Having Fun with Sara and Princess Tutu

Hey All,

So it's winter break and my best friend Sara and I are having one of our ritual 48+ hours sleepovers where we just discuss what ever has been going on in our lives in the past few days since we last saw each other. When we were done with that, we decided to watch one of our favorite anime, Princess Tutu, which is absolutely fabulous, btw.
But about three minutes through the first episode, we had a brilliant idea!

Watch and see:

Disclaimer: I do not own Princess Tutu nor the english/ADV/Funimation dub of Princess Tutu.
All comments and opinions are not made to offend, but out of a loving and deep affection)

That's all,
Thanks for reading and watch!
Amy Liz

Trying to Forget That I Have Finals to be Working On....

Hello All,

I don't want to do my projects and study for my finals today, so I'll make a new blog post -YAY!
So let's plot out some things for me to write about so I don't have to run out of steam too early and go back to finishing my "Religion in Eastern Cultures Take-Home Test."
Today I'll talk about a bunch of things that distract me from getting my work done during the day:
1. Pokemon
2. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (shut up, I know I'm a geek, get over it)
3. Facebook (but we've talked about this before, I think)
4. Tattoos
5. TV shows I need to catch up on
6. Online Shopping
7. StumbleUpon (I'm pretty sure we've talked about this, too, but oh well!)

Dammit, I even got distracted from writing this blog. I just found out that my favorite Google+ game that's not working right now is on Facebook -with less time to wait for your next round. So I was playing that for about, oh twenty minutes or so. NBD.

So Pokemon.
I found out earlier this semester that you can Google search "play pokemon online" and do just that! I've been playing Pokemon Yellow and Crystal and reliving my childhood for quite a few weeks now, and it's actually quite time consuming. Maybe that's why I wasn't cool in middle school...
So there's Pokemon. Very distracting. Very time consuming. Very worth it.

Oh goodness, this next one is both very difficult and yet very easy to explain.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
It's just so wonderful, and adorable. Both a blast from the past, and a look at contemporary television (plus like a thousand pop culture references slipped in!). There is always a lesson learned and the good possibility of a not-so-annoying song. Plus, the ponies are actually kind of smart, with "real world" problems and not super silly and ridiculous things. Well I mean, it's still a kids' show...about talking colorful ponies.
Anyway, the characters are well-developed and the story is never trite or repetitive. Just watch it, and you will understand my obsession with The Ponies.

Also, Pinkie Pie is my favorite pony, and she sings the very first song of the season.
...and there goes another 20 minutes to watching that first episode all over again...
(Also, if I could be any pony, I'd want to be a Faust version of a Flutter pony, from the original My Little Pony series)

Facebook
What isn't distracting about FB? It has games, it has everyone you've ever known your entire life, it has messages and chat, and now it has skype video chat, and that dumb Tickr thing that lets you know what everyone is doing THAT INSTANT. Even if you don't care.
Like right now, I'm still talking to my friend FB Chat, and I'm writing this, and talking to my suitemate. It's a mutlitasker's paradise. You can check out your current boyfriend's past girlfriends, spy on how your ex is dealing with the loss of you, and update your own status to show how much you've gotten over him!

Tattoos
This might seem totally random, but it's not, I promise. My suitemates just got tattoos today, and I went along with them for moral support. We didn't have an appointment, so we had to wait a while, and I got a good look at the facilities and the different kinds of tattoos people can get. The whole day (it was a good chunk of time that I wasn't at my desk doing my finals work, so this counts as a distraction) got me thinking that, if I were to get a tattoo, what would it be? Where would I put it? What would it mean to me? Because both of my suitemates' tattoos had really personal meanings for them, and the only thing I could really think of that would be important to me would be a Shamrock, for my Irish-ness and for my VERY Irish grandpa, but all of my cousins have that, and I'm "the rebel" of the family (yeah, okay, me a rebel :P) so I don't want the same thing as all of them.
I finally decided that if I was going to get a tattoo (I don't know if I ever will, because I don't know if I'll ever be prepared to cope with the fact that it's FOREVER) then I would get something like this:

I wouldn't get it very big, and it would be in a place that I could easily hide it, like on my inner upper arm, or on my shoulder blade.
I want the feather for a few reasons. I really like the way these look, first of all (these were done by George Motta, one of the apprentices at Stingray Creations in Boston, MA, and my suitemates' tattoos were done by Chris DeBarge -super nice, and he really makes you feel relaxed, especially if it's your first time. He was really chill and I would recommend him, because my friends' tattoos came out beautifully).
I like the way that feathers can be really soft, but they can belong to something totally badass like a falcon, or an eagle. Maybe it's a stretch, but I like to think of myself like that -everyone tells me I look sweet and innocent, and then I bust out my super sarcasm and dark humor, and they're like "ummm, wtf just happened?" (where's my sweet little girl gone?) 
heh heh, Black Swan reference ^^^
Also, I like to think in great big metaphors, so a feather or two could be like a talent, and I'm not really fantastically amazing at any one specific thing except writing (well, I've been told I'm a good writer, but we'll see what the rejection letters say lol). Mostly I'm just mediocre at most things, not bad but not really great at it, either. It would take a lot of feathers to make a wing, so I like to think that, if talents were feathers and I only had one special talent, then I could never have a wing and start to fly with it, but because I have a bunch of mini talents, like knitting, rollerblading, and drawing, then I can gather all of those small feathers together and make a wing and "fly." It's really corny, and it sounds a lot better in my head (hmm, maybe I'm not so good at this "writing" thing), but it makes sense to me.
Also, I hate birds. So getting a feather would mean that I wouldn't have to get a bird for the metaphor of flying/success.
Feathers are cool, too.

TV Shows I Need to Catch-Up on
I'm not really that big into cable shows, but this season a few new shows have premiered that I really wanted to get involved in. I'm finally all caught up with ABC's new show "Once Upon a Time" which is pretty cool, but as far as modern society meets fairytales, I will always prefer NBC's "The Tenth Kingdom." I also just finished watching the newest episode of The CW's "The Secret Circle," which is actually really different from the books, but it's still really good, and it's at a really tense and awesome part right now, so I'm very excited for the season to start back up again in January. I'm also a little miffed, though, because all of the shows this year started their seasons late, so I'm wondering if they're going to have less episodes in the season, in which case I will be very upset because that means Hollywood is getting lazy, and I know there are plenty of television writers that would be more than happy to write a full 26 episode season for a show they really cared about.

There's also a new show called "Grimm" which I plan to look into once finals are over, but I have no clue what that's about except, I'm sure, a vague theme of the Grimm fairytales. So I guess this is fairytale season for television this year.

Online Shopping
I spend way too much money now that I have my own credit card, and that's just not cool. WAY too much, and it's all stuff I like but don't really need, you know what I'm saying? But I get a discount, or at least that's how I console myself, and with the fact that I would have gotten it, anyway.

Finally,
The ever wonderful StumbleUpon. I can always count on you to keep me from doing what I should be doing.
Confessions of a Disney Employee
100 Greatest Movie Insults
4 Chord Song

Well, now I actually really should be getting back to my test, because it's due in 10 hours, so...
Thanks for reading,
Amy Liz

P.S.
I think I'm going to change the title of the blog. Just so you know.

Small Update

Hello All,

So I was flipping through my StumbleUpon in class this morning, and I found this, I wanted to share it with y'all.

Life's Instructions

1. Have a firm handshake.
2. Look people in the eye.
3. Sing in the shower.
4. Own a great stereo system.
5. If in a fight, hit first and hit hard.
6. Keep secrets.
7. Never give up on anybody. Miracles happen everyday.
8. Always accept an outstretched hand.
9. Be brave. Even if you're not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference.
10. Whistle.
11. Avoid sarcastic remarks.
12. Choose your life's mate carefully. From this one decision will come 90 per cent of all your happiness or misery.
13. Make it a habit to do nice things for people who will never find out.
14. Lend only those books you never care to see again.
15. Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all that they have.
16. When playing games with ! children, let them win.
17. Give people a second chance, but not a third.
18. Be romantic.
19. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
20. Loosen up. Relax. Except for rare life-and-death matters, nothing is as important as it first seems.
21. Don't allow the phone to interrupt important moments. It's there for our convenience, not the caller's.
22. Be a good loser.
23. Be a good winner.
24. Think twice before burdening a friend with a secret.
25. When someone hugs you, let them be the first to let go.
26. Be modest. A lot was accomplished before you were born.
27. Keep it simple.
28. Beware of the person who has nothing to lose.
29. Don't burn bridges. You'll be surprised how many times you have to cross the same river.
30. Live your life so that your epitaph could read, No Regrets
31. Be bold and courageous. When you look back on life, you'll regret the
32. things you didn't do more than the one's you did.
33. Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.
34. Remember no one makes it alone. Have a grateful heart and be quick to acknowledge those who helped you.
35. Take charge of your attitude. Don't let someone else choose it for you.
36. Visit friends and relatives when they are in hospital; you need only stay a few minutes.
37. Begin each day with some of your favorite music.
38. Once in a while, take the scenic route.
39. Send a lot of Valentine cards. Sign them, 'Someone who thinks you're terrific.'
40. Answer the phone with enthusiasm and energy in your voice.
41. Keep a note pad and pencil on your bed-side table. Million-dollar ideas sometimes strike at 3 a.m.
42. Show respect for everyone who works for a living, regardless of how trivial their job.
43. Send your loved ones flowers. Think of a reason later.
44. Make someone's day by paying the toll for the person in the car behind you.
45. Become someone's hero.
46. Marry only for love.
47. Count your blessings.
48. Compliment the meal when you're a guest in someone's home.
49. Wave at the children on a school bus.
50. Remember that 80 per cent of the success in any job is based on your ability to deal with people.
51. Don't expect life to be fair.

