Why I hate Phoenix, Arizona

I know I promised an update on the Fourth Annual Quidditch World Cup that took place this past weekend in NYC, but I ended up getting exciting news on Tuesday of this week:

I was being flown out to California for an interview with a company that was considering hiring me for the summer!

So...naturally I got sidetracked. Between the two exams, homework assignment, and 12 page lab report, I didn't have time to write about Quidditch.

Oh and this entry? Being typed from my hotel room in CALIFORNIA! Yep! I'm already out here! The email I got Tuesday? It said I needed to be here (San Carlos/Menlo Park*) by today. So here I am!

Anyway, I had to be in California by 3pm PST. This meant that I had to leave Pittsburgh at ridiculous o'clock**. Shock #1 was getting to the airport and finding out that I forgot to book a checked bag with my flight***, so I had to pay $25 to put a tiny duffel inside of the big plane. WTF.

Then, I managed to get through security perfectly fine only to find out a guy from the company I was interviewing with was ON MY FREAKING FLIGHT (Shock #2). What in the HECK?!

Once I got on board, I found out I had a center seat, even though I asked for either window or aisle. No such luck. And I was between two very, very large men, who didn't understand the concept of shoulder room (Shock #3). I didn't sleep much on the flight.

I had unintelligently decided my pre-flight breakfast would be hash browns and a sweet tea from McDonald's. It hit me partway through the flight to Phoenix that I really had to go to the bathroom, but could not wake up overly-large-man to move and let me out. Oh well. I'd wait it out.

My original layover time was about 7 minutes. Enough to get me off the plane and near my next gate when the plane started boarding. My plane arrived in Phoenix almost an hour early. Huzzah! I think, now I have an hour layover!

Wrong. So very wrong.

It turns out another plan was in our arrival gate. And it sucked at leaving on time. We landed at 9:25am. We were supposed to get the gate by 9:55am. At 10:10am the other plane finally left our gate, but then a bunch of planes weren't moving because, for whatever reason, there was a freaking FREEZE of movement of planes at the gate (Shock #4). My boarding time for my connecting flight to California was 10:20am.

FINALLY at 10:20am our plane docks at the gate. At this point I make a mad rush out of the plane and start speed walking**** to my gate.

Oh and by the way. We arrived in gate A25, I needed to be at gate B26. Which was about a half-mile away. Eff.

So I'm speed walking to my gate, barreling past old ladies who move slow and stupid men on cell phones who move slower. I rush past the last bathroom on my way to the gate, at which point it's already 10:37am. My plane departs at 10:50am and it was on time.

I skip the bathroom and run up to my gate. Right when I get there, they announced that I needed to board.

Relief! Sweet sweet relief! Except not. That sweet tea was mocking me. "HEY RITA YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM BECAUSE OF ME HA HA HA"

Curse you, sweet tea. You and your sadistic ways.

So, I'm stuck in a middle seat again (am I surprised? no.) and the second the seat belt sign comes undone I see like 4 people trying to get to the bathroom. NO WAY SUCKERS. I force the guy next to me to get up and run to the back, finally reaching a bathroom.

Once my bathroom and connecting flight ordeal were done, I only had one problem left. The nagging worry that, although my human body had sprinted a half-mile to my departure gate, my little duffel bag had gotten mixed up with other bags and NEVER LEFT PHOENIX.

This nagged and nagged at me. When we landed in San Jose, I ran down to baggage claim and anxiously waited and waited and waited for my little duffel to appear. Finally, after what seemed like every one else's bag had come up on the belt, my little bright-blue duffel appeared! HALLELUJAH!

From there, things seemed freaking FANTASTIC. My pre-reserved van didn't have any other passengers, so my driver took me straight to my hotel, having a great discussion about the show "Cash Cab", airport security, and why the news sucks. He also referred to me as "my friend" every minute or so. It was kind of awesome.

Since then, I checked into my hotel, had a relaxing time checking email and surfing the net*****, and got ready for my dinner.

Turns out there were about 15 people who had been flown out to California. At dinner, which was really REALLY delicious, I got a chance to talk to a bunch of them. We ranged in studies from juniors in undergrad to post-PhD students. Everyone was incredibly nice and intelligent, and we all had really funny stories to tell.

Now I have a full day tomorrow: tours of the engineering facilities, meals, and interviews.

But, even though things turned out okay, I will never, EVER, stop hating Phoenix, Arizona. Because while I may be able to one day forgive it for this airport fiasco, I will never EVER forgive it for spawning the character "Bella Swan".

Until I'm in Pittsburgh again!

--R.

*It's really close to Cupertino/Apple/Google and about 1 hour from San Francisco

**I woke up at 3:30am and was waiting for a bus at 4:15am. YUCK.

***Why the heck is this a requirement now? Paying for bags is dumb. This is why I love SouthWest.

****Really it was just gracefully slow running. Like when you give up on running the mile but still want to look like you're putting in effort? That.

*****Relaxing? Just kidding. The first thing I read was an email from my lab TA saying I had to add more discussion to the report I turned in, and it had to be done before I went to dinner. Fantastic!

Writing a novel?!

So, I kind of like to write.

I don't get to do it very often, mostly because I'm working on homework, in class, or distracted by the internet (and occasionally because I have a life*). But, this year I am more determined than ever to complete the great writing challenge known as:

National Novel Writing Month**
aka NaNoWriMo

I've attempted two times in the past (that I remember) and both times I gave up very early on. The idea is that you spend the entire month of November, and November only, writing a 50,000 word (at least) original story! Last year I got up to 8,000-ish words before I accidentally deleted almost all of it and gave up.

