Twilight Fan For Life

DISCLAIMER: This isn't pointed at anyone specifically although recent comments are bringing me to say this. I love you all and I just can't sit idly by anymore while I feel so bashed/while something I love is being bashed.

Yes I'm talking about Twilight. And Nerdfighteria. And Harry Potter Fans. And the whole We Are A Tribe thing (click the link if you don't know what I'm talking about).

I always thought the greatest things about Nerdfighters were the high levels of acceptance and tolerance. I thought we were a level 4 tribe, which is basically correct if I look at the group as a whole. When I look closer, at the individuals or at the smaller groups (like Harry Potter lovers) within the whole, I see that there is a lot of level 3 mentality going on. And it makes me really sad. No fandom or series is better than another. They are all differently fantastic, which would make the whole world a lot better if we all banned together and supported each other.

This is particually evident when I see what people say about Twilight and the fans. I typed "twilight is" into Google and the first suggestion was "twilight is horrible". "Twilight fans are" insane, retarded. What the heck world. What the HECK.

I'm not going to defend the quality of writing in the series (it is pretty bad) because if you take that away or if more capable hands penned the books, but the characters and the story were the same, I'm pretty sure that a lot of the current twilight haters would feel very differently.

It is a good story. When you read it with an open mind, you care about the characters and you want to know what is going to happen in the end.

"Now and again a fantasy world comes along that is so engrossing and exciting and intoxicating that you don't even stop to think like 'you know isn't it a little bit you know criminal for a 107 year olds to have relationships with 16 year old girls?'... You just want to keep turning the pages because while you're reading the book nothing matters more to you than the question of whether or not they will finally *awkward pause* do it.... It's fun, it distracts me from the pain and brokenness of the world, and it argues that true love will triumph in the end, which may or may not be true and if it's a lie, it's the most beautiful lie we have." -John Green.

All that, right there, is why I love Twilight. It doesn't matter to me that Edward is an old creeper, or that their love is totally irrational, or that the whole situation is ridiculous, or that Stephenie has bad grammar, or that the story couldn't be more cliche.

Ok, so all that said, it bugs the CRAP out of me when people, especially people I know, say bad things about the books and the fans. ESPECIALLY if they never even gave it an honest chance to begin with and claim that the fans are stupid. I understand that everyone has a right to express themselves but at least come up with original thought and have the decency to present an unbiased opinion.

HELP!

So I was asked to write a piece for the local newspaper on behalf of my church about an act of faith. I need feed back! so far I'm at 217/250 words so I have a some more space in case something is missing. Please let me know what you think! I have until friday!

There are three things that define me: my positive outlook, my mom’s death, and my faith in God.
I believed in Him when I was a kid but I never needed to use my faith. After she died, I still believed and I knew that He had a greater plan. Though I never asked “Why me?” I didn’t know how I could live without her.
Prayer hadn’t crossed my mind until someone made the suggestion but since I knew that God always answered prayers I figured I should try.
Lying in bed with my arms folded over my chest and my eyes shut tightly, I prayed in a whisper. I asked God if he would help me feel better about my mom’s death.
Without moving, I strained to feel something that would let me know he heard me and would help. A burning in my bosom, a feeling of relief, or an angel straight from heaven, I was ready for anything. No answer came.
Then just as I was about to give up and sleep, I heard the faintest whisper of a clear, gentle voice that erased all the fear and tension from my mind and body.
“Yes.”
Though that was all it said, I knew it meant that I’d always have the Lord to help me.


I don't want to end with a big explanation or like "this is how this has changed my life" thing. I want the reader to just KNOW that this moment is how I've been able to go on. I think that for this idea to work though I need to add in more toward the beginning but I don't really know what to say and I don't really like the opening line all that much. So... HELP!!!!

NOV

Oh HI blog!

So remember April? yeah, I'm doing that again starting tomorrow but instead of blogging, I'm going to vlog. I'm calling it NOV. November of Videos.

I've already roughly planned out what I'm going to do so no worries about me missing a day. you can watch on my youtube channel.

Why, you might ask, am I doing this? Well, there are several reasons. This is a good short term goal. And really there is no pressure if I don't do extremely well. I have not been very good at making videos for My Journey to Publishedhood, so this is a way to correct that. November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, and since I need to finish my novel I shouldn't work on a brand new one. However I wanted to do something similar without actually doing it.

Along with making videos every day, I'm going to be busy typing my fingers off so I can get that much closer to finishing my novel.

NaNoWriMers, best wishes! Any one trying any crazy do something every day November, good luck. Everyone else, just sit back and laugh.

love,
Geri!

Changes

How have I changed since graduating high school?

I mean there are the obvious things, like I'm not a musician anymore, and moved away from home. But there are so many other things that I've done/become.

Ok, so why am I talking about this? These days, when ever something/someone bugs me, I have to go to the internet to tell everyone about it. Either on Twitter or Facebook, sometimes Youtube and most rarely here. The internet is a big part of my most recent changes, so I think I'll get to that later.

My life has lost structure. It is something I know I need, but I constantly fight against it. I don't like routine and I don't like the pressure I get from being expected to run on other people's timelines. I procrastinate and I end up either disappointing them or getting it done but not doing my best.

TANGENT: I know that I'm probably clinically depressed. I don't feel rested no matter how long I sleep. I lack motivation. I have insomnia. I can be emotional. I don't want to leave the house. I don't make connections with very many things/people. I'm anti-social. Despite all this, I don't want to see a doctor because I don't want to be put on medication. I know some people need the medication but I see it as an easy out. It makes you feel better without actually dealing with the reasons one is depressed in the first place. Honestly, I've probably been depressed for the past decade. Ever since my mom died. But most of the time I felt it less because I was kept busy with school and music and church. But now, I don't really have any of those things in my life. (I guess this wasn't really a tangent after all.)

Fall 2008: I think the depression took a turn for the worse. Sleep was more appealing than going to class, even if the class was important. I started have even more trouble going to sleep at night. I lost all motivation to do well. I didn't care anymore.

In high school, I didn't have to really work very hard to be a good student. I'm smart and I pay attention and my teachers took good care of me. In college, I expected that the same study habits would continue to work for me. Let's just say that they didn't. And eventually, I could no longer take courses at my school because my GPA was too low. So I enrolled in on line courses, ones that I could finish at my own rate but had to be completed in a year, with the intention of reapplying to my school for 2010. However, since the courses lacked structure and I lacked motivation, I still haven't even started most of them and I only have 2 months until they expire.

I still can't find the motivation to do the work. I know I should. I know I want to go back to school.

I think I'm just going to with draw from these online courses and start over with a more structured program or possibly attend a local community college. I can't do school on my own, I just don't have that kind of will power.

School, I feel like has been the biggest challenge. But other than that, being away from home and, again, the structure there, I have had a hard time keeping my faith alive. I've never stopped believing, but I have stopped practicing the way I know I should be practicing. It's something else I need to work on.

What are some good changes that have happened in my life?

Well, interwebz, I've met you! And here, I feel like I might have a home. There is always something to do and I can get everything I need here. I've meet excellent, lovely people online and I would never trade them in for anything.

I don't think everyone understands that. More than anything, I feel like part of a community and that hanging out on Skype is really more of a social life than I would have ever hoped for in the real world. These people don't care what I look like or how I dress or how awkward I am, because they love me and they worry about all these things just as much, if not more than I do sometimes. They are always here, emotionally, to make me feel better, which is something that can't be said about a lot of people I know outside my computer.

I came into a bit of money when I graduated high school, so now I basically have everything I want and I didn't have to work for it. This is how I was able to afford an out of state university and moving to Hawaii and a trip to New York City. I know that if I don't make some changes, that this money will run out soon.

