A Swashbuckling Good Day

So I just watched The Mask of Zorro. And it was amazing! I love that movie. I love fun swashbucklers where the good guys win, the bad guys lose, and everything ends up how it's supposed to. So that's happy. Today was a good day, despite the mist/rain, midterm, and paper due. I still had a good day, and saw quite a few people I knew while walking to class/eating dinner, etc. And while that's not an unusual occurrence, some of them noticed me as well and we smiled and waved at each other. Which made me happy. Because I know people here now, and I'm not all alone. Plus, Emmy and Maggie and I had a laugh-ourselves-silly conversation earlier, which, while normal, is also fun and makes me happy. I'm glad that I'm going to room with them next year.

And that's all I've got for you tonight. Sorry. I've got homework and stuff I need to do. Like journal, and read things I should have read last week, and start math homework.

Also, happy end of National Blog Post Month! I think that it's been a good month, and I'm looking forward to continuing posting and reading your blogs. (Tomorrow is December. What?!)

I don't swear online, otherwise this post might be peppered with expletives...

Sometimes I wish I could sleep through all of my problems. I wish sleep could solve all of my problems. But it can't. Taking a nap right now would not be helpful, and I'm not tired anyway. I have a math test to study for, and a paper to revise. And I just realized that I have three two hour final exams on December 21st. That's six hours of exams. That's more time than my longest day of classes (4 1/2 hours). Well, crap. I'm screwed. And the Sunday before, I have to go have Duke family Christmas at my Aunt and Uncle's house. I'm upset about this. Very Upset.

I've got a gal in Kalamazoo! (Several, in fact)

So I'm back at school again. I had to leave my gals, Emily, Kiersten, and Abby, back in Kalamazoo. (Was that the proper application of commas? Or should I have used a semi-colon or two? I'm not sure what the proper punctuation for that sentence was.) And I already miss them, because they're fabulous and make me feel fantastic. I'm so blessed to have such good friends, even if I can only see them not-very-often. I got back to my dorm after another Thanksgiving dinner and put up some Christmas decorations. Which makes me happy. But I need to go buy more. I don't have enough Christmas lights. At all. And I have seven more minutes left in today, so I'm just going to leave it at that. Sorry. You will(might) get more tomorrow. I wish I would promise that, but I have a test and a final draft of a paper due on Tuesday. So I'm not sure how much extra time I'll have tomorrow.

Follow up to Personality Tests

Okay, so this is going to be a follow-up to my last blog post. Thank you Kiersten and Emily for replying. It made me feel good. I do want to clarify a few things. I don't normally feel unappreciated or undervalued, but for some reason I've just been emotional for a week and a half. When I'm emotional, sometimes my head knows things that my heart doesn't believe. And when I'm at college, away from all of you, I sometimes just need reassuring that you love me and are there for me. (Wow, it's really hard for me to articulate my own needs. Maybe I should work on that. I think maybe I just assume that people will understand what I need. Or maybe that they'll look at what I do for them, and reciprocate. Hmm...)

To Emily: You didn't give me the wrong idea in your post. This post has nothing to do with your post. I wasn't even thinking about your post when I was contemplating writing this. I know our friendship can survive even when I'm a hundred miles away. And I knew that I haven't abandoned you, and that even if you did feel like it one time when you were lonely and sad, it was just a passing thought. You're my bestest friend. How could I abandon you? I have invested time into our friendship because it's important to me.

And Kiersten: Even if you don't have an official title like Bestest Friend, or BFF, or Best Friend, you are one of my best friends. You're just Kiersten, and I can't think of a name or title better suited to you than that. I love you lots and lots, and I try to invest time and effort into our friendship, especially because I'm in a different city. Which is one of the reasons I'm always trying to comment on your posts, because that way, we're using these blogs to communicate and converse (I wanted to say conversate, but apparently that's not a word) and that strengthens our friendship.

