Your English is Good

I completely forgot Spring Break. It’s almost April. Like, tomorrow is April. I’m getting kind of annoyed that the Florence and the Machine people haven’t emailed me back about a press pass, and at least Spoon’s people told me to remind them on APRIL 5TH, FOUR DAYS BEFORE THE SHOW. I don’t see why they wait so long. It just makes us more nervous.

Today was a nervous day.

I won’t say why just yet, but let’s just say the nervous ended well.

Right, spring quarter started yesterday. About that…

I LOVE (two of) MY CLASSES! The other one will hopefully be a piece of cake, but so far I know that I’ll definitely need coffee before each Earth History class. It was the only Natural World credit that fit into my schedule without a lab and an extra lab fee. Plus, it’s only a 200-level course, so it won’t be too bad. But my other classes are the ones I’m excited about – Feature Writing with Demaske and Advertising and Consumer Culture with Coon. And it’s nice that they bookend the day. Lots of creative thinking in the morning – but not too early morning – then my boring after-lunch class, then the critical thinking theory class. It’s perfectly set up for my brain. We already talked about our final assignment in my feature writing class yesterday, which sounds quite awesome actually. We have to study a subculture over a long period of time and do an in-depth, 8-10 PAGE ARTICLE about it. That’s a lot of words for feature stories. But I’ve already thought about what subcultures I could do. There’s not a lot of subcultures in Gig Harbor that would make for an interesting story. There are lots of subcultures, but they are boring. In terms of Gig Harbor, I’m pretty sure all I could choose from would be pot smokers, old people, crafty people, snooty people, and high school kids. Wup-de-freakin-do. And the subcultures I’d really like to study would either a.) be in Seattle, so I’d drive way more than I’m willing to, or b.) not let me, because I’m not 21. So I’m considering doing the subculture of straight edge. There would be no danger involved, so that’s good, and it would only be in Tacoma. But I’d have to endure local hardcore music at The Viaduct. Not sure how keen I am on that, but I think it might be an interesting experiment in my will power. And I’m doing it for a grade, so that’s kinda worth it. Once I sift through all the subcultures that I don’t consider myself a part of, I might think of a less excruciating one to do. If you have any ideas, I will accept anything right now.

What else?

Nerdfighters. I had such a boring spring break that over the last 2 weeks I’ve watched approximately 250 Vlogbrothers videos. I started out with random ones from the last two months, but after feeling like a lame Nerdfighter, I started from the beginning. I’m up to November 13 of 2007. If you have absolutely no idea what the hell I’m talking about, I’ll quickly explain. In 2007, John and Hank Green, two nerdy brothers decided to embark on a year-long project where they would post alternating video blogs every weekday for a year, called Brotherhood 2.0. Their viewers are called Nerdfighters. But the Nerdfighters don’t just watch, they participate in Brotherhood 2.0, posting video responses, donating money to the Foundation to Decrease Worldsuck, that Hank and John then discusses with either other and the Nerdfighters on what to do with it. I’ll stop explaining now. Well John is an author of young adult fiction and Hank runs Ecogeek.org and writes nerdy songs about nerdy things. Since I started watching their videos quite religiously, I feel kind of a part of it. These are a couple of my favorite vlogbrothers videos.

And of course there’s Accio Deathly Hallows.

The other day after watching one video where John went through his old notebook, I delved into my old journals and started my own project – to journal more. I think that may have been why I avoided blogging for the last eleven days. But I went into my old journals and did a vlog reading of an entry from when I was 11 years old and in put this fire inside me that I’d journal more. Blogging is one thing, but journaling is just for yourself. Truly for yourself without an audience. Not that I have a significant audience here, but my journal is private. Also the fact that Disney put out their own sucky remake of Harriet the Spy called “Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars.” See, that’s my point. Harriet wrote in a notebook, for no one else but her to see. Blogs aren’t truly private. Sure the names are the same and Harriet wants to be a writer, but it takes out the central conflict devise from the original novel. Harriet’s classmates read her notebook and it ruined her. Temporarily, but Disney has taken it and morphed it into something that is surely not made of awesome. It is made of suck.

Basically, Nickelodeon pwns Disney.

So that made me upset, which partially led to my reinsertion into my journals and the vlog that followed.

