I've realized that I don't use this userpic very often and now I'm wondering why that is because it's a very pretty userpic, probably one of my favorites that I've created. (Though the rainbow gradient flare is a little much, but especially when I first started using GIMP I was all LOL GRADIANT FLARE YAY!)

I'm in the mood to list things off so here are some of my ramblings.

( ten things about my life, some of which no one cares about )
Uh, yeah, pardon my rambling. I think I'm going to be productive now and finish my Roaring Twenties packet for history.

HAPPY LOST SEASON FINALE DAY! =)

( cut for mini-rant about faraday's age )
But other than that little nitpick of mine, tonight is going to be awesome. This is the first time since season three that I get to watch the finale "live," since last year I had to wait until the Sunday after it aired because it was on while I was at a dress rehearsal.

Also, today I took the AP English test, which was not that bad. We were very well prepared, I think. & then afterwards we had Adventures in Clarisse's Car and went to La Festa and Starbucks. Now in English it will be ALL BOOKS, ALL BOOKS ALL THE TIME, NO MORE AP WORK. (Too bad we can't actually do really fun stuff like in the other AP classes.)

Today is the first day of vacation in which I don't have to go ANYWHERE. (Unless I go downtown tonight, and I'm kind of thinking I might want to buy some more spring-like clothes this afternoon.) & then tomorrow, it's up bright and early and off to Connecticut College and my cousins' house for the weekend. (The good news? This weekend outside NYC where they live it's supposed to be in the 70s, maybe up near 80. Yay!)

On Monday I visited Wheaton, which I liked; the only problem is that the town that it's in doesn't have a whole heck of a lot in it, so I think in order to do stuff outside of the college you'd have to go 15 miles to Providence... but then again, I'm used to having to drive for a while to get to entertainment. It was a nice school, though.

Yesterday I visited Skidmore, which I really liked; it's got a lot of dance, and it must have a really good English program because apparently it's the most popular major there. We got to eat lunch in the dining hall, too, and it has really good food. I didn't get to see many classrooms, though, because our tour group was huge and our tour guide was having trouble keeping track of all of us (and also she had to deal with the idiot parents who kept being all "You should stop walking when you talk to us so we can all hear!") The area around the college is nice, too; it's in Saratoga Springs, which has a nice downtown area and lots of shopping and food nearby. It's a little over four hours away from home, though, but that's the farthest-away school I'm looking at right now.

Also, car rides are a lot more fun when you can pass the time watching Lost. I brought the first season with me and I watched four episodes on the way there and five episodes on the way back. & of course my mum and I were analyzing everything considering what we know having seen up to almost the end of the fifth season, and laughing about how trivial their issues seem back in season one. (Back then, all they had to worry about was running out of water and hearing but not seeing the monster and people beating each other up; now they have to worry about ripping holes in the space-time continuum.) 

One more day until April vacation, yay. Except first I have to survive a day with two quizzes and a test, though I suppose I should be thankful that it's not three quizzes because my chemistry quiz got pushed off until after vacation (as did my algebra quiz that I was supposed to have today, which is super-yay). Of course, this vacation isn't going to to be as restful as February break because I'm going to be college-visiting on most of the days, and I think we're spending the last weekend of vacation outside New York City with my cousins. When I'm not road-tripping, however, I will be attempting to write my ass off (though I know without a doubt that I will fail at that, because I have extreme issues with getting my characters from point A to point B), and playing FFX for nostalgia's sake (because that was what I was doing last April vacation... which totally doesn't seem like it was a year ago).

Speaking of Final Fantasy, today I was teaching the ballet class that I normally help out with, and I loaded a ballet CD onto my iPod so I wouldn't have to deal with CDs, and just for fun I decided to have the stretching music be from Final Fantasy Piano Collections. (It masquerades perfectly as regular ballet music. I'd totally do a whole class of Final Fantasy piano music, but the music is too irregular to do combinations to.) So I had the class stretching to "The Oath" from FFVIII and "Suteki Da Ne" from FFX. It made my geek!brain happy.

