Goodbye August

I suppose this really means summer is ending.  I mean, it's been over for me for a while but it's still felt like summer, despite having to go to school every day.  I don't mind school too much, I really like all of my classes, it's just the waking up early that I can't stand.

Tomorrow is the welcome rally at school.  Everyone gets to wear their class t-shirts and seniors get to wear non-uniform shorts and classes are all five minutes shorter and it should be lots of fun.  Plus the school is providing lunch for seniors and freshmen tomorrow as a part of welcome week!  It'll probably be pizza or something, but I like pizza.  Pizza is good.

Auditions were today, and I thought they went horribly.  I know I'm probably exaggerating, but I really don't think I did well at first.  I couldn't find a male partner for any scenes to read because all my guy friends were already doing scenes with other girls so I ended up having to read with my friend's little sister.  So we picked a scene, and after practising three times, my friend Kelley came late and nobody else needed a partner for a scene so we decided to change ours to a three-person one to help her out.  I was doing alright while reading through it outside, but when I got onstage in front of Mr. B, I got really nervous because auditions are always nerve-wracking!  I kept messing up at first, and there would be long silences where I couldn't find my next line on the paper.  When I went to Lang to sing for the musical, I didn't know any of the songs from the show, so he suggested to sing Alicia Keys or Christina Aguilera or something and I didn't want to sing them because they're talented and I'm...not.  I ended up singing a church song because I know church songs because of choir.  Then I did scales and those sucked.

I'd rather have a part in Night of the Living Dead, though, so I'll probably go back to auditions tomorrow and read for Mr. B again and redeem myself.  He already knows me and knows I can do this and handle this, so hopefully I'll get a callback, then I'll get cast...  Plus my friend Bianca is going to be assistant director so I'd get to see her every day!  (Being in different grades and having no classes together, I only end up seeing her a few times a week).  One problem (that I can't remember if I've mentioned it already or not) is that after callbacks on Friday, we have a three-day weekend so, unless the cast list is emailed out on Monday, I won't know if I got a part until Tuesday.  I hate waiting!!  Just...hopefully I'll get something!  If you're religious, pray for me!  If not, wish for me!

This month of August has been great.  Some of my posts actually had some purpose or topic other than me just talking about my day or complaining about having to write or apologizing for how horrible my post was today or all three!  I know I said a few days ago that I was getting sick of BEDA, but now I think I'll kind of miss it.  If I get cast in Night of the Living Dead, I'll definitely write soon about how happy and excited I am for the next five weeks (did I mention that there's only five weeks of rehearsal before it opens?) and if not, it might be a while before you hear from me.

Here's to a lovely September.

Books read: 18
Disneyland trips: 11
Current song: Because We Want To - Billie Piper

P.S. I think my new favorite word is sillage.  I hope it's okay that it's French.  If you know what it means, bonus points to you!  Two hints: the Google translate definition isn't correct and I found it in An Abundance of Katherines.

P.P.S. I think I want to learn how to speak French.

I wanna be the very best

Like no one ever was.
To catch them is my real test, to train them is my caaaauuuuseee!

Sorry, I'm watching Pokemon right now.  Because I feel like it.  I watched the first episode on Youtube a few months ago and I couldn't find the second episode.  However, my sister sent me a link where I can watch all the episodes online, so I'm watching episode 2 right now.  The last two nights, I've only gotten 4 hours of sleep.  The first night it was because I was on Pottermore, but the second night was because I had homework, then I had to get up at like 5 in the morning.  So when I got home from school today, I took a nap and my dream was kind of a mix of Disneyland and Pokemon, and it made me want to watch Pokemon.

Tomorrow is auditions for my school's play and musical, so I'm really nervous.  I still don't know what song I'm going to sing, and I also need to tell a story of a time I was scared for my own or someone else's safety, but I don't have any stories like that.  I might just exaggerate the story of when I was in a minor car accident when I was 10 or 11.  That might work.  Hopefully.

So I'm watching Pokemon, and I swear Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny have something going on.  Or something.

'Will Misty ever get a new bike?' I forgot how much I love this show.

Books read: 18
Disneyland trips: 11, unless the one in my dream counts (which it probably doesn't)
Current song: Pokemon theme

August is almost over

And I'm not doing very well at this, am I?  I keep forgetting to write!  I suppose yesterday  I was too busy.  I wasn't doing any actual work, though, I was just on Pottermore all day.  I finished book one, but I haven't read most of the extra things JK Rowling added, so I'll need to go back and look through all the chapters again.  I can't wait for Chamber of Secrets to go up!

If you're on Pottermore now, or when you get your email, add me!  My username is PumpkinNiffler26.

I actually almost forgot to write a post today because I'm spending the night at my friend Lindsey's house, yes, on a school night.  It's welcome week and we dress up our freshman sisters tomorrow so we're going to breakfast before school, because it's late start.  So as we speak, I'm sitting on Lindsey's couch, listening to the music that she's playing, and typing this up on my laptop!!  Sorry, I'm still really excited that I actually have a laptop.  Christina is dancing, I don't know what Lindsey is doing, and we're waiting for Lisa, Ruby, and Daniela to get back from back to school night.

My laptop is dying and I still have AP psychology homework that I should probably get started on, so I'm going to end this blog post about here, apologize for forgetting to write yesterday, and go run and grab my charger.  See you (hopefully) tomorrow!

Books read: 18
Disneyland trips:11
Current song: We Are Who We Are by I don't know who just ended and a new song hasn't started yet.  I think I'll open iTunes because I really don't like that kind of music.

Writing from a brand new laptop!

