New Years Eve

What're you doing tonight? Staying up? Going to sleep? Dreading school on Monday? (I reckon I'll do all 3.) At the moment, I'm listening to Striking 12, since it's a musical about New Years, and then I'm going to head over to the dance at the stake center and dance badly with Aileen and probably get bugged by Jen.

It'll be good times. :D

To get in the New Years-partying mood, here's some crappy art I whipped of me an' Nick

This is cool

Check it out.

I may put a dollar towards it. Not much, but it's what I can spare since I have just decided I desperately need the SAI paint program. (Look at what I made in like ten minutes of messing around: Click)

Anyways, back to the original reason... it seems like a very cool idea to me. At least check it out.

Reason for the Season

I love the people on dA that I watch who are Christian and not afraid to show it. One of them, pixarjunkie, drew this gorgeous Christmas picture: http://pixarjunkie.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d35t2yy

Needless to say, it was a welcome break from all the silly and/or skimpy Christmas pictures others have been uploading. Some of them are nice too, but something like that I just love.

I feel like a marathon runner

I've had a list of tag commissions on Wajas that I've been putting for various reasons (mostly homework, sometimes horseback riding). Two weeks after they were ordered, I'm like, "Shoot, a couple of these are Christmas tags, I need to get working."

I think, "Well, break starts soon, I'll have plenty of time to work."

Uh, no. Busy busy busy. Even though I've already finished all of my shopping. Katy wants me to get together with her. We go bowling. I watch a movie with a friend that we've been planning for a couple months but only just managed to get around to. I have to run tons of errands, feed the animals, bring BiBi to and from work, YW, etc.

Finally today I'm home, time to get to work.

4 tags, 2 hands, one tablet, some spazzy Internet. 8 hours later, I'm finally done.

Woo hoo! Sparra is caught up... and already has another tag order.

lC

I forgot about this.

I have an mp3 player, and one day for some reason I actually read through all the small print on the warranty.

I was so glad I did.

"Warrenty does not cover mp3 if hurt by an act of God."

I was reminded when I was hunting through the old quotebook on Shalights for something I will be presently emailing to a friend and ran into it. Oh man. I wonder how many warranties say that.

Codemeister

Weird messages on Wajas day again today.

It all started when a player messaged me asking if I had a pre-sale going (letting others order pups before the parents are made to earn money for the parents) and, if so, had she ordered from it?

I replied that I kind of did- the parents were made but were not yet fully dyed, and I'm still lacking in a Cheetah dye. No, she hadn't ordered anything, so I threw in the link just in case she were to decide that she did want to buy something. /good business skills here

She replied that she liked the final stage.

Alright, you want to buy one?

She didn't have the money, but she offered a pup trade. The Waja she offered to trade matched one I've been looking to get a mate for, so I accepted and put her on the waiting list. I think our transaction is done.

Apparently not. She asks me about how many pups her Waja ought to have in its next litter, and then tells me she thought the possibility was larger, which it isn't, although I do have some fun stories from back in the day when there were glitches with the Waja litters and they were bigger. Like my friend whose Waja had a litter of 13 puppies, one of which I still own. She wants to see it. She likes it, asks about one of the items on it, asks me if it's cheap (even though it's really easy to look yourself). Eventually that discussion ends. Once again, I think we're done.

A few minutes later she messages me again, asking how I put the link to my Sales cave in the description of my main cave. I've gotten a lot of people asking me about html in my time on Wajas, and explain it like I always have. She tries to do it for her own sales cave and fails.

So she messages me asking me to write out the code for her to put in her cave. Meanwhile, she has also apparently been searching through my sales and has found another Waja she wants, but doesn't want money for. In a separate pm, she asks for another trade. I like the Waja, I accept. I also send her the code to link up her cave.

An important detail here is that you can't type a "<" on Wajas at the moment because the site has a bit of a glitch, and if you type that it automatically thinks you're beginning a code and either deletes everything following it (because you "did the code wrong") or turns it into the code. In pms it just deletes it because you can't hyperlink or post images in them. So I have to send her the code with brackets in place of the greater than/less than signs, and tell her to be sure to replace them.

She replaces them, but on the <'/a'> part, she does the first carrot backwards so it's >/a> (apostrophes because Blogger doesn't like a half code)
Luckily the rest of the coding in her cave survives (I don't know how she got that there) and the link works, but since there was no official closing code, the entire cave description is the link.

I point this out and tell her how to fix it.

A couple minutes later I get a message back, "face palm look at my cave"

I look, and all of the cave description past her attempt at hyperlinking is gone. Several images, some text, etc.
I had forgotten to warn her that if you get a code wrong, everything past it is eaten. I apologize, and she says it's fine, but now needs me to help her get all the codes working again. I write them all out for her, with repeated reminders on how to work the <>s. She gets it all right this time around.

By this time I'm dealing with three separate messages. Every time I try to condense it into one she sends me a new one, splitting it up again. :P But finally we seem to be done. I putter around Wajas for a bit, dreading another pm, but none comes.

Phew.

This isn't to say that I don't like helping people out there. I've been on Wajas for years and get a lot of players asking me for help, and it's no problem. But some of them just take a long time to deal with. xP

Secretariat

Yesterday was my parents' anniversary and to celebrate they went to see Secretariat, and brought me and Thomas along as well.

That is a good movie. Even Thomas, who isn't very into horses and particularly not horse movies, really enjoyed it. I recommend it.

And coming from a horse lover... it is especially awesome. :D I sure do love to watch horses run, and those were some good horses. Secretariat in particular, of course. They picked the perfect horse to play him (...horse actors, lol). He looked so intelligent and was simply gorgeous... <3 (I have dealt with stupid looking horses before, and that would have been a sad day if they'd picked one of them, although... I don't think they would have.)

Penny was awesome too. I loved the press conferences with Sham's owner, she always got him. xD The groom (I never caught his name) was also awesome. I love the scene after "Big Red eats his breakfast".

If you haven't seen it, go.

Coffee Break

I feel like a bit of a failure as a Mormon when I find myself going onto the Starbucks website to study various coffee flavors so I can figure out what sorts my various characters drink.

Turns out Starbucks has non-coffee stuff there (even one ice cream that is not coffee/mocha flavored!). I may have to go someday just to get the feel, and some hot chocolate ice cream (hahah, oxymoron much?) and apple cider.

Whoah

So I just posted on my other blog (finally, lol) and I forgot to stick a title up there but it was just fine.

I think Madison pointed that out once long ago, but I had forgotten that titles aren't a requirement.

I don't think anyone reads that other blog (with good reason, since I posted on it once and then waited like a year or more to post on it again), but I was fascinated and thought I'd point it out. And I wouldn't mind if someone read that one, since it might inspire me to write on it more.

Just maybe. P:

Just adding to last time...

This has just always been an argument that has bugged me. Going along with my last blog, I also saw something about this on dA today and just seeing multiple relating items has got me thinking again.

Vegetarians. I don't mind them as long as they don't mind me. I have family that is vegetarian, and they're fine. I have friends that are, and it's fine. It's all well and good until they start telling me that I can't eat meat, or getting after me for eating meat and telling me I'm some cruel person because I eat meat.

Let's get this straight. I'm me, and am in control of my diet. I am not doing it to be cruel to animals. As I eat a steak, I do not think to myself, "Oh, it's so great that this cow had to go to the slaughterhouse and be bloodily slaughtered. I'm sure it was in a lot of pain and I'm going to take joy in that idea." No. No one does that. If they do enjoy the idea of animals in pain, they're going to go do it themselves, not eat a steak and think about it.

Here's a stupid argument I hear a lot: "Animals kill their prey quickly and humanely. Humans do not."

