BEDA #30: Owls?

There is literally and owl hooting outside my bedroom. It's the weirdest thing. I've never heard a legit owl hoot in my life. I think it's really cool actually =]

SO TODAY'S THE LAST DAY OF BEDA! It's surely been a crazy month. I've honestly really enjoyed writing on the blog everyday, so much that I know I'll keep up with it more often, just to check in and such. It's remarkably therapeutic at the end of the day to either do a write up of my day or talk about something that was on my mind. I'm kind of going to miss it, even if I did fail just 13 days in xD

So, true to my fashion, I'll give you a summary of my day and then maybe do something I haven't done in a while... You'll see =]

So I got up at 6:30, took Tiger Transit in to campus, was the first one in Foy so I had a nice little chat with Jeri's daughter, Jenna, and had a wonderful jazz class. We started learning a routine where we have partners and one of us mugs the other. Kelly Davino mugged me. It was great =P

Voice and Movement told me some new things about my body, but honestly, I love that class. Just learning the whacky anatomy that we have is enough to simultaneously freak me out and fascinate me.

I had my voice lesson at 12:30 for the first time, and I think I might want to switch back to my regular 3pm, provided I can get Ben to switch with Kelly instead of me. He wanted 3:30 anyway.

So I rushed from my voice lesson to the science classrooms for my lab section of Concepts of Science. I walk in... there are no lab tables. I was like, what kind of lab is this?

Interjection: So I just realized that the reason why my blog compositions have been in the HTML format was because it had accidentally been switched to the "Edit Html" tab instead of the "Compose" tab. Which I JUST FIGURED OUT! I've been suffering through not being able to change my font size or kind for a week now! *STUPID*

Back to regular programming.

So I sit down at the table, and our GTA gets started, and he's this really southern geologist guy who seems really passionate about his classes, which got my attention, and then I realized that I hadn't done half the homework.

FML.

So I felt really stupid and unprepared (because I was) and I'll tell you now, I HATE feeling unprepared. It's like, the worst feeling to me to walk into a class and not have my work done. It just makes me feel like a failure, and I'm not exaggerating about that. I feel disappointed with myself FAR more than the professor could ever make me feel. So that's how I was feeling, and I just couldn't wait to get out of there and escape the never-ending reminder that was my stupidity.

I rushed straight from there to Piano Skills, which was easy, as usual, but I love Dr. Vauth, so it makes up for it to be able to spend 2 hours with him a week. It was so cute! I was standing outside Joey's office before my voice lesson, and Dr. Vauth's office is right across the hallway, and he was in there and had his door open, and he said "Hello" to me! I was like, "OMG!" So adorable.

So I went up to the theatre office to wait for Kelly to get off work so she could take me home, when I ran into Sarah-Jean in the green room. So Sarah-Jean gave us a ride to Kelly's apartment where Kelly gave me a ride home. How lazy are we? =P

So I went over my callback music, showered, dressed, ate leftovers from last night and went back to the theatre for my Fantasticks and Machinal callbacks! I was really excited that I'd gotten a callback for both productions. Fantasticks was first, and overall I thought it went pretty well. Very strong. Except for the crazy high Cs in Round and Round. I thought my throat was going to close on me. Not good.

Machinal was short (I was called back for a pretty minor roll, but I'm ok with that. We'll see if I'm on the callback list for tomorrow, too) and I finally got home just before 9pm and now I'm exhausted and sitting here, listening to the Light and the Piazza soundtrack, typing this all for you.

I guess now I'll do the not-so-typical Madeleine portion of this post: A Myspace Survey! That's right, I'm going old school, just for you guys, in honor of my last BEDA post. Now the trick is to find one...

I stole this from Anna, who does these a lot and posts them as Notes on Facebook xD

1. What time did you get up this morning?
6:30am

2. How do you like your steak?
medium rare

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Inception

4. What is your favorite TV show?
BONES! So excited for the season premier Thursday, September 23!

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
I would go everywhere I want to first, then decide. I couldn't possibly know yet since the only places I've been other than the U.S. are Canada (which almost didn't count) and France.

6. What did you have for breakfast?
Cheerios

7. What is your favorite cuisine?
Probably Italian. It's just so comforting and delicious. But I do love sushi, so Japanese is up there too.

8. What foods do you dislike?
brussel sprouts, yams, squash. wow that sucks, since they're all so good for you.

9. Favorite Place to Eat?
Oh goodness, everyday kind of stuff, Moe's is up there. Special occasions? I've found that Warehouse Bistro is fabulous.

10. Favorite dressing?
Caesar

11. What kind of vehicle do you drive?
N/A

12. What are your favorite clothes?
the ones that I feel flatter me and the ones that are comfortable.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance?
The list is endless. New Zealand, Japan, Italy, Norway, England... basically all Western and Eastern European countries, extending to Romania and Turkey. All the places that are visited in the book The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full?
full

15. Where would you want to retire?
NYC or around friends and family

16. Favorite time of day?
night

17. Where were you born?
DC baby =]

18. Bird watcher?
nope, but I have a friend who is.

19. Are you a morning person or a night person?
night

20. Pets?
Dog Gennie and cat Willy. But we just call him Cat.

21. Any new and exciting news that you'd like to share?
Uhh... nope, the earlier portion of this post sums it up rather nicely =]

22. What did you want to be when you were little
It changed a lot. Vet, Doctor, Dentist, Astronomer, idk, there were more.

23. What is your best childhood memory?
there are too many to choose from

24. Are you a cat or dog person?
dog

25. Are you married?
no

26. Always wear your seat belt?
always, always =]

31. Been in a car accident?
does the hood of the car flying up and crashing into the windshield count?

32. Any pet peeves?
there are a lot, but I can't think of specifics right now. My brain isn't really functioning.

33. Favorite pizza topping?
meat

34. Favorite Flower?
ohh goodness. I'll say snapdragons as an AVPS joke, but I don't actually know what they look like xD

35. Favorite ice cream?
anything chocolately, less caramely.

36. Favorite fast food restaurant?
Wendy's

37. Apparently Anna accidentally deleted this question before reading it. So I can't answer xD

38. From whom did you get your last email?
School: My lab professor. Personal: Modcloth

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?
Barnes and Noble, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie

40. Do anything spontaneous lately?
... Not... yet? Hopefully something soon. We'll see.

41. Like your job?
I do. I like making things in the costume shop.

42. Broccoli?
yum

43. What was your favorite vacation?
France, by far. But ASoA was pretty much on par, if you consider that a vacation. I view it more as a trip.

44. What are you listening to right now?
AVPS

45. Do you play the Wii?
nope

46. Favorite color?
green and purple

47. How many piercings?
2

48. Coffee drinker?
Not avidly, no.

49. How many children do you have?
0, thank the Lord.

50. How many siblings do you have?
0, sadly.

I would say Till tomorrow, but it's not necessary anymore! Until next time, then! =]

HPRT: My new friend Ben and I quoted AVPS between readings at the Fantasticks callbacks. It was amazing. And I'm fairly certain we freaked a few of my friends out in the process. Even better =]
Current Book: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese I
Current Song: Say It Somehow from The Light in the Piazza

BEDA #29: Intensity

Dang. The episodes of The Closer and Rizzoli and Isles tonight are INTENSE.

There's something super comforting about coming home from a really long, intense day and turning on the TV and watching shows that you really love. I've had a long standing love of Kyra Sedgwick and The Closer for a while now, and I truly believe that she deserved her Emmy (that she just won last night, btw). I just love her kick-ass, Southern charm and uncanny ability to solve crime. It gives me hope =]

Today was long, despite the fact that my 8am Ballet class was canceled. Japanese was fun, as usual. A little confusing as always, but fun. Math was... yeah.

Science was full of sciencey things, but I do like my professor. He seems reasonable and he makes funny jokes that work most of the time. And he's got this superb German accent. Adorable =]

I almost finished an apron at work today! The pocket I put on was adorable. I was very excited that my pocket turned out so welllll and it's this really cute, light yellow cotton material. I was pretty proud of myself =]

I went home after work and my daddy made tuna casserole (yum!) and then I went into school early to work on my monologues and song. Kelly and I droned on with random stuff for my video... It's a very strange video, uploading now xD

So Marge called me about 20 minutes before my first audition time because they were getting really ahead, so I ended up doing both my auditions at least 15 minutes before I'd signed up for it. Ultimately... I'm glad. I just wanted it to be over, and overall I felt like they went pretty well. I was totally solid on both my monologues. The song... didn't go as well as it had in lessons and stuff, but I still think I have a shot at Lousia. Hopefully. I'm not getting my hopes up too much. I'm now sitting at home, watching the end of Rizzoli and Isles, and waiting for the emails to go out about callbacks tomorrow and Wednesday. Keep your fingers crossed!

Only one more post of BEDA! It's been a rockin month.

Till tomorrow!

