My Favorite Discoveries of 2016

This year has been kind of crazy.  I finally moved out of the terrible apartment building I was in, despite all of the stressful obstacles in the world trying to stop me.  Jordan and I moved into a nice apartment with a kitchen and a bathtub and a balcony!  I stopped being able to walk again, but this place is handicapped accessible.  I also found out that dairy makes me sick, so after trying to only eat it rarely I have cut it out completely.  So without further ado, these are a few of my favorite things that I've discovered in 2016.

Food:

Daiya Mac n Cheese: I want a lifetime supply of this.  So far I've only had one box and I immediately wanted more.  If you're not a big fan of sharp cheese this is like the perfect mac and cheese taste.

FeelGoodFoods Vegetable Dumplings: I found these at Safeway and bought one box, because gluten free foods are extremely hit-or-miss.  I devoured the whole box and the next time I went shopping I bought four boxes, because I don't want to run out!

Ben and Jerry's Dairy Free Chunky Monkey: I actually never tried Chunky Monkey flavor when I was eating dairy but this is the one dairy free Ben and Jerry's flavor at my grocery store that I can eat.  It's also a delicious flavor.  The almond milk base makes it super creamy and I doubt I could tell it was dairy free if I didn't already know.

Books:  I didn't do a ton of reading this year because my arms are super sore at the end of every day now that I'm in a wheelchair.  I did do the month trial of Audible and I loved it so much!  I really wish I could afford a subscription, but at the moment all of my money is for medication.  Thanks to Audible I was able to listen to

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: I knew that I would love this book series from the first time I heard of it and oh, boy, was I right!  I was able to listen to the first and second book on Audible and I really want to read book 3.

Aside from Audible I haven't done a ton of reading this year but I have loved:

Drinking the Rain: during my brief time in the Inspired by Reading Book Club I loved this book pick about foraging for food and one woman's journey to find herself with the help of nature; I had to quit the book club because I was only able to afford to buy two of the books

Cabinet of Curiosities: got this one by judging a book by its cover and it did not disappoint; this book is chock full of stories and pictures of the curiosities in the collection of Thackery T. Lambshead

Youtube:

Twiggy Vittoria:  After having a seizure and hitting my head really hard on the bathroom floor Jordan insisted on not letting me sleep in case I had a concussion.  I discovered this channel that night and her videos easily kept me entertained all night and distracted from the pain in my head.  Twiggy is so nice and down-to-earth and I trust every one of her product recommendations.  She makes hair videos, makeup videos, story videos, videos about her dreams, and occasionally vlogs.  I had the luck to find her channel early enough to see it grow immensely this year :)

Rob Dyke: This guy's spooky videos are always well-researched and super interesting.  He does great top 10 videos, videos about strange things, and serial killers.  He also does comedy videos but I am here for the spooky.

Cayleigh Elyse:  Some would call her the female counterpart to Rob Dyke but Cayleigh has her own unique and wonderful things to offer, including: unsolved cases, spooky fun, creepy story narrations (including some stories she wrote herself), and videos about monsters and hauntings.  She does it all in beautiful dresses and with the occasional humorous bit thrown in when not talking about serious topics.

Good Mythical Morning:  In case you've been living under the same rock that I apparently was until this year I'll tell you about this channel, one of the most subscribed channels on Youtube.  Two guys named Rhett and Link host a show where they compete in different made-up games, eat weird food, and are just hilarious best friends.  Every episode has me cracking up from start to finish, and they even have extra videos like the show after the show and Good Mythical Crew.

That's all that I can think of at the moment but I'm sure there's a lot more I forgot.  What are some of your favorite discoveries of 2016?

Inspired by Reading: Drinking the Rain

This month for Inspired by Reading club we read Drinking the Rain: A Memoir by Alix Kates Shulman.  This is probably the last book I'll be reading for reading club for a little while because I am super duper broke and can't even buy my vitamins, let alone books.  I loved this book partially because it made me think of the game I've been playing lately, Stardew Valley.  In this book a woman learns how to be independent and live off of the land at age 50.  Among other things, she learns how to identify new plants and cook with them.  One of my favorite things in the Stardew Valley game is foraging for different plants and cooking different dishes with them, so that's what was in my mind while reading this book.  To be honest I wasn't feeling inspired at all while reading the book but as soon as I finished reading it this design popped into my head and it seemed fitting.  I originally had an ammonite in place of the wood beads but these worked better with the design.

I used pyrite, matte frosted onyx, an orange agate tusk, wood beads, and a hammered copper clasp.  This necklace had to be made of things I already had because of how the book talks about not adding to the glut and re-using things you have, so I salvaged these wood beads from a broken necklace and they seemed perfect here.  I made the clasp out of copper wire scraps from previous pieces.  I feel like this is the sort of necklace Alix would wear and possibly even make for herself.  It speaks to me of nature and of adventures and being tough, which I think relates well to the book.

Inspired by Reading: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

This is my first piece of jewelry that I designed after reading a book.  I joined the Inspired by Reading group this month and I really liked the book we read.  The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender is the story of a nine-year-old girl who discovers that she can taste people's feelings in the food they make.  She struggles with this throughout her life until she finally learns how to live with it.  I intended to make three pieces inspired by this book: one for the innocence of childhood before she discovers her ability, another for the chaotic years of trying to handle it, and a third for when she learns how to live it.  Because of the fact that I only finished this book two days ago and have had low energy I only ended up making the first necklace, the one that represents her innocent childhood before discovering her "gift".

The imagery that stood out to me the most in this book was the red and white at the beginning, especially the red strawberries in the bowl on the lace doily that her mother made.  That's what inspired this necklace.  I had this scrap of lacy ribbon with stitched plastic pearls in a drawer and I added wire wrapped glass beads in red.  I made it a choker-length because it is the length of a necklace for a small girl of almost nine.  This necklace also reminds me of Alice in Wonderland, which seems fitting because it's another tale about a girl whose life is changed forever by things that she can't possibly understand.

Watching, Playing, Reading #9

It's back!  The semi-monthly-ish post series which I haven't written since December.  Yes that's right, December.

Needless to say I've been watching, playing, and reading a lot since December.  And I'm definitely not going to remember all of it.  So let's get started!

Watching:

Netflix:

TV series:

Goosebumps:  I never actually watched this show as a kid, but I love it now.  It's the perfect amount of cheesy and predictable, but I'm often very wrong about what I think is going to happen.

The Wonder Years:  I had seen a handful of episodes of this show growing up and I liked it, so Jordan and I worked our way through the whole series.  It was good and worth the watch.  I like how the ending didn't ruin the whole show by being too happily ever after.