My biggest thing about finding a job is that I can't be bothered to leave my apartment. No that's not it. I don't really know HOW to look for a job but I'm too effing proud to ask for help, or I feel like I should be old enough to do this without someone holding my hand the whole time. But that's what I want, really. I want someone to guide me through this and I don't know how to ask the people around me for this help. I try to be subtle by just saying "I don't know how to get started" but that gets me no where.

This is really a rant. Nothing more. I mean, it's all true and I have major issues, but this isn't about how my life has changed at all. Well, at least not anymore.

I know what I need to work on. I think about it all every day. I don't know how to go from thinking to doing. So it doesn't help when those I love and that have the best intentions in mind tell me that I need to be getting my act together. It's not that simple.

<3
Geri

blogfail

I'm so sorry that I don't blog that often. and this post isn't really going to be that great. I'm sorry in advance.

Some things that have been taking up a majority of my time over the last few months:
1. moving to Hawaii
2. avoiding the job search
3. reading good books
4. youtube
5. skype

This will make me sound like an ungrateful little prat, but... Hawaii, big whoop. Let's move on. (I'd be willing to tell you all about it if I weren't so excited about other things on this list. Sorry. Feel free to ask questions about it and remind me frequently to tell you about living here.)

"avoiding the job search" sounds just as stupid as it is. It also exposes my laziness. shh... don't tell anyone.

READING!!!! I love reading. And I've done a lot of it since moving. I've read John Green's An Abundance of Katherines and Paper Towns, Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, Marcus Zusak's The Book Thief, and Scott Westerfeld's Ugliest, Pretties, and Specials. There are also the books that I've started to read but haven't finished yet: Harry, a History by Melissa Anelli, Extras by Scott Westerfeld, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which I'm reading as part of this awesome project to introduce a friend to the series.

And then there are the books that I've bought because I really want to read them. There are five books sitting there staring at me, practically screaming at me to finish the books I'm reading so I can read them. Bad Geri.

Oh Youtube, how I love you so. I spend so much time with you that I feel like we're married. We have our ups and downs but I still love you and I know you're cheating on me with millions of other people but I just keep coming back to you. It's a difficult relationship, to say the least.

A few months ago, just after moving here, I blogged a little about starting to use my youtube channel to chronicle my Journey to Publishedhood. I'm still working on that but the videos have definately slowed down. I'm sorry if you are subscribed. I will make a video this week, I promise.

Also, I started a new channel with one of my former roommates, Lindsay. Basically we are just making video letters back and forth to each other and playing a game we kind of invented called Pottergrams. The channel is a medium to let our nerdiness shine, really. I love it.

Besides making videos, I've been watching a lot of them. Mostly Vlogbrothers, videos from my favorite bands, and, a new FIND, StarKidPotter, creators of A Very Potter Musical. Yes, that's right, a Harry Potter musical. They can't call it that for copyright reasons but that's what it is. I love it and I've watched it about 7 times so far. They also have show up called Little White Lie and it is fantastic. I just finished watching it again.

Actually a lot of the videos I've been watching are Potter related. I'm starting to get into Wrock (Wizard Rock, Harry Potter music) and I'm using Youtube as a way to listen to songs and geek out.

If you don't already know, Skype is this fantastic tool that lets people communicate over the internet. It is basically a IM service but it also allows users to conference call and video chat. Lindsay, (see above), introduced me to a group of her Skype friends about a month ago and so far I've made some very good friends. We have tons of inside jokes and we can talk about anything together. I love it.

People I talk to about it in real life sometimes think its weird that I hang out on the computer with a bunch of people I don't even know but I truly feel like I know them. It's been a long time since I've felt like I was apart of a large group that understood me and really cared about me. I had a great group of friends in high school, but most of them graduated a year before I did. Even though I had a great time during my senior year, I could only count on a small number of people to really be there for me. I finally feel like I have that kind of large community friendship again with these people on Skype. I love them.

So, since joining this chat group, I've decided that I'm going to Leaky Con 2011, where we are all going to meet and geek out about HP and sleep in the same beds and stalk our favorite HP fandom celebrates together. Also, we are annotating the whole series for a friend (which is why I'm reading POA). We watch youtube videos together and have deep meaningful conversations about everything from pornbots to love (jk about the pornbots, but we do like to make fake user names for each other, using our porn names. I don't actually have a pornbot account anywhere but let's use me as an example: gerilee, my twitter name, would become gerisex or sexilee if I were a pornbot. It's really fun to go through youtube accounts and make up pornbot names for famous youtubers). We really do talk about everything though and it is great.

So that's basically what I've been doing. Haha, since writing all that, I think I know why I don't really have anything to say about living in Hawaii. I spend too much time on the internet to actually do anything outside. lol. Really though, I do stuff here in Hawaii, but I FIND (musical reference) my internet life to be way more exciting.

Ok, I promise to blog more often. Thank you Jackie for reminding me that I have to do this. Till next time!

Lovies!

The rest of my BEDA... in June. :)

So this is going to be a SUPER long post in which I share with you my last days of BEDA.

April 27- Random Facts that EVERYONE Should Know

So I just went to wikipedia, clicked the random article button and told you something interesting I learned.

Suraj Parkash is a book writen in 1843 A.D by Bhai Santokh Singh, and it also goes by Gur Partap Suraj.

Martin Erat is a Czech hockey player who is known for his wrist shot and his speed.

Santa Comba CF (Club de Fútbol) is a soccer team in Galicia, Spain.

Power-on reset is something with a lot of big, technological words that I can't understand, like microcontroller.

The second track on Live Live Live Extra is called Wriggle.

Aimee Bender's writing ha been inspired by Oscar Wilde, Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm and Anne Sexton.

Ok, this is already boring me. I'm sorry. I hope you liked it. I thought this game would be more fun.

So... let me tell you about another story from my creative writing class. This one is true because the unit was creative nonfiction. It's a hard genre. Our assignment was to do something daring and outside of our comfort zones. I decided to do something kinda crazy and at the last second couldn't do it. I'd had a week to do it even. Here's what happened...

His Shoes

My goal: kiss a stranger. That’s not so hard… if you’re crazy!
I noticed the guy that sat next to me in the library this afternoon. Every man that had crossed my path in the past week was put into one of two categories; kissable or not. It’s hard to decide how to kiss someone, especially when he is on the move. This guy was no exception. He was kissable and certainly stationary enough.
This was a new step. Should I kiss him?
He crossed his legs. He was wearing a pair of different colored All Stars, one green, one black.
I had to kiss him. How could I pass this up? Not only was he a stranger but I had never decided to kiss a boy based on the color of his shoes.
This realization, that I had picked someone, hit with a rush of adrenalin as I waited for my courage to catch up with my decision. My hands were trembling but earthquakes were raging inside my body, invisible to everyone else. Could a seismograph detect them?
He had long fingers. I wanted them in my hair when I kissed him. No, bad Geri!
I glanced at his lips. They were beautiful, even though they were only in profile. I couldn’t spoil them and decided to kiss him on the cheek. That would be easier, less bold but still requiring more bravery than I possessed.
The longer I waited the more nervous I became. The outer shakes calmed but the inner ones were intensifying. Why did I want to do kiss a stranger again?
I couldn’t. I wasn’t brave enough to kiss him, this beautifully lipped stranger, even on the cheek, but he had to know what was going on inside me. However, he packed up his bag and left before I could drop my hastily written note into his lap and run away.
I wonder how he would have responded to my words, even the opening line.
Dear Neighbor,I’ve been sitting here trying to work up the courage to do something for as long as you’ve been sitting here, all because I liked your shoes

AND on top of my fail, I get to class and there's a guy in my group that had managed to kiss a stranger.