I ordered a laptop a little over a week ago to use for work (and leisure) for my senior year, and it finally came today!  My dad already set everything up, and I already signed into all of my accounts!  I installed missing e on Tumblr, but I haven't started saving my gifs yet.  I also downloaded iTunes, but I can't figure out how to get home sharing to work, so I'm transferring purchases from my iPod, but it's only doing 749 songs when I actually have about 1800 songs.  That does not make me happy, but hopefully I can figure it out soon.

I know you guys probably want to hear about Pottermore.  I went on last night and stopped when I got to Hogwarts because my mum told me to go to bed.  My wand is Fir and Unicorn, 12 inches!  This morning, before getting sorted, I recorded a video about how I'll have an identity crisis of I'm not in Hufflepuff.

I took the quiz and was sorted into...Slytherin.

I'm legitimately confused as to how on earth the Sorting Hat put me into Slytherin.  I've never been told that I have any Slytherin-like qualities, whereas people who didn't know I'm a Hufflepuff have told me that I have Hufflepuff-like qualities.  I have nothing against Slytherin house, I really like it actually.  I'm just...confused.

Today I've tried to come to terms with my Slytherin-ness, but I don't think that'll happen.  A part of me will always remain in Hufflepuff, no matter where Jo says I should be.

I don't know how they expect people who have already known that they are in Hufflepuff to identify with some other house if they're sorted elsewhere.  Hufflepuffs are loyal, and I'm sorry Jo, but I'm remaining loyal to my house.

I'll probably make another account when October comes along and try to get sorted into Hufflepuff.  I don't feel bad for not wanting to identify with Slytherin.  I just...I honestly don't think I have any Slytherin in me at all.  I suppose I should at least finish book one on Pottermore though, because I do have the early access.

Here's to hoping no one else has an identity crisis!

Books read: 18

Disneyland trips: 12

Current song: None because home sharing and stuff on iTunes is stupid >.<

P.S. Click the link where it says "I recorded a video" to see that video that I recorded, just in case you didn't figure that out :)

I GOT MY POTTERMORE EMAIL!

But I stupidly forgot my password so I'm typing this up quickly while I wait for them to email me.  I CAN'T WAIT TO GET SORTED!

Anyway, late post tonight because I actually had a social life!  Not really, but I'll get to that.  Tonight was the welcome dance and since I'm a senior, I got in for free.  That's basically the only reason I went, I wouldn't want to pay for a dance.  So I went and I ended up not dancing and sitting at a table with Bianca most of the time.  We tried to dance, but whenever we went inside it was really hot and suffocating and awkward and just...ew.  And I didn't really talk to anyone except my friends.

Remind me to never try having a social life again.

NOW I'M GOING TO GO ON POTTERMORE.  SORRY FOR THE BRIEF POST I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND.  Sorry for the caps too.

Books read: 18
Disneyland trips: 12
Current song: NONE I DON'T CARE I'M ON POTTERMORE!

This completely slipped my mind yesterday.

I don't know, I just...forgot.  I had plenty of time to write a post.  I just completely forgot to do it.

I sat in the drama room for lunch yesterday, and we talked about the school's fall productions.  I already mentioned Night of the Living Dead, and the musical is All Shook Up.  I'm going to audition for both, but I mostly want to be in Night of the Living Dead (and I also really want the part of Barbara!).  The problem is, for auditions, we have to tell a story of a time we were genuinely scared for our own or for someone else's safety.  I don't have any stories of a time I was scared like that.  If anyone would like to help me out and give me a story I can borrow, that would be much appreciated!  Auditions are next week, and I'm not nervous yet, but I probably will be when the time comes.

I think I might actually go to the school dance tomorrow night.  Since I'm a senior, I get in for free.  I don't normally like dances so I wouldn't want to pay to get in.  But a few of my friends are going and I've never been to a school dance (except winter formal freshman year, which is a different story altogether) so I figure I might as well experience it at least once!

Also, only two more days until Doctor Who!

Books read: 17
Disneyland trips: 12 (I don't know why I put 13 the other day!)
Current song: When Autons Attack - Turn Left

I'm really tired and have school tomorrow, so I'll make this quick.

Auditions for the fall play and musical are next week and I'm very excited for those! I have no idea what the musical is, but the play is Night of the Living Dead. It's this really awesome zombie horror show, and since it opens in October, it's perfect time for Halloween! I borrowed the script from Mr. B. last year so I could read it and it's awesome. I really want the part of Barbara, but honestly, I'll be happy with anything, even just a zombie.

Today I went to Disneyland after school with my parents, so that was a lot of fun. We went on Star Tours and Tower of Terror, then we got ice cream and watched the fireworks. That was the first time I had seen the whole fireworks show and it was really good!

Now I'm really tired and have to be up at 6am tomorrow, so goodnight!

Books read: 17
Disneyland trips: 13
Current song: Holding On - Alex Day

Interesting day, and a question for you!

Like I said yesterday, I had an in-class essay today.  I was able to get a blue book (actually, it was green), but I don't think the actual essay went very well.  Normally I'm quite good at essays!  The last in-class essay I had to write, I got a 97% on, but since we just got back from summer, and I spent like five minutes contemplating which prompt to choose, not to mention the fact that I wrote on Julius Caesar and Othello when I haven't read Julius Caesar since sophomore year, I don't think I did a very good job.

Other than that, I'm really excited to take AP Literature, it seems like it'll be really interesting, plus I have a few friends in that class.

After school, I checked my phone and I had five text messages from my friend Sarah saying that Demi Lovato is having a concert in LA on 23 September.  I don't think I've fangirled over Demi Lovato on this blog yet, but I freaking love her.  So I asked my parents and they said yes so I'm going to see Demi Lovato in one month and I'm so excited!!