I try to comment on Emily's and Gwen's and Kiersten's blog posts every day, because I know how good it feels to know that someone took the time and effort to sit down and respond to what I had to say, even if it's a couple sentences. So I made this rule for myself that I'm not allowed to read your NaBloPoMo posts unless I have the time and energy to write a response directly after reading. That way, I comment every day, because I want to read every day. And this past month I've been taking the time every day to blog and comment, which has been really good. I feel like our friendships have been getting stronger this month. Or maybe it was just that we were still spending time and energy to connect, even though I'm a hundred miles from Kiersten and Emily, and Gwen is in a completely different state.

Actually, I try to invest time and effort into any friendship that I really super value, which is basically youth group people. I really value my friendship with Emily, Kiersten, Abby, Aaron, Gwen, Megan, Ava, Brenna, and Monica. There are others, but I don't have such a strong bond with them, or we're just starting to form a strong bond, or I don't have to take time out of my day to devote energy to them, because I live with them (Maggie).

Because of this connecting and keeping friendships strong thing that has happened over the past month, I'm going to try to continue to post every day. And I know that there will be days where I don't post, but I'll keep trying. And I know that my journal will suffer because of it, but I'm kind of okay with that. I don't feel like I'm in a journaling season, and as long as there is some record of my life, written by me, I'm okay.

Personality Tests

So this is going to be a post about my personality, and a personality test I took a while ago. I took this Meyer-Briggs personality test last month, and I'm an ISFJ, which means Introversion Sensing Feeling Judgment. I'll use the wikipedia definitions of each to describe them and the type as a whole.

"I – Introversion preferred to Extraversion: ISFJs tend to be quiet and reserved. They generally prefer interacting with a few close friends rather than a wide circle of acquaintances, and they expend energy in social situations (whereas extraverts gain energy).

S – Sensing preferred to iNtuition: ISFJs tend to be more concrete than abstract. They focus their attention on the details rather than the big picture, and on immediate realities rather than future possibilities.

F – Feeling preferred to Thinking: ISFJs tend to value personal considerations above objective criteria. When making decisions, they often give more weight to social implications than to logic.

J – Judgment preferred to Perception: ISFJs tend to plan their activities and make decisions early. They derive a sense of control through predictability.

Myers-Briggs description

According to Myers-Briggs, ISFJs are interested in maintaining order and harmony in every aspect of their lives. They are steadfast and meticulous in handling their responsibilities. Although quiet, they are people-oriented and very observant. Not only do they remember details about others, but they observe and respect others’ feelings. Friends and family are likely to describe them as thoughtful and trustworthy.

Keirsey description

According to Keirsey, ISFJs, or "Protector Guardians", are most concerned with taking care of people by keeping them safe and secure. They are modest caretakers who do not demand credit or thanks for their efforts. But while they are essentially compassionate—and in fact exercise more patience in dealing with the disabled than perhaps any other type—their shyness with strangers can lead others to misread them as standoffish. Only among friends and family may this quiet type feel comfortable speaking freely. ISFJs are serious people with a strong work ethic, not inclined to self-indulgence. They believe in being meticulous and thrifty. They work well alone. While they may enjoy taking care of others, they do not enjoy giving orders."

I know this might be a little boring and long, so stick with me. Or you might find this fascinating. I don't really know. I myself think that this is fascinating, and helps me understand myself better. And I would really enjoy hearing what you guys are, if you feel like taking the test. Because I enjoy nurturing people, and having an idea of what other people need can help with that pursuit. I'm having a hard time weeding out what I really want to highlight about the descriptions of my personality type, though, so I'm sorry about that.

"The ISFJ feels a strong sense of responsibility and duty. They take their responsibilities very seriously, and can be counted on to follow through. For this reason, people naturally tend to rely on them. The ISFJ has a difficult time saying "no" when asked to do something, and may become over-burdened. In such cases, the ISFJ does not usually express their difficulties to others, because they intensely dislike conflict, and because they tend to place other people's needs over their own. The ISFJ needs to learn to identify, value, and express their own needs, if they wish to avoid becoming over-worked and taken for granted.

ISFJs need positive feedback from others. In the absence of positive feedback, or in the face of criticism, the ISFJ gets discouraged, and may even become depressed. When down on themselves or under great stress, the ISFJ begins to imagine all of the things that might go critically wrong in their life. They have strong feelings of inadequacy, and become convinced that "everything is all wrong", or "I can't do anything right".