Third Rock from the Sun:  This show is goofy and ridiculous.  It is a great show to have on in the background for white noise and there isn't really a lot of plot to follow.  For those of you who don't know, it's about four aliens posing as a human family in order to learn about Earthlings.

Twin Peaks:  I've been hearing about this show for ages, so I finally started watching.  It is way to slow for Jordan so I haven't quite finished it yet.  I like the colorful characters but I have trouble telling some of the main characters apart, so sometimes I get confused.

Red vs. Blue:  This is a silly Youtube series that is now on Netflix.  It's Halo gameplay with hilarious dubbing.

Bob's Burgers:  This series is amazing and I cannot wait for more episodes.  We are constantly quoting lines from it, especially "But do you season?!" and when we get a dog in the future we are going to name it KuchiKopi.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt:  This show was amazing!  We powered through all of it in two days.  There are so many funny lines and it's just great.  If you haven't watched it you definitely should.

Taboo:  This show is super interesting.  Each episode focuses on different things that Americans might consider taboo and how they are handled by other cultures.

Movies:

House of Last Things: This movie was weird and confusing, but I kind of loved it.  I don't even know how to describe it without spoilers.

Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart:  This movie reminded me of Hugo if it had made less sense.  It was visually breathtaking and the story was incredibly sweet with great characters.  Definitely worth a watch.

Stand By Me:  This movie is a classic for a reason.  It's a coming-of-age story about four childhood friends going to find a dead body, and so much more.

The Babadook:  This movie scared me a lot at first but then I found out that the villain is really silly looking.  I think the Babadook is supposed to be a metaphor for her grief over the loss of her husband and how she has to come to terms with the fact that she'll always miss him but life goes on.

The Imposter:  This movie is based on the true story of an adult who pretended to be a teenager and was placed into various homes under so many identities as their missing child.  It's really insane that this actually happened and he got away with it so many times.

Hercules:  We hadn't seen this movie in years and we watched it during a Saturday of lazy cartoon movie watching.  It did not disappoint.

Pontypool: A zombie movie I hadn't seen yet!  Well now I have.  It's a very interesting treatment of a zombie situation where nothing really happens, but the creepy part is the anticipation.

The Big Lebowski:  I hadn't seen this movie so I finally watched it so I would get the references.  I didn't love it but I didn't hate it.

Fight Club:  I was surprised how good this movie was!  I always thought it was just an action beat-em-up type of movie but I was so wrong.

Besides that we watched a bunch of Tim Burton movies that we got on Amazon, as well as a Studio Ghibli box set, also from Amazon.

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Playing:

So many video games!

I went to see my parents for a weekend while my brother was home on leave and I played the Wii while I was there.  I played this game called Death Jr. which was super fun.  I had never heard of it before.  It's nice and dark and creepy but still pretty lighthearted and fun.

I had purchased a Humble Bundle last year because it had Fez and then I found out that my computer can't handle the 3D environments so I couldn't play it.  Well Jordan bought Fez for me on Xbox and it's everything I wanted and more.  There are so many worlds to explore that I sometimes get lost, but it's still really fun.

Besides that I got a Game Boy Advance SP off of eBay just so I could get Gex Enter the Gecko from a store on The Ave called Pink Gorilla and experience the nostalgia.  Since it was the store's anniversary they had a buy 3 get 1 free sale on video games, so I also got Tak and the Power of Juju, Spyro Orange, and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, because I love the show (but it turns out that I kind of hate the game; oh well it was free).

And once again I have become somewhat addicted to Candy Crush Saga.

Reading:

Icebound by Dean Koontz, The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn, Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby, Jr., Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred by Donald Tyson, Winter Moon by Dean Koontz, Some Assembly Required: The Not-So-Secret Life of a Transgender Teen by Arin Andrews

I have branched out a lot in my reading selections this year.  These books were all really good except for The Harbinger, which I picked up at a thrift store for next to nothing.

Do you have any Netflix recommendations for me?  I'm always looking for new things to watch.

Book Wish List

If you're anything like me you shouldn't go in a book store unless it's a used book store, and even then only sometimes.  Well I went in a bookstore and then I drooled all over the books (not literally though because gross).  Here are three that it took all of my willpower not to buy.  Okay, so to be honest I probably would have bought at least one if I had money besides my rent money.

I never really read non-fiction before because I thought it was boring, kind of like how I used to not watch documentaries.  I found out that non-fiction can be super interesting when it's about topics I find interesting.  Seems like a no-brainer but it's a pretty recent revelation for me.  I especially enjoy reading biographies about mental illness, medical history/quackery, and curiosities.

If you want to catch up on what I've been reading lately and see my never-ending always-expanding wishlist, follow me on Goodreads!

Do you have any good non-fiction recommendations for me?  I'll add them to my list!

Thrifty Thursday: It's Been a While

Now that I have a job again with a regular income I can do things that I haven't been able to do for awhile, like thrifting.  Luckily for me my workplace is a short walk from two thrift stores.  I checked out the first one, Restyle for Ryther, last Friday and bought this belt and the two books.  Then I went over to the Ballard Buffalo Exchange and found this great dress and these perfect Fall flats.  My red flats finally died all of the way so I needed some new ones anyway.  I managed to get all of these great items for just $30 total!  And I'm not sure if I told you about this chair yet.  I wanted to get a comfortable chair to put in front of my computer because my swivel desk chair bothered my scoliosis.  I had a budget of $50 to spend and wasn't sure if I would be able to find anything for that.  I saw this gorgeous floral wingback chair at Value Village and instantly fell in love.  I checked the price, sure it would cost too much, and found out that it only cost $7!  I bought it right away and have loved it ever since.

I can never pass up a Dean Koontz book I haven't read and don't own yet.  And check out the gorgeous details on the flats!

Here are some similar products to what I bought, on Amazon.  These are affiliate links.

Watching, Playing, Reading #7

Watching, Playing, Reading is a pretty self-explanatory monthly-ish post series here on my blog.

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Watching:

on Hulu:

Finding Carter and Chasing Life: These shows are both dramas about girls who have had their lives turned upside-down and how they respond to it.  One finds out her mother is actually her kidnapper and the other learns she has cancer.  These shows are both fairly new so I haven't seen more than one or two episodes but so far I'm entertained and intrigued.

on Netflix:

TV shows:

Bones: Oh how I love this show.  There is a team of (mostly socially awkward) geniuses who work together to solve murders.  They all work at the Jeffersonian and use a variety of forensic techniques to discover the small details that others would miss.  I find it really fascinating for a few reasons: 1. murders/serial killers, 2. the cool and creative scientific processes and investigations, 3. the relationships between the team members, 4. Bones' attempts to understand people from more than just an anthropological viewpoint, 5. the cool necklaces that Bones is always wearing.  This show is intense, gory, and just funny enough to keep it together.

