Ha. I missed the anniversary of this blog. I created it November 7th of last year, and today is the 11th. Happy 11/11/11 and Veteran's Day, by the way.

Anyway. Happy late blog anniversary guys, thanks for stickin with me <3

I'm such a cool person, in case you haven't noticed.

=)

I'm absolutely in love with this video. Soo cute. Please, I implore you, find the time to watch this little piece of amazingness. Yes, its roughly 16 minutes...but its worth it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao

And if ^ doesn't work, go to youtube and search "Validation." Its black and white and has the guy from Bones in it.

Because of this video and my experiences from EFY this past summer (save the day!) I'm trying to be kinder and smile more often, as well as greeting random people at school and complimenting their shoes or something. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to brag or anything. I just love this video. And smiles.

Red Bandana

It made me cry. You should consider doing so too.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6929979

Now I wanna go get a red bandana and hang it from my rear view mirror of my future car.

And I now have greater respect for 19.

This is just a test...I'm trying to see how this works out. I'm blogging from my phone! Oh yeah, I got a new phone btw. The Droid incredible 2. I love it =)

Les Miserables

Note: there's supposed to be a little accent mark over the first 'e', but I can never figure out how to make it work. Don't judge.

I've taken it upon myself to try to devour the 1,232 page French book Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. It took Hugo 17 years to write this book, and about 3 months for me to read it. Weird, I know. Cause for anyone who knows me knows that I finish books overnight. But this one was just different. I don't know if it was cause of the length or the content or because I had a lot going on...but I think I'm glad I took more time to read through this one. I picked up on a lot more than I would have normally.

Allow me to express some extreme obsessions/feelings.

I'm in love with this book. I haven't even finished yet (I'm on 944) but I know what happens. Just...3e9wrthipnse4[rwotgfjsacdklbgfvnh59iw324kg erdgtijner gger. Ahem. Sorry. That was the impact of my face with the keyboard. But that's how I feel. I LOVE THIS BOOK OMGGG. I highly highly highly highly recommend reading it. I'll lend you my copy (it even has some French translations and notes in it). It's huge and kinda confusing and Hugo loves to go off on tangents...but nonetheless, there is no better storyline in the history of story lines.

AND THE CHARACTERS AHHHHH. Jean Valjean is my hero. He's just a freakin stud muffin times 50. And I love Gavroche the little street urchin. As adorable and spunky as he is, I wouldn't want him as my brother. I love Marius' obsession with Napoleon (it made me so happy). And because the book is so gigantic, Hugo takes plenty of time to build up his characters and give them plenty of background and depth. Like with Fantine's story...it's so terribly depressing. I think she has the saddest story in the book.

I am fortunate enough to have parents who share my love for this book (they've both read it) and they've also seen the play 3 times. Les Mis the musical is in LA right now, and we got to see it Thursday night (we took a limo, but that's beside the point). What really matters is how much I'm in love with the musical now. I cried so hard at the end...I teared up during certain parts but when Valjean sang his last song I couldn't help it but let it all out. The music is absolutely incredibly outstanding. The lyrics are perfect, their voices beautiful, and the symphonies amazing. Their sets were also incredibly intricate and awesome.

I strongly strongly strongly suggest you go and see the musical before it leaves (in July sometime). It's a story of the ultimate redemption and forgiveness...it'll make you cry. Even my big tough dad cried. And if you can't see the play, get the music off itunes. Or steal my book from me (I'll be done this week, I promise).

This book has everything from romance, redemption, ultimate poverty, battles, anger, revolution and uprisings, friendship, betrayal, forgiveness, love, and overall, amazingness. My list of favorite books goes something like this (not in any particular order):

Les Miserables -Victor Hugo
The Book Thief -Markus Zusak
To Kill a Mockingbird -Harper Lee
(I can't remember anything else off the top of my head)

After I finish Les Mis I plan on reading War and Peace and The Count of Monte Cristo. Yay, more huge books.

Do you hear the people sing? Singing the songs of angry men...

24601 <3

A Thievery of Words on Paper

Is thievery even a word? Whatever. It is now.

So my camera lens blew up. Whenever I turn on my camera, the screen is all fuzzy and when it tries to auto focus it beeps at me and the screen goes black and says "LENS ERROR PLEASE RESTART." It's very upsetting. I can't get it to do nufing. Now I need a new camera...and my birthday is like 5 months away. And I can't get an iphone AND a camera. Oh, I didn't tell you? Yes indeed, I'm getting a lovely iphone in July, cause that's when my thingy is (sorry, forgot what it's called) so it'll be cheaper.

Anyways. I just finished the most wonderful book. This little piece of heaven is called The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (what an unfortunate last name...a 'z' followed by a 'u'...can't get much worse than that). I highly highly recommend it. I'll even let you borrow my copy (there's just slight water damage in the last pages from my pathetic meltdown). Meltdown? Yes, I melted down, instead of the usual up. But I mean, its during WWII, so it's bound to be terribly sad, ya know? But it's just so freaking amazing. It's my new favorite book.

I'm in love with the way he wrote it. After reading the first page, I wanted to give up writing because I knew that I could never be as good as that, no matter what I did. I seriously wanted to give up. I wanted to get rid of everything I've ever written.

I don't want to give too much away, but the point of view is certainly intriguing, and I've never read anything like it before. Like, he could have been talking about toenails or dead frogs and it would still be fabulous. And the story line itself is very very sweet, and slightly heart wrenching (or at least for me).

