Two Thousand Nine

There are quite a number of things I wish to state as my new year's resolutions and straight up goals for the coming year. I have a lot of them.

1. read 50 books. 

2. lose weight (who doesn't.)

3. read a wikipedia entry or encyclopedia entry every day to learn something new

4. read a new work in the dictionary everyday

5. continue learning how to play the piano

6. make good grades

7. get photography published

8. illustrate a children's book

9. make a penpal

10. get a tattoo

11. driver's license

12. get a sweet job

13. do NOT cut hair

14. write a novel

This is all I can think of for now, but I have a lot of pondering ahead of me in the endless hours of nothingness over Christmas break. I can't wait. :D

AW hELLSZ NAh.

Dear Finals Week, 

We've known each other a while now, yes? I realize this, and yet you still never cease to amaze. And by amaze, I mean make me want to jump off a series of cliffs into jagged rocks in a shallow shark infest cesspool. I literally hate you. 

I know, I know, I'm irrational. I'm acting on impulse, in the heat of the moment, right in the middle of all you give me. 

But while seriously, again. I hate you. I hate you with every little atom in my body. I hate you to the core of the earth and back ninety six trillion times. I hate you like a whole city made of junior mints and mushrooms. I hate you more than an eternity of hearing Quagmire saying "Giggety Giggety" at a very loud volume. I hate you the way I hate Gruntilda, the witch, and her cackle who appears when you try to end Banjo Tooie. I pure, straight hate you. And unlike Mr. Mantooth to Ron Burgandy, I do NOT respect you. 

I kind of actually have to respect you, or I won't pass any classes. But literally, I feel like you will be the death of me. I rejoice and long for the day I will never ever ever EVER EVER EVER have to experience you again. I will write you off to the next pour soul who must endure you and I will fight until you are abolished from this planet or at least Cal Baptist.

No, no. Our journey isn't over, finals week. It is far from over. I will conquer you and make you wish you had never been set to test this student at her wit's end. You have not seen the last of me. Not until I have seen the last of you.

After tomorrow, it is goodbye for now. Better rest up before the end of next semester. Have a nice Christmas break. 

Sincerely,

Student # 292098

I'll Hold Your Hands

Today, I gave my presentation in English class concerning my final research paper. I wanted to jump off a cliff, I was so nervous to actually present it. 

Here is why. I really have yet to finish it. But somehow, I got away with actually presenting something that technically doesn't exist yet. Completely. 

So, yeah. I lied, really. But it felt so so good. To be DONE!

And, to be honest, I was about to lie again. I was going to say that because I presented today on my research topic of Fear-Mongering and the history of propaganda, it got me to thinking about fear and what we fear and what makes us scared or sad. (I say this because, actually, if you think about it, what makes you sad, also you maybe could be kind of afraid of, incredible intense sadness. I don't know anyone who could say they were not afraid of having to experience that, ey.)

But, in all actuality, I just thought of one sad thing tonight while talking to Nora, and then eventually a whole list formed right here in my moleskine.

And here it is. Sad things, part one:

- the word "soon."

- when you find a really good song that is made of the wrong season (e.g. a summery song like "Breeze" by Apollo Sunshine found in the dead of winter.)

- damaged bird feathers just lying on the ground.

- dying flowers (depends on why they are dying, too. or who or what they came from)

- what people in China do to dogs.

- car accidents (never ever happy. ever.)

- having lovely handwriting at most inopportune moments (like right before you go to bed) and knowing that before you can say "caligraphy" your handwriting will be back to its normal boring self.

- listening to music for a long and then turing it off.

- the end of the movie Big Fish

- when you walk into someone else's home and the residents there are fighting and yelling at one another. And you can hear it. And almost feel it.

Can I Do It Again?

Can I make another Christmas playlist? 

Is this allowed?

I'm doing it anyway.

WARNING: There will probably be repeats. This is a revision!

