Billy, I'm Sorry, But it Isn't Working Out Between Us.

This book?
It needs to die.

I love Shakespeare as much as the next English major, but I hate having to study it. I feel very strongly that Ol' Billy's stories are to be appreciated, but not too analyzed. Especially after being forced to do just that for weeks on end. And still more to come. Blah.




But I do I hope my BEDA buddies are enjoying themselves at school. =]

Tumblr

Hey, BEDA buddies.
It's been a while, and despite my best efforts, I just haven't felt much like changing that until now. Even though I have a ton to talk about. Why I didn't like HBP, for instance. Or LeakyCon (speaking of which, let me know if you still want to hear about it from me, since you've no doubt read about it from numerous other sources by now). The guys on the show Gilmore Girls, and how I can never decide which of them I like. And unfortunately, since class started yesterday, posts are likely to continue to be scarce.

To hopefully remedy this lack of updates, I've started a tumblr account here. I haven't quite figured it out yet, but I think that once I do it will be simpler to update than this blog. So if you miss my ramblings (though I don't know why you would), you can check that out. =]

GAAAAARH!

I just got back from seeing Half-Blood Prince. I didn't love it. This makes me sad.

Update

Hey guys, in case you haven't noticed, I haven't blogged in quite a while.
Nor have I put up my LeakyCon report.
I do intend to do these things, really, but I'm in that rather intense three-week course right now, and it's eating my time.

Just thought I'd let you know I'm still around. =]

Possible Selves

In that mass communications class I took this spring, we were presented with the idea of 'possible selves'. Our professor defined this as: the real or fictional role models we use in order to imagine who we will become.

I really liked this term, because it's basically the story of my life. I sort of take bits and pieces of what other people do and how the behave, and put them all together to create who I am as a person. Most of my possible selves are fictional.

I like to think I've got Ron Weasley's loyalty, but his sister's spirit as well. I've got Hermione's love for books, and Jo March's interest in adventure. Maybe Nancy Drew's intuition. Plus many more.

If I try to model myself after my favorite characters, then I figure I'll like what comes out of it. This isn't to say that I'm not my own person; that's not the case at all. I'm still Ariel.

Who are your possible selves?

Names

Now, normally this isn't something I would never, ever subject anyone to. But, unfortunately for those reading this, Sarah asked for it.
I'm ridiculously fascinated by names. I have a long and growing list of ones I like (more girls than boys), most of them so uncommon or strange that my children would hate me for their entire lives, so it's probably a good thing I don't plan on having any. I'll try to keep my list here shorter and fairly normal.

GIRLS
Rose- possibly as a shortening of Rosalind, who is pretty much my favorite Shakespeare character. Also, my great-grandmother's name, so the relations would be pleased.
Lily- I've always liked the name Lily, and not just because of Harry Potter. But I think if my daughter had to share a name with a fictional character, Lily Potter is a damn good one.
Violet- now I'm just starting to like flower names.
Indigo- or maybe it's color names? I met someone called Indigo once, and I just thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread.
Marian- I know it's a form of Mary, whose meaning has the word 'bitter' in it, but I just think Marian has an amazing ring to it. Also, Robin Hood.
Joanna- I love names that end in '-ah' sounds (Hannah, Olivia, Evanna, Joanna, etc), and I love the nickname 'Jo' for a girl. (I agree with Sarah about the boys' names for girls. It's fun.)
Parker- Parker was the name of my favorite character on the show Radio Free Roscoe, and it just never left me.
Anika- basically, I just think it sounds awesome.
Azaria- same as above.

BOYS
Jonah- I used to be rather fond of Jonas, but then those brothers had to crop up.
Ian- cute, simple.
Xaviar- it sounds cool.
Wes- it grew on me after I read The Truth About Forever. Lots of names just grow on me, so that eventually I love them, but everyone else thinks I'm mad.
Isaac- eh, it's on the list. I like it.
Elijah- love the sound.



LeakyCon is in a week! Seven days from now I will be in Boston! Squeeeee!

Things That Make Me Happy

Let the listing commence!

~THIS
~Anything Potter related.
~Being able to make a Potter reference out of anything. Even when no one gets it.
~British television. Particularly Doctor Who and Robin Hood.
~British history.
~British literature. (It's quite obvious why I want to live in the UK for at least a few years.)
~Books in general.
~Reading.
~Coffee. Especially white mochas.
~TRAVEL. Plane, bus, car, train, broomstick...
~Friends. The people, not the TV show.
~YouTube.
~Fashion. Not that I have any authority on the matter. I'm a jeans-and-tee shirt kind of girl. I just find it really interesting.
~IMing.
~Learning. Interesting stuff. I'm not so big on math and such.
~Summer. No worrying about grades.
~Movies.
~Writing. Assuming I have a decent idea.
~Sleeping.
~Hanging out with my brother. This is apparently very strange, so I've been told.
~Snail mail.
~Acting. Though I haven't done it in ages and am probably terrible. It's fun to be someone else for a while. I love the jumpy feeling you get in your stomach.
~ chocolate.
~Ripping pages out of magazines.
~Coloring books.
~Giving people stuff.
~Music.
~Comfy chairs.
~Walking around Stillwater or Grand Avenue (both places in the Twin Cities area).
~Opportunities.