HPRT: Everyone seems to post the Literal Harry Potter trailer on my wall. I love how I'm the first person people think of to show all things HP to =]
Current Book: None. Still. I'm boring.
Current Song: Much More from The Fantastiks

BEDA #28: The Emmy's *spoilers*

I'm just sitting on my couch watching the Emmy's right now. I'm kinda pissed about the fact that Lost didn't win for ANYTHING it was nominated for. For starters, I'm sorry, that guy from Breaking Bad has already won the Emmy 3 times. Matthew Fox deserved it sooo much more. Second, I understand that both Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson have won Supporting Actor before, but once again, Breaking Bad beat both them out when that show is still on the air, and Lost is over. For good. WHY???

It just made me extremely sad. But Clare Danes is on right now, so I can live with that. I kind of love her. AND Jane Lynch won for Glee. So deserved it's not even funny.

I spent all day doing homework and memorizing monologues. My Fantastiks audition is pretty solid, but I'm having some issues with my Machinal monologue. Maybe it's because it's so much longer, or that it's heightened text, I don't know. I know the lines, it's just the order. That and the flow of some of the lines as well. It's a little frustrating.

Interjection: Jewel's song for the In Memorium portion of the Emmys was beautiful. I still can't believe that Rue McClanahan is gone. Crimes.

Anyways, auditions are tomorrow, and I'm slightly nervous. I really want to get in a show this semester, but at the same time I'm completely swamped with my 18 credit hour schedule. I don't think I'm ever going to do another 18 hr schedule ever again. No more. It's already ridiculously stressful.

So. Auditions. Right. I'm excited for the shows this semester. I have a feeling that a lot of my friends will be in shows this year, and I want to see them shine and have their moments. Sarah-Jean is already ripping it up in The Birthday Party, and I'm super excited to see how that one turns out.

Another big deal this semester is the SETC screening in October. I don't for sure know what I'm doing, but I think I'll be doing a 1 minute song, 30 sec. monologue. Singing is truly my strength, and I hope that some production companies see that. We can only hope! *fingerscrossed*

A really fun development over Thanksgiving break has occurred recently. Nothing is permanent or certain, but there is a very good chance that Jennie, Kelly C and I will be going to the New York City Wizard Rock Festival in Brooklyn on November 21st!! We'd be going up just for the weekend, since the event itself is on a Sunday, and hopefully we'd be getting home the next day on the Monday of Thanksgiving break. No telling, but it's looking good, and we're all ridiculously excited and anxious for it to happen.

Interjection: CLARE DANES JUST WON! YAY!

So that's what's going on at the moment... We'll see how things unfold this week and in the weeks to come.

Till tomorrow!

HPRT: I made it so that my laptop background is changing pictures of my ASoA trip. Hooray for high-def images of Darren Criss, the Joe(y)'s, and wizard rockers galore. Hopefully I'll be getting legit videos and pics of them on stage in a few months time!
Current Book: The Sciences (I hate Concepts homework)
Current Song: Looking For Trouble by The Remus Lupins

BEDA #27: The end draws nigh...

Not of anything drastically important, of course. I was just being dramatic =P

The end of BEDA is approaching, and all in all I think I've done a pretty decent job of documenting my days through this wonderful month of August. It's been hot as hell, humid, muggy, gross, buggy... but it's also been the start of some new adventures that I'm honestly pretty excited about.

I'm a sophomore now, which in itself is a strange concept to entertain, but what's even weirder is that we're not the new kids on the block anymore. There are new, fresh faces, who I can't wait to get to know, and I came back to campus for a new year actually knowing wonderful, talented individuals whom I've come to love and adore. I'm taking totally new classes, some of which are boring as all get out, but others that interest and challenge me in ways that I've never encountered in my life. I guess that's the thing about college. You have the best times of your life entwined with the most boring/frightening/stupid/painful times, too. And honestly, I'm so happy to be where I am with the people that I'm with.

Last night was the theatre 80s party. Just look at this picture for an example of how much fun we had. That's Jennie on the left, Sarah-Jean in the middle, and of course me on the right. Fun times =]



Till tomorrow!

HPRT: Last night, before the party, I printed off a whole bunch of pictures from this summer on Jennie's new photo printer. I got ones of me and Alex Carpenter, Jason Munday, Darren Criss, Joey Richter, Joe Walker and Mark Jennings =]
Current Book: none. I don't have time to read. That's actually a lie, I'm just watching Buffy instead.
Current Song: Days of Summer from A Very Potter Sequel

BEDA #26: Exhaustion runs rampant

My day was just so long. Gaaaahhh. And it's not over.

Voice and Movement lab was super cool, even though it seemed to drag on, and she even let us out 30 minutes early! My Japanese quiz was ridiculously easy, and I think my professor likes me because I raise my hand in class a lot and I even went up to the board today. Yay!

Math was... crazy. As usual. I couldn't understand my professor, and he didn't even notice when 4 people got up in the middle of class and left. I just don't know how we're all going to pass this class if we can't understand him.

I also worked almost my full 3 hours today. It was just a lot of quilt patch making and searching in costume storage. Totally tiring.

So now I'm sitting on my couch watching Man vs Food, waiting for my friend Jennie to pick me up to take me to her apartment to get ready for the theatre 80s party tonight =]

I feel like there should be some hilarious story that I could tell to make this blog... I don't know, worthwhile? Worth reading? Lately my posts have been super boring. I expected to have lots more to talk about once school started, but I've just been so exhausted that I can't even function, let alone write a meaningful blog post. Perhaps my meaning was all used up with what happened with Esther. All of my inspiring words were usurped by this week's occurrences... which I'm still reeling about.

BUT! Hopefully, as the month draws to a close, I can find something good to say =]

Look at this awesome new poster for Bones Season 6! SO EXCITED!

HPRT: I ran into the director of the show I was in this summer in the Theatre office, and we had a fun conversation about Harry Potter and its wonderfulness. I then told her about the NYC Wizard Rock Festival, and she said, "You really are a geek!" It made me laugh xD
Current Book: Nothing. I wish it was Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, though T_T
Current Song: Battle of Hogwarts by Ministry of Magic

BEDA #25: Nothing to talk about.

I literally have nothing to talk about. I apologize profusely. Maybe this weekend I will, but I think I need a mental day off from blogging. I'm just so exhausted from this first full week of classes that I... can't stand to think xD

Have a video.

Till tomorrow!

HPRT: Today in the green room, we had the most intense Harry Potter discussion. We were debating everything from what houses we'd all be in to whether or not Neville was a BAMF. It was great.
Current Book: The Sciences
Current Song: 1000 Shiny Subscribers by Kristina Horner

BEDA #24: Rest in Awesome, Esther Earl.

Today a lot of crappy things happened. One of them was my math professor changing again to someone I can't understand at all. But probably the most important was that at 3am this morning, Esther Earl, 16 year old nerdfighter and overall inspiring individual, passed. All day I've read tweets and watched youtube videos from countless people paying tribute to this wonderful girl.

From what little exposure to her life story and her personality I've had, I could tell that she was much, much more than a girl with cancer. She was an amazing person full of life and and love. She had such a passion for life and for those with whom she was close, it breaks my heart to see her family and friends mourn her loss. Even I, who did not know her personally at all, have found my thoughts straying to her all day. I was horribly depressed when I woke up and read on her website that she had gone. This depression lasted through the day, and probably made me even more upset about my math class than I would have on a normal occasion. As I was walking up the hill to the theatre, I thought about what I had read last night. She was planning on dropping out of high school to work on getting her GED so that she could stay at home and get better. Just two days ago, she was tweeting about the funny moments she'd just shared with her mother and sisters. I walked up that hill on my college campus and I just couldn't believe that she would never get the chance to go to college, to move away from home and use her amazing energy to work toward her future.

Just as my depression had hit its worst, it hit me. Esther would be ashamed if we dwelled on all the things she would miss out on in life. As Matt Maggiacomo said in his blog post today, she understood her humanity, her mortality. She knew that she was horribly sick, and she accepted this fact. She kept loving and shining, even through her darkest moments. She would never want us to stop living simply because she had gone on. We have to live in her memory, actively practicing the inspirational lessons she taught the world: stay close to your family. Live life to its fullest. Never stop loving and giving. And most importantly, never forget to be awesome.

Thank you so much Esther Earl for your incredible gift to nerdfighteria.

Till tomorrow.

HPRT: I've been listening to Ministry of Magic and Harry and the Potter's songs entitled "Phoenix Lament" and "Phoenix Song" all day. They both start off mournful but end hopeful. I can't help but realize that these songs correspond to life lessons that Esther taught us all. Life throws events our way that seem unbearable. But we must fight on despite these difficulties. In the words of Harry and the Potters, "It's we who will decide when to stop the fight and get on with our lives."
Current Book: The Sciences
Current Song: Phoenix Song by Harry and the Potters

BEDA #23: Prayers for Esther

One of the awesomest nerdfighters of all time, Esther Earl, just took a turn for the worse in her battle against metastasized papillary thyroid cancer. At just over 16 years old, this wonderful spunky girl has so much life in her, and she simply can't give in to her condition, but unfortunately last night she was admitted into an ICU unit because she was having difficulty breathing, and her kidneys aren't processing liquids as quickly as she gets them. This poses serious problems for her, and her parents were informed that she could go overnight. This is such a frightening prospect, and knowing that she means so much to the nerdfighting community makes her health of the utmost importance. Please, take a moment to visit her site, and do whatever you can for her.