Another thing that makes my geek!brain happy: last night's episode of Lost. I won't say too much in case of spoilers, but let's just say that Hurley could quite possibly be the true writer of Empire Strikes Back, and then he gives Miles this whole speech about how people need to solve their daddy issues, because if Luke and Vader had solved their daddy issues then the Second Death Star wouldn't have blown up and Boba Fett wouldn't have been eaten by the Sarlaac and there would have been no need for Ewoks. Yes, all of this stuff was mentioned in the episode. Lost + Star Wars = WIN.

Also, as proof that my mum is just as much of a Lost geek as I am, here's a conversation that we had last Sunday:

M: "So what are you working on in math?"
A: "Variation functions."
M: "And what are variation functions again?"
A: "Basically it's when you have equations like y=kx or y=k/x, in which k is a constant."
M: "Constant like how Desmond needs a constant?"
A: *facepalms, but is totally thinking the same thing*

Damn it, I keep forgetting that I'm working on finishing my US History packet while I'm doing this.

Well, I think I originally intended for this entry to be more interesting, but I can't think of anything else to say. Sorry for all the Lost talk. (Hey, it could be worse. I could be brainstorming about my characters, but I think I'll spare everyone.)

GRYFFINDOR TOTALLY WINS THE HOUSE CUP AND THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT!  :D

Also, I've realized that the Order of the Phoenix movie is definite snark bait, especially when Harry decides to try out his Squall Leonhart impersonation and is all "THE MORE YOU CARE ABOUT, THE MORE YOU LOSE!" & maybe I was just in a double-entendre mood, but I managed to find a lot of them (mostly in dialogue that would seem extremely dirty out of context, e.g. Dumbledore's secret weapon and naughty children deserve to be punished). Then again, most of Deathly Hallows is a big long double-entendre with all the talk about wands, and there is also the lovely gem of a line from Half-Blood Prince that is displayed in my icon. (There's also the Harry/Draco implications: "Harry, however, had never been less interested in Quidditch. He was instead finding himself becoming rapidly obsessed with Draco Malfoy." HO YAY FTW.)

Lost premiere night was EPIC. It was two hours of EPIC EPICNESS. I'm not going to talk about it here, but I do assure you that it was awesome. My mum and I have been theorizing like mad... because believe me, there were lots of things to be theorized. Also, I'm totally a Sawyer/Juliet shipper right now, even though I think Kate and Sawyer should eventually end up together. There were also some really good quotes from the episodes; one of my favorites is "Why is there a dead Pakistani on my couch?" I wish I could use them as subject lines, but I have a whole bunch of quotes from a Final Fantasy X fanfic that I've been reading that I want to use up first.

Oh! I just remembered a conversation last week involving literal laser tag that made me laugh, but not too loudly because no one present knows the secret meaning behind laser tag. Said comment went something like, "No, it's totally innocent. We just play laser tag and stuff." HA HA HA HA.

Proof that AP English ruins your life: During Obama's inaugeral address, I found myself rhetorically analyzing it and realizing that future generations of AP English Language students may have to analyze it too, since it's such a historical inaugeration & all. Also, I had the Barack Obama rap blasting through my head. Kinda funny, and DO NOT WANT at the same time.

Also, GRYFFINDOR TOTALLY WINS at Harry Potter Winterterm 1. We have a freshman in our group who apparently knows the whole Order of the Phoenix movie word-for-word. See, I'm not that bad. (Though I do think I get my ability for quoting things from my mum, because we'll be sitting together watching an episode of Lost, and we'll both be saying some of the lines before they happen. But only the really good lines, like "Jesus Christ is not a weapon" and "So I guess I'm out of the book club" and "You just killed everyone on that boat!" "So?" Lost has a lot of hilarious lines, some of them mainly because of context.