Then, I got on Tumblr and found out that David Tennant and Billie Piper will be starring in a new mini-series on BBC once David's done with Much Ado About Nothing and my dashboard exploded because I'm following a bunch of Doctor Who and Doctor/Rose fan blogs on there.  Yes, I freaked out too.  I'm really excited for this.

I have one question because I need help deciding what to do.  My school is going on a 10 day trip to Italy and Greece next summer, and I really want to go because I love Italy and Greece and the last time I went out of the country was 8 years ago.  It seems like an amazing trip and a few of my friends also want to go!  But my family was also thinking about going to Florida next summer to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and possibly LeakyCon 2012 if there is one.  I know it'll either be one trip or the other, but I'm not sure which one to choose.  What do you think I should pick??

Books read: 17
Disneyland trips: 11
Current song: none

I'm going to be honest

I'm getting a little sick of BEDA.  I have no idea why.  I really enjoyed it in April, but these last few days I just haven't wanted to type up a post at all.  Like, I'd rather be reading or watching television or scrolling through pages on Tumblr or constantly checking my email to see if I have anything from Pottermore yet.

If you were wondering, no I haven't gotten my Pottermore welcome email yet, but a few of my friends have.  If my sister gets it before me, I'll probably be really mad.  I'm also still getting more worried about the sorting! Especially since Evanna Lynch had an identity crisis after being sorted into Gryffindor.  I think she's accepted it now though, so that's good, but if I'm sorted into anything other than Hufflepuff, I don't know what I'm going to do!  So I'm getting more and more stressed thinking about that.

I also have an in-class essay tomorrow.  Second day of school and already an in-class essay!  I suppose that's AP Literature for you.  But my sister had told me a few weeks ago that she has extra blue books, but when I asked her again today she said she's not sure.  Isn't that bloody fantastic?

Speaking of my sister, we were talking about Doctor Who earlier and she said, "I don't like Donna."  ...what?  How are we even related?!

So...I think I'll just go look for blue books and then maybe watch Doctor Who or Friends...

Books read: still 17
Disneyland trips: still 11
Current song: none because the stupid Youtube video won't load >.<

I saw Fright Night today!

I normally don't like horror movies because I get scared too easily, but I just had to see this film because, well, David Tennant is in it!  But it actually wasn't that scary.  It was more intense.

And it was a horror/comedy, so I think it was actually more funny than scary.  There were parts when I started laughing out loud!  One line I really loved was:

Charlie: If we set him on fire, how do I get close enough to stab him?
Peter Vincent: ....fuck.

There were a few times where David Tennant's character, Peter Vincent, reminded me of the Doctor.  Well, Tennant's Doctor at least.  Especially when Charlie asked him how to kill a vampire and one of his suggestions was, "You could make him a big, garlic-y omelet."  And then he asked if those would actually work and he said, "Well, I suppose the omelet might not work..."  When he said well it reminded me so much of the Doctor, because the Doctor would say that a lot.  And he would ramble about silly things like that.

Anyway, I thought Fright Night was a pretty good movie!  I've never seen the original, so I can't compare them, but I really like this one.

Also, I just heard that David Tennant will also be making an appearance in Let's Kill Hitler next week!  I'm pretty sure it's true because he was listed in the cast for that episode on IMDB, I checked.  Some people think it's a flashback, but I'm hoping it might be at least a little peek into the metacrisis Doctor's life with Rose, because Rose is going to be in that episode too.

Basically, I'm very excited for Doctor Who to come back next Saturday!

Books read: 17
Disneyland trips: 11
Current song: Gone - Lauren Fairweather

I almost forgot to do this!

Now I have to quickly type up a post in 13 minutes so I don't miss a day again.

Except for the fact that none of my closest friends are in any of my classes, I have a feeling that senior year is going to be great.  All of my teachers seem really good, and I already know my marine biology teacher and she's awesome.  My stats teacher seems really cool.  When we were going over the syllabus, after someone said something, he smacked his desk and said, "Damn straight!"  That was funny.  I'm not quite sure what to think of the new AP Psychology teacher yet.  AP Literature teacher seems awesome and the class seems great!  Being an English nerd, I'm really excited.  And photography seems like a lot of fun!  The class is really small and about half the people in it are friends of mine.

The only thing I'm not looking forward to about school is it draining all my energy.  When I came home today, I took a two hour nap.  It felt so good though!  I suppose I should get used to being tired, considering that I do have two AP classes, and I'm still going to do drama.

This should be a good year.

Books read: 16
Disneyland trips: 11
Current song: Sigh No More - Catherine Tate and David Tennant

Senior year officially starts tomorrow.

Everything is slowly starting to fall back into normalcy.  I already talked a bit about orientation yesterday, which was fun.  Seniors didn't have to be at school today, but I needed to fix my schedule so I went.

For some strange reason, the school put me in Italian 4 when I've never taken and Italian class before in my life.  I met with my academic adviser this morning and was able to switch into photography instead, so that should be a lot of fun, especially because I know my friend Montse is in that class.  And because I changed my schedule, I already know what block all my classes are!

A - Statistics
B - AP Psychology
C - AP Literature
D - Marine Biology
E - Photography
F - Religion

My school has block schedule, so we only have 3 classes a day.  I already know that ABC days are going to be hell while DEF days will be a nice break.

I'm almost done with my AP homework!  I've still got about one essay and one outline to do, and then I'm done!  And I just spilled water down my shirt.  Fantastic.  It's very cold.  Anyway, I remembered I still had to type this up so I decided to take a quick break from my essay comparing Julius Caesar and Oedipus the King.  Also because I can't think of what to write.