The ISFJ is warm, generous, and dependable. They have many special gifts to offer, in their sensitivity to others, and their strong ability to keep things running smoothly. They need to remember to not be overly critical of themselves, and to give themselves some of the warmth and love which they freely dispense to others." (http://www.personalitypage.com/ISFJ.html)

I have to say that I do feel a little undervalued sometimes. While my head knows that you guys love me and care about me, sometimes I need some proof. I was fine when I could see you guys every week, but now that I'm no longer in Kalamazoo, it's harder to get the proof that I crave. So basically, I would really appreciate it if you just took the time and energy to maybe write a comment or two on my blog posts. It would mean a lot to me, little as it is.

If you want to read more about my personality type, here are some links:

http://keirsey.com/4temps/protector.asp

http://typelogic.com/isfj.html

http://www.personalitydesk.com/type-profile/isfj-protector

Also, if you want to take the same test that I did, here's the link:

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

Thanks for reading this. I appreciate it a lot that you read to the end.

The Lighthouse Keeper

This is a short story/sketch that was inspired by Kiersten's Blog post "Harbor without an anchor." I hope you enjoy, and keep in mind this is just a first draft. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

The old man hobbled out of the dark lighthouse, his beard tangled and grey. On his shoulder sat a tarnished bird, which must have glinted when new, but now was as used up as his master. The man scanned the sky for any unusual lights, set against the unchanging backdrop of the stars. The ships were passing by less and less frequently now, and he hadn't seen one in weeks. Most of the time, they were merely bright dots far away in the vastness of space. Turning, he stopped abruptly and stood still.

The pilot scanned the darkness of space looking for the astroids his instruments told him were near. He sighed in relief as they appeared in the headlights, but something was strange. He started in shock as he realized what he was looking at. A tower seemed to grow from the foremost asteroid and before it was an old man, standing as if he had been hewn from the same rock the tower had been made from. As the pilot looked closer, the large, lumpy astroid behind the old man reconfigured itself into the ruins of buildings and towers. A great city once stood here, before it was abandoned to the mercy of space. And space had not been kind. As the space zeppelin hovered closer, the pilot saw where meteors and space debris had knocked down towers and caused craters.

The pilot wondered how this had happened. Why the old man had stayed or survived when the city was abandoned. Why the lighthouse (it was a lighthouse, the pilot noted as he went past) still had a tenant. Was there a mass exodus of everyone but the old man? Had there been a disease or plague that killed off everyone but the lighthouse keeper? Had he been left to tend the lighthouse when his people left?

The old man waved, a wave so slow the pilot was almost unsure that he had moved at all as the shiny space zeppelin moved on, leaving behind the lonely lighthouse keeper, guardian of a dead city.

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving. The time to sit down, eat copious amounts of food, and give thanks. So, in that spirit, I'm going to write a blog post about some of the things I'm thankful for. And I'm starting this early, so I'll be able to post it before I leave for my Aunt and Uncle's house. So here it goes. In no particular order.

Music. I'm very thankful that I'm able to sit here, with music coming out of my computer speakers as I type this. I'm thankful that I have so much music that I love, and so much music that reminds me of other times and other moods. I'm thankful that I'm going to get Charlie's CD in a week or two. I might get so excited about it that I also buy a digital copy, with an itunes gift card I have. I'm thankful about that. I'm thankful that I was able to go see the Weepies and that I have their new CD. I'm thankful that my dad plays many musical instruments, and that he's playing his trumpet right now.

Family. I'm very thankful for my family. I'm thankful that these are the people I'm related to, my mom and dad, my brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins' kids, cousins' boy/girlfriends. These are my people, and I love them so much. I'm very happy that I get to see some of them today.

Food. I'm super thankful for all the delicious food that I'm going to consume today. Also all the varied food with all sorts of flavors and spices that comes from all over the country, if not the world. I'm so lucky that I live in America in this century, where we have such an abundance and variety of food.

Friends. I'm so so thankful for my friends. I really don't know how I would have survived high school without you guys. I love all of my friends so much and am so grateful that I got the privilege of knowing you guys. I knew that I can trust you with anything, and that you'll still love me. Thanks for being there for me.

