing the whole year. I had a "ho-hum" sort of attitude about most of these things.

Some old things can turn into new things too. People you've known for ages can surprise you with random facts or stories from their pasts. Skills you've been honing for a while can become more exciting when you discover a new technique. While change can be frightening, it can lead to this sense of excitement and "new-ness".

Mostly, these were just thoughts that were on my mind today as I thought about a few things. Also on my mind today was HOW MUCH ICE was everywhere. Seriously. I love snow, but really? And now I need to go finish my homework because my university NEVER cancels school regardless of how dangerous things get. Well, maybe not that far, but I imagine it will take a lot to get them to cancel school. Teachers might cancel an individual class, but school itself will never get canceled.

WTWA: I know I complained about the ice but this is why today was awesome...

Also, I made a hat :)

I look weird in this picture, so ignore the face and just look at the hat.

Missing Something

I used to do this thing in my blogs where I'd list what I was reading. Currently, I'm reading the following books in the next week:

• Reading Matters
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (starting)
• Gravity's Rainbow Companion
• Children's Literature Briefly

And other things I'm sure I've forgotten. It's interesting, because I used to read constantly. It was what I did when I couldn't sleep at night. As a child, I had even more of a need to be perfect in every way possible, and was neurotic to the point of insomnia. This was especially true during "high stress" times like the first day of school (although, really, how high stressed can a seven-year-old get?). I would read books late into the night, reading until I couldn't stay up anymore and I'd forget why I was so worried.

But now I play video games and I crochet hats because reading has become what's stressful in my life. Sure, I still love reading Harry Potter into the late hours of the night, read comic books when my dad brings them home from New Comic Book Day, and pick up random books for fun, but it makes me guilty.

Mostly, I feel kind of odd tonight, internet. Mostly I feel like I lost something but I don't know what it is. Like I left behind something really important somewhere in my crazy day, but I haven't discovered what I left behind. Although don't be fooled into thinking I had some horrible depressing day. I actually had a really nice day with people I really like spending time with (despite having to start my day at 6:30 AM in order to take a 5-hour test). It's just I wonder if I missed something.

WTWA: Ridiculous amounts of peanut butter desserts. Peanut butter pie shared with a friend, and peanut butter cookies made to share with more friends.

Why Today is Awesome

So Kayley Hyde of fiveawesomegirls (owlssayhoot is her personal challenge) posted a video today showing her "Why Today is Awesome" journal. For those of you who don't know what fiveawesomegirls (FAG) is, or what that has to do with FAG, it was a channel on youtube where five girls for three years posted (mostly) daily videos talking about their lives, doing challenges, and saying why their day was awesome. Sadly, they decided that they wouldn't carry on with daily videos anymore, basically ending the project, many people have decided to start daily journals to say why their day was awesome (including Kayley). I thought this might be a fun addition to my daily blog to state why my day was awesome. Sometimes I think I forget in the midst of all the craziness and stress and constant busy-ness the little things that do make my day awesome. Like yesterday when I showed up to the class my roommate and I are taking together she handed me a nonfat vanilla latte, explaining that she knew I'd had a rough night the day before and that today was going to be difficult so she bought me coffee to hopefully make it easier/better. So, you know, things like that make my day awesome.

If you want to view the video that I mention, you can view it HERE. As for now, I'm going to sleep because I have to getu p at 6:30AM on a Saturday in order to take a test (in order to be a teacher) that's more of an insult to my intelligence than an actual test.

Why Today Was Awesome (WTWA): My friend Chris came over so we could study for this test we're taking tomorrow (him, my roommate Emily, and I are all taking it) but mostly we ended up eating pizza, making fun of the test, and playing Halo: Reach so I could show him how the grunts explode with confetti and children cheer when you kill them with head shots. He was MUCH more appreciative of this than my roommates were. Which, honestly, is the correct way to react to enemies exploding into bursts of confetti when you kill them.