This year, I'm already at 11,500 words! And I'm almost caught up on meeting my normal daily word count of 1,667 words a day!***

Anyway, that was my plug for my ability to do NaNoWriMo. My point for writing this post, really, is to talk about motivation, and what it takes to get me to write****.

I come up with a lot of stories. A lot of them are pretty well developed in terms of plot and character, but many of them never escape my brain to be written down. My major problem is that I always get ahead of myself in my head. I imagine "Oh this is the beginning of the story and this is how it goes OH MY GOODNESS this scene I just imagined would be great but it doesn't come in until further in the story."

Essentially, I imagine a bunch of scenes from different points in the story that I think are brilliant, and then have to go back and write all the connecting parts so that I actually have something coherent. Those connecting parts are the hardest for me.

And so, I try to help myself write. Sometimes, I'll spend the day imagining the scenes I want to write. What exactly do I want to happen? And not just a general plot, but I'll actually envision the scene like I'm watching a movie, mostly on silent, but every now and then a phrase or part of conversation will pop into my head that I know I want to include.

It helps doing these "exercises" so to speak, for me, because it allows me to be creative in my head and then just take everything I've thought up, and transfer it to the document I'm writing on. Because there is nothing more daunting than a blank screen and the blinking cursor staring back at you while you try to write.

And, I guess that's what I want everyone to know. If you're having trouble writing, or transferring thoughts, or whatever, give yourself some time to think first. Imagine your story, watch it in your head, and then write down what you think would naturally happen. Don't try to force something out without the creative juices flowing! You can't make literary lemonade that way!*****

I better end it there, I've still got 3,000+ words to write tonight to catch up, plus Darren Criss is on Glee and I am not missing that for the world!

Off to writing-dom!

--R.

*I can't believe I had to use the adjective "occasionally"

**Website here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/

***Except I'm behind, because guess how much I wrote today! (Hint: 0)

****For instance, it took me three days to write this post

*****I should be banned from making analogies. I apologize for that one.

Sane people in an insane time of fear

That title was on purpose.

This past weekend I traveled to my "hometown" of Washington, D.C. with my closest friends to attend Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert's "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear". It was a crazy, great, fun time, but I have been seriously messed up in terms of my sleep schedule since then*.
Anyways, the great thing about this rally was how awesome everyone was. No one shouted or yelled (angrily, at least), and everyone was super polite.

Oh and the people themselves? Some of the best costumes I had ever seen. This guy:

is the best Joaquin Phoenix impersonator ever. It was great that he just kind of stood around awkward talking to no one. Really cracked me up.

I also got to see Dr. Horrible:

who was also awesome, even if he did have a Ph.D. in horribleness.

The rally itself was insane, there were so many unrelated-yet-cool people there! Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters did some experiments, Sam Waterson from Law & Order read a poem, Yusef and Ozzy Osborne had a song-off, Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow performed a never-heard-before song...

Rally aside, I got to spend some quality time (both in and out of the car) with my friends, which I really enjoyed. PLUS, the weather looked like this:

all weekend! Can you ask for a more perfect Halloween weekend**?!

On a more serious note, we did end up spending the night at my house because no one was in any condition to drive back to school from DC. This meant I got to be home! For all of about 12 hours! It was both nice and kind of sad. Nice because I got to sleep in my own bed and briefly see my parents. Sad because I had to acknowledge that I had to go back to school and wouldn't be home again until Thanksgiving.

I do think going home has made me slightly homesick (which normally doesn't happen). I think it's partially due to not being home much all of last school year and this past summer.

Anyway, we got back to school and I got to meet my roommate's family, finally! They've been here for the past couple days, and just left to go to the airport this morning.

There aren't too many exciting things happening for the next few days, I might go camping out in the mountains this weekend, but the next big event will be when I travel to NYC to attend the Fourth Annual Quidditch World Cup. I am so excited!

Until then, stay sane and avoid fear!

--R.

*Friday I woke up at 7:45am for class. I went to sleep at 1:00am and woke up again at 3:00am Saturday to drive down to DC at 4. Then I stayed up again until 12:30am and woke up at 9:00am Sunday to get ready to leave DC. Then classes happened. Needless to say I feel a bit zombie-like still.
**This could only be more perfect if I had managed to wear my Katara Halloween outfit and gone people watching in Towers Lobby. My actual Halloween night was pretty awesome though.

The Travel Blog of No-Traveling

I am astounded by the number of friends I have that have had (or will have, or are having) the incredible experience of studying abroad. Studying abroad is something that I have always wanted to do, but probably will not due to super strict Engineering schedules and mega expensive summer study costs*.

Anyway, these friends all have one thing in common (other than studying abroad). They all had study abroad blogs.

Every. Single. Person.

And the thing that really amazes me isn't the blogs at all. I mean, sure those are cool and nifty and a fun way to see what sort of things they do abroad, but, why don't they do that at school too?

So many people end up doing crazy cool things at school and you almost never get to see or hear about it.

Also, how many people would love to see pictures and read about things that happen on their own campus? It's kind of like rediscovering all the things that make college cool.

I've decided I'm going to do that with Pitt. I'm going to blog about the things I do and the people I meet as if I was experiencing Pitt for the first time (kind of)**. It'll be a way for other people to see and experience Pitt from wherever they are too (which, after all, is the idea behind a travel blog).

Plus, this will inspire me to put up pictures, finally, which is something I've been promising to do for a while!

So, I can't wait to get started. I can't wait to show you Pittsburgh: the good, the bad, and the downright crazy***. And to hang you over until the first entry of the No-Traveling blog, here is a picture of what campus looks like right now****:

Here's to Pittsburgh!

