My new favorite thing

http://rolcats.com/

Do you mistake us for sincere?

We adorn ourselves thus to mock the capitalist sacrament of annual materials exchange…

Copying Kerrie

So... I'm officially going to try to copy Kerrie's new Prompt ideas (as well as her Pic of the Week idea).

However, I'm determined to get to Pace before 10:30, and since I haven't gotten dressed yet, I won't be able to post my first prompt right now. Picture I can handle though. :)

Grad Schools

Waiting to hear from Hunter. Well, to be more accurate, my recommendations still have to be filled out and my transcript sent to them, but besides that, I have everything else done.

My Columbia essay is almost done, and then I'll be sending my application to Teacher's College.

Eek. So nervous.

So nervous.

So nervous.

So nervous.

I feel like I need to apply to other schools, but I don't know where else to apply. Shit. I don't want to go anywhere other than NYC, but I don't know what to do!

Planting Fields Arboretum

Dawn and I went to the Planting Fields Arboretum on Monday. This is the picture they have on their homepage right now:

And then this is a picture that I took on my brand-new camera:

Anyway. The weather was very cold on Monday, but it was so rewarding. I took over 100 pictures on my new camera--it has an automatic flower setting, so it takes amazing close-ups of flowers. We spent a lot of time in the three greenhouses because it was warmer there and that's where they have all of the unseasonal flowers. The first greenhouse had different breeds of camillias and roses, and was my favorite greenhouse. I took some beautiful pictures of soft pink blossoms and vibrant fuschia petals and buds just about to bloom that were fresh green near the stem, but moved to white and then blood red at the very tip.

I also found some beautiful simple green vines growing along the old brick of the greenhouse's outer wall. There were tiny purple flowers blooming on the vine, and it looked stunning next to the rough texture of the cumbling brick.

The next two greenhouses were the tropical wones; they were full of palms, bananas, orange trees and orchids. I took many pictures here too, but orchids don't excite me the way camillias and roses do. They are too fragile and pefect looking.

Dawn and I sat in the greenhouses for a while, warming up and just taking everything in and talking quietly. We sat and enjoyed the smells: the smell of living plants, of ripening fruit, of blooming flowers, of running water, of freshly-turned soil. We enjoyed the sound of photographers quietly setting up their equiptment, of children talking excitedly in hushed voices to their parents, of water dripping from a nearby hose and falling from the fountain in front of us. We breathed in the air and knew that it was more refreshing than any air we had encountered in months, and knew that we still had a few months to go before we will breath it again. It was alive.

So, through a random turn of events (*cough*twitter/kerrie/toomuchtimeonmyhands*cough*) I was reading through Felicia Day's blog. Yes. Felicia Day who was in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, the video that I have linked to so many times I think I should start getting paid for it. Yes. Her.

Well. She's apparently the awesomest person in the world, because not only is she an awesome actor; knows NPH, Nathan Fillion and Joss Whedon; but she's also a sci-fi geek and loves video games. Also, did I mention that she's beautiful?

She has this amazing video (I really need to learn how to post videos in this blog, because it's getting kinda old constantly blogging about videos, but not being able to put them directly in here) that everybody should see. I took a few screenshots of it, and it is set to Regina Spektor's "Fidelity," which makes it even more moving. I cried. Go watch it. And then go sign the campaign letter.

Yay!

http://current.com/items/89611656/women_rule_our_tribe.htm


Feministing features an article today that warms my heart. A video about a real, live matriarchy in China. If only I knew how to put the actual video on this page, I would be as awesome as the Mosuo people.

Go watch it!

Isn't it refreshing?

Isn't it refreshing when you find out that there are politicians who are actually intelligent? Who actually want to make our country a better place? Read this wonderfully sarcastic article, from Jezebel, about how Upstate New York Congresswoman Louise Slaughter is trying to pass an act that would actually teach kids about sex. Here's a nice excerpt:

"Requirements for Sex Education Programs- For purposes of this title, a sex education program is a program that—
(1) is age-appropriate and medically accurate;
(2) stresses the value of abstinence while not ignoring those young people who have had or are having sexual intercourse;
(3) provides information about the health benefits and side effects of all contraceptive and barrier methods used—
(A) as a means to prevent pregnancy; and
(B) to reduce the risk of contracting sexually transmitted disease, including HIV/AIDS;
(4) encourages family communication between parent and child about sexuality;
(5) teaches young people the skills to make responsible decisions about sexuality, including how to avoid unwanted verbal, physical, and sexual advances and how to avoid making verbal, physical, and sexual advances that are not wanted by the other party;
(6) teaches young people how alcohol and drug use can affect responsible decision making; and
(7) does not teach or promote religion;"


Go read the article; it's worth it. And what makes me even happier is that she's from New York. This is just another point on the veeeeerrrryyy long list of why New York is the greatest place EVER.