Still upset about that,
Geri
ps- please tell all of your friends to title their blog on the 30th THANK YOU MAUREEN! kthanks!


April 28- Some Poems

So, I hope that you have been finding my pieces from my creative writing class interesting and entertaining. If not, I'm sorry. Especially because I'm going to present you with several of the poems I wrote for that class.

I must warn you that poetry is not my strong point but I had to try and these were my best attempts.

This first one is a true story. And we had just learned ionic pentameter and sonnets.

On My Way Home
Evening has come again. The dark I fear.
Descend the stairs to the tunnel of tile.
The lights flicker yellow as I draw near.
I stare in fright. My tomb extends a mile.
I see demons in black attacking two boys.
I can’t number the times I have watched it
happen. I am without my wand, a toy.
Harry has one, but its in his pocket.
As the Dementor leans in, I suddenly see
That this can not be real. I’m a Muggle!
But still I run praying, “Help me to be
Unseen.” To my surprise I’m though the tunnel.
I’m still too scared to stop though I know fully
Well that this whole thing just proves I’m silly.

This one is about my mom. I really like that it doesn't rhyme and the repetition is nice.

Hero, My Beloved Hero
Lost, I am lost
Without you holding my hand.
You were my hero, my guiding hero.
Cold, I am cold
Without your arms wrapped around me.
You were my hero, my warm hero.
Hungry, I am hungry
Without the meals you made for me.
You were my hero, my providing hero.
Tired, I am tired
Without you lying by my side.
You were my hero, my comforting hero.
Frightened, I am frightened
Without you here to scare away my demons.
You were my hero, my brave hero.
Crying, I am crying
Because you are gone.
You are still my hero, my lost hero.

This one had a few versions. The first of which was this crazy, long, confusing piece, that really didn't say anything important (and all poems would say something important, and honest). My teacher read it and asked, "So what are you trying to say?" This is how I answered. The ending is weird but whatever.

The things I do
Oh the crazy things I do
And how they get me in to trouble,
Like reading while I walk home
As cars narrowly pass me by.
Oh the funny things I do
Just to brighten up my day,
Like wearing mismatched socks so
I see something new every time I look down.
Oh the weird things I do
That make people stare
Like muttering poetry to myself
So I know how the words feel in my mouth.
Oh the things I do
That make me who I am
Like tripping, and crying for no reason,
And not brushing my hair.
Oh if I didn’t do these things
Would you love me that much more or
Would you love me any less?

Comment please!
RAWR,
Geri!

ps- we all RAWR MJ, so let's show it by getting everyone in BEDA to title their last blog of the month THANK YOU MAUREEN!


April 29 - SECOND TO LAST DAY OF BEDA!!!!!

Say something random Geri, QUICK!

...

*long silence*

*changes subjects* *sorta*

So I have this folder of pictures on my computer entiltled "random stuff" Here are some of the pictures that I like the most.

This is from when the Jonas Brothers were on SNL. Funniest thing I've seen in my life.




I don't remember why I was looking for and saving pics of the Fab Four but this one is my favorite. Early years for sure.



FAIL WHALE!!



Hehe, direct message on Twitter from We Shot the Moon's Jonathan Jones. heart!



Bahaha, this one is under "story ideas." What if minotaurs were good creatures and they had relationship problems?



Oh my gosh! This was my French 101 teacher. Ladies, can you imagine going to class everyday to pretend to learn what this man is telling you as he speaks to you in the language of love? *puddle* Best semester of college EVER!



Just because.

I wish.

HAHA!! ok, this one I saw in the ads that are in the sidebar on facebook. It reminded me of my band teacher so I had to save it. Not only is the trombone his instrument of choice, he is also in love with Apple.

So, I was in a book store with my laptop and I got bored because I didn't want to pay for internet, so i started looking at all the cards and took pictures of my favorite ones. This one is very high ranking.

Oh the beautiful Phoenix sunsets!

thinking of Gapetto,
Master of Misdeeds.

ps- tomorrow in the last day of BEDA. don't forget to title your blog THANK YOU MAUREEN!pps-BEDAers are the bestas!
don't ask.

April 30- THANK YOU MAUREEN!

What now?

To be honest with you I wrote this blog 8 days ago because I knew I wouldn't be able to really write one today.

I think I just figured out how to talk to yourself in the future!!! schedule your blogs to appear at a later date!!! Oo! this could get interesting!

Anyway, with this being the end of BEDA, I'm sad to see it over. When I'm back to posting in the present, I'm probably going to do it a lot more often than I was before (which was actually in the form of notes on facebook, and I did them about once a month, unless I was really bored or peeved.)

Well, lets just look over what we've done together in the past 30 days. No, changed my mind. I don't want this to be a cliche last day of BEDA blog so we're going to make this just make this as normal as possible...

which will be difficult because I'm pretty weird, as you know from reading all my posts for the past month.

I want to do the easy thing and put up ANOTHER story from my writing class, but I can already hear you moaning in protest. So I will refrain.

Guess where I'm going in 18 days? NEW YORK CITY!!!

And in 26 days, I'll be flying to HAWAII!! I am so excited!

UPDATE ON GAPETTO (and Fyredonna): She totally almost singed his brain hairs yesterday, so Gapetto is pretty mad at her right now. I think we're only months away from an audible connection!

Yeah, I told you I'd still be weird.

So, I JUST realized that my ning picture doesn't really show you all what I look like. You might have a better idea if you are reading this on blogger, but then again, I'm not going to post this to blogger for QUITE sometime. Anywho, here's what I look like, minus the glasses

So, anyway. this post is full of random. Have a great day and a Happy May!! (I'm the hiphopopotamus)

LOVIES! RAWR!!
Geri
Master of Misdeeds


So yeah, that was my BEDA. Hope you liked it all. ENJOY! comment.

UPDATE!

Sorry I seemingly quit on you mid BEDA. I really didn't. I wasn't actually able to write my blog for the last 8-ish days of April, so I wrote them all before hand, all in one night when I was supposed to be packing/cleaning my apartment, and set date they should be published. But that was all on the ning. :) I'll get around to putting the rest of BEDA posts on here soon, like in the next week but I have way more important things to tell you right now.

BUT FIRST! Yes, I went to New York. Yes, I'm going to blog about it. No, I am not ready to blog about it yet. You will have to wait. I'm waiting for pictures.

OK!!! MY NEWS!!

I started a vlog!!! my channel is going to be freaking amazing. please go and watch. rate. favorite. subcribe. love. tell your friends.

I'm vlogging about being a writer, my stories, and my journey to publishedhood. yes, I made that up. Also, possibly going to just make random videos. actually that VERY VERY possible, concidering I already have publlished a pretty random video. :)

So if you've liked the pieces I've posted here, or soon will post, and you want to know more go to youtube and watch me! Also, i fyou love my randomness/awkwardness :)

LOVIES!!

Can I really make a whole blog out of quetions?

Did you think this was going to be a Q&A? Did you know its not?

Has anyone ever tried this before? to only use questions in a blog? to make it completely void of statements? Does intonation count?

Why can't my brain think of anything to say that might be worth while in question form? Do you think it's because brains only ask questions when they want answers and not when they need to say something?

What was I thinking?

Do you want to see some pictures? No? How about some of my cousins?! Don't you like that idea?

Have you met Elder Despain? Did you know he is a missionary in New Zealand at the moment?


Have you seen his guns?


What do you think missionaries do in their spare time? Did you know that in NZ, do this...?



Have you ever been to New Zealand? Did you know that you don't have to see it to know it's beautiful? The first time you heard the name of that glorious country, you said, "Man that place is beautiful" right? Do you want all your wildest dreams to come true?


