quickie December 17, 2008

So, I felt like writing and saying that I have been uber-busy.  For somebody who said they weren’t going to do any holiday knitting, I’ve got a lot of holiday knitting to get done and some things I have finished.  My classes are almost over.  I have one more final on Friday.  I’m going through a particularly low valley mood-wise.  The stress of school and holidays and teeth (emergency root canal anybody?) has seriously gotten to me.

I will hopefully post again tomorrow with pictures and lists and stories and stuff.  I have a day off that will include a smidge of sleeping in and another trip to the dentist’s office, then home for some serious napping.

memememe December 10, 2008

I love these things… especially when I’m procrastinating from my homework… hehe thanks Sassenach

Things I’ve Done (In Bold)

1. Started my own blog – seems pretty obvious
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band – we lasted maybe a week.  I was the singer and we did a cover of the ska cover of The Foundations’ Build Me Up Buttercup
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower – every chance I get
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world – more times than I can remember, I lived four hours awy
8. Climbed a mountain – not a big one though, more like a big hill
9.  Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo – and messed up a solo many times
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch – I taught myself to knit from a book
15. Adopted a child – unless we’re counting animals, then many
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight – none that I can remember
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (I think I have?)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (on a rock wall)
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades (I lived there lol)
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant
I was writing detail-y stuff about them, but them I remembered that I have a three page paper due tomorrow…  The semester is almost over so hopefully I’ll be posting more soon.

Twilight Movie Awesomeness November 21, 2008

I went to the midnight movie last night and it was wonderful *sigh*  I’ve have the flu all week and I’m still feeling peekish, so thats all I’m gonna say for now, but I just wanted to say I saw it and loved it.

Expecto Patronum tattoo November 2, 2008

YAY!!! I did it! I finally did it!

Fall is finally here October 22, 2008

And I’m freezing.  I suppose I should put on socks or something.  I only knit them all the time.

So, Halloween is rapidly approaching and it is one of my favorite holidays.  I love getting dressed up and decorating, especially since my credit union has a huge contest between all of the branches.  Last year we placed for the first time and that was a sweet taste of something beautiful, so this year IT IS ON!!!!  We’re not only going to place we are going to WIN!  We started planning about a month or so ago.  Our theme this year is Clue!!! (and if I find out that you told ANY of the other branches, especially Burlington, I will kick your ass!)  We’re making all the offices look like the rooms on the gameboard.  And we are all dressing up as the characters.  I got dibs on Miss Scarlett (obviously, she was the cool one when I played when I was little).  I even bought a dress on ebay!  It was very spontaneous.  I only went to ebay for some ideas, but it seemed perfect.  And one of our members of the CU is an interior designer and she invited me to come to tour the warehouse for ideas and things to borrow.  Big things, like a loveseat and chairs and stuff!!!  It’s going to be awesome.  I already have three huge bags of fabric for drapes and stuff!

Pretty Twilight-y Goodness October 21, 2008

Like the new look? I have a new banner via pink-eagle17!  Ain’t it pretty?  I have been bouncing around between True Blood and Twilight so much lately.  I’m blaming it on my cousin Eve.  She’s 13 and visiting from England and we are kindred spirits.  Last night at dinner we talked about Twilight for a good hour or so.  She said that she liked talking to someone older (thanks Eve) cause I could explain things she didn’t get.  Her mom hasn’t read the books and all her friends are obviously her own age, so they are all in the same boat as her.  I’m trying to think of what we talked about, but I can’t remember it.  Mostly her questions were about the relationships between characters.  I had so much fun talking about the books again with someone new that I want to read them again (surprise, surprise).  I have a book and a half left in the True Blood/Sookie series.  So, as soon as I finish those I think I will give up on the listening to the Outlander series and start up again on the Twilight saga.  I’m also eagerly anticipating my Twilight Scrabble Tile from Stitch-n-Snitch!  She put it in the mail a couple of days ago so I will probably get it tomorrow or the next day.

Remember that paper I was having so much trouble writing last week?  Guess what I’m procrastinating by blogging?  Finishing the stupid thing.  My professor even gave me an extension without a penalty (because she’s wicked nice, I didn’t even ask for one).  Glah!  I need to get to work.  I was up till 3ish writing a paper last night too.

