Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all of you! Yes, even you!

I hope you get some candy. I spent this Halloween day on the beach!

Sorry this is short, but I have to get to work.

That's right, I have to work tonight. But I think there are plans for ice cream after! I also watched "Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" yesterday, so I'm good.

Any way, enjoy the night!

BOO!

Christmas in October??

The stress of midterms has obviously gotten to me. Not only did I go to bed at 9:30 pm last night (what am I, 80 years old?) but I am listening to Christmas music while I do my homework.

Ok, so this is a little early, even for me, a hard core Christmas Music enthusiast.

As I created my Christmas station on Pandora, looking guiltily and figuratively over my shoulder for the Christmas police, I realized, "Hey, if it makes me happy to listen to Christmas music before Halloween is over, who cares?"

I mean, it is uplifting, cheerful, and positive. (Yes, I realize that using uplifting and positive is kind of redundant. I don't care. I'm burned out from tests and papers, and at this point, I feel like saying the same thing over and over and over and over and over again.)

So Merry October!

PS... I had to snicker a bit when I heard the line, "Oh the weather outside is frightful," 75 degrees is hardly frightful! Unless you are a snowman.

I may be a bit absent this week...

Midterms...

Peanut Butter and Carrots

I love peanut butter and carrots. Lately, I eat it every day with lunch.

What is strange is all the weird looks I get. I mean, has no one else heard of this before?! The Asians all seem particularly repulsed, but several Americans have questioned me as well. Didn't anyone else eat this when they were growing up?

What is funny is that most of them have heard celery and peanut butter, but not carrots. Celery and penaut butter is weirder if you ask me.

My obsession with this snack is like my applesauce phase of 2007.

If you haven't had it, you should try it. It is ama-zi-zing.

Pressure

I have to write a short story for my creative writing class. Easy, right? For someone who loves to write, and loves writing short stories, this should be a piece of cake... right?

WRONG!

It is much harder than I anticipated, and while procrastinating actually writing the story, I have analyzed why I am having such difficulty.

Pressure. Creative writing is something that I have only ever done for the fun of it. I mean, there were occassional assignments, but it wasn't like they really had to be good. Besides, for much of my highschool life, kids in my class didn't like writing or English, so I had a pretty good feeling that my work would be one of the better things turned in. Now that it is college, and several students in my class are English majors, and seniors no less, the pressure is much greater.

What makes the pressure even worse is that we have just spend the past month and a half talking about creative writing, and how to improve our writing, and I have realized oh-how-many mistakes I make in my writing. Plethoras. That's how many. So now instead of just allowing myself to write, I get all weird and second guess myself. For instance, you may have noticed my use of the cliche "piece of cake." That is unnacceptable!! We are supposed to think of fresh metaphors and expressions. Like if I said, "Writing this short story should be a walk in the park." Wait... that's already taken. Hmm. "Easy as pie?" Nope. That one is taken too. Why are there so many cliches about something easy?

At any rate, now that there is pressure, I feel completely stuck. I've started FOUR different short stories, gotten about a page and a half, abandoned them as crap, and moved on. And now what do I have? Four false starts but nothing concrete. Nothing I can turn in to impress my teacher and classmates.

I don't want to turn a story in to my less-than-tactful teacher and have it come back with CRAP written over it in red marker. (Notice that "crap" is all caps, bolded, and italicized.) And I don't want to go in and have to read my story outloud to random students! The fact that I know the story will be read out loud makes it ten times harder. Ugh.

Wish me luck. I'm gonna need it.

Failed Experiment

So the Psychology Seniors posted flyers that interested students could come from 7 to 9pm to take some surveys to help them with their project, and that free pizza would be provided.

We showed up at 7:05, filled out four surveys, smelling the pizza the whole time, and got in line to get our pizza.

The people in front of us took the last few pieces. It was then 7:20, and they had already run out of pizza. What is that?!

I realized then that perhaps it was a side psychology study of how mobs of angry students react to being told there is no free pizza after all. I for one, was very upset. I mean, you don't throw a term like "free pizza" around lightly, especially not around starving college students with limited exposure to decent pizza. At least they should have put a disclaimer, like "first come, first serve." But no. The flyer even went so far as to say that students could stop by any time between 7 and 9, inferring that the pizza would be there from 7 to 9.

