What Is This "All Grown Up" You Speak Of?

(Oh, hi there. Remember me? Yes, I'm still alive. I'm kinda like an embarrassing story from your childhood... I just keep coming back.)

So, I'm graduating high school in a few months, around the same time I turn 18.

Wait, what? EIGHTEEN?! That can't be right! Whose idea was this?

Oh... yeah.

Well, apparently turning 18=Entering adulthood. Then there's that whole "off to college" thing.
Oh, shoot.

This is a problem. I am NOT ready to be All Grown Up. Not even close. There are too many important things I have to learn how to do first! The following, most importantly.

1. Drive. That's right, I don't even have my learning permit yet. Just haven't gotten around to it. That's #1 on my to-do list for from now until August. That and graduate, obviously.

2. Talk to people. I am perfectly serious, folks. Misleading as the brilliant written eloquence you are currently witnessing can be, I am slightly on the introverted (or unsocialized) side in "real life." I can't keep up a casual conversation/small talk with strangers or recent acquaintances to save my life.

3. Order coffee. I've been drinking coffee at home and at Starbucks for a few years now and still don't quite know the difference between a cappuccino, an espresso and a latte. As unimportant as I know that truly is, I think as a college student-to be who will most likely be downing pints of the stuff in the future I should figure that out at some point.

4. Manage my time better. Fairly self-explanatory, Mom could probably elaborate on it a bit more if you're all that curious.

So you see, now matter how close I am to it biologically, I really shouldn't be classified as "grown up" until I've gotten these skills more firmly under my belt.

...any tips?

The SOTB Artfire Store

You've probably heard about the independent student-run production of the film The Shadow Of The Bear. And if you haven't, you should check them out.

Well, they've wrapped up filming, and now it's time to edit. Problem is, the editing software they need is quite expensive and remember, so far everything for this film has been paid for out of the director's and actors' pockets. So some crafty, artistic fans came up with a great idea to raise money. As it turns out there's a website called Artfire that provides people with an opportunity to sell their own handmade items. So the SOTB Artfire store was born!
They have cozy scarves, handmade soap, gorgeous and unique jewelry and more! All of it is reasonably priced and it is all handmade. 100% of all profits go to the movie. I've purchased three items and am perfectly happy with them. The Celtic knot heart earrings are my new favorite pair, the cable knit scarf is great and I can't wait for a chance to wear my rose headband. So go on and check it out. You get something you like, and your money goes to help out some hard-working people finish up this great movie; it's a good deal all around!

One last thing: let's have a round of applause for the talented young ladies that put so much time and care into this. You girls rock!

Recent Randomness In The Life of Me

Jack and I have been volunteering at the local Republican HQ the past few Mondays. It's kinda nice to know that we're doing something to help and it'll look great on a college app, so here I am. Yeah, I'm actually there right now. Normally I'd be working but there's a surplus of volunteers today and we only have three phones so some of us are taking shifts. Nice thing about this place? It's a short walk away from Dairy Queen and the used bookstore. Win.



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Speaking of volunteering, I applied to be a junior volunteer at the Institute of Texan Cultures. It looks like a ton of fun, you get to puppet shows for little kids and be in skits and stuff and be a "gallery host". Not entirely sure what that is but it sounds like fun too.



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Baby it's cooold outsiiide! Well, cool. This morning we woke up to a beautiful 65 degree morning. I enjoyed it as much as I could but I know it's a fall-se (talk about a lame wordplay) alarm. It'll be hot again before two days are past. Nature always does this to us....teasing, taunting us with promises of fall weather in September and not letting us have it until mid-late October. :(

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Oh. My. Gosh. We have a book called Kings and Queens For God. It's a nice book and everything, but does anyone want to explain to me why Queen Victoria is portrayed in ELIZABETHAN costume?!?!?! This irritates me in every imaginable way. I think I'll sue.

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Anybody got a homecoming or something that I can crash? I really want an excuse to wear a pretty dress...

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Since everybody else was flipping out about it a got myself a copy of The Hunger Games. W o w. Now I desperately want to read the next two books, but there's just one problem. I can not afford them! Keep in mind that this is new to me. I never run with the crowd where literature is concerned. I don't have to worry about buying the same thing that everybody else is buying. I usually get classics that can be either expensive or cheap. I'll just have to wait for chance to find Catching Fire at the library...

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Moving on from books to movies, I saw Devil. It was really really good, I'm working on a review for Katie-Isms. But I've never seen a horror/thriller/whatever you want to call it movie in theaters before, so I wasn't prepared for all those terrifying trailers. I was more likely to have nightmares from the previews than the movie itself. *shudder*

Babysitting

Braden took out a box of action figures and plastic bugs of all shapes and sizes...an epic battle was clearly about to take place.
On Team Braden: The Sandman and Wolverine
On Team Katie: Aang (the Avatar) and Iron Man
The Sandman attacked first, but Aang blew him away. He died (went back into the box) and was replaced by The Hulk. The Hulk, however, turned against Wolverine and suffered for it. Because there must always be a team of two, a motorcycle joined Team Braden. Wolverine took care of that too; he seemed to be picky about partners. Then along came something I cannot name, being quite ignorant of all things anime. After a couple of pathetic attempts at fighting, it curled into a ball an Aang blew it away. During all of this Iron Man had been blasting people here and there for good measure, but generally he was just enjoying the show; Aang and Wolverine clearly had things under control. Wolverine was then joined by a Transformer of some kind, which after much epic fighting, killed Iron Man.
A moment of silence for Mr. Stark, please.