I never realized that pulling the guts out of a deer while it is still alive was humane. I did not know that giving a mouse a slow-working poison that dissolves it from the inside out was humane. The idea of laying an egg inside a beetle so that the emerging grub eats it until the beetle is just an empty shell and dies does not strike me as humane.

I'm quite sure, however, that quickly chopping off a chicken's head so that all that remains are a few nerve impulses is. Shooting a deer through the brain so that it's functions stop and it drops dead as quickly as is naturally possible is perfectly humane. Sending a cow to the slaughterhouse, where it is quickly killed and every part of it is used (some parts go to science, some go to dogs, but yes, every part is used), is perfectly humane.

Do not tell me that humans are not humane and animals are. There's a reason that "humane" is derived from "human" and that the word is not "animalane". Animals do not care.

"Oh, but people are so cruel to animals. They raise them just to eat them, and they don't even raise them nicely!"

Riiight. A wild guinea hen, like a domestic chicken, is born with eating in mind. It is also born with tons of animals having eating it on their minds. A wild guinea hen must survive on its own, digging up grubs and picking off seeds while struggling to avoid predators and trying to find a mate. Eventually, it will be killed, most likely cruelly. It will most likely feel body parts being ripped off while it is still living. It will likely gasp, immobile, through a broken neck and watch as a carnivore rips its unfeeling legs off.

A chicken, even a chicken that spends its entire life in a wire box, never has to worry. It has plenty of food and water, a clean nest of straw. All it has to do is lay an egg a day and life is good. When it starts to get old and stops laying, they humanely kill it and someone eats it. The chicken never has to suffer through old age. It never has to worry, except that split second when it sees a knife coming for its neck.

"But... veal!"

Those calves live in a small enclosure, but they get the very best food, company (albeit often human), and daily massages. If I were an animal being raised for food, I'd want to be a calf being raised for veal. They live the good life, and then are killed before they experience even the slightest hardship.

"They never get to live the life of a wild animal! Animals should be able to run free and wild!"

And what? Worry constantly about predators? Have to walk miles for a bite of food or a sip of water? Have to spend their winters standing in blizzards and their summers either caught in blistering heat or stuck in bug-swarmed shade?

The wild is not a wonderful place. It is not a land of freedom and joy. It's a land of constant danger, where even beetles and ants fight over food.

Know what you're talking about. There is a difference between raising animals and animal cruelty, a huge difference. Kicking a cat because it walked past you is cruel. Killing a cow so that you can eat its meat, when that is what the animal is designed for (seriously, what else? If it grows old and dies, you've got a fifteen hundred pounds of rotting meat that you are refusing to eat in your pasture and it's going to give you some damage), is perfectly normal.

Being a vegetarian is fine, but so is being omnivorous. Don't get after me for following what is also a very natural diet.

Hahah, fail

PETA's super comeback

To quote a certain well-known towtruck, "[PETA] is so dumb~"

December nonsense

Woo, it's almost December! I'm so excited! :D

So excited that today I cheerfully announced in a c-box that, "Tomorrow it's December~"

Then I checked the date and was like, "Wait, no it's not." So I ever so smoothly corrected myself by adding, "In Austrailia!"

/genius

Yes, I did spell it wrong. Because I have that much skill with dates and countries.

But that's... that's how I say Australia, so it's how I always spell it. xP Aus-tra-il-ee-ah. But really short on that unnecessary ih-.

I don't even know why. I think I must be building up for the later I, except that it doesn't even make that sound, it says ee.








...it's December in 1 day, 3 hours, and 38 minutes in my time zone at this moment in time! :D

I was not off by too much.

*facepalm*

So yesterday was Nate's birthday and he wanted to rent a Redbox movie and watch it. That meant that today, I'd have to return it.

They waited until dark to tell me- irritating, to start things off. I set the movie on the counter and ran to get my keys, license, shoes, and jacket, headed out to the car, and got going to Smiths. I had gone a few blocks when I started wondering just where they'd gotten the DVD and whether it mattered what Redbox I returned it to. I reached over to see if it said anything on the case, and realized... I'd forgotten the movie.

So I made a quick turn and headed home again. I grabbed the movie, checked with my brother about where to return it (it doesn't matter), and headed out again. Next I managed to miss the turn to Smiths. Not too much of a problem, I could just go down a block and just have to make two left turns instead of one. So I made the turn at that retarded intersection next to Purple Turtle and managed to make it to Smiths.

The parking lot was absolutely empty. Stupidly, I thought, "Cool!" I parked and got out to go to the store, and noticed lines of shopping carts blocking the door. It was closed? All the lights were on... but it was closed?

Yep, it was closed.

Well, there's a McDonalds across the parking lot with a Redbox. I turned around. Lights off. It was closed too.

Disappointing McDonalds. Since when were you ever closed?

Well, I didn't even head over there then. I got back in the car, thinking vaguely that maybe there was a Redbox at Maceys, although Maceys was probably closed too. It was worth a try. I headed over.

Maceys I made it to without a problem, except for the radio music. They played that "Stuck like Glue" song, and now it's going to be stuck in my head for the rest of my life. I was feeling too flustered to turn it off. But then, wonder of wonders, in the Walgreens parking lot, way before Maceys, was a Redbox. So I quick pulled in to Walgreens and headed over to the return, DVD at the ready.

There was a line. At the front of it? A man who had decided to let his child that was not even tall enough to reach the screen do all the button pushing. They were apparently having issues too. I heard a big, "HMM" from the Dad, and after gawking at the screen for another minute and making the rest of us just stand there and shiver, he said, "Well, guess I gotta go to a different one." And he left.

Good luck with that, guy. All the other places are closed.

Then I had to wait for this girl and her boyfriend. They went through a bunch of movies, checked the ratings on several, decided it was too high, and eventually picked one called "The Backup Plan".

Wow, coincidental.

Finally my chance came to return the movie, which took all of three seconds. Just... what. Then I pulled out, had to wait at that stupid Maceys light, and finally made it home again.

*facepalm* That took way longer than it needed to.

American Saturday Night

Today we went to Gunnies to grab some jeans for my brother, since Wranglers is the only company that makes jeans that fit Nate right now and the only place to get Wranglers is western supply stores. Right next to Gunnies was this French pastry shop and apparently my mom was in a treats mood since she was like, "Let's go in and get some pastries before we go home!"

Well, this was pretty much the greatest French pastry shop I've ever been to. It was run by a Mexican couple, and along with being a pastry shop, it was also an Italian restaurant. While talking to these Mexicans and wondering what French pastry to get, I leafed through the Italian restaurant menu and was like, "Yes, America, I love you~"

Also, the wife ran the sales and the husband just kind of sat in the back at one of the restaurant tables. When the wife had a question, she would talk into this mirror that was across the room from her in Spanish and I don't know if the guy could hear her or if he just read lips, but he would reply, also softly, and she would carefully watch the mirror and get her answer.

It was pretty much the greatest thing ever.

It also reminded me of this Brad Paisley song, which became the title of this blog. Listen~

New Favorite Quote

"DEATHLY HALLOWS WAS SOOOOO AMAZING!!!
I FEEL SO INCREDIBLE RIGHT NOW I COULD JUST POOP AWESOME."
Quote courtesy of Selene231, yet another amazing dA artist.

And not only is she amazing, she's hilarious. You should check out her Good Morning Voldemort comic or The Office: Harry Potter day comic (yes, she's a bit of an HP freak). And all her other awesomeness.

But back to the quote... I just can't read that without at least spluttering with laughter. It's just lol-worthy to the extreme.

Shocker

Newsflash: Nick and I decided we'd totally date each other, if only he lived in Utah.

So much for that idea.