House, M.D.:  N and I have been watching a few episodes of this just about every night and have nearly watched it all now.  House is a genius doctor who solves all of the most difficult medical cases.  He loves puzzles and dislikes patients.  There are many humorous situations but the show is mostly a drama.

Hemlock Grove: The show starts out with a murder and then we learn that there is something supernatural going on.  There are gypsies and werewolves and drama and mystery.  And then in season 2, which I just finished there are some crazy science experiments and the season finale is insane.  I will definitely continue watching once season 3 comes out, because I have no idea what is going on anymore!

movies:

I already told you which ones I didn't like so here are the ones that I enjoyed.

Safe Haven:  Some of the reviews on Netflix are saying this is a typical chick flick.  It is not.  I don't like chick flicks but I liked this.  I could have done without the twist ending, but even with it I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.  I loved the setting (It made me want to live in a small town by the sea).  The story was fairly simple but very well executed.  A woman arrives in a small town and assumes a new identity.  Just when things start working out for her, her past comes back in a frightening way.  There was action, danger, romance, and heartwarming moments, and once again it was not a chick flick.

Of Two Minds:  I would be interested to hear how accurate this movie is from someone who has bipolar disorder.  Of Two Minds explores the lives of different Americans with bipolar disorder.  They discuss the highs and the lows and the problems that they deal with.  I am fairly certain that the people in this documentary all have a pretty severe case of bipolar disorder.  I found it fascinating and sometimes heartbreaking.  It was a very emotional film.

Penelope:  This movie was sweet and family-friendly.  It's a quirky modern fairy tale about a girl cursed with the nose of a pig until she finds love.  I love how quirky it is and I adore Penelope's wardrobe, especially her jackets.  The moral of the story is to love yourself the way you are, so it's great for kids or as lighthearted fare for adults.

Frozen Ground:  On the completely opposite end of the spectrum from Penelope we have Frozen Ground, the story of an Alaska state trooper (played by Nicolas Cage) working with a 17 year old prostitute to catch the serial killer she managed to escape from.  It is fast-paced and very intense and made even sadder by the fact that it is based on actual events.

Playing:

My Singing Monsters: This game is available in the App Store, Google Play, Kindle Fire, and Nook.  I have it on my Android phone.  I just cannot get enough of this game!  You get to raise and breed monsters on an island and they produce coins which you can use to buy them things that will make them happy.  It's like you're a feudal lord for a bunch of monster vassals (if I am going to really geek out).  The monsters all sing a different song and have different things that they like.  You also get rewarded for different tasks, such as hatching a certain number of one kind of monsters or buying a certain item.  If you love monsters and love controlling worlds, you should definitely download this game.  Did I mention that it's free?  Because it is.

Reading:

Let's Pretend This Never Happened* by Jenny Lawson:  This is the book by The Bloggess that every blogger and their grandma has been talking about for ages.  I finally got around to reading it and I can honestly say that it made me laugh out loud like a crazy person in public more than any other book ever has (which is a very good thing in my opinion).  Jenny is the absolute master of telling hilarious stories and having a crazy childhood full of ridiculous stories to tell.  I also love how she can talk humorously about her anxiety and how it affects her.  It makes me feel like I'm not alone, which I know I'm not but it's nice to read about anyway.

77 Shadow Street* by Dean Koontz:  This book is dark and twisted with a capital D and T.  Some people couldn't stomach it and others didn't get it but I kind of loved it in a kind of horrified way.  I really loved the way that the chapters are told through the point of view of the different people in the house.  People fascinate me and these characters were especially fascinating and complex.  The story is of a big fancy house where some rich people live in different apartments.  The house is very secure and has a spooky history of people going crazy and murdering each other and of other people just disappearing.  Something strange is happening in this house and nobody really knows how to deal with it.  There is a time travel part into a somewhat alien and very post-apocalyptic future and the residents of the house have to try to survive the future so they can escape it and prevent it from ever taking place.  This book is not for the easily grossed out, spooked, or the faint of heart, but I think a few of you share at least some of my strange tastes and will really like it.

Frankenstein: Prodigal Son* by Dean Koontz:  I have read this book before and it is just as good the second time around.  It's about a mad scientist creating what he believes are a superior race of human beings through some very high-tech processes.  One of his first and more primitive creations, Deucalion, is trying to find a meaning to existence.  Another creation has developed a taste for violence.  A third creation is trying desperately to escape the autism that his creator purposely caused him and find out how to be happy.  This is a very interesting book which weaves together a few stories involving science, human desires, and the supernatural.

*These are affiliate links that will give me a small commission if you buy the item through Amazon.  I wouldn't link you to anything I don't really like.

These are My Books

there's a second, third, and fourth row of books behind the books on the upper shelf

I love Dean Koontz books and most of my books are by him.  The old books are just there to look pretty and because I got them for a ridiculously low price at a yard sale.  I tend to read psychological thrillers, but lately I've been reading funny memoirs by bloggers.  Right now I'm nearly done reading Let's Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson.  It makes me laugh out loud in public like a crazy person so people give me funny looks, which is one of my favorite things for books to do.

Watching, Playing, Reading #6

I'm going to try to do these more often so they aren't so crazy long.

Watching:

Dexter: on Netflix; I tried to watch this show once but I couldn't get into it.  I decided to give it another shot, based on a recommendation from a friend, and I'm so glad I did!  I started two weeks ago and I am already on the eighth, and final, season.  It's about a blood spatter analyst who leads a double life.

I would recommend it to people who like psychological thrillers, serial killer stuff, and who have strong stomachs.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: on Netflix; I have seen all of this show but one of my friends had not seen any of it, so I had to help right this injustice.  We have been having at least a weekly Buffy night with lots of junk food.

I would recommend it to everyone who likes witty shows, shows with strong female characters, and supernatural shows.

The Boondock Saints: on Netflix; I watched this with N because he said it was his favorite movie in high school and he hasn't seen it in awhile.  I really liked it.  It's kind of similar to Dexter, as far as the vigilante justice stuff goes, and was pretty funny at times, which I appreciate with my action movies.  This movie is about two Irish brothers who decide to kill bad guys together.

I would recommend it to people who like some humor with their action movies, people who like vigilante justice themes, and people who like Irish accents ;)

Deadbeat: on Hulu; I watched the whole season of this in a single day.  It was really funny and I literally laughed out loud the whole time.  It's about a guy who can see and talk to dead people.  He helps them move on to the afterlife.