1. All Is Well by Point of Grace

2. Peace Is Here by Jars of Clay

3. Twelve Days Of Christmas by The Andrews Sisters and Bing Crosby

4. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing by Sufjan Stevens

5. Silent Night by Priscilla Ahn

6. Born To Die by Bebo Norman

7. Frosty the Snowman by Fiona Apple

8. My Only Wish (This Year) by Britney Spears

9. A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldi Trio

10. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by Death Cab 

11. Believe by Josh Groban

12. It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas by Bing Crosby

13. Sing by Josh Wilson

14. O Holy Night by Celine Dion

15. Christmas In Dixie by Alabama

16. There Is No Christmas Like A Home Christmas by Perry Como and The Ray Charles Singers

17. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm by Billie Holiday

18. Christmas/ Sarajevo 12/24 by Trans-Siberian Orchestra

19. God Rest Ya Merry Gentlemen by Decemberadio

20. The Christmas Song by Aimee Mann

21.  Winter Wonderland by Tony Bennett

22. Christmas Island by (I have no idea, its from the Elf Soundtrack)

23. Little Saint Nick by The Beach Boys

24. The Chipmunk Song by Alvin and the Chipmunks

25. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel by Enya

26. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Judy Garland

27. Holly Jolly Christmas by The Format

28. Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee

29. Carol of the Bells by Thrice

30. Mistletoe and Holly by Frank Sinatra

31. Winter Song by Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson

32. D0You Hear What I Hear? by Copeland

33. Baby, It's Cold Outside by Zooey Deschanel and Leon Redbone

34. Sleigh Ride by Johnny Mathis

35. I'll Be Home For Christmas by Holly Conlan

36. Christmas Windows by Youth Group

37. Last Christmas by Jimmy Eat World

38. A Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives

39. Christmas Offering by Casting Crowns

40. Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt with Henru Rene and His Orchestra

41. Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms and The Anita Kerr Singers

42. Hard Candy Christmas by Dolly Parton

43. Christmas Time Is Here by Diana Krall

44. Little Drummer Boy by The Almost

45. Jingle Bells by Jim Reeves

THERE. There. That is all. Well not all, my real Christmas playlist has 163 songs in it. But these are the creme de la crop.

Reading Fish.

Okay. I read. I read a lot, actually. 

I am about to embark on a journey of reading every classic I can get my hands on. This does not mean I will not be reading other more modern books in between and during.. because everyone knows I love a good memoir perhaps written by someone in/fresh out of rehab? O_0

And as you can see, I am beginning with Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (sorry, I dont know how to so that "e" with the two dots above it.) Why am I starting with this book of all books? Well for two reasons. 1) I saw it in Barnes and Noble, thought it had a cool cover and just decided to buy it. 2) Because Bella reads it over and over again in the Twilight series and I feel somewhat like Bella at times. 

So, why not. I actually had no idea this book had so much criticism surrounding it. The first thirty or so pages of the book are not actually the story, but explanations, introductions, and the like by many people including her sister, Charlotte (author of the first published Jane Eyre.) I also did not know that this book was written so long ago. 1847 to be exact. Emily wrote it right before she died at the age of 30 in 1850, sadly and ironically, from a cold she caught at her brother, Branwell's funeral. People died so young back then. Shout out to modern medicine.

But I digress (I've always wanted to say that.) Here I am, on the brink of Christmas break and I am ready to dive in to what has been called a coarse, pagan, demented, insanely-written, topsy turvy, most confusing novel of all time. I'm so ready.

Here's what I've read so far this year (actually since the beginning of summer, I can't really remember what read before that) and I recommend ALL of them to you. Except one.

1. Paper Towns by John Green

2. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

3. The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall

4. Crank by Ellen Hopkins

5. Dry by Augusten Burroughs

6. Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

7. Go Ask Alice by (Anonymous, actually.)

8. Twilight by Stephanie Meyers

9. New Moon by Stephanie Meyers

10. Eclipse by Stephanie Meyes

11. Apples by Richard Milward

12. Indecision by I don't care because it was an awful book. (Maybe I will like it later in life.)

13. Sellevision by Augusten Burroughs

14. Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs

15. Pieces by Stephen Chbosky

16. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

17. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

18. The Little Prince by Antoine Saint Exupery

19. It's Kind Of A Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

20. The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time by Mark Haddon

and I will be adding to the list soon with what is waiting to be read on my shelves right now:

22. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

23. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

24. Looking for Alaska by John Green

25. Harry: A History by Melissa Anelli

Also, Hillary just pointed something out to me. The Almost/Aaron Gillespie's band covered the song "The Little Drummer Boy" and Aaron is the drummer for Underoath. How cool is that?

