Saturday, March 31, 2012

I Used to Live Next to a Herd of Cattle.


Hey guys. I'm going to tell you a story that makes me really angry and annoyed on the inside, but on the outside I'm going to laugh and joke about it.

So you may not know that my family moved in December, right before the winter solstice, back to the house that I grew up in. We spent a very brief amount of time living in the country before then, and it was nice and splendid and fun. We had one neighbor, who lived about 100 yards away from our house--and I didn't mind her one bit because in her backyard her brother had a herd of about sixty cattle, and I found them fun to watch. I named one of them Pieface. 

However, that is completely irrelevant to my story.

I used to have a beta fish. He was purple and white, the colors of my favorite college and team, K-State. I named him Colin, because in my household the rule is that you have to name your pets from the lengthy index of Harry Potter names.

I took terrible care of Colin. Terrible in the case that yes, he got fed every day, but his water bowl only got changed every about three weeks. Plus, I let cats jump up on the table where he lived. Probably not the best idea in the world.

Believe me, I loved Colin the beta fish a lot. And I can take care of animals pretty well; I'm not hopeless. But Colin sort of became a minority in the back of my mind. He was easy to feed, and really pretty to look at. He represented my favorite team.

When you have horses and cats and dogs and rabbits and goats to feed, you forget to take extra-special care of the one animal who doesn't need loved or petted or groomed all day.

One day I was feeding him really quickly--like usual--right before I was going to go milk the goats, and I noticed that a large portion of his tail was missing. Remember that I allowed cats on the table where he lived? Well, apparently one of the cats had reached their head into the bowl and tried to eat my fish.

Unfortunately, his tail didn't mend and he died three month later. Considering how bad I treated the poor fish, I was surprised he lasted as long as he did: one-and-a-half years.

When I found him floating at the top of his bowl, I was a little relieved. In any other situation, I would have been upset, but we'd recently been evicted from the house we were living at, and since he was dead, that meant that that was one less living creature we had to move.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Penguins Also Hate Comic Sans.


It seems mediocre, that I find the time in my [busy] day to hate something as simple as the font Comic Sans--and also, Papyrus--but I am mediocre.

I hate Comic Sans.


In fact, I hate Comic Sans so much, I decided to write in it for the rest of this blog post, just to make it grade against my nerves. 

Everybody, at one point or another in their lives, has written something with this font. 
My  sister once wrote a chapter book in Comic Sans--and I started to, right until I quit the novel I was working on on the computer, and stared writing it out by hand.

My hatred has heightened by 95% percent since then, so much so, that whenever I see it out in the open (perhaps on a certain adoption form for some little boy in Guatemala. *cough cough*) I defiantly cry out: "Comic Sans!" and then I think the phrase: It's taken over the world. 

So why do I hate it?

First, it's overused by everybody. EVERYBODY. 

Second, it's repetitive. The handwritten lettering becomes boring, and because no handwritten letter is exactly the same when written with a hand, it makes Comic Sans look sort of cheesy.

Third, it's a poorly designed font. 

Fourth--can't I just hate a font?

So yeah. I hate Comic Sans. There are worse things to hate, like Joseph Kony and Rebecca Black's Friday, but there are tons of people to hate those. 

 



 

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Here, Have an Apple.


Speaking on behalf of Hank's last question, I'd like to answer it.

I'd spend 600 million dollars not on anything scientific, but probably to try and end world hunger.


How to Wear the Same Pair of Shorts Year-Round: Part One

Usually I try to title my posts with something that makes no sense (see the tag penguins), but today I saw absolutely no need to elaborate further down in this post. So today I'll be talking about what the title applies: How to wear the same pair of shorts year round.

Autumn/ Winter


Spring





Summer

EgyptianPrincess12

Since I'm being lazy I'm just going to let the pictures speak for themselves. Because that's how I am.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

You're Welcome.

I don't think I've ever told you guys about my favorite band, Vampire Weekend. You've likely never heard of them, but if you watch tv and sit through the commercials, I guarantee you you've heard small snippets of their music.