That's a lot of stuff. And I'm sure there's more I just haven't thought of.

Lots of Unconnected Stuff

I've got a few random things to talk about, so, without further ado:

1.) PROM. I ended up going, and I had a lot more fun than I thought I would. I kind of actually regret being all anti-establishment for all these years. I felt like an idiot at first, because I don't dance. Ever. But then one of my friends dragged me out to the middle of the floor, and I realized that everyone else looked pretty dumb, too (ie, grinding. Don't do it, people. You look ridiculous.). So then I felt more comfortable the rest of the night. I didn't see all my friends I had hoped to see, which was kind of sad. I don't have my license yet, so it's harder to hang out with people normally. Afterwards, a bunch of us met up at a friend's house to watch movies and play Apples to Apples (if you've never played that game, go do it right NOW. It's hilarious). This resulted in me not getting home until four in the morning. Then I woke up at eight, and couldn't get back to sleep.

2.) FESTIVAL OF NATIONS. Every year, Minneapolis holds this thing they call the Festival of Nations. It's basically exactly what it sounds like. There's food, merch, and dancing representing a ton of different countries. I always make my dad take me, and I always get a cream puff from the Dutch booth. They're one of my favorite foods in the entire world.

3.) SLEEP. Due to my prom-going, my sleep schedule got all funky. I got four hours sleep on Sunday, then a fairly normal seven hours for Monday, but THEN I took a two hour nap. My logic here was, I'm only tired because I missed out on weekend sleep, so it won't hurt to nap a bit this afternoon. WRONG. Last night I couldn't get to sleep until one, resulting in a measly five hours. Blarg.

4.) HARRY POTTER. Wilst in my non-sleeping state last night, I cracked open Deathly Hallows for the fist time in a few months, and it made me feel all warm and fuzzy and excited for LeakyCon. Also, the Harry Potter books smell REALLY good. I love the smell of most books (and also the smell of coffee. Hence, I believe the best smelling places are book shops with coffee shops), but the Potter books seem to have a very unique smell. Is this just me? Am I insane?

5.) SCHOOL. I'm kind of annoyed at school right now. Next week is supposed to be finals week, but my health teacher wants our "final reflections" turned in by midnight this Friday. That's in addition to the regular homework due Wednesday. I know that I could technichally just do it really fast and get it over with, but I take forever to word things. An essay that might take a normal person half an hour takes me at least three times that, because I go back and reword everything I did. It's bothersome.

5.5) COLLEGE. Still haven't decided whether I want to go to that school in Boston. It's called Emerson College, if any of you are interested. If you've ever heard anything about it that would be helpful, too. I'm not good with decisions. This is horribly stressful.

6.) POPCORN. I'm currently in one of the libraries on campus, and the room I'm in has a popcorn machine in it. Normally, this is full of delicious smelling, neon yellow, FREE popcorn. But not today. It's sad. I was looking forward to having some since this morning.

I think that's it.
Oh, happy Cinco de Mayo!

MAY DAY!

It already feels weird not to be blogging. Or to be panicking because it's after eleven at night and thinking, oh my god, I haven't blogged yet.
It is actually only eight in the morning right now, but I felt like writing. Especially since my other option is doing anthropology homework.

It's May Day! I love May Day. It was always one of my favorite holidays as a kid. Actually, I'm not sure if it's even a holiday, but I like it anyway. I don't know if everyone celebrates the same way, but if you've never done May Day stuff, basically you make up these little baskets full of candy. Then you go put them on your friends' doorsteps, ring the bell, and RUN. It's fun. I guess some people decorate their doorsteps as well, but I only learned about that this year, so I've never done it.

Anyway, about which people I'd like to be friends with. OF COURSE fictional characters count (fun fact: one of my friends and I once made a list of eligible fictional men. We're a bit pathetic.). List time!
~Luna is probably the fictional character I'd want to be friends with most.
~Like I said yesterday, I'd love to be friends with MJ. This is sort of a unique situation, though. I don't know if I'd want to be friends with most of the authors I read. It reminds me too much of that thought that you "shouldn't meet your heroes, or you'll be disappointed." Maybe I'm just paranoid. Maureen is a bit different, I think because I see a lot of myself in her blogs. I have a very strange sense of humor, that very few people get (seriously, there's, like, my brother and one of my friends who really get it), but I have a feeling Maureen would.
~Kristina (italktosnakes, mentioned yesterday) is my favorite YouTuber, so I think it'd be cool to know her. I don't really know what happens when she's not behind a camera, so I can't say this is completely correct, but she reminds me of what I would imagine as a big sister when I was younger and wished I had one. Also, the more Potter people you have in your life, the better. My IRL friends know I like Harry Potter, and they do too, but I don't think they quite understand the extent of it.
There are probably a bunch of other people I'm just not thinking of at the moment.
That all probably sounded really creepy. I'm not a stalker, I promise.