--R.

*I was recently accepted to study abroad in Australia for 6 weeks. The program would cover 6 credits of Engineering classes (that could go towards my degree) but would also cost a whopping $11,000. That's how much I pay for a semester of class , which is 15 weeks and 18 credits.
**Study Abroad in Pittsburgh! (How glamorous).
***Pittsburgh can be really fucking crazy. I'm not even kidding.
****This picture was actually taken a year ago. On my phone. But it was taken at roughly the same time (Late October/Early November) so campus really does look like this right now. Also, can you even tell we're in semi-urban Pittsburgh? Didn't think so!

Instant Gratification

Two posts in two days?!

Don't get too cozy though! Who knows when I'll remember to update next :P

Anyways, the topic of today's post is: instant gratification.

I recently (in the past year) started getting a bit more serious about my photography. At least, serious enough to create a Flickr account that I actually used*. Every time I posted new photos to my account, I wanted to see if anyone had looked at it. Had anyone commented?

Had anyone even noticed that I put up photos?!

One day earlier this semester I came across the term "instant gratification". The idea (in the context I read it) is that we post something online: a picture, status update, blog post, whatever, and instantly want some sort of response for the thing we have just posted.

I realized that this was happening every time I posted a picture on Flickr. I wanted to stop myself from doing this and attempted to become patient instead. I tried to stop clicking the refresh button on my page over and over again until a statistic changed, showing that finally someone had at least viewed one of my photos. But I still haven't mastered patience that much yet.

I still hit refresh every couple of minutes on my Flickr page until I am sufficiently satisfied that someone has appreciated my photos. However, I do acknowledge to myself the ridiculousness that I am fueling by doing this.

I hope to someday remove instant gratification from my mentality completely. I mean, when I take a photo, I'm not thinking about what other people will think. When I'm editing my photos, I'm not thinking about how many people will look at it. It's only when I bother to upload them to Flickr or Facebook, when I bother to share them with other people, that I worry that other people don't want me to share with them.

So, when I really think about it, is it instant gratification I'm worried about, or is reassurance that I'm not doing this all in vain?

I suppose it's something I'll have to keep thinking about, especially as I attempt to blog more often.

Meanwhile, I'm gonna sit here, eat fudge, and maybe watch some TV!

--R.

*If you want to feed my neurotic disease, here's a link to my Flickr account! - http://SEEE.it/emn

Music Memory

Do you ever listen to a song and it reminds you of a specific time or event in your life? This happens to me really often, especially when I decide to put my iPod on shuffle and listen to everything that pops up.

Last year, around the beginning of December, I decided that I needed to listen to new music. But not new in the sense that I go get new music, but new songs I already owned. I mean, I had over 10 gigs of musical material and I probably only listened to 1 or 2 on a regular basis. The way I would find new songs was that I set my entire musical library to shuffle, and every time something played that I really liked, I stuck it in a new folder that I called "Discovery".

I decided on "Discovery" because it was music that I "discovered" that I already owned and liked a lot, but never would have listened to without the help of iTunes Shuffle.

My computer crashed last January and due to laziness, I had never actually copied the Discovery playlist to my iPod. However, I did make a bunch of CDs which I had given away.

All except one.

I recently found that CD, and I had made a cover for that listed all the songs on the CD. I went through iTunes, found all the songs, and recreated my Discovery playlist.

I'm listening to it right now and it's pretty strange*. When I created Discovery last December, I would listen to it ALL. THE. TIME. But then my computer crashed in January and I lost the songs. So the playlist has a really specific time frame of memories for me: December 2009.

That time was filled with the post-Thanksgiving crunch and the rush to finals and going home for winter break. I can distinctly remember many nights of staying up late to finish papers, wandering the floors of the Cathedral looking for rooms, and waking up early to trudge to Benedum to take an exam.

I remember playing Discovery over and over and over again on my computer. Blasting it in my room when I was alone or with headphones on if my roommate was there. I remember singing along to all my new songs and working through difficult assignments while the wind blew outside and the sky turned dark.

Mostly, I remember laughing and hanging out with friends. Studying in the Cathedral or grabbing hot chocolate at a coffee shop. Making Ginger Bread houses or watching a movie in someone's room. Staying up late watching music videos and getting a last lunch in before our first long break apart.

Music Memory for me is an amazing thing. By listening to a song or a playlist, I can instantly start to remember events and memories that I had long forgotten or ignored. It allows me to become nostalgic and yet content as I play a video in my mind of all the things that I have done.

I guess listening to Discovery and writing this right now did just that: brought back a bunch of memories of things that happened almost a year ago at this point. And it's interesting to see how much has changed and what stays the same. And sometimes I wish I could go back and live everything again because it seemed so perfect and happy.

It's weird to think I'm already half-way through this semester. In exactly 4 weeks I'll be home for Thanksgiving break, sitting in my bedroom, probably watching something on my computer or just browsing the internet.

And before I know it, I won't even be in college anymore. And then what?

I don't want to think too far ahead. The end of college is almost as far away as the beginning of college was. And that's a weird thought for me.

So I guess I'll just leave it at that, and visit those worries another time.

But, I invite all of you to revisit a playlist that you associate with a particular time. What do you think now? Do you even like the music anymore? And what kind of memories and emotions do you feel now?

Until next time!

--R.

*If you would like to listen to Discovery, go here**: http://LNK.by/edsne
**Clicking on the link downloads a zip file from my Dropbox that contains all the songs in order!

The last of the 30 letters! (Finally!)