God. Words cannot even describe how thankful I am to God and how grateful I am for everything he's done for me. Just yesterday I was in the Family Christian Bookstore with my mom, because she wanted to pick up a CD, and I wandered over to the bible section. I wanted to buy a Message bible, because I couldn't find the copy that James gave me a long time ago. All of the ones I found were super expensive, so I gave up. But when I got to the counter with something else I found (it's a surprise for you people who go to New Day. You'll see on Sunday), I noticed a copy of the Message below the counter with a bunch of other stuff. The clerk said that everything there was five dollars. So I got my new version of the bible, and it was totally God. Plus, he's done so much for me, and I'm eternally grateful for him. He saved me, and not only that, but he continues to save me. And he loves me. I'm so thankful for God.

Books. I'm so very thankful for books. They're amazing, and I love them so much.

Movies. Similarly, I really enjoy movies and I'm so thankful that they exist and that I have the resources to buy them so I can watch my favorites whenever I want.

My roommate. I'm very thankful that Maggie is my roommate. We get along great, and are friends. We make each other laugh and enjoy living with each other. I miss her when I don't see her for a few days. Basically, I really lucked out in the roommate situation. Except it wasn't luck. It was God. Thanks God!

The list goes on and on. I'm so thankful for everything! Well, not everything. Just most things.

On being home and other occurrences

So I'm still home, haven't yet left for my Aunt and Uncles house to eat copious amounts of turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes. It's been a rather relaxing day, and I didn't get all that much done today, which I'm okay with. I also started watching Glee again, so I spent about an hour and a half catching up with the last two episodes. I'd forgotten how much I love some of the characters. I also went shopping, and picked up a few holiday decorations for my dorm room. I'm mondo excited about Christmas. I love all the lights and decorations and seeing my family. I'm also excited about Thanksgiving, tomorrow. I love my family, and even though James and Ashley are not going to be there, it will be fun. I'm going to see James tonight, actually, before he and Ashley leave tomorrow morning for Minnesota. I'm glad. I really do love my big brother James. And my big brother Jesse as well, but it's a little different because they're two different people. But family is the best.

I'm Home!!!!!!!

Basically, I'm home in Kalamazoo, and very glad to be here. I just won three out of five games of sequence against Jesse and Ashley (and Mom, for the last one). I ate a little something, realized that I left a few items in Ann Arbor, and now I'm on here. I'm kind of sleepy, which I think is because I'm home. Which is why I stopped playing Sequence with the fam. Also, because I'm sleepy, I don't really want/have much to say... I'm going to go read your guys's blogs and see if I want to add anything to mine, or just reply to you. I should really create a few blogs in advance for times when I don't have much to say.

You know how some days just suck. Yeah

Of course today was Monday, and rainy as well. And everything went wrong, of course... I don't have much to say... I'm going to sleep.

Thanksgiving!

I'm so pumped about Thanksgiving. I'll get to see my family, and eat delicious food, and be around my family, and not worry about schoolwork. I'll be able to go shopping and buy Christmas decorations and everything! I'm excited! I'm also sleepy right now, so I'm going to add a thing that's been appearing on Facebook, so this will be longer.

I've read 34 of these, and started 5.

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Instructions: Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma -Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Inferno - Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Productivity

My to-do-list for today:

Laundry

Astro HW

Great Books Reading

Call Parents

Study Math

ATM

Glee Club Concert

Watch Movie?

Blog

Things I've accomplished so far:

Laundry (mostly)

Astro HW (mostly)

Great Books reading (mostly)

Call Parents

ATM

Watch Movie

And I'm blogging right now.

I've been letting my laundry go for a while. I always wash like colors together, and I wear a lot more blues, greens, browns, and greys than other colors, so the other colors get neglected. I had a load of whites and a load of bright colors to wash, in addition to about three loads of blues, greens, browns, and greys. Basically, that equals a lot of work and time and money. I spent ten dollars and five hours, on and off, to wash my clothes. And I still have more work later, when the clothes on the clothesline are dry. So that took up most of my day.

My astronomy homework is super easy and not due for two weeks, but I thought that it would be a good idea to get it out of the way now. I have one question left, and it's pretty easy. I've just lost the gumption to do it.