I'm on my amazing school internet connection today, so I'm off to catch up on YouTube videos.

Day 30: THE END.

Or probably not the end.
I may still blog once in a while. I will certainly blog about LeakyCon. Hopefully it will be exciting! I'll keep checking in on my BEDA buddies as well. =]

I'm going to miss constant updates form Maureen though. Her blogs ALWAYS make me laugh. Without fail. Like today. "WHAT WOULD JOHN BARROWMAN DO?" I was in hysterics. Of course, I am very, very easily amused. Maybe it wasn't as funny as I thought it was. I think it'd be fun to be her friend.
Random question for buddies: If you could be friends with anyone, who would it be? It could be anyone. Author, vlogger, actor, musician, etc.

I am reading Kristina's blog while writing this, and just found out that the DFTBA label is starting a publishing branch! That is so cool. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but when I "grow up" I want to work for a publishing company. I want to help get books to kids.

I think that's all I've got today. I didn't really have any fancy plans.
I don't intend to disappear forever. I like hearing your thoughts, and the fact that you know what I'm talking about when I say, "Oh, MJ said..." unlike my IRL friends.

So goodbye, but only for the present.

Day 29: Reject No More

That's right. I am no longer a College Reject! Called guy from yesterday back and was told that I am no longer on the wait list. I have to say for sure if I want to go my May 8th. I was kind of hoping that deadline would be after LeakyCon, so that I could actually see whether I like it in Boston enough to go to school there, but oh well.
Speaking of LeakyCon, it's in twenty days! I'm very excited.

Despite the fact that I have homework, this has been a pretty darn good morning, and it's only 10:00.

I'll leave this here and come back later if anything else interesting happens.
...
Turns out nothing did. Nearly forgot to post this because I was watching Torchwood all night.

Day 28: Writing and Some Other Stuff

I missed a call from a college admissions person this afternoon because I was ASLEEP! Why, why, why? He left a message saying something about my wait list position, and I have to wait until TOMORROW morning to call him back about it. That's it. No more naps for me. Ever. Gahhh! I don't even know if I want to go to college anymore, and if I do I'm not sure if I should pick this particular school, ect. The fafsa website hates me. It keeps trying to get me to pay to have it reviewed for mistakes before sending it off, but I thought the point was that it's FREE, and I can't find a way around the stupid pay page (RAWR. And if you know anything about this, help would be much appreciated). I'm pretty sure I'm going nuts.

Also, today I got the first season of Torchwood from the library because my brother was interested and I haven't seen all of it. There were a few books I wanted to pick up as well, but they weren't checked in. Also, I just took a facebook quiz called "which Harry Potter character are you?" and it told me that I was Hermione, and that I need to remember that "life isn't just about books." This is certainly news to me.

Anyway, before all this happened, I had planned to talk a little bit about writing. We'll see how well I can focus on that now.
So I have three separate protagonists floating around inside my head, and I feel like they won't go away unless I write them each a story. This is bad. You see, I am much more a reader than a writer. I lack talent. My plot ideas are not good, my wording is crappy, and my grammar is terrible. But I still kind of want to do it, even if it won't go anywhere. I feel like I'm wasting my time, even though I like it a lot when I type something out.

Have any of my lovely BEDA buddies considered attempting writing as a profession?
Do you blog in an effort to be a better writer, and, if so, does it work?

Day 27: Being Old

I am seventeen years old, which is by no means elderly. But lately I've been feeling so.

The other day I saw a commercial where some kid was talking about how all of his baby pictures were deleted from the computer. There are people whose baby pictures are purely digital!
My cousin's kids are two of these people, but I haven't ever thought much of it. (One of them is also my goddaughter. I'm probably young for that job, but it still feels like an adult role.) All of my baby pictures are stuffed into two purple picture books in a cabinet in our living room.

Then last Thursday when I went to visit my brother at work, he was registering kids for music lessons that were born after the year 2000.

I'm graduating soon.

It's all so strange.

BEDA buddies- you're all around my age, do you feel like you're getting kind of old?

Day 26: Rain

Apparently it's 7:20 in the evening.
You would not know this by looking out my living room window. It's so gray and cloudy that it could have been 7:20 in the evening all day. I don't really mind rain, though. Only the fact that it's the end of April, and it's only about 51 degrees out, and feels even colder. I'm not a huge fan of the long hot summer, but I wouldn't complain if it warmed up just a tad.