So, remember how I said I wouldn't remember to write all these letters? Whoops. Anyways, I was sitting here, not understanding my Energetics practice exam, and I decided, since I didn't want to do any more work, I would finish up these letters instead! GREAT plan!*

--

Day 20: The one that broke your heart the hardest

Dear creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender,

Thanks for making such an AMAZING show! The Book 3 finale had me tearing up in the library. Sometimes a show really can take the viewer on this emotional journey, and even though I watched most of the show quickly, I felt a sense of loss at the end of the series.

--

Day 21: Someone you judged by your first impression

Dear girl who is CLEARLY breaking the leggings-as-pants rule,

Ew. No. Stop.

Burning my eyeballs in liquid metal,

Me.

--

Day 22: Someone you want to give a second chance to

Dear girl who was CLEARLY breaking the leggings-as-pants rule,

I *want* to give you a second chance. But your leggings. They were jeggings. And they had a fake zipper sewn onto them. So...no.

Still burning my eyeballs in liquid metal,

Me.

--

Day 23: The Last Person you kissed

Dear Mom,

Sigh.**

--

Day 24: The person that gave you your favorite memory

Dear Yorkies,

We are an incredible group of individuals that respect and care for each other. More importantly, you guys really showed me how to have fun again, especially after such a rough first year at Pitt. Specifically, we survived a serial killer attack at the beach*** and returned to have a wonderful start of summer. So thanks. For everything.

--

Day 25: The person you know that is going through the worst of times

Dear Christine O'Donnell,

It must be really hard to hide the fact that you are a witch. How many spells did it take?

--

Day 26: The last person you made a pinky promise to

Dear Childhood friend,

Since I can't even remember what it was we promised, I suppose the promise was kept? Maybe?

--

Day 27: The friendliest person you knew for one day

Dear family from New Jersey who we hung out with when we were stranded at the airport in Jamaica for a full day,

Thanks for being so optimistic. And making fun of stupid people with me. Although the little kid didn't need to kick my seat the entire flight home.That was excessive.****

--

Day 28: Someone that changed your life

Dear Duff Goldman,

Thanks for showing how awesome baking can be. And also how much fun cakes are. Bakers Unite!

--

Day 29: The person I want to tell everything to, but am too afraid to

Dear Europe*****,

I like you, but I don't think you like me. So, I'll just sit here and keep liking you secretly until it goes away and I move on to the next person.

--

Day 30: Your reflection in the mirror

Girrrrrrrl, Dat hair make you look like Medusa right now! Fix that shit up!

--

So there you have it! I finished the 30 letter challenge (although it took MUCH longer than 30 days!) and can now move on to greater topics like my hate of UGGs (more like UGHs) and my OBSESSION WITH ALAN RICKMAN.

Ahem. What? Who said that?

Stalking Alan Rickman,

R.

*I might fail this exam. Luckily so will half the class. No sweat!
**The fact that that letter was to my mom only emphasizes how much I need to go on a date. PLEASE. DATE ME. DATE ME. BUT DON'T BE CREEPY!
***Seriously. It was dark and foggy and creepy and then our power went out. O_O
****Our plane got delayed and delayed and delayed to the point where we stayed overnight. The next day on the flight home, this kid would just constantly kick the back of my chair. Why? I don't know. I *do* know that it was annoying as fuck.
*****This nickname is one I came up with recently. It's actually a double-coded nickname (a reference to a code name). I figure it's gotten so obscure no one will know who I refer to when I say Europe. Heh.

Days 8-30 challenge

So, in my ingeniousness, I kind of....forgot to do the rest of my letter challenges. I'm sorry! Between moving home, moving to college, starting college, and having tests, I've been busy! My new (redefined?) challenge for the remaining days is to do one sentence (or similarly short) letters for all the remaining days. WHAT?! YES! HERE WE GO!

--

Day 8: Your favorite internet friend

Dear Twitter,

The whole reason I joined, really, was to make sure that these people I barely knew hadn't been killed. Or arrested. You know which one is worse.*

--

Day 9: Someone you wish you could meet

Alan Rickman,

This is Alan Rickman. Calling...Alan Rickman. Reminding you to move the pork chops from the freezer to the refrigerator so they defrost properly. Do NOT disappoint me...**

You get the idea. *suggestive eye brow*

--

Day 10: Someone you don't talk to as much as you'd like to

Dear person,

Your phone sucks. It's hindering our non-existent relationship. :P

--

Day 11: A deceased person you wish you could talk to

So, Mr. Feynman,

Were or weren't you joking?

--

Day 12: The person I hate most

Hey, assholes from Middle School,

FUCK YOU! *cue Cee Lo Green*

--

Day 13: Someone you wish could forgive you

Dear Mrs. Davis,

Sorry I quit piano. It was either that or fail school. So. Ya know.

AZN NERDZ LULZ.***

--

Day 14: Someone you've drifted away from

Hey you (yeah you, the one not listening!),

You don't really talk to me anymore. And I'm quite okay with that actually.

--

Day 15: The person you miss the most

Imaginary Friends,

When you give up on them. Do you give up on imagination?

I think I liked being crazy!

--

Day 16: Someone not in my state/country

Dear Gaspard Ulliel****,

You, Me, and a hot cup of tea? By which I mean babies?

--

Day 17: Someone from your childhood

Dear Ms. Hartt,

Thanks for letting me do whatever the hell I wanted all year. Best. Grade. EVER.

*runs outside during Math class to draw Harry Potter pictures*

--

Day 18: The person I wish I could be

Dear Emma Watson,

Let's trade lives. Because you're amazing and gorgeous. And my eyebrows could use a workout.

--

Day 19: Someone that pesters my mind (either good or bad)

Dear Newton,

Thanks for inventing your three laws. And thereby causing the basis of all the pain I endure in college. Damn youuuuuuuuuuu.

