Insert Title of Your Choice Here

Hello, internetfolks. I'm blogging mostly out of habit, not because anything particularly exciting happened today, but I do have a few quick things to say.

1. I have a headache. Headaches suck. Rawr.

2. Have you ever seen the old TV show Hogan's Heroes? Because my dad got the DVDs of the first two seasons, and we just watched several episodes, and it's quite an entertaining show. It's set in a German POW camp during WWII, and the staff is generally incompetent and the prisoners get up to all sorts of sabotage and suchlike, and it's just a generally hilarious show. Definitely check it out.

3. I have discovered the downside of creative writing class. When you already have two protagonists competing for your attention, the LAST thing you need is an assignment for a short story with a different protagonist and an atypical narrative style. Chelsey and Indi just might eat me if I throw somebody else in there. Even if it is just for a short period of time.

4. Have I mentioned that headaches (and colds) are no fun? Because they're really not.

5. I like lists that have nice round numbers, like multiples of five and ten. Threes are okay...fours, though, that wasn't cool. So. List Item Number Five. Yay.

And now, sleep. "Goodnight, goodnight, parting is such sweet sorrow/That I shall say farewell til it be morrow." Farewell, interwebs!
~Bex

Writers Are Weird

I shall begin this post with the random observation that this is the 50th post on The Word Nerd. If you find this exciting, then...yay! Excitement! If not...okay, that's cool too. It was just an observation. Some of us are easily amused.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. I wanted to share with you another snippet of writer conversation, this time between my crazy writer friend KD and myself.

BT: ahhhh I wanna write my storyyyy. Stupid thesis.

KD: *patpat*

BT: do you think Mrs. B would accept "Chelsey and Indi were holding me at gunpoint and forcing me to write" as an excuse for not doing my thesis homework?

KD: welllll....since producing Chelsey and Indi on this material plane of existence to corroborate your claim might be a bit tricky, I think not.

BT: especially since they wouldn't do that. Chelsey still has a thing about guns. And I don't think guns exist in Indi's world. So...knifepoint then. No, Chelsey wouldn't like that either....Indi might threaten me with a knife, though.

KD: *pat* honey....

BT: I'M NOT SCHIZOPHRENIC! I SWEAR!

KD: they are going to have to understand that thesis is important. ♥

Again, before you write me off as a crazy person, you must understand that I am aware that the characters who live inside my head are fictional, therefore I am not schizophrenic. Just so you know.

But I really would much rather find out what's up with Indi and get Chelsey to Columbia than write a notecard about this thesis source. Even if this book is completely amazing.

Must go. Much love,
Bex

Luke, I Am Your Father

Well, okay. So the sketchy "I'm your father" conversation that I watched today was not from Star Wars. I haven't watched any of the Star Wars films in ages (Episodes IV, V, and VI are the best, though, hands down; the newer ones are awful). I did go off in search of a lightsaber for HB to use in her English project on Friday, but that's totally unrelated.

What IS related is that I've been watching LOST again. Finally had the time to sit down and watch two more episodes. I think I'm officially more than halfway through Season 3 now...maybe I'll even catch up by the season finale. Who knows? Anyway, there was an "I am your father" conversation on LOST earlier. And I must say, I am quite surprised. (Read: CH, if you are reading this, get on messenger and message me. Ohmygoodness.) in case you missed it, "quite surprised" was a bit of an understatement.

I've also started a new story. Chelsey is going to be furious. I haven't been spending enough time with her lately as it is. Now that Indi is competing for my attention...

Sigh. Two protagonists, one written in first person present tense and one in third person past tense, one a spy and one...um...well, definitely not a spy. This could get interesting.

I'll just have to hope my brain doesn't go kaboom.

Before you write me off as a lunatic, please consider the following quote:

"Writing is the only socially acceptable form of schizophrenia."

Yes, there are fictional people living inside my head. But I bet the same thing happens to J.K. Rowling, and Harry Potter is possibly the best book series ever. (I mean...umm...me, a PotterNerd? >_> *whistles innocently*)

I should probably go do some homework now. Or watch more LOST. Or perhaps write, before Chelsey and Indi team up and attack my brain cells. Meanwhile, you should go listen to "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Disney's Mulan. Because it's one of my favorite Disney songs, and it's stuck in my head.

Until next time, internetfolks!
~Bex

Attack of the Social Networking Sites

First there was Myspace. Everybody and his or her figurative family member or pet was on Myspace. Except me. I was never on Myspace. I realize I'm not the only exception - there are others out there, among them many of my dear friends - but I figure I'm entitled to a little bit of literary license. So, the point: Myspace. Huge social networking site.

Then there was Facebook. Yes, I'm on Facebook. No, you may not send me a friend request if you do not know me in real life. But Facebook is starting to get overrun by all sorts of crazy applications and "Become a Fan" pages. Seriously, I cannot open Facebook without having my news feed full of "So and So became a fan of X Product! So and So became a fan of Y TV Show! So and So became a fan of Z Random Daily Activity! So and So became a fan of Becoming a Fan of X, Y, and/or Z!" It's quite obnoxious.