Anyway, I owe you an explanation. Scorch muffins. I did not burn any muffins yesterday, for the record. I am actually a fairly decent cook. Assuming that the stuff I'm cooking comes out of a box, of course. What actually happened was that I bought a Sobe drink (strawberry daiquiri- yummmm), and they always have fun little messages under the caps. Not even messages. Just really random little things. Like "scorch muffins." I am thinking about starting to save these. My mother would not approve, so obviously I have no choice but to do it now. (Muahahaha.)


I'm fresh out of ways to say see you tomorrow.



P.S. The next Percy Jackson book comes out May 5th. Not a huge wait. It's all good fun.
Also, Barnes and Noble loves to put books out early, so yesterday I grabbed a copy of Suite Scarlett, which I'm loving.

Day 25: Two Words

Much shopping.
Very tired.
Must sleep.
Terribly sorry.

scorch muffins.
(Explanation tomorrow.)

Day 24: Anticipation

I finished the fourth book in the Percy Jackson series today. Then I ran out to get the little extra book about the characters to have something to make the wait for the fifth book more bearable.
This is ridiculous.
I haven't been really excited about a book coming out since Harry Potter.
So, basically, everyone should go read them. Now.

Mom picked me up from school today and made me go shopping with her for about three hours.
I should pause here to tell you about me and shopping. We do not get along. I'm very tall, which is not fun for finding pants. I have rather large feet, and I hate shoes (shoes in general, not just shopping for them. I'd rather run around in socks all the time). My mother also takes about ten times longer than I do in each store. I could go on and on.
Anyway, I just read the entire time. It's lucky I didn't crash into anyone while walking with my nose in my book.
I finished the book then, so Mom bribed me to stay at the mall for a bit longer by meeting up with my dad and brother at Big Bowl (a really amazing Asian restaurant). So I suppose it could have been worse.

Something else about me: I sleep a lot. Therefore, though it's only 10:42 on a Friday night, I'm going to go get some shut eye, hit the sack, catch some Z's, etc.
It's too bad I'm not a cat. I could sleep all the time.

Day 23: Fitting It In

I rode downtown today, and preceded to harass my brother at work.
I am now exhausted.
The ride is about ten miles round trip, which probably isn't all that bad, except that I'm not in very great shape. I'm hoping to improve on that this spring/summer.
Which brings me to my very abbreviated topic today.
Melissa from Leaky started this thing called Fitting It In for people who, like her, are trying to improve their health. I've made a couple of friends on there, who are lovely. People also post recipes and such as well. You should definitely check it out if you are at all interested.

I'm now going to go pass out until morning.

Day 22: Giving Stuff Up

I love stuff. I like to own stuff. I like to see all the stuff I own scattered about my room. I like books on my shelf, CDs in my giant blue CD case, and movies in the cabinet.

Does this make me materialistic?
I like to think not.


Alex Day, or nerimon on YouTube, recently talked about how he's not only clearing up his Internet life, but also clearing out some of his material possessions in preparation for moving to America.
Now, I have every intention on somehow getting out of Midwest America and planting myself somewhere in the UK or Ireland, but I never really thought about getting rid of all my stuff. I just figured my parents would store it for me.

The thing is, a lot of the things I have, especially books, have contributed to my personality in at least some way. My brother thinks that personality is mostly due to genetics, but I don't buy it. I think everything about you is shaped by your environment. This includes more than just the people you're around.
For example, let's take a value from the Harry Potter books. Like loyalty. Namely, Ron as a loyal friend to Harry and Hermione, even when they aren't getting along. If I had just gotten the books from the library, and returned them right after reading them, would I have retained that value. I might have just forgotten all about it. But when it's sitting there on my shelf, it serves as a reminder. I can be in a fight with my friend, see Goblet of Fire out of the corner of my eye and realize that it's not worth arguing over, and we don't want it to escalate to Ron and Harry's fight in the book.

Does that make any sense?

It's not like I want to have thousands of pearls sitting around not being worn. My books have sentimental meaning as well, and I read most of them a hundred times over.

Seriously. You should see my copy of Prisoner of Azkaban. Completely falling apart.

If you have any thoughts, please share. =]

Day 21: Out of Names for Boring Days

Firstly, my home Internet has been acting up recently, meaning it hardly loads anything the first time, or when I refresh it, or if I refresh it again, ect. Therefore, it might take me a while to catch up on my BEDA buddies' blogs. I'm terribly sorry about that.
Anyway, today was another fairly boring one. I finished The Lightning Thief last night, and promptly made my dad take me out to get the next one in the series, then finished that just now. I'm really excited to get the next one. They're really good, and also great ways to procrastinate.
I excel at procrastinating.

Melissa and Sue from Leaky keep alluding to new LeakyCon announcements on their YouTube and twitter. I need to know! Like, NOW. So, so excited.

It seems that I now have nothing to do but my homework, so I suppose I'll go do that.