Hm, is the entire year going to be like this?  If so, wish me luck...

Books read: 17
Disneyland trips: 11
Current song:  Goodnight Bright Eyes - Mike Lombardo

Happy Birthday to my dad!

Today's my dad's birthday, so we just got back from BJ's where we had a lot of pizza and salad and pizookie.  The pizookie is always the best part though.  If you don't know what that is, it's basically heaven on a plate: a freshly baked giant cookie with two scoops of ice cream on the top.  I was sharing one with my dad and he only had a few bites, so I ate most of it, and now...I'm in a food coma.

I was practically asleep on the car ride home, then I almost fell asleep when I got to my room, but I remembered that I still needed to write my blog post for today, so here I am.

The first day of my senior year was today, and what I got from it is, well, this is going to be a great year.  I'm in the same section as my friend Ruby, and the classroom is right across the hall from our other friends' section.  We all signed up to go on the same Kairos retreat together (next month!), and not to mention all of the drama productions that are going on this year, all the senior activities, and just getting to spend the year with my absolutely amazing friends.

Things are pretty much back to normal (in more ways than one), and I'm pretty sure that's a good thing, so I'm really thankful for that.

I'm just really excited for this year.

Books read: 16
Disneyland trips: 11 (I might go on Sunday? Hopefully!)
Current song: None, but I can hear Modern Family on television in the background.

Quick update

I'm really tired-- though I don't know why because it's only 9:10-- and I'm typing this up on my iPod because my computer isn't working, so this shall be very quick. I just didn't want to miss a day of BEDA.

I saw The Help today and that was fantastic and I think everyone should see it! I don't usually like to watch the film before reading the book, though, so I'll have to read that very soon. But if it's better than the movie, which it probably will be, then I know I'll love it! By the way, Emma Stone is wonderful, I freaking love her.

School starts tomorrow. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing yet, but I suppose I'll find out soon enough.

I'm having a difficult time keeping my eyes open, so I bid you adieu.

Books read: 16
Disneyland trips: 11
Current Song: We Go Together - Catherine Tate and David Tennant

Distractions

Technically it starts in two days, but that's just orientation.  All my homework is due in four days and I'm still not even halfway done with it.  I keep getting distracted.

Basically-- and please pardon my language, I don't normally talk like this-- I'm absolutely fucked.  I mean, I know I'll get it done in time, but these next few days will probably be very stressful for me, especially if I keep getting distracted, and I know I will tomorrow.

Today, I went on a campus tour of a college that I'm thinking about, then we went to go buy uniforms, then some cousins came over, then I watched Doctor Who.  Okay, so that last one was my fault and could easily have been prevented but still!  I'm easily distracted!  And tomorrow, my mum's taking me to buy shoes for school (I get to wear red tennis shoes!) and we might go see The Help.  Which will just distract me from my homework even more.  Not to mention Tumblr*, that's very distracting.

Plus all this drama about how Moffat told people who saw the early screening of Let's Kill Hitler to lie to everyone else about things in the episode.

If you don't know what that's about, some people said that Billie Piper will be in the episode, but then the tweet was deleted, but then another more official article said that we'd be seeing some old companions but it's not pleasant for the Doctor and a lot of people are pretty sure that Rose is in the episode and if she's not I swear I'm going to kill Moffat.  Again, sorry if you don't care about Doctor Who!

Oh, another distraction: Pottermore!  No, I haven't gotten my welcome email yet, but I really want to and I'm almost constantly checking my email to see if I've gotten it and I'm still worrying about being sorted into Hufflepuff!  Hopefully I won't get that email until after I've finished my homework, though...

Speaking of, I really should work on that.  Really.

Books read: 15
Disneyland trips: 11
Current song: Mr. Pond - Chameleon Circuit

Doctor Who is so confusing.

I was just re-watching The Time of Angels and Flesh and Stone, and some things that River said gave me a few ideas about this season, but then everything started contradicting and it's just a;fjkdas;fkljs.

Sorry, I'm not very coherent right now.  Let's start with what River said.  When the Doctor asked her about the man she killed, if it was a good man, she said something like, "He was a good man.  The best man I've ever known."  Those words and the way she said those words made me think that she's the one who killed the Doctor in The Impossible Astronaut.

But then I remembered that River would've known when he died that it was her.  Plus she was already in prison, so she would've already killed him.  I mean, she would have only killed him if she had really good reason to or if it only looked like she killed him.  But then again, she would have still remembered, so that throws away that theory.

Unless someone took some of her memories of a certain period of time.  I mean, that happened to Jack.  He lost a year of his memories.  Maybe River did kill the Doctor and someone (maybe the Doctor? I know, confusing) wiped her memory of it.  The Doctor can wipe memories.  He had to do that to Donna. *le sob*

There's also matters of that Time Lord little girl or whatever she is that was in the astronaut suit that killed him.  I mean, I know a lot of people think it was her, but we don't know if it actually was her.  We never saw under the helmet of the astronaut who killed him.  So it could be that little girl, but it also could not be her.

Also, I'm confused as to whether or not that girl is Melody.  I'm also confused as to when I should call her River and when I should call her Melody.  Anyway, unless someone wiped River's memory, like I said before, the little girl can't be Melody because then River would remember it.

I'm sorry, I'm making absolutely no sense right now.  Doctor Who does that to me.  My mind is filled with contradicting theories and lots of confusion.  MOFFAT, IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT.

Books read: 15
Disneyland trips: 11
Current song: Everything is Ending - Chameleon Circuit

School starts in less than a week

School starts in less than a week, and I still have AP homework to finish.  Damn my procrastination skills.