Maybe the Psych seniors have a death wish? I'm not sure.

 I get extra credit in my Psychology class for attending, so I guess it wasn't a total loss. But in all honesty, between the two, I would have preferred the pizza.

One of those days...

Today is one of those just-wanna-stay-in-bed-all-day-and-do-nothing type of days.

Enough said.

Pie

I want pie. For breakfast. Or lunch... or even dinner. Or hey, why not be conventional and have it for dessert?

Sometimes the overwhelming craving for pie comes, and today is one of those times. It doesn't really matter what kind of pie, as long as it isn't apple.

Maybe it is because Thanksgiving is coming, and I know that I probably won't get much good pie like I usually do. (Oh for the maple pumpkin, Raspberry cream cheese, and creme brulee pies that I made last year. Or perhaps "created" is a better word.)

I've heard that sometimes we crave things that our body needs, but I doubt my body needs pie. Need or no, I think I'll have to find some today, somehow.

I'll end with the immortal words of Jack Handey, "When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it's not, mmmmmmm, boy."


PS: Looking at all of these pie pictures did not help at all.

Why I was up until 2am.

So as you may have guessed from the title of this post, I was up until 2am last night. You may think that there is some long, complicated explanation for this, but you're wrong.

I was watching Gilmore Girls until 12:45, then I headed back to my room with good intentions to hit the hay, but once I got to my room, I realized that not only was I wide awake, my eyebrows needed plucking.

My eyebrows don't grow back in gradually, but rather sprout up all at once. On Thursday the brows looked ok, but suddenly yesterday the plucked hairs decided to come back, leaving me with a nigh untamable thicket. When they get to that point, or rather, when I notice that they are at that point, I have to pluck them... because it drives me crazy.

"Blessed" with such plentiful brows, it takes me forever to pluck them. Especially when I watch the new episode of Community while I do it.

Hence, the 2am. I guess this was a rather long and complicated story, but it can be summed up to simply eyebrows.

Devoid of Inspiration...

I cannot think of anything good to write about, so I'm going to follow the example of Faulkner.

We just read his book "As I Lay Dying," and let me tell you, I was disturbed! But I digress. The novel is written in the stream of consciousness style, meaning that the various narrators don't actually say anything, but we view the events in the novel from the inner workings of their minds.

I've also heard that creative writers, when they can't think of anything to write about, should try the stream of consciousness method, and just kind of let themselves go and write a string of whatever they are thinking about, with no concern about grammar, sentence structure, or coherency.

Ok, here goes.

Wait, I just wrote a blog entry without having to resort to the stream of consciousness! Amazing... it really works!

Pre-midterm burnout

Is it normal to be burned out this early in the semester? I'm TIRED!

I have good intentions to get up early (like before 8am... early is relative,) and get things accomplished... like homework and showering...

But I end up sleeping in, and then lots of times I take naps later, too! And this week in classes I've found my mind wandering and my eyes closing in spite of myself.

I have pre-midterm burnout. This does not bode well for my condition come finals time!

New Discovery

I recently discovered a pet peeve that I did not know I had. Unlike discovering five dollars you didn't know you had, or a package of unopened pop tarts under your bed that you didn't know you had, discovering a pet peeve is not a pleasant experience.

Luckily this one is not likely to happen again. If it does, I may just explode or something. Yes, it bothered me that much.

I was sitting in the school's auditorium waiting for the show to start. It was a campus-wide singing competition, and I was quite excited for it. However, much of this experience was ruined for me due to the girl sitting in front of me.

Said girl was in possession of a plethora of annoyingly perfect blonde wavy hair. It was long and very full. I should first acknowledge that the auditorium seats are the type that are scrunched in together quite tightly, so if the person in front of you leans back at all, their head is pretty much in your lap. Can you see where this is going? I didn't.

All throughout the first half of the show, the blonde girl flipped her hair up and down again and again, so it was basically rubbing all over my knees. No matter which way I moved, her hair was flopping all over my legs. Not a pleasant sensation. Along with this, as if it weren't enough, gusts of her strong-smelling shampoo repeatedly blew in my face as she flipped said hair.

ARGGH! After about two seconds of this I wanted to grab any type of cutting insturment and chop all her hair off. That may sound harsh, but it was seriously so annoying. And as Jane Austen said, "angry people are not always wise."