I have awesome Halloween news, but I really have to get to work, so I’ll share tomorrow.  See ya!

bad decisions October 16, 2008

stupid procrastination.  it’s 2:30 am and I have a paper due in exactly 12 hours.  wouldn’t be a big deal if I didn’t have to work at 7:45 tomorrow.  it’s supposed to e 5 pages minimum and I have one and a half.  I think I’m going to make a poor decision here and call it a night and turn it in on Tuesday.  I re-read the syllabus and it said there would be a whole letter grade penalty for every class it isn’t turned in, but I’d rather turn in A material and get a B than turn in a piece of crap and get a D.  Soooo… good night.

I managaed to successfully talk myself into that far too easily.

show and tell October 8, 2008

Here’s some more Show And Tell.

Yesterday in my Adolescent Psych class we had the rather silly assignment of drawing our own personal Coat of Arms.  It was pretty fun though and I did some good sketching (the bottom) that I wanted to share.  Knitters and book lovers unite!  Granted I misquoted Tolkien, but hey, I didn’t have it on me.  Still, enjoy:

“Feebleness of Character” October 8, 2008

So, I’ve been thinking about posting some of my poetry from my Creative Writing class on here.  I never thought of myself as a poet, but since starting this class I’ve really begun to enjoy writing it (not so much on the reading it though).  So, this may or may not be a regular thing.  I haven’t decided yet.  I might end up making them password protected, maybe.  For now, here is my poem from today’s class.  The assignment was to write a poem from somebody else’s point of view.  There were many options, such as a family member, a famous person, a foreign (to you) person, etc.  I chose a fictional famous person: Anne Elliot of Jane Austen’s Persuasion.

Blasphemy October 6, 2008

This is going to be Twilight Blasphemy, but I love Vampire Bill.  Actually I love Vampire Eric even more.  And Sookie Stackhouse could take down Bella Swan any day.  I’m afraid to admit this outloud, but there is a definite chance I like Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Mysteries more than Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga.

Wow.  I said it.

To be fair, they are very VERY different.  Different types of vampires, different settings, very different writing styles (and we all know I didn’t like SM’s writing very much), and very VERY different heroines.  I started reading Dead Until Dark after seeing three or four episodes of True Blood on HBO.  I hadn’t even heard of True Blood until I was in Philly a month or so ago and saw an ad for it that, as an vampire book fan, cracked me up.  So, I’ve actually gotten my entire family addicted to the show, only we can’t watch it together cause there are far too many detailed sex scenes to make it comfortable.  So, the show is very very good.  The books are even better.  I’ve only read the first three: Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, and Club Dead.  And now I NEED to get to the bookstore to pick up the next couple.

The similarities between Twilight and the Sookie Stackhouse novels:

1. They both have vampires.

That’s pretty much it. Oh ok, fine:

2. The vampires are really strong and fast.
3. Star crossed lovers idea of love between humans and vampires.
4. Oh, yea, there’s werewolves too.

Now, let’s take a look at the big differences between the two series:

1. While SM made her own version of the vampire, Charlaine Harris stuck with the more traditional view of the vampire.
2. Alcide and the other Weres and shifters could kick Jacob and his packs’ ass any day.  Alcide is hot, in a Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine kind of way.
3. I’ve already mentioned this, but it’s a huge difference.  Sookie Stackhouse vs. Bella Swan.  Seriously?  There is no competition.  Bella is a whiney, codependant, subservient princess and Sookie is a strong, independant woman who has her issues, but can, for the most part, take care of herself.
4. Edward Cullen vs. Eric or Bill or Sam or Alcide… why have a boy when you can have a man?  Especially when these vamps can kiss you and control their bloodlust.  And even if they do bite you, they won’t kill you (usually) and there’s no venom that will turn you into one of them.  To be quite honest, I’m still not totally sure how they are “changed” in CH’s books.  I think the human has to drink a lot of vampire blood.

Yea, so, I’m a pretty big fan.  And it’s not like I’m turning my back on Twilight, Edward has a special place in my heart.  But for now, I will be quite content with reading the Sookie Stackhouse novels and watching True Blood.  Until November.  Then Twilight will probably take over again.

In other news, well there isn’t too much other news.  I stayed home today and am going to hear about it from the parents.  But I woke up with a migraine that I thought I could nip in the bud last night with some Tylonal PM.  The migraine has only continued and I’ve also got some serious tummy issues that you don’t want any details on.  Fun, huh?  So, I am missing work, classes, and Knit Night at the farm.

Well, I guess, I’ll try to go back to sleep.  Or maybe start reading another book to hold me over til I caan pick up Dead to the World.