Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Be dumb! It works!

Excellent book.
Perverted and sort of icky, but at least interesting.
He was 23!!!
Elizabeth Gaskell was (and is) overrated. BBC seems to be in love with her, but she's not that great.
Not that I've actually read her stuff.
But I plan to.
And the movies I've seen based on her work, that apparently stay very true to the books?
Not impressed.
"North and South" was a lot better than "Wives and Daughters".
But it still seemed like she had to pull a rabbit out of a hat to get the desired ending.
And she made all these random subplots that never went anywhere.
Take "North and South" for instance. Her brother is a CRIMINAL and will be KILLED if anyone finds out he's in England. A drunk catches him leaving the train station and almost turns him in, but Fred pushes him down the stairs and he later dies, making Fred not only a mutineer, but a MURDERER.
And, as you're waiting impatiently, wanting to know what will happen to him, Margaret (the main character) makes a side comment about him being happily married in Spain, and that's THAT. You never hear from him again.
Seems like a bunch of unnecessary drama.
Ugh, I HAAAATED Margaret soooooooooooo much. She was like a homeschooler on CRACK - everything she did was offensive, and she made no effort to try to understand people and the Northern culture. And Elizabeth Gaskell's main characters are always praised for speaking their minds in a time when women had no rights and being revolutionary and forthright and whatnot, but you didn't get the impression that Margaret was outspoken or revolutionary - just irritating. And out of ALL the characters, she grew the LEAST. Sure, she changed her opinion about the mill owner, but only because he was so dang attractive (mmmmmhmmm), and every stupid decision she made was justified by her idiot father, even if she disobeyed him by INVITING HER CRIMINAL BROTHER INTO THE COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!
John Thornton was a much better male lead than Roger "Moron" whatever-his-last-name-is.
The ending was really epic. Margaret randomly inherits money from her father's old friend, after EVERYONE ELSE DIES (seriously, at least 6 main characters kick the bucket), and moves back to London.
But, when she's riding away in the carriage after saying goodbye to Thornton, he's watching her go, almost crying, saying, "Look back. Look back at me."
But she doesn't. Because she's an idiot.
Then she moves to London with her gross aunt and her ditzy best friend and the creepy stalker with GROSS sideburns who had been stalking her since the beginning of the movie, and was STILL pouting over her rejecting his proposal!!!
Then Thornton loses the mill, but he and Higgins are best friends, so that's okay. Margaret makes a lot more money and buys the mill and visits Milton, where Thornton's mom chews her out for rejecting HER son as well, and Margaret's like, "Well, he IS rather attractive..."
ANYWAY, the epic part: she's on a train back to London, and Thornton's on a train back to Milton from Helstone (long story), and they both have a delay and their trains end up right next to each other, so they both leap out of the trains and start making out on a bench, while Henry "Gross sideburns" Lennox pouts in his car. Then Margaret goes into the train with Thornton and its a wonderfully happy ending with icky sideburns going home that night - ALONE!
And that's pretty much been my entire Spring Break, so far.
Besides graduating my Sims from college (finally) and spending time at the beach with my family.
My grandparents have been married 57 years. 57 YEARS. That's a long time.
Beaches are awesome. Even when it's a balmy 47 degrees outside with freezing winds.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

You can take the girl out of Hicksville, but you can't take the Hicksville out of the girl

So true.
Better days at school.
My dad thinks I have an eating disorder, though.
Please. It's not like I'm throwing up my breakfast on PURPOSE.
But mixed messages abound. It's getting really annoying.
It sucks to be melancholic and everything, but phlegmatics are just as annoying...in uniquely different ways.
Tyler and I did our England presentation today. Finally. At least it's out of the way. It might not have been 5 minutes, but at least it was 15 minutes like this one group, who stuttered painfully and paused for minutes in between topics.
And we weren't boring.
And we argued during it, which "caught people's attention".
But when we were done, people only had questions about the London Eye, the world's biggest ferris wheel.
Only that. And we couldn't answer them all.
Poor Maricel. She has to do it all by herself.
So we'll help her with the chocolate chip scones. Mmmm...
"They're supposed to be bitter!"
British people eat crappy food.
And don't like Jesus.
RENT! I love Anthony Rapp. Except for his icky goatee.
And Jesse L. Martin. He has a nice goatee.
And Wilson Jermaine Heredia's goatee looks pretty nice. HE is nice.
We're starting a poetry unit in English. It's a lot better than I thought it would be. Edgar A. Guest is totally cheesy and kind of lame, but I love Langston Hughes, Anne Sexton, and Mary Oliver. "Wild Geese" made me cry.
We have to pick a topic, find 5 poems that support that topic, write 2 of our own, and then present them to the class. One of them was "On the Edge", and I don't want to be melodramatic about it, because my poetry tends to be, but there was a poem in "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" that fits the theme perfectly.
That one was sad, too.
The guy who wrote "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" also wrote the screenplay for "Rent".
No wonder I liked that book so much.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Reality Checks for Lovesick Teenagers

