Look, I'm on time and everything! Well then, onto the post.
To answer Alexandra's question, I've never been to any cons, but not for lack of desire. It kills me that I wasn't at LeakyCon a couple weeks ago! Reading everyone's tweets and watching videos from people who were there was exciting, but also just torturous. It looked so amazing and I wish I could have gone! I'd also love to make it to Comic Con someday, but that will have to wait until I'm able to get out to California.
The past week was spent at my family cottage in Connecticut with my friends. Our cottage is on a camp ground with many other cottages and generations upon generations of families have been coming here for camp meeting in August for over 125 years now. To give some idea of how much of a tradition it is, I am the fifth or sixth generation of my family to be coming here. There are many other families at camp who have been coming just as long, so each generation of the same families have grown up and played together each summer. My friends had heard many stories about camp over the years, but had never seen it. But that's finally changed now! We all drove over together last Saturday and spent the last week here (with a one-day trip to New York to see Dan Radcliffe in How to Succeed!). It was really fun and I wish they hadn't had to leave so soon! They left early this morning, so today it was back to the usual camp routine: sitting around, reading, helping around the cottage and camp grounds, and sitting around some more. I have some friends at camp, but they're not here yet and I'm not sure when they're arriving, so it's a waiting game at the moment. My friend introduced me to an ipod/iphone game called Fruit Ninja, so that occupied quite a bit of my time today (more than I'd like to admit). Currently, I'm trying out Words With Friends, which is fun so far though I'm on the "not so good" side of the ability spectrum at the moment. Ah well, better read some more to learn some new words!
That's really what I've been up to lately, sorry to not have anything more exciting to report! I do really enjoy camp despite the seeming boringness. It's nice to just relax and get a break from technology as well. If I hadn't had to write this blog I wouldn't have even turned on my laptop today, and I generally leave my cellphone in the cottage when I'm out around the grounds. It may drive people trying to call me nuts, but it's nice to not be tethered to it for at least one week.
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Friday, July 29, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
A Trip and A Challenge
Hi all!
I'm back from the roadtrip and it was great! I got to see so many cities and states that I've never been to and just see more of America in general. The trip was well timed with the Fourth of July, so I'm just going to pretend that we did that on purpose. Totally planned. We drove down to Corpus Christi, TX and back and stopped in lots of places along the way: Indianapolis, Memphis, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, Nashville... it was great. I came back with a stronger appreciation of the diversity of America, to be sure. I'll admit it, I did love to poke fun at Texas before. Now that I've actually been there, I can see why its residents love it so much. It really is a very nice state! I don't agree with the politics at all, but the state is nice and I'd like to go back. Dallas was one of the most enjoyable cities that we stopped in and I'd especially like to go back and spend more time there.
We spent four full days in Corpus Christi. It's a city right on the Gulf of Mexico, so very hot! I am a very fair-skinned northerner, so I came back from the trip with much more color and painful sunburn on my back. The pain has subsided, but the peeling has just begun... SPF 55 with several reapplications was clearly not enough. I bought some SPF 100 today at the store. Kyle and I enjoyed a nice day at the beach on the Gulf of Mexico and it was only my second time in waves. My first time at the beach was in Rhode Island when I was younger and I had a very negative experience with waves, constantly being pulled under and almost losing my glasses that I'd forgotten to take off (we somehow found them in a turn of luck). This time was the complete opposite, I came away loving the waves and having fully enjoyed playing in them for hours on end. I would have liked to go back for another day, but time did not permit it and I don't think it would have been wise given the bright red shade of my back after that day anyway.