I think possibly my favorite part of the early videos of Hank and John is John’s process in writing his third novel, Paper Towns, which I haven’t read yet, but I’m reading his first book now, Looking For Alaska. It’s funny now, as I’m about 35 pages in (I just started reading it this morning after my Editor-in-chief interview), but when I read it I hear it in my head in John’s voice. It’s kind of eerie, but it gives another dimension to the book. I don’t think I’ve ever really heard the voice of an author of a book that I like. Except for J.K. Rowling, but when I read Harry Potter I just hear it in my head with a British accent. And I hear Harry’s voice and Ron’s voice and Hermione’s voice whenever they speak. It’s different. I’ve never heard Megan McCafferty’s voice, and I got almost as invested in the Jessica Darling books as I did with Harry Potter. I think I’ve heard Chip Kidd speak in a video he posted on his website from Comic-con, but this was after I read The Cheese Monkeys and The Learners. I wish John Green were coming to Seattle on his book tour for Will Grayson, Will Grayson, his new book, co-written with David Levithan, who also co-wrote Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist. I’ve been so void of books that I actually read for pleasure these last two years that I kind of forgot what it was like to like books. And I’m glad that I’m reading Alaska now.

Watching these Brotherhood 2.0 videos has made me realize lots of things. I won’t go into detail about all of them, but I’ll just let you – I’m a Nerdfighter.

Oh, my title refers to my favorite Tokyo Police Club song, as well as all this talk of books.

Don’t forget to be awesome,
❤ Abby

an awful lot of running

Been listening to the new MGMT song, and I’m not sure if I like it or not. Apparently, MGMT thinks so too.

It’s pretty funny though, right? I feel like Ben and Andrew were totally high when they wrote this. And perhaps when they recorded it too.

But that was just a funny lil’ lead-in. That’s now why I’m writing this post tonight.

WINTER QUARTER=PWND.

Yes, my fair readers (if I can call you fair), winter quarter is officially over, and now I have a good ten-day break until spring quarter starts. Although, I don’t really get ten days to rest. I have ten days to finish a couple reviews for Popwreckoning, work out like mad, clean my fish tank, order my books for spring quarter, and all the while trying not to spend any money. Wait…damnit books! Okay, I won’t spend money on ANYTHING else other than books. I’m not broke. I’m not, but I want to have enough money so that my trip to NYC for Laura’s birthday in July won’t make me broke. And I want to be able to sell my Sasquatch ticket to make back $170 (+$16 for Ticketmaster fees). No more Starbucks, no more tasty soup or salads from Coco Bobs, and not Subway. I’m brown-bagging it this quarter. The only thing I will spend money on will be gas. And Seattle parking when I go to shows. But this will take effect after I buy my ticket to see Chris Hardwick at the Showbox on April 9. OH RIGHT! I should tell you!

I was on Twitter the other day (like any other day), and I was debating whether or not to drive to Seattle two days in a row to see Spoon on friday and Chris Hardwick on saturday. All the while I was tagging my tweets with @Nerdist and @Spoontheband, which if you know Twitter, people can click to see all their @replies. So this was a real conundrum. I’ve been watching loads of Web Soup lately, because it just started back up again, and I’ve listened to 3 out of the 6 Nerdist podcasts (the Joel McHale one’s pretty good), and Nerdist is one of my favorite blogs. Apparently Chris (Hardwick) has just discovered how awesome Doctor Who is. I love it. Maybe if and when I meet him we’ll talk about DW. That’d be awesomely nerdy. BUT! After I stopped discussing my Seattle conundrum, my phone vibrated a short time after, and I got an email from my Twitter titled “Direct message from Chris Hardwick.” I was like, “FU-WHAT?” And this is what he said: “TWO DAYS. See me!!!” (In direct response to me considering driving to Seattle two days and see Spoon and Chris or just one day to see Spoon.) It made me all giddy. But in this instance, I was like, okay now I have to see him. CHRIS HARDWICK TOLD ME TO.

I kinda really dig him.

What else?

Speaking of Doctor Who – it starts in…SIXTEEN DAYS. Boo yeah. Just to prolong my distorted reality that Ten never actually regenerated, I’ll be watching loads of David Tennant episodes this week. I’ll try not to go on and on like I did a couple months ago. Sorry about that. Seriously, we were copy-editing an issue of the Ledger a few weeks ago and I genuinely forgot that tenant was spelled with one N. Hehe. But Tumblr’s been my new source of Tennant love, and LOLs.

Speaking of attractive men from the UK, Libby and I were watching 30 Rock tonight, and it was the second episode with Michael Sheen in it, and I can’t help but find him kinda really hot. I don’t know why. He wears a suit quite well, and his Welsh accent is sexy. When I mentioned that, Libby’s ears perked up and was like, “who is he?”