One of her favorite charities is the Harry Potter Alliance*, and as many of you know I was able to go to the HP Alliance press conference at Infinitus this summer. She was the special guest for the event, Skyping from her home in Massachusetts. She really is a wonderful person, and it would be far too soon for her to leave this world and all of us behind. So please, do whatever you can for her, even if it's to send a prayer her way.

Till tomorrow.

HPRT: The Weapon We Have Is Love.*
Current Book: My Japanese textbook
Current Song: The Weapon by Harry and the Potters

BEDA #22: Red Vines!

This morning started rather unfortunately. I had set my alarm last night for 6:30am like always, but I woke up this morning to the sound of my dog barking incessantly. I look over at my clocks and... their blinking. The power went out in the middle of the night and EFF MY LIFE I turn my phone on and it's 7:20! Turns out, Sarah-Jean had gotten to my house right when she said she would and had woken up the dog, which in turn woke me up. THANK YOU SARAH-JEAN!! Gotta love her. She saved my life today.

So I scrambled around for 15 minutes and actually got everything done and didn't forget anything. Miracle of miracles.

So we ate our peanut butter toast on the drive to C-zone, booked it to Foy and got there about 4 minutes before Ballet started. EPIC WIN.

My first day of actually dancing in Ballet was great. I love turningggg =]

In Japanese I took my first quiz... and got eaten for lunch. I'm pretty sure I failed it, but it just clued me in to how much work I actually have to do for this class. Now that I know, I can adjust my schedule accordingly. I'm actually gonna have to do a lot of studying (something that I am aware happens but don't do a lot of myself... what have I been doing??).

My professor didn't show up for my math class. What the hell is going on?? First ours is the only 1120 section that ISN'T web-based, converted to a lecture section, given a new professor, and now we haven't even done anything in the first 3 days. Whatsoever. This is so weird. So we left after 30 minutes of waiting.

I ate lunch in the theatre, then went to Concepts of Science, where I got extremely bored but took notes, and as I was leaving I ran into Jack, my Beginning Acting friend from last semester!! I hadn't seen him since school started so it was exciting. I also saw Amanda in the green room for the first time since finals week last year.

I took another break after science before my first day of work! I didn't do much, just sewed a couple quilt patches together. I got my paperwork, and they don't really make that much sense to me... I need my parents to help me xD

I also finally got my Spelling Bee and Theatre Greek shirts (finally!) today.

After work, Sarah W. drove me to her apartment and we picked up her old sewing machine! That's right. I now have a sewing machine all my own, to make... whatever I want! Yay! It's not that old or anything, and from what I've heard from her, it works pretty well, just threading the bobbin is a little tricky. I'm just excited. There's this new student in the theatre who's getting a degree in theatre later (he's in his 40s and all his kids have gone off to college) and apparently he goes a to bunch of cons and stuff and makes all his own costumes. I can't wait to meet this guy, because we can talk costumes and cons and all the great stuff that's happened in my life in the past 8 months!

Today started off badly, and has ended really pretty well. I'm very happy =]

HPRT: My video for today was pretty much entirely about AVPS, wizard rock and Red Vines
Current Book: City of Bones by Cassondra Clare
Current Song: A Slytherin Point of View by RiddleTM (one of my new favorite wrock bands)

BEDA #21: BOREDOM

I've been doing homework-y things all day. I did my Japanese homework and started on flashcards and stuff, and Kelly D. and I went to the library to look for monologues, and I think I may have found a comedic monologue for my Fantastiks audition, and I'm still working on a poem for my Machinal audition. I can't believe that auditions are already in exactly one week. Holy crap.

Here's a countdown of some important dates, as well as some that are from the past:

One month ago: A Very Potter Sequel was put up on youtube.
One week from now: Auditions
20 days from now: MY BIRTHDAY!!!
88 days from now: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PT. 1!!!!!

So. Now you know.

I'm totally bored, so I guess I'll just put up random pictures from Wizarding World and Infinitus.



Me and Matt Maggiacomo from the Whomping Willows



Darren, Brian and Joe from Team Starkid at their signing!



The ladies of Team Starkid!



I freaking love Joe Moses.



Us at the front of the AVPS line!!



Hogsmeade!

HPRT: Kelly and I quoted AVPS in the car on the way to and from the library.
Current Book: City of Bones by Cassondra Clare
Current Song: Ginny Gets Around by Gred and Forge

BEDA #20: Productivity

Today, as far as most days go, was rather productive. Even with waking up past 11, I called and chatted with Susannah, skyped with Emily, cleared a lot of my floor off, did all my laundry and made flash cards for Japanese. I even had time to watch 2 episodes of Buffy!

My Japanese class is going to be... stressful, but I know that once I get these hiragana characters down, as well as the katakana that I know we'll be starting on soon, everything will get easier. I wish that the workbook gave us a little more time with the Roman lettering that we're so used to, seeing as I don't know what any of the words mean in Japanese as it is, but I just have to hope that I'll get it eventually.

I really need to get started on my monologues for auditions the 31st. I'm kind of nervous, seeing as I really need time set aside to like, really crack down on it, but between my almost non-stop days on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and my breaks on Tuesday/Thursday to do homework, I honestly don't know when it's gonna get done. A lot is riding on this audition, I think. I really want to get in a show this semester. It's gonna freaking suck spending all day in class and all night in rehearsal, because I'm not entirely sure when I'll do my homework, but honestly, I need to get in a show. I haven't been in one during the season since last fall, so it's been almost a year. I'm just really ready to prove myself to the professors here, and show them all that I can really do this, that I'm a contender.

With any luck, Japanese will prove to be easier than I think it is, and I'll pick it up quickly so that I don't need to spend every waking moment studying it. Although, I'm kind of expecting me to have to spend every free second devoted to my flashcards xD

Overall, today was relaxing. I got a lot done, and I'm looking forward to watching a lot of Buffy tonight. Yay!

Till tomorrow.

HPRT: I've been listening to my two new Remus Lupins CDs a lot today. "Hey Dumbledore, can you read the writing on the wall? In the lightning struck tower, can't delude yourself anymore!"
Current Book: My japanese textbook
Current Song: Snape by The Remus Lupins

BEDA #19: APVS Party!!

So I know I kind of failed again (it's 1:19am my time) but it's still "today" for me, so I'm gonna write anyway.

Voice and Movement lab is going to be very interesting. In the two hours we had today I really felt more connected to my body, but since we went over my relaxation didn't stay because I was stressing about being late for my Japanese class (which I was exactly 5 minutes late for, grr!). We're already being forced to memorize hiragana characters, which scares the crap out of me because we're going to need to know what all of the individual symbols mean. AHHHHHH!

Math was, again, super easy and pointless. I really hope our professor stays, because she's a doctoral candidate and she's young and seems fun, so maybe she'll make it easy? I don't know. But I do hope the class is moved to Parker. That would be so freaking nice. But we don't have any homework and no notes were taken today, so so far it's the best class I've had all semester xD

Rep class was very interesting. Joey explained that we're going to be doing things differently this semester, and I don't feel like going into details, but the sophomores and freshman are the only ones who are going to sing for each other, and we'll only do it once.

My Concepts class was canceled because my professor has laryngitis (sucks) so I was done at 1, which was very nice, because this is the only Friday where that will actually happen. Ever.

Jennie and I went to her apartment for a while before meeting up with KDav to go snack shopping. We went over to Target in Tigertown, where I bought a package of Red Vines for tonight, and we all bought some sort of candy. We tried our best to find Squirt, but it would appear that NO ONE HAS IT! Grr.

Anyway, Elizabeth showed up just before 6 at Kelly's, where we promptly began swapping music and such. I got a lot more wizard rock and I'm super excited for this site that she showed me where I can download more!! AHH! Then we went to pick up the pizza and our drinks. Once we'd settled in we hooked up Kelly's computer to the TV and we watched.....

*drum roll please*

A VERY POTTER SEQUEL!

That's right. As if I hadn't seen it enough times (that's actually very true. I'll never see it enough) we watched it yet again. It was Kelly's first time, so I hope that Elizabeth didn't ruin too much of it for her by quoting and (in my case) singing much of it. It was honestly so amazing. We had Red Vines and snacks and all the good stuff in honor of Ron. It was great. Lizzie and I just totally geeked out the entire time about every little thing.

When it ended it was almost midnight, so we bade Kelly our goodbyes and thanked her and her mom for having us, and even though we were right next to the cars, Lizzie and I just couldn't stop talking about the awesomeness that was AVPS and HP and Wizarding World and just... yeah. It was such a great geektastic night. I've been looking forward to it for a long time. This was what was supposed to happen last Sunday night, but Lizzie BAILED to go to a concert. Lame. But she came this time, and that's what counts =]

Till tomorrow.