I don't know who wrote it, but it's awesome.

Thanks for reading,

Amy Liz

A Little Frustrated

Hello All,

It's the day before Thanksgiving break here in Boston, and I'm a little frustrated. First of all, I didn't remember to update my blog when I said I wanted to. I'm almost three weeks later than I said, actually, so that's a pretty big fail.
Secondly, I didn't go to my British Literature class today -because it's pointless. We don't do anything in that class except discuss the reading, and it's not even insightful discussion, so anything I missed I probably figured out on my own, or I could have figured out from reading the summery analysis on Sparknotes.com. So I emailed the assignment that was due today to my teacher, and she says that she always sends back a "receipt" email letting me know she at least got the email, even if she hasn't read it yet. I sent this assignment last night around midnight, and I still haven't gotten my "receipt." So that's frustrating because I don't know if she has my assignment or not, and I really don't want to lose points on my final grade because she didn't check her email.
Thirdly, my little work minion on Mondays and Wednesdays is useless. I gave her stuff to do yesterday, and it wasn't even a lot, like something I just did in 10 minutes -TEN MINUTES! I gave this to her yesterday and told her I wanted it done while she was still here because there was still stuff that needed to get done before the break that I'd finish with my other assistant tomorrow. I come in to work this morning and low-and-behold, the work I gave her yesterday sits, untouched, exactly where I left it. She didn't even try to do it. So I asked some of the other people that work around us what they thought of this particular assistant and they tell me she never does anything that they can see. So I may be looking for a new assistant next semester. We'll see.

IN OTHER NEWS:
Pizza is a vegetable, according to Congress. I'm really glad Congress felt that the vegetability of pizza was a matter so pressing that it needed to be solved above all of our other problems in America, like homelessness, the national debt, and the failing education system, just to name a few.
Netflix has hit an all-time low in stocks this week. Not surprising, seeing as how Blockbuster's new commercials kick Netflix's ass!

And Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is carrying around a new Social Security plan he wants to initiate that will allow young workers to tap into their SS for private investment accounts. So far Gingrich is the top GOP candidate for the Republicans, with 23.2% ratings, closely followed by Mitt Romney, with 21%

In my personal news,
I handed in my second short story for my fiction class. My favorite part is the first paragraph. So here it is:

Once a month, my father would drive us out to this mall a few miles outside the city, and carry a yellow and green collapsible lawn chair to the lower level of the Macy’s there. He would set it up like we were about to enjoy a barbeque in the backyard, and sit down in it in the middle of the aisle between the shoe department and the bedding section. My older brother and sister hated these weekends, because they could have been out with their friends, or working or something, but Dad always made them cancel whatever plans we had to sit in the middle of Macy’s.

I don't have any personal affiliation with Macy's or any sort of special love for the store, but I thought it was a good place for this story, so I used the name...a lot.

I will probably not be working over the Thanksgiving break, which is a little sad because I like working, but it give me time to look into buying and learning to play the ukulele, because the ukulele is supposedly the simplest instrument to learn...we'll see if that's true. 

Go to 17:53 to watch one of my favorite up-and-coming bands, Lady Snow and the Laser Bears -they play the ukulele.

http://median.emerson.edu/player.php?mid=14109&p=1&n=10

--sorry I couldn't insert the actual video.

So I guess that's it for today. 

Thanks for reading, 

Amy Liz

--Happy Thanksgiving! <:>==

I didn't know Monday came in the middle of the week?

Hello All,

So I was having a pretty good day, until this happened to me, and I was just so mad that I needed to get it out.

But like always, Disney music made me happy again.
But I do feel bad because the stock assistant I do get to work with is putting away the rest of the stuff from our Emerson Stage show by himself. I just can't handle more right now.

So yeah, sorry for whining, or ranting or whatever, but hey, at least you get to see and hear me for the first time :)
Not like that's any great honor, or anything, but there it is.

Thanks for reading/watching/listening,
Amy Liz

P.S.
I've gone through a lot of trouble trying to figure out how to get this video to work

Getting Back on Track

Hello All,

Okay, so midterms are finally winding down and I'm actually getting a handle on some of the things that I'm supposed to be doing for school.
There's still a ton of stuff that I need to do and think about, and then there are things that I don't need to think about right now that I can't help but obsess over because it feels like it is life-changing...which it is, but I really don't have to think about it right now, not for a few months at least.