“That’s Michael Sheen. He was Frost in “Frost/Nixon,” and one of the Volturi.” Please don’t hate me for knowing that. It was unavoidable that I’d consume at least some information about New Moon from Oh No They Didn’t.

“Right, but he’s really hot!”

“Okay?”

“No, with long hair and facial hair, he’s really hot. He’s in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans!”

“When the hell did you watch that movie?”

“Today! It was on TV.”

“Oh, okay.”

And I rest Libby’s case.

Yeah, I know right? Mmmhmm.

He’s quite dashing as a normal Welsh man too.

In music news.

[Begin rant] I WANT TO BE AT SXSW RIGHT NOW. I REALLY REALLY REALLY DO. I KEEP SEEING ALL THESE TWEETS AND FACEBOOK POSTS FROM SXSW, AND IT MAKES ME SAD. I'VE LISTENED TO TWO LIVE STREAMS SO FAR – SPOON AND FRIGHTENED RABBIT. AND I COMPLETELY FORGOT THAT WAS PLAYED EARLIER AND I MISSED IT GRRRRRRR!!! [End rant]

But I am going to see the Morning Benders at Sonic Boom on April 2nd. I've been trying to figure out a way to not to have to drive to Seattle and park, but my ferry plan has failed. Sonic Boom is a good 6 miles from the ferry dock, and I'm not about to walk 6 miles there and back. I could take some public transit, which I haven't done in a long time, but that'll take a good half an hour with the Seattle transit schedule Hmm. I'll keep that in mind. I just don't want to battle with Seattle traffic and pay $10 for parking. Plus, driving to Bremerton is way shorter than driving to Seattle. Half the distance to be exact. And if there's a chance that I'll be going to Seattle twice that week, I don't want to drive twice like I will be doing the next week.

Why would I possibly drive to Seattle twice a wee, two weeks in a row? Animal Collective and Danny Perez's "visual album" ODDSAC is having a screening at the Egyptian Theater on March 30th. It's gonna be all acid trippy and psychedelic and AMAZING. But the real reason I'm considering paying for this crazy bit of AnCo madness is that the info says that Perez and "members of Animal Collective" will accompany the screening. What exactly does "members of Animal Collective" mean? Does it mean that all members or just Deakin will be at the screening, because Deakin is playing a solo show at Neumo's the next day? Grrr. If I miss the chance to see Panda Bear in any capacity, I'll be heartbroken.

Looks like some fucking crazy stuff. Even The Stranger recommended going in this week’s issue.

Oh, I should probably address where my title came from. It’s another Doctor Who reference, but this one is from the Who-centric Trock (Timelord rock) band Chameleon Circuit. I don’t know why I didn’t discover them before now, because all my Youtube channels were pointing me into its direction. Seriously. The Vlog Brothers (Hank and John Green) were integral in getting DFTBA Records started, and Hank releases his nerdy stuff on it, and Chameleon Circuit is on DFTBA (Don’t forget to be awesome), and guess who’s in Chameleon Circuit?

This guy.

That’s right. Alex Day of his “Alex reads Twilight” videos. In them, he’s all snarky and British in his critique of Twilight. It’s quite entertaining. Yay for Nerdfighters!

“My name ain’t Luna, but I sure do love good!”

Okay, I think I’m done now.

❤ Abby

nobody steals from girl scouts

I miss Lemon Pastry Cremes. And when Peanut Butter Patties were still called Peanut Butter Patties, not Tagalongs. What the hell does that mean?

But anyway, I heard a story on the news today, about a guy who robbed a Girl Scout troop outside Safeway. She was an older Girl Scout, like 16, but still – IT’S HORRIBLE. Apparently, it was some short ginger with a goatee in his twenties. At least it’s more descriptive than an average height male in his thirties with sandy brown hair. But really? Who steals from Girl Scouts? You have to be completely desperate and heartless to do that. However, from this horrendous act came something good – the Safeway reimbursed the troop for all the money that was stolen, a radio station donated $1000 to the troop, and apparently some woman off the street gave the girl $100 after hearing about the robbery.

I bet Ginger feels pretty damn stupid now. If I were him I’d kick my own balls.

—————-

Winter quarter is ALMOST over. I have two finals next week, but classes are over. THANK GOD. I was ready to be done with Creative Nonfiction halfway through the quarter. That might be why this quarter seemed so long. But I did have an interesting last day of class. We planned this stupid potluck for thursday; people brought veggies, doughnuts, baklava, and we had nachos. I was in charge of cheese. So I got to the office early, heated up the cheese in the crock pot, and got to class a couple minutes late. I wasn’t about to run across campus with a crock pot full of hot nacho cheese. I opened the door to class, and everyone clapped.