Anyway, got any books to suggest, please do.

How 'bout it?

A Holiday/Christmas/Winter Wonderful Time Mix?

Sounds like a good idea to me.

1. Do You Hear What I Hear by Copeland

2. Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing by Sufjan Stevens

3. Christmas/Sarajevo 12/24 by Trans-Siberian Orchestra

4. A Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives

5. Little Saint Nick by The Beach Boys

6. My Only Wish (This Year) by Britney Spears

7. Christmas Windows by Youth Group

8. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town by Perry Como

9. Silver Bells by Johnny Mathis

10. Little Drummer Boy by The Almost

11. Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney

12. Silent Night by House of Heroes

13. Carol Of The Bells by August Burns Red

15. Christmas In Dixie by Alabama

16. O Come O Come Emmanuel by Shane and Shane

17. Sing We Now Of Christmas by Barlow Girl

18. All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey

19. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus by John Mellencamp

20. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Judy Garland

21. Here Comes Santa Claus by Gene Autry

22. Baby, It's Cold Outside by Dean Martin and Doris Day

23. White Christmas by Bing Crosby

24. Carol Of The Bells by The Bird and The Bee

25. Hard Candy Christmas by Dolly Parton

26. Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) by Death Cab For Cutie

27. Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms and The Anita Kerr Singer

28. 12 Days Of Christmas by The Andrews Sister

29. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays by *NSYNC

30. The Christmas Song by The Nat King Cole Trio

31. Carol Of The Bells by Thrice

Obviously, I love Carol Of The Bells. I have like 9 versions of it. O_O

ALRIGHT. Get to downloadin' or whatever it is that you do. Just listen.

It's Kind Of A Funny Story

I just finished reading this last night!

First of all, I had no idea what was in for when I started reading this book.

And I hardly know what to say about it now! SO I'm just going to tell you to head to Barnes and Noble and pick it up. Yes, it is in the young adult fiction section (or something to that effect), but it is not, by any means, childish.

Give this and Ned V. a chance.

GO! NOW.

Directions.

Where am I taking this blog?

In all kinds of new directions.

But more focused ones.

I've pondered long and often about what I wanted to use to blog specifically for, and I have finally decided. First, I tried to think about things I like, things I know about, things that I could know more about, things that are legitimate, things that are important to me, things that are important to everyone. I want to talk about music, books, and movies. Everyone listens to music or has music in their lives somehow, and everyone watches or at least knows about movies. People, seriously, if you don't read (or don't know how...) please change that a.s.a.p. Certainly there is someone around you who can help with this unfortunate situation, if need be.

I have expounded on these many a time before, but now I am going to concentrate only on these for a while. However, this is not entirely set in stone, I'm just trying it out for now.

What kinds of music and what will I do with it? Just talk about it, relate it to a style, critique it, connect with it and connect others to it. I will make playlists, top 5 lists, any lists! I will go in depth about artists, who sounds like who, who is here and now, who is to come, and who really just needs to go. I feel pretty confident that I can accurately do this and do it good. Yes, I could have said 'well' but the impact of my improper word usage gave the right effect. 

Also, books! I read often, and with passion. I love when people recommend books and I'm pretty open to any kind of genre. I will be staying more or less away from the mystery novels that my grandmother reads, unless someone really realllyyyy thinks I need to read it. Personally, I miss Reading Rainbow, and I would like to make that happen again, here and now. There is a YouTube Channel devoted to this very thing, and I plan to take part in video responses there as well. (I might just post them here, actually.)