Like a couple of years ago, there was a car commercial near Christmas, where the people are all in stop motion, handing out presents... and I'm just going to find it online for you.


And then recently, if you've watched the theatrical trailer for the Lorax, then you've heard them.

Here, I'll find it for you online, so that you don't have to.


It's the background music at the end, in case you missed it.

Anyway, they're my favorite band, and they have been for a long time. You should check out a lot of their songs, because I think that they're all decently good. But today I'd just like to show you a couple of my favorite songs from them.


1. Holiday.

 I like everything about this song. I like how it's a song about holidays but yet it still managed to be summery and light and not at all holiday-y. Though, from watching the music video (which is not what I posted here; I don't need my mom thinking the band is even more weird than she already does), I'm going to assume that when they say holiday, they mean the British version of holiday--which, correct me if I'm wrong--is what they call vacations. So this song could take place at any time of year. 

Who knows? Maybe it is a song about summer.

2. Campus.

 The only thing I have to say about it is that I love the words.

  3. A-Punk.

 This song is actually what got me started into the band, and I really like because it almost feels like the music is trying to catch up to itself, that it's a race between time and flute solos. It fits what the actual words tell the story of: a girl, stealing a ring from what I assume is her ex. And the ex follows her all over North America, trying to get it back.


In the end, the girl in the song ends up cutting the ring in half, one half of it goes to another man, the other half being cast into the ocean.

4. Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa.

This song feels very earthy and summery to me, and I love how it's sort of slow-paced, compared to their other songs. 


So yeah. That's my favorite band. If you hate them, that's good, because I think they've dispersed and are no longer together as a band. And if you like them, then that's bad, because once again, I think they dispersed.

 

Monday, March 26, 2012

Find an Astronaut.


A few nights ago I was milking the goats, and aside from the glowing orbs of light on the front of the excursion which we fondly call headlights, and the lantern (which sits inside the trailer for the entirety of the milking time), it was completely pitch black out.

There was not a cloud in the sky, and I could see the stars very, very clearly.

I thought immediately of a famous quote, which somewhat explained the deep, utter amazement I felt:

For I have loved the stars too fondly, to be fearful of the night.

                                                          -- Galileo Galilei


Have a wonderful day, folks.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

A Little Horsie.

Tonight I'd like to share an insight I've found out about blogging:
I usually like reading posts a lot better if they are accompanied by photos. These photos can be about anything, really, so long as they're there in the post somewhere.

Insight shared.

Now onto the real post, in which I scrutinize a photo:

The bracelets add a nice touch under the little horse's hooves--it really gives me the feel that maybe this person is playing with this toy on top of a dresser or desk.

I also like that the hand in the picture has a sleeve attached to it. It looks like it's an olive green, earthy color, and it might be made out of cotton. But what do I know about clothing?

 Also, before I end this post, I'd like to remark that yes, I have been playing around with this blog template quite a lot, trying to find the right look for me. And I'm pretty sure this one'll stay up for awhile longer than the other ones. Thanks for your patience.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Levicorpus!

Because I like to steal ideas, I stole one from my friend Nevillegirl (sorry for the misunderstanding!). Today I am going to talk about my favorite book, or rather, my favorite books. These aren't listed or numbered by my favorites; just in the order that I could think of them.

1. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, by JK Rowling.

   
 The war against Voldemort is not going well; even the Muggles have been affected. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses.

And yet . . . as with all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Harry receives some extraordinary help in Potions from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince. And with Dumbledore's guidance, he seeks out the full, complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort -- and thus finds what may be his only vulnerability.

This was my favorite Harry Potter book, by a long shot, and my least favorite Harry Potter Movie, by a long shot. I think I hated the film so much because I sort of set high expectations for it, and I was woefully let down.

I like this book because of the potions. I love the Half-Blood prince, and his descriptions of what the potions books are doing wrong. 

Plus, you know, Levicorpus. 