I would recommend this to people who like shows like Family Guy and The Simpsons.

Playing:

Flash games!  I used to be pretty addicted to these, so I cut myself off for a long time until I could play in moderation.

Edgar's Dream: This is an interactive art game with elements of Edgar Allen Poe.  It is cool, fairly easy and quick to play, and suitably creepy (especially with the sound on).  (I didn't want to go into that tiny hidden door because I expected to find pretty much what I found in there.)  To make it creepier play it late at night with the lights off like I did.

screenshot from the game; this part is reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland

White Door Room Escape:  Escape games and point-and-click games are my favorite kinds of Flash games.  This one was okay but I didn't love it.  It is written in Japanese but that doesn't affect the gameplay.  It was pretty easy and I completed it in under five minutes.  I prefer my escape games with more "logical" escape puzzles, such as having to put together electronics and find tools to aid in your escape.  This one was just finding various codes and then being able to escape after finding them all.

Reading:

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh: I have wanted to read this book ever since Allie announced that it would be a thing that would exist.  I waited and bought a used copy on Amazon because I am poor thrifty, and I read it in a single day.  This used to be a standard occurrence for me with books but I haven't finished a book in one day since I graduated high school.  Sure it helps that a lot of this book is pictures, but still. 

I would highly recommend this book to everyone who has a sense of humor and likes to laugh out loud when reading books.

Watching, Playing, Reading #5

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Watching:

Community: (which the picture above is from) I actually signed up for Hulu Plus just so I could watch this show and it was so worth it!  You can get a free trial of Hulu Plus here and if you sign up for a free trial there I'll get two weeks free, so everybody wins!  I love this show so much.  It's about a group of people who form a study group at a community college and all their crazy adventures and crazy professors.  It's zany and witty and silly and sometimes emotional.  And the characters are so great.  My favorites are definitely Troy and Abed.  They play so well off of each other.  I finished watching all of the seasons in less than a week.  No regrets.

I highly recommend this show to everyone who likes shows such as The Office, Parks and Recreation, How I Met Your Mother, and 30 Rock.

Firefly: on Netflix; I watched all of it in one day.  I loved it and I want more.  My favorite characters were River, Simon, and Kaylee.  Simon and River's relationship as brother and sister is so beautiful.  And Kaylee and Simon obviously really like each other but they're both super awkward about it and it's adorable.  If you don't know, this show is about a group of people flying through space together in the future and undergoing various criminal adventures with lots of danger.  It's so much better than my description made it sound, and it's got that great Joss Whedon humor that you might have enjoyed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I would recommend this show to everybody.  Seriously, if you haven't seen it go watch it right now.

About a Boy: a newer series on Hulu; I am enjoying it so far.  It's got an uptight mom, a player neighbor man, and a kid who just wants to do kid things like have fun and eat tasty food.  The kid took quite a liking to the neighbor guy, but will the guy learn anything from the kid?  We'll see.

I won't recommend this one just yet because it's just three episodes in, but I do like what I've seen so far, so if you've got some time it's worth checking out.

Breaking Bad: on Netflix; I thought I should see what all of the fuss was about so I started watching it.  I watched a few episodes but it was too depressing for me, especially with the cancer thing.  I won't be watching any more of it.  However it was a very good show.  It just made me too sad.

Haunter: on Netflix;  I loved this movie.  It was slightly like The Lovely Bones in that the main character is a girl who was murdered and is trying to save a living girl from the same horrible fate.  But that is where the similarities end.  It's a wonderfully creepy movie that keeps your brain engaged the whole time.

I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys creepy mind-bending movies that keep you guessing.

An Invisible Sign: on Netflix; I loved this one too.  It's about a young woman who becomes a teacher but she has some issues and she's slowly unraveling.  She thinks that numbers are the answer to all of her problems.  A little girl in her class has some problems of her own and the two form a bond.  This movie gave me a lot of feelings.  Sidenote: I love all of Mona Grey's outfits.

I would recommend this to people who are fascinated by mental illness.

Upside Down: on Netflix; a really unique sci-fi movie, at least as far as I've seen.  Two planets orbit next to each other, one above and one below and have equal but opposite gravitational pull.  The people above are rich and the people below are poor.  The movie focuses on what happens when a boy from the lower world meets a girl from the upper world and how it changes both worlds forever.  I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.  (I really loved it, actually, but I've already said that about just about everything.)

I would recommend it to everyone who enjoys beautiful sci-fi/fantasy landscapes and thought-provoking concepts.

Side Effects: on Netflix; So good!  It's about a wife who is very depressed and turns to a new medication with some very bad side effects.  There's a plot twist too.  I don't want to give anything away though.

I would recommend it to people who enjoy psychological thrillers.

The Eleventh Commandment: on Netflix; This movie is about a man escaping from a mental asylum and tracking down his uncle who put him there.  There is a serious plot twist in this one.

I would recommend it to everyone who likes very cheesy movies.  The plot is really good though.

Misbegotten:  on Netflix; This movie is about a women who gets pregnant through artificial insemination, but her joy is cut short when the psychopathic donor of the sperm tracks her down.

I would recommend this to people who like movies with psychopaths.

The Silence of the Lambs: I finally watched it and I don't know what took me so long!  I loved it.

Sightseers:  on Netflix; a dark comedy that I really enjoyed.  I don't want to give anything away but I can say that there are serial killers.

I would recommend it to anyone who liked God Bless America.

Playing:

Augmented Reality cards on my Nintendo 3DS, which G bought at a Black Friday sale and then realized he would never play it so he gave it to me.  The augmented reality cards are really cool.  You put them on a flat surface and then it looks like that surface is becoming a game.  You can have a dragon rise from your desk and then you have to battle it.  It's pretty cool.

Reading:

Soul Enchilada by David Macinnis Gill:  I bought it on Amazon because it sounded like it could be good.  It could be good with this plot, but I hate the main character!  I really can't stand her.  So it's been slow reading because she actually annoys me.  I will finish the book because I paid money for it and I'm no quitter, but it might take awhile.

Watching, Playing, Reading #4

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Watching:

Oddities and Oddities San Francisco: on Netflix; I watched all of both of these shows and I would love to see more!  It's sort of like Pawn Stars, but with taxidermy animals and infant coffins instead of laptops and watches.  There are so many interesting people and items on the show and you never know what's going to happen next.  Plus it's pretty educational, if you're into that sort of thing.

Red Dawn (the remake): on Netflix; It was a pretty good movie.  I've never seen the original but I intend to now.  It's about a bunch of high school kids trying to survive and fight back after the US is invaded.