Happily, someone just as excellent was there to help Aang. Twirling a blue lightsaber, Luke Skywalker joined the fight. Wolverine and Iron Man had taken out the Transformer and a dinosaur (an allosaurus, to be precise) took its place. However, on the way to battle Wolverine was accidentally killed by the dinosaurs claws (O, such bitter irony).
Then the rules were changed; teams of three were now allowed. Aang and Luke recruited a big ugly purple lizard (fire-breathing, but I hesitate to call it a dragon). Two more dinos joined the one; another allosaurus and something bigger, meaner and nameless. Aang took on the two smaller enemies and vanquished them, while Luke, ever the expert at handling big monsters, neatly skewered the big guy with his lightsaber.
The enemies were dead....but they had backup. In came a ninja, a dragon and a stormtrooper.
Intense struggle ensued. Aang bravely fought the dragon's fire with wind and water. The lizard and Luke did what they could to help, and the ninja and stormtrooper supported the dragon. Eventually, after much effort, Aang defeated the dragon. A general brawl followed between those who were left, including some fighting amongst the enemy. It didn't last long, though. By general assent, the battle concluded.

What did you do today?

Testing, testing...

*taps microphone*
I heard from Ella about a way to schedule your posts ahead of time so that they're posted automatically at a certain time. So I'm testing it here, because it would be reallly helpful with Katie-Isms.

EDIT: IT WORKED!! Woohoo!
Now, my blogging friends, if you haven't heard of this before, here's how it's done.
When you're writing a post, before you publish it click on "Post Options", to the left of where you put your labels. There'll be an option that says "Post date and time". Just enter the date and time that you want it to be posted, and hit publish. It's that easy! Just make sure you've got the right time zone.

The Case For Muffins

In a magical land called TrueGirls Online, there is a hot debate that's been going on for the past four years or so. Muffins...or cupcakes? I've been a loyal Muf-fan from the start. I present you now with the reasons why muffins are just so much better than cupcakes.


1. Health. Muffins are by their very nature more wholesome and much better for you than cupcakes. In times like these, who doesn't prefer the healthier choice?

2. Versatility. Cupcakes are only a dessert food. But a muffin can be enjoyed at any time of day, whenever you want! Muffins, especially mini-muffins, make great snacks, and fresh out of the oven they're a lovely breakfast. Also, cupcakes pretty much only come in as many flavors as regular cake. It boils down to three main flavors; chocolate, vanilla and yellow, with various kinds of frosting. But muffins come in too many flavors to count, and people are inventing new kinds all the time!

3. Sincerity. What do the Cupcakians usually do to promote their cause? They post pictures of gorgeously decorated cupcakes. Cupcakes with flowers, cupcakes with butterflies, cupcakes with cute faces. But what is it really? Pure aesthetics. Pretty colored frosting, often topped with an inedible decoration that you have to remove before enjoying your dessert. In short, cupcakes are shallow. They present an elegant frosting facade, but underneath they're no different from your average small piece of birthday cake. The frosting doesn't even always taste good, and often will dye your tongue nasty colors.
Muffins are plain, granted. But the point here is that they aren't presumptuous like cupcakes. What you see is what you get; they are really sincere. They long with all their muffiny hearts to be appreciated and enjoyed by you. They don't show themselves off like cupcakes... they show you their true, humble little selves and invite you to enjoy them as they are.

4. They're the original. Think about it. Why are cupcakes called cupcakes? They are cake in a cup, shaped like...muffins! Muffins were there first. Cupcakes are merely copycats; fakes; imposters. Muffins are real.

5. Well, duh! They're just plain delicious!

And be sure to check out this video on the subject.


So, I've explained the muffin cause to you...where do you stand?

Glasses!

I CAN SEEEE! Everything is so much clearer! I can read the clock on the microwave now! WOOOO!
































































Yes, I know, the first one is awfully blurry. But T-Man is in it!

I've Been Bad...

As far as blogging is concerned, anyway. :-P

So, update on life. Yes, Max is doing great. He's smiling and it's darn cute. Head over to Nine Texans for pictures. Speaking of Nine Texans, I think I'm officially a ninja now...that's me there with the sword in the header.
Are ninjas allowed to wear glasses? Because I picked out frames today! They're purple and I love them. ^_^
I have some of my senior year books. Not looking forward to American Gov't and Economy...British Lit should be fun, though. I've already read at least a third of the books. *nerd* What scares me is the 1500 word papers. It's a huge jump from the lengths of everything else I've written during high school.
I'm taking dual-credit Intro to Chem with St. Philips for the first semester, and Health with MODG in the second semester.
So yeah, cool stuff.

In the blogging world, everywhere but here is pretty fun these days. My friend Anna, who just happens to be an incredible writer, started a blog recently at Ferris Wheel The Monkey Reel, available on my sidebar. No doubt you're curious about the name. She's just a random sort of person, so she gave her blog a random sort of name, among other reasons. You can read about that in her first post. Over at Katie-Isms things have been a little slow. We had a Fairy Tale Novel Week...that was fun. And then suddenly, we didn't really have anything to do. We've posted some poems...by ourselves, being short of eagerly volunteering poets at the moment. But still, go check it out! There is some pretty cool stuff coming up soon. ;)







...er, yes, that's the end of this particular blog post.
Bye!