P.S. Blogger refuses to let me post a picture of this woman for some inane reason, but she's cute, so you should see her: http://www.changetowin.org/connect/images/rep-louise-slaughter.jpg

Obamicon.me

So I discovered something phenomenal the other day: Obamicon.me. It's amazing. And so much fun. I made soooo many pictures. First is my glorious sister Dawn being intense. Grrrr

I took three of the best pictures of Zach and I (there weren't too many to choose from), and I titled them all "Love" because I'm cheezy like that. It's actually in chronological order too. But that's completely on accident. First is us kissing in the Maria's Tower dorm freshman year, Renee probably took this picture. The next is Christmas day after Zach proposed to me and the last is at Nikki's Black Light New Year's Eve party this year.

I also have two of my favorite pictures from Mattituck that I edited. Our beautiful green house and then some of the chairs in front of the yellow house.

There are also a few miscellaneous pictures. This first one is me at Nikki's formal New Year's Eve party last year. Then there's Turbo, my beyond spastic dog. Me, again in the Maria's Tower Dorm (this is around the time of my ideal weight). And one of my favorites: Zach dressed as Captain Hammer preparing for the New York Comic Con.

I had a lot of trouble making pictures with Nicole, Nikki and Me in them. Nicole is too dark, and I'm too light, and when the three of us were in the shot, either Nicole was all dark with no definition, or I was all white with no definition. So I finally gave up and make seperate pictures of us. Plus... Dawn and Bonnie with matching faces of scorn. :)

New Intro

So, almost two years ago (oh holy spaghetti monster!) I wrote a short story for my Science Fiction and Gender class as the final project. I spent so much time planning out this story - character development, charts, I even developed the entire creation story, history and geography of the alien race that they discover. The only problem was that I didn't time budget well enough, and I ended up rushing through the actual writing of the story. The whole thing was written in diary format, and I had these great, lofty ideas about it, but it didn't end up working as well as I wanted it to. I've been meaning to rewrite it since I finished it, and I've written a lot of side plots and histories of the characters, and I even started writing it from the POV of one of the aliens, but I was never able to actually start rewriting the MAIN STORY.

But today I did. I wanted to put in a quick excerpt from what I began writing, mostly just so I could look at it and admire it and hopefully motivate myself to write more.


Madeleine stared at the console in helpless frustration. She had figured out how to fix the problem that had been plaguing the other mechanics for days in less than five minutes. But she couldn’t do anything. Fixing the gravity feed had become a competition among her three male companions: a matter of pride for them. She knew the kind of reaction she would get if she said anything—it was always the same. Whenever she said something they didn’t know or did something they couldn’t do, they always stared at her. Six brown eyes just staring at her. There would be no words, no reaction, it would just be six silent eyes staring at her for a week, sometimes two, until one of them managed to do something commendable, and then they would all forget Madeleine and start congratulating and joking among each other. Madeleine could join in at these points. They accepted her as a companion, until she did something again that reminded them that she was better than them. She was more educated, had more experience, even had more political influence than them, so much so that if she had been a man, she could have easily been the chief engineer on one of the flagship cruisers. But instead, she was stationed with them, little better than rookies, on a crap research ship that was little better than a puddle-jumper. They knew it. They knew it well. They also knew that they were each in line for a promotion within the next year, while she had been doing the same job for three times longer than all of them. They knew it and were made uncomfortable by it. They were uncomfortable because Madeleine never acted bitter or resentful, or asked for her due respect. She just did her job.

Madeleine watched her companions closely. She knew how to identify their moods and predict their reactions to things. She was always careful not to be in their way and tried her hardest to only help if one of the men asked for it. She understood that her position caused tension among the four of them, but she was afraid to do anything to change her position.

She was afraid because she had seen what happened to women who tried too hard to advance their position in life. Her mother, a brilliant woman who had taught Madeleine everything she knew, had been unable to let go of the ideals that she had learned from her childhood in the Time Before, and the lessons taught her by her mother. Because of this, her mother had been unable to ever hold a job for more than a few weeks. Nobody wanted to hire a woman who held such strong beliefs that went completely against the principles being preached by the Government. Nobody wanted to hire a woman who believed, and flouted, the fact that she was better suited to do her superiors’ jobs than her superiors were. Madeleine had grown up surrounded by women who believed in equality and personal rights, but on a day to day basis she was bombarded by a culture that was trying its hardest to suppress any ideas of equality, rights and freedom.