Hey guys

If I were to get a haircut, and not just trim it but get it cut to look like something, what would you recommend? :0 (This is purely hypothetical, don't get excited.)


Mr. HairFace says: Tell me your opinions. :B

Also, this is my new favorite quote:
"I think people are really paranoid that there are a lot of stupid people out there that will jump on them if they didn't spray the proverbial NEWB repellant, which is apparently WORDS."
~A girl on Wajas, complaining about how a lot of people post site rules in their caves to remind people of them since we have a lot of n00bs (although the problem was recently mostly solved).

You got that girl. Words repel stupidity.

Guess what you guys?

ACT scores. They're in.

Guess what I got?

31.

Yes. Yes.

All my problems are solved. xD My Dad will stop bugging me. I beat my older sister. Utah State or Utah will offer me great scholarships just automatically, and hopefully I will have a better chance at BYU too, although ACT scores are less important to them. Pity BYU's the one that really matters to me. But it's at least 3 points above average instead of 1.

I'm so happy right now! :D All I had to do to get a good score was not sleep the night before! Shocking!

That I really thoroughly checked all my answers this time around probably helped too. But that's not near as funny a story.


Yay~

Also, watch this because it is amazing:

An Interesting Perspective

An artist I've long been very impressed with on dA recently has amazed me again, although this time with a more controversial sort of picture. (Click)

This is a subject I have pretty strong feelings on, but I think I'll do like the artist and keep them to myself for now. I will say that I don't agree with the commissioner's feelings on the subject, but I have some pretty massive explanations on all my opinions when it comes to abortion that I doubt you guys want to hear right now. P: I mostly just wanted to post the image to let people see other ideas- I've been having an interesting time reading through the comments on the picture and figure anyone else could too.

Should've expected that.

I'm sorry, two blogs in one day. But I was really excited about those hedgehogs. (And also the blog below that, but that's not from today.)

Anyways... book club tomorrow in English. I wrote up my paper surprisingly quickly, shifted over to our other computer, and went to print it.

The printer worked. No problems. No ghost jammed papers, no real jammed papers, no just not doing it, no weird other files, no running out of paper, nothing.

Woot!

Then I went to staple my collection. Last time that went very smoothly, once I had two sheets out of the printer, I grabbed them, stuffed them in the stapler, and blam, stapled.

I was doing that again and blam, thunk, crinkle. For whatever reason, the stapler decided to take up the printer's usual habit of crappiness (Halloween prank, perhaps?) and somehow managed to jam on two measly sheets of paper.

The staple decided to be crooked and I can't get it out. My parents aren't here so I can't get them to try and fix it. Heaven knows when they'll be getting home, I don't even know where my mom is. And I can't fix it. I've already busted a pen trying to pry that stapler out, and the stapler remover, despite its name, just bent the bit of staple sticking out. I can't separate the two parts of the stapler. I can't find another stapler either.

Office technology, sometimes I really hate you. Right now, I really need this:


Stapler Superman could fix my stapler. lC

Glee!

Did you know there is such a thing as a Long-eared Hedgehog?

It's like a rabbit and a hedgehog mated and it's sooooo cute! :D


And when they curl up their ears just wrinkle up in there and I love it~




New favorite animal right there. Somehow I'm going to incorporate one in with the Sparradile (maybe as a buddy P:). It's going to be awesome.

NaNoWriMo

I... I don't entirely know what insanity has driven me to do this, but I've decided to do NaNoWriMo again this year. After my huge success last year, I'm sure I can do it again I just... it's a rather large project for a rather busy bird.

But what the heck.

It would be really fun for me if you guys did it too, we could all get together and have epic write-offs or complain to each other about writers block or just eat lots of gummi worms and laugh a lot. Check it out here.

But whether any of my friends join or not, I plan not to fail- it would be totally stupid if I were able to finish in 18 days one year but not in 31 the next. xD (Of course, I'll still be missing half the first week at Band Tour.)

I might tell you about the plot later- I have one in mind, but so far only the good guys worked out and though I have what the opposition is in mind, I have very few details. It would make for a pretty lame synopsis. But it's going to be very fun to write, I have already decided. Once November is here, I think I'll start posting chapters in another blog, so you guys can all read it if you like.

I'm hoping that doing this more publicly will inspire me to actually finish the book which, although I went over 50,000 words last year, I did not do. Make me do it this time around, you guys. xD


/that picture secretly has foreshadowing, which is cool since I didn't make it. >.>

I think...

I think that this equal to win:



Do it. (Click to see the entire image.)

The Process of an Essay

I know, this is like a week late. We’re just going to ignore the space-time continuum for a bit though. :P

The first issue when it comes to essays is always the subject. I can sit for hours in front of my computer thinking, “This? Nah, maybe this?” Sometimes I get an introduction in mind and start writing something, but before long I run out of steam and give up on that. Maybe this then? Nope. What’s the idea I want to use? This? Yeah, sure. But what are the specifics. Hmm.

It’s time for an epiphany.

Luckily for me, they do usually come when I really need them. Suddenly a sentence comes to me that is just perfect. It might sit in the middle of the essay, but it is exactly what I need. This time around, it’s the thesis (what luck!). I write it down and start to build off it. I put together an introduction that I like and feel I can really get the rest of the essay done with it.

But nothing’s coming to me. I skip down a page and start mapping things out. Here’s the intro, this is my thesis, now what? I jot down the order I’ll work things in, the specifics I’d like to use. I flip through the book and pick out a few good quotes. Some I’ve already picked out in earlier brainstorming and they work with this subject, even though it is very different from what I was originally considering. I write them down.

With my map now set, all prepared to get me through this, I get working on the second paragraph. Now that I not only know what I want to write about, but what specifics I’m going to hit and when, things seem easier. But after a couple more sentences, I’m stuck again. I know this is what I want to write about, but I just can’t think of what to say next. Would a quote work? Yes. I put one in, but can’t think of what to say after that.

I minimize Word and consult my amazing turtle desktop. Surely Mr. Turtle will have some advice for me.

“Eat an apple, Mary,” he says. “Fruit will bring you wisdom.”

A break sounds good to me. I stop and go eat an apple.

A half hour later, I come back feeling rejuvenated. Time away from the computer has got my brain working again. I’ve come up with a few sentences that will work awesome later in the essay- in particular, one for the conclusion. I have a hard time with conclusions, so this is good. Thank you, Mr. Turtle.

When I raise Word again, I can also think of how to continue and do so. From here, I write on unimpeded for several paragraphs. I make an addition to my map, another idea that could help out striking me. The order of the paragraphs surprises me slightly, but I consider it and realize that I really like how it’s working out. I continue.

Sometime I stop and minimize word to ask Mr. Turtle for help again, but he doesn’t tell me to stop working completely anymore. He gives me little bits of inspiration instead and I thank him and tell him he was definitely the inspiration for the turtle in “Kung Fu Panda” and go back to working.

I’ve ended up double-spacing things to make this take up the right amount of space, but that’s okay. I’m pretty sure that teachers prefer double-spacing essays, even if it feels like cheating to me. I prefer 1.5. But I’ve finally reached the conclusion. I add a fitting quote that I removed from an earlier section and then my awesome concluding sentence that I came up with earlier.

Sweet! I’m done. My relief causes me to forget to proofread and almost to forget to remove my map. I remove that just in time to avoid wasting a sheet of paper on it. Once it’s printed, I staple it, stick in my folder, and forget about it. I’m finally finished, I’m pleased with what I wrote, and I’m nearly exploding with my relief.

The next day I go to school to turn it in and it turns out we have to read through our essays in class. I notice that not only have I forgotten one of the things the teacher wanted us to use in our essays, I am missing words here and there, making phrases that I pick up and gasp at even though Word didn’t. I carrot in a few small additions and cross my fingers for a good score. I now feel much less confident; it’s too late to change things. But I’m done, and maybe things will go my way… they have in the past. Until I find out, well, that’s just part of the process of an essay.