HPRT: "Red Vines. What the hell can't they do?"
Current Book: My Japanese textbook. Kill me.
Current Song: Phoenix Lament by Ministry of Magic (BECAUSE I OWN THIS CD NOW! YAYYY!)

BEDA #18: Second "first" day

I'm stealing the title from Kelly's blog post about today. Oh well =P

It was infinitely less stressful today than it was yesterday, but more exhausting because the lack of sleep is finally catching up with me. Jazz this morning was freaking awesome. I'm gonna totally love working out like that first thing every morning, and I'm soooo going to be feeling sore tomorrow. It's gonna suck trying to walk anywhere xD

Sarah-Jean and Jennie and I stopped at Starbucks for some caffeine before we trekked back up to the theatre for Voice and Movement Fundamentals, which will be a cool class, and I'm looking forward to working with Joey in a legit classroom setting.

Lunch break was awesome and long, just as it should be, and Piano Skills is looking... somewhat... less intimidating, just because Dr. Vauth is like, the most adorable little man EVER, with his cute German accent and shy, quiet speech. He plays piano like a freaking God, though. I've heard him practicing before. It's insane.

My first voice lesson, while I did not sing, was immensely successful. I have now been assigned four songs, as well as received sheet music for all of it AND my audition song for The Fantastiks. Joey and I were highly productive =]

I also ironed out my schedule for work with Miss Tracy. Looks like Fridays are gonna suckkkk. But oh well. I'd rather have the money in the long run. Plus, this is a skill that I feel will probably benefit me greatly in the coming years. I'm looking forward to making clothes that people, you know, actually wear and stuff. Maybe make myself something. Or a lot. You never know.

Sarah W. is soooooo freaking nice, she's actually giving me her old sewing machine. That's right. Giving it to me. She got a new one in like, June for her birthday, so she wanted it to go to a good home where it will be taken care of. I was absolutely more than happy to take it off her hands, since I would like to start making things for myself now. I'm super excited. =]

Anyways, after that Jennie and Kelly C. and I went to Bizilia's for dinner to visit KDav at work. My panino was very yummy. I have a feeling that I'm going to be hungry later, though.

Now I'm at home, and I attempted to read Chapter 1 of my Concepts textbook, but honestly, he's going over the most important points in class anyways, and I always take notes and such, so why bother? As long as I do the study guide, I think I'll be fine. As for my Japanese homework... I don't know, I did the pages in the workbook like she said to, and I (for the most part) memorized how to write my name in Japanese, but I'm afraid we're going to have a quiz or something on the basic greetings page she gave us yesterday. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO EXPECT!! And it's the not knowing that makes this suck so much. Grr.

So we'll see if I can walk tomorrow, and also what my math class is going to be like, since it's all effed up at the moment.

Till tomorrow.

HPRT: My obsession of Harry Potter was referred to by a classmate today as "unhealthy." Mission accomplished =P
Current Book: The Sciences (my Concepts textbook)
Current Song: Much More from The Fantastiks

BEDA #17: Back to the grind stone.

So blogger is being dumb and not letting me change the font. Grr.

Well, my day was suuuuper long and slightly frustrating. I woke up at 6:30, which made me very unhappy, but I was surprisingly full of energy for the extreme lack of sleep I received. I had Ballet first, in which we did not dance, but we went over the syllabus and then got out early. Jeri seems super cool, but intense, so I'm really looking forward to her classes =]

I then scoped out Davis Hall for my math classroom before chilling in the Green Room for a bit. Then I had my Japanese class, which is kind of (REALLY) intimidating. I'm nooooot looking forward to the oral exams. I'm actually really scared. AHH. And then I found out while sitting in class that I bought the wrong textbook and workbook for that class. I accidentally bought the one for Elem. Japanese II, not I. SOOOO I have to go to the bookstore to find out if I can just exchange them for the correct ones. I've never used either of them, so I'm hoping it won't be a problem, but you never know when the bookstore is gonna be totally jerk-offish.

My math class was next, and we had... an interesting time xD Basically I got to my classroom on time, sat down, and we waited. And waited. Soon it was 20 minutes after the class was supposed to start, when the professor finally showed up, he told us that our class had to be converted from a web-based class to a regular lecture style class, because the university didn't have a single free computer lab for us to hold our class in. So because of that, they have to find a professor to teach it. WEIRD. So we were out of there five minutes later. Totally easy day.

I stopped by Au Bon Pain to get a yogurt before heading back to the theatre for lunch. At 1pm I headed over to the Science Center for my Concepts of Science class. It's my first super big, huge lecture style class of college, so it was weird to see so many people in one room together staring at the huge projector at the front. My professor is this German dude, with really good English, so understanding him is not a problem, but I wasn't expecting him to have an accent. It's kind of cute. And he's funny. He actually had us laughing a couple times to break the ice. Even though tests and such are going to suck, I think I'll have fun listening to him talk (even though, I'll admit, I totally didn't listen to him a couple times. The topics are just so dumb).

I was done for the day, but was going to stay to go to the ice cream social at 5, so I headed, yet again, back to the theatre. I wanted to pick up my paperwork for my costume shop job, but the secretary WASN'T THERE all afternoon, so that was a no-go, which made me sad. But I hung out in the green room until Kelly C. got out of Costume Construction. We went back to her dorm and I had some of her lovely oatmeal chocolate chip cookies before we drove back to to the theatre for the social.

The chair of our department, Dan, gave this really wonderful speech reminding us all that to be a great artist you also have to be a great person, and that people at their best in their careers are also at their best as people, which I completely agree with. I was really touched by his words, and I personally think that his goal to finally have a speech at the beginning of the year that stuck with people was met today. I'm considering going up to his office tomorrow to tell him so myself, because I really have to agree. It doesn't cost a person anything to be kind to another human being, and when you're happy as a person, it really shows in your work. I'm just so glad that I'm not the only one who feels that way. Plus, it was an eloquent reminder to cut the stupid behavior crap.

All in all, it was a long, tiresome day. Three new classes and voice lesson tomorrow. Keep you posted.

Till tomorrow.

HPRT: Kelly's status today was priceless: "Back to witches and wizards and magical....wait. Dammit! Back to singing and dancing and sweat in this HEAT!"
Current Book: Same. I don't feel like typing it out.
Current Song: No Way from AVPS

BEDA #16: Last day before school. *cry*

So today is the last day before school starts, and I am royally upset by this. As excited as I am for some of my classes, I really just want the summer to stay. Anna complains all the time that school isn't coming fast enough, and I just want to switch start up dates with her so that we're both happy. My summer was just so freaking awesome that I don't really want it to end. That and I don't want to learn pointless sciency-and mathy-y things when I should be concentrating on my major, not core, classes, but whatever =P

Today I woke up at 8:30, as planned, and watched an episode of Buffy before Sarah-Jean picked me up. We went over to the bookstore on campus and I got the textbooks that I could there, then we headed over to Walmart (ugh, shudder, against my religion, I feel so dirty cheating on Target) to buy our yoga mats and yoga blocks for Voice and Movement Fundamentals. Check out took forever.

Next up was Pita Pit for lunch (I got two more stamps on my card! WIN!) and then I got to see the AOS homebase (also known as Sarah-Jean, Sarah, Emily and Melissa's apartment) before Sarah-Jean drove me home.

My parents went out to dinner, but because of my late-ish lunch, I wasn't hungry, so I opted to stay home and watch Buffy. They came home, and then my mom had to leave for Musical Theatre auditions. KDav picked me up and we went over to Jennie's apartment to have an AOS movie night. We ended up watching 27 Dresses and I ate Fritos and bean dip as my "dinner." SO UNHEALTHY but so good =]

Now I'm sitting in my bed, having to retype the majority of this blog post, adding on the movie night part, because Blogspot decided to be stupid and not like something about my html, so it wouldn't publish my post before I left for Jennie's. Cutting it FAR too close, seeing as I already failed BEDA...

Oh well. School tomorrow. *sob* Waking up at 6:30 does NOT suit me well...

Till tomorrow.

HPRT: I played Jason Munday's acousting version of his song "Some Imagination" for Sarah-Jean today. Oh those wrock boys. How we love them.
Current Book: City of Bones by Cassondra Clare (I don't think that's going to change for a while. I haven't been reading a lot lately.)
Current Song: Behind Your Eyes by Skyway Flyer

BEDA #15: Day full of stuff

I've officially started setting my alarm to start getting up earlier. I know I stay up late to watch Buffy, but I thought, I may as well go to bed and then watch it when I wake up in the morning to make up for lost time. WHY am I thinking about how to cheat the system to find ways to watch Buffy?? Weird.

But anyway, I woke up at 10:30, which is about 2 hours earlier than when I usually wake up, and I'll set my alarm for 8:30 for tomorrow, so that Wednesday I'm at 6:30. Kinda sucks but you know, I'll get used to it eventually. The trick is finding times other than after I get ready for bed to watch Buffy.