I must confess. I'm a baby when it comes to books. I don't cry, right? Right. But I cry for books. Let me explain. I don't read books, and I don't eat them either. I devour them, envelop myself into the plot, I feel everything they feel, see everything they see. I become the main character. Every last bit of emotion intertwined into the words is picked up and soaked in. That's why I love to read. It's my escape from reality. Like an old friend once said, "Reality is a lovely place but I wouldn't want to live there." He escapes through dreams. I escape through books, music, writing, and dreams. Anyway, I'm getting off topic. I don't just cry when someone dies. I cry when people say goodbye, or a couple has a lovely romantic moment, and many other things.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I balled last night. I mean, I have awful allergies anyway and I was tearing up and sneezing all yesterday, so maybe that had something to do with it. But I don't think I've ever cried that hard before. My eyes were so swollen this morning. It was marvelous. It felt so wonderful to just cry and cry and cry. After I finished the book I kept crying, just cause it felt so good to get it all out. It's necessary to cry every once in awhile, and since I don't, I guess it just builds up. I slept terribly last night, even though I was so calm after the tears stopped. But you know, whatever. It's not like I was a complete mess today or anything.

One other small confession. Pinky promise you won't hold it against me? Okay good. *whispers* I tend to fall for book characters. This particular character didn't end up dying, even though it totally seemed like he would. But yes, ladies and gents, I'm in love with Max Vandenburg, the fictional Jewish fist fighter who also writes wonderful stories. Don't tell anyone.

pssst...BUY THE BOOK. But not on the ipad or kindle or whatever. Actually get the book, or borrow a copy. Trust me, it's much better when it's in your hands and you can feel the texture of the paper. The words speak to you better that way.

And this book is all about the words. *sniffle*

Vegas Baby!

I finally have time to post again. This is so exciting!

SO...I know you all want to know if I survived last week. I kind of did. I'm not sure how much sleep I got. I think -14. I studied so much IT ATE MY SLEEP. AH. Anyway. I had 4 bottles of 5 hour energy last week too. I really really don't suggest doing that. It's not good. I had energy for about 2 hours and then I crashed badly, even though it says on the bottle there's no crash. THEY LIE. Oh, also, because of my exhausting studying and 5 hour energy drinking and not eating at all during the week and nervous breakdowns, I got sick over the weekend. And now I sound like a 12 year old boy going through puberty. Its marvelous. Oh, and during that week I'm positive that if you cut my arm I would bleed out history. It'd be like, "Napoleon was freaking awesome and that's all you need to know...Erasmus wrote In Praise of Folly...Rasputin had scary eyes..."

But good news is, my AP exam wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Which is really good. Cause Thursday night I had pretty bad nervous breakdown. I was crying and freaking out and I was trying not to puke all over my books and notes and trying to teach myself the Cold War because my teacher hadn't taught it to us yet (she finished the next morning BEFORE THE EXAM). And during the exam I finished my essays (there was 3) with like half an hour to spare, and I was scared I wasn't going to finish in time. So its all good! But I don't get my score until July I think. But...bad news. If you asked me anything about history I'd stare at you blankly (or I might throw up). I think my subconscious is trying to protect me from all the bad memories I had from studying. Hm. Not good.

Ooooooh! I almost forgot. I took my permit test on Monday, and I passed with 100%. Yeahh boiiii I'm just that cool. And my first driving lesson is this Friday, so then I'll actually be able to drive places. It'll be fun.

It's so weird not to have anything to be worried about anymore. I have no stress whatsoever. But I feel like I need to be stressed. Like my body was so used to being tense and tired that now its just awkward. I can't wait for summer ahhhh.

Now onto Spring Break. We went to Vegas Tuesday morning and left Friday (I think...I don't even remember anymore). I took a lot of cool pictures (sorta) but when I tried to upload them today only half of them came through...I don't understand. And it's not because I have too many, cause I've uploaded more than this before. If my memory serves me right (probably not). So...while I try to figure out what's goin' on with Picasa, enjoy this little collage.

So yes, we stayed at Mandalay Bay. That place is gigantic. Never ending. Everything you could possibly want (except Magic Mountain and true love) can be found there. They had a wave pool, and honestly, it wasn't that great. BUT...it was extremely entertaining to watch the non-Californians fail at body surfing. So funny. We went to the Shark Aquarium thingy there, and it's not worth your money. It was a lot smaller than we thought it would be. But it was still cool. Except my camera failed and I had issues taking good, clear pictures. But see that big ol' snake? Harry Potter, anyone?

Tuesday night we went to see The Lion King play. Their costumes were unbelievable. And the music was really cool. It was fun, especially because Lion King was one of my favorite movies when I was growing up, along with Aladdin and The Princess Bride (I should probably be putting these movie titles in italics or something, but honestly, I couldn't care less). Wednesday we hung out at the pool and went shopping at the gazillion places they have there. Thursday we went off-roading (I got to drive!) and hiking in Red Rock Canyon. Ugh, I really want to show you my pictures. And Friday...well, I'm not gonna tell you what we did Friday until I can show you the pictures. But just know that you'd be jealous out of your mind. Does that even make sense? Oh well. Whatevs.

I'll try again on Sunday, and I'll blog the rest then too.

Song of the week: Horchata -Vampire Weekend

In December drinking horchata
I'd look psychotic in a balaclava
Winter's cold, it's too much to handle
Pincher crabs that pinch at your sandals.

In December drinking horchata
Look down your glasses at that aranciata
With lips and teeth to ask how my day went
Boots and fists to pound on the pavement
Here comes a feeling you thought you'd forgotten
Chairs to sit and sidewalks to walk on

You'd remember drinkin horchata
You'd still enjoy it with your foot on masada

This is just so fun to listen to. I honestly have no idea what it means, but I love to listen to it. It's just so happy and fun. Weee.