Day 20: Again, Failure

I forgot to blog again yesterday. I have a good excuse, though! I think it's good, anyway. I got a new book, and read right up until I fell asleep, without blogging. I'm really anxious to get back to it, but I though I should make a quick post first so I don't miss another day.

The book I got is The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. I'm 265 pages in right now, and so far I love it. It's very basically about a few kids who are half Greek god. Also, it's the first in a series, which means when I'm done I don't have to stop hanging out with the characters. I completely recommend it.
I was going to bike downtown again and see if the local bookshop had the next one so I wouldn't be without it for too long, but it's overcast and rainy today, so that wouldn't work out so well. Plus, I'm sort of boycotting that bookstore because apparently they haven't hired anyone for 20 years, and I really want to work there, and disappoints me that I can't.

I think that's all I've got. I should try to pull myself away from my book long enough to read a chapter in my mass communication textbook and take the corresponding online quiz.

Thanks for reading, BEDA buddies.


EDIT: Because apparently I do things backwards, I just read your comments from the other day, and felt like taking a minute to respond.
1. No! I haven't got tickets to the vlogbrothers thing yet because I'm not sure how to register/ pay for it, but I intend to. I've asked one of my fandom friends to help me out, though, so hopefully I'll hear from her soon.
2. I'm thinking about making LeakyCon a tradition, because they're going to be in Orlando for the final movie release in 2011, and I don't think I'll be able to miss that. My dad joked that we should make it our life's purpose to go to Harry Potter conferences when I told him about it.
3. I've been invited to do the people to people thing a few times, but I could never afford it. Also, I almost think it'd be cooler to not be escorted by an organization. I think it's more fun to find my own way around when I travel. They do look like a ton of fun, though.

Day 18: BEDA Buddies

Stuff for my BEDA Buddies.

Name: Ariel
Age/Birthday: 17, 18 on the 29th of May
Planning on Majoring in: English/ English literature. Eventually.
Favorite Books: Please see the List
Music: My taste in music is really quite random. I love wizard rock, I like The Academy Is..., I don't mind Lily Allen, and Nightwish is pretty good.
TV Shows: I love, love, love Doctor Who. A lot. I like Gilmore Girls quite a bit as well.
Random Information: I'm sometimes remembered as the "girl who likes Harry Potter" by people who don't know that I do, in fact, like other things as well. It makes sense though, I suppose; I do really like Harry Potter. I listen to PotterCast, I laugh to myself when something reminds me of a funny line from the books, and I'm currently putting together plans to go to my first conference (LeakyCon 2009).
I drink a lot of coffee. And not the straight up black stuff, the fairly fancy stuff. This addiction costs lots of money. I'd advise you to avoid it if at all possible.
I love traveling. Anywhere and everywhere. Even if it's just two hours north of my house to skip rocks on Lake Superior.


That's all I've got for now. If you want to know anything else, let me know. =]

Day 17: Time Travel.

I just waited TWENTY minutes to get a Jamba Juice. Seriously. They're good, sure, but I won't be sitting around waiting for my beverage to get called out for that long. Also, I got a Parmesan pretzel, and it just isn't good. Now, normally I don't think it's a good idea to change personal time lines, but I think I would break that rule in this situation.
Which brings me to my topic today: time travel. As I think I've mentioned before, I find the idea of time travel to be completely fascinating. I love the ambiguity of it.
Like, if I went back in time to make sure that I talk to that guy for more than two minutes, on the off chance that there could have been something between us. And if I did go back, would I just be myself, or would I have to avoid the original version of myself, like in Prisoner of Azkaban?
If I just went back in time to witness an event, would I have to find a spot to stay in case of altering the entire course of history? If I went somewhere, would it be like I was never there, or is it possible that I could change something?
If someone were to discover a way to time travel, and the news got out, how would we go about letting people participate? Tickets? Contests? Shut the entire operation down?

I could go on and on about this. It's more fun to discuss it with people though. Typing it to yourself doesn't really do the trick.

We get our BEDA Buddies today! I'm quite excited.

Day 16: Tired

Very sloppy rundown of what I did today, because I am irrationally tired.

- woke up, was not well rested enough even though I'd gotten eight hours
- went to class, was bored, came home
- stared at homework, decided going on a bike ride would be more fun
- went on bike ride into town
- loitered at brother's workplace for a couple of hours in an effort to avoid carting myself back. When I get these strange exercise ideas in my head, I always forget that I will have to go home in the same fashion.
- reluctantly biked home
- stared at homework more, decided to do it last minute tomorrow
- showered, and last, but not least...
- wrote really crappy blog entry.

'Night. More interesting stuff tomorrow. I hope.