2. The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart.

"Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?"

When this peculiar ad appears in the newspaper, dozens of children enroll to take a series of mysterious, mind-bending tests. (And you, dear reader, can test your wits right alongside them.) But in the end just four very special children will succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and resourceful children could complete. To accomplish it they will have to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules.

As our heroes face physical and mental trials beyond their wildest imaginations, they have no choice but to turn to each other for support. But with their newfound friendship at stake, will they be able to pass the most important test of all?

Welcome to the Mysterious Benedict Society.

This book is as fun to read as Eragon is detailed and descriptive. 


And that's all I'm going to say.



3. Watership Down, by Richard Adams.
 Set in England's Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a band of very special creatures on their flight from the intrusions of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of brothers, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society.

I love this book more than you can imagine. I've read it countless times (my copy is falling to ruins, unfortunately), and I never get tired of it. 




4. Flour House, by Kimberley Karalius.

Otherothercover
Lettice Morris has the ability to tell stories in flour, making her drawings come to life within the confines of a flour-dusted cutting board. She amuses the children who come to the family bakery, but she harbors a more magical secret at home: there is a boy living in her late mother's dollhouse.

It is a short story, and it can be found here. You'll have a lot of fun reading it, and it's only about 20K words long, so it won't take you too long. It is well written in some parts, though it's a tad rushed in others. Keep that in mind.



5. The Girl Who Could Fly, by Victoria Forester.


You just can’t keep a good girl down . . . unless you use the proper methods.
Piper McCloud can fly. Just like that. Easy as pie.
Sure, she hasn’t mastered reverse propulsion and her turns are kind of sloppy, but she’s real good at loop-the-loops.
Problem is, the good folk of Lowland County are afraid of Piper. And her ma’s at her wit’s end. So it seems only fitting that she leave her parents’ farm to attend a top-secret, maximum-security school for kids with exceptional abilities.
School is great at first with a bunch of new friends whose skills range from super-strength to super-genius. (Plus all the homemade apple pie she can eat!) But Piper is special, even among the special. And there are consequences.
Consequences too dire to talk about. Too crazy to consider. And too dangerous to ignore.

This is also a good book to read. It's quirky, and funny, and also supremely sad in some parts. Sort of like The Fault in Ours Stars.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Penguins Don't Hit Walls.

I have officially hit a wall.


I don't have the faintest idea what to blog about.


Sure, I have future blog posts in mind, but first I have to write the posts to get to them. Like, say, I need to get to the lucky number of 94 blog posts, where your dashboard will be flooding.


But for now, I'm in front of a wall.

 And just like the characters on Dora the Explorer, I can't go around it for some reason. I have to get over it.


And so, if you feel inclined, will you please give me suggestions?

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

I Walked in the Footsteps of an Olympian.

Literally.

While in Colorado Springs, my family went to the Olympic Training Center.

And all I have to say to this before I show you a montage of photos is:

AGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
















I saw real Olympic athletes!

And the torches from all of the Olympic Games held in the US in the past thirty years!

And our tour guide was the national champion weight lifter in her category!

AGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Penguins Don't go to Narnia.

The first place we stopped at in Colorado Springs was Focus on the Family. Other than fulfilling part of my childhood by sliding down that big twisty slide, and it being generally awesome, what with the planes and stuff, it also had an exhibit:

Namely, Narnia.

Narnia, everybody.

 Narnia.

 Narnia.







 These photos don't give the place justice. It was SO COOL. 

If I ever have a spare room, in fact, I've decided to turn it into Narnia.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Colorado Springs

This is the actual post, as yesterday I wasn't thinking straight (it definitely had something to do with me smelling like a dying camel--but don't worry. I resolved the issue by standing under hot water for about ten minutes), and I was procrastinating, and...

I don't have all of the photos I'd like to make this post yet, due to the fact that Hope's iPod is a pain in the buttocks to plug in and download media from it. And also, due to the fact that if I blow this off for too long, then my anniversary will have passed--and you will have lost interest. As will I.