Community: I have been waiting to watch this for a long time and now I finally am.  It is as hilarious and wonderful as I expected and I'm hooked!

Playing:

Candy Crush Saga: on Facebook; I started playing this recently and it's my guilty pleasure.  I was never going to start playing but then I did and I like it.  I only play about two levels a day so I'm not wasting all of my time on it or anything.

Reading:

still The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly;  I've just been reading it when I'm waiting for my bus so I'm taking awhile to finish it but it's such a good book that I don't want it to end!

Watching, Playing, Reading #3

Watching:

the gorgeous sunset above at Golden Gardens last night for my friend's birthday (It totally counts because this is my blog and I make the rules!)

Monsters University: from Redbox when I was recovering from being sick; I loved it and would watch it again.  You guys know how I love nice monsters.

Escape from Planet Earth: on Netflix; it's a cute movie about aliens trying to escape from Earth; very silly and perfect to watch when you're sick like I was, because there's not a complicated storyline for you to keep up with

Fangasm: on Hulu; I found out about this show because one of the bloggers I follow is on it!  It's about a house full of nerds interning for Stan Lee for his Comikaze.  Every episode makes me feel better about humanity.  And I refuse to believe it's from the producers of Jersey Shore.

Lawless: not my choice of movie but I watched this with my guy friend, N, and liked it more than I thought I would;  I had trouble taking Shia Lebeouf seriously as a bootlegger at first though.

Emily Owens, M.D.: on Netflix; I started watching this because I thought it was a comedy but then I realized it was a medical drama; I kept watching it because I liked the characters and then I stopped watching it when I found out my grandma was going to have heart surgery later in the week, because there are a lot of heart surgeries on this show that sometimes go wrong and I didn't want myself worry about my grandma's surgery any more than I already was.  She had a double bypass and it went perfectly and she is recovering nicely, which is a huge relief because nobody even knew she had anything wrong until Monday two weeks ago and she had surgery Friday of the same week.

Love Actually: on Netflix; I hated it and turned it off after 15 minutes and I'm not sorry

Love Birds: on Netflix; a romantic comedy set in New Zealand;  I loved it and it made me laugh out loud repeatedly;  It's about a man whose girlfriend leaves him and then he finds a wounded duck and becomes attached to it.  He starts to fall for the bird expert at the zoo after she helps him out with the duck.  Bonus points for no cliched airport scene.

Standing Up: on Netflix;  At first it seems like a children's movie but it is way more than that.  It reminded me of Moonrise Kingdom and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Fame High: on Netflix;  I loved this documentary which is about kids attending Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.  It's amazing to see how talented these kids are and what happens after they graduate.

After Earth: from Redbox;  I loved this one as well.  It has the perfect amount of danger to seem realistic (like way in the future realistic) with lots of suspense and emotion.

Playing: not much of anything lately; I played through Insert Title Here on Desura.  It was pretty experimental and involved a lot of insulting the player.  It was also a lot shorter than I thought it would be.

Reading: The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly; sometimes judging a book by its cover isn't so bad;  I chose this book because it has a great cover illustration;  it's an amazing story and beautifully written; it's about a young boy whose mother dies during the time of the Holocaust;  I can't tell if he actually lost touch with reality or if he really discovered an alternate reality but that's part of why I like this book so much.  It reminds me of Coraline, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I'm not very far into the book yet but I am really loving it so far.

Watching, Playing, Reading #2

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 Watching:

Once Upon a Time (on Netflix):  I found out that season 2 is on there now and I've been marathoning it.  It's gotten strange this season, but as far as I can tell I like it.  Who else is super excited for the Alice in Wonderland spin-off series?!  It involves a mental asylum!  (I'm not sure if I've told you this but I love mental asylum settings and mental illness themes.)

Our Idiot Brother (on Netflix): This was a really great indie comedy movie with one of my favorite actresses (Zooey Deschanel).  G and I both thoroughly enjoyed it and I recommend it to people who like funny things.

State of Emergency (on Netflix):  This is the worst zombie movie I have ever seen and you better believe I have seen a lot of zombie movies.  The number of zombies can be counted on your fingers and there is never any actual danger.  Never watch this movie.  I am serious.  It's not even so bad it's good.  I love those kinds of zombie movies, but this one is just slow and boring and awful.

Playing:

new (used) video games! from Al's Music Video and Games in Seattle.  This is a cool place I haven't been into for awhile.  It's just a small store with walking spaces narrow enough that you can't go past people when you're going down the aisles, but it's worth it.  There are CDs, records, video games, consoles, movies, and even guitars for sale.  I bought Tak and the Power of Juju and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, both for PS2.  When we were leaving the store, I spotted The Legend of Zelda board game in a display case!  But alas, it was not for sale.  Not that I could have afforded it if it had been, but still.  I am very pleased with both of my video game purchases.  They will give me hours and hours of enjoyment for less than $10 each.  Not bad at all.  Tak and the Power of Juju is completely silly and ridiculous, yet sometimes difficult.  I find it so hard to swing on the ropes!  Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is amazing and sometimes frustrating.  I just got the dagger and then unlocked the hourglass thing, so I can go back in time when I mess up my wall running and jumping stuff.  Plus the graphics are incredible!

Reading:

still Watchers by Dean Koontz:  It's still really good and getting better with every page.  Right now the suspense is building and foreshadowing is occurring., so I think something very exciting will happen soon.

lots of comics

lots of webcomics

as always blogs

What have you been watching, playing, and reading lately?  Anything good?

Watching, Playing, Reading #1

Welcome to my new post series.  It should be pretty self-explanatory.  I'll be sharing what I'm watching, playing, and reading lately, and what I think about those things.

Watching:

Monk (on Netflix): It's a show about an OCD detective and I love it.  It's funny sometimes and sad sometimes, but always good.

So many movies.  Some of my favorites are: Identity Thief (from Redbox; I love Melissa McCarthy in everything ever and this movie does not disappoint), Cabin in the Woods (on Netflix; It's a movie written by Joss Whedon and it is not your typical teens in a cabin get murdered story; I loved it to death (and there are zombies in it!)), House at the End of the Street (on Netflix; This movie seemed really predictable but I was actually completely wrong and it kept me guessing until the end.)

Playing:

Magic the Gathering (the card game)  I've been playing for almost a month now.  I played against a person at my happy place, the comic book shop which I'll be sharing in its own post at some point, for 2 hours.  A single game took two hours!  We were both playing with life gain decks and the way the game works is that whoever loses all 20 life first loses.  So it took FOREVER (to be read the way it is said in The Sandlot, and if you haven't seen that movie stop reading this and go watch it right this instant!) despite the fact that I was using a 20-card beginner deck and my opponent was using a full 60-card deck.  I think I would have won if they had actually used a 20 card deck, but I did hang in there for awhile.