I have two plays and one psychology book to read, three essays, and one and a half outlines to write.  Before next Friday.  Can I do it?  Dear Lord, I hope so.

I'm pretty sure I can do it, though.  I can finish one outline today, read Oedipus and start and finish the next outline by tomorrow maybe (considering I have a baby shower tomorrow, maybe not...).  Reading Midsummer Night's Dream shouldn't take too long because I've already read bits of it and it's quite interesting.  I'm good at essays so I could probably do them both in one night if I have to.

It's the psychology stuff I'm worried about.  I find the subject interesting, I just don't agree with any of these peoples' ideas (Freud, Skinner, and Rogers).  Well, at least I'll have a lot to write about for that essay...

Oh, and I probably won't have time to do any work on Wednesday because I have to be at school at 8:45 to help with freshman orientation for CSJ, and then my senior orientation is later that day.

But I can probably get all my work done!  Right?  Right...?

Books read: 15
Disneyland trips: 11
Current song: The Carrionites Swarm - BBC National Orchestra of Wales

I'm glad I have a supportive family.

I've known that I want to major in English in college, and that I want to be some type of writer when I'm older.  Whether it be on a website, in a newspaper, for a television show, or even publishing a novel, I want to write.

Careers with writing aren't necessarily sparse today.  Newspapers are starting to go out of print, more people are using e-readers (which, I suppose doesn't have anything to do with the publication of novels, but I'd want a book I write to be like, a an actual book), and writing for film or television would be very difficult to get into, I'd imagine.  Despite all this, my family has been fairly supportive.

They're encouraging me to go to colleges that have good English or writing programs, they let me read a lot, and they haven't complained about the path I've decided to take.  If anything, I'm probably more worried about it than they are!  Nonetheless, I'm thankful that they're not trying to force me into doing something I won't enjoy.  Like algebra. *shudders*

However, recently my dad has been wanting me to write.  I mean, yes, it's because he cares about me and wants me to practice writing as much as I can, but it's getting really annoying.  The other day, he had me write three paragraphs about a boy, a dog, and a trolley before 9:00 or he said he would kick me off the computer (which he should've done because I still have homework, but whatever).  Now he wants me to continue that story, but when I wrote it, I ended it without the intention of continuing it.  He just keeps pestering me to keep writing and it's rather annoying.

I'd rather write when I'm inspired or when I want to, not when someone's forcing me to.  Hm, I wonder how stressful it'll be my first time doing NaNoWriMo...

Books read: 15
Disneyland trips: 11
Current song: http://nyantardis.com/

King Lear is a lot more depressing than I thought.

If any of you have been with me since my last BEDA experience in April, you might remember that I was Regan in a scene of King Lear for a drama competition in which we got sixth place.  I know that King Lear is a tragedy, I've always known that, but it didn't really sink in how...sad the ending is until I finished reading it.

I suppose that might be because I and my friends also in the scene spent most rehearsals goofing off-- like that one time each of our characters had a little quirk!  I think my favorite was the Sassy Gay Lear, valley girl Goneril, bipolar Regan, and...ooh, I can't remember Cordelia's quirk!  It'll come to me.  Anyway, I had so much fun working on the scene that I didn't realize it's actually quite sad!

I mean, this man has lost everything.  Two of his daughters betrayed him and left him in the rain-- literally-- and he abandoned his third.  Then, when she comes back to him to help him, she's hanged before he can apologize or she can forgive him, and he is completely distraught.

"Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life
And thou no breath at all?"

That line really got me when I was reading.  It's one we cut out from our scene, but it's so good.  I kind of wish we kept it in.

Also, I've been on the computer for almost 3 hours already, so I'm not doing a very good job at this whole focus-and-get-your-homework-done thing.  I need to focus or I'm really going to regret it next week!

Books read: 14
Disneyland trips: 11
Current song: Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson

I need to focus.

I've been spending way too much time on the computer when I still have kind of a lot of AP homework I need to finish.  I still have to finish King Lear, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, and Oedipus the King, And I have to 2 outlines and 2 essays. And that's just for AP Lit.  There's another essay for AP Psychology.

So I've decided to be more focused, limit my computer time, etc. so I can actually finish all this stuff before school starts next week.  Yes, that's right, next week!  I have a week to finish all of that.  I suppose I'm not too worried yet, but I know I will get worried soon.

Maybe if I make a list it'll help me finish everything!  I don't know.  I'm not very organized so I never really make lists for things I have to do, but I have nothing better to talk about today (as every other day), so here's a list!

• Finish reading King Lear
• Read Othello
• Read A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Read Oedipus the King
• Read and outline Aristotle: Poetics
• Outline Oedipus the King in terms of its relation to Aristotle: Poetics
• Essay: Compare/Contrast King Lear and Midsummer
• Essay: Compare/Contrast Oedipus and Julius Caesar
• Finish reading Three Psychologies
• Essay: Analyze Three Psychologies? Something like that, he wasn't very specific.

Oh, and now my dad wants me to start writing a novel or short story or something and he's giving me until 9 PM tonight to have a few paragraphs.  I'm glad he's supportive of the fact that I want to be a writer, but really?  When I have all this other stuff on my plate?

If you follow me on Tumblr or Twitter and see me doing anything on the computer-- aside from writing my daily blog post-- over the next week, please yell at me.  Thank you! ^.^

Books read: 14
Disneyland trips: 11 (Probably no more for a while!)
Current song: none

I'm going to talk about Pottermore

I just realized that I haven't talked about it since Jo announced it, so now is as good a time as ever to do so!  Yes, I got an account for beta access to the site.  My sister and I were prepared for an all-nighter with our Oreo balls and popcorn, and we were both randomly refreshing the page and had promised to let each other know when the clue went up.