Could it be possible that there are things more beautiful in NZ than the scenery? I'm guessing you haven't seen their missionaries or small children, right?



Have you had enough of Jared? If not and you want to write to him, did you know that you can leave me a comment? Did I mention that he comes home in a month? No? Wait, I just did? Well, aren't you clever?!

Do you think it's time to some more cousins?

Have you even seen a cuter little girl with such a cute name? How many kids do you know named Ila? What? You can't pronounce that? Would you have guessed it's like eye-la and it rhymes with Bella?


Would you like to know that I'm related to everyone in that picture and that it was taken at my grandparents house?

Have you even seen so many guys eating lunch around a pickup looking so great?


Did you want to know their names? Would it be funny to you if I told you that I couldn't tell you all of them, other than Jick (who is barely visible and is wearing a red shirt), Frank Allen (in the plaid behind the one in the baseball cap), my Uncle Frank (in the baseball cap), Larry Gibson (in the green with his back to us), his son, Willy (in the vest), Cy (sounds like sigh, stuffing his face), and Dallyn (sitting on the tire)? I think I just named them all...?

Would you guess that I've finally run out of questions?

How long was I thinking this would be? Pages of brilliant questions? Did I think I was gong to use pictures to fill up space? What would you say?

Unsurely,
Geri?

Anarchy that I Run

Things I should be doing right now:
-packing
-going to the UPS store
-calling people to find a place to stay

Things I am doing right now:
-writing a blog.
-reading BEDA buddies' blogs
-waiting for my cousin to call
-feeling sorry for myself
-skype
-(a while later) no longer feeling sorry for myself

Hello BEDA friends!

I hate packing and everything that has to do with moving right now. But let's talk about something fun!

If I had a super power, what would it be?

Well, let me start off by saying what I know it wouldn't be: speed, agility, strength, or invisibility. Those are all so cliche.

I'd want to be able to change shape. Take on other people's appearances as well as look like animals and inanimate objects. That would be cool.

I'd also have a freakishly good memory. I'd be able to quote lengthy conversations and describe scenes in detail years after the fact. This would also be handy when I'm trying to tell someone what really happened on the Lightening Struck Tower, or the real lyrics to the song.

What would I do with my powers?

I would use them to become the ultimate cage fighting champion.

Oh wait, that was Pete, Monica's boyfriend on Friends! Silly mistake.

No, I wouldn't really be evil, but I would use them to become eliminate all other evil doers (except Dr. Horrible, who has a PhD in Horribleness and a bachelors in AWESOME!) therefore I would be the most evil one out there, which isn't really saying much. So I guess this would actually make me a good guy....?

Except for my love of practical jokes, which I will play all the time because of my shape shifting ability! One minute I'm a chair someone is about to sit in and the next I'm a rug or a penny and the sitter falls to the floor and their chair has disappeared! Eavesdropping for my own personal gain and the defeat of more supreme evils!!! *laughs evilly*

So, once I defeat all other evil, I will be free to reek havok all over the earth and BAHAHAHAHA!!!!

So basically I'm going to be the supervillain form of Peeves! I'm excited!!!

What will my super villain name be?

Well, Peeves and Dr. Horrible are both taken...

as well as Princess Consuela, and Crap Bag...

I'VE GOT IT!!!!

Until tomorrow,
Master of Misdeeds!

PS I googled the name and IT WASN'T TAKEN!!

Dear Santa,

So I know it's only April 20th, and I still have a long time until Christmas, but I was thinking that it would be good if I got my letter to you early this year. I'm sorry that I haven't writen to you in years. I think that's why most of my Christmas's have not been what I expected.

I hope it doesn't feel like a copout to write my letter to you on Maureen Johnson's ning but I figured this is the fastest way to get it to you. I'm sure a lot of people are unaware of the fact that you are even doing BEDA. I know how much you love MJ (as we all do) since you guys are besties for life.

Before I tell you what I want this Christmas, I think I should thank you for all the hard work you and the elves put in every year. If you see Buddy, tell him "HI!" for me. Thanks!

First of all, I'm still waiting for my pony. But now I'm too big for a pony. So please send me one of these instead, preferably between the ages of 20 and 25.

Also, I have a lot of books on my wish list this year. Can copies (first edition, signed, hardcover and paperback, please and thanks) of each of of the following books be waiting under the tree?

It would also be nice to get a new phone. I don't really care which kind, but please, not one of these.



Actually, this one would be nice. The phone, not Will Ferrell.

I also want shoes,

and a car,

and new clothes,

and diamonds.

Thanks again, Mr. Claus! Have a great summer and have fun with the rest of BEDA!

Yours Truely,
Geri

PS. Actually, I still want want a pony. Just have my Brad Pitt look-a-like ride it into the living room, pick me up one handed, throw me on the back, and lead us into the sunset. Thanks!

Big Brother and Big Problems

WARNING!!!! I am going to tell you about my stresses.

Within the next five days I have to move, possibly twice. It's the end of the semester, therefore my apartment contract, here at BYU. So I have to go back home to Phoenix. Not a big deal. UNTIL!!! yesterday when my dad told me that we are going to be moving out of our house on FRIDAY!

Moving to my grandparent house.

Near (not even in) a small northern Arizona town

Where I'm related to about 60% of the male population.

Who are hot cowboys.

Where I can't access the internet.

That's a two hour drive from the airport.

After I've booked very expensive tickets to NYC and Hawaii.

Two trips that are days apart.

Yeah, I'm not very happy about this. I'm trying to find someone to stay with in Phoenix but this whole thing is so last minute... I would just go if it weren't for the fact that I have things to DO in PHOENIX, close to internet access, stores, public transportation, people, skyscrapers, etc.

Really this is my only stress but whatever. It's a big one.

STRESSING OVER!

Now I have to think of something interesting for you to read.... HOW ABOUT ANOTHER STORY!? It's another short story from my creative writing class. We were asked to take one of our favorite stories and write a story in that world. I wrote about 1984, by George Orwell.This is still pretty rough and it could use a lot of work now that I'm allowed as many words as I want. I don't plan on ever publishing this; it was just fun. ANYWAY!!! Here it goes!

A Kiss in 1984
Adam Taylor looked at me. The right side of his mouth popped up and his bright green eyes lowered to the floor after meeting my brown ones for a half second. He glanced at the telescreen on the cantina wall, daring it to punish him for his current thoughts.
We work on the same floor in the Ministry of Peace, under the “Big Brother is watching” poster. I’ve never spoken to him, but I’ve seen his name plate many times. He is tall and young with broad shoulders and a square jaw. In my opinion, he’s Oceania’s most beautiful Party member. Sometimes, I picture myself running my pale hands through his short, dark hair.
Then I remember my position and the rumors I’ve heard about those who commit thoughtcrimes: they disappear.
Adam Taylor has no business looking at me. My hair is dull and my eyes are as ordinary as the rest of me. My record with the Thought Police is spotless and I’m the president of my neighborhood Junior Anti-Sex League. I warn girls about men that look at us the way Taylor just looked at me: they are dangerous enemies of Big Brother.
Therefore, it surprises me how much I enjoyed that brief interaction with Taylor. I had seen something in his eyes and I wanted to see more.
I quickly apologize for my thoughts. I am a good Party member.
Yes, Adam Taylor is dangerous, I decide.
As I turn a corner on my way back to work, someone grabs me, pulls me into a small, shadowed alcove, and covers my mouth.
“It’s me,” a smooth tenor voice whispers in my ear, “Adam Taylor.”
He is holding me against his body with one hand on my back, and our cheeks are together. This is closer than I have ever been to a man, closer than Big Brother permits.
“I’m not going to hurt you. Please don’t scream.”
I nod as best I can, because I believe him and I want to know his secrets.
Taylor removes his hand from my mouth, giving me room to look at him. We stare at each other. I marvel at his beauty, and wonder what he sees in me. His eyes search my face for a moment before they stop on my lips.
“You are so beautiful,” Taylor says.
He leans forward and our lips meet. It’s my first kiss. I resist at first but he is too strong, though very gentle. I like the way his lips move against mine, and soon I am mimicking his actions.
As this continues, I realize that everything I know about Big Brother is wrong.
Suddenly, rough hands grab me and pull me away from Adam. I struggle to return to his kinder arms. Several men in black overalls are trying to restrain him.
“I love you,” he yells.
One man punches his jaw and they continue to beat him.
“I love you too!”
Someone slaps me.
The Thought Police are already here to make us disappear.