“For the cheese? Well we can’t have nachos without cheese.”

“The cheese too, but no! For this!” And Rachel pointed to the class publication.

Oh right, that thing that I spent hours on. I better get some fucking extra credit for doing that. Beaufort even said it was the best class publication we’ve had yet. Well…duh. I designed it. (LOL the Libertines song “Narcissist” just came on my itunes as I wrote that.) So everyone loved it – except MICHAEL, because his name isn’t ROBERT. I’ll explain. His name is Robert Michael, but he goes by his middle name in class. But I don’t care enough to pay attention, so I just followed what it said on his email, which is ROBERT MICHAEL. How the hell was I supposed to know that he went by his middle name? Oh well. I’m just glad to get out of that class, with all Beaufort’s crazy ass oil pastels, arbitrary grading techniques, and my classmates endless ramblings about either having children at a young age or going to Iraq. I’ve heard it all. I don’t really care anymore.

This was basically my attitude all throughout this quarter:

I just colorized this old photo for my mom to use for a flyer for her store. I like it a lot.

What else?

Oh! I’m heading to Mountlake Terrace High School tomorrow for the WJEA State Convention to judge. I have no idea what I’m judging yet, because Fern never got back to me. I should probably figure that out before I go tomorrow. Jesse Jones is the keynote speaker tomorrow, which I’m actually quite excited for. “Jesse Jones, King 5 News!” But it gets over pretty early in the afternoon, so I’m thinking I’m gonna take a little detour to Seattle on the way home and chill for awhile. There are certain things that I have to do that I haven’t done yet. I’ve never been to Elliott Bay Bookstore (I know, it’s horrible), Easy Street OR Sonic Boom, or Dick’s. Commence with the finger-wagging. But that reminds me – I just found out that the Morning Benders are going to play a free acoustic in-store at Sonic Boom on April 2nd before their show at the Crocodile (their 21+ show). I love them so much I might just drive up to see them. Plus, I have to buy Big Echo, and I’d rather not order it online. And I surely won’t be able to get it anywhere but Seattle.

I almost forgot. I was going to try and stop by the convention center, cause it’s Emerald City Comic-Con tomorrow. I can’t get into anything, but it would still be pretty fun walking around the place. And Leonard Nimoy’s gonna be there. Alexis is gonna go apeshit. It is Leonard Nimoy, after all.

—————————

BEHOLD THE GAGA.

I watched this video this morning, and I didn’t know if I loved it or if I was disgusted with it. But it surely is something to be ogled at. I hate all the product placement though.

OH MY GOODNESS I ALMOST FORGOT.

I haven’t written about American Idol since last year’s finale, but last night was blasphemous enough to make me write about it here. If you don’t really care for AI, avert your eyes and finish watching “Telephone.”

I first have to say how much I hate Kara Dioguardi. She makes me want to…ugh…what’s really bad? Oh, she makes me want to rob a Girl Scout! She is such an attention whore. She just HAS to bring everything back to her. When any of the contestants have sang a song that she wrote, she is always, “when I wrote that song I was thinking about how much this guy….BLAH BLAH BLAH I’M STARVED FOR ATTENTION.” This week she made it even worse, even worse than when she got all hot and bothered after Casey’s first performance (you know, the pretty one?). Wednesday she fucking CRIED after Michael’s performance – the only man of color in the final 12. He said Kate Bush’s “A Woman’s Work,” and she was bawling. I wanted Simon to stab her with his pen right there. Or Ryan to kick her in the head. But that wasn’t what I came to rant about.

The top 12 is bullshit this year. Sure, it’s ten white people and two black people, and that’s it, but three out of the four people who got sent home this week didn’t deserve to.

Katelyn Epperly was bland and inconsistent, so she needed to go.
Todrick Hall had one of the best performances on wednesday with “Somebody to Love,” and I was sure that all the love that Glee has given that song would put him into the top 12, but no. America is stupid,
Lilly Scott was the only one who was consistent and completely sure about what kind of artist she was going to be. And she could sing, with a distinct voice, and she was really cool. She played a gazillion instruments – INCLUDING A MOOG. It really pissed me off that she went home.
Alex Lambert was freaking adorable. Okay, I wanted to chop the mullet off, and he needed a little time to gain more confidence, but he had so much potential and one of the best and most distinct voices there. His departure made me genuinely sad, because he was such a sweet and talented kid.