--

Okay so that wasn't letters 8-30. Because, in retrospect, that is a lot of letters. And I obviously always keep up with what I promise at the beginning of a post.*****

ANYways, the rest of the letters (20-30), should be up...probably tomorrow. As I procrastinate studying for my quiz and test on Wednesday (gah).

Toodle-loo!

--Rita

*If you caught the reference for this, you win 50 awesome points
**If you haven't seen this, go here and enjoy: http://WACH.it/ejf
***Found this gem today. Couldn't stop laughing: http://SEEE.it/ekQ
****Please drool over this guy with me. Only not too much 'CAUSE HE'S MINE! http://LNK.by/ecJFm

*****If you believe this, please also believe that you should give me lots of money. Or make me cake. Preferably cheesecake.

The Pre-Snape days...

So, letter 7 of the 30-day, 30-letter challenge is written to an ex-crush.

Basically, you'll get to see what my life was like before I became Snape-obsessed.

--

Dear Sir Neal of Queenscove,

So, I kinda sorta maybe use to have a huuuuuuge literary crush on you. Like, so crazy my friends drew pictures of what they thought you should look like for me so that I could drool over them in science class*.

But anyway. You inspired me! I actually broke away from my dress-as-a-Harry-Potter-character Halloween tradition one year to dress as your best friend, Kel!

I suppose for the sake of backtracking, I should explain your history:

In the middle of the release of all the Harry Potter novels, I became attached to another female novelist (this one was very pro-feminine protagonists) called Tamora Pierce. She wrote mostly medieval fantasy fictions where women were the strong characters (female knights, powerful half-gods, etc.). My favorite series, The Protector of the Small, chronicled the story of a noble girl, Kel of Mindelan, who decided to be the first publicly known girl to train to be a knight after a law passed allowing for that.

Anyways, it follows her throughout the years and more importantly...FEATURES NEAL! Yayyy. He plays a good-guy in this novel, Kel's best friend, who is actually 4 years older than her because he went to healing school first and was then like "Aw fuck it! Knight time!"**.

So that's the back story.

Back to Neal.

I loved you. Seriously. You were awesome and magical and sarcastic yet witty! THE PERFECT COMBINATION!***And I was really, REALLY into you. Back when it was cool to be into fictional knights of a fictional kingdom and fictional time.

But, you know, then Harry Potter started getting big again, with more movies being released, the books getting longer, more intricate, and better.

And, I kind of gave up on you. Tamora Piece had basically finished with Tortall (the kingdom) and I was never going to hear from you again.

And so, being the wishy-washy 12 year-old that I was, I just, gave up. Discovered fanfiction. Fell in love with Cassandra Clare and Draco Malfoy--

Oh whoops. That's a whole 'nother story!

--Me

--

And that's an abridged version of my obsession with my pre-Snape crush. I mean, I could go into more detail about the drooling in science class, or the way I doodled his name everywhere, or how he inspired my yahoo email****, but, I won't.

Tomorrow's Letter: Your favorite internet friend. Teaser: "And the whole reason I joined, really, was to make sure that these people I barely knew hadn't been killed. Or arrested. You know which one is worse."

Yep. I'm going a bit broad with tomorrow's letter, but I feel like it'll work out better that way!

--R.

* Under-exaggeration. Seriously.
**Except maybe not quite as profane
***Guess who ELSE is awesome, magical, sarcastic, and witty. Go on. Guess.
****I still use this email to this day! Also inspired a huge fan fiction that exists only in my head. Sigh.

Dear You...

Today is day 6 of the 30-day, 30-letter challenge! Today's letter is actually a compilation of short letters to various strangers I have unfortunately encountered recently.

You'll also notice that this is particularly short compared to most letters.

A- I'm tired and want to go to sleep

B- I'm lazy*

Here is letter 6!

--

Dear Mom at Starbucks,

I know Starbucks doesn't just serve coffee, but seriously? Your 3 year-old doesn't need an iced tea from here. What happened to Juicy Juice?

--Me.

Dear girl whose zebra print bra I can clearly see,

Stop being a ho. Stabbing my eyes with a coffee stirrer.

--Me.

Dear guy at Starbucks** whose boxers I've unfortunately been staring at because you're right in front of me,

Ew.

--Me

Dear girl who just walked into the Concrete Box***,

Your purple transition lens glasses are silly.

--Me

Dear creepy old man who works at the grocery store,

You look like a child molester. Please go fix that.

--Me

--

So there you go! A collection of short letters to the strangers I encounter and why they make me channel Cicero and say "O Tempora! O Mores! O SHIT!"****

Tomorrow's letter is to my ex-love/crush. Teaser: "And I was really, REALLY into you. Back when it was cool to be into fictional knights of a fictional kingdom and fictional time."

Oh yes. I am referring to a pre-Snape era! You'll want to know about my former obsession(s), I promise!

--R.

*And, really, are you surprised?
**A lot of these letters take place at Starbucks, actually. Because I see a lot of horrifying things there, unfortunately.
***I work in a lab with one door and no windows. And shit cell service. I therefore dubbed it the "Concrete Box"
****Translation: "Oh the times! Oh the customs! OH SHIT!"

Evil cups of coffee

I am 1/6th of the way through the 30-day, 30-letter challenge!

Today's letter is made out to my dreams, and by way of association, my subconscious.

--

Dear Subconscious,

I get it. Dreams are the easy and imaginative way for us to sift through our deepest, darkest thoughts while also resting ourselves up to take on the day. But sometimes I feel like you go from "normal" to "hyped on on waaaaay to much caffeine and OH MY GOD A BUTTERFLY".