I'm actually in a fairly good mood, not bitter at all.
For the most part.
Just very sarcastic and a little cynical.
But only a little.
Musicals were a great invention. That and 80's music. Seriously, are William and I the only people who thought Huey Lewis was black?
But yeah. This is me trying to be funny.

1. For guys: Everyone has an excretory system.
Meaning the girl you think about day and night takes a dump every now and again. Heck, she's probably taking one right now. And, being perfectly honest, they *gasp* FART, too! I know you didn't want to hear it, but it had to be said. My point is: nobody's perfect. And they sometimes smell gross.

2. For girls: Though all teenage boys play guitar, most of them don't play it that well.
So don't be expecting any Joe Jonas-esque love songs. They're probably still struggling with "Smoke on the Water"...and love songs are the last things on their mind, for various reasons.

3. For guys: Of course she gets moody once a month.
What else did you expect? Here's what I suggest: either run and hide or LEAVE HER ALONE. And just because she's a nightmare now doesn't mean she stopped "loving" you. WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MAKE HER FEEL BETTER. THIS COULD RESULT IN WEEPING, GNASHING OF TEETH, AND/OR DEATH.

4. For girls: He's going to stare at other girls.
There are some cases where he can't help it. If you're really bothered by it, start wearing shorter skirts. (To Christians: Sorry, just kidding!)

5. For girls: Do NOT overanalyze every conversation.
There is NOT a hidden message, spelling either, "I love you," or, "I hate you," behind every sentence of his. He usually just means what he says.

6. For guys: Yes, she really is talking about you in the bathroom
But you already knew that.

7. For guys: She'd rather hear, "You're beautiful," than, "You look hot."
Because the latter makes you sound stupid. And sort of sleazy. Unless you WANT to grow up to be a 40-year-old virgin/lecher.

8. For girls: Be glad that he has guy friends.
Sure, you freak out when he'd rather hang out with his male companions than you, but all that estrogen can be cloying after a little while. And don't be worried that he's really in the closet and is sneaking away to be with his boyfriend: it's not true. If he wants to hang out with other girls, however, then you've got a problem...but I digress.

9. For guys: Sports are boring. So are cars.
Yeah, some girls like them, but for the most part, Nascar and March Madness don't get them excited. So don't dwell on those subjects, please.

10. For both: THIS IS NOT LOVE.
It's mostly just hormones and other things. You will not marry this person. You will break up sooner or later, and may or may not remain friends.

Yep. Exactly. And this is coming from "Dr. Love".
That was super entertaining, though. Immature and fun. But now I have to go to bed.

For some reason, they always target the band geeks....