We also spent a full day in New Orleans on our way back to Michigan. New Orleans was one of the things I was greatly looking forward to on my trip, and the city did not disappoint. We stayed in the French Quarter and it was beautiful. The whole city of New Orleans really does have a completely unique appearance and feel. Kyle and I went to a museum while we were there and learned all about Katrina. I hadn't realized how much I didn't know about it and I feel very educated about the disaster now. The whole thing is very frustrating, given how much we now know in hindsight could have been done to help in advance. I, unfortunately, suffer from migraines. After having been completely clean on the trip, I got three migraines in a day in Louisiana, so had to go back to the hotel room around 7 pm and spend the rest of the time in bed. I was really disappointed because I wanted to see more of New Orleans and go out to get jambalaya for dinner, but at least we had seen most of what we had planned and had enjoyed our time there. I really want to go back! I'd like to talk more about the trip and post pictures, but I can't post any right now, so I'll talk a little more about it next week. :)
And as for the challenge! I had a little difficulty deciding what to propose as my challenge. The idea I ended up going with is one I've been mulling over for awhile now. Each of us will find a charity/cause we are interested in and passionate about and help that organization in some way. That could be by donating money, time, or in another way you can think of. I wanted to leave the way in which you help open because I know not everyone has spare money to donate and giving time is very valuable as well. Now, this can't just be the first charity you find. This needs to be well thought out. Spend at least a week researching different charities (the research doesn't actually have to last a week, but give yourself a week to do your research and then sleep on it before committing). The charity can be either local or worldwide, animals or people, there are no guidelines as to what kind of charity you can pick. This should be a meaningful experience for you, so please pick something important to you! In addition to the charity work, on the week we post about what we did we'll all write up a paragraph explaining the charity we chose, why we chose it, what it does, and why it's important. Hopefully we'll all find new charities/causes to support for years to come. I already have an idea of what area I want to go with this and I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with. Enjoy. :)
I'm back from the roadtrip and it was great! I got to see so many cities and states that I've never been to and just see more of America in general. The trip was well timed with the Fourth of July, so I'm just going to pretend that we did that on purpose. Totally planned. We drove down to Corpus Christi, TX and back and stopped in lots of places along the way: Indianapolis, Memphis, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, Nashville... it was great. I came back with a stronger appreciation of the diversity of America, to be sure. I'll admit it, I did love to poke fun at Texas before. Now that I've actually been there, I can see why its residents love it so much. It really is a very nice state! I don't agree with the politics at all, but the state is nice and I'd like to go back. Dallas was one of the most enjoyable cities that we stopped in and I'd especially like to go back and spend more time there.
We spent four full days in Corpus Christi. It's a city right on the Gulf of Mexico, so very hot! I am a very fair-skinned northerner, so I came back from the trip with much more color and painful sunburn on my back. The pain has subsided, but the peeling has just begun... SPF 55 with several reapplications was clearly not enough. I bought some SPF 100 today at the store. Kyle and I enjoyed a nice day at the beach on the Gulf of Mexico and it was only my second time in waves. My first time at the beach was in Rhode Island when I was younger and I had a very negative experience with waves, constantly being pulled under and almost losing my glasses that I'd forgotten to take off (we somehow found them in a turn of luck). This time was the complete opposite, I came away loving the waves and having fully enjoyed playing in them for hours on end. I would have liked to go back for another day, but time did not permit it and I don't think it would have been wise given the bright red shade of my back after that day anyway.
We also spent a full day in New Orleans on our way back to Michigan. New Orleans was one of the things I was greatly looking forward to on my trip, and the city did not disappoint. We stayed in the French Quarter and it was beautiful. The whole city of New Orleans really does have a completely unique appearance and feel. Kyle and I went to a museum while we were there and learned all about Katrina. I hadn't realized how much I didn't know about it and I feel very educated about the disaster now. The whole thing is very frustrating, given how much we now know in hindsight could have been done to help in advance. I, unfortunately, suffer from migraines. After having been completely clean on the trip, I got three migraines in a day in Louisiana, so had to go back to the hotel room around 7 pm and spend the rest of the time in bed. I was really disappointed because I wanted to see more of New Orleans and go out to get jambalaya for dinner, but at least we had seen most of what we had planned and had enjoyed our time there. I really want to go back! I'd like to talk more about the trip and post pictures, but I can't post any right now, so I'll talk a little more about it next week. :)