Linger in Shadows: (downloaded from Playstation Store) This game is like nothing you've ever played before.  The game is essentially a 6-minute movie that keeps stopping and rewinding.  Gameplay is very interesting.  You have to move the controller in different ways to progress to the next part of the movie.  Sometimes you have to shake it from side to side.  Other times you have to turn the controller in circles.  It's a very interesting system of controls that would not work in a fast-paced game, but is pretty perfect here.  The first time I played through, I just finished the movie.  The second time I played through, I accidentally stumbled upon a secret and then found out that there are a whole bunch of secrets that give you trophies when you find them.  So the third time I played through I was all about finding the trophies.  I still missed three though.  This game is very replayable and well worth the, I believe, $2.99 that it cost.  Plus the movie itself is pretty cool.

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Free Realms: (Downloaded from Playstation Store) This game is an RPG.  The free version, which I have, will provide hours upon hours of entertainment.  The environments in this game are incredible.  There's a snowy environment with a North Pole feel to it, a beach environment, and even a fairy tale land environment, just to name a few.  You go around exploring places and completing quests.  You can earn coins to use to purchase stuff to either make your character better at their skills or just look really cool.  This game allows you to try lots of different jobs.  So far I have played as an adventurer, archer, a miner, a brawler, and a chef (I'm not very good at that one).  Some of the other jobs are postman, race car driver, sorcerer (that might not be what they call it) and fisherman.  It's a really fun game.  My favorite jobs so far are adventurer and brawler.  I like being an adventurer because it's basically just exploring the environments as much as possible and trying to find every single secret or hidden place that exists.  You find explorer coins which go in your collection.  You can also collect lots of other things, like wildflowers, insects, and seashells.

My Singing Monsters: I downloaded this app for free on G's phone because I don't have a smartphone but I love monsters.  You get to buy, breed and hatch different monsters.  The different monsters play different sounds that mingle together to sound pretty cool.  You can feed the monsters baked goods to level them up and put them next to their favorite things to make them produce coins faster.  It's a really fun game and I play it for a little bit every time I hang out with G.

Reading:

I just finished reading The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti.  I don't remember exactly where I got it, probably a thrift store or yard sale.  It was really good.  Hannah Tinti has been called the Robert Louis Stevenson of the modern age and she lives up to that title.  Her words paint vivid pictures of ghost towns filled with vagrants and wrongdoers.  This book focuses on an orphan boy and his adventures with a man who takes him from the orphanage, claiming to be his brother.  This man turns out to be quite a con artist and puts the boy, Ren, in all sorts of dangerous situations.  It's a really good book that I highly recommend.

Now I'm reading Watchers by Dean Koontz.  So far it's about a depressed man discovering an extremely intelligent dog and realizing that life is worth living after all and there are still wondrous things to discover.  There are also two side stories, which I'm sure will all converge later.  One involves a hit man being hired to kill doctors, and the other involves a woman who is basically a hermit because of her aunt teaching her that most of the people in the outside world are harmful and dangerous.  This book is very good so far and has made me laugh out loud at quite a few of the dog parts.

I'm also reading webcomics and real comic books which I'll share in two separate posts.

A Strange Fascination

I have this strange fascination with murderers, especially serial killers.  I'm not really sure how else to say it.  I think that there are a couple of different reasons why.  First of all, I just can't understand how anyone can be so cruel to another human being.  Second, while supposedly scary movies make me laugh my head off, movies with serial killers actually scare me, because they could actually happen, to some extent.  And for some reason, watching a lot of those types of movies makes me have fewer nightmares than I do when I don't watch them.  Maybe it gets it out of my system somehow?  Thrillers are my favorite kinds of books and one of my favorite kinds of movies.  I always used to watch The First 48 on Friday nights with my mom when I was growing up.  I've watched Bones, NCIS, Monk, CSI, and countless movies with the same theme.  And I love the new show The Following.

There's not really a point to this post.  I just felt like sharing.

Nerdy and I Know It

You may have gathered/I may have mentioned that I am a nerd. But I am not sure that I have ever posted a list of the reasons why I am a nerd. And I figure that this blog needs more bulleted lists. So here we go!

1. Every time I read "here we go" anywhere, I read it in the voice of Mario.

1. I am a word nerd.

• I love puns.
• I have loved to read books ever since I learned how when I was 3. Fun fact: I got a trophy in elementary school because I read over 1,000 books. It is the only personal trophy I've ever gotten.
• I love learning new words, and I am all about the vocabulary quiz on FreeRice.com.
• I love alliteration too.
• I also sort of collect fonts on my laptop, but only good ones that are also free (which are hard to find).
• People who insult people and use "your" where they should use "you're" make me laugh at them.
• I'm not a grammar Nazi, at least not outwardly. I keep all of my corrections to other people's grammar to myself.
• I also enjoy solving crossword puzzles, and doing fill-in puzzles (they're like crosswords mixed with logic puzzles).
• I read/devour webcomics. (This one will get its own post very soon.)

2. I am a logic nerd.

• I love logic problems.
• I also love Sudoku and its nerdier cousin Kakuro.
• I think that cryptography (coding and decoding) is fascinating.
• I have lots of different Rubik's cubes. I even know how to solve some of them.

Not pictured: I also have two ordinary Rubik's cubes, aka the 3x3. I know how to solve
the 3x3 as well as the weird segmented 2x2 in the upper right corner of this picture.