COMMENT PLEASE!!!
love,
Geri!

Wizard Love!

So I JUST finished watching the documentary We Are Wizards. Its about the Harry Potter fandom and several very influential people in that group. I'm sure that it is kind of old and I am WAY behind on the times with this but how could I not blog about it?

So if you haven't watched it, I suggest you do. But I warn you that it is over an hour long. Or you could not watch it as I am about to basically summarize it for you!

Short clip of crazy British woman who thinks Harry Potter leads children to evil.

Skip to Harry and the Potters, wizard rock group of infamy! Two brothers who basically created the genre. They have dorky laughs and I love it.

Enter the Hongarian Horntails and their family. By far my favorite parts of the doc. were of them, but that's because they are seven and four year old boys singing about dragons and magic and stuff.

(PS Lindsay just said that she was thinking about Dr. Horrible while shaving her legs. me: *laughs likes its the best thing I've seen since DR. Horrible, because it was!*)

Then we have the Wizard People guy. He saw Sorcerers Stone and loved it so he created his own audio version of the movie to be played with the video that involves a lot more swearing and inaccurate dialogue, but it's the same general* idea as the film.

Stuff about Melissa Anelli, the creator of the Leaky Cauldron and author of Harry, A History.

And some stuff about the girl who was the face of Potter Wars. Very cool girl.

Then back to crazy Brit, who probably knows more about magical cults than any Harry Potter fan just because she's dedicated herself to fighting it. I haven't heard of half the stuff she talked about, but I haven't heard about a millionth of anything.

And repeat about five times.

In Conclusion, Wizard Rock is AMAZING, seven year olds are cute, Wizard People guy is now a cartoonist and he has everything because of his fan-ness, Melissa Anelli is awesome, Potter Wars girl is also awesome and wants to be a race car driver and she the war with WB got her through a very hard time in her life with her disease, and crazy Brit lady is still crazy and thinks Satan is attacking children through Harry Potter. The end.

So, even though it was a little odd, I still found this whole video fascinating! Who knew about Mr. Wizard People? Not me. And even though I had a vague recollection of the Potter Wars, I didn't know the the person behind it was a 16 year old girl with a fatal disease! How awesome is she? VERY I TELL YOU! VERY!!!!

And as for crazy Brit. She felt like the joke of the whole thing. Why did they include her?

So, I must say that I am very proud to be part of the Harry Potter fandom. Before Twilight, way back in middle school, I was the Harry Potter girl. Even in high school, if someone need some sort of Harry Potter trivia answered, they came to me. And even though I've only been to one midnight book release, and I only own one of the movies and I'm missing the fourth book, I am a fan and it's in a big way. Loving the world from JKR's head isn't about how much stuff you have, it's about the space it hold in your heart and the amount of time you think about it a day.

No, I am not a wizard. I am a Muggle and I am proud of it!

<3
Geri!

Books mostly...

So today was pretty awesome!

First of all, I stayed up all night finishing I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak. It was really good and three days over due :) I cried so hard at the part with Marv!!

Then I went to sleep at 5 am!

Woke up around 3 in the afternoon and got online. I signed into Skype and for the first time ever, I was invited into the chat with my ning friends without that inviation coming from my roommate, Lindsay. It was awesome! I was on it for about 2 hours. During that time, we talked about Dr. Horrible, played the Wikipedia Game, and talked about a lot of other random things. Of course.

I went to the dollar theater and saw He's Just Not That Into You. It was good, and entertaining and I think it's a movie all girls could learn from but it's not really a movie I'd watch over and over again, unless I was in a dating rut and needed some emotional chick-flick help.

And when I got home, I got back online to write my blog and to my great surprise I had BEDA BUDDIES!!! I'm very excited. Great idea MJ! I can see good bloging times ahead! To my buddies, if you are reading this, since you don't know very much about me, you should read my blog from the 9th. It's basically all about me!

Also, my roommate went to the library and picked up Let It Snow, by John Green, MJ, and Lauren Myracle. I'm really excited to read it but I have to read Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen first. I can't believe how much reading I've done lately. I love it, but it is very mind boggling. Some of the stories are running together in my head and I forget some completely. I've already read 18 books this year! This Dessen book is the last one of hers I need to read. I love books!!!

Anyway, it was a good day. Happy weekend!

love,
Geri!

PS. I forgot about every thing I did before going to bed other than reading. I watch Dr. Horrible, and an episode of How I Met Your Mother, and the new Half-blood Prince trailer... four times. It is amazing I am VERY excited for that movie!

Incredibly OUTRAGEOUS and Nearly UNATAINABLE but Not IMPOSSIBLE (for the most part)

I'm talking about the crazy wishes I have but that will never, most likely, come true.

My top wishes:

5. Be a mermaid when I grow up.

This has been a wish of mine since I was a little. I thought that I could just grow a tail and live in the sea, or a swimming pool. My sister and I would play mermaid at the public pool and our "tails" were like mood rings. It was great. How cool would it be to be a mermaid anyway? I mean, you get to swim all day, and play with the underwater creatures, and wear sea shell bras, and splash in the water with hot, shirtless guys. Sounds like a perfect life to me.

4. Eat Otter Pops for every meal for the rest of my life.

Really, this is only because I am eating one right now and I love otter pops. I know that they are made of just sugar, water, and coloring, so I would probably die after like a month, from malnutrition.

3. Become a Hogwarts teacher.

I'd be the music or drama teacher, since I'm not actually a witch. It would be awesome. Even though Hogwarts is all about learning magic, I think that an education needs the arts. It's really the only think that Hogwarts lacks. I could claim to be a muggle-born Squib, then they might let me teach.

2. Travel the world...

in a canoe.

Just kidding. But I do want to travel the world. In one trip preferably. I'll take that year long trip Dumbledore never got to go on because of his mother's death. It's not like I want to see every sight; no, that would be impossible, even in a year, if I wanted to enjoy every city. I want to "live" in each city in for a few weeks to know what it's really like there.

The cities I want to see: London, Paris, Berlin, Venice, Rome, Athens, Ciro, Johannesburg, Moscow, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney...

And India, South America, Mexico, Antartica, and the Netherlands are also on my list but I don't know exactly where I would go there.

1. Marry a man who is the perfect mix of...

James McAvoy- for kissing ability (of course I've never kissed him, but just looking at his "talents" on screen proves he is the best kisser EVER. Plus, Kira Knightly said out of all the guys she's locked lips with in the movies, James is the best. What other proof do you need? SEKRIT: I watcch the kiss in Penelope at least twice every time).

Brad Pitt- for his incredible hotness. duh!

Ron Weasley- for boy-ish attitude

A musician- to serene me daily.

and John and Hank Green, all of Sarah Dessen's good guys, Robin Williams, Jacob Black, and Michael Cera- for pure awesomeness!