Great Books reading should have been done on Wednesday, but that didn't happen, so I need to catch up on that. I read a little bit earlier, but have no desire to finish that tonight.

I called my parents to let them know I was coming home on Tuesday, and ended up talking to my dad. He told me about what he was currently reading about, as usual. My dad reads a lot. He's constantly learning about things that interest him, and a lot of the time, he likes passing on that information to me, and my mom. I have more background information on most of the subjects than my mom does, so he usually tells me. It's fun. It's as if he's the teacher of a class with one student that meets whenever and who's subject is anything in the realms of science, music, philosophy, economics, and academia. I miss those talks.

I got money out of an ATM for the first time today. I'm quite proud of myself, actually. I figured out how to use the machine, found my pin number, and didn't look like a fool doing it. Of course, I used the ATM when there was no one else around, so that might have helped.

I watched Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day while folding laundry. And it was perfect. I folded my last shirt just as the movie ended. I was very happy about that.

And now I'm blogging about what I did today. I'm going to go to a glee club concert in about forty minutes, and after that, I have no idea. Maybe another movie... or some more laundry... or I might be ambitious and do some more homework. Who knows?

Harry Potter

So I saw Harry Potter 7 and it was amazing!!!!! And I would talk about it, but I'm sure that you don't want to hear me gush... And I don't have anything else to talk about... So I'm not going to write much else...

On Math Homework and Movies

Do I finish my math homework, or do I watch a movie? Hmmm... Such a difficult choice. Maybe an hour of math homework, then a movie? Sounds good. And what movie, do you ask? Why Harry Potter 6, of course.

I'm sorry for the brevity of this post. I'm kind of pressed for time right now, what with math and Harry Potter.

Poems from long ago

I felt like posting a few poems I wrote a long time ago... I don't really know why... something about Kiersten's new poem, maybe.

Paper flowers

The silver wishes are tarnished

The hopes are now flown away

The sincerity is gone forever

The roses fade to grey

All seem as paper flowers-left too long in rain

Of insubstantial worth and always full of pain

Trbx

“I have no emotions associated with briefcases” and flippant coconuts tell of blackness and rain. A horse named Brideen and cuteness contains chopsticks and Emily’s top hat. The rain soaks through velvet moonlight to freeze on my skin-a kind of healthy change from clamminess and trees. Penny Quinn turns Pink and the ironies of archaic and no strings attached become manifest as a blank titled poem unravels into a jumble of numbers turned letters turned numbers-hexadecimal riddles and pastel flowers and this would be a cool puzzle cloud. Somehow, the rain falls on Morrie and Emily Dickenson, to make Tuesdays with singing feathers-a fitting testament to September. Philosophers and dentists are weirdly combined and inextricably merged as the nebulosae roll over.

Never Know

I’ll never know

How you think

What poetry is

How music speaks

I can only

Listen to you

Write unknown words

And cry at strange emotions

Jonas

I flew this morning-riding my bike-fleeing from something or to something-not quite sure which. Outdistancing my thoughts, my tiredness, my sleep deprived emotions. Riding fast, going hard. Brakes barely slowing me down, wind chilly past my body. On an island of grass-three deer. Two fled from my approach-one remained. And just looked at me. Just stared a me. And I felt this-this is what I was running to.