So here goes:

We drove. And we drove.

And then, in no particular order, we stopped at these places, and I nearly got fined for climbing on rocks that I wasn't supposed to, and I petted a greasy, dirty giraffe (my fingers were covered in wettish soot when I walked away from the long-necked animal), and Hope and I sung Hank Green songs to each other on the ski lift, and I stayed at the bottom of seven falls and read Paper Towns while the rest of my siblings climbed 224 steps to the top, only to come back down when they got tired of the view.


Trelawney was very, very interested in the stuffed cougar.




As close to my actual face as you will probably ever get.
 Also, I might add that I am not taller than my elder sister Hope. I think I was standing on something at the time, or I was standing on my toes to pet the dirty giraffe.

I'm not wearing sunglasses, either. In real life, my eyes are forced to be forever stuck behind a thin wall of rubber and-or glass. It's a mixture of my glasses being situated above a giraffe spot that makes it look like I'm trying to look cool underneath a shaded patio.
The view of Colorado Springs from the ski lift.

The wallaby that I never got to see, because Hope, Noah and I decided to ride the ski lift another time.

This porcupine was just sitting there in the tree.

Seven Falls.
There might be more pictures when I finally muster up the energy to upload some of the photos off of Hope's iPod. But for now, this is it.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Where I Was.

On March 14, 2012, my family went on a vacation to Colorado Springs. We had absolutely no internet (not even on the 3g smartphones), so I haven't been able to blog for the last three days.

I know, tragic.

Upsetting.

Aggravating.

My mom also hasn't been able to blog, either (she usually does it on her smartphone, and, you know, no internet near the Rockies), though she has already well caught up on her photo-a-day journey. You can find this blog here. I stole all of the photos in this blog post from it, so... It's not copyright if you technically took a bunch of these photos, right?

Right.

Correct.

Accurate.

Stellar!

I just tried the Stellar! word on my sister, Hope, and she sort of blankly looks at me, puts her hand in front of her face and squints, bringing two of her fingers together.

"I will crush your head!" she says. And then, in a lower, more disinterested voice, she says, "Yeah. That probably didn't make a lot of sense."

And I say, "Stellar!"

And she turns back to the computer to compete in Truth or Fail. 

And I, in turn, start writing this blog post again. 


...

...

And I really don't want to blog about my trip to Colorado, or about the themed-giveaway I am planning. Do you ever feel as though you need to do something, but you can't make yourself do it? Like there's this part of your mind that wants to go to Youtube and Twitter for hours at a time, wasting away the whole day?

I'm pretty sure I'm thinking of my friend, Procrastination.

It's also called my friend Charlie.

So many videos to watch.


So many things to do.

For example: right now I'm supposed to be taking a shower, because I smell like a dying camel and the people at church tomorrow morning are very, very judgmental--which should be incentive enough to stand under hot water for around ten minutes, but oddly enough, I find Charlie's video about not procrastinating above material for procrastination.

I was going to give in and take a shower earlier, but my shampoo is in the car. In my suitcase.

And I would have to go outside and get the suitcase, and lug it back inside, and unzip it, and then get my shampoo, all for something that I don't want to do in the first place.

You now see my dilemna (definition: a crisis involving two alternatives).

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

The Many, Many Hannahs.

 There's also another clone, who hasn't made an appearance yet.

She's called dwarf-sized Hannah, and you won't be seeing her for awhile. Mostly because she's too dwarf-ish.


Yeah, so this post has been pre-made, because I'm currently in Colorado Springs, going to cool landmarks and looking for a pair of Doc Martins at Thrift Stores. I guess it's been fun so far (I can't tell, what with this post being pre-written and all).

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

A House in Pictures.

Since I so full-heartedly enjoyed my post about A Street in Pictures, I decided to do the same thing, except with crummier photos.







And, because no post would be complete without cats:

This is George. He's one of the C-Section kittens.

This is George, after I rubbed his belly.

This is George, falling back asleep almost instantly.