And speaking of Lost... ZOMG SPAZZFLAIL NEW EPISODES TOMORROW! My mum and I already have our theory!brains on full function. She's convinced that bringing dead!Locke back the the island will bring him back to life; I'm convinced that the island is moving back to the time of the Dharma Initiative which could potentially cause a lot of time paradoxes and brain explosions. (Also, Claire and Christian are unsents, and Ms. Hawking the creepy ring lady is the Ultimecia of the Lost universe, and the island exists in time compression. But that's just me coming up with wild Final Fantasy crossover theories.)

... Damn it, I'm trying not to include so much fandom/geek talk here anymore.

This is total win. I think I need to re-read Pride & Prejudice again without having to worry about doing badly on quizzes. Maybe then I'll enjoy it more. (I also want to re-read To The Lighthouse. & Brave New World, which I already re-read once this summer. Why do I have sudden Brit Lit urges? THERE ARE NO URGES!)

We have our Christmas tree up now. It's an artificial tree because what with the power being out for most of the past week & all the ice and snow, we decided that we weren't going to go with a real tree this year. Except my mum got a Yankee Candle plug-in scent that smells like pine trees, so it still seems like we have a real tree. Speaking of Christmas spirit, I found the Yankee Swap CD that I got last year, and I promptly loaded it onto my computer because I forgot how awesome it is. Most Christmas music drives me absolutely insane after a while (especially when it's been playing non-stop on the radio for a month), but I discovered that if there was one kind of Christmas music that I could listen to all year long, it would be the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. "The Nutcracker Suite" is total win. Because I mean, the Nutcracker with electric guitar? That's pretty awesome.

There's a new trailer for season five of Lost. It is so *spazzflail*-inducing. Because there is a dark hooded figure and someone set on fire! (Organization XIII and Anakin Skywalker are invading the island!) & Angsty!Sawyer! & general badassery! & there's only one month and two days left until the premiere! (At least after Christmas I'll have the season four DVD set to hold me over.)

So today in honor of my birthday I was going to make a list of 17 Reasons Why It's Awesome To Be 17, but I could only think of ten and most of them consisted of "[insert character here] was 17 when [insert action here happened]." So yeah. (Though for the record, I'm now the same age as [1] Harry Potter when he defeated Voldemort [2] Yuna and Tidus when they defeated Sin [3] Squall and Rinoa and most of the Final Fantasy VIII crew when they defeated Ultemecia [4] Nathaniel/John Mandrake when he saves London for the last time and [5] Perrin and Julia when they begin their relationship & are involved in the second Arx Chalybs incident.) I'm surprised that I only have one writing reference there. I guess not a lot important happens to my characters when they're 17.

Last night I was watching the season four finale of Lost (gathered around my dad's laptop screen), and zomg Daniel Faraday is so definitely a Woobie. For me, at least. I hope we see a lot more of him next season (he's in the previews, which is a good sign). Also, Desmond/Penny is so squee-worthy. & even Kate/Sawyer are squee-inducing, what with Sawyer being so self-sacrificing and all. I think there should have definitely been an "I love you" "I know" moment there, because Lost isn't afraid to use Star Wars references and it would have fit so well. (& it would have made Kate/Sawyer even more Leia/Han than they already are.)

I discovered two nights ago that I cannot draw males, even from behind. I was trying to draw Perrin and Julia in a nice relationshippy pose (holding hands and looking out toward the ocean), and I was failing so much at drawing Perrin. So I erased it and just drew Julia, though even that didn't turn out so well. It was good for a while, but then I realized that her hair didn't look right (it's WAVY, not BUSHY!) and so I kept erasing and redrawing and it still didn't look quite right. So yeah. I think I should just stick to that one drawing of Elena and Daria that actually turned out well.

This is the first time since Sunday that I've had time to go online that's not doing homework on my mum's computer. This week has been so GAAAH, what with lab reports and essays and research and having to stay late at school because my mum's been working. I'm so glad it's the weekend. Although Sunday is pretty much used up; I have to be a tour guide at the open house at school until 3:00 and then rush over to dance for Act II rehearsal which goes until 5. & then homework and such.