Day 15: Bad School Day

I don't really feel like being on my computer for much longer today, so I'm going to make this quick, get my health class homework done, and go listen to the five or so PotterCasts that I'm behind on.
Speaking of my health class, it was terrible today. A guy came in to teach us qigong, and I'm sure it would have been fun if I hadn't gotten horrifyingly dizzy from it. I was literally toppling over. It was scary.
Also, I had to take an essay test. I hate essay tests, because you never know how the grader is going to interpret your work. Especially in a big class where the grader doesn't even know who the hell you are, so they can't even guess at what you might be saying based on your personality.

Ugh. Today was a complaint day. Sorry about that =/

Day 14: A Random Bunch of Stuff

I have time to make a List today, but guess what? I'm not going to. Instead I'm going to mention a random bunch of stuff. Exciting, right?

~ Luke Conard. He's amazing. I love his new song. And also this one. Check it out.

~ The PotterCast tour. It isn't coming here. Seriously thinking about going to Chicago to see it.

~ My fringe. I now have to spend a couple extra minutes on my hair in the morning to get it to look decent. Not sure how I feel about this. Also concerning my hair, I really want it cut, but I thought I should keep it long so I can get it done all fancy for prom.

~Prom. I don't know if I should go. I've never been a huge fan of school functions, and I heard that it's not much fun if you don't have a date. Also, I only have a few rather boring dresses, but I'm afraid to get a fancy one. I can't really buy it from one of the stores that guarantees that no one else will have it, because they're horribly expensive. But if I just buy one from, like Macy's, then someone else might have it, which wouldn't be much fun.

~ The new Doctor Who special. I liked it. It definitely wasn't the best episode ever, but it was all right. I didn't like the idea of making one of the characters psychic though. It was like it was only put in there to point out that Ten would be gone soon (which I am still sad about). Also, Christina started to grow on me, but the Doctor had to be all angst and not let her come with him.

That's all for now. More tomorrow, of course.

Day 13: The 'You' in YouTube

So, yesterday John Green of the vlogbrothers made a video pertaining to the changes that youtube will soon be experiencing (soon being the 16th), and thought talking about it would be a good way to fill up a BEDA blog. Anyway, these changes include altering the website to feature movies/TV shows/music videos more prominently than vloggers, ect.
Now, I really have absolutely no authority to speak knowlegably about these things. This is because I have never actually beenpart of the youtube community, so to speak. I'm always an observer.
Like with Harry Potter. I'm pretty sure I'm much more into the books than anyone I know, but I can't seem to find a good way to break into the core of the fandom. (I'm planning on going to LeakyCon, so maybe that will help?)
With YouTube, I just watch videos. I comment, I rate, I subscribe, but I've never posted anything. This is mainly because I have nothing interesting to say (see BEDA post number one), but also because I'm a little weirded out by the idea of talking to the entire Internet.
But I like that the option is there, you know?

It worries me that when these changes are implemented, I might not even be tempted to start making videos.

I don't know. It's definitely something to think about.

Day 12: PEEPS

The thing about being a vegetarian (like I am), is that you keep finding out that you can't eat certain things. Like marshmallows, for instance, because they contain gelatin. This is really very unfortunate, as I am quite fond of marshmallows. This, of course, includes all variations of marshmallows. Like Peeps.

I don't know why it saddens me that I can't eat Peeps. They're absolutely discusting.
And now, random Peeps facts:

-there are over 200 unofficial Peeps websites. Who does this? Who would come home from work one day and say, "I'm bored. I think I'll create a website for marshmallow animals!"
-the amount of Peeps eaten at Easter each year could wrap around the earth at least once. That is a lot of people, eating a lot of Peeps. Or maybe not a lot of people, eating a lot of Peeps.
-in 1953, it took 27 hours to make one Peep. Apparently not very many people ate Peeps when they started out. I can't see it being possible.
-it's popular to eat Peeps on pizza. What?


I think I'd better stop now. I might make myself sick.

Day 11: Bleghhh

Writing this with forty-five minutes left in the day. No list today. I'm glad I'm not e-famous in any sort of way, because I would be losing all my followers/subscribers/whatever other titles there are.

Weekends are busy. More during the week when I'm going out of my way to procrastinate. Hopefully.

Day 10: Less is More? Or Not.

So, my brother and I just got home form the bookstore, and we saw something written in chalk on the driveway. Upon further inspection, I found out that it said, "You've just been egged! :)." But there were no eggs to be found. I don't understand. People are strange.

No list today, as I got home rather late, and it took me far longer than I'm sure it's supposed to when I did it yesterday. Perhaps tomorrow.
Apologies for being so short.

Day 9: The Introduction of The Lists

Today I'm starting a segment in which I babble about seven of my favorite things from a specific category, called The Lists. You should keep in mind that these favorite do tend to change, so for all we know, this list will be wrong by this time next week. The first topic is:

BOOKS

7. Megan in Ancient Greece. Okay, okay, so it's a teeny, tiny kid's book, but everyone has books that made you want to read more, right? This was one of mine. Also, it involves time travel, and if you don't find time travel intriguing... I don't even know what's going on there.