Just like that.

Some of my dreams are really normal: I go to school and forget my homework. I go to school and forget to wear clothes. I forget to go to school.*

And then, then there are the other ones.

My most prominent memory of a dream where I woke up and my first thought was "WTF SUBCONSCIOUS?!" goes as follows:

I was in my room in my apartment and my window overlooks the back door. I had three friends trying to get in, but one was actually an evil wizard. Through the magic of my subconscious, the two good friends get in the door and I am left staring at the evil one out my window. But wait! The evil one turns into a cup of coffee before my eyes. And, as if that wasn't weird enough, the steam from that cup of coffee rises up into my room through the crack in my window, turning back into the evil one.

Well, shit. Who saw that coming?

So, I precede to do the first logical** thing I can think of and simply run out of my room into the living room. While sitting on the couch, now unfazed about the evil one, who seems to have been thwarted by my ingenious change of rooms, a pigeon flies through the skylight in the room and starts stealing my school supplies. I freak out, not because a pigeon just flew in, but because said pigeon is stealing my homework. Of course, in my infinite laziness, I do nothing but freak out from my position on the couch. The pigeon, somehow sensing my distraught-ness, comes back into the room and begins to have a conversation with me.

I think this is completely normal***. At the end of the conversation, he drops of my things that he took (not knowing it was my homework). At this point we proceed to go on an underwater Spongebob-Sqaurepants-themed amusement park ride, that is actually my couch.

That's right. I never left my couch and this all happened.

Anyways, subconscious. I think you get the idea. You need to shape up, and become slightly more normal! PLEASE! My friends are starting to get worried that I'm taking drugs before I go to bed (or that I'm taking drugs and not going to bed but just think I am). Because it's really not okay to think that your friend can turn into an evil cup of coffee and enter your room through a window as steam. Luckily the talking pigeon helped.

Wishing I could control you and make up my own dreams,

Me.

--

Hopefully you found that retelling of one of my most vivid-yet-bizarre dreams as hilarious as I do. Tomorrow's letter is to a stranger. This one has actually been in the writing a little, but here is a snippet: "Dear guy at Starbucks whose boxers I've unfortunately been staring at because you're right in front of me, Ew."

Woohoo! You want to see this rant against humanity! Or the lack thereof, as the case may be.

--R.

*These normally occur right around the due date of an important assignment

**And by logical I mean stupid
***See above

Spontaneous Generation

Day 4 of the 30-day, 30-letter challenge is upon us! In this letter, I write to my sister...and all of her belongings.

--

Dear Sis,

We need to talk, you and I. It's about your stuff. Your mounds of stuff. You have so much stuff hiking it would be an accomplishment greater than hiking Mount Everest.

Seriously. Where does this come from? Every year I help you move in and out of your college living location, and every year you magically manage to amass more crap in a smaller square footage. It's terrifying. Like Godzilla.

And let's be honest. Godzilla is fucking terrifying. Think of how scared all those Japanese people were. I bet at least one person peed their pants. YOU HAVE SO MUCH STUFF SOMEONE MIGHT PEE THEIR PANTS IN TERROR*.

But seriously. Let's talk about down grading. How about packing only what you need. Essentials. Basics.

And that may be difficult for you, I know, with your three suitcases, three boxes, a duffel bag, some trash bags, and a backpack full of clothes**. But how about, maybe, shocker!, you pack by the season?

In the summer, take down the clothes that you need until Fall Break. Then, switch out some summery clothes for some fall-wear to last you until Thanksgiving. Then bring back all your summer dresses that, let's be honest, you probably only wore two of them that one time you went to a bar-be-que at a friend's house but you left early cause they made burgers and you don't eat beef.

You get the idea.

So, next time you want help moving out, don't look this way. And even if you do, I'll still be digging myself out of the pile of stuff that I helped take home last year.

Oh, by the way, do you want this blue shirt? Cause I like it, and I bet you won't miss it? Oh you will? Oh too bad. It's mine.

Your movin' on and out sister,

Me.

--

And there it is. A short and simple letter.

Tomorrow's letter is to my dreams. Teaser: "And it's really not okay to think that your friend can turn into an evil cup of coffee and enter your room through a window as steam. Luckily the talking pigeon helped."

You want to read that letter. Trust me.

--R.

*Slight exaggeration
**Notice how I only mentioned clothes? Don't even get me started on the REST of her stuff...

Remember that one time...

It's day 3 of the 30-day, 30-letter challenge! Today's letter is to...The Rents!

--

Dear Rents,

Remember that one time I beat up my sister and then cried and she got in trouble? I was so smart as a kid! I shouldn't be gloating about tricks like that to you.

And I should probably apologize to my sister, but that's another story.

Somehow, I have defied death and punishment from you guys.

Example A:

My sister, soon after I was born, decided she had had enough of me getting all the attention. One day, while my mom was cooking in the kitchen, she grabbed me by my wrists and I was lying there being cute and adorable and totally awesome* and started dragging me to the open window of our apartment. Luckily**, our neighbor Maria happened to be walking by and noticed my sister attempting to throw me out a window. Running in and saving the day, she alerted my mom about the near-tragedy-to-rival-Hamlet and, to my knowledge, my sister got in no trouble. But, I survived to achieve my next greatest feat.

Example B:

We were driving to Michigan to go to a cousin's graduation party. Partway through the trip we were hit by a speeding car on the highway not once, not twice, but multiple times. At this point I was FUCKING DEFENESTRATED***. I flew out the back side window, managing not to get cut on the glass, landed somewhere close by on the grass, and the worst thing that happened to me was that I lost a shoe. Seriously. I don't think I can get more BAMF than SURVIVING DEFENESTRATION.