...What the hell, my x key is being silly. Something must be stuck under it. I'll have to be careful getting it out so that I don't end up with gum stuck under the key again (long story there, though no lasting harm was done).

So yeah, I get to be a tour guide at the open house at STA on Sunday. We had a meeting for tour guides during part of last period today, and it turns out that being a tour guide involves been much more of a people-person than I am, but it wasn't as if I really had a choice. It was the only job available when I went to sign up, and since I'm in NHS now I was pretty much obligated to have a job at open house (though I'd much rather be at dance rehearsal, to be honest). I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be an ideal tour guide. Trying to connect myself with the families by making small talk? No, I don't think so. Small-talk is the bane of my existance. I'm probably going to be awful in that department, but maybe I can make up for it by being good at pointing out things & such. Yeah. I'm definitely not a people person. Though I don't think there are many jobs at an open house that don't involve being a people person.

On Monday morning I discovered that the song "Eyes on Me" (the ending vocal theme of FFVIII) sounds utterly ridiculous at 6:15 in the morning. Waking up to Ominous Latin Chanting is fine. Waking up to Ominous Instrumental Music is fine. Waking up to Japanese Techno Pop Video Game Music is fine. Waking up to Cheesy Video Game Romantic Song? Not fine. Even though despite its cheesiness, I really like it. Just not at 6:15 AM. I should just wake up to "Liberi Fatali" every morning because it's freakin' awesome to begin every day with Ominous Latin Chanting. "One-Winged Angel" is also a good song to wake up to, although whenever that happens it ends up getting stuck in my head even more that it already does. Every Latin class, invariably, I get "ESTUANS INTERIUS IRA VEHEMENTI, SEPHIROTH!" repeating in my head over and over. & sometimes when Sephie's being an attention whore, I get "ESTUANS INTERIUS IRA VEHEMENTI, SEPHORA!" and that makes me angry because dammit, Sephie, you are not burning inside with violent anger or whatever the hell that translates to.

Speaking of Sephie, I've had an idea to write a sequel/follow-up of sorts to "Traveler" for the past month or so, except I haven't really had the time or inspiration to work on it. I'm going to try to start it this weekend, though, except I have to try to figure out how to begin. ( cut for more brainstorming )
One thing that I have done this week writing-wise is to finalize the alphabet used by my characters. I call it the "Sublimely Magnificent Alphabet Mark III," called "SMA3" for short until I can figure out a better name for it. (& unlike the Sublimely Magnificent Jecht Shot Mark III, it actually does have a Mark I and Mark II /FFX reference.) It has 34 letters (though some of them stand for more than one English letter). It's kind of cool, because with the way some of the letters work out, the names have so much fewer SMA3 letters than English letters. Perrin's name, for example, is 6 letters in English, but in SMA3 letters it's only 3. That's because spelled phonetically it would be Pairen, and since SMA3 has one letter for "air" and one letter for "en," you get only three letters. If my name were to be spelled out in SMA3 letters, it would be a similar thing, as phonetically it would be Alesen, which would be representated with only four letters: short A, L, ES, and EN. I really do love phonetic alphabets. They make me realize how utterly screwed people trying to learn English are because things can make so many different sounds.

Season five of Lost starts two months from today. I am extremely excited. It's always kind of weird getting new episodes again after a long hiatus, but it's always so awesome. & it's back on Wednesday nights now, which means yay! If they had it on Thursday nights again this year, it would not be good, especially if it was on at 9:00, because that would leave very little time for me to get homework done. ABC has finally decided to arrange things according to my schedule. Also, I'm getting season four for Christmas, which is good because then I won't have to worry about the old tapes anymore, especially the finale tape that randomly has Final Fantasy X popping up during the last scene. I still have no idea how that happened. One of Life's Great Mysteries, I suppose.

[ETA: Just came across a promo poster for season five and ZOMG FARADAY IS SO ADORKABLE. I also just found out that on January 21st we apparently get TWO EPISODES! ;alsdfl;kasjdlkfjsa;lkjf;salkjflksd!]