Yes.

http://browse.deviantart.com/?order=11&offset=0#/d3050v3

Because the "Originality Revolution" bugs the crap out of me. The people trying to "stand out" and be "original" don't have a clue what they're doing.

Like I told a certain very annoying person once who was on some sort of tangent about how why I'm "sad" is because I'm living "like everybody else", "If originality is stupidity, I'm glad I have no part in it."

:|

Thank you Phobs, for representing the intelligent side.

Superfun Aven Adventure

Well, Aven had an adventure at an indeterminate time last night- I missed it, but I imagine he had fun.

Basically, when I filled up his water before going to bed, I forgot to close the lid of his tank. Sometime during the night he noticed it and got out... I can't say when, and I hope he didn't poop somewhere (doesn't smell like he did, and it probably would if he had... :/). I noticed in the morning when I woke up, looked over, and saw his tank empty. It took me a little longer to notice the open lid but, you know... I did. xD

All this was very bad, because my room is entirely nooks and crannies and he's a snake. He could get anywhere. Luckily he's too big now to go through the slats in Mufasa's cage, so he couldn't go in and eat him (although I suppose that would have made him easy to find... if Aven had eaten a gerbil, he definitely wouldn't be getting back out of Mufasa's cage xD). So I looked around in the area near his tank, did some headstands to peer under the bed and bedstand and stuff and it was fun. :P Didn't see him.

I figured he must be cold, so maybe I could just hang his light from the doorknob and then hopefully he'd go to the corner to get warm. Or maybe, even simpler, I could put his feeding tank out and he would just go in there in hopes of getting a mouse. I didn't feed him this weekend- I decided as of Saturday I want to feed him on Mondays instead, so that he's off limits when I have less time, so maybe he'd get tricked.

Well, what do you know? He was already sitting in the feeding tank, waiting for a mouse.

He didn't get it, instead he just got put back in his tank, but he'll get one tomorrow.

But... wow. What a relief. My door was open and everything, he could have been anywhere in the house and impossibly hard to find... but there he was, just waiting for me to get up and feed him. xD I love Aven. Such a sweetheart, even if he does give me a scare now and then.

Oh Brianne

Brianne is just about the most airheaded girl I've ever met in my life, and, trust me, that's saying a lot. A lot. Consider my older sister.

Anyway, that's just about as much description of Brianne as you really need, but I'll add. She's brunette, but oh... if she was blonde it would be so much better because, you know... dumb blondes, which I, as a blonde, am allowed to find funny.

Today in Young Womens before we started Marie was getting the opening exercises ready (asking people to say the opening prayer, lead the song, etc.) Brianne bounces over and says, "Oh, oh! Can I say something? I want to do something! Please Marie? Pretty-please?"
"Sure. There's still the thought or the theme."
"What's a thought?"

At which point I cracked up and made everyone around me crack up as well, but of course Brianne was completely oblivious to the situation. Of course Brianne wouldn't know what a thought is... she's never had one.

She doesn't mind either, and quite enjoys discussing it with her alien friends in space (well, either that or they're the reason she doesn't think... but at any rate, she says she has alien friends in space). Oh Brianne, you make me laugh so.

Also... guess what? This is my 99th blog. :0 I can't believe I stopped blogging so short of 100. I hope something awesome happens for me to write about in that one.

I apparently have a lot to blog about.

Recently I randomly decided to listen to that good old 2009 winning Eurovision song (from Norway, may I remind you) and then I went on a Alexander Rybak spree. :D

Turns out he is from Belarus but simply grew up in Norway (from 5 years old), which is how he ended up performing for Norway's Eurovision entry (well, that and his amazing skills and attractiveness).

Anyways, to keep up with my current Youtube movie posting habit, I've been trying to decide between two Rybak songs to post on here. One is a more normal song (with more traditional music, but pop lyrics... kind of an odd mix, but I was singing it all day today >.>) and the other one is one he wrote for a woman he's touring with this year. It's meant entirely as a joke, so when you see it, don't be like "Ohmigawsh stalker!" It's just a silly video for a friend.

The first one puts more of a focus on his super-sweet violin skills (I do have a soft spot for singing violinists, I've noticed) and his very expressive singing style. You might see him sing and think "He's so weird" but I see it and I'm like "8) Takke. Jeg kjærlighet den." I love it when people open their mouth when they sing. Expressive singers=awesome. You might notice among the groups I listen to, all the singers open their mouths wide when they sing and are very expressive. People who don't... I don't listen to them. It is actually a criteria I look into .
(This is part of the reason high school singers, especially in our musicals, drive me insane. Open your mouth, holy cow! That ruined Les Mis for me last year. xP Open your mouth Merry, please.)

I couldn't decide which one I liked more, but for some reason the silly song doesn't allow embedding, so that's the one I'm putting here.



The link to the funny one is this though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4sfh2u8cgU&feature=related
*claps in your face obnoxiously*

Do you remember?

Do you realize it is the 21st of September? I nearly forgot about my tradition of listening to odd, old music about the day today. D:



Let's see how many consecutive days I can put a YouTube video in my blog. :P

Did somebody say dancin'?

Finding Nemo is still pretty-much my favorite movie, even though I have had times where I've semi-changed it (mostly to Shrek... and it is really right up there by Nemo). Lately I found a couple people that make this adorable fanart for it, and they also led me to watch this, which I also loved:



Marlin seemed a tad out of character when he was all like "Did somebody say dancin'?!" but it was very fun anyways. :D

Also a couple of the super-cute fanarts because you must see them and share in the awesomeness.
http://elixirxsczjx13.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2ymaaf
http://elixirxsczjx13.deviantart.com/#/d2z33hf

Neither of those are by the person that originally came up with the design, but there is a link to that genius' account with the pics so you can look at them there.

/song love

Last night I was listening to Show Tunes Saturday Night on 106.5 (which I recommend the rest of you do as well). This song came on that I hadn't heard before, and so I kind of paid better attention to it and... holy cow, I loved it. So I listened really closely to hear what it was and what it was from. In the Heights (which I haven't heard of before so I don't have much clue what's going on here, past that it was a language lesson gone... awry), Sunrise.

So I found it on YouTube and I've been listening to it, like, all day. Sooo cute. (Why yes, I am allowed the occasional girlish fancy. :P)



:D

What?

All my friends are apparently still blogging.

I'm kind of in shock at this. I guess that means I gotta blog again too, and start reading theirs. And I shall also be the only one to comment on theirs, I guess. Hopefully they return the favor because feedback is really all I care about on the Internet.

Today I will introduce you all to one of my favorite webcomics, Dinosaur Comics, or Qwantz. They were originally introduced to me by my United Kingdom-dwelling friend Happy, who is also quite awesome. Once she wrote POERTY. Accidentally.

She was also a part of my favorite conversation about Twilight ever.

But back to Dinosaur Comics.

Here's one that'll teach you something interesting. :0 Like a lot of them. A lot of them don't too, they're just funny. One of them is boring.
Anyways... uh, read it.
http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1025

Darn it...

I just went and made myself sad.

I mainly got a Facebook to be a stalker and see if I could get in contact with Mrs. Reuel. Turns out she does have one, but it didn't look like she got on it. I sent a friend request anyways, just in case.

She never accepted it, but I don't think she's declined it. Just randomly I checked her profile today and it said "Friend Request Pending". I think that means she hasn't touched it.

She also had a photo of her holding up a baby boy.

I just kind of... augh. I miss her. And now she's possibly had a kid. It's been a year since she left, and I haven't seen her since May of 2009. That's plenty of time to have a baby.