Example C:

And then I grew up! Kinda! Somewhere between defying death multiple times, going to a photo shoot for the cover of a nationally circulated magazine, finding a cure for cancer****, and going to college, I think I grew up.

Okay so maybe I'm not THAT cool.

But you know what? No one can live down two defenestration tales.

NO ONE.

So. Thanks for keeping me alive, somehow. I know in your heads, you're just dying to see my next great feat!

Love,

Your fantastically-awesome-and-so-much-better-than-her-sister daughter.

--

So there you have it! Two tales that I love to tell (can you find a common theme?), along with a few tidbits about how FREAKING AMAZING I am. Ahem.

Tomorrow's letter is to my sister. Teaser: "And every year you magically manage to amass more crap in a smaller square footage. It's terrifying. Like Godzilla."

Woohoo! I know you can't wait to see this letter!

--R.

*This may be a slight exaggeration

**I'm sure my sister feels differently. In fact, she tells me so often.
***This makes a great conversation starter. Expletive included.

****Not necessarily true

Dear Professor Snape...

In my 30-day, 30-letter challenge. Day 2 is to write a letter to your crush.

--

Dear Professor Snape,

I don't know when our relationship began. Some time between me learning who Harry-bloody-Potter was and holy-shit-fanfiction, I fell in love with you.

You're misunderstood. And not in a "Oh you wanted water with ice? I forgot the ice!" kind of misunderstood. More like, "Ohhh you speak Parselmouth we just thought you were loony so we locked you up in St. Mungo's" kind of misunderstood.

I'm sorry for what you've dealt with. Between Dumbledore and Voldemort, it's hard for you to get back to me, I understand.

The thing is, Alan-the-man-with-the-sexy-voice-and-oh-dear-god-is-he-REALLY-64-Rickman defined you. He turned you from a sneering, heartless bastard to a sexy beast.

Well, part sexy beast. You're still part sneering, heartless, bastard-teacher, excuse me, "Professor".

But it's okay. Because I still love you. My computer wallpaper was you. I have drawings of you on my door at home. And at school? I might kiss your picture every night before I go to bed*.

Life with you has its ups and downs. Mostly ups. Downs are when you start deducting points from Gryffindor and making fun of Hermione's teeth.

Not cool, Snape, not cool.

But most of the time, you're just stressed! You've got to report to Voldemort, report to Dumbledore, and deal with dunderheads that attempt to blow up the dungeons in Potions.

So, you take care of you, Snape. And I'll be waiting for you when you're ready.

Probably in your bed.

Love,

Me.

--

So there's that! A nice little letter to Professor Snape where I tell him it's okay to be him. But also give a few hints at hurry-the-fuck-up-and-realize-you-love-me-too. I think it went over well.

Teaser for tomorrow: "Remember that time I beat up my sister and then cried and she got in trouble?"

Until then!

--R.

*Not necessarily true. Maybe.

30 fun-filled letters! Blogging with a purpose?!

So, I was stumbling around online, doing what I do best, and I came across this idea: 30 letters to different people (well okay, some repeats in my case). But I thought "hey I can make this super hilarious and not at all touchy feely like it should be!"

And so I am.

Here is the list:

Day 1 — Your Bestfriend
Day 2 — Your Crush
Day 3 — Your parents
Day 4 — Your sibling (or closest relative)
Day 5 — Your dreams
Day 6 — A stranger
Day 7 — Your Ex-boyfriend/girlfriend/love/crush
Day 8 — Your favorite internet friend
Day 9 — Someone you wish you could meet
Day 10 — Someone you don’t talk to as much as you’d like to
Day 11 — A Deceased person you wish you could talk to
Day 12 — The person you hate most/caused you a lot of pain
Day 13 — Someone you wish could forgive you
Day 14 — Someone you’ve drifted away from
Day 15 — The person you miss the most
Day 16 — Someone that’s not in your state/country
Day 17 — Someone from your childhood
Day 18 — The person that you wish you could be
Day 19 — Someone that pesters your mind—good or bad
Day 20 — The one that broke your heart the hardest
Day 21 — Someone you judged by their first impression
Day 22 — Someone you want to give a second chance to
Day 23 — The last person you kissed
Day 24 — The person that gave you your favorite memory
Day 25 — The person you know that is going through the worst of times
Day 26 — The last person you made a pinky promise to
Day 27 — The friendliest person you knew for only one day
Day 28 — Someone that changed your life
Day 29 — The person that you want tell everything to, but too afraid to
Day 30 — Your reflection in the mirror

Okay, you guys, editing that list from a copy-paste was seriously the most annoying thing. EVER.

And here's Letter #1!

----

Dear Best Friends (Yes I know you, reader, are surprised I have many, let alone one, best friends!)

You guys are awesome.

Seriously.

[I'm going to pinpoint the ones I feel pinpointing, but in a non-pinpointing way so that you can't tell if you're slightly less awesome than everyone else and didn't get included personally. HAH. Suck on THAT.]

I haven't known you for a long period of time, but we somehow became best friends along the way (at least I'd like to think so) (also it's not surprising we're best friends after all the crazy shit we've gone through). Thanks for being someone I can always talk to about basically anything. And at almost any time of day, too!

I wish everyone had a best friend like you. You're probably the nicest person I know, and hilarious too! I'm glad I met you, even if it was a little painful at first (this is a literal painful).

The two of you along with me make the most amazing trifecta ever. I'm glad the two of you met each other and hit it off so well, because spending time with both of you is the only reason I really bother coming home any more. Well that and my bed. And my kitchen. And my...