What are your craziest wishes?
Love,Geri!

PS- it took me like three hours to make this list.

Is BEDA failing me or am I failing BEDA?

For like three days, I've been resisting the urge to make lists as a way of coping out for BEDA. If I had done lists for three days, my blog would be a fail. Heck, just doing a list out of boredom and lack of nothing better to do is a fail in my book. But that's what I want to do. My brain isn't working.

Actually it is working, but I don't want to post because I feel like BEDA isn't really giving back to me. I write everyday and they are funny, well thought out posts (most of the time) but how the heck am I to know if anyone is gaining from my words?

I wouldn't say that the things I've been writing about are important, mostly it's just nonsense. But I still said them and it is worth hearing. Everything that's been said for the past 15 days due to BEDA is worth hearing.

How does MJ do it? Write funny, entertaining things everyday without feeling like she is running out of things do say?

Honestly, I haven't been reading a lot of blogs, or commenting on the ones I do read. I guess its a little like Karma or that saying "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." IF I WANT PEOPLE TO READ MY POSTS AND COMMENT ON THEM, I SHOULD READ AND COMMENT ON OTHER PEOPLE'S BLOGS!

I think that part of my problem is that I've learned that if I don't like something, just walk away from it, whether that be a book or an awkward situation or a person, or a blog post. I'm sorry to all the bloggers I have walked away from. You don't know who you are, and I don't remember you individually, but I feel the weight of you. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Please accept this gift as a token of my sincerest apologies.

Now on to better news, because I do feel much better.

So there's this band that I kinda love, called Big Surrender, and they just posted a new song to their myspace called I Tried. It won't be up for long *begins to cry* but *perks up again* I'm very happy they released it on their Japanese album because Ryan Lallier (guitar and vocals) actually wrote it and performed it on the album. He's my favorite. When I saw them in concert about a month and a half ago, I was totally flirting with him and when I met him after the show, Ryan said that I made the show for him because I just looked like I was having so much fun. Please listen to them and befriend them and follow them on twitter and help me make them famous!

In other band news, I'm really excited for We Shot the Moon's new album "A Silver Lining" but I still must wait for it. They also have new songs on their myspace and they are great. I repeat my plea: help me make them famous!

In personal news, I don't know if I really have any... I saw Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D today with my roommates. It was so good! Very funny and the 3D was awesome.

So I guess that's all I have to say today. Thanks for listening to me rant (again) and for helping me make BS and WSTM famous ;)

<3
Geri

This is Ryan and I at the concert! triple heart.



PS- my first HANKROLL!

A Story by ME!

Well, I didn't really want to blog about this so soon, but I guess we are about half way through BEDA :( Therefore I am going to do it. I'm going to post a short story I wrote for my creative writing class last semester. This is actually a reworked excerpt from my novel. Tell me if you like it!

Some Courage

Paige couldn’t believe Jack’s suggestion. She thought it over for a whole minute, wondering if he felt the same way as she did.
“Okay, just as friends,” she said, believing she interpreted the meaning behind his façade correctly, while also using it to protect herself if he didn’t like her back.
She took a deep breath and made the first tentative movement toward him. Two more steps and there was only a foot of space left between them. The sudden nearness would have been terrifying if she weren’t completely sure that she didn’t want to be just friends, but it shredded her one ounce of confidence to pieces anyway.
Paige noticed the heavy rise and fall of Jack’s chest. The rhythm complemented her quickening heart beats.
“Um, okay,” Jack said, looking at his hands to hide a sudden smile. “Well… I don’t know what to do with these?”
Paige was alone in a classroom with her best guy friend and her first crush, who was asking to be her first kiss. How was she supposed to know what Jack should do with his hands when Paige couldn’t even remember her name?
She thought of their much more experienced friends, Matt and Jessica. Little inhibited their public displays of affection. At thirteen, Paige couldn’t understand why when Matt and Jessica kissed they seemed to use their hands more than their lips.
Paige shuddered. “I think we should keep them behind our backs.”
“Right.” Relief flooded his face as Jack clapped his hands together behind him. He looked directly into Paige’s green eyes and seemed momentarily stunned. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards. “Um,” he said, refocusing, with a shake of his head as her favorite half smile spread across his face. “I’ve never seen people kiss with their eyes open. How do they make sure not to miss?”
“I don’t know,” she said. Why was he smiling? This was not helping as she tried to focus on the coming kiss. “I’m just going to close my eyes and you do it, okay?”
“‘Kay,” he said with confidence. Paige saw mischief in his bright, hazel eyes. She knew he could sense her nervousness.
The tension in the middle of her chest, the one that always accompanied Jack’s presence, swelled, nearly suffocating her. Paige searched his face, wishing she could know what he had in mind for her when she closed her eyes.
“I’ll count to three.”
Paige squeezed her eyes shut.
“One.” Fear. “Two.” Panic. “Three.” Anxiety.
Nothing.
“Are you still there?” Paige asked nervously.
“Yes,” Jack whispered. Paige could feel his breath on her face.
Her heart caught mid-beat, stopping completely. “What are you waiting for?”
“Some courage,” Jack said. “Please don’t open your eyes.”
“Okay.” Trying not to smile and follow his request, Paige waited. “Please hurry.”
“‘Kay,” Jack said softly as he smoothed the wrinkles from her forehead and around her eyes with one finger before tucking a strand of her curly, black hair behind her ear. Her heart thudded once. Paige sighed, her jaw shaking nervously.
“One.” Anticipation. “Two.” Joy. “Three.” Elation.
All of Paige’s vital organs melted as Jack’s exquisitely soft, warm lips touched hers. If not for his hands on her face, she would have been a puddle at his feet. She felt her hands in his chocolate colored hair before thinking how nice it would be to have the thick locks around her fingers.
Jack broke the quick, gentle kiss but Paige kept her eyes closed. She felt his lips graze hers as he whispered, “Thank you.”
Paige’s halted heart beats raced through her chest all at once.
Jack released her face, and Paige’s hands were suddenly empty. She opened her eyes and looked around, disoriented. He was already half way out the door, mumbling something about homework.
“Some courage,” Paige said, rolling her eyes, as the door swung shut behind him, hoping he had heard.
“Some courage.” She gently pressed her fingers to her lip, remembering the way Jack’s lips had felt there; it held no comparison.
Paige smiled, gathered her books and Jack’s forgotten backpack, and left the classroom to find him.

Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it. Please leave lots of comments. Thanks!

Geri!

The (fake) Kissing Adventures of Me!

It all started a very long time ago, in the only other life I've lived on this earth. I don't actually remember how it happened, or who this guy is but my friend had a camera and emailed me this picture. It is rather lovely.

The first kiss I really remember happened when I was very little. I had a thing for boys in little shorts. It made their legs look spiffing. Actually I think that MY legs look quite spiffing in my little skirt!

After that I learned boys had cooties! I spent months disinfecting myself and it took me years to realize that boys, in fact, do NOT have cooties.

However, it was hard to break the habit of dodging whenever a boy came my way, lips puckered.

To break the habit, I practiced kissing with things between me and my current love. First it was windows.

Then I progressed to fences.

And on to nets.

And when I graduated from nets, I didn't need anything between us for the magic to happen, which everyone knows means rainbows!

And then I went through a period of being Asian....

When I got better, quite a while later, I was a little tired of kissing so I only went as far as hand holding. It was a sweet time.

A few days later, I joined the circus, where I played a a fish clown and I started dating another fish!

This is how we had to go out in public, because people look down upon fish clown love. We could only kiss like this.

