One Year Later

I really have to keep reminding myself that yes, it is actually basically May. Yes, it is already 2012. Yes, I will be graduating in less than 4 months. Yes, I did start this blog over a year ago.
I'm having a hard time keeping track of time right now. It's quite bizarre.

But anyway, this is a belated yay-I've-managed-to-stay-interested-in-this-blog-writing-thing-for-12-months only slightly self-congratulatory post.

[More congratulations, me. I managed to spell self-congratulatory right on my first try.]

I've been kind of bummed about the whole no computer thing, for some of the obvious reasons of course, but also because I don't get to blog anymore. It's been weird. I think about things that I want to blog about and then have no outlet for them. Unless I write them down for future reference. However, I have gotten to do tons and tons of reading in all this spare time that I've discovered. At least, what spare time wasn't consumed by papers and papers and papers that I've had to write.

So honestly, I don't think I would have been blogging much anyway since all my writing energies were going towards school. But I digress.

Well, it's been a month since my last post, and a year since my first post. Lots of stuff has happened in the between times.

For example, in the past month I:

• Watched some fabulous movies, namely The Hunger Games.
• Got to hang out with my sister for her birthday, which included me taking her to see The Hunger Games, bawling because she looks kind of like Prim, and then sharing cinnamon and salty pretzels with her.
• Read 18 books, most of which were very wonderful.
• Sang two of my absolute favorite anthems/songs with the youth choir at Easter.
• Got a fabulous Easter dress.
• Spent a lot of time at my internship.
• Wrote a resume that might actually get me hired.
• Cleaned and cleaned and organized and organized.
• Spent very little time on computers, unless it was a Saturday afternoon and I was at the library.

Also happening this month: lots of episodes of this show.

And over the past year, I:

• Read 63 books in 4 months. I feel pretty confident in my goal of 150 for the year.
• Watched some fabulous movies, like The Hunger Games and Vicky Christina Barcelona and Sherlock Holmes and Harry Potter [well, it had its moments].
• Took a bunch of classes, some of which I really liked.
• Made some progress in figuring out what I want to do with myself when I'm finally done with school.
• Slept. A lot.
• Went to Peru!!!
• Was adventurous in trying new foods.
• Watched a lot of figure skating. And read a lot about figure skating. And wished I could go see figure skating competitions live.
• Gained three new baby cousins. Plus one more in May. I also got to hang out with the first one when she was one week old. Basically, nothing beats a one-week old baby.

I feel silly and sentimental talking about all this, kind of like it's New Years, except in April. Which I guess could be construed as the same concept as Christmas in July, right? That's what I'm going with.

Now I suppose since I'm at the library, I should actually try and get some homework done. Otherwise this rambling would just keep going and going and going...

Or I could just catch up on my TV. That sounds like more fun.

Tragedy

So my computer is pretty much toast. At least, the battery connector dealie is. I'd been able to balance it just so on my lap/bed/bean bag chair and let it charge itself back up. But that hasn't worked in several days. This is made all the more difficult by the fact that I have 2 classes that are primarily online. Once I'm un-lazy and un-tired enough, I'll see if the tech people at school can fix it. Hopefully for zero dollars...

Until then, I'll be doing all my homework at computer labs on campus and bemoaning the fact that American progress is more concerned with "newer" than "better."

And also until then, I will most likely not be making any blog posts. Except maybe when I'm home for Easter.

This is why I hate technology so much. It never seems to work when you need it to.

Some Things from My Flash Drive that Make Me Feel Better about this Terrible Ordeal:

Working on Inspiration

So you know how I finished that short story in February and haven't talked about [or worked on] my book since?

I'm writing again!!!!!!!

This calls for celebratory picture spewage. Don't worry, I'll get to the point in just a minute.

Jokes from my sister. Her birthday was yesterday.

Maleficent movie is moving forwards. SO EXCITED!

More jokes. Combining two of my favorite things (three if you count the color).

Sand art. I love watching these.

I need to watch these in order.

There's a certain kind of headspace I expect to be in for truly inspired writing to happen. It's like I can't write anything until I get this I-must-write-words-pouring-out-of-my-head feeling.

The problem is, it's hard to get to that particular ... event?

Sometimes, really fantastic books inspire me. Even just really fantastic paragraphs or sentences. Those bits of craft that blow my mind. Watching beautiful sand art with haunting melodies. There's a few movies, ones that I watch over and over and over again, that have moments that just pull at my heartstrings. That's the only way to describe it, really.

But yesterday morning, all I needed was a little procrastination on the 8 page paper I had to finish that afternoon.

Basically, I got so sick of school that writing on More Blessed was bumped up from the bottom of my I-don't-have-the-time-or-energy-to-do-this list. Which is probably not the nicest way to think about this book, but it's pretty honest.

I think another part of it is staying away from the Internet. I've been trying to leave my computer unconnected to be more productive on all of the BIG THINGS that were due this week [also to save money on electricity by turning of the blinking lights of the modem/wireless router dealies]. Today, with no internship to go to and all day to run errands, I've wasted the past 4ish hours bumming around online.

So. I know I won't become a speed-writer overnight. I know that my biggest dream in the world is not to become a writer. It's pretty far down on the list, but it's the one that's most...accomplish-able right now. [I have been making up so many words today.] I hope, really hope, that I can finish this book by June just for my own sense of pride so that I can print it for free on campus.