3. I am sort of a video game/computer game nerd.

• I don't play a whole lot of video games anymore, mainly because I feel bad about kicking G off his own TV so I can play video games, and I'm too poor to buy my own and still be able to pay my rent.
• I used to play lots of video games.
• My mom had a rule when my brother and I were young that we could only play video games for 20 minutes a day, and we had to set a timer.  We weren't allowed to own video games untl I was 10 and my brother was 12. At that time my mom reluctantly bought us an original Game Boy at a yard sale for $5. We had to share it and we amassed quite a few games for it. One of these was called Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle.  It was one of those annoying games where you can't save it but when you beat a level, it gives you a password that you can enter to continue from the last level you beat instead of having to start over from the beginning.  The first time I broke the 20 minute rule, it was with the Bugs Bunny game.  My grandparents were watching us while my mom was visiting my uncle in the hospital after his motorcycle accident. I played Bugs Bunny for at least 2 hours straight, but probably more like 4 hours.  I saw Bugs Bunnys running around in my vision for at least two hours after I stopped playing. It was slightly worrisome.  After that my mom realized that you can't accomplish a whole lot on any video game within 20 minutes, so she upped our time limit to one hour a day, and two hours during the summer, but only one hour at a time twice a day.
• Over the years of living at home, my brother and I acquired one lime green Game Boy Color which we shared, a Game Boy Advance SP each, and a Nintendo DS each. My brother bought consoles after moving out but I didn't.  We also amassed quite an impressive collection of games.  My favorites were anything Zelda, anything Mario, and Golden Sun.  For those of you who don't know, Golden Sun is an incredibly epic RPG. I still have my Game Boy Advance SP, but I sold my Nintendo DS at the beginning of last summer to get rent money.
• I currently know how to play music from both Zelda and Mario on both my flute and my guitar.
• I want a Link hat and I want Mario character plushies, but I won't buy them because I don't have money for both them and rent.
• I drew a really cool picture of Link when I was 12. I'll have to find my old sketchbook next time I go home and scan the drawings for you.
• I used to play Runescape, when I was in middle school.
• I learned that MMORPGs are much too addictive for me to handle, so now I steer clear of them.
• I still love to play flash-based browser games, especially point and click games and escape the room games.

5. I am a sci fi nerd.

• This post is already pretty long, so I'll try to keep this one short. I like sci fi shows, books, and movies.
• Star Wars is my one true love. Sidenote: They make real life lightsabers now, and they've been advertised on my blog sometimes in my Project Wonderful ads. They're actually lasers and not intended for use as weapons. Also? I want a Chewbacca plushie. Also also? I am a Jedi.
• I need to watch the X Files and I need to finish the 7th season of Buffy.
• I'm not sure if supernatural shows count as sci fi, but I am counting it anyway. I love the series Supernatural and I love the series Reaper, which I discovered on Netflix and watched both seasons in 3 days.
• Doctor Who also has a special place in my heart.
• There is a third Men in Black movie and it involves time travel. I have not decided how I feel about this yet.
• I took a contemporary literature class in college that was all about sci fi movies and books. It was one of the coolest classes ever.
• I have and love a Back to the Future shirt.
• Zombies aren't sci fi in my opinion. (It could seriously really happen!) But I'll put that I love zombie-related stuff in this category anyway.
• Pottermore: I know that I need to read the books, but I definitely went through the first book on Pottermore in one evening. It's kind of like a point-and-click game combined with reading and I love it.

8. There's probably a ton more stuff that I'll think of later, but I think this is enough for now.

Strikeout

So Casey and I are just friends, mystery solved.  Which is probably for the best, because I'm honestly kind of boy crazy.  And one of the cashiers in the convenience store downstairs has been flirting with me, so obviously that I can even tell.  So yeah, that's it.  Except, wait! I went to church today and I walked all the way there and back and went to Safeway and got some strawberries and marionberry muffins and awful Safeway Chinese food, which I've been craving. And now I'm going bookstore browsing, which I absolutely adore doing.  I love books, and great deals on books are even better.  And one of the bookstores is having a 70% off sale today.  5 books for $5. I am a happy camper.  Also, I got strawberries, Cadbury Creme Eggs, marionberry muffins, a new ring, and some Safeway Chinese food. It's a good day.  Watched Monsters Inc. and now I'm watching Yes Man.  Have I mentioned how much I love Zooey Deschanel? Because it's a lot.

my happy face

Sorry for the Delay

I promised you a story yesterday and then I neglected you, and I apologize for that.  But to make it up to you in today's post I will: share the story, review two movies, and proudly let my nerd flag fly, or maybe it's a geek flag; I never did figure out the difference.

Okay, let's all hop in the time machine and take a trip back to Wednesday.  Buckle your seatbelts. Ready the flux capacitator. Approaching 88 mph. Okay, we're there, or rather here.  We are then? But we are also now? In other words, we have safely arrived at Wednesday.  Okay, so the morning started out normally.  I took too long in the shower, grabbed a Pop Tart to eat on the go, and nearly missed my ride.  Completely normal.  I had my first class of the day, Scandinavian Crime Fiction, which is as awesome as it sounds, and then I had 3 hours to kill before my next class, so I went to read a book and get some lunch in a cafe on campus.  I had finished my lunch and was just sitting and reading my book when some random guy came and sat down at the table.  I didn't look up, because I am an intense reader and I was near the end of the book.  He sat there eating for about 5 minutes and then he said, "Hi, I think you're cute and I wonder if you would talk to me."  Imagine my surprise when it's the same guy who had said those exact words to me last year, W, when I was reading a book in a different part of the same cafe.  He hadn't recognized me, but I reminded him.  After we met last year, we never really talked at all.  This time, we talked for about an hour and I found out that he has OCD just like me.  We also love watching movies and we both play guitar.  We ended up exchanging numbers and he asked if I'm around on weekends.  I said that I am and then he asked if I'd like to go out to dinner with him sometime.  I said sure.  Guys, you do not understand how much this never ever happens to me.  It never ever happens.  Nobody ever asks me out to dinner, ever, literally it has never happened.  After that, he walked me to class.