I wish I could have known. I wish I could know for sure.

Not that anyone even reads this, but I needed to say it somewhere. I wish I could see Mrs. Reuel again... or contact her somehow.

Goooo Superman!

lolz here

Spiderman probably wouldn't agree, but I still like him better. P:

Sweet.

According to this random quiz I found on the internet, I am my favorite mythical creature.

Betcha you can guess what it is before you read. :P

What Mythical Creature are you? Your Result: Siren   Beautiful, vengeful, and slightly manipulative, is what a siren is. Sirens are known for luring sailors in with their beautiful song, and then destroying them. Although manipulative, sirens cannot help their power, and need to make love to a human in order to become immortal. Sirens are often doomed in love and find themselves becoming bitter by neglect or abuse. Sirens are very powerful creatures, but execute exact and beautiful revenge.
Elf	 
Nymph	 
Vampire	 
Werewolf	 
What Mythical Creature are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Did another one and got mermaid again. No, I'm not playing the vote... much.

8>

So, you remember my blog a month or two ago about how my DS had broken, and so I'd gone on an epic search for a tri-wing screwdriver (found out what they're called... xD), finally bought on on Ebay, and weird things were happening?

Well, it being May 15 and my having not gotten the screwdriver yet, I had pretty much given up on ever getting it. But today in the mail... there is was! 8D

So I rushed down to my room and completed the dismantling of my DS. There was some gunk on the motherboard, so I cleaned that up and then put it back together. I tried turning it on again, but it's still suffering the same problem.

The Internet was, of course, the place to go. I Googled how to fix a DS lite, found a site showing fixes on all sorts of different problems, and found one that exactly fitted the description of my DS' issues.

Apparently, the poor thing had blown a fuse. To fix it, of course I'd need a replacement fuse.

Back to Ebay then. I found a set of fuses with a few bonus items to also help with the fix for $2 and free shipping, so I was like, "BAM!" and bought it. The fix itself, according to the fix-it site I was looking at, doesn't look too complicated. You just remove the bad fuse and plop in a good one. :P Soon, I shall have two working DS lites. In case you doubt me, look at the site: DS fix-it site. I like how it's name is Console Zombie... especially since May is Zombie Awareness Month. xD

I feel all technological and amazing. *dances*

Blah

So... for English we have a dumb "find a song you can't live without" assignment. x.o Although it would be lying to say I could live without music itself... the chances of me finding a *song* I can't live without are a complete 0%.

So bringing in a total joke would be the next best thing- here's the one I mentioned to Madison: The Lightbulb Song

fwi, "SAD" stands for "Seasonal Affective Disorder"... you may have to listen to the previous track to really get the joke.

This here.

Story of my life.

Strangely familiar?

I was watching Taylor the Latte Boy on YouTube today and suddenly realized that Kristen Chenoweth looks almost exactly like this lady in my ward, Shalauna (if you've ever gotten your hair cut at Capellis, you've probably seen her... she's the schools creator :0)(I also probably butchered the spelling of her name but... oh well xP).

Their faces are shaped the same, their features are the same, Chenoweth even moves her mouth and sings and speaks in the same ways she does. Their skin is the same color, their hair is the same color, their clothes are often the same... I would find it extremely suspicious, except that their haircut is different, and I'm quite sure Shalauna has never been on Broadway. xD But she's cool anyways.

Awesome drawing application

Just try messing around with it, it's pretty-much amazing. :D

http://www.zefrank.com/scribbler/scribblertoo/

Also, we're getting a new dog! <3 It'll be a day or two before we bring him home, but we went to meet him already and he's amazing. I'll have lots of pictures once he's moved in. ;)

Phew

It's Friday, holy cow. I thought it would never come, and I keep forgetting that it is, and then remembering and being like "YES. Phew."

Next week will probably be about the same. P: CRT testing on my one A-day that I don't have an AP test? Sheesh.

These are great. :D

I think I told Madison about the magical package I got recently from Smiths, but no one else.

Well. We got this colorful package, black with bright green polka dots and pink ends, but no label past that it was from Smiths. Oooh, mystery! :D My brother was all excited about opening it up too, so I let him open it with me.

Well, until we opened one side and an ad fell out. I was like, "Oh, I know what this is."

Pads and tampons, from this new brand called U.

Well... I was on Wajas and Tennis posted a rave about what...? Tampon commercials. Well, heck, I had to check them out and lol, it was U again.

I think you all need to watch them now too. x3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOM4AMV050A&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpypeLL1dAs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n09SejxpcFA&feature=related
"This is a man's world. Men do things that are stupid." lol, I think this one was win, even if it's not a commercial. P: Slightly longer, anyways.

Well... it's a sure thing now.

I know I've mentioned to a few people that Raleigh disappeared last Wednesday. Well... today our neighbors found him and gave us a call. He was dead, lying in the creek.

Although we've had Raleigh for nearly thirteen years, it really isn't hitting me all that hard. We all knew he was dying, we all expected him to die earlier than he did. I've been reconciled to the idea for long enough that I guess now that it's actually happened, it isn't hitting me very hard. I've felt plenty of times that we should have just put him down. He had bad arthritis, tumors everywhere, was starting to go blind, and he was just, well... old. He's been dying for months: losing weight, sleeping more, eating less... but he's always seemed so happy despite that we've just been waiting for things to take their natural course.

Him drowning in a creek is definitely not the best way for him to pass away, but he's in a better place. And even though he's dead, I'm really glad we know that he is now, and have him back. We buried him over by Chester and Neil, and it's funny... where he was in the creek was right by the grave of his dad.

And just because I found it, a dead dog comic! :D Go cat go~ *tomato'd*

...yeah, that's smart.

So it's snake breeding season right now, and it is *so* sad/funny some of the posts that are turning up on the Corn Snakes forum I like to hang out on. Tons of people are suddenly freaking out and posting, "My female just laid eggs! I didn't know she was pregnant, what do I do?"

My favorite, I think, is this one person who said she had a male and female snake, but they were siblings so she didn't think they would breed. They did though, and now she's got eggs to deal with.

Um... I really don't think snakes care if they're related. If you have a male and female together (of any sort of animal really) during breeding season, they're gonna mate. It's kind of sad that some people don't realize that.

Heck, this isn't snake related, but it does have to do with animal mating stuff. We've been taking Bonnie and Spider over to our neighbors pasture to eat the last few days, and he has a big gelding (male horse that can't breed). Apparently Bonnie's in heat, because even though Fox can't mate with her, he was getting all excited and they spent the entire afternoon with their heads over the fence flirting with each other. xD

Obviously, animals do not care, no matter the restrictions we might expect them to have.

Extra lol

I'm sorry, I think this is my third post in one day. But I have just been... finding funny stuff, I guess. :P Funny to me, at least.

Though I think everyone ought to find this funny:


It's hard to even guess how many times I've had that "Watcha thinkin' about?" "Nothin'" conversation with my brothers. xD I can't really see my dad getting out his nothing box... but I'm sure he does. It's how he falls asleep watching tv every night, I suppose.

I'm good without one though.

Stuck in Norway

My Uncle Dale went on a business trip to Norway not long ago (he works for Microsoft, which apparently all comes from there... which makes sense I guess because Norway is excessively rich). He was supposed to come back last week but then... yeah, some volcano in Iceland exploded and no one's getting out of Europe.

We don't know when he's getting back. He has a flight rescheduled for Monday, but he doesn't think it'll actually leave. My mom wants to call up some cousins we have in Oslo (which is where Dale is), but then my dad reminded her that he's on a business trip, so Microsoft is paying for him, and he went in a group of fifteen. We can't just leave the rest of them out. :P

So that's not happening, but it doesn't really matter. The point of this blog is a conversation I had with Michelle (his daughter, she's like... 3). I was like, "So, you're dad's stuck in Norway. Do you know where Norway is?"