And as for the challenge! I had a little difficulty deciding what to propose as my challenge. The idea I ended up going with is one I've been mulling over for awhile now. Each of us will find a charity/cause we are interested in and passionate about and help that organization in some way. That could be by donating money, time, or in another way you can think of. I wanted to leave the way in which you help open because I know not everyone has spare money to donate and giving time is very valuable as well. Now, this can't just be the first charity you find. This needs to be well thought out. Spend at least a week researching different charities (the research doesn't actually have to last a week, but give yourself a week to do your research and then sleep on it before committing). The charity can be either local or worldwide, animals or people, there are no guidelines as to what kind of charity you can pick. This should be a meaningful experience for you, so please pick something important to you! In addition to the charity work, on the week we post about what we did we'll all write up a paragraph explaining the charity we chose, why we chose it, what it does, and why it's important. Hopefully we'll all find new charities/causes to support for years to come. I already have an idea of what area I want to go with this and I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with. Enjoy. :)
Friday, June 17, 2011
Friday's hitting the road on Monday
Good Friday everyone! First off, orders of business- I'm glad to hear that everything's okay Casey! I hope your exams are going well and good luck with the rest of your work. :)
How do I feel about kids? I really like them! The Psychology lab I work in studies early language learning in young children, so if I didn't like them I'd be a bit miserable at my job. We usually have at least one infant come in every day, so we get to see lots of cute little kids at my job. I had some regular babysitting jobs back in high school and, if I may say so, the kids I babysat were pretty fond of me as I was of them. One girl I used to babysit was in first grade when I started and now she's in eighth... I still can't wrap my head around that. And the boy who I used to help get ready for bed and read to is now in high school.... what? For the past 9 years or so I've also helped out at vacation bible school in the summer, so lots of working with kids for me. So yes, I like kids! That doesn't mean I want my own anytime soon though. I don't want my own for ten years or so, thank you very much. That is just too much responsibility. I'll happily play with others' kids, but also happily hand them back over to their parents at the end of the day. All in due time.
As for my favorite culture aside from my own, I feel like this is a bit of a cop out as I'm moving there in 3 (wow... only three now?) months, but I have to say French culture. I really enjoyed living there for 1.5 months back when I did study abroad two summers ago and I'm excited to live there in a more longterm situation. One of the best, but also most annoying parts of French culture is, I think, that practically everything is closed on Sundays. Businesses (not all, if I remember correctly, but most) are actually fined if they are open on Sunday. Large businesses like big chain supermarkets can afford to be open on Sundays because their profits outweigh the fines, but smaller businesses can't and are therefore closed. This is annoying when you need to buy something or want to go out to eat, but very nice because it also gives you forced time off. The French are big fans of having time to relax, simply being at home and just sitting, doing nothing, relaxing. Another thing I love about French culture is the acceptance of, like I mentioned, being able to enjoy doing nothing. Parks are a big part of culture in France. A difference between parks here and in France, though, is that French parks are full of people sitting on benches and doing nothing except enjoying their surroundings. They don't feel the need to always be doing something, be it reading a book, talking on the phone, listening to music. Sometimes it's nice to just sit and watch.
And now onto this week's topic! This topic actually comes during a very opportune week- I'm leaving on a roadtrip down to Texas with my friend Kyle on Monday and I'm very excited. So what am I looking forward to this summer? In a word, travel. From June 20-30 I'll be on this upcoming roadtrip and July 23- August 9 I'll be out in Connecticut spending time at my favorite place in the world, camp (with a day spent in New York seeing How to Succeed and the Discovery store Harry Potter exhibit!). On the upcoming roadtrip, Kyle and I will be stopping in Indianapolis, Memphis, Little Rock, Dallas, Austin on the way down to Corpus Christi, Texas to visit our friend Alex who now goes to grad school there. And on the way back up we're spending a day in New Orleans (so excited to finally visit) and then stopping in Nashville. We're also going to stop and visit any interesting places we see on the way or any city names we see on exit signs that catch our eye. This will be my first real roadtrip, so I can't wait. We're calling it "Time and Relative Dimension in America." We are huge Doctor Who geeks, so we are of course going to be turning his car into our own personal TARDIS for the trip (putting the "pull to open" sign in one of the windows, putting the police box sign in the back window, etc.). I've also asked some friends to make roadtrip playlists for me, which they have done, so I'm looking forward to discovering some new music during our six 9-hours-of-driving days (3 there and 3 back).
Naturally I am also COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY EXCITED for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2!!!! Nothing can express how much excitement I am feeling about this, excitement and many other emotions. I was going to watch the final trailer last night, but I just couldn't bring myself to. I kept thinking that this was the last time I would ever be seeing an HP trailer for the first time and I couldn't do it. It's the last time too, and I want to be as surprised as possible when I see the movie. With the past movies I've often already known most of the scenes due to the trailers and prereleased clips. I'm trying something new with this one and going in mostly naive to the movie (well, except for basically the whole plot of the book, but you know).