Finis

The walls crumble around me

I am trapped here forevermore

I have seen friends die and I have killed

I am forever changed by war

Bleak rain falls outside these walls

Snuffing fight and fire

Cold chills resound inside

An eternity to mire

Beneath the tower you and I wait

For an end to the end of time

While her castle collapses here

We listen for our last bells to chime

The bells sound at last

And we stay frozen in lime

She truly is at an end

And we have paid the price for her crime

once

once i knew how to dance in the rain

how to sing in the shower

laugh for an hour

once i knew how to be myself

without a doubt

for another self they never did tout

once i knew how to tell you things

secrets in the nights

when we stopped our fights

once i knew the voices of nature

of the flowers

of rose-covered bowers

once i was a child

much like you

but now i'm old

and now i'm through

Orange Chicken and Rain

Half an hour ago I got a hankering for some Orange Chicken. I have no clue where this desire came from, as I'm pretty sure that I have never had Orange Chicken, or if I have, it's been four or five years. Despite the fact that it was 3 o'clock, midway between lunch and dinner, I was really hungry for some Orange Chicken. Luckily, there is a Panda Express in the Union basement, a minute away from my dorm. So I walked over there, and it started raining. It hasn't rained all day, and didn't really look like rain. I went to Panda Express, got my Orange Chicken and steamed rice, and walked out of the Union into the sunshine. It was bizarre. A three minute rainstorm. I'm now enjoying Orange Chicken and reading some Greek Tragedy for my class tomorrow. Basically I just read five pages of invocations to their dead father to help avenge his death. Five pages of the same thing over and over.

I just remembered that I used to go out to eat with my then-BFF Rachel's family at the Great Wall Of China, a restaurant by my house. I probably had Orange Chicken then. Also, one of the protagonists of a book I really like says that Orange Chicken is her favorite chinese food. Yes, I am emulating the tastes of a fictional character. For you guys who are wondering (Kiersten), the book is called "If I have a wicked stepmother, where's my prince?" and the Greek Tragedy is The Libation Bearers, part of a trilogy of plays called the Oresteia.

On a different note, I'm going to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix tonight. Two More Days!!!

I don't know why I kept capitalizing Orange Chicken....

Exponential Cephalopods

First of all, cephalopods are adorable. Second of all, googly eyes are lots of fun. Third of all, I love watching movies. I know that is a random collection of facts, but I'm just going to let it happen. So, I love movies. And I love owning movies that I love. So my movie collection has increased exponentially over the past couple of years. And, yes, I am using that term in it's true sense (See graph above). My movie collection over the past three months has grown by about 30 movies. Well, by 30 disks at least. Some of the movies were two disk special editions. Anyway, my point is that I love movies. And so, I'm going to give a list of movies that I adore. Starting with PG movies and going to R movies. You should see these movies, cause they're great. The R ones should be viewed with caution, obviously. Also, I'm going to watch HP #4 tonight for HARRY POTTER WEEK!!

PG:

Goonies (would now be rated PG-13)

The Lake House

The Parent Trap

Pride and Prejudice

The Princess Bride

Star Wars

Penelope

Spirited Away

PG-13:

Big Fish

Elizabethtown

Juno

LOTR

Mean Girls

Stardust

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day

Star Trek

R:

Brick

Dazed and Confused

Empire Records

The Fall

Garden State

Love, Actually

V For Vendetta

When Harry Met Sally

A Very Potter Musical

So I've probably mentioned this before. Once or twice... Anyway, this blog post is going to be about A Very Potter Musical. If you've never heard me talk about it, here's a little explanation. So in Ann Arbor, a year and a half ago, a theatre troupe called Team Starkid, composed of U of M students, put on a musical parody of Harry Potter. I regret missing this so much. Anyway, A Very Potter Musical is set in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, and incorporates things from books 1, 4, 6, and 7. It's hilarious, but contains some swearing and "adult" jokes. Team Starkid made a sequel (A Very Potter Sequel), that's actually a prequel, and performed it this past spring in Ann Arbor. I regret missing that even more than the original musical. Anyway, the entire musical is hilarious, and many of the lines have become memes, of a sort. I mean, some of the captions on the pictures on this site are quotes from AVPM. Also, there's this, but some of it is a little mature, so proceed with caution past the first three, which feature pictures from AVPS. And then there's this, which Alex Day just posted today. Basically, I love A Very Potter Musical. We weren't able to watch it together last night, because they double booked the room we were going to watch it in, but I watched it by myself, and really enjoyed it. Here's the link, if you want to watch it. It's about three hours long and amazing!

The Unwritten Pages

Given the choice between doing math homework and no homework, I'm probably going to chose the no homework... as long as it's not urgent. But given the choice between math homework and writing a paper, I'm definitely going to choose the math homework. So today, when I should have been writing a paper that's due Tuesday, I did math homework that's due Friday. At least I did some homework. And I read a little bit of the play we're supposed to read for Tuesday as well. So it hasn't been a total waste. However, I only have about an hour and a half left to be productive, because at 8, I'm going to watch A Very Potter Musical in one of the lounges. Because it's freaking Harry Potter Week! Yeah!