So yeah,
I just got through with reading Becca Fitzpatrick's newest book in her paranormal series Hush, Hush, called Silence. I think it was the best one in the series so far, the story catapulting onto a whole new level of drama, risk and threat. It was time well-spent, and I highly recommend picking it up.

Also discovered that I will be needing to locate an affordable apartment in Boston for next year because the people that run Housing and Admissions at Emerson College can't count, apparently. Which, of course, got me wondering how much money I could make off of a debut novel, which lead me to this information:
Writers are poor!

So... yes, it seems no matter what job I get, if it's in publishing, I'm probably going to always be dirt poor. Thank goodness I have that bartender's license haha

I've also been spending a lot of time working on and promoting my school's channel and the show I work most on, Good Morning Emerson. It's amazing and it airs live every Tuesday and Thursday, and every day I go in studio, I am just amazed by the professionalism that these college students show when they're working for this show (these roles don't pay, either, so that's doubly impressive).
We also have live performances or interviews every episode, like last week we had the Jacob Jeffries Band come in to promote their on-going tour around the country this year, and I also had Becca Fitzpatrick when she was promoting Silence in Boston a few weeks ago.
To see some episodes of Good Morning Emerson, including my interview with Becca (episode 7), click here.

Other distracting things going on in life:

• movies with roommates
• Brit Lit hw
• discovering Pokemon online
• re-watching old Adult Swim anime
• reading other books
• Bite Club
• Incarceron
• Living Dead in Dallas
• Eeeee Eee Eeee
• Meridian
•  naps
• late night yoga
• Google+ games
• Twitter (follow me, please)

That's it for now,

I'll try to update more often, but my distractions normally distract me from most things I'd rather be doing, including this blog, as well.

Here's shooting for a November 9th update!

Thanks for reading

-Amy Liz

Gay abuse, Business classes, dumb people and other, much less important, things

Hello All, 

  

 I just watched a CNN segment about a 14 year old boy who took his own life after being bullied in school for being gay. FOURTEEN YEARS OLD. He's barely a man, barely old enough to know what love is, and he, and thousands of other boys, girls, men and women are being abused and persecuted for being attracted to the people they like.

   I'm not gay, but I can't stand it when people are ignorant and cruel to people who don't deserve this kind of behavior. That goes for all inexcusable behavior, but being a student in the number one LGBT-friendly college in America has me around the gay population more than most other minorities. All of these news casts and articles about tragedies, brought to light by bullies, literally has me crying for these misunderstood students, friends and children facing all of this adversity. It's not fair to them -what have any one of them done to justify being insulted, assaulted and abused for every single day? 

   I wish I could do more to support the gay community, but all I can do at this point in my life is write, and love and support my friends in their fight for equal treatment and understanding. I just hope that everyone struggling with these issues knows that they are not alone, and that they can always find support, if not from their friends or family, then from other people who've gone through what they have:

   On a lighter note:

   I have a business class every tuesday and thursday, and while I greatly respect and admire my professor, I am a little underwhelmed by this class. There's seemingly no order or outline to what happens in class, and I know I'm not learning anything about business other than what Apple Inc is doing or has done or will be doing that has made them one of the number one businesses in the world right now. It's basically a class about Apple and Steve Jobs.

Dumb People:

   My school has an incredible variety of extra curricular activities to pursue on campus, and a lot of these are student run. This is great, but there is a downside to that -young people are idiots. 

   I know, I know, who's the pot, who's the kettle. 

   But seriously? 

   My friends and I have a year of experience working on this one particular club, learning different roles and gaining a better understanding of how everything involved in making this whole project successful (no, I will not be saying what ex. curr. this is about), and I, at least expressed enthusiastic interest in becoming more involved and learning even more about how to make the project better, but, like a used and outdated car in the parking spot of some big-shot CEO, I've been replaced by the newer, less vocal and less attitude-prone freshmen.

   dumb.

Writing:

   Before moving back on campus, I started writing what I think will be this really cool fantasy novel series, but ever since getting back, I haven't been able to motivate myself to add to it much. Then, when I got bored one night and decided to pull out a DVD to watch, I made the mistake of pulling out Funimation and Gonzo's "RomeoxJuliet," and now I can't stop trying to write my R+J story (so cool in my head, I hope it translates as awesomely onto the page).

Finally:

   Being a girl really sucks sometimes, just ask Viola, from Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night." Not only did she have to dress up and act like a guy and work for the dude she was in love with, she had to pretend to not be in love with him AND fight off affections from the chick that Viola's boss was in love with. (We're reading that in another class of mine, so it's on my mind a little bit.)

   My life isn't exactly as crazy as that right now, but i fear this ugly blemish on my face will permanently scar me for the rest of my life, resulting in terribly insulting names, not being able to face all of my prettier friends, and never fulfilling my dream of being an international super spy. 