This is pushing it when talking about what I'm looking forward to this summer, but I'm also, of course, looking forward to moving to France in September! I'm planning on leaving around September 20, so that's technically still summer (technically!). It's scary and exciting and just crazy and I still can't really believe I'm doing it. I think it won't feel completely real until I receive my school assignment and know what town I will actually be in (I know I'll be in the Lille area, but the actual town is still a mystery). Once I receive that information I can start looking into housing and I'll have to start the charming process of obtaining my visa.
Basically, what this summer boils down to is: Travel and HARRY POTTER!
How do I feel about kids? I really like them! The Psychology lab I work in studies early language learning in young children, so if I didn't like them I'd be a bit miserable at my job. We usually have at least one infant come in every day, so we get to see lots of cute little kids at my job. I had some regular babysitting jobs back in high school and, if I may say so, the kids I babysat were pretty fond of me as I was of them. One girl I used to babysit was in first grade when I started and now she's in eighth... I still can't wrap my head around that. And the boy who I used to help get ready for bed and read to is now in high school.... what? For the past 9 years or so I've also helped out at vacation bible school in the summer, so lots of working with kids for me. So yes, I like kids! That doesn't mean I want my own anytime soon though. I don't want my own for ten years or so, thank you very much. That is just too much responsibility. I'll happily play with others' kids, but also happily hand them back over to their parents at the end of the day. All in due time.
As for my favorite culture aside from my own, I feel like this is a bit of a cop out as I'm moving there in 3 (wow... only three now?) months, but I have to say French culture. I really enjoyed living there for 1.5 months back when I did study abroad two summers ago and I'm excited to live there in a more longterm situation. One of the best, but also most annoying parts of French culture is, I think, that practically everything is closed on Sundays. Businesses (not all, if I remember correctly, but most) are actually fined if they are open on Sunday. Large businesses like big chain supermarkets can afford to be open on Sundays because their profits outweigh the fines, but smaller businesses can't and are therefore closed. This is annoying when you need to buy something or want to go out to eat, but very nice because it also gives you forced time off. The French are big fans of having time to relax, simply being at home and just sitting, doing nothing, relaxing. Another thing I love about French culture is the acceptance of, like I mentioned, being able to enjoy doing nothing. Parks are a big part of culture in France. A difference between parks here and in France, though, is that French parks are full of people sitting on benches and doing nothing except enjoying their surroundings. They don't feel the need to always be doing something, be it reading a book, talking on the phone, listening to music. Sometimes it's nice to just sit and watch.
And now onto this week's topic! This topic actually comes during a very opportune week- I'm leaving on a roadtrip down to Texas with my friend Kyle on Monday and I'm very excited. So what am I looking forward to this summer? In a word, travel. From June 20-30 I'll be on this upcoming roadtrip and July 23- August 9 I'll be out in Connecticut spending time at my favorite place in the world, camp (with a day spent in New York seeing How to Succeed and the Discovery store Harry Potter exhibit!). On the upcoming roadtrip, Kyle and I will be stopping in Indianapolis, Memphis, Little Rock, Dallas, Austin on the way down to Corpus Christi, Texas to visit our friend Alex who now goes to grad school there. And on the way back up we're spending a day in New Orleans (so excited to finally visit) and then stopping in Nashville. We're also going to stop and visit any interesting places we see on the way or any city names we see on exit signs that catch our eye. This will be my first real roadtrip, so I can't wait. We're calling it "Time and Relative Dimension in America." We are huge Doctor Who geeks, so we are of course going to be turning his car into our own personal TARDIS for the trip (putting the "pull to open" sign in one of the windows, putting the police box sign in the back window, etc.). I've also asked some friends to make roadtrip playlists for me, which they have done, so I'm looking forward to discovering some new music during our six 9-hours-of-driving days (3 there and 3 back).
Naturally I am also COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY EXCITED for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2!!!! Nothing can express how much excitement I am feeling about this, excitement and many other emotions. I was going to watch the final trailer last night, but I just couldn't bring myself to. I kept thinking that this was the last time I would ever be seeing an HP trailer for the first time and I couldn't do it. It's the last time too, and I want to be as surprised as possible when I see the movie. With the past movies I've often already known most of the scenes due to the trailers and prereleased clips. I'm trying something new with this one and going in mostly naive to the movie (well, except for basically the whole plot of the book, but you know).