AHH THERE I GO AGAIN! I'm so hooked. It's a problem.

I'm already halfway through season 3, so I guess that's why.

But anyway, I had a Fro Yo date with my voice teacher, and when I went into school with my parents to meet him I ran into a couple friends that I hadn't seen in a while and we talked. It was good to see them again, and hopefully I'll get to see more of them since I'll be in the music building more often this fall.

So Joey and I went to TCBY and I told him all about my summer, and he waited and listened patiently as I droned on about my various nerdy excursions and conferences and such. I felt like SUCH a geek talking about it all, but I was just so excited to be somewhat reliving it all, even if it was only for an hour.

But he dropped me off at J&M Bookstore so I could buy my books, but I only succeeded in acquiring my Concepts of Science and Precalc textbook. Tomorrow, Sarah-Jean and I are going to get lunch and then finish our textbook shopping at the University bookstore.

I then got a text from Kelly saying she and Jennie were going to go swimming at Kelly's roommate's house and they wanted to know if I would go. I was just around the corner from where Kelly lives, so naturally I said yes, so I walked to her dorm, and we made a stop at my house so Jennie and I could give Kelly her present from ROFLCOPTOUR (basically it was a video of Kristina and Luke from ALL CAPS giving a personalized message to her, it was adorable and hilarious) and so I could pick up my swim suit. Next stop was Jennie's for the same purpose, and also so that Kelly and I could see her new apartment, and then we headed to Kelly's, and then Kelly's roommate's. We stayed in the pool for maybe two hours, and it was really fun to just chill and nerd out about AVPS and Vlogbrothers and 5AG and wizard rock and stuff. It was great.

Jennie drove me home, I took a shower, ate dinner, made my video and now I'm writing this post before I go to my friend Emily's birthday party! I might make a stop at Jennie's again for a brief movie thing before Emily's but no guarentee.

All in all, a fun day, and hopefully another one to follow tomorrow, before the boring monotony of school begins. Grr.

Till tomorrow.

P.S. Kelly dunked me in the pool and my mascara ran like I was a raccoon. It was great. Not.

HPRT: Kelly and I couldn't stop singing "Hermione Can't Draw" from AVPS and "Book Eight" by Hank Green in the pool. We were suuuuuch nerds xD
Current Book: City of Bones by Cassondra Clare
Current Song: Those Voices from AVPS

BEDA #14: Kinda Disappointed

So my plan for tonight fell through. A friend forgot that we had been planning it for tonight and bailed (grr!) so we have to reschedule. SO SAD!

But hopefully we'll be able to do it this upcoming weekend, and THEN I can tell you what I'm up to =P

I watched an episode of Buffy last night that included zombies, and so did my dreams. It's the weirdest thing. Ever since I saw Inception I've actually been remembering some of my dreams. I haven't remembered my dreams in years, so I'm kinda like, wtf? But, as usual, I spent my day watching Buffy and avoiding thinking about school (which starts in 2 days. NOOO!). Tomorrow I'm going to have a Fro Yo date with my voice teacher to catch up and talk about our summers (I might have to bring my laptop to show him pictures!) and Tuesday it looks like I'll get to see my friend Jennie's apartment! In the midst of all this summer wind-down, there will be some fun parts.

Ugh, I don't feel like writing a lot. Till tomorrow.

HPRT: I'm reading a lot of Ron/Hermione fanfiction at the moment. I'm such a sucker for them xD
Current Book: City of Bones by Cassondra Clare
Current Song: Some Imagination (Acoustic) by Skyway Flyer

BEDA #13: Madeleine failed.

Soooooo I failed BEDA. SORRY! It is now August 14th and this is only my 13th post. But I'm going to blame my failure on bad luck because of Friday the 13th yesterday. Not that I'm superstitious about it, but I just feel like it's a good excuse xD

What ACUTALLY happened yesterday is that I usual blog in the evening when I'm in bed, before I watch Buffy for hours on end, but I got a little too excited, completely forgot about blogging and jumped right into Buffy. They were super intense episodes, too. But I realize that I have a couple more to go before the real tension starts, so I'll just whip my way through it like I usually do.

Today my parents and I went to Birmingham to shop for back to school everything. Overall I think it was a successful day! I got an entirely new outfit and all my school supplies and such, and listened to a whole bunch of great music on the way there and back. I love modern technology. It gave us the iPod. What a wonderful invention!

Tomorrow is a very exciting day for me, kind of a last hoorah before school starts on Wednesday. I won't tell you what I'm doing tomorrow, but I promise you that when I talk about it tomorrow it will be a big deal =]

That's all for me today, and sorry about missing yesterday!

Till tomorrow.

HPRT: You must be Harry Potter, the famous bastard. My name is Draco Malfoy. I am a racist, I despise gingers and mudbloods. I hate Gryffindor house and my parents work for the man who killed your parents. Doyouwanttobemyfriend?
Current Book: City of Bones by Cassondra Clare
Current Song: Some Imagination by Skyway Flyer

BEDA #12: New Hair!!

I went to the hair salon today and got my hair cut =]

Before and after pics:




























Till tomorrow!

HPRT: Rumors that Daniel Radcliffe is gay?? Ok, just leave him alone. If he is, he is, whatever. If he isn't, I'm sure there are plenty of girls who would love to go out with Harry Potter. Me? Give me Neville and I'll be totally happy =]
Current Book: City of Bones by Cassondra Clare
Current Song: Those Voices from A Very Potter Sequel

BEDA #11: The wonders of time...

Well, today is the official one month mark until my 19th birthday. It's a little bit strange to think how time passes so quickly when you're young. I literally feel like it was just yesterday that I was walking to the school bus stop on Tottenham Road so I could meet Meredith at school or going into gym class with Emily, Maggie and Mimi (whom I miss dearly. Come back to the states!). I almost can't believe that I'm already a sophomore in college and that I have to go back to the grind stone in just one week from today. Where did the summer go?

Time is such a strange invention, if you can call it that. The concept of time has far too many branches and theories to ever sort through them all, and I don't plan on doing that, but it's just such a weird thing to conceptualize. How is it that the moments we wish would last forever appear to go by the quickest? This summer has quite possibly been the best of my life. Between going to ACen with Meredith, taking two classes this summer that I actually really enjoyed and learned so much in, reading one of my favorite book series in its entirety, going to all four Disney parks for the first time in my life, experiencing life-altering moments with the HP Alliance, Team Starkid and my favorite wizard rockers, and finally getting accepted to Hogwarts... It's been quite a journey.

I've been thinking about it all a lot the last few days since my summer is coming to a close. I can only be grateful that modern technology allowed me to document those events, because memories just aren't enough sometimes. Time can finally stand somewhat still, or at least be captured forever to be replayed again and again. These events will never die. It's truly just like how Harry puts it at the end of A Very Potter Sequel:

*"They're gonna try to tell me that this wasn't real, that none of this happened, but you know what? It was real, and it did happen. We spent time here, we made friends here, and that's a part of us. Because Hogwarts is bigger than any of us, it's bigger than any of its founders. It's gonna be around long after we're gone. Maybe we'll see our kids come here. That's the thing about Hogwarts. No matter how long you're away from it, there's always a we to get back."

If you take away the specifics to Hogwarts and insert just about anything, it still stands true. Memories are bigger than just its components. They become a part of who we are and they stay with us, affecting our lives for as long as we have them. And I for one will be forever grateful for the experiences I've had this summer. I will never forget them or who was involved, and I will carry them with me for as long as time still passes.

Till tomorrow.

HPRT: *
Current Book: City of Bones by Cassondra Clare
Current Song: To Have a Home by Darren Criss (from AVPS)

BEDA #10: Harry Potter has taken over my life...

So all I did today was watch Buffy and go to a Harry Potter party =]

BUT! The party was fun! It was at my friend Kelly's house, and we had Red Vines ("What they hell can't they do?"), Cockroach Clusters (basically just peanuts in chocolate clumps) and pizza. We watched the first movie and made AVPM/Lost/Harry Potter jokes all night.

Sorry for the shortness. I don't have that much to talk about tonight. Sorry.

HPRT: I wore my Gryffindor tie out around town as we picked up the pizza. It made me feel like a bamf. =]
Current Book: City of Bones by Cassondra Clare
Current Song: Days of Summer from A Very Potter Sequel

BEDA #9: Of Buffy and A Very Potter Sequel

So we drove home today from Savannah. It was a very pretty town, and I'm sad to see it gone, but ultimately I'm not sorry. I'm awfully exhausted after the trip. I basically just spent the entire car ride trying to tune out the audio book my parents were listening to to read my own book, mostly with success.

All I did when I got home was laze about on my bed. I decided to search Netflix for a new show to watch, when it hit me that I really didn't need to go far, because I'd wanted to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer for a while, and my decision was further made for me when I considered the fact that my friend Bree has been wanting me to watch it for a while, and almost all the YouTubers/wizard rockers that I subscribe to on YouTube and follow on Twitter love that show. I felt like I needed to be in on the secret of Buffy, so I happily found that it was available for instant streaming online and watched the first episode.