Now, I'll fill out the Pottermore survey thing that Hayley Hoover did on her blog yesterday which she apparently found on Tumblr, but I wouldn't know because I haven't been on there in a few days.

1. What's your Pottermore username? PumpkinNiffler26
2. What House do you think it sounds like? Hufflepuff!  Nifflers find treasure, just like Hufflepuffs are particularly good finders.
3. What House do you want to be in? Hufflepuff. No question. I don't think I'll have an identity crisis if I'm not sorted into Hufflepuff, I know I'll have one.
4. Does your username relate to you at all? Except for the fact that I relate Nifflers to Hufflepuff, not really, but my friend Lisa also has "pumpkin" in her Pottermore username, so we're Pumpkin Buddies!
5. What kind of wand would you wish to get? Holly and dragon heartstring, 12".  I decided on that a while ago, but I won't have an identity crisis if that's not my wand.  My chances of getting that are between slim and none.
6. Are you pure, half-blooded or Muggle born? I'm half-blooded.
7. Which day did you get into Pottermore? Day 2.
8. What shape is your Patronus? CATHERINE TATE IS MY PATRONUS.  Or maybe a fox.
9. What does your boggart look like? Probably a giant bee or something.  Or that giant wasp from the episode of Doctor Who, "The Unicorn and the Wasp".  If you don't watch Doctor Who, that's fine, I just used that as an example for comparison.  So, yeah, a giant bee.  Like, giant giant.
10. Would you rather be an Animagus or a Matamorphmagus? Metamorphmagus, definitely.
11. If you were an Animagus, what animal would you be? I'm not sure exactly what animal, but definitely some type of bird so I could fly.  Flying would be cool.

Anyway, if you want, let me know what your Pottermore username is!  Now I'll just anxiously await my Hogwarts letter about 6 years late-- I mean, my welcome email!

Books read: 15

Disneyland trips: 11

Current song: Everything is Ending - Chameleon Circuit

I just got home

I apologize for this brief post and for technically missing yesterday because it's after midnight!  I literally just got home now.

Quick thing: I went shopping a little today, and I bought a bracelet that says "BAZINGA!" on it.  Sheldon says that on The Big Bang Theory.  I also (finally) bought Paper Towns and An Abundance of Katherines by John Green!  And the best part was that I found a Nerdfighter note in my copy of An Abundance of Katherines!  It totally made my day!  There was no name signed at the bottom, though, unfortunately.

Anyway, a few things I learned this weekend: I don't like Thai food, beach water is freezing, but you get numb to it after a while, and if you leave a half drunk can of Coke out for a while, don't drink it again because it's flat and tastes really bad.

I promise (hopefully) a better post tomorrow!

Books read: 14, but I started An Abundance of Katherines!
Disneyland trips: 11
Current song: Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap

Quick day 7 post

I don't want to miss a BEDA post, and I'm not going to be home tomorrow (well today, I suppose), so I just decided to stay up until midnight (even though I would've anyway), so now I'm writing this on August 7.  I hope that made sense.

Anyway, tomorrow and Monday I'll be in San Luis Obispo, but on Monday I'll hopefully be home early enough to write a post.  Let's see...things to talk about...  I really should be doing my AP homework.  I don't know why I'm putting it off so much because I actually like English, and Shakespeare is really interesting.

Umm...I'm sorry for the crappyness and rushed tone of this!  And it's probably rather boring too.  To make it up to you, I'll leave you with one of my favorite hayleyghoover videos!

(I really like her Annoyance videos, just FYI)

Have a wonderful Sunday, lovelies!

Thinking about the future

I really should be doing AP homework right now, but I'm not.  I'm just thinking about the future.

I'm starting my senior year of high school in eleven days, and I'm kind of just realizing how quickly that's going to go by.  I'm starting to get a little worried about having to apply for college.  That'll definitely be a stressful time.  Then once that's over, I'll have to wait months for acceptance letters.  That'll also be pretty stressful.

But what I'm trying to get at is high school doesn't last forever.  This will probably be the last year I go to school with my friends.  Of course, I'm going to stay friends with them in college, but I won't see them every day like I do now.  I'll miss them a lot.  And, you hear how everyone hated going to high school and no one had a good high school experience except the popular kids, but I honestly love my school.  It's a great school.  I've met so many amazing people, and most of the teachers are great, and it's just a really great school.  So I'll definitely miss my school as well.

Aside from that, I'm actually really looking forward to college.  Once I get my general ed classes out of the way, I'll get to take classes all about English or creative writing, so I'm really excited for that.  I'm excited to be a bit more independent than I am now because, honestly, I'm totally dependent on my parents.  Sure, it'll probably be stressful at times, but being independent and having more freedom will probably be better in the long run.

What I'm worried about is what to do after college.

Books read: still 14, but I'm working on it!
Disneyland trips: 11
Current song: none, I might take this off.

Disneyland is fun

I've been to Disneyland 3 times this week.  I love California.

Monday, I went with my friends Lindsey, Christina, and Ruby, and Ruby's little brother and sister.  Today, I went with my friend Sarah.  I also went on a spur of the moment trip to Disneyland last night with my sister.

It's late, and I only have 13 minutes to get this up for it to technically not be late because I meant to write a blog post before leaving for Disneyland but I forgot, so this will probably be quick, and I'll just talk about Disneyland to stay on the same subject.

Here's some tips if you're a tourist and/or are just going to Disneyland in the future!