"Well... it's kinda by Heber, behind Africa, and maybe a little close to Aus-Aus...Ausatria."

Go world~

lol

Loaf Baby

I know this is kind of horrible, but I laugh so hard every time I look at it so... I'll share the awesomeness. :D

I'm sure it's not any worse than the dead baby jokes that are so popular in band, anyways.

X
(No, the X is not because it's X-rated. Just click the link. >C)

Pssssssh

So some guy just called because my brother signed up to get a job as an umpire for PG Rec (wtc this will be his second job when I haven't even had one... working for guys is so much easier Dx), presumably to hire him.

Nate wasn't there. He asked for my parents... nope, they're not here either. So he asked when would be a good time to call him. I was like, "Well, I don't know. I thought the family was going to my little sister's softball practice, but it's been like four hours and they aren't back. He could very well be dead."

The guy was like, "Uh... okay. I'll call back later."

xDDDD Highlight of my life.

Oy

ACT test today. It wasn't actually all that bad, past the science test, where we had 35 minutes to not only do 40 questions, but read through 7 (more like 25) experiments that the questions came from.

Kinda sad to have the science test be what I'm most worried about, but whatever.

What this blog is more about was the dream I had previous to the ACT, which had a slight bit of ACT issue-type things in it and I told Jessica I'd blog about it since she was there taking it too (what the heck Madison, you're a slacker).

Basically, it started out with this young couple, they'd just had a baby (I think because I'd watched The Office Pam's baby episodes that day), but they worked in some sort of lab thing making... like sports drinks, or energy drinks or something. Someone was asking them about making them and so they were answering, and every time they did I'd see this random clip of the questioner putting together his own sports drink.

So then he got that made and it got all popular and the main character couple thing were still at work. When they finally left they were headed down the hall (which looked oddly like it was from my old gradeschool) and this big ol' horde of zombies was coming down the other side, chasing a whole bunch of normal people.

When they got to the main entrance/exit doors, the zombies somehow got ahead and were blocking the way out so this big fight started that my couple were just trying to keep out of. Eventually they did end up knocked over and there were these zombies looming over them and they were terrified their brains were going to be eaten and their baby would die without them. They started pleading for their life to the zombie, and the zombie just looked at them and was like, "Why would I hurt you? You're one of us."

No, they weren't zombies, but they'd never drunk that mysterious sports drink from earlier. Suddenly it became apparent that the zombies were actually the good guys, and the 'normal' people were the bad ones. o.O Apparently everyone had been drinking this sports drink, and it had two side effects. One, they became zombies but were still good, or two, they looked normal but they were suddenly under the control of the sports drink-maker guy.

So the couple were all like, "Yeah! We're safe!" Despite all the bad guys all around them. Then they suddenly remembered they'd left the baby in some... I want to say freezer (what the heck, I know), but I think it was just someplace in the lab. So they got up and ran to get him, and then somehow got out and went home where they had a cool fence all covered in ivy. c:

Then I don't know where I came from, but suddenly I was there and realized that it was like 4pm and I'd been fighting these crazies and helping out the zombies instead of off taking the ACT test. Then I was all terrified and was sure my dad was going to kill me for wasting his $42 and then I thought about it some more and was like... "Wait a second, this a dream. I haven't missed it yet."

Realizing that made me decide I had better wake up, and it turned out my alarm was going off so... yay. I have made waking skills.

The end.

And while we're on the subject of zombies, you can watch the music video from Plants vs Zombies, which my brothers have been playing lots lately and is probably the reason I had a zombie dream, even if it was backward.
Clicky ;)

Just fun stuff c:

I was looking for an old and hilarious conversation about Twilight Torchic and Mew had and then added to our quotebook on Shalights, and in hunting through the pages for it, had like half an hour of straight up laughs and gigglesnorts, and I only got through, like, seven pages.

It is so win in there. 8D

So, I figured I'd post a link, although you get entertainment from it at your own risk. I'll warn you now, there is a fair amount of swearing (mostly from Mew :P) and some sex jokes, or just dirty stuff. In general, don't read anything by Chu (currently Sweet Moves and has a dancing pig avatar), he's just straight up vulgar and not funny.

For safest results, just read the quotes I list, but since I like dirty jokes (though I put a very wide line between vulgar and "dirty", so generally they'll just be silly, nothing really bad)too, you still will have to watch a bit. :P

But as long as all that doesn't scare you away, you will laugh. :D

Shalights Quotebook

Edit: Also, you can skip page 7 and the top half of page 8, it's just a whopping conversation between me and Chu, but Chu's an idiot so it basically doesn't work. Just all me trying to explain what I'm trying to say and him being like, "Make me muffins! D<"

Oh my sad, sad social skills.

Usually I get the mice I feed Aven free from BYU. Since my mom works there, it's pretty easy. xD

Apparently my parents have been shopping lately though, and filling the freezer with all sorts of stuff. Aven's bag of mice have disappeared. I hate leaving him without food for a week, even if, as a cold-blooded animal, it doesn't make that big a difference.

So I went on a quick trip to Petco to buy him a mouse.

Nearly every time I go to Petco, it's the same guy running the cash register. Mostly he just rings up my purchase (nearly always a mouse) without saying anything more than he needs to. Today, maybe because he was a little curious about how I hadn't been there in a couple months, and then there I was buying a mouse again, he asked me what exactly I was feeding.

I'm sliding my debit card, and don't even look up as I mumble, "A corn snake."

I love to talk about things I know about, and could use a good reputation from at least one person at Petco since I'd love to work there, and I think if I had even just actually looked at him he would have replied and we could have had a short, fun little conversation (because to me, discussing reptile feeding habits is fun ;P). Or at least he might have at least had the courage to reply, even just an, "Oh." Instead he was just quiet, and seemed particularly impatient for the receipt to print.

Of course I had realized my mistake, so I managed a friendly "thank you" before leaving, but it was awkward.

And now it's just been bugging me. I hate it when I blow openings like that (and I really feel like this sounds like I wanted to flirt with him or something, but mostly it's just me being selfish and wanting someone who might put in a good word about my resume... xP).

I need social skills. Dx

That's strange...

My old DS lite broke sometime last year under mysterious circumstances. I really don't know why, one day it just stopped working.

At any rate, it cost about as much to get a replacement as it did to get Nintendo to fix it, so after hunting deals elsewhere for a while, I eventually just gave in and got the replacement.

But I still have my old one, and I've been really wanting to take it apart. I don't really know why, I'm not a very mechanical person... but I've got this broken piece of machinery here, and so... what's there to lose? Maybe some beetle just crawled in and if I open up the DS and take it out, it'll work again, and then I'll have two!

Problem is, apparently Nintendo uses very special screws for their stuff. They have three little slots rather than the four you see on a Phillips Head or the two for a Flathead. I've messed around with my little clarinet screwdriver (flathead) for a while, and I got two screws out, but there are still two very stubborn ones.

I figured a little screwdriver couldn't cost all that much though, so then I decided to go around to all the local hardware stores and find myself a tri-tip screwdriver. Turns out... none of them have one. I only even met one employee guy who had any idea what I was talking about.

So... then I left it for a while. But today I felt like wandering Ebay a bit, and while I was thinking about what to look for, the thought suddenly came to me! A tri-tip screwdriver for an NDSL!

Lo and behold, there are loads of them on there, and most are quite cheap. I hunted around, and quickly found one that not only had free shipping, but only cost $1.39. Even better, it had a Buy It Now option, so I didn't have to worry about waiting for the auction to end and being outbid! So, upon seeing nothing cheaper, I promptly bought it.

