This Year

I've done a lot this year. I finished my first year of college. I worked on two majors. I worked a lot at The Post. I got addicted to Gilmore Girls. I watched TV in The Post's lobby. I photographed a lot of stuff. I made a lot of new friends. I watched old ones fade away, move away, change a little. I read books. I saw movies. I went to plays. I saw David Sedaris and got him to sign all of his books that I own. My camera broke. My camera got fixed. I had a snow day. I ate a lot of wonderful food. I sustained my vegetarianism. I had a wonderful summer. I went to Pittsburgh. I went to Chicago. I saw a bunch of bands at Lollapalooza. I played video games. I took an acting class, and was complimented on my ability. I started copy editing. I got addicted to NPR and This American Life. I watched a lot of series online. I expanded my musical tastes. I wrote a Between the Lines that got rave reviews. I took an epic photograph of President McDavis. I was held, kissed and loved. I held, kissed, and loved. I laughed. I cried. I smiled. I had my heart broken a little, but it healed quite nicely. I forgave. I pined. I pondered. I pleaded. I plotted. I fantasized. I dreamed. I sang. I danced. I ran. I blogged. I made mistakes. I had triumphs. I lived my life for another year. Happy New Year's Eve everyone! Make the best of another year, and keep reading!

I'd Like to Thank...

All of you! My wonderful readers! What for? For reading this narcissist's bland portrait of course! As this blog is now over a year and a half old, I'd like to thank those of you who've been reading from the beginning, those that came along the way, and those who just might be starting to read it. As a present, I was wondering if you would like me to make a favorite posts list. Would you? If so, put your favorite posts in the comments and I'll make one. Stay tuned for my Year in Review post on the 31st. It'll be retrospectacular!

Melts in Your Mouth

Yesterday was my fantastic friend Simone's birthday, so several of us went to Melt to celebrate. We waited a good hour and a half just to be seated, and then about 40 minutes to get our food, but Melt is worth the wait. Its menu is just a variety of grilled cheese sandwiches to delight the eyes and mouth. I got the Roasted Vegetable for the second time and my god was it delicious! I was made fun of for being a fatty and finishing the first half of my sandwich before anyone was finished with half of the first half. I take big bites and let the deliciousness invade my mouth and dominate my taste buds, so sue me! Meanies! Actually, I find it quite comical myself. Simone also caught me foodgasming. Good food just makes me feel so good inside! At least I'm not like this lady.

Happy Christmas!

In the spirit of the holiday, and of Harry Potter, Happy Christmas everyone! We're all getting invisibility cloaks from an unknown person who was borrowing from our dead father. We'll find everything out when we've saved the world. Happy Christmas!

A Christmas Story

Don't you just love watching the 24 hour marathon of A Christmas Story every year on TBS? Well I do! Remember kids, drink more Ovaltine and don't shoot your eye out! Beware the dare! Someone could skip straight to a triple dog dare and you'll end up with your tongue stuck to a pole! Here's to a great movie set in Cleveland!

Fresh Air

Since I can't fall asleep, I've decided to catch up on the large amount of Fresh Air podcasts that I haven't had a chance to listen to. I've fallen in love with NPR. I love getting the 7am News podcast. I listened to it every morning, if it downloaded like it was supposed to, while walking to class along with the Story of the Day podcast which picks the most interesting story from all the NPR news programs. I also listen to Fresh Air. Terry Gross is just a genius interviewer. I also love All Songs Considered and it's partner podcast, the Tiny Desk Concert series. It's introduced me to some great music. NPR just seems to match my personality. It is also the only broadcast news I can listen to. I hate broadcast news. They rarely do any actual journalism and just beat pointless things to death because they're what get the ratings. It's sad. But let's not harp on the horrendous shape of the media. Instead let's talk about how much I love This American Life! It's the only public radio show not distributed by NPR that I listen to. I'm not much of a fan of Prairie Home Companion. I just find it boring. But This American Life is just wonderful. I've actually been contemplating approaching ACRN down at OU to think about a show called This Athens Life. If that doesn't work out, I'll try and get involved in a music radio show so I can start getting better acquainted with music.