   Okay, so maybe the insulting names part was a little over dramatic, but still! Why do we have to deal with hormones and acne and other bad biology crap when we really don't need it? It's super distracting from what I'd rather be doing (aka: being a vain b**ch and staring at myself in the mirror.)

Well that's all for now, sorry this one was a little whiney.

Thanks for reading,

Amy Liz

One Giant Summer 2011 post

Hello all,

So...... I've been pretty much AWOL since the semester ended, and I wanted to apologize for that. This was supposed to be a way to help me keep writing a little bit every day, but I'm not very good at keeping up with it. I'll try to work on that.
On the upside, I haven't really had time to update the blog very often because I've been -dun-dun-DUN! -distracted!! That's right, for almost four months, I've been distracted by a large number of things that have prevented me from updating my posts. For example, I have two jobs to juggle this summer; I've been helping a dear and wonderful friend through a tough time in her life; I'm constantly keeping track of the weather so I know when I can spend all day at the beach; and let's not forget the recent liquidation of my favorite store, Borders.

Mini-Post I: Retail "Therapy"

People suck.
Let's just make that clear.
You are probably thinking that I'm just a hermit holed up by her computer all day, but really I like being with my friends, and going out, dressing up, and having fun just as much as the next person. I'm not exactly a social butterfly (in fact I'd classify myself as socially awkward), but I put myself out there, so it's not like I hate the world or anything dismal like that.
But I do hate people. Especially people who go into stores and think that it's "okay" to steal, or leave things that fell off their hangers on the floor, or ask for a thousand different shoes to try on, then dump all of the boxes on the floor and not buy a single thing (despite a great sale), or return a shirt you bought ten minutes ago because you "wouldn't have enough money for the train ticket home" if you kept it. (All of these are true scenarios, btw, experienced firsthand by yours truly).
I love working at Charlotte Russe, I really do. I love the clothes and the shoes, and the people I work with are very diverse and interesting in their personalities and habits (they're chill). The time passes quickly when I'm working, especially if I happen to be working the register. But come closing time, I remember (if I hadn't been physically reminded face-to-face) just how much I don't like customer service.  I don't like working for other people because those people are dumb. Seriously, if you pull out a shirt to get a better look, put it back WHERE YOU FOUND IT and in the condition you found it it. Don't let it drop to the floor, or put it down on the shoe bench, or place it back on the rack sideways. That is making my job harder, and it makes everyone working there that day lose faith in humanity just a little bit more. The worst part: until you are out of earshot, I have to pretend like I enjoy kissing your ass, and if I can't, I at least have to be polite when I'm telling you to get lost.
For example, when I work with the shoes in the store, I have no choice but to interact with no less than (but not limited to) 20 to 80 people in a single shift, because the customers cannot get a full pair of shoes themselves. I don't know how many times I've had someone come up to me and ask "can I have this -shoves shoe in my face- in a size 8 and a half?" I tell them we don't stock any half sizes in our shoes because WE DON'T. They say "oh, well then can I have the 6?" That's quite the size difference in what you're asking, besides, the smallest size we have in that one is an 8, like the one in your hand. "oh....can I have a 5 and a half?"
Dumb dumb dumb dumb.
That has been more than half of my summer. Dumbass people spending way too much money on clothes they don't fit into.

Mini-Post II: Books

I'm a writer, so obviously one of my favorite pastimes is reading books. Mostly I stick to young adult novels (it's what I write, so I should experience as much of it as I can -that's my justification, at least). At the beginning of the summer I had a list of all of the books that I owned that I was going to read before going back to school in the fall. I got to maybe four of those books before the news of Borders closing hit me, and now I have more books than I have room for, and no time to read most of them.

I do, however, have a new fascination with Rachel Caine's YA series, The Morganville Vampires. It's an interesting new way to do vampires, similar to Charlaine Harris's mainstreaming vamps, but normal humans only know about vampires in this one town, Morganville, and it's because the vamps rule it. They're more like mobsters, or the mafia than police and politicians, and there's about an equal mix of the old vampire lore and new Caine-vamp "science" to make these monsters seem new and exciting. Definitely worth a trip to Morganville if you enjoy vampires and twisted, semi-political fiction power struggles.

I didn't get a lot of reading down this summer aside from what's been released of the Morganville books, but I did read "Girl in the Arena" by Lise Haines; "Along for the Ride" by Sarah Dessen; "Crescendo" by Becca Fitzgerald; "Living Dead in Dallas" by Charlaine Harris; and a variety of graphic novels, including "From Far Away", "Ouran High School Host Club", and "Pandora Hearts."