This is where the weird stuff starts happening. I've bought stuff from Ebay before (got my Little Mermaid soundtrack from there from some Japanese guy for a buck even ;D), and it's always gone very nicely. But this time, first I get an email in my spam with a title in some Asian language. I open it and it has something about making a Help request thing to Ebay and that I need to contact them there to make it.

Well, I get on my account and make sure I haven't done anything weird, and I haven't. So... whatever. I'll just ignore it.

Then I get another email. It tells me "Good news, you've won the [screwdriver]." (It has a really long title... whatever). This I was expecting, I'm all happy inside, scroll down... and what? There's a message attached (presumably from the seller) saying that she decided not to ship it to Brazil because that would take 3 months and would I please send her a shipping address?

o.O

I double check my shipping address, and it definitely says United States.

Okay...

Then I get another email saying thanks for the payment and my item will be shipped shortly, etc. So I think I'll just wait and see if I get it... haven't gotten any further emails.

But weird.

I mean, seriously... Brazil?

Live closer plz? :c

I noticed an ad on KSL by a guy looking to hire someone for a very simple job. (In my opinion, anyways.) He just wanted someone to help out with feeding and cleaning the cages of his snakes. He'd be paying normal wages, and the hours would be easy (mostly Saturday afternoons and Tuesday evenings, both days I don't really do anything).

And I could just call in and say, "Yeah, I'll take the job. These are my credentials..." yadda yadda and I'd have a job.

Problem? He lives in a city (I've forgotten the name now xP) an hour past Salt Lake.

Yeah... no. Not driving two hours to clean snake cages.

But... gah. It would be so nice to get by dad off my back about getting a job, even if it's a job that would be a stretch to say you work part-time. xD Darn distances.

Dang it.

I ended the term with over 100% in every class except Calculus.

I still have a 95% (A) there, but still... it's so lame.

Political LeaderFail

Okay, new favorite (as awesome as the students demanding wars in easier to find places is... xD):

http://www.satirewire.com/news/march02/poor.shtml

This one is pretty-much amazing too. I need to send it to my mom.

http://satirewire.com/features/siliconpines/acf.shtml

lol, PeopleFail

http://www.satirewire.com/news/jan02/geography.shtml

Holy cow I love SatireWire. Robertson did do one good thing for us.



Ohohohohohoh, and this one too. :0
http://www.satirewire.com/news/jan02/australia.shtml

I like the broken Florida best. xD

...

Nevermind, I guess. Blogger has decided to not post this entry and instead randomly change what font it is and make some letter enormous and other miniscule. So I'm changing it, rewriting... let's see if it'll work.

Oh the joys of technical difficulties...


Today in church it was ward conference, and during the YW meeting Sis. Hall gave us all papers and told us to write down three things that had bothered/frustrated/made us angry in the last week.

I could get three things from just the last minute. Sis. Jeppson was sitting by me and smacking her gum. The doors were open to the YW room, so everyone who walked by turned to stare inside. Ethan was sitting two chairs down emanating his negative presence waves.

I think that's probably really sad. xD

The Sun...

Video pretty-much says it all.



lol

Go BYU :D

Their paleontology department, anyways, although I'm still happy to cheer for them in nearly anything. xD

Check this out:
Abydosaurus movie/article

If anything, watch at about 1:20-30 in the movie and look at the crazy mustache this one guy has. xD It's pretty much the best thing I've ever seen.

If you watch the entire thing (or at least the end), I know the guy they show cleaning a bone at the very end too. ;) He lets me go into the backrooms of the museum and look at all the mounds of fossils they've got back there. He'd let me clean some bones too, but I have yet to work up the courage. I'm way scared of destroying them. :c

But anyways, cool dinosaur, freakin' awesome that we found not only found four sauropod skulls, but a new dinosaur among them, and... yeah. Go BYU~


Also... this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_mediterranean_cruise_ship_accident

Sea monsters. I just know it.

Random stuff~

For Madison, here's Norway's 2009 Eurovision video:


You all have to agree that guy has attractive hair, even if the guy himself has some weird little mannerisms. xD

And just for kicks and giggles, I got a Formspring. Feel free to ask whatever you like. ;) I'll do my best to give straight answers.

The Ultimate Awesome Question Site

Wow, earthquake

I heard about the Chile earthquake, but I didn't think it would have this sort of impact. o_o

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100302/sc_space/chileearthquakemayhaveshorteneddaysonearth

I don't think the change in the length of our days will make much difference (seems about as big to me as the removing a comma from lists), but that where Earth's mass is balanced has a three inch difference is quite shocking.

Schedules

Shards, I'm not sure it's possible for the school to make signing up for classes any more stressful. o.o (Yay Pernese swear words too... xP)

It was bad enough in 9th grade when there magically weren't any math classes, but wow, for my senior year they have to change the program they're using and it's one that's... not even working. They've showed it to us multiple times, and given us mounds of working because, dang it, it's not working. We have to be doing things exactly right or everything will go wrong, because they can't change it. Yay.

Then I get on at 4:00 today to sign up. And the site isn't working. I log in, and a new window pops up... totally blank, and apparently very determined to remain so.

I hang around for an hour, checking the school website for updates (thank you school for telling me to keep checking every couple minutes, that wasted mounds of my time). Eventually I give up and go to Carter's to pick up my car. Luckily that at least went without a hitch.

I get back on at 6-ish to see how things are going. The new update on the school site is that they think they've figured out what the problem is and it ought to be ready in a couple minutes.

37 minutes later...

o_o It loaded! I logged in, and an actual webpage came up! Thrilled, I click on the schedule button thing.

"Incorrect message. Logging out."

-_- Thank you.

I log in again. I warily click the link again.

:D A new page came up looking vaguely like a schedule!

It took me a little while to figure out this finding-the-class madness (Powerschool was so much easier), a little while longer to figure out it's weird period set up, and then some confusion in its "Day 1 Day 2" junk being listed alphabetically rather than in what you'd expect of a "Day 1 Day 2" format, but finally I finished.

Am I good then? I take a screenshot in case something goes wrong and then logout.

I sure hope my schedule isn't going to eat itself or something. I can totally see that happening. >.<

Go school~

Woah

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/02/secrets-of-asexuality?npu=1&mbid=yhp

That's pretty nifty. :0

I wrote a story when I was 10-ish with a species in it that was all female, but they didn't have any manner of reproducing, definitely not that one (I don't think I knew asexual reproduction existed then, lol). They just didn't die. I think this idea is far better. xD

This is what I love about Broadway

Well, it's a good example of it, anyways.



Show tunes are the one place where I enjoy music sung by large groups (in general, I can't stand more than 3 or 4 people, which is why I never listen to MoTab... xP). The harmonies they manage are amazing, and there's always so much going on in every song... just awesome. <3
Often they use voices that you wouldn't think could possibly sound good together too (or alone, occasionally x3), and yet they do. It's the magic of Broadway. :D

The lyrics are always great too. That's what's really got me loving Groovelily: their lyrics nearly always tell a story or have a joke to them, plus the way the lyrics are written is just... well, it's good writing. Full of puns, references to other things, etc. Show tunes are really good at that, and I just love listening to it. Count how many fish/sea references are in the song. xD Some are totally obvious, but others you'll have to listen for. ;)

The best line in my opinion is (and this gives you a number for the fish count, lol): "Don't you wonder who's the lucky seafood dish?" XD Pure win.

It's a good thing I play Harvest Moon too, or I wouldn't have any idea what Sashimi is (which is another fish reference >.>).

This

This is satire, in case you're interested. In song form.