• If someone's dropping you off or picking you up, use the 15 minute parking on Harbor Blvd.  It's closer to the parks and so much quicker than if you go to the parking structure and have to use the tram.
• If you plan on getting there early, get fastpasses!  Fastpasses are life savers.  They save you from the painful sometimes 70+ minute long waits in line for some of the more popular rides like Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, and especially Star Tours, now that it's just recently opened again.
• If you're with someone else, get fastpasses for different rides and then just say the other person lost their fastpass; the cast member should still let you both on the ride!
• If you're not going to get there early, go late because once the sun goes down and/or people start to leave, the lines are much shorter!  They're also shorter during the fireworks show and Fantasmic.
• Especially Splash Mountain.  The line was only about 10 minutes tonight!
• If you watch the fireworks by Fantasyland (which is closed during the show), they'll let you in first so the lines won't be as long for rides like Peter Pan and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

I hope my tips may be of some help!  If you're not going to Disneyland anytime soon, or ever, sorry for wasting your time.  I'll see you tomorrow! (4 minutes to spare! Woohoo!)

Books read: 14

Disneyland trips: 11

Current song: none

I'm thinking about making a new blog.

You know how, when you go to your dashboard on here, it says create new blog?  Yeah, I wanted to make a new one like that and it could be for any creative writing I do, and I could just use this one for my deep thoughts (not really, haha) or if I have something I want to talk about.

I can't say how much I'd actually update, because oftentimes I'm not really in the mood to write, and if I do write, I'm almost definitely not in the mood to share it with anyone.  But, ya know, this would be a nice way to get myself to do some creative writing more often.  It might consist of random short stories or fanfiction, maybe even poems?  I haven't written poems in a while though.  I haven't felt inspired to do so in a few months because of, ahem, a certain incident...

Anyway, just a thought!  I doubt anyone would actually follow it, but it might still be fun for me!  Maybe after the month is over, because I'll be too preoccupied with remembering to blog every day this month.  So far, so good, but I don't think I'll be home at all on Monday...  Maybe I'll ask my sister if I can borrow her laptop.  Oh, and I should be getting a laptop soon because my sister got one for her senior year, so I get one for mine!  That should either be good, or very very bad because I'll have more opportunities for the internet to distract me from doing important things.  Ah, well, we'll find out soon enough.

Books read: 14

Disneyland trips: 9

Current song: Amelia Pond by Hello, Sweetie

Whimsic Alley!

I went to Whimsic Alley today and it was, for lack of a better word to describe it, magical!

We went there in the morning, and the place is just filled with Harry Potter merchandise!  On one side there's different clothes, like robes and pullover sweaters, vests and cardigans, and they have colors for each of the houses on them.  They've also got the basic hats, scarves, and ties.  I saw house socks, too.  Those were cool!  And there was an entire room of hats!  There was the Sorting Hat, McGonagall's hat, the normal Hogwarts pointed hat, they even had Luna's lion hat!  I really want to get Luna's hat next time I go, it was awesome.

On the other side as lots of toys or games and books and quills & ink and some just...random things!  But they were all fantastic.  They had a lot of things from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, like Pigmy Puffs and other stuffed animals.  And in the book section, there weren't just Harry Potter related books.  They had other books that one might like if they're fans of the Harry Potter series, so I thought that was cool (except for the fact that they had a bit of Twilight-- not good).

I expected the candy section to have more Harry Potter candies than it actually did.  I remember you used to be able to find all sorts of Potter candy like Fizzing Whizbees, Ice Mice, Acid Pops, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, etc.  Now, all there ever seems to be is Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.  Don't get me wrong, I love me some Bertie Bott's but I loved getting Chocolate Frogs!  And Fizzing Whizbees and Acid Pops were quite good too!  However, I tried Drooble's once and it made me gag.  But it would be nice to be able buy more than just Bertie Bott's beans.  I was surprised we couldn't find anything besides that at Whimsic Alley.

The reason we had gone there is because my 17th birthday was a few weeks ago and I haven't had a party yet, so I'm going to have a Harry Potter themed party (because you know how big the 17th birthday is in the wizarding world), so we got little things to put in gift bags like Bertie Bott's and temporary scar tattoos.

Aside from those, my sister bought the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook (or something like that), my mum bought a little notebook, and I bought a pair of radish earrings!  I'm wearing them right now.  Oh, and my sister and I got temporary Dark Mark tattoos!  Now I know where to get that again, because I'm going to be Bellatrix for Halloween!

Here's a picture of those radish earrings, if you can see.  Sorry, I look bad.

If you're ever in the LA area, you should definitely check out Whimsic Alley.  It's a fantastic place to go for any Harry Potter fan!

Books read: 14
Disneyland trips: 9
Current song: none, I'm listening to the sound of drums, like the Master could hear all the time.  I've been listening to them for about an hour and still feel, for the most part, normal, but it's getting a bit irritating.  I want to see how long I can last.

This is a Rose Tyler appreciation post.

Rose Tyler was companion to the Ninth and Tenth Doctors on Doctor Who, and one thing I can't stand is seeing hate on her.

One thing I love about Rose Tyler is that she shows that anyone ordinary can become someone extraordinary.  Before the Doctor came into her life, she was just a normal shop girl (either a high school dropout, or she just never continued onto university, I can never remember).  Nothing interesting ever happened in her life.  Then, one day, a strange man took her hand and told her to run.  He saved her life.  Then, she saved his life.  She continued to travel with the Doctor and her life was changed so much.  She continually risked her life for the planet, or for the Doctor.

Rose was such a great companion because she has a big heart and is very trusting and dedicated and determined.