That's all I can think of updating right now (it's 3am, so I really don't want to be thinking anymore) so,

Thanks for reading!
Amy Liz

WARNING

Warning: Attention All Workers

The following is true, no matter who you are, where you go, or what work you have to do:

If you have a TON of work due in the next 24 hours, your shitty, crappy nasty bed whose sheets you haven't washed in a month will magically transform into a Master Suite bed from the Marriott!
What ever you do, do NOT lay down, even for a minute.
It's the "minutes" that get you.

Shameless

Hi all,

This is a shameless plug for my school, but I can't help but be proud of all of the AMAZING things that go on here at Emerson College.

We have the LARGEST student-run award show here at Emerson called the EVVY Awards, and this year we put together an 8 minute Lady GaGa Lip Dub to advertise not just the EVVY Awards, but also Emerson as a whole. In the video, you get a glimpse at some of the groups and activities that we have going on here at Emerson, and you also get a sense of how close, collaborative and welcoming that we all are here at Emerson.

Not to mention productive! This whole video was shot in a SINGLE DAY!
So go watch it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=854oZgIC8WU

(sorry about all of the capital letters, I just really love this school).

Thanks for reading!
Amy Liz

April Fools?

Hey All,

So apparently Mother Nature has decided to play a fun little joke on all of us here in the New England region. It's April 1st, and Boston is covered in a beautifully wet and slushy layer of snow. And it was so nice last Friday, over 60 degrees!! Thanks. We get it, don't get too complacent in the certainty that winter HAS to end by the time Spring comes around.

So there's that wonderfully distracting twist of weather affecting all of my work, but there's also...

Did you know that one of the most distracting places to try and get anything done is your room? I didn't until I tried doing my homework in the library and OMG I got so much accomplished!! In just two hours at a little study desk in the library, I got a whole weekend's worth of homework done, and I only checked Facebook and my email twice! I know that this is supposed to be describing all the ways I'm NOT getting my work done, but I found this discovery of studying in another location fascinating, I needed to tell the world (the incredibly small world of people that actually read this blog).

Back to distractions:
I started reading a new graphic novel series early in December, called Kobato (by CLAMP) and it's absolutely adorable, and I was really sad to find out that there's only 3 volumes out so far in America (only 5 in Japan). Then I googled the series and found out that it's a television show, as well...a COMPLETED ONE.
Needless to say, I spent the last two weeks avoiding my homework to watch the show. Absolutely adorable, and I now own the DVDs. I won't be getting much work done anytime soon -I must rewatch them all! lol

Another distraction:
Some of my younger friends are in the period of their lives where they must decide on a future (aka respond to college acceptances) and a few certain people are (in my opinion) choosing a very "difficult" path for themselves, and are choosing to ignore my well-intentioned advice. Whatever. Go ruin your lives, why should I have to baby them?

More!
Sometimes people can be really REALLY dumb. And repetitive. People have patterns and habits in their daily behaviors, so they can also be very predictable. I've recently discovered this first-hand, and while I like to think of myself as an intelligent individual, maybe I'm not, because I simply cannot fathom why someone can keep repeating the same actions over and over again, expecting a different result, yet secretly knowing that they're just going to get hurt again. Whatever, I mean, it's not my life, and I guess I can't really force other people to do what I think is right.

Well that's it for now,
Thanks for reading,
Amy Liz

Spring Distractions (way late, sorry, forgot to press "publish")

Hello All,

So for those of you who don't know, I'm Christian -I try not to let my religion slip into my writing, but it did give me a pretty damn good moral system, so I have to give credit where credit is due. Thank you, God. Because of this little detail, I have to give up something for Lent, the 40 days before Easter.

Now, I forgot that it was Lent until, like, yesterday, so kinda decided what I'm giving up a little later than I should have, but hey, better late than never, right? So I decided to give up "procrastination" for Lent, which isn't good for this blog, because that's WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!  But I think for this Spring, I'll tell you guys what's making it SOOO DIFFICULT for me to not procrastinate.

StumbleUpon.com and Facebook are always temptations, especially because I'm just so used to opening my computer, clicking the Internet, and typing in "fa"-which directs me right to Facebook! Grr!
Also, I'm right in the middle of watching a TV show on DVD, and I REALLY want to watch an episode or five while I'm at work (it's not like I'm a doctor or anything, this isn't hurting anyone), or in between classes! Or just the bubblepop game on my dashboard (for the computer) is a REALLY great way to waste about four hours.