I'm kind of hooked.

And I'm kind of in love with David Boreanaz even more than I was before. Really what it made me do was miss Bones that much more. I want the new season to start RIGHT NOW! But as I still have roughly a month and a half before the season premier, I'll stick to watching all six seasons of Buffy and marvel at Sarah Michelle Geller's baby face in Season 1 xD

After dinner, I was doing the dishes, listening to the songs from A Very Potter Sequel that were available for free download from their bandcamp site, when I was like, wait a second, I know my account balance (I had just unlocked my online account, because the credit union had shut it down after my Awesome Summer of Awesome trip because they thought that those transactions were not mine, in short, that my card had been stolen. Dumb). Why shouldn't I just go ahead and buy the rest of the songs from A Very Starkid Album??? I couldn't stand not having To Have a Home, The Coolest Girl, Those Voices, No Way and Days of Summer any longer. Technically Stutter and Let the Games Begin are in AVPS too, but I figured I could live without those a little longer. The previous five I was just unable to live without anymore. They're just amazing. Literally, every time The Coolest Girl comes on, I just get shivers and wish to God that they'd make sheet music available for purchase so that I could sing it myself T_T

So now I'm listening to it. YAY!

That's it. Till tomorrow!

HPRT: I read on Twitter last night that Darren Criss, Brian Holden, Joey Richter and Joe Walker from Team Starkid had dinner with Red Vines execs last night. POTENTIAL AD CAMPAIGN??? "Red Vines. What the hell can't they do?"
Current Book: City of Bones by Cassondra Clare
Current Song: The Coolest Girl; Written by Darren Criss, Performed by Bonnie Grueson (Hermione)

BEDA #8: To the beach!

Fun times today! We woke up and headed to the beach at Tybee Island at about 12pm, and basically all I did was read Harry Potter under the umbrella. I went in a few times, and didn't get burned really at all! So proud!

I got sand everywhere, and the wind cooled down the area so much that when we finally left at 4, walking back to the car was unbearable in 90 degree heat. I didn't sweat at all at the beach, but I did in the 5 minutes it took to get to the car. WHY??

We went back to the hotel, and after de-sanding in the shower, we went out to a really high end stake house for dinner, which ended up giving me the best tuna I've ever had in my life. It was quite amazing.

We then just meandered the city for a bit before going over to a place called Lulu's Dessert Bar, where I got a flour-less chocolate cake and my mom got what they called a Lulu-tini, which was basically like liquid chocolate with vodka and she almost died it was so good xD

As we were walking back to our hotel, we passed an Anglican (Episcopalian) church that was having a Gregorian Chant service at 9, and we decided to go in since we all are suckers for that kind of thing. It turned out to be quite beautiful and the intonation of the choir was spot on. Now we're just chillin in the room. I'll probably finish HP7 tonight =]

Sorry for the short post.

Till tomorrow!

HPRT: My mom and I had a wonderful conversation about Snape and his motives for changing sides. It just reminded me why I love Snape so much.
Current Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (not for much longer!)
Current Song: The Bravest Man I Ever Knew by Ministry of Magic

BEDA #7: Down by the river...

Woke up today, earlier than yesterday (saaaaad) to a Chi Latte sitting on the table next to me. Yay for Starbucks runs! So we started off by packing up all our stuff and getting it to the car, because we switched hotels. While we were waiting to check in, they held our stuff behind the desk, and we went to check out the Richardson-Owens-Thomas house, which was really beautiful and still in very good condition.

We then checked in, and headed down to the Arts and Crafts fair. Mom got this really pretty necklace, and I got a ring, and then we checked out the shops down there, and I got this adorable turtle necklace, and I wore it around most of the rest of the day. After a couple hours, we headed back to the hotel to chill out. Mom and Dad got dressed earlier to go to the Wine and Cheese tasting in the lobby of our hotel, while I showered and got dressed myself. So much walking, so much getting gross... I just wanted to feel... not gross... for once this trip. It was nice.

At 9:30 we walked right across the street to the restaurant The Pink House (named so, obviously, because it is pink, but it's only pink because one of the three city-wide fires heated the outside so much that the red hue from the brick stained the paint on top of it. I learned that on the trolley tour yesterday xD) for dinner. SO LATE! I'm not used to eating dinner that late, but it was so worth it. Our waiter first complimented me and my mother for our outfits, and then gave me a wine glass like I was going to drink wine. I was like, well I'm flattered that you think I'm old enough to drink wine, but no xD.

Our food was delicious! I went traditional and got the chicken pot pie, but I had a bite of my mom's flounder, and they were both outstanding. Key lime pie for dessert, and by that time it was 11 and we were all exhausted. Now I'm writing, with 5 minutes left to get this up. Can I do it??

Till tomorrow!

HPRT: "But how do I kill the children? I don't want to hurt them..." -Umbridge, AVPS. I'm thinking unless I actually have a funny HP moment during the days, I might just quote AVPS xD
Current Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Current Song: Maybe Tomorrow by The Remus Lupins

BEDA #6: Savannah Adventures

So I figured I'd at least start this blog post now, even though it's only 3:45, so that I don't have to freak out if I come back to the hotel late tonight. Why would I be out past midnight, you ask? Well.. you'll find out tomorrow at the latest =P

Today, we got out of the hotel at about 11, and we walked out to City Market (I found out that's the name of the square where we got Gelato last night) and browsed the shops until our trolley came. We registered for a trolley tour, which was really cool and cute. The only problem? No AC in the trolleys. ARG! I swear, it's 100 degrees today in Savannah. Not kidding.

But anyway, we took the trolley tour for a couple stops, then got off near one of the museums. The Jepson Center for the Arts had this really cool exhibit of pictures taken of the city of Paris from 1928-1939 or so, and it was so cool to see other parts of Paris besides the super-touristy ones that I've been to. A lot of is was very surrealist and I really enjoyed most of the pictures. There was this one of the Eiffel Tower amid a storm, with an enormous bolt of lightening in the sky behind it. It was pretty powerful.

We then got back on the trolley, sat through a couple more stops, and then got off for lunch at this place called The Pirate House, where, as our trolley driver told us as we pulled up, actual pirates would steal men for their ships. It was pretty cool, sitting and eating where real pirates had been. There was this joke sign up in the lobby that was a wanted poster for Captain Jack Sparrow. It amused me.

Back on the trolley we went and it took us by the riverwalk, where we'll spend a lot of time tomorrow, and then we got off near our hotel. So back at our hotel we are, taking a much needed break before we head down to the riverwalk to kill time before our next tour, which I don't want to talk about until after it's over because I'm too excited for it =]

Later!

So I'm back from our second tour, ready to talk about what happened after the last time I wrote:

We left the hotel to go around the area just past City Market to go shopping. We found this really cool imports store where my mom bought a 100% silk scarf and it was really beautiful. They had so many elephants! I got super excited.

We went into a kitchen store where I found these adorable tiny pink elephant salt and pepper shakers and they were just so cute (and cheap!) that my mom bought them for me. They were just too perfect.

We went into Urban Outfitters and I got a sweater on sale for the fall, and I'm super excited about it. I like sweaters a little too much...

Then we went out to a tapas restaurant for a dinner a little later than usual, since our lunch at the Pirate House was so late in the afternoon. I had a wonderful chicken caesar salad and helped my dad out with his tiny hamburgers (there were two. It even came with the tiniest bottle of ketchup I've ever seen. It was adorable). I finished off the meal with cannoli, which I haven't had in a long time, and then we went back to change out of our nice clothes and headed down to River St.

Once there, we climbed onto a bus that said this:


That's right! I went on my first ghost tour! I'm sorry if I got your hopes up for something you might view as cooler, but I was super stoked. I watch all those dumb ghost shows on SyFy and the Travel Channel, so I wanted to go on one. Our tour guide was really good (and I loved her 20s inspired costume!) and I couldn't help wondering if she was a theatre major or graduate...?

Anyway, the stories were awesome, gruesome, and some just plain sad. Who knew that Savannah had so much violence in its history? It's been named one of the most haunted cities in the United States by the Travel Channel or the Discovery Channel or something. I don't know. But it was super cool.

As soon as we got off the bus after the tour was over, the lightening storm in the horizon turned into a legit downpour and we got SOAKED coming back to our hotel. The wind off the river turned my umbrella inside out so I just gave up on it and we got super wet.

Hooray for showers to get the nasty sand off your skin.

That's it for me. 29 minutes to spare!

Till tomorrow!

HPRT: My dad saw this picture before I did, but he called over to me at the Paris exhibit and told me to look at this one picture. It was the house of Nicolas Flamel. TOO COOL!
Current Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Current Song: Georgia by Ray Charles (thank you, trolley tour xD)

BEDA #5: Shark Week?