One moment that stands out at me, displaying her big heart is in "Love and Monsters".  She and the Doctor go looking for the boy (whose name I cannot remember) to yell at him because he upset her mum, but once she sees that he's hurting, she forgets that she was angry with him and sits with him and tries to comfort him instead.  Another moment I can remember is in the episode "Dalek".  Rose has no idea what a Dalek is or how evil it is.  All she knows is that it's in pain and she wants to help it.  Even after she sees what it can do, she still wants to help it.

When Rose first met the Doctor, she trusted him without knowing much anything about him.  Sure, she questioned that trust at first, but soon she learned that she was right to trust him, and it grew even more as she got to know him more.

Rose is so dedicated to the Doctor, and she is determined.  An entire universe couldn't keep her away from him.  She wanted to find him, to get back to him, to travel with him again.  He told her it was impossible, that they could never see each other again, but she found away back to him.  And in the 2 years she was gone, he never forgot her.  I think that there's a part of the Doctor that will always love Rose.  He does have two hearts, after all!

Something that bugs me is when people say that Rose's only epic moment was when she absorbed the Time Vortex.  Yes, that was pretty badass, but was it really her only epic moment? I mean, do you not remember that time when she, killed Satan? No big deal or anything.  So to counter that opinion, I'm going to leave you a list of extremely brave or incredibly badass Rose moments that I can think of off the top of my head.

1. She looked into the heart of the TARDIS, absorbed the Time Vortex, disintegrated the Daleks AND their emperor, and lived. That BAMF.
2. In the very first episode, "Rose", she risked her life to save this man she hardly knew.
3. In "The Empty Child", she witnesses London being bombed by Germany hanging from a barge balloon (hah, alliteration!).  Albeit, that may be a bit more of a damsel-in-distress moment, but it's pretty badass that she didn't die!
4. This may be seen as more of a funny moment (I find it absolutely hilarious every time I watch it), but when Rose stands up to the Sycorax in "The Christmas Invasion".
5. WHEN SHE KILLS SATAN IN "THE SATAN PIT".  SERIOUSLY. HOW MUCH MORE BADASS CAN YOU GET?!
6. Also, in other parts of "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit" when the Doctor is gone and Rose believes she may never see him again, but she still tries to put on a strong face and help be a leader for everyone on the planet.
7. In "Fear Her", when the Doctor is turned into a drawing, she's determined to get him back, and saves the day in the end.
8. In "Doomsday", Rose knows full well that she will never see her parents and Mickey again if she stays in her own universe to help the Doctor, where she could very well be sucked into the void, but she stays with him anyway.
9. Also in "Doomsday", she sees that the opening into the void is starting to close, but not all of the Cybermen and Daleks are gone yet, so she lets go of the super magnet thing to pull the lever back and keep it open to make sure every last one of the Cybermen and Daleks are gone, which leads to her getting stuck in the parallel universe.  (This is probably one of my personal favorite Rose moments.  It shows just how brave she is.)
10. WHEN SHE BLOWS UP A DALEK IN "THE STOLEN EARTH".
11. Oh, and she built that dimension cannon just to try and get back to the Doctor.

Wow, that list ended up being longer than I thought.  And that was just off the top of my head.

Basically, I love Rose Tyler.

I think this day 2 BEDA post is complete.  Sorry if you don't like Doctor Who.  I'm going to Whimsic Alley tomorrow, so I'll talk about that for day 3!

Books read: Still 14

Disneyland trips: 9 (I went today!)

Current Song: The Daleks - Doctor Who Soundtrack

Suddenly remembered it's BEDA! (Day One)

I randomly decided to come on and saw that Kristina Horner and Hayley Hoover had posted their BEDA day one posts and thought, "OH RIGHT, IT'S BEDA."  So...now I'm typing up this first blog post with 27 minutes to do so!  Let's see how this goes.

(EDIT: Skip these next few paragraphs because I don't start talking about semi-interesting stuff until then!)

So since the last time I've been here...my cousin got married so I went on a road trip to Oregon and was one of her bridesmaids, I turned 17, oh, and I met Matt Smith and Karen Gillan from Doctor Who!  I highly doubt you care about any of that, though.

Gosh, I really don't know what to talk about.  I was hoping that when I started typing, a brilliant idea would come into my mind and I'd leave everyone speechless with my incredible ideas, but this is just turning out to be crap so far.

School starts in 16 days and I still haven't really started any of my AP Literature homework.  I'm not too worried about that though because I like English and I'm good at English, so those assignments shouldn't take me too long.  I'm a little worried about AP Psychology though, because my teacher told us we have an essay due the first day of school but hasn't even given us a prompt or question or anything yet.  Though I did finish 8 pages, front and back, of notes and questions for that class just a few short hours ago.

I'm really sorry if you actually read this!  It was probably such a waste of time!  At least it's short, I suppose.  Ah, well, hopefully my posts will get better over the rest of the month.  Oh, I know! I can talk about doing BEDA!

I did Blog Every Day in April for the first time this year, so I decided to do August too!  It was a great experience because I challenged myself to write every day (albeit, I didn't really know what I was doing until the end of the month).  Hopefully this time around, I'll challenge myself more, and I'll try to come up with interesting things to discuss each day, even if I'm a little busy.  I'm really glad I've started doing BEDAs, and I'm also going to be doing NaNoWriMo for the first time this year.  I hope that all of these will help me to become a better writer.

Okay, I suppose that last part was still pretty boring, but it will suffice.  I shall be back tomorrow with (hopefully) something more interesting! Ha, I'm done with 16 minutes to spare!

Books read: 14 (I'm not doing very well with this, am I?)
Disneyland trips: 8
Current song: none