That's it for now,
Thanks for reading,
Amy Liz

Spring Break Distractions, part three

Hello All,

So...I just saw Amanda Seyfreid's and Gary Oldman's new movie, "Red Riding Hood" and when I tell you that it is WORSE than "Twilight" -trust me, because it is!
And what makes me so mad is that it had SUCH potential. I mean, come on, you're taking from an OLD story, and you have the ability to change it in any way possible, and you choose that?!?
First of all, don't make the adults so obviously despicable. We get it, the teens are the heroes. And why does there have to be a love triangle? Why does this ONE GIRL have to be so irresistible that everyone is obsessed with her? Even a freaking feral dog?!
I will give the writer credit for this, the Wolf was NOT who I expected it to be, so kudos on creativity. But I gotta say -really? REALLY? I mean, those lines were SOO sexual -you just CAN'T do that! It's creepy! About twenty minutes into the film, I thought of another interesting possibility that would make a good Wolf to be obsessed with the main character, Valerie, and the film did suggest that it could be going this way, but then it turned around and turned terrible and just plain sketchy. I won't give away who the Wolf is, but just know that you will NOT be happy about it.
The writing and dialogue was mediocre, at best, and a wider audience could have been reached -and freaked out- with some more graphic detail when considering those killed in the film. The audience could barely see them, and I truly believe that we would have been more scared or more psychologically freaked out if we could have seen these injuries.
There were so many cliches throughout the film that it was laughable, and some of the set pieces were a little too obviously fake. What was with the pointy-branched trees? Every single tree had branches that were all the same length with a big point at the end, no leaves or other branches on them. I was just..."whaaaa?"

After the movie, my best friend and I walked, talking about how terrible we thought it was, and we decided we should rewrite it the way it should be. This probably won't happen, because we are both busy with school, but if you do read this blog, you may be seeing some excerpts from a Red Riding Hood-inspired story up here every once in a while.

Thank you for reading,
Amy Liz

Spring Break Distractions, 2am Edition

Hello again,

So it's pretty late tonight, and I can't really get to sleep, so I'm chattin' with some people online, and listening to music (Avril Lavigne's new cd, Goodbye Lullaby -so far, so good) and reading some random fanfics.

Yes, I just said "fan fiction." I know I've done such a "great" job of hiding it, but I'm a geek. So anyway, I'm tired, and I'm basically rambling right now, so I thought I'd give out credits to my favorite fan fiction story, talk about my recent re-obsession with one of my favorite video games, and maybe talk about the books I plan of reading at some point this year.

First off, there's my favorite story about my favorite anime, Princess Tutu.
For the few people who do read this and don't know what Princess Tutu is, it's a twisted version of Swan Lake, the ballet, with a little duck that transforms into a girl and a "super hero" who's trying to save her crush, a fairytale prince, from an evil Raven that's trying to take over the town and kill the prince. It's amazing and adorable and it's storytelling at it's best. Check it out.
Anyway, the end of the show leaves faithful fans very unsatisfied concerning the relationship between the main character, Duck (Ahiru, if you're more into the Japanese version, despite ADV's fantastic dubbing) and the male lead, Fakir (not the prince). This fan fiction, This Pendent Heart: A Princess Tutu Fan-made Light Novel, by LunaSphere and Mangaka-chan is a continuation of the story from where the show left off, and it's incredibly well written and the characters are very true to their personalities from the show, and you really get the feeling that this could be an actual continuation of the show.
I love it, and I needed to gush about it.

After Kingdom Hearts, one of my favorite video games for the PlayStation 2 is Sly Cooper and it's respective sequels. Over break, I made it my mission to play the second game, Sly 2: Band of Thieves again, and it's a little "all consuming", if I'm just sitting there with nothing else to do all day. It's a huge, interactive world, and you can play as one of three characters, play out different missions and fight bosses and creepy cops and stuff...it's awesome. I like the second game a lot more than the first, but I think that's only because the first one was harder, and the third one was just a really bad story line, so I think Sly 2 is a good balance of easy play and good story.

Finally, I'll leave you with my book list for now until the end of the semester:
Red Riding Hood (based on the movie with Amanda Seyfreid)
Good Omens, by Neil Gaimon
Devil's Kiss, by Sarwat Chadda

Okay, I think that's it for tonight. I'm going to bed.
Thanks for reading,
Amy Liz

Spring Break Distractions, part two

Hello All,

I think I'm doing Spring Break wrong. I'm cold, I'm bored, and I'm not drunk right now, at 12:50 am on Thirsty Thursday. I'm more pathetic than I thought, I guess.

Thanks for reading about my pathetic little interlude,
Amy Liz

Spring Break Distractions, part one

Hey All,
So, I'm on Spring Break right now, and let me tell you, up where I am, it's not very "springy."
It's freaking cold.
Anyway, my goals for this break were three things:
-Clean my room
-Apply for jobs
-Do homework

Exciting, I know.
However, I don't know if any of that is going to happen as soon as I had hoped because...being home is distracting.
There's friends to see, errands to run, old movies to watch...again....
That's right, I'm rewatching old kid-movies during my Spring Break. I'm a loser. Whatever.