That was a rather itchy and wet relationship, therefore it did not last long. We had a rather awkward ending so I had to leave the circus. It was a sad day, full of much less laughter than my days under the big top as a fish clown.

Then, I fell in love with my house painter. It was a messy relationship, to say the least.

I didn't stay with him long, just until the whole house was painted pink. It took me forever to find someone worthy of my kisses after that. I was starting to go through withdrawals. I had no one to kiss myself, but I shoes found their perfect match!

Lucky them!

One day, when the lack of kissing was really getting to my head, I just kind of attacked this poor boy. One second he was just walking by and suddenly we were in a bush....

Soon afterward the boy died.

I haven't kissed a boy since.

The end.
Love,
Geri!

I am a Happy Kid!

So the best thing that's happened to me today, other than having a great Easter at church and learning a lot about Jesus and stuff, is this little surprise that I had waiting for me in my email. There were actually two surprises! In the order that I receive them: We Shot the Moon is now following me on Twitter, and they also sent me a direct message!!!

REWIND!! This morning I saw two tweets from WSTM that said that they are working on a new album AND a b-side, so I tweeted that I was really excited about a lot of things, including those two things and Easters and I included an @reply.

So this is how they replied!

I WAS SOOOOO HAPPY TO SEE THIS!!! I made a face (=O but it was full of happiness) when I saw the email and my roommate was like "what?" but she was on the phone so I couldn't jump up and yell in excitement at my news! but I took my laptop over to her so she could read it and she smiled up at me and I was did a happy dance! She laughed at me.

I'm also excited about a We Shot the Moon concert in Phoenix (Tempe really) that is between the time I get back from New York and when I go to Hawaii. SO I'M DOING EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO GO SEE THEM AGAIN! Oh boy!

I heart Jonathan Jones (the lead singer and pianist)! and also Jason De la torre (the bass player) is very funny. When I met him, he told us about his poo and how he is keeping track of it in his "poo log." The only things he tweet about come out of his colon. It is funny.

Needless to say, I am a VERY happy girl right now!
Geri!

Rant, Regan, Random, Pottergram update

I'm not in the greatest mood right now and I feel like venting. Sorry.

My job at church isn't very hard, except when it comes to a few things. Well, just one thing. As the ward Relief Society Secretary, I am in charge of the roll and getting the visiting teaching report in every month. However, for as long as I've had this calling, the people who are suppossed to send me their reports don't do it in time, and that still hardly their faults because the teachers wait until the last minute to do their visiting. Yes I am guilty of this too so I am a little mad at myself.

BUT STILL!! The report is four days over due and we had to call the supervisors TODAY! to see if they had their reports done. And did they? NO! So, this just makes me look bad and that I don't do my job right but really, those other girls know what they have to do and they shouldn't wait for us to come a-callin' to get it done.

VENTING OVER!!!!

So anyway, have you heard of Brian Regan? If so, you know how awesome he is. If not, you should know that he is this really awesome comedian. I can't go onto an airplane without watching the other passagers with their lugage and thinking, "this is the size of a postage stamp and you have a DEAD YAK!" (LARGE carry on in the overhead). Also, I tend to talk with my hands and the actions don't really make sense so I often find myself saying "I don't understand my own visuals." Also, I have the tendancy to tell people "You too!" but they work their so they aren't going to have a good flight, or enjoy their meal, or whatever to my friends who are not going to do what I'm about to do.

and now I don't remember where I was going with this.... oops!

Don't you love me!?

I'll let you know whenever I remember :)

OO! Happy Easter Eve!

I'm just saying random stuff now.

Yesterday when I got home from my grandma's house I did some Pottergrams... I'M A NERD!! Yup it's official, because not only did I do it when I got home, I did it again, after my roommates were all asleep :) I try to do themes with my Pottergrams, and some times it is successful, and other times not.

My first one of the day, which I did while Lindsay was Skype chating with some ningers or else I probably would have been ODing on the web, I tried to use only muggle names. It was hard. I had to pull from the movies and that got crazy. Since Lindsay was on my computer I couldn't look up any of the names for spelling and we only have one of the movies in the apartment, so I used my Harry Potter Scene It? game to find names of actors and directors and such. Tis why it is out! PS I love that game.

So, I have a challenge for any of you who wish to take it! Tell me who each of the names are! Some of them have more than one person, but that's ok, I did mean both of them! Now, here's the trick! You can't google, IMDb, or use any other kind of web search to find who these people are. (the words you don't need to worry about because they aren't people, just in care you were wondering: AXE, BEZOAR, QUIBBLER, QUIZ, EXPECTO.) Enjoy!

For the second one, I wanted to just do places in London (I can't believe I forgot about Kings Cross), however, the books only mention about six places there so I had to turn to normal Harry Potter words.



I like how closely packed it is around AXEBANGER and the WEASLEY area. This was a big one. Seriously, it was about as long as my leg, which is long.

So before I went to my grandma's house this week I stopped by Jamba Juice on campus and grabbed a chunky strawberry yummy thing! and as I was waiting for it, this poster for the Divine Comedy (a BYU put on SNL-like skit based comedy group that is pretty much amazing. All clean jokes, all in fun, totally awesome!) They like to do parodies of movies. On one side of the banner was a pretty good copy of the Dark Knight movie poster, but it was spelled Dark KnYght, because BYU is locally known as "the Y", and on the other side was this...



It rocked my socks off. I just had to take a picture! PS I love Twilight! in case I haven't mentioned it before. So this basically made my day.

Again, happy Easter Ever!

Love,
Geri!

PS! like 3 hours later!!
I remembered what I was going to say about Brian Regan!! He does this set about the instructions for poptarts and how they are so detailed for such a simple task. and how there are two sets of instructions, toaster and microwave (1. remove from pouch. 2. put in microwave for 3 seconds. "if you are so crunched for time that you need to zapfry your poptarts, you really need to loosen up your morning schedule") Well, I was eating poptarts earlier today and I didn't want to wait for the toaster so I put them in the microwave. Our microway sucks so I ended up putting them in there for about 15 seconds. they where yummy! and soft!! Anyway! I got to zapfry my poptarts!

You mean I'm not the only one on this planet?

So it's crazy that people are out there. Does that make sense? Like, I forget that people had lives before they met me and they continue to have them after we part. And it's mind blowing to think that everyone is so diverse personality wise.

So I was just thinking about this because on my way back from my grandma's house today (FYI I went to Idaho yesterday to see said relative) there was this kid on the bus that was just cracking me up, after he woke up from his nap and I took my head phones off of course. He was cute too, except for his beard thing. He had curly hair and blue eyes and therefore I loved him. not. but basically yeah. ;)

SO anyway! Even after talking with him and others for only an hour, I knew, or could tell so much about him.

Like I said, I forget that there are real people outside the circle of people I know. It's nice when I remember that others exist. It puts me back in my place and I appreciate them all so much more.

Does this ever happen to anyone else?

I also experience this phenomenon when I am catching up with people I've lost touch with and we are reuniting. I did that a lot over the last day, and there is much of that coming up in the months a head. With my mom's side of the family today, and some old family friends when I go home to Phoenix at the end of the month and school and church friends when I'm home. and again when I'm in Hawaii with other relatives and some more when I visit my friend in CT and we go to NYC (I'm super pumped by the way). It's nice to know that life goes on without me.

AND THEN there is thinking about just everyone else in the world that I don't know, doing crazy, adventurous things, or boring, normal things, whatever, just living their lives that I don't even know about and will never know about. Just think about the people doing BEDA. something like 350 participants? each one of them blogging and recording their lives and sharing them with us. And when April ends, they will STILL be OUT THERE... LIVING!!! even though they aren't recording it for us.