Cedar Lee Movie Monday?

I've been home for 4 weeks or so and have not gone to Cedar Lee on a Monday night yet. That is, I hope, to be remedied tonight. Fingers crossed! I love me some Cedar Lee Movie Mondays. They're just wonderful, not as much as they used to be though. It used to be $5 and a free 32oz popcorn, costing only a dollar to upgrade. Free popcorn night was moved to Tuesday, but Monday still remains $5. It's just something about seeing a good movie, or an okay movie, for a low price that feels so good. If it doesn't happen tonight, there's always the new Student Night on Thursday. Only $6 with a valid student ID. Here's hoping!

SNOW!

Demand and you shall receive! I demanded snow, so I got snow! I can't wait to go play in it, take a walk in it, and sit and watch it fall while drinking hot chocolate, maybe be even get to kiss John Cusack in it! Just kidding! I can't wait till this light white blanket becomes rolling hills covered in soft powdery white substance! Hoorah!

Please Vote For Me! Democracy in Action

Since I can't seem to fall asleep until the early hours of the morning, I decided to watch an hour long documentary called Please Vote For Me. It follows the election of the class monitor of a third grade class. The catch? It is an exercise in democracy taking place in a Chinese elementary school. The interesting thing about it was that these children knew nothing about democracy, what it meant to vote, campaigns, and other election related things. The funny thing is that they perpetuated many of the same things we see here in elections. There were three candidates. The one little boy, Cheng Cheng really wanted to win, so from the beginning he was being underhanded, organizing the students to boo his opponent Xiaofei after she finished playing the flute for the talent portion of their little election. The other boy, Luo Lei, used gimmicks. His father arranged for the class to take a trip on the monorail and gave them what looked like tickets for the mid-autumn festival. All three thought of quitting at points when it looked like they had completely lost the class' votes. But their parents were right there to ensure their child won, acting as a sort of puppet master. The parents were very active in their children's campaign, writing their speeches, telling them how to present themselves, helping them sway their classmates. It was very similar to U.S. politics, how candidates appear prepackaged and often attack their opponents, something each child did during the debate portion. It was also similar on the voting end. There were undecided, abstainers, gender-line voters, party-line voters (in this case, the candidates' friends). In the end Luo Lei won, most likely because he had just given them the tickets, overshadowing his constantly strict behaviour as the present class monitor that was often brought up by his opponents.

Let it Snow!!!!!! NOW!

I want it to snow!!!!!! I love the snow!!!!!! It wraps the world in a pure white blanket. It's almost the official beginning of winter! I really hope it snows by or on the solstice! I can't have a snowless winter break! It just can't happen! I need this to happen!

Some Holiday Cheer

Because I started out celebrated Chirstmas, it will always be near and dear to my heart during the winter holidays. Here's some festive music.

Blue Christmas performed by First Aid Kit



Always in the Season performed by Pomplamoose and friends.



Merry Christmas!

Running Out of Time

I've only got half a month left to do 10 more post worthy things, and then a year-in-review post! If only I celebrated Hanukkah, then I would have 8 days of posts, maybe. I'm not sure how Hanukkah is celebrated other than the fact that they receive gifts everyday. Maybe next year I'll have a series of holiday related posts exploring the different winter holidays, they're origins, and how they're celebrated today. That's a good idea! In fact, I should explore holidays throughout the year. Put holidays I should learn about/celebrate next year in a comment! Happy Holidays!

Boring Break So Far

Well, that's not entirely true. I've had some fun nights. I saw The Big Lebowski at Cedar Lee with my friends. It was great! There were plenty of people dressed in robes, looking like the Dude. I never realized how much I love that movie. It's so funny and just plain awesome. I also went Black Friday shopping with my mother yet again. The one time a year I have any interest in shopping, mainly because it's the rare time of year where things are really cheap and I can convince my mom to buy me plenty of things, like the awesome peacoat I got at Old Navy, and the many books I picked out at Half-Price Books. I guess it hasn't been all that boring.