And Facebook is still big. But slowly, Twitter got even bigger. I am not on Twitter, either, but lots and lots of people are. Because apparently the world has nothing better to do with its time than inform the rest of the world what it's up to, 160 characters at a time.

And now - now there's a new website called Formspring. Basically, anyone who happens to stumble across your page can submit a question, anonymous or otherwise, and you can choose to answer it or not. After seeing at least five or six of my Facebook friends post "Formspring me!" I caved and joined a second social networking site. I like to think this one doesn't completely count, because you don't become "friends" with anyone and most interaction is anonymous. But I will confess, I'm mostly just kidding myself.

So, my Formspring username is wordnerd213 if you wish to ask me questions. Believe it or not, this is okay with me. I know there are people out there who would frown on my sharing of my username (it's not like it's my password) on an unprotected website, but it's not like you can use it to stalk me.

Anyway, I should go. I have one more page of thesis lit review to write, plus a page of dialogue and typing practice short story extension for creative writing, and it's already after 10:30. Hasta luego, internetfolks!

~Bex

Shiver

So, I was kinda musing about random stuff earlier (I tend to do that sometimes), and I realized something.

I blog about books as I read them. Which means my favorites that I've already read do not receive the special blog attention that they probably deserve. I have therefore made a decision. On days when I do not have anything interesting to blog about, I will tell you about a book that I have already read and loved.

Today, it is Maggie Stiefvater's SHIVER. How did I pick SHIVER to write about today, you ask? Well, it's because NG just got inducted to the unofficial SHIVER fan club and my dear CJ just finished reading the sequel, LINGER. But wait! you may say. LINGER isn't due out in stores until July! Gonna brag for a minute here: I got an ARC. And I got to meet Maggie, back in November. *cue LOTS of excitement* It was truly fantastic. Anyway, CJ borrowed this ARC and left me a Facebook wall post along the lines of:

"AHHH!!!! he...but...she...but...they...he can't! and she's...but they...and...ahhhh want the next one NOWWW!!!"

Which actually made sense to me. Because I've read it too.

Anyway, SHIVER (the first in what I believe is going to be a trilogy) is an absolutely amazing paranormal romance. (Yes another one. Get over it.) It is very possibly one of the elite books that I class among my favorites, although I know several people have drawn many, many parallels to TWILIGHT.

Don't worry though, there are no sparkly creeper vampires. Just werewolves.

Sam, in fact, is a werewolf. Not a traditional full-moon werewolf; no, he's a wolf when it's cold and a boy when it's warm. He has absolutely no say in his transformations. In the winter, Grace watches the wolves from her house, and there is one wolf that she calls "hers." Little does she know, this wolf is Sam, who is a human during the summer months. One summer, he finally gets up the courage to talk to her - and then an injury mysteriously leaves him human in the cold, and then they have to fight to keep him that way.

My summary there cannot even BEGIN to do the book justice. I am not kidding, go find this book and read it. It has a beautiful cover. It looks like this:

So, if you see this lovely cover on a bookshelf store, pick it up! The story is incredible and the characters are unbelievably believable (contradictory descriptions, 1; logic, 0). Grace and Sam are just such wonderful characters, and the others too. And Sam has made the list of Amazing Fictional Guys (I promised more on that a while back, and you'll get it. You will. Promise). It's just such a fantastic story. I know I haven't described it nearly compellingly enough, but you should definitely read it. I love love love love love this book.

The sequel, LINGER, is due out in July, like I said; the third book is currently titled FOREVER. You can find out more at Maggie's website and blog. (The link to her blog is also in the sidebar to your right; I follow it. It's quite interesting even if you haven't read her books.)

I'm gonna shut up now, because this post is getting lengthy and I have Spanish homework to do. The moral of this story: Read SHIVER if you get the chance. I loved it, and I hope you will too.

Love,
Bex

Oh Canada

Not much of interest happened today, aside from deliberating over what classes I should take next year (AP Lit, AP Gov/Econ, AP Spanish, AP Calc, Honors Physics, AP Music Theory, and Newspaper, in case you were wondering, which you probably weren't). But one interesting thing that did happen today was the closing ceremony of the Olympics.

I haven't talked about the Olympics a whole lot, even though they've been going for the last two weeks. But the fact that I haven't talked about them doesn't mean that I haven't watched them. Granted, I haven't watched much - mostly the ice skating. Pairs, men's singles, ice dancing, and women's singles. Also some of the skiing - mostly the jumps. But still.