6. Northanger Abbey. This book is terribly underrated. Everyone always fusses over Pride and Prejudice, but all should be told that it's not the only book by Jane Austen. I think people don't like Northanger Abbey as much because she wrote it when she was younger, so her writing style might not have developed into what they expect from her. You should definitely give it a chance.

5. The Book Thief. This is an absolutely amazing book. It's narrated by Death. You cannot tell me this isn't an interesting, if not awesome, concept. The narration is really interesting in that Death is telling you this story, and you nearly forget that he is until he buts in with something about souls. I read it for a class, and it's one of a very, very limited number of books I had to read that I actually enjoyed.

4. 13 Little Blue Envelopes. Of course, I have to include the lovely Maureen Johnson, author extraordinaire and the founder of BEDA. This is my favorite of her books. Starbucks: The Musical. Need I say more? Well, no, but I will anyway. Ginny travels in a way I only wish I could, with randomly vague instructions and no idea what's going to come next. Also, there are kilts.

3. North and South. A bit like Pride and Prejudice, only much better. It's set in the mid 1850s, when industrialization becoming sort of a big deal. This makes it far more interesting, because there are things more important that annoying mothers coming between the relationship it focuses on. Not many people know about it, which is such a shame. If you read it (and like it), pass it on.

2. The Truth About Forever. This has been one of my favorites since middle school, I think. I really don't even know how to describe it. Read it, and you'll understand. Hopefully, because if not, then I might just be crazy.






And finally, 1. Harry Potter. I know, it's not one book, it's seven, but how boring would this have been if it was just me listing off all the Potter books? Quite, as I think it's becoming safe to assume that anyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the last ten years at least knows something about. Plus, my other favorites deserved some blog space. Harry Potter is just plain amazing, it's as simple as that. The writing style is great, everything ties in perfectly, and the characters are positively phenomenal.

Day 8: Morning = Boring

I've just received a facebook comment from a friend asking me to a party tonight, so I thought I should do a quick blog in case I get back late and forget. Unfortunately this means I don't have much to tell today, because it's only 8:20 in the morning.
I failed to mention in all my whining yesterday that I got my bangs trimmed. Trimmed as in six inches taken off of them. My mother was getting hers fixed up, and our stylist asked me if I wanted mine done, so I basically thought, "What the hell," and let her do it. Now I am constantly brushing them to the side even though they don't really block my vision. Is that odd? Also, I just realized that it reads rather snobbish when I call her my "stylist." It's mostly just because it's just an easy word. I've been going to her for years, and she's great. If anyone reading this lives in Minnesota and is looking for a hair person, let me know. She's fantastic.
I'm in the process of mapping out some more structured blogs for within the next few days or so. Look out for the PEEPS edition on Easter.

Day 7: Everything After the Twelfth of June

Otherwise known as the beginning of my life after high school. Seeing as I am currently college-less, I've been trying to come up with other things I can do next year/ however long this rejection thing lasts.
My plan right now is to get a job and work. A lot. I actually don't mind this option, disappointed as I am that I wouldn't be doing the college thing. There's this really cute indie store in the "downtown" of my 24,325 population town that I'd really like to work at. They're not sure whether they need any help at the moment, but hopefully it will turn out that they do. Also, if I can't go to school, then I want to travel. I figure I could work the whole year, then take some time off and use the money I earned to just go. I like this idea.
Another thing I could do is to take general classes at the community college until something else pops up. This isn't so bad either.
I could also just use the summer to ride around on my bike all day, though that's not very productive.

It helped to type this stuff out. The college thing has all been quite stressful, and it's nice to be able to see my options all in one place.
I was always the girl who had it together. I had Plans, lots and lots of Plans. I need them; they keep me sane.
I don't recognize myself without them.

Day 6: Ferretmania

Someone suggested in the blog idea thread that we spend a BEDA blog to discuss ferrets. As I'm short of time today (stupid midterms), I'm going to use this idea. So, ferrets.

I googled ferrets, and these are some of the highlights of my research:

Apparently, ferrets belong to the same family as badgers. Maureen, if you happen to be reading this, I would love to know your thoughts. Does the fact that ferrets are related to badgers make you like them less? Were you a fan of ferrets to begin with? Please share.
"Ferrets are escape artists." This is meant to warn against them sneaking around the house and such, I'm sure, but in my head there is this idea of a ferret Houdini. Like, this website is telling me that it's okay to tie a ferret up and drop it into a bucket of water, because it will be able to magically escape. I'm fairly certain this is not actually the case.
Ferrets can catch colds and the flu from humans. Please refrain from slobbering on your ferret when ill.
"You can bathe your ferret a couple times a year." A couple times? A couple times? And evidently they will still smell afterwards.


Be sure to carefully consider these facts before getting your own pet ferret, kids.
See you tomorrow.