I hate band contest. Really. They always give us the earliest possible time slot, we just happen to sound terrible, and while practicing, people decide to add an extra shot of annoying to the morning latte.
But, even with the lack of sleep and idiots who were convinced that we were performing at the junior high, not the high school, none of put me in a super bad mood.
Okay, it annoyed the bloody hell out of me, but it only put me in sort of a bad mood.
Then my pseudo boyfriend decided he'd rather hang out with his cute timpani playing sort-of-slutty "friend" than me.
And has either forgotten or doesn't feel the need to speak to me since Thursday afternoon.
Seriously, one day it's all good. We hung out like usual, talking, nothing special, and then by 6:30, concert time, I'm invisible.
Because our little friend needed help "tuning the timpanis".
And it SUCKS, because I'm pissed and feeling used and have spent pretty much all day moping, but he's NOT MY BOYFRIEND. Sure, I like this guy, he's one of my best friends, but we're not officially "dating", so if I tell the little tone-deaf slut to back off, I'm just a jealous loser who obviously took things the wrong way.
For approximately 6 months, anyway.
Yep. I'm that bad at reading boy signals, apparently.
And he's not exactly telling her to back off. He loves the attention, I can tell.
It makes me SO MAD, because it's not like she's so much better than me.
Sure, she's cute, and sort of musical, but she's annoying and dumbs herself down so much that she's borderline retarded.
I have never dumbed myself down in my whole freaking life and know what a frigging key signature is.
But she's got more to offer.
And, come Monday, all this moping will have been for nothing. Oh, that was just a misunderstanding, he really likes me and he didn't know she bugged me (B.S.), but whatever, I'll probably accept his apology because I'm an idiot like that.
Either that, or we're no longer "friends" or whatever we were. We weren't "just friends", but we weren't "dating", and we weren't stupid enough to be "friends with benefits".
Ugh, and I hate the fact that this girl REALLY ISN'T THAT BAD OF A PERSON. I LIKE her. She's not my friend, but she's REALLY nice. Sort of a tease, but NICE! We can talk about politics like nobody's business and be on the same side, and she's been nothing but nice to me.
Except for hitting on the guy I like. And just about every other male in the school.
So it's really confusing to watch her throw herself at him, and then give me a friendly "hello" while I'm putting my trombone together.
Band Contest wasn't even that bad yesterday, the lack of sleep and musical idiots ("Oooooh, that's a B Flat?") notwithstanding. I saw Emily for the first time in like, what, a year? It was really cool to see her because she's so optimistic and always happy and she can put herself into any situation and get along with people. We talked for a little bit and it was the high point of my day, but I probably won't see her again for another year or two.
But then we had to go back to school.
Ugh. At least if I'd tuned those freaking timpanis, they would have actually been in tune. That's supposed to be an E, sweetheart, not an F#.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

She loves you, and you know that can't be bad

She loves you, and you know you should be glad, OOOOOOOO.
Michael Moscovitz looks much better after a little plastic surgery, thanks for asking.
Argh, Stateside.
It started off as my friends pressuring me to go.
Then Janine got in on it.
Then God went, "Surprise. Guess who's side I'm on?"
But you can't argue with him.
So I started filling out the application, and realized that I really do want to go.
Not just because Sierra's going, and not just because it will be the last time I see Kristine, but because I finally realized I can't be closed off forever and that I need more friends, since Kristine is leaving and that's what the body of Christ is about anyway.
And I've never been on a missions trip and this will be a cool experience.
My parents are all for it, and are ready to back me up financially. It was pretty cool last night, because I was worried about money and different factors regarding the trip, and my empathetic Thinker mom explained to me why they were supporting me while my Feeler dad sat on the floor just listening and pretending he needed tissues for his allergies.
But filling out the application was still pretty scary, because I realized if I'm completely honest, they might not let me go. Up until this point (okay, it still continues to this day), I've had sort of a bad attitude regarding the youth group and I know Ben has picked up on that, so when he reads parts of my application (there were questions like, "Why do you come to Primetime?" and "Do you have any personal problems with anyone in the Youth Group?" that gave me pause), he might interpret it negatively.
Which scares the crap out of me.
But I've been praying about it since last night and worst case scenario is can't go: there's always next year, and now I know what I need to work on.
Phew.



You Are the Communicator



You are a collector and facilitator of knowledge. You love storytelling and teaching.

You light up when you're around other people, and you especially light up in front of a crowd.



You are a charismatic person who's genuinely a joy to be with. You remind others to have fun.

You love life, and you're wake up grateful for every new day. This attitude makes the people around you love life as well.





You Are a Chocolate Cupcake



You are deep, richly interesting, and at times overpowering. You have a strong personality.

You are drawn to people who adore you. You love it when your specialness is recognized.



You are like a cupcake because it's hard for people to get enough of you.

You have a mysterious charm that makes you incredibly addicting. People are drawn to your drama.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Karma: Attractive people having ugly babies

But the babies shouldn't be punished for it.
Just their parents.
AAAAAAAGH I was playing with my Princess Diaries Sims and all the teens went to college.
They all looked pretty good for young adult sims, at least pretty normal.
Then Michael Moscovitz got out of the car.
He used to look like this. He's the only one not wearing glasses.