And finally, movies. New, old, weird, romantic, scary, disney, nickelodeon, indie, musicals, documentaries, Wes Anderson, Wes Craven, rated G and rated R (in most cases). I watch a lot of movies, and feel like all the time devoted to such a thing requires a bit of acknowledgement afterwards. I have a busy brain and a great multitude of thoughts and thought-trains when it comes to movies, and I just feel the need to share them with the world. And those who read this blog, mostly.

So, why am I being so broad. Why was it so hard to think of this? Well, I honestly thought of it right away, but I felt like I could never been good at writing about those things whatsoever. But then I really starting thinking about it, giving it some good quality "lets think about things before we go to sleep" time. And it all just kind of came together. I definitely decided that I'm staying away from celebrity gossip and probably won't deliver a profound blog about fashion or anything pertaining to it. 

But music...books...movies. They all flow into each other, one spilling into the next, never-ending. A book is made into a movie in which there is a soundtrack and the music could have been inspired previously by another book or movie and then people buy the soundtrack or download the song and listen to it while they write they own books and screenplays for films. Truthfully, there's hardly a way for one to exist without the other anymore. Or at least be great. I feel a quote coming on.

"Some are born great. Some achieve great. And some have greatness thrust upon them." -Channing Tatum in "She's The Man". I know, I know, lame quote. But it just came to me, I had to let it out!

Seriously, though. I will take each song I hear, movie I see, and book I read and taste it, feel it, get to know it as best as I can. And then share what I've discovered. And yes, I will be rather opinionated. This is a blog and definitely more than entitled to than HERE of all places.

So, here I am world. My new direction is exciting, fresh, undiscovered. I outstretch my arms and run at full speed. 

All I Have To Do Is Run My Mouth Off.

I wanna go on a trip. 

I want to leave here even for just a day or two and drive with adventurous intentions.

I want it to be a multitude of us, all with the same goal. Even if that goal is unbeknownst to us.

I would watch the world from inside like a 2 a.m. chinatown bus passenger. 

I would take pictures of all the everything's and nothing's so we may remember it all.

Also, that book up there is Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. I am about to start reading it again, its that good. I just feel like I didn't get everything out of it that I should have the first time around. 

When I'm done, I'm definitely planning to contribute to the WeMissReadingRainbow channel on YouTube and make my own book review. :)

Seared in the Fire of Something New.

I haven't blogged with quite as much passion as I used to in recent fortnights. My reasons for this are vague and unimportant. The fact of the matter is that I don't wish to waste time in stating all of these reasons when I could very well speak plainly and move beyond. 

Also, I did indeed see the film "The Duchess" tonight, and Keira Knightly does tend to get into my head, at which point my words are more hers than mine. This happens all the time, so stop your thinking that this is any extraordinary occurrence. Excuse me while I make myself sound stupid again...

Alrighty. So here's the deal, comrades. I have to write a blog for my Yearbook Midterm. Not just any blog, a blog about something I ACTUALLY LIKE. Not that I am entirely lacking in the hobbies and interests department... It's quite the opposite. I love so many things, and hardly have a focus to speak of. I don't do just any one thing all the time, and much less do it to perfection or excellence. I do all kinds of things so how am I to pick? Well, eff. Let's just say it's going to take a lot of blog hopping and scribbling in my new molesk--- HOLY CRAP.

I definitely forgot to mention that I just started Moleskine #2. This is a monumental occasion in my life... and I'm already on page 15 or something, bro. I filled up a multitude of pages whilst interviewing Erin McDermott tonight at dinner (for my profile pages in the yearbook.) I'm hoping to get at least one finished per year, each starting sometime in October. I finished the first one only a couple weeks early and that's probably only because there were a few times I had to tear a page or two out.. Sshhh. 

Hmm.. maybe I could blog about moleskines? Or.. something.. like keeping a journal? But that might be ever so slightly redundant. Journaling about journaling? But it's so much more than that. I don't know, this required much contemplation. All of which I definitely cannot do tonight since I am well on my way to one of those headaches you get from staring at a computer screen for too long AND I still have to read more Midnight Sun. 

P.S. for anyone reading this: Thank you. I love you. Goodnight.