If I could write a thousand words a day, that wouldn't be a big deal at all.

The Last Spring Break

My week in pictures, because pictures are worth a thousand words and take less time to put together. Okay, so it still takes time to find them, but I don't have to worry about being coherent this way.

I got a new phone! One that I don't have to charge every single day!

It looks like this.

I watched Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy!

So many Hot British Men! So much confusion!

I spent too much time playing old computer games!

I don't even remember when we got this.

I read some awesome books!

You should read this one.

YOU SHOULD MUST READ THIS FABULOUS PIECE OF AWESOMENESS!!!

This little anthology was also quite good.

I got a hair cut! But I don't have a picture and I already put on pajamas so I'm not taking one now.

I procrastinated on every bit of homework I needed to do!

I made a cake!

The top layer didn't want to stay together so I had to force it with gobs of icing.

And celebrated my hermanita's 18th birthday!

I wish I never had to go back to school. Or write outlines and essays and do research. Or think about getting a job. Although I must admit, the job part is exciting; it's the getting one part that I don't want to do. Such is life.

Happy International Women's Day

This isn't a very widely celebrated holiday in the States. I guess we have Mother's Day to half make up for that. But I always try to remember it since it's kind of important for 1917 Russian Revolution #1. Just a smidge.

Save the women from their second class status!

And that would explain why it's virtually nonexistent here. That's also why I think of the date being February 28th instead of March 8th, since most of the research I did [for my Extended Essay, thankfully long, long ago] used the Julian calendar and not the Gregorian calendar. Of course, I didn't remember it a week ago either, but I didn't have lovely Google to remind me.

Or just give them flowers. Same thing, right?

It's too bad that our enduring Red Scares make a vocal segment of our country freak out about anything with a Communist/Socialist/leftish history. We could use a holiday that celebrates and remind us of women's rights, especially with all the ridiculous political hoopla going on right now.

I have more to say on this, but it'll have to wait for another, not-so-sleepy time.

Memory Or Anticipation

So the question: why do you need to buy books and read them over and over again? After all, what's there to anticipate? You already know how the book ends. Except...

Things I Remembered about The Hobbit from Reading It 10 Years Ago

• Bilbo Baggins
• Gandalf
• Dwarves
• Dragons and guarded treasure
• Trolls
• Out of the frying pan and into the fire
• Ponies being eaten

I had to reread it to prepare for the movie finally coming out.

Things I Realized I Should Have Remembered While Rereading

• Unexpected dinner party at Bilbo's
• Hanging out with Elrond
• Gollum and the Ring
• Goblins/orcs and Wargs and almost being eaten
• The eagles saving the day, twice
• Beorn, the bear guy
• The sketchy forest, including giant spiders and almost being eaten
• Wood-elves being rather silly
• Floating in barrels
• The secret door
• Bilbo riddling with the dragon and almost being burnt and eaten
• The giant battle at the end 
• Other things that I already can't remember happening

This makes me want it to be December, for once.

Even with a good memory, there's a lot you forget about books you haven't read in a while. There's a ton you forget about books you haven't read in a long while. But you'll always remember whether you liked a book or not, and sometimes you need to know ahead of time that a book is going to make you smile.

I mean, look at this.

And also, the publishing industry kind of needs your money.

The Best Sport in the World

In the spirit of finishing long-delayed posts, I bring you an update on the unarguably most amazing sport ever invented.

[If you haven't been paying attention to previous ramblings, I'm talking about figure skating.]

Way back in December, some exciting things happened. Mostly at Russian Nationals. That let to a month of me freaking out before the European Championships.

More freaking out occurred when I realized how beautifully Russia was doing.

The only problem with being concerned with European competitions is they aren't broadcast in the U.S. It's a tragic, tragic fate for poor American me. I have to content myself with relentlessly checking the live score updates. Pluschenko was a beast in qualifying, which reassured me. I missed the first half of the short program, but was rewarded for my diligence with this lovely gem.

My skaters, in FIRST, SECOND, FOURTH and FIFTH.

Now, this weekend happened to be the same weekend I was visiting family. So when I could tear myself apart from my newborn and toddler cousins, I got on the Internet to check scores. At one point, I decided to see if my aunt and uncle's TV had a channel that was showing the competition [they have some fancy Italian channels so it was a possibility]. That's when I discovered that the U.S. Nationals were going on at the same time. So I got to watch a bit of the ladies and ice dancers, even though I don't particularly follow any American skaters.

Although this beautiful man might be un-retiring which makes me endlessly happy.

The minute I got back from my lovely trip, I was checking final scores. And then freaking out.

My three absolute favorites, on the podium together ♥

Russian skaters also went 1-2-3 in Pairs and 2-3 in Ice Dance.

ALL THE RUSSIANS!

The ladies didn't do as well. Relatively: a 15 year old who was only 7th at Nationals placed 4th and the two I've been watching were 6th and 7th. But the amazing Elene Gedevanishvili from Georgia took the bronze, so I am completely okay with that.

Alas, the only podium with no Russians.

I really don't know how this post didn't get written sooner. Gushing about figure skating is in my Top-10-Favorite-Things-To-Do list, along with list making and reading magical books and watching figure skating.