You don't even want to know what he looks like now. Actually, I'd show you, but I don't have a current picture of him.
Speaking of babies, Tyler and I made one together. Her name is Captain and she has black hair, blue eyes, clodhopper feet, and is freakishly tall.
Tyler made her look disgusting.
Great. Our child is a clown.
Even though, seeing as we're cousins, she should have three heads and flippers, so I guess she doesn't look that bad.
Classes for next year! Paul and Kevin are taking English Lit with me, but Amanda is going full time at the college (lame) and Emma is dropping out of band.
So next year has some possible suckage.
Ugh, if any of my teachers mentions the WASL one more time, I'm going to walk out.
THE WASL IS A WASTE OF TIME.
THERE IS NO NEED TO PREPARE.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Dangerous dumplings

Hwaaaaaa!
Argh. It's like my dad and I communicate backwards. I was really tired, about to pass out, and I didn't want to go to Primetime and listen to a boring sermon after I'd pretty much ignored my favorite pastor preach for about an hour, so I told my dad, and he starts LECTURING me about how I can't always get out of it and I might regret it now, but in the end I'll be happy. So I started crying, because I was REALLY FREAKING TIRED and I didn't want to have to deal with all that self-righteous crap, and he was making me MAD.
So I'm sitting there, fuming, and he lets me for a good half hour, and then, when he takes me home, there's suddenly all this overwhelming sympathy! He's really sorry, and everything, but by now it's too late, because I'm just MAD and TIRED and UNREASONABLE and I don't need this.
Argh. It seems to be becoming a pattern, too.
And why is it that when someone sees that their friend is angry, they decide that the BEST possible way to cheer their friend up would be to annoy the bloody daylights out of them??
And then they're so surprised that their friend is even angrier, and they pout because of it!!!
Are you insane?????????? What kind logic is that???
So people are frustrating, but God created dogs, and they are nice. I mean, humans are sort of becoming more dependent on technology and English is going down the toilet, but dogs can't "communicate" with us verbally, yet seem to know exactly what we're thinking all the time. Body language is all we have to go on. They're like little "Lie to Me"'s.
That show is pretty cool.

Friday, March 06, 2009

You can feel it all over, people

Stevie Wonder, "Sir Duke"!!!
When you have a sore throat, $25, and endless free time, all sorts of things can happen.
So I bought some Stevie Wonder, Queen, Paramore, and "Rent".
Now I'm reading Sims 2 blogs.
Weeee, March. Greatest month. And it's getting warmer (sort of) and it's sunny pretty much all the time. It's like a different state.
If you were to rob someone, would you really take their couch?
Not only is it heavy, but how else will they watch TV?
My dog smells awful.
I watched a half hour infomercial about 70's music. My dad watched with me and salivated over Tony Orlando's music collection.
I also watched "ShakespeaREtold", which was pretty excellent. "Much Ado About Nothing" was really well done. The ending of "Macbeth" was genius. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" sucked, but I hated that one anyway.
Ugh, watched "The Bachelor" on Monday. Jason Mesnick is such a scumbag.
First, he proposes to Melissa. She seemed so happy and they were so cute together.
Then, literally 5 MINUTES LATER, on "After the Final Rose", the camera cuts to Jason sobbing as he admits he doesn't love Melissa anymore and wishes he could bring Molly back.
HELLO???
He spent 6 WEEKS with Melissa. He spent all the holidays with her family and she bonded with Ty.
But that wasn't good enough, because the chemistry "changed".
Well, DUH! As you guys get closer, your relationship changes. That's the whole point!!
But no. He went crying back to Molly.
Melissa came on the show and chewed Jason out, calling him a bastard and saying that he might've loved Melissa, and wanted to be with Melissa, but he didn't want to fight for Melissa, because he was a balless sissy.
Well, she didn't say the last part. But she might as well have.
And I couldn't stop thinking about how SELFISH he was. SERIOUSLY! On the show, he was never worried about how the girls would feel, and he was only worried about what he wanted. His son is probably really confused after spending all that time with Melissa, having his dad promise that Melissa would be their new mom, and then dumping her. His son is probably never going to have a normal life because of his dad's fame, but it was NECESSARY. Jason NEEDED to find love.
And he ASKS Molly to take him back.
AND SHE DOES!!!
What. An. Idiot. If she doesn't think he'll do the same thing to her, she's kidding herself.
The opposite of love is selfishness. No wonder he got divorced.