BLOWS MY FREAKING MIND!!!

See this is why I believe in journals. and biographies, and memoirs. man a live!

Anyway, enough psycho babble for one day!

Love,
Geri!

just a few things YOU should know

So, on day 9 of BEDA, I figure that it's probably time to tell everyone about myself. I mean you already know that I am a Harry Potter geek, said most affectionately, and you know all of my favorite things and that I talk to myself in public chatrooms just for the... thrill? *shrugs* Also, if you are looking closely, you might have noticed some other things about me, but I feel I should elaborate.

One of the biggest parts of my life, my identity, is that I'm LDS (Latter-day Saint) or more commonly known as Mormon. I have been my whole life. Don't believe everything you hear about us. This really isn't the place to talk about all of that, but if you have any questions, feel free to check out the church website or you can ask me (but I beg that you don't leave comments attacking me or my religion. It goes against everything nerdfighter/awesome).

Also, as long as we are still being serious, my mom passed away a little over a month before my eleventh birthday. Oct. 12, 1999. This is a HUGE part of who I am and what I believe. It also dominates my memory and I miss her everyday. This October will mark the tenth year I've lived without seeing her, but I know she's with me everyday. I don't want to go into details, because I am close to tears just thing about things I want to say, but, in the unoffical words of Edward Cullen in Midnight Sun, I want to "keep it light."

Yes, I am also one of those Twilight girls. I first read the series just before Christmas in 2007, all three books in 4 days. I was hooked. I followed all the news I could get my hands on about the movie, which was just getting underway at that point. Last August, I went to a midnight release for Breaking Dawn and bought a copy there, even though I had preodered a copy on amazon. (I needed two anyway because I have two copies of all the others.) My roommates and I dressed up, as the books. Our picture was in the campus newspaper even. I'm sure if the BYU bookstore had been holding a costume contest we would have won. Here's a picture!

Heck, we were even put on Stephenie Meyer's website (about halfway down, between a Jacob with a bunch of Bella's going to prom and and an Entertainment Weekly). We thought that was pretty cool.

In other news, I am an author. Don't worry, you haven't heard of me (I know you were so worried about that). I started my six part series in sixth grade, after reading Harry Potter (yeah, I'm also one of those people). My story has changed a lot since then and I'm half way through typing my first book. I actually have the first three and a half done, not to mention bits and pieces of the other books, but it's all hand written.

So what is the series about? you may ask. WELL! It's about this teenage American witch who just happens to be the target of the most evil creature known to mankind. Not because of some prophecy. No. It's because she is the future queen of the Magical Kingdom of the New World. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, she is a princess. The series follows her though six years of her magical education, her battles against evil, and her trials with love. Actually, it's very heavey in the romance department. I know less about the magic than I do about how the relationships end. :) hehe. (Again, feel free to ask about it! You'd make my day.)

My goal, as stated in a pervious BEDA post, is that I finish typing by November and start contacting publishers before the new year.

You might have deduced, using your super spidy senses or your stealthy nerdfighter powers of awesomeness or your ability to read, that I go to Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. I am only a sophomore and I haven't actually declaired my major yet, which is English Teaching. (PS- how cool would it be if your high school English teacher was also a famous author? That's my goal.) This is my last semester for a while however, because I'm taking the rest of the year off and moving to Hawaii. I haven't decided when I'm coming back, if I even will come back to Provo. So future plans are still up in the air right now.

Some of my other passions.

• Music, playing. I started on the flute in fourth grade. Then in high school, I played piccolo in marching band (I'm just all kinds of nerd) and switched to French horn for concert session. I was Drum Major for two years (they're the ones who stand on those wricketty ladders and wave their arms around so everyone knows where the heck they are in the music) and I also played in the steel band.
• Music, listening to. Who doesn't like that, right? I'm super excited about going to a We Shot the Moon concert in May. VERY VERY excited. I heart them, MUCHO! Listen to them and love them and tell your friends about them.
• Reading. DUH! I just finished Looking for Alaska (John Green, but I bet you knew that) about an hour ago. Seriously. I finished it and started this. So far this year I've read 17 books. I don't have a goal to hit, but I just want to read AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!!! this year.
• Children. Seriously, they are amazing. Funny, honest, absolutely adorable, and hyper. What more could you want in a friend?
• Guys, the male species (human, just thought I should clarify. I'm not THAT kind of girl). Really. I don't have a type because too much is appealing and I can't pick. I just love guys.

So, yeah, that's me in a (pretty detailed) nutshell. Oh and I'm 20 years old with long brown hair that I've cut myself for about three years; I'm orginally from Phoenix, AZ; I'm about 5'8"; eat like a fat kid cuz I am one; easliy excitable; enjoys long walks on the beach, candle lit dinners, and cuddling- oh wrong site.

:D

Geri!

Ning fail!

So did you know I talk to myself? (OH THAT EXPLAINS THE NAME OF THE BLOG!!! and so much else...) Well, I don't actually do it very much, out loud, for other people to hear. I mostly imagine how I want conversations with OTHER PEOPLE to go, but for some reason they never happen that way -turns out I am horrible at guessing what other people are thinking.

Well, yesterday the inner exhibitionist (don't go there pervs) in me got a little carried away and I talked to my self on MJ's ning... because no one else was talking and I was hoping that others would 1. join in or 2. would keep reading until I COMPLETELY embarassed myself. For some reason, I like to do that.



Well, shortly after this and some talking about what I was up to at the time (thinking about how awesome BEDA is and the movie Rudy) the ning chat failed and no other post could be made. I did continue to post however in the hopes that it was just my computer faweakin' its head off, for the benefit of all the MJ fans, and even MJ herself because she was at least signed on at the time.

STUPID NING FAIL!! I was also hoping that Maureen was going to say that she loved my mental babble on the chat. I will never know.

And although this is a great blog for the day, it is still early and I might MIGHT!! post again later.

to my loyal fans,
Geri!

Pottergrams

I think, today being the seventh, that it is appropriate to tell you all about my favorite Harry Potter game.

It is not, however, a real game based on the series. The real game is called Bananagrams. 144 tiles are used to create words in a crossword-like board. In our version, the way my roommate Lindsay and I play, we make words from the greatest books and movies ever made*. We seriously play this game at least twice a week.

This was my first Pottergram, so it was kind of experimental. Instead of spliting the tiles in half, we played so you start with 21 and drew one more each time each of us used all of our tiles, but we "dumped" (discared one tile in exchange for three more) so much that we might as well have divided them all in half anyway. haha. As you can tell we got kinda excited and took pictures with the books. *giggles nerdily*

Oh man, this was the first time I did it alone, using all the tiles while timing myself. I finished in about 50 minutes, but when Lindsay was checking it, she found that I had left the H off the end of Hepzibah.... 30 minutes later, I had this. I got to keep most of the words from before, which makes me happy. I'm especially proud of getting most of Dumbledore's name. I had the whole thing before... the incedent, but I couldn't get it in after rearranging.

There are others between these too but they aren't remarkable.

I like this one because of how compact it is. I like Accio and Romilda. It was funny- I was reaching for the seventh book but it was just a little too far away and I was waving my fingers at it in a "come hither" way, then I looked at my roommate for help even though she was farther away than me, and she said Accio Deathly Hallows, like the video. I couldn't stop laughing.

I did this one this morning, alone again. Don't worry, these are all words in the books, well mabe not SUV (my defense is that the Dursley's seem like SUV people). I really like grapefruit and Liechtenstein, and Ferrari. I tried to use obscure Potter words only, but I was running out of options, hence Nox and Peeves.

*I don't actually think that the Harry Potter movies are the best films ever made and the books are just way up there, top twenty for sure.