Later that day, I went to basic photography with the hope that I might be able to get an add code and join the class.  I had emailed the professor asking for an add code, but she hadn't emailed me back, and I figure that nothing says I-want-to-be-in-your-class more than, you know, being in their class.  So I attempted that and at the end of the lecture the professor informed me and about 15 other students that she already gave out all the add codes.  Lame sauce.  So after that, it was raining really hard and I sat inside reading my book and hoping that the rain would let up a bit so I could walk over to my friend's dorm and hang out for a little bit before walking to church.  This was a church that I had never been to, and at this point, I thought that it started at 6:30.  Later, I would find out that it started at 6.  Oops.  So I ended up finding the church relatively easily and when I went in I could tell that I was late.  Actually, I could tell that I was late as soon as I read the banner outside that said worship and dinner for students Wednesdays at 6.  So I went in and found my friend.  I soon realized that this was a Lutheran church.  It was pretty different than the other churches I have been to.  We had to recite these things off of a piece of paper and stuff.  Then we had communion.  We all got a piece of bread and dipped it into a cup of what I think must have been wine, and I feel like the bread was sourdough, so it did not taste good, but I thought if I was actually eating Jesus' flesh and blood, it wouldn't taste good either.  Then they were done.  So I had missed the message or sermon or whatever it is that Lutherans call it.  Then we all had coconut soup.  It was Thai and it was really good, and there were yummy cookies too.  After that, my wonderful friend Jessica walked me back to my dorm.  I had to use my crutches, because my right leg was protesting my cruelty of making it walk around all day by being really painful.  It was at least a mile back to my dorm and probably took about an hour.  When I got back, I was the most exhausted that I have ever been in my entire life.  My left leg decided to protest my cruelty to it by giving out when I got into my room.  There was no way I could even stand at that point and I would definitely not be able to get myself into bed, since under normal conditions I have to jump to reach it; it's at least 4 feet off the ground.  While my friend Jessica is the most amazing person in the entire world, she is smaller than me and does not have super-strength, so I called C to see if he could help me get in bed.  He didn't answer so I sent Jessica to knock on his door and see if either of his roommates were there and willing to help me.  C was there and he came to help me.  Unfortunately, while there are many things I admire about C, his huge muscles are not one of them.  This is because he does not have huge muscles.  But between him lifting from under my arms and Jessica lifting my feet, they managed to get me in bed.  Then Jessica left and I gave her advice on not getting attacked by murderers and what to do if she is attacked, since it was dark and she was walking back by herself.  Then C stayed and talked to me about random stuff for about an hour.  We discussed my new rule that I will never go to a hospital unless I am actually dying because of the fact that doctors totally suck.  Then somehow, we came to the conclusion that all "d" words suck except for dinosaurs.  We came up with 5 different "d" words that suck: doctors, dentists, death, doing work, and dehydration.  Then we started talking about sign language and martial arts and injuries we have had in the past.  Then he left and tried to lock my door for me so I wouldn't have to get out of bed to lock it, and then not be able to get back in bed.  He was worried about me falling asleep with it unlocked and getting robbed or something.  That's a legitimate concern.  We have had hobos sleep in our floor lounge before.  I told him that my roommate would be back later and she would lock it, since you can only lock it from the outside with the key or from the inside by pushing the button.  He reluctantly left.  So I feel like he likes me.  He definitely cares about my safety and well-being anyway.  I am going to see if he wants to play ping pong with me tonight in the rec room. Update: He said yes :)

Now we are travelling forward in time to yesterday.  Blah blah blah classes blah blah blah.  Then, my friend K picked me up and she took me to the bookstore so I could sell back some old books and purchase the rest of my textbooks.  I found three books by my favorite author, Dean Koontz, for $4.00 each! That's a really great deal, and then I found another for $8.00.  I also got all of my textbooks.  Then K and I discovered the humor section.  I had the pleasure of reading aloud "All My Friends Are Dead".  This one guy overheard me read only on sentence and looked at me really weird.  In the book, there was a picture of a clown with the words, "I've already made two children cry today."  There were also a lot of zombie books, including The Zombie Pirate Code: A Guide to Becoming the Undead Master of the High Seas and So You're a Zombie, which is full of helpful information about how to recognize humans pretending to be zombies and various zombie karate techniques.  I managed to get pictures of a few of these books.  One of my favorites was Zombie Haiku.  Unfortunately, my camera died so I couldn't get a picture of it.  Fortunately, I memorized one of the haikus for your reading pleasure:
You are so lucky
that I cannot remember
how to use doorknobs.

And now, some pictures of books!

After the bookstore, we rented a couple movies and went to K's boyfriend's to make dinner and watch the movies. K cooked a delicious meal of green beans with mushrooms in them and chicken parmesan something or other. It was a lot of fun even though I didn't like the movies. We watched Rosemary's Baby, which her boyfriend commented should be named Rosemary's pregnancy. It's funny because it's true.  We also watched Dreamcatchers, which is based on a Stephen King book.  I have no idea what he was on when he wrote the book but it must have been powerful, because this movie is seriously weird.  Aliens that burst out of people's colons and possess other people.  They also talk in British accents for some reason.  The only good part of this movie was the part where the guy uses something other than a phone as a phone.  I'm not giving it away just in case you watch this movie anyway, so you will at least be able to get a tiny bit of enjoyment out of it.  But in my opinion, these movies are not worth watching.  They each get a half star out of 5, and that's being generous.

And now, it's the part of the post where I wave my nerd-geek flag in the air like I just don't care, because honestly, I don't.  So have you all watched Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back?  If not, go watch it right now, and don't come back until you're finished.  Okay, so remember the part where Luke is riding his taun taun on Hoth and then he ends up having to slice it open and climb into its warm steaming guts to keep from freezing to death?  Have you ever wondered why he would do that? Well, you'll be happy to know that I know the answer.  (And by know, I mean I completely made something up.)  Luke Skywalker forgot his Snuggie.  I know what you're thinking: Who in their right mind would travel the icy plains of Hoth without a Snuggie? Well, give Luke Skywalker a break.  For one thing, Snuggies weren't even invented yet.  But can you imagine that scene if he had a Snuggie? He would have just continued to ride his happy taun taun instead of having to crawl into its guts.  This scene particularly upset APETTT (Aliens and People for the Ethical Treatment of Taun Tauns).  You can't set foot on Hoth nowadays without being bombarded by APETTT advocates with clipboards asking you to donate just 15 galactic credits a day.  For an additional 15 galactic credits, they will supply one scared and lonely taun taun with its very own Snuggie.

I Can Has Internetz!

I really have no idea why I decided to title this post like I'm an LOLcat but I did, so deal with it. My neighbors graciously shared their internet network password with me, so I have internet access again. Yay!  But for some reason it still won't work on my full sized computer so I have to use my little baby laptop. But it's alright, because I recently downloaded free antivirus for the baby laptop courtesy of my school.  The major downside to these mini laptops is the disturbing lack of a disk drive. Luckily for me, I can find downloads of the things I need for free on the Internet, mostly through my school.

While I have been away, I finished reading two books. They were really really really really good. Then I realized that I have now read all of my books :( So I need to find some book swap buddies pronto. I can reread my books, but I've read all of them relatively recently and I like to forget what happens in them a little bit before I read them again.  So now I have a book wishlist: anything ever written by James Patterson, because he is an amazing writer, specifically the first book in the Women's Murder Club series, since I just finished the second two, also Fang, the latest book in the Maximum Ride series, then I want the third book in the Dean Koontz Frankenstein trilogy since the second one ends in a complete cliffhanger and I NEED to know what happens next.

In other news, I have a new favorite flavor of ice cream. Haagen Dazs came out with a few new flavors: chai latte, blueberry crumble, and caramel apple.  They're all pretty good but the caramel apple is amazing! I would marry this ice cream if I could.  I got some edamame today. I think that it's like baby soybeans. I used to eat this stuff for snacks when I was a kid and I loved it.

We have really nice weather again today. My room is the perfect temperature with both the window and the door open. And now I'm going to go conquer this physics paper. Well at least start to conquer it anyway.Have a good weekend everyone!