In my opinion these people should have gone home:

Paige Miles had the WORST performance this week, and she can’t pick a good song for shit. She had a voice, I’ll give her that, but she has no style and no consistency, and no personality.
Aaron Kelly is still getting used to his post-pubescent voice. I like the kid – he’s cute enough, and the country people need something in the top 12, because Haeley Smiles-Alot went home last week (THANK GOD I COULDN’T STAND THAT WHITE BLACK GIRL). It’s only fair for the country fans, but he needs time to grow into his voice. He’s going to struggle in the top 12, guaranteed.
Lee Dewyze needed to go home because as much as Simon seems to love him (I have no idea why), he isn’t special at all. For one thing, he has a shitty taste in music. Last week he said Hinder’s “Lips of an Angel,” which is perhaps one of the worst songs ever, and this week he did a heavier guitar-laden version of “Fireflies” by Owl City. Where the hell does he get his taste? From bad adult-alt radio. Apparently none of the judges listen to anything but pop radio, but Lee’s voice is like EVERY OTHER rock-lite band out there. Hinder, Shinedown, Nickelback, Theory of the Deadman, 3 Doors Down – they all suck ass. He’s a nice enough-looking guy, and I can understand why America likes him, because America likes Nickelback, but that doesn’t make it good.

Ugh. I’m really angry with this final 12. Crystal Bowersox better kick some ass. And Lacey Brown better figure out what kind of songs she wants to sing, and Siobhan Magnus better stay awesome. Andrew Garcia better get his shit together and pick some good songs, because the judges have been picking him apart these last few weeks. Other than that – I was glad that Tim Urban made it into the top 12, because he worked really hard to get there, and he did a bang-up job on “Hallelujah” on wednesday. It takes some balls to do that song, especially cause the judges were giving him such shit up until then. Ellen even got up on stage and gave him a hug. “I have to do this,” she gets out of her seat and rushes up to the stage, “that was fanTAStic!” And she hugged him. I was adorable. And he’s quite adorable too.

There’s a rabbit living in our yard. I left a carrot out for it earlier, and Millie started chasing after it when I let her and Lucy out to pee. Naturally, Lucy hasn’t been able to focus on anything other than sniffing out that rabbit when I take her outside. She’s easily distracted. But she’ll be here until tomorrow, so she’ll be sleeping in my bed tonight. I swear, I’m her second favorite person in the whole wide world. And she’s my second favorite dog in the whole wide world, although sometimes I like her more than Millie.

They’re both sleeping on the floor. It’s adorable.

Goodnight.

❤ Abby

Rules don’t stop me, forget about it

I’ll start off by saying-

So…yeah.

Keith’s looking PRETTY fine lately. Gah I need WAS so badly.

BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT RIGHT NOW.

It’s been….shit I don’t even know how many days it’s been since I last posted because of February’s fucked up 28-day month. Anyways, last week I went to a show after requesting press passes like the day before. Cutting it really close. But the pic ^^^^ up there is of John Van Deusen of the Lonely Forest. I got some REALLY good shots of him, and it didn’t hurt that I had the best view of him.

But it was at Neumos. Such a weird experience going up there for the first time since seeing WAS in July of 2008. I’ve driven by it a gazillion times, but I haven’t gone to a show there since. That could be because all the good shows at Neumos lately have been 21+. Only 3 more months and I’ll be free to go to any shows I want to! YES! ‘Twas a good show though. As I was waiting up front for my photo pass, I introduced myself to Alex, another photographer whom I’ve seen at a couple other shows. He has a wicked sweet camera, hella expensive, but it has 21 MEGAPIXELS, AND HD VIDEO. It’s the Canon 5D Mark II. I’ve been salivating over it for bit, but I know I don’t need it, and I can’t afford it. But the 5D Mark I is within reach, as the Mark II replaced it, so you can get good deals on Ebay. I found one for under $1000 the other day, and they retail at $2500-ish. I know, GOOD LORD. But I felt so accomplished after leaving Neumos that night because a.) I got sweet pics, and b.) I finally met another Seattle photog.

As far as after Tuesday, I’ve been busy as all hell. School, Ledger, and now I’m sick. Great. A week before finals and I get sick. AND IT SNOWED TODAY. March 8th, and it’s snowing. Way to go weather.

I want spring break. Right now. I’m way too ready for winter quarter to be over, because Beaufort’s class is driving me absolutely bonkers. I did write my final revision of one of my papers today, which will hopefully give me a good grade. I’m totally gonna lie in my cover memo and say I cried when I wrote it. Beaufort will eat that shit up.

Okay, I’m done now. Watching Signs. And my tasty tasty pork roast.

❤ Abby