I'm sorry that this is rather boring... I don't really have much time, because I need to do homework for the next hour and a half.

I should have done homework all day... but I didn't, and now I have no time

I don't have much to say. I went to a sleepover last night, and made crafty stuff for my walls. And helped throw knives at paint filled balloons. And watched the matrix. It was fun. I'm glad that I went. And guess what I'm doing tonight? Going to a Yule Ball! Oh yeah.

Hannah's Amazing Playlists

I like making playlists. I like making playlists that mean something, or tell a story. So, I'm going to share with you a few of my playlists and their origins. If you want me to burn you one of these, I'll gladly do it the next time I see you.

The first one is the playlist I made right after the New Day Camping trip, to commemorate the weekend. I added headings to explain what each song was about.

Camping Playlist

Intro/Camping with Awesome Youth: Little Wonders by Rob Thomas

Unity: We're All In This Together by Ben Lee

Songs We Sang:The Trees And The Wild by Matt Pond PA

Sensible by Glowfriends

Transalanticism by Death Cab for Cutie

Chicago by Sufjan Stevens

This Summer's Song: Such Great Heights

Summer: Bruises by Charilift

The Beach: Electric Feel by MGMT

Blue Lips by Regina Spektor

The Softball Court + Glowsticks: There Will Be Fields For Us by Toby Foster

I Like Giants by Kimya Dawson

After Hours by We Are Scientists

Passenger Seat by Death Cab For Cutie

Bonfires by Toby Foster

The Camping Trip In One Song: All This Beauty by The Weepies

Us: Transistor Radio by Cloud Cult

I Will by The Beatles

Summer/Goodbye: Overcast by The Terrordactyls

I also made a "people I miss and the songs I associate with them" playlist. I'm going to let you guys guess which song is yours.*

People I miss

James Brown by Lovestranger MD

Toilet Paper by Lovestranger MD

Such Great Heights by The Postal Service

Something To Say by Toad The Wet Sprocket

Miss Me by Toby Foster

Passenger Seat by Death Cab For Cutie

This Is My Protection by The Glowfriends

We're Going To Be Friends by The White Stripes

Missing You from A Very Potter Musical

Young Pilgrims by The Shins

In the Aeroplane Over The Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel

Somewhere in Brooklyn by Bruno Mars

Missing You by Alex Day

*The people who have songs in this playlist are: James, Jesse, Emily, Megan, Kiersten, Abby, Aaron, Gwen. I do realize that there are five more songs than people. One of them is an intro song, one of them is for a person who I'm not going to name, and three of them are merely "I miss you" songs.

I also created a "Fall" playlist. Pretty self-explanatory.

Autumn Playlist

So Much Trouble by Matt Pond PA

Summer Skin by Death Cab For Cutie

Yesterday by the Beatles

Fall by the Terrordactyls

Toilet Paper by Lovestranger MD

Campus by Vampire Weekend

We're Going To be Friends by the White Stripes

A Night Playlist

Go Back To Sleep by the Glowfriends

When You Dream by the Barenaked Ladies

Passenger Seat by Death Cab For Cutie

Home by the Terrordactyls

Nighty, Night by the Glowfriends

A Love Story

Scared of Love by the Glowfriends

I Will by the Beatles

I've Just Seen A Face by the Beatles

Begin by Ben Lee

Falling by Ben Kweller

Bruises by Chairlift

Toilet Paper by Lovestranger MD

All I Want Os You by Barry Louis Polisar

Such Great Heights by the Postal Service

Anyone Else But You by the Moldy Peaches

Landscapes and Heartaches by the Terrordactyls

The Luckiest by Ben Folds Five

God Only Knows, a cover by Ben Kweller

Love Me Like The World Is Ending by Ben Lee

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

Thirteen by Ben Kweller

Yesterday by the Beatles*

Cry Me A River by Julie London*

*The last two songs are optional, depending on if you want your story to have a happy ending or not.

Letters

Two Of Us by the Beatles

Amsterdam by Guster

I Speak Because I Can by Laura Marling

Way Up by Son Drop

Goodbye England (Covered In Snow) by Laura Marling