So I'm sitting in a hotel room in downtown Savannah, GA, watching Shark Week. Tell me how that adds up?

I've heard so much about Shark Week all week, and I don't really know why everyone gets so excited about it, but I must say, sharks are very intriguing creatures. They amuse me, but mostly they scare me to death. This is the kind of programming that Sarah-Jean should watch.

Last line I heard: "This could be the monster I came here for."

Seriously? They're SHARKS! They don't attack unless provoked. This is too amusing. I love the dramatic music in the background, too.

Ok, enough about water-dwelling predators. Today my parents and I rented a car (a new Nissan Altima. I WANT IT FOR REAL!) and drove from our house in Auburn all the way to Savannah. It has a very cute downtown, full of history and (especially) mystery. All we really did today was walk through the suffocating heat around the area by the riverwalk and go to a really great seafood restaurant. I had catfish for the first time ever, and I can see why it was my grandpa's favorite. The crab cakes were Maryland style (the ONLY style =P) and the peel-and-eat shrimp was a great contrast to all the breaded food I ate.

UPDATE! THEY JUST KILLED THE SHARK! How dare they. My mom turned the channel. We don't want to watch them kill them for no reason. T_T

Anyway, we just just got back from looking around the square just down the street from our hotel. We went in search originally for some ice cream but ended up finding a gelato store right next to some live musicians. I got the Death by Chocolate gelato, and we took it outside to listen to the music and watch kids frolic in the fountain. We strolled around the area, popping in stores occasionally, including the Paula Deen store next to her restaurant Lady and Sons. They had a cardboard cut-out of Paula Deen in the store. WEIRD.

Tomorrow I think we're going on a couple tours, including a trolley tour and a special tour that I will save for later to talk about =]

That's it for me today. Looking forward to the rest of this trip.

Till tomorrow!

HPRT: I quoted Umbridge from AVPS all the way through dinner tonight, mostly the cheesecake/fondue monologue xD
Current Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Current Song: Not Over Yet from A Very Potter Sequel

BEDA #4: PROP 8 REPEALED!

Today the news came out that Proposition 8, banning Gay Marriage in California, is now behind us. I know that it's going to be challenged in the Supreme Court, but just for this one day, I feel like we've finally had a streak of reason in this country. SO excited for all the people who can finally marry those they love.

In other news, tomorrow my parents and I are going off to Savannah, GA for a mini-vacation (much needed), so hopefully I'll be able to continue with BEDA provided I find wi-fi in the hotel. No doubt I'll have some fun tales to talk about when I get home if I am unfortunately unable to blog every day, but I'm feeling pretty confident about continuing.

Hayley Hoover (Thursday on fiveawesomegirls) is doing BEDA as well, and she had this really cool idea to list what you have tasted, heard, felt, smelled and saw during that day, so I thought I'd give it a try today =]

Today, I tasted: the crunchy saltiness of tortilla chips before dinner
Today, I felt: the reassuring softness of my dog's fur
Today, I smelled: the waft of brownies drifting through the kitchen as they baked in the oven
Today, I heard: the soothing acoustic music of the Remus Lupins
Today, I saw: a picture of joyous couple on MSN after hearing that they might finally be married legally

HPRT: My friend Kelly met a guy who likes Ministry of Magic! She felt compelled to text me immediately xD
Current Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Current Song: Young Sirius Black's Flying Motorcycle by The Remus Lupins

BEDA #3: Inception

So the other day I finally got the chance to see Inception in town, and I had heard so many good things about it that I really couldn't wait. It ended up being one of the best films I've ever seen, and I was really very impressed with its originality and ability to keep me on my toes. I never really knew what to expect or what was going to happen. Predictability was not there.

More than everything, probably my favorite part of the movie was the fact that all of the imagined places and special effects were so realistic. The moment when Ellen Page's character creates the entire world of her dream, folding the street over on top of itself, was simultaneously terrifying and thrilling, and looked so real that I felt as though it might happen to me when I left the theater.

Possibly the only downfall to the movie is that it's so psychologically affecting that most people who see it have strange dreams that night. For me, I actually had the first nightmare I've had in about 6 years. Most of my friends had strange dreams themselves, and I have to wonder why? What is it about the concept of dreams that gets us all interested? The idea that there is some subconscious way to affect what happens during our conscious hours has been around for centuries, and the thought that people might be able to invade the mind has probably been around even longer.

I don't claim to have any philosophical theories as to the validity of these claims, but I certainly have more interest in it now that I've seen the movie. This video made by Alex Carpenter from The Remus Lupins about the movie is quite amusing though =]

That's all from me for today! Until tomorrow!

HPRT: Watching AVPS again... Why is it so darn addictive?
Current Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Current Song: The Coolest Girl from A Very Potter Sequel

ASoA Post 4; BEDA #2

Sorry for the terrible titles. I'm not feeling very creative at the moment, and I'm slightly distracted as I post my FollowtheButterflies video and watch A Very Potter Sequel for the 5th time in the week and a half since it came out on Youtube. *sigh* I'm so obsessed...

Anyway, on with Awesome Summer of Awesome, Part 4!

After the Night of Frivolity Ball, we dropped Kelly off at her apartment since that was the last we would see of her for the rest of the trip (saaaad T_T) and Amy drove us back to the hotel. We got in about 12:30, and I crawled in bed at about 1.

Day 4: Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I kid you not, we woke up at 6am. I didn't even get 5 hours of sleep that night, but as horrendously drowsy as I was, I forced myself out of bed and into the car.

We arrived at Universal Studios, parked in the Spiderman lot ("I know, he's like my second favorite superhero!" "SECOND??" Name that musical!) and walked into the park. I've never been to Universal before, so it was really cool to find out what was there. Honestly, though, I wasn't really interested in most of the lands aside from the Superhero one and Jurassic Park (of which I took some pictures for my dinosaur obsessed friend, Sarah-Jean).

We came to the first stop, the entrance to Universal as a whole and started our own line so that we were first in it. The lady at the gate was super nice and told us before she let us in which way we would have to go to get into the park since we weren't resort people using the early hours. She was super cool.

Anyway, we sunblocked up and then headed into the park, literally almost racing the completely deserted walkways to make our way around to Wizarding World. There was no one, I repeat, NO ONE in the park. It was the strangest thing to see a theme park entirely empty. We arrived at the back entrance to the park and, like we had hoped, we were the first ones there. One of the cast members offered to take us down to the bridge to have our picture taken with the castle in the background, so we took advantage of her kindness.


Afterward, we sat down behind the masking tape line they had laid down on the asphalt and secured our spot in line. I did a bit of filming, but after about 50 minutes of waiting, they opened the line and we literally sprinted into the park.

First thing we did was get in line for the Forbidden Journey of Hogwarts ride, which is the ride that's in Hogwarts. You have to get a locker for your bags for this ride, which is kind of lame, but oh well. Anyways, the wait said it was about 50 minutes, but it really wasn't. It was more like 25, which considering how amazing the ride is, was fabulous. There was so much to look at on the inside of the castle, like the moving pictures and Dumbledore's office, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and just so much more. The ride itself was unlike anything I've ever experienced, and we all agreed that it is by far the best ride we've ever been on. I'm not going to wreck it for anyone because I truly believe that it's something that everyone should experience and not have spoiled for them. Honestly though, it's levels of awesome are so high that I wouldn't really know where to start describing it. Let's just say it was so great we had to go on it twice xD

After the first time we went on it, we got in line for the Flight of the Hippogriff ride, which isn't as extreme as the Forbidden Journey or Dragon Challenge rides, but it is pretty fun and even thrilling at times, even if it was designed with little kids in mind.

It was then that we headed into Hogsmeade to look around at all the architecture and such. We took tons of pictures, but then headed onto the Dragon Challenge ride. The walk up to the ride is super cool because it's themed after the Triwizard Tournament, so there are all these banners supporting the four champions and then they take you into the Champion's tent from the first task, and they show you ghe Goblet of Fire and the Triwizard Cup. There are two sides to this ride, the Hungarian Horntail (blue) and the Chinese Fireball (red). We took the blue side first, and the ride was pretty fun, but then we got on the red side. That one was... infinitely better. I don't know, it was just more extreme somehow. There's a moment on the red ride where you literally pass over the blue ride as they're going upside down and you think you're going to crash into them, but you don't. It was just soooo cool.

After that ride we checked out the front of the park (since we came in the back way) and got a picture in front of the Hogwarts Express. I think it was then that we got back in line for the Forbidden Journey of Hogwarts. I called my mom during the wait, which was significantly longer than the first time, but it was still worth it.