This is pushing it when talking about what I'm looking forward to this summer, but I'm also, of course, looking forward to moving to France in September! I'm planning on leaving around September 20, so that's technically still summer (technically!). It's scary and exciting and just crazy and I still can't really believe I'm doing it. I think it won't feel completely real until I receive my school assignment and know what town I will actually be in (I know I'll be in the Lille area, but the actual town is still a mystery). Once I receive that information I can start looking into housing and I'll have to start the charming process of obtaining my visa.
Basically, what this summer boils down to is: Travel and HARRY POTTER!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
A Thursday Can Change Your Life...but this one probably won't
First off, let me apologize for how late this post is, and how bad it will be because I'm typing by the seat of my pants. I suppose the thing about me that would surprise most people is the fact that I have a tattoo. Growing up I was always a little bit nerdy; hanging out by myself with a book in hand. However, I am a closeted bad ass. Granted, my tattoo isn't really that cool (think Deathly Hallows symbol with lines added to make a peace sign, with 42 inserted inside, with stars at the points of the triangle, both sides flanked by penguin profiles, and at the bottom, the word "Serenity" which is a state of being as well as a bad ass sci-fi movie), but most people seem so surprised when I mention it. I think all of the people who I went to high school with would probably be surprised to find out that I joined the National Guard (for all you haters out there, don't be dissing on us weekend warriors 'cause we're the ones who help out when floods and tornadoes rip your worlds apart) because I vehemently swore to never join the military up until the day I called a recruiter (March 17, 2009 for the curious; the same day I realized that my scholarships and potential loans wouldn't cover even one semester at the private college of my choosing, which, even after receiving military benefits, remained out of reach for my meager earnings). I tend to do the things that people least expect me to do, mostly because one of my biggest fears is being boring. This fear led me to start watching more movies (so that I could talk pop culture), dip into the Star Wars and Star Trek cults (which I love), and become a Nerdfighter. In a weird way, I'm doing my best to be popular, except I'm doing it by becoming that person you like hanging out with but are also slightly weirded out by (I'm even weirded out by me sometimes). I like books that others either don't like or just don't pay any attention to, such as this great book I randomly bought from Borders called Publish This Book by Stephen Markley (a book about publishing the very book you are reading; every bit as hilarious as you would think this concept to be, and at times, weirdly touching, hitting very close to home to anybody who ever wanted to be somebody in the writing world. And done with my book plug). I still like the Jonas Brothers, and the horrible atrociousness that is the song Friday (although, this might be due to Hank Green's video "Ice Cream Changes"). Who knows, sooner or later hating Justin Beiber will be so popular that I'll start liking him purely for a change of pace. I am a very contradictory person. I can be really happy but also deeply sad as well. I can be this really weird nerd, but somehow very few people find it in themselves to hate me completely. Including myself. Now, I shall answer my own question. I am very passionate about the right of humans to act like humans. This means that we shouldn't deny others the right to marry, the right to be buried without a protest, the right to choose what they believe to be best for them, or the right to be themselves without judgement. In summary, I'm pro-gay marriage, pro-choice, and anti-bigots who protest the funerals of soldiers because they don't believe someone who has done a service for their country deserves rest. We need to hurry up and do soapbox week because I'm finding it harder each week to not burst into furious rant. Last week I answered the patronus question, my answer being: Raven. Now, I'll take the oppurtunity to explain my reasoning. Firstly, that's the answer I got from quizilla. Secondly, I agreed with the answer's reasoning (I'm not sure exactly what it said, since it was so long ago, but this is my best summary of it). Basically, ravens are well known in lore for being clever, fairly solitary creatures. I like to imagine myself as clever (I'm very good with witty bantor and "That's what she/he said" jokes), and I tend to hang out with myself alot (so much that most of my day to day speaking falls upon my own ears and even I think I sound lonely). Sorry if this post seems short, but I'm sorta just winging it here so I don't have to write a limerick on how much I love Justin Beiber or something like that (good punishment idea right there!). And again, sorry it's coming so late. I know how all of you wait with bated breath for every word of intelligence and inside that rolls off of my keyboard and into your hearts. Did I mention I'm sarcastic? NEXT!!!!
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