I figure while we're doing a satire unit in English I ought to go around and find all the examples I can. ;D

Diva Girl

I'm sorry Madison, it's not the best singer. This one is performed by the third person in the Groovelily trio, Gene Lewin (although there is a version by Milburn too, the singer of No Room in Your Bag). He does his best at singing, he just doesn't have much to work with. xP *brick'd* Lately I've been enjoying his voice more and more though.

I think my favorite lines are these:
"I'll sneak in your dressing room, baby/It won't be so hard/I may not get to meet you, baby/But at least I'll meet your bodygaurd"

The one about the song that only has one chord is pretty good to though. xD

And this:
"I'm loyal through and through/Until you're twenty-two"

This song is full of golden lines. *listens again*

Uh... yeah. xD

Me and my uber-long blogs need to be stopped, I'm sorry. xD

But if you enjoy crazy small-children stories, I think my last blog is worth taking the time to read.

On Valentines and children...

Last night I babysat for the Hansens, with their cousins over again, so there were seven kids there rather than the usual four. Vicki decided to try and make it as easy as she could for me because of that; they had already eaten when I got there (6 pm), were in pjs, and ready for bed, it just wasn't bedtime. In fact, they planned to be back by bedtime so I wouldn't even have to put them to bed. My job was just to make sure no one died in the two hours they would be gone, I guess.

Well, Dean's started walking. It seems like he only just started crawling, but he has always preferred standing over that (it used to be that when he was crying, if you stood him up he would immediately stop because he was so happy to be standing), so I guess it figures he'd learn to walk quickly. He's been supporting himself on things (couches mostly) and walking for far longer than he's been crawling too... I'd been half expecting him to start walking before he ever learned to crawl. xD Didn't happen though.

But he can't, obviously, walk down stairs. He only dares walk a few steps without something to hold on to, as far as I can tell. But, you know, the stairs have a wall next to them and a railing he can hold on to/lean against. So it's about all he wants to do. About as soon as he learned to crawl he was crawling down the stairs (it scared me to death the first time; it was the first day I had been around to see him crawling, and he was quite prompt about heading down the stairs after dinner), so I guess he wants to keep up the habit? But walking down them is totally different. He has no belly support.

Moving on to one of the cousins. The older two (which isn't saying much, really), mostly play with the other girls. Austin switches between Faye and Lillian, it just depends on whether Lil's playing with Eva and the oldest cousin-girl (who's name I still haven't learned... but it starts with M and isn't Mary, Molly, or Madison). But the youngest one, Hannah, mostly expects me to care for her, and she is a handful, especially when I have a one-year-old to entertain too.

Basically, whenever I'm out of her sight, she starts screaming, "Babysitter, babysitter!" She expects me to carry her down the stairs, even though she's perfectly capable of walking down herself. If she doesn't like something, it must be changed. If she doesn't like what someone else is doing, she screams at them until I stop her or they stop. When she needs to go to the bathroom, I basically have to do everything for her but sit on the toilet and pee. If she's feeling the slightest bit sad or nostalgic, I have to hold her.

That wasn't a good thing, when you take into consideration Dean's walking down the stairs efforts. He caught on to that I wasn't going to let him, because this time I was right in believing that he wasn't capable. So if we were upstairs, he would go sit at the very top of the stairs and throw checkers (his new favorite game, apparently :P) until I finally took my eye of him and focused on the grumpy Hannah that expected me to let her sit in my lap until I had to leave.

As soon as I wasn't looking, he was up and headed down the steps. He could make it down the first couple, when the first floor was still there to hold on to, but once that got higher than he could see, things got tougher and he would usually give up. Then Dean would just stand and wait for me to come get him and take him off the stairs. Except once. Hannah was sitting on my lap, whimpering about something or other, wanting her mom, wanting a different CD going downstairs, and whatever else she could come up with to dislike about her current situation. Dean headed down the stairs.

Right before all the clunking and banging of his fall started I swear I felt the hair rise on the back of my neck and I was like, "Oh crap!" I practically dumped Hannah off my lap and ran for the stairs, but... well, by the time I reached him, he was at the bottom.

Amazingly, he came out with no injury, just a red mark on his forehead. Not even a bump. o.O It was amazing. But, as one could imagine, he was crying. So was Hannah, since she wasn't being held by me. She got a lesson in sharing that night; I would hold Dean until he calmed down, then set him aside and hold her until Dean started feeling bad again and I had to pick him up. Hannah waited quite patiently during Dean's turns, it was pretty impressive.

At any rate, eventually I got Dean playing 'throw Checkers' again and then Hannah got distracted having to beat him at racing to get them after they were thrown (which, of course, she won at since she could run and Dean couldn't) and my arms got a break. xD

As a second 'Dean Walks' story, he has this Pooh Bear toy lawnmower/vacuum/push toy type thing, although I think it's secretly just a walker designed for babies. He loves to walk around with that since he's got something that, not only can he lean on it, but he can walk as long as he likes to with it. Well, he can walk until he hits something. Dean hasn't learned how to turn yet either, and so he'll get his Pooh walker, barrel into a wall, and then wait for me to come turn him around so he can walk until he hits something else.

When I have kids, I want them to all be like Dean. He's such a sweetheart. xD

As for the mention of valentines in my title, my Valentines day was pretty good, but the best part of its weekend-long celebration was, again, babysitting. Eva and Lillian made me valentines, it was really cute. <3 Basically it went like this:

Eva: Mary, I made you a valentine! *hands me a big tin foil valentine with paper hearts on it*
Me: Oh really? Thanks! It's wonderful!
Lillian: I made you a valentine too Mary! But... I don't know where it is.
Me: Aw, thanks. I hope you find it.
Lillian: Yeah. I think I just need scissors.

Sadly, I don't know where they keep the scissors (I used to, but they've moved some things around :P) so I couldn't help with that. But Lil did find the valentine before I left, so all was well. ;)

Yes.

I just bought a two pound bag of Sour Patch Watermelons at Maceys. I've been wanting some of those for so long. o_o

It cost me $5

You could buy a one pound bag of them for $4 in the same store.

Oh man, did they rip themselves off or what! *feels triumphant* I love senseless sales.

And I'm also very happy with the kid in school who had his own two pound bag of these and was showing them to a friend and I overheard him saying where he got them and the price... which sent me over there the next day. Yay eavesdropping~

For you writers out there...

If you plan to have your characters hurt in any manner, I would read this:

Writing Realistic Injuries

It's so irritating when people have hurt characters but they totally don't react to it as they ought (as is stated by the author of the article). Concussions are generally my biggest pet peeve since people seem to think they kill you if you fall asleep...? Note that in it the author says they can survive doing so, just keep track of them. Yeesh.

Thanks to Mew for finding it. ;)

-Sweet-

Look what paleontologists just figured out:

Dinosaur Colors/Bird relations article

Sweet.

All those dumb people (like my dad) who don't believe birds evolved from dinosaurs can shut their mouths.

It's so great how all the discoveries they make in Paleontology are the most straightforward things. "Huh, maybe I should actually look at this feather fossil and see if it has the same form of pigmentation bird feathers do." Whoah!

It's great. A job that's just a bunch of using your common sense while dealing with amazingly epic creatures that can't hurt you... I don't know why anyone wouldn't want the job. I'm so glad I do. :>

But ever since I've started working on Boneteller, there have been tons of interesting discoveries like this (well... more like 3, but still, they're huge). I'd like the book to happen in the present, and so I keep updating it with new things... I'll definitely have this in there, but I really need to know at what time I'm stopping. xD

Let's say... August 2010. That's the latest in the year I want to have the dig starting (right now I'm imagining late June-July-ish), so... anything discovered past that will have to be something I simply can not turn down, since I'll have to skip another full year ahead for the time of the happenings happening.

This all puts me in such a tizzy, I love it. <3