It was then that we actually fell into a bit of a crisis. My mom asked us when we were leaving and I told her that we'd go back to the hotel to pack up our stuff at around 4, so she asked us when check out time was, and we told her 10. That's when she started yelling because Jennie had been convinced that the check out time on the website meant any time after 10, not before, which had seemed right to me and Amy, but Jennie had been so certain that it was after 10 that we didn't argue. So since it was 10:30am then, we'd already missed check out, and my mom told us that if we didn't check out soon they'd charge us for an extra day in the hotel, which was problematic because we'd already booked a night in a hotel in Valdosta to cut our travel time back to Atlanta in half between two days. So since it was Jennie's mistake, after we got off the ride, she called the hotel, we gave her our room keys and she left the park to go pack up all of our stuff. I felt kind of bad that she had to leave, but I had thought that hotels make you check out earlier rather than later, and I still had things that I needed to do in the park.

After Jennie left it was down to me, Caitlin and Amy. We got off the ride and decided to get lunch in the Three Broomsticks. Since this was the one meal I was going to get in the park, I figured I'd order something that you couldn't just get anywhere else, so I decided on Cornish Pasties and a garden salad. The Cornish Pasties are basically just pastry filled with ground beef and potatos, and it was really good. I ordered it with a glass of Pumpkin juice just to try it, since they talk about it in the books so much. I actually really liked the taste of pumpkin juice (it's really, really sweet), but I know a lot of reviewers haven't had the best opinion of it. The butterbeer, though, was amazing. Jennie ordered some frozen before she left and it was literally the best thing I've ever tasted. It was like butterscotch and caramel swirled together in frozen goodness. (Don't get it on tap, though. If you're going to get it, get it frozen.)

After the Three Broomsticks, we started going around to the shops in Hogsmeade. We started in Honeydukes, and the line was kind of long, but not nearly as long as it was for Ollivander's. So we walk in and the first thing you see is this huge display for Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans on top of a shelf to your left, and a display for Exploding Bon Bons to your right. They literally had every candy there that's in the books except for Licorice Wands (they had Chocolate Wands instead, which I would be more inclined to eat since I'm not a fan of licorice). I was planning on buying a Chocolate Frog, but after learning that they're $10, I decided against it. I ended up just buying a bottle of Pumpkin Juice for my parents to try.



Zonko's Joke Shop is attached to Honeydukes, and they had a bunch of the old tricks that are in the books, like Sneak-o-scopes, Boxing Telescopes, Fanged Flyers and Screaming Yo-yo's. I didn't buy anything because I was saving my money for a wand, which I was determined to get at the Owl Post (you can't actually buy wands at Ollivander's. The only thing there is the "Experience" where they perform a wand choosing for every 25 people).

Anyway, we left Zonko's and got in line for Dervish and Banges. This was probably the second longest line we had to wait in all day after our second time through Forbidden Journey. It was so hot as we waited in line, since it was early afternoon and there was no cover for the line, but ultimately it was super cool to go in. Dervish and Banges had a whole bunch of Quidditch stuff in it, as well as school robes and t-shirts. They had Rememberall's too! But in the front of the shop is the Owl Post where the wands are. It was soooo packed in there (kind of like it is in the movies) so I had to shove my way into the wand room, and no sooner had I looked at the first shelf than I found exactly what I was looking for.

It's not a secret that Neville Longbottom is my favorite character in Harry Potter, as well as the love of my life =P. Before leaving on the trip, I'd gone onto the Universal website for the Harry Potter merchandise page, and had not found anywhere on the site that they sold Neville's wand, so I hadn't been expecting to find it when I walked into the Owl post, but literally the first one I saw was his shelf. I got so freaking excited that I didn't even bother looking around the rest of the room! I snatched the first wand that was in reach, shoved my way to the register and paid for it before anyone could try to convince me to buy another wand.

I kind of love it. Can you tell?

Caitlin, who had also wanted to buy a wand, succeeded in procuring Harry's wand, and we all left the shop. By this time, our feet were in so much pain that all we really wanted to do was find somewhere to sit down. It was only like, 2, but we were so ready to leave since we'd been there for a good solid 5 hours and hadn't slept much the night before.

The last thing we did in the park was buy ourselves some Butterbeer. We said goodbye to the lovely park and Hogwarts, and limped over to Jurassic Park.

We only wanted to do one thing there, and that was the Jurassic Park ride or something. It's been there a really long time, and it was a water ride, which we really needed after the extreme heat of the day (I swear it was the hottest day out of the 4 we were in Orlando). It was actually really fun, and the drop at the end was far better than I'd anticipated.

We then called Jennie to tell her that we were ready to leave, and made the excruciating trip back through all the parks to the front. My feet and my hips were just about dead when we finally collapsed in the car.

We drove for about 3 hours, and the whole time Amy and Caitlin were in the back sleeping, whereas I read the last chapter of the Order of the Phoenix, and then dozed. We stopped at a Wendy's for dinner, and then half an hour later we arrived in Valdosta. Our hotel room was pretty cool, and we were all so exhausted and silly that we just laughed for about 15 minutes over absolutely nothing. It was ridiculous.

We slept really well that night, I'll just say that.

Day 5: ROFLCOPTOUR. We woke up at 9ish, packed up all our stuff and headed out of Valdosta at 10. We got to Jennie's house in Atlanta at about 1, and made a couple random errands before eating dinner at like, 3. We left for Decatur at 3:45, and ended up getting to the Presbyterian church there at 4:30, a whole hour before the Wizard rock concert was to start. We waited outside the Fellowship hall's back entrance from the parking lot, and a lot of people started to show up in line behind us.

When the doors opened just after 5, we made our way into the building and immediately Jennie and I secured our spots at the very front of the makeshift stage they'd made in the corner of the room. All the bands were at their merch tables, where the majority of the attendees were to buy shirts and CDs and posters. I was kind of sad because I used literally all of my cash up in Wizarding World the day before, because I really wanted an ALL CAPS poster or a ROFLCOPTOUR poster, but Jennie and I were totally broke so we couldn't. It was ok, though, because I was going to try to get pictures with them after the show.

Amy and Caitlin went to sit at the tables along the back wall, and eventually the show started. The first set was the Parselmouths, the wrock band from the point of view from two Slytherin girls, Kristina and Eia. I knew the vast majority of their songs, with the exception of the ones from their newest CD, which I don't have, but one of them involved a special appearance from Harry himself! (Harry was played by Justin from the wrock band Justin Finch-Fletchley and the Sugar Quills.) That set was super fun and ended with their favorite, "Voldemort Fangirl."


The second set was Justin Finch-Fletchley and the Sugar Quills, Justin and Eia. I did not know any of their music, but their set ended up being really, really cool. I'm determined to buy a CD or two once I have money.


Next was The Moaning Myrtles, or rather one half of them, Lauren Fairweather. Nina wasn't on tour this summer because she has a lot of other things going on this summer, so that was a little disappointing because I love Nina, but I was so excited that Lauren ended up playing a whole bunch of her own music for the set. I knew all of her songs, too, because she's a big Youtuber, so I've listened to the majority of her stuff.


Then came the Armoured Bearcub section, which is Lauren's band with her fiance, Matt. They are literally the cutest thing in the world, and I've also heard most of their music as well, so it was very enjoyable =]

The Whomping Willows was next, and Matt totally ripped it up on stage. His set was so awesome, and I have a new-found appreciation for his music. He played his song about Neville and I got really excited because that's one of my favorite of his songs.



Since Kristina Parselmouth and Lauren Myrtle are both in the Youtube channel fiveawesomegirls, they had a segment for that where they asked us to do stuff for their videos. After the trip was over, I found myself in two of Lauren's videos. I was very happy =]

Last but certainly not least, the moment we'd all been waiting for, the headlining band, ALL CAPS!!! I wore my ALL CAPS shirt just for the occasion =]
ALL CAPS is a Youtube band comprised of Kristina Horner from the Parselmouths and 5AG, and Luke Conard from Ministry of Magic and The Oceanix Six. I loveee their music, and I was so excited when I learned that they were headlining a tour this summer, so I had to go. They opened with Summer of '09, which is one of Kelly's and my favorite songs of theirs, then performed my favorite World of Warcraft Ruined My Life. They sang a song from their first CD, then Lumos Flies, Delete You, and closed with Don't Unplug Me, which is by far their most famous song.


The whole night was so awesome, and after the show was over, Jennie and I went around and got pictures with all the bands. I even got Lauren to say something for my Youtube channel, and that was so cool!

We got Kelly a present, which I will not describe in any capacity since she reads this blog, but I'm so excited to give it to her, because she will die. <3

We went back to Jennie's house, I made my Monday video and Amy showed Caitlin Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, since she'd never seen it before. We then went to bed, and got up the next morning to take Amy and Caitlin to the airport, which was sad, and then Jennie took me home, which was also sad.

So, I've been home for almost two weeks now, and that just seems really weird, because I feel like it was simultaneously yesterday and months and months ago. Time is such a strange thing.

Anyway, thus concludes my Awesome Summer of Awesome posts. It's been so great to revel in the memories and remind myself of all the awesome things that happened. I hope you guys got as much out of it as I did.

HPRT: I am fairly certain that I will succeed in reading all the Harry Potter books before the end of the summer =]
Current Book: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (barely, I have less than 20 pages left)
Current Song: Battle of Hogwarts by Ministry of Magic