By some mercy, she put her hair up in a bun for most of the second half of the show. I thought my troubles were over. But NO... blonde girl decided to lean back so her chair rammed into my knees. I mean really?? Have some self-awareness, girl! Finally realizing she was bumping into me, she turns around, smiles, says "Hi" and puts her hand on my knee.... ok, like that helps at all. In fact it made her even more annoying and slightly creepy. No "sorry I'm flipping my hair all over you and ramming into you legs!' Or even just ceasing the behavior would be enough, but did she do any of this? No!

After the knee bumping, her hair came out of the bun, and I was again accosted by her hair. I have never been so annoyed with a perfect stranger.

So what is the pet peeve? I guess it is the girl herself.

Beauty and the Beast

I just re-watched the Disney "Beauty and the Beast." I LOVE this movie... it is definitely one of my fav Disney animated movies. That being said, it left me with some questions.


1. How did Belle get the Beast onto her horse after he fought the wolves? He must weigh like, at least 600lbs, and of course, Belle is like 89lbs... 5 of those pounds being her freaking huge eyes... maybe she has some hidden arm strength??

2. How can Lafou wait outside in the snow for days without freezing to death? He turns into a snowman, but that is no protection against frost bite and hypothermia, unless of course Lafou has some sort of strange ability to morph into a snowman, and if so, why does he hang out with Gaston?

3. How does Mrs. Potts, who is obviously rather old, as you can see at the end of the movie, have Chip, who is like, four years old?? Is he adopted??? Also, how many children does this woman have? Because there are like, fifty tea cups in the cupboard. Also, did she name her son Chip initially, or just after they got morphed into inatimate objects, and he happened to turn into a teacup with a chip in it?

4. Why does Gaston go after the Beast with a bow and arrow when he has that huge gun? Is he just stupid? It can't be because he's a good sportsman, because he totally cheap shots the Beast twice.

5. How does Chip get the log cutting maching going? He has no hands, or legs! It shows him looking at the machine, then cuts to him blowing up the fire inside of the machine. Where did he get the log? How did he start the fire?

Ok, so I realize that this is an animated movie, and I'm probably over-thinking it, but still... it makes you wonder.

Some other thoughts about the movie... I have always loved the Beast waaay better than the prince he turns into... I cried about it when I was little... and I have to admit, I got a little teary when the Beast is laying there dying, and he's like "At least I got to see you.... one more time..." I think this is one of the reasons behind my love for German shepherds... the beast kinda looks like one.

I also wish he would have retained his manly voice, because his voice isn't nearly as hot after he turns back into a man. Too bad the Beast couldn't have been able to morph in and out of Beast form at will after the curse is broken. It would be handy, seeing as the castle is apparently surrounded by rabid wolves. Plus I bet Belle, in her secret heart, found the Beast pretty hot. And I think the public attitude about the Prince after he's out of Beast form is rather negative, despite the message of the movie that appearances don't matter... because when I googled Beauty and the Beast, all the pictures that came up were of Belle and the Beast when he's in Beast form...

After he turned into a man, I found myself wishing he could have a fist fight with Gaston, man to man. But then I thought that maybe he wouldn't have won, because Gaston is pretty freaking ripped. He eats five dozen eggs daily, after all. And he can break a belt with his neck.

Any way, I just love this movie. The soundtrack is beautiful, and I hope that the new animated Disney movie is good like these old classic Disney movies! It made me feel very nostalgic. Oh, and I thought it would be so cool for someone to make a really good live action version of Beauty and the Beast. All the ones I've seen have been weird... although the black and white one in French is pretty cool.

Have you ever...

Have you ever had one of those moments where you feel like a cartoon character?

I had one in the cafeteria the other day, and I wish that someone had been there to video tape it. No, my feet didn't start running away before me, nor did I put my hand on a burner and not get burned til I realized my hand was on a burner, and I also didn't get sliced in half. (Good thing...)

However, I did get ran into. Full on. This guy apparently didn't see me, or it was one of those "he thought I was going to move, I thought he was going to move" situations. At any rate, we smacked into eachother rather hard. It didn't hurt, or if it did I was trying too hard not to laugh to notice the pain. The guy got bright red with embarrassment, and mumbled an apology before hastily fleeing the scene.