I just finished "The Secret of NIMH", and "The Swan Princess" is up next on my list, as a tribute to the soon-to-be-released "Black Swan," starring Natalie Portman (March 29, 2011).

It's not just old movies that I'm watching this vacation. Saturday night I saw Johnny Depp's newest movie, "Rango," and it was...interesting, to say the least. It wasn't really a kid's movie, like I expected. Instead the adult theme and western qualities of the film made it seem more like a Western disguised as a kid's movie. Good, but weird.

I also saw Rachel McAdam's latest film, "Morning Glory" the other night, and while it was a little cliched in terms of writing and a little weak in the story line, it was a decent representation in the duties and responsibilities of a television producer.

Okay, that's it for now,
Thanks for reading!
Amy Liz

YouTube

Hello All,
You wanna know what's really distracting?
YouTube.com

I saw a link to a video on my friend's Facebook wall, so I clicked it and was happily entertained for about four minutes, and just as I was about to click out of the window, YouTube suggested other videos of similar quality for me to watch.
And I did.
I've been watching Tobuscus's "Literal Trailer" videos for about 30 minutes now. I have homework to be doing. And it's not getting done. Thank you, Tobuscus.

What's distracting me from my work?

Hello there,

It's a cold but sunny day here in Boston, so that in itself is a distraction from all of the work I should be doing right now.  The janky grit-covered snow is almost completely melted from the sidewalks and curbs, it doesn't get dark until 5:30 pm now, and you can ALMOST not see the puff of breath in front of your face! Who wouldn't want to just run out into the Boston Commons and spin around singing "THE HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF TRAFFIC!" like Julie Andrews in that musical about the Brady Bunch and the Nazis?

As tempting as that is, however, I'm restraining myself from that particular adventure until the snow in the Commons in completely melted. Right now I've still got my hands full juggling my work and my other distractions, haha.

Distraction #5: Pandora Radio
Have you ever used this website? It's a radio where you just type in a song or an artist that you like, and the site creates a radio station just for you, based on that one song or artist! You can add variety to it so that you've got two or three or eight different genres of music playing alternately on your radio, and you can skip the songs you've heard just too much or the ones you just plain HATE. (Don't try that last part too often, though, 'cause the site can't skip more than 10 songs per station thanks to licensing issues). Anyway, trying to work as songs keep changing without any sort of order can be very distracting, especially if you don't know the song and want to get its stats -no need to google it, though, because Pandora has the scoop on all of the songs it plays for you!

Distraction #4: MacBook Changing Backgrounds
I'm not a tech freak, so I got a little over-excited when I found out that my laptop has a feature that allows me to change my background screen...every FIVE MINUTES!! Well, I wait fifteen minutes, but it can change every minute, if you wanted it to. When my friend told me this, I made a HUGE folder of pretty pictures for my computer to use to change my backgrounds to, and every since I did, I have provided myself a small distraction every fifteen minutes or so, because when I realize that the screen has changed, I can't control my impulse to see what the new picture is! So every quarter of an hour, I stop whatever I'm doing and I minimize whatever I have open, be it homework, work, or Facebook. Nothing is safe from the changing backgrounds!

Distraction #3: Facebook
If you don't have one, DON'T get one! It's such a waste of time, and it's so distracting, but I can't help it. I know it's bad, but I will probably never get rid of it, either. Check your friends' status', change your own, play games, "stalk" the hot guy on your from down the hall, whatever! The possibilities are pretty much endless, and I hear there's more coming. God, I don't know how anyone gets any work done with Facebook around.

Distraction #2: Online Games

I LOVE playing online games like Plants vs Zombies or Text Twist. They are just so all-encompassing, and they require a medium amount of your attention, so you could still hold a conversation while battling a horde of brain-eating zombies trying to get to your front door. But don't think that you can do anything that requires REAL concentration! That's where the distraction level kicks in with these, because if you leave that page, or open up another window for a SECOND, then BAM! The zombies are in your house and have eaten your brains. You can't do anything while you've got your games up, and they're so engrossing, that you don't really want to, anyway.

Distraction #1: StumbleUpon.com

This is bad. But amazing. I just went on Stumble, intending to be on there for a second, and the next thing I know, it's twenty minutes and 18 sites later. When you create a Stumble account, you mark a bunch of categories and interests that you like, and the Mother-Cite finds outside websites that are associated with the things that you marked as you being interested in. For example, I marked that I liked animals. You wouldn't BELIEVE all of the videos of cats and dogs doing the cutest things that StumbleUpon has put on my computer. It even gave me a website called catsinsinks.com. All it has is hundreds of pictures of cats in kitchen sinks, bathroom sinks, tubs, whatever. That's it! It's amazing, and if I go on Stumble at any point in the night, I know I'm not getting any work done any time soon.

So thanks for reading!

Amy Liz