The fact that Madeleine had even been accepted to the University, the fact she was admitted to the Military, and placed on a ship all pay tribute to how intelligent and hard-working she is. In University, women are out-numbered six to one; in the Military, ten to one, and of the crews aboard the hundreds of space cruisers in the air at any given time, 50 to one. Madeleine’s ship is a unique one however; it has been designed for scientific study, and carries close to 150 scientists, assistants, interns and scholars, many of which are female. While a ship of just over 200 members would usually only have four or so females, this ship carries exactly 16.

Greatest fanart ever

Go look at her stuff, it's phenomenal. http://acciobrain.ligermagic.com/

I was obsessed with her stuff back in the day, and I just rediscovered it. So pretty. Looking at all of her stuff is going to be my procrastination entertainment for the next couple days.

Fanboys

I saw the movie Fanboys today, and I just have to say that it was amazing. It was everything that it should have been. The plot is roughly as follows: Three 20-something super-duper Star Wars fans discover that one of their group has cancer and is predicted to die before Episode One is released in six months. They decide to travel cross country in their van to break into the Skywalker Ranch and steal Episode One so that their friend can see it. Hijinks ensue.

Now, there were so, so, sooo many amazing things that were amazing about this movie. Let's now list some of the great actors that appeared in the movie. The length of the list should say something for the rest of the movie.

Jay Baruchal, of Nick and Norah's Playlist, Knocked Up, Tropic Thunder and Undeclared.
Kristen Bell, of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Heroes and Veronica Mars.
Chris Marquette, the brother in Just Friends.
Dan Fogler, of Balls of Fury.
David Denman, of Big Fish, The Office and The Nines.
Seth Rogen, (playing two different roles) of everything lately! Knocked Up, Zach and Miri Make a Porno, Pineapple Express, and every animated movie that needs a goofy voice.
Danny Trejo, who's in 166 things, and you know him. I promise.
Ethan Suplee, from Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Boy Meets World and The Butterfly Affect.
Joe Lo Truglio, from Superbad, Role Models and The Pineapple Express.
Billy Dee Williams... i.e. LANDO CALRISSIAN!
Jamie King, of Pearl Harbor, My Bloody Valentine, Pretty Persuasion and Sin City.
William Shatner, as... duh, duh, DUH! William Shatner!
Carrie Fisher, PRINCESS LEIA!
Kevin Smith, as Kevin Smith.
Jason Mewes as Jason Mewes.

How's that for a list of actors? Oh, and then there is also this picture, which is super awesome, because she plays a complete nerd and is amazing. Especially after she said this. I officially love her.

Turbo

I found two new pictures of Turbo where he actually looks good. He's not squinting or making stupid faces. He's just my cutie-pie. Now I just have to snap a picture of him when he's doing his new cute rub-my-belly squirm.

Preparing for the Comic-Con

Yup. That's my fiancee. Captain Hammer. Of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog. Yes. Preparing for the Comic-Con this weekend. Yup.

He's Just Not That Into You

One of the greatest people in the entire world, my darlingest Kerrie, brought me to see a pre-showing of He's Just Not That Into You. Her mom got tickets through Health Magazine, and guess what? The movie was amazing. I expected to enjoy it, because I enjoy cutesy romance stories - but this was actually great. It wasn't all cutesy. It was honestly well written and well acted (and yes, I mean that about everyone - even Ben Affleck).

Kerrie also has a very high opinion about the movie, and wrote about it in her blog, I Have Found.

Also, Justin Long is stunning and completely adult-like. It was slightly weird, but oh-so-pleasant. Did I mention gorgeous? And talented? And gorgeous? But shhh... don't tell Zach. ;)

Guhhhhhh

I've been so incredibly lazy for the past week or so. Like, really lazy. I sit at my computer, and debate whether it would be worth it or not to call my job and tell them I'll be late, just so that I can sleep some more, even though I got enough sleep last night, and I need every dollar that I can earn, I just don't have it in me to actually get up. I'm wearing my pink fuzzy bathrobe now because I'm too lazy to pick an outfit out. I didn't take a shower because it was too much effort. I don't want to leave my apartment because I'll have to walk 0.4 of a mile to get to the train station.

On the bright side (well... it's just contributing to my laziness, but it's entertaining at least): http://www.fmylife.com/. It's really funny.