After he left I laughed harder than I have in a long time. Unfortunately, no one else even saw the incident! What a waste! Maybe the cafeteria has security cameras, and they saw it... one can hope. It was just too good to go unseen.

The Ocean

The ocean here is the most beautiful ocean in the world. Ok, so I haven't seen every ocean in the world, but the ocean here is absolutely amazing. That's my point.

Every time I get view of the ocean, it makes me catch my breath, and just stare. I think I might be in love with it. It makes me giddy.

Certainly, compared to the gray and silty ocean of Alaska, (though pretty in its own way,) this ocean seems a completely different being. Friendlier. The ocean in Alaska is cold and dark and mysterious. This ocean, on sunny days at least, is friendly, inviting, calling you to "come in, the water's fine!"

Every time I leave the beach, I want to go back again.

In Pride and Prejudice, Mary Bennet says "What are men compared to rocks and mountains?" I ask this in a different form. "What are men compared to the ocean?" (The Hawaiian one, anyway!) But perhaps that is an unfair comparison... 

In any case, I'm going to miss this ocean when I go home! Its Alaskan counterpart probably won't even be glad to see me. At least my family will be.

(And yes, I did take these pictures.)

Life would be easier....

Sometimes I can't help but think that life would be easier if I looked like Amy Adams.

Excuse me... would you like a chicken?

Saturday on the bus I saw a guy who looked like Napoleon Dynamite but about thirty pounds heavier. He had a goofy looking t-shirt, tan shorts, and socks with sandals. (Oh dear.) He had glasses, and I will say they were slightly smaller than Napoleon's, but the resemblance was such that me and my friend both noticed it.
Any way, later that day I was walking out of the campus post office with my friend, and there he was, sitting, eating something. (No it wasn't a quesadilla.) We walked down the hall, and he got up and followed us partway. We turned around and he said,

"Excuse me, would you like a chicken?" His expression was grave, his tone polite but monotone.

We both looked at him a little blankly.

"Do you have a spare chicken?" I asked. My friend laughed.

"Yes." He held a white grocery bag out to me.

"Um, sorry we just ate lunch." I told him.

"Oh." He said, his voice not really registering dissapointment, but still he stood, holding the bag. The moment was  awkward.

My friend thought one of her off-campus friends with a kitchen might want it, so she texted him, but we didn't get any response.

"Um, so how did you obtain this chicken?" I asked, grinning. My friend laughed again. It was a funny situation. Apparently he didn't think so, because his expression never changed.

"I bought it for lunch and I don't want it." He said.

My friend and I then went on in converstional banter about the chicken situation, and I was making a joke a second. Still, this guys expression remained grave, and he merely stood, watching us.

"Well, sorry." We said finally and started walking away.

With one final attempt to break his severity, I called "Good luck with your chicken!"  He didn't laugh. Guess some people don't like jokes. Or laughter. Or maybe he was really very concerned about getting rid of this chicken... it was hard to tell.

I miss autumn...

I love Hawaii, I love the beaches, the ocean, the palm trees, the humidity, the warmth... ahh it is wonderful.

But I miss autumn. I miss the changing colors, the crisp air, the crunch of leaves underfoot. I miss picking out pumpkins and sipping apple cider and the bite of the wind.

I can't even tell it is October here.

Going to school here has shown me that I enjoy the different seasons. I love going to school here, but I wouldn't want to settle down here. This is the first year of my life that I haven't had an autumn. It is making me homesick.

We don't get a very long autumn in Alaska, but for those few weeks, it is beautiful. Here are a few pictures I took last fall.

If I was going to pick one of the fairies to be from Fantasia, I think I would want to be the autumn fairy. It would be fun to change all the colors of the leaves.

Why I Love English

This semester has helped me realize how much I truly love English and literature.

I love that any given poem, merely a few words put together into stanzas, can have significant meaning that is entirely different for countless amounts of people.

I love that each book or poem or essay is a little peice of the writer.

I love that novels and poems and stories from all over the world can have similar themes and archetypes. It sort of connects us all as humans, I think.

I love that I can absolutely hate a book or poem, but still see its value as literature, and appreciate the writing. It creates these strange relationships with words.