Day 5: Massive Failure

You may or may not have noticed that I didn't post yesterday. I have no legitimate excuse. I put it off until around 11:00pm, and then promptly forgot about it. But we are just going to pretend this didn't happen, and continue normally.

After I wrote my blog on Friday, I opened my mailbox to find the rejection letter I had been expecting. I wasn't shocked, per se, but it still hit me pretty hard. Thus, I spent most of yesterday trying to do fun things to distract myself, which worked decently. That's probably what I'll end up doing again today.

Because it is 10:38 in the morning, and I only woke up an hour and thirty-nine minutes ago, I don't have much else to say at the moment. Hopefully something interesting is yet to happen so I have something to discuss tomorrow.

Day 3: Apple to Caramel Ratios

Have you ever had the sliced apple and caramel "Dippin' Stix?" They are normal quite delicious, which is a big complement from me because they come with green apples, and I am not a green apple fan at all. But, today I didn't have nearly enough caramel to make up for the sourness of the green apples. It was rather disappointing.
Also, my presentation turned out to be rubbish. That was lovely.

This is just turning into a bunch of whining from me, isn't it?

On a brighter note, my advisor at school approved the class I want to take, and helped me to figure out a couple things about going to school next year, so that was nice.
Today I'm applying to another college with a rolling deadline, because so far I've been wait listed by two of the schools I applied to, and need more options. I still haven't heard from my top choice, which I'm antsy about. I'm not expecting to get in at all, because it's too prestigious to want a fairly average student such as myself. But I'd still like to hear back soon, you know?

Off to my anthropology lab, I suppose. Midterm on Tuesday. Yuck.

Day 2: In Danger of Burning My Tongue

Hello again.
It is currently around 2:00 here in the midwest, and I am writing this over a very large, hot bowl of leftover soup. Well, it's more like a mushy stew-like substance, but good nonetheless.
Hopefully this won't take too long, because I have to write up what I'm going to say in a presentation at school tomorrow. I'm rather nervous about that. I've never really been a terrible public speaker (I used to be way into acting), but I haven't done it by myself in front of a hundred people for quite a long time.

A brief aside: I just went to get some lemonade, and promptly spilled the first sip down my front. This is something that happens to me a lot. Perhaps I should make a segment on my blog about it?

Anyway, as I was saying before I interrupted myself, I have to do a presentation. It's for my Introduction to Mass Communication class, and is supposed to be about "media accuracy and truth" (MAT). The topic I signed up for is books, and I have decided to make my classmates listen to me ramble about how feature films based on books are usually quite horrid misrepresentations. I had originally wanted to talk specifically about the Harry Potter films, but then realized that there are too many discrepancies to even attempt to do that. So instead I am doing the Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice. I'm desperately hoping that the people in my class will be at least somewhat familiar with the story, or there might be issues.

Also tomorrow I have to have a list of classes that I might want to take over what my school calls "May Session." These classes usually consist of three straight hours of class Monday through Thursday for three weeks. I'm taking my classes at a local university this year (Minnesota has a program for high schoolers in which we can go to college for free during our last year or two of high school), and I've been spoiled so far as all my classes have been much shorter than that, and less frequent, so I'm not super excited about sitting for three hours. I'll stop whining now, I promise.
I'm thinking about taking a class about short stories. Good idea? I think so.

The entire time I've been writing this I've been feeling like I'm talking to myself. It's very strange. It's like, hello, self, I'm off to go clear out my youtube subscription box.

Until tomorrow, then.

BEDA Numero Uno

Hello to anyone who might happen across this blog. First, I should mention the fact that I have never legitimately written in a blog, because my life is probably one of the most dull lives of all. But here goes, I suppose.
I'll start with the first idea from the topic on the Maureen Johnson ning, which will hopefully be a decent introduction.

Who am I?
My name is Ariel. I live in the "land of ten-thousand lakes," where March is a most dreadful month, and I am quite glad to see it gone. Although, it did snow last night, which I wish was an April fool's joke, but alas. I'm seventeen for another two months, and a senior in high school, which is rather stressful. Reading is my favorite thing ever, but it unfortunately doesn't improve my grammar or spelling.

Where did you first hear about Maureen Johnson/ her books?
I'd seen 13 Little Blue Envelopes at Target many, many times, but never felt like I had the money to spend on it. Then I heard Maureen mentioned a lot on vlogbrothers, and finally decided to buy it, and loved it.

What scares you the most about BEDA?
That I won't have anything at all interesting to say. I apologize for being boring. Also, that I won't have much time to do this with everything going on at school (more on that in a later entry, perhaps), for example, I should be writing a journal for my health class at the moment. So much for that.

What excites you most about BEDA?
Hopefully improving my writing skills. I like writing, but I'm absolute rubbish at it.

How are you going to make sure you succeed at BEDA?
I have no idea. I failed misarably at NaNoWriMo, but hopefully this will be a bit simpler.


Well, that's all, folks. Supposedly you'll hear from me tomorrow.