I saw Evan Lysacek win the gold medal in the men's singles figure skating competition:

And I saw Kim Yu-Na win the gold medal in women's singles figure skating:

She was fantastic. She definitely deserved to win. Seriously, some of the best and most engaging figure skating I've ever seen. She was fantastic. (Okay, so I'm a dork. I love watching figure skating. So sue me. It's awesome.) But I also thought Rachael Flatt, seventeen-year-old American high school senior, and Mirai Nagasu, sixteen-year-old American, deserved medals for their fabulous skating.

And then of course there was the ice dancing. Oh my goodness gracious. Ice dancing was probably my least favorite of the figure skating events...up until this year. The competition was fantastic. Congratulations to Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who really skated wonderfully:

Tessa and Scott were amazing, they really were. But, I felt like the Americans - Charlie White and Meryl Davis - really deserved to win. They were absolutely fantastic. And I kind of loved watching them. They were what changed my mind about ice dancing being boring. Could have watched them for hours:

  

So congrats on your silver medal, guys. I felt like you deserved the gold. You were fantastic. You are also not reading this, but all the same. Seriously, guys, if you get a chance to watch a video of their performance, watch it. Especially their free skate to Phantom of the Opera music. It was really, really, REALLY awesome.

And now, I must go. School in the morning and all that jazz. Catch ya later!

Love,

Bex

Spencer and Scarlett

So. I encountered a boy, about a week ago I think, and since then I've gotten to know him pretty well. He's really fantastic. I like him a lot.

His name is Spencer Martin. He's older than me - he's 19. He's got an amazing sense of humor and rarely fails to make me laugh out loud. He can cook, and he's an actor - physical comedy. Basically he does all sorts of awesome stunts that are really funny and take a lot of talent, and he's not afraid to speak his mind in front of people or be onstage. This is a very admirable quality. Also, Spencer is sweet, and he's nice to his siblings (definitely a good thing) and he's very protective of his younger sisters (he has 3) and he's polite and respectful but not afraid to try things and he definitely has a sense of adventure. Summary: he's amazing.

Unfortunately, he's also completely fictional. He's from Maureen Johnson's made-of-absolute-awesome novel SUITE SCARLETT. The crazy part? Spencer isn't even the love interest. He's Scarlett's older brother.

SUITE SCARLETT is about a girl named Scarlett Martin. Her family owns a hotel in New York City, but business has been bad and the family is running low on money ever since her younger sister Marlene's cancer treatment. Her older brother Spencer (who you've heard quite a bit about already >_>) is an actor who has a scholarship to a culinary school but would much rather act because that's what he's really great at and it's his passion. Meanwhile, Scarlett's older sister Lola is working hard to help the family and dating a rich guy that none of the siblings except Marlene really likes.

On each Martin's fifteenth birthday, she (or he, in Spencer's case) becomes responsible for one of the hotel's suites. Scarlett gets the fabulous Empire Suite - and also gets a long-term guest, the eccentric and baffling Mrs. Amberson. Around the same time, Spencer gets a part in a play. He also gets a cast-mate, Eric, who Scarlett may or may not be very interested in... so, naturally, Scarlett is about to have one of the craziest summers she can imagine.

I absolutely adored this book. I really did. SUITE SCARLETT made me laugh out loud. No, seriously - KD, ES, CJ, and AF were giving me strange looks as I sat in one of the cushy chairs in the library, giggling manically over this book. But despite the hilarity, it also had its "aww!!!" moments. And the characters are so real and believable and amazing and you cannot help but love them. It was a really really really fantastic novel and I absolutely recommend it. Also, I'ma brag for a minute and mention that I met the author very briefly in November. She's very nice, and she wrote one of the pep talks for NaNoWriMo (which I'm entirely sure you'll hear more about later). Anyway, you can (and should!) find out more about SUITE SCARLETT, Maureen Johnson, and her other books at her website and her blog. Oh, and because it would just be wrong of me to blog without posting the book cover.... here tis:

Cute, yes? At least, I think so.

Now, I realize this post is getting a bit lengthy, but I just have a couple more things I want to say. First, the speakers on my computer randomly started working again. So I still have no CD drive, but I have sound. This is a definite plus. Maybe technology isn't quite as evil as I thought. Second, I apologize for not posting last night, but I was too busy having a fantastic time with CJ, KD, AF, ES, ZH, NG, and Ducky. I love y'all! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Third (and last), technology may not be as evil as I thought it was, but the internet is still an insane place. I had to turn off comments on my old blog because I kept getting these spam comments from random companies - "Hello, I bet you would like to find out how to get X Magic Product!" Everything from insurance salespeople to the company that sells Viagra. I mean really. So, no more comments on that one. (Don't worry, comments are still welcome here. Unless you're trying to sell me something I do not want or need.)

And now, I'm going to stop this post, because it is getting quite long and I suspect I'll be rambling soon. Next thing you know I'll be writing a whole long string of paragraphs about prom dresses and Disney songs and how I should probably be doing homework. I'll write more later (i.e. tomorrow), when I'm less likely to be incapable of shutting up. As Tigger says, TTFN: Ta Ta for Now!

Love,
Bex