And I love the complexity and diversity and possibilites... as much as people say there is no more originality left, each thing we write is original in some respect. I love it.

Mermaid

I wanted to be a mermaid today.  It was cloudy, and the water was chilly and mysterious, and the water tasted extra salty. The waves were rolling softly, and I wanted to sprout fins and swim away into the ocean. It even rained a little, and I think it would be so amazing to be under the water and look up at the rain falling on the waves.

It was a beautiful day, despite the lack of sun.

Top Five Fave Movies

I thought I would try to narrow down what my very favorite five movies are and why. This has previously been something that I take by genre, as in, these are my five favorite action movies. I've never actually narrowed down what my actual favorite five movies are. It is a hard and grueling process... but here it goes.

Please note that number one is not my favorite movie. All five are all my favorites. That is as much as I could narrow it down, without quibbling about order.

1. Dear Frankie: This movie is simply beautiful. I love the acting,

the story, the location, the script, the filming, the accents...

I love watching it, and it gives me a lovely, achy, sad/happy kind

of feeling. Also, Gerard Butler, wherever you are,

 I'm pretty sure I love you.

2. Return to Me: Ah, such a great movie! I adore

this movie, due mainly to the fact that it feels so real to me. The relationships

between the characters, and the amazing chemistry is SO fun to watch. And of

course, I'm a Bonnie Hunt fan, so there you go.

3. That Thing You Do!: Yay! This is one of my most watched

movies of all time. The 60s-ness of it, the great music, not to

mention the fact that it is hilarious! I seriously want to have
"My Only Dreams" as my wedding song! I just adore this movie,

and can watch it at any time. I'm always in the mood for it.

4. Spiderman: I love the first Spiderman movie! Cheesy it certainly is, but so loveable. And so much fun to watch! I used to watch it all the time with my nephew. And in my opinion, it blows the other Spiderman movies out of the water. Its got Green Goblin! This is my favorite of all the superhero movies. Scoff if you wish, I love it!

5. Emma: While going by the Austen books, P&P is my favorite,

(or favourite,) and I love almost all the movie versions of Austen

books, the version of Emma with Gwenyth Paltrow is probably my

most watched movie. When I was 13 I watched it once a week.

I could probably quote most of the movie

along with it. This is my "having a bad day" or "feeling sick"

or "lazy afternoon" movie.

W

Since it is Wednesday, (I know that it says this was posted on Thursday, but it is still Wednesday in Hawaii!) I was thinking about some things that I love that start with the letter W. I have listed and explained ten of my top favorite W things. If you think that is weird, I don't care. Its my blog. Also, weird starts with W! Wow. That's wonderful.

1. Wonderland (as in Alice in.) I just love how wacky wonderland is. I originally loved the Disney version, but I've come to love the book as well. Also I can't wait for the new version directed by Tim Burton! Finally, a version of Alice in Wonderland that would weird out Lewis Carrol.

2. Willy Wonka- As much as I love the new Willy Wonka, you just can't beat the original with Gene Wilder. And his last name starts with a W! I love everything about Willy Wonka, from his crazy hair to his purple suit. (But I don't like the scary tunnel part...)

3. Wizards- Not so much the Harry Potter wizards, but more specifically Gandalf. He's rad. Check the hat!

4. Will Smith- I love Will Smith! How can you not? He just makes me happy. And he's hot.

5. Words- I LOVE the English language. I love Words! Its how we speak, write, (another great w word,) and communicate in general.


6. Watermelon- so yummy and delicious! Sweet, refreshing, and so indicative of summer.

7. Waffles- Who doesn't love waffles? With peaches, syrup, strawberries, or whatever, waffles are wonderful.

8. Wallpaper- I love the trendy wallpaper designs coming out now, especially the ones in the home section of Anthropolie.com.

9. Windows- They let in the light, and let us have the outdoors indoors. Or vice versa if you are a street urchin.

10. Whipped Cream- Oh heavenly creamyness! I love whipped cream so much. On the aforementioned waffles, on cake, on applesauce (try it, love it, crave it,) on brownies, on yogurt, or on anything! Or just plain!

Well, that was enlightening! Wild how many wacky and wonderful w words there are! Speaking of how wonderful W is, check out this vintage Sesame Street video, all about the wonderful sound of W.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFhqghww9sM