I'm glad we stuck it out through our tough years of high school. I found a fellow nerd in you and together we probably had the most hilarious, insane, and degrading-yet-loving conversations two people could have. And oh yeah, YOU'RE UGLY. But I love you. It's okay. (Yeah, your mom may have paid me to say one of those phrases...)

How have we only known each other for a year?! How did we because the most awesomest people alive?! I don't know, but you were one of the strongest reasons I didn't leave school. I think I confided in you first, before anyone else knew how hurt I really had been. And, after that, we've basically been inseparable :P

I've only very recently been spending buckets of time with you. Buckets which I wish were the equivalent of BATH TUBS OR OLYMPIC SIZED POOLS. Because you're that freaking cool. Seriously, we have hilarious back and forths, feeding off each other. I'm bummed I only have a little time left with you. But WE WILL CONQUERRRRR, erm. I mean.

[Those were all the nice, lovey dovey ones. Here are the bitches.]

You (this is a collective you) single handedly ruined an entire year for me. Thank you, for pretending to care, and then throwing me to the side like the McDonald's cup that you throw out your going-way-over-the-speed-limit car while you cruise down a highway kicking puppies out the window, excuse me, fucking DEFENESTRATING puppies. You suck *that* much. Luckily for you, your lives will be filled with people like yourself. And I'm glad it's not me. Also, McDonald's? Really? Ew.

You frustrate me constantly. I don't understand why you act the way you do. What makes you think you're better than the rest of us? Enjoy the real world, because it's about to kick you in the ass worse than going-to-summer-boot-camp-instead-of-the-beach. Gear up!

Sometimes I think about you. Then I remember why we're not best friends any more. Because you wanted exclusivity. And I was all "BITCH PLEAAAAASE let me have other friends!" So I picked option B. And I'm having fun. SUCKAHHHH.

-------

Whew! That was a handful! I hope that wasn't too sappy for you, and more humor filled and "OMG WHICH ONE IS ME! I HOPE I AM AWESOME ENOUGH TO GET A PERSONAL NOTE."

Yeah, if you bothered to read this far, you totally deserve one :P

Tomorrow: A letter to my crush. Teaser title: "Dear Professor Snape..."

--R.

How Starbucks will take over the world

Fact: True Blood is freakin' AWESOME.

Fact 2: Starbucks will take over the world.

There is, in fact, a natural progression to those two facts. And this is how it goes:

I like to watch True Blood (and you should too, because it's freakin' AWESOME!). But the internet at my studio sucks. Like, legit sucks. Like, I can't even watch a 30-second video on YouTube without waiting two decades for it to load, sucks.

So, instead, I load my car up with my laptop on Monday mornings and after work I drive out to my local* Starbucks to enjoy their newest feature...

FREE INTERWEBS

Their internet has two things going for it that my studio does not have.

1. It's FREE
2. It's FAST

(Now imagine if the same related to a hooker, er--)

So, I mosey over to the Starbucks, buy myself whatever hot drink the barista thinks I'm crazy for ordering in this 95+ weather (PLUS a banana-chocolate chip coffee cake!) and settle down to watch True Blood. And use some awesome internet. Because mine sucks.

But seriously! I'm paying $4.26 for some coffee and cake and reDONKulus good internet...EVERY. FREAKIN. WEEK.

Compare that to the one-time $5.00 fee for awful internet (minus coffee and cake) in my studio WHENEVER I WANT IT.

Starbucks. You got me on this one. If you can make me pay that much per internet use, THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN'T DO!!!!

And that's why Starbucks will probably take over the world. Soon.

*15 miles away from work and 6 miles away from studio

A Day at Work

So the title is a bit misleading. I wake up at 5:45am every day for work (gag). While most of you guys are still in dreamland, I have showered, packed a lunch, and already gotten to work for the day. What are these wee hours of the morning like? I documented them today!

5:45am- *groan* Shut up alarm.

6:00am- I'll get up soon...

6:06am- Eff. I should get up...

6:40am- My ride to work is decidedly Lady Gaga filled. Apparently "shuffle" means "every other song shall be Gaga"

7:08am- Yes! A ridiculously large cup of coffee for only $1.54

7:12am- Said cup of coffee has burned my tongue ):

7:26am- As I was leaving a voicemail I forgot what the date was and had to stall by coughing to look it up on my computer -_-;

7:29am- THE BOSS-MAN IS HERE! Oh I also discovered my supervisor is out all week so I don't know if boss-man has been informed of my existance

7:33am- Fantastic. Awesome cup of coffee is leaking from the bottom

8:21am- People on WaPo [WashingtonPost.com] seem to think Steele wasn't lying when he said Obama started the Afghan War. Wha...

8:30am- Confession: Sometimes I put on my chapstick just for the tingly

And so it goes for the rest of the day. Throw in meeting boss-man today (win!) and gaining another 22-page background article to read (anti-win!) work continued in a similar fashion.

I just realized my blog posts are a bit boring without pictures, so in the next one, I'll try to add some photos!

Until then!

--R.

Design. Oy.

So this first blog entry is dedicated to...the blog!

No, seriously! I just spent like 20 minutes learning how to add my own photo as the background (instead of the one that came with the template) and then I spent FOREVER getting my photo to the right size so it would completely take up the background instead of tiling. Because tiling...ew.

Anyway! I have a blog! Who knows what sort of craziness will be put up on here. General ramblings about everything I love (and hate!): Harry Potter, Lady GaGa, TwiSuck (ahem), Stupid People, the works!

I think blogs work better when you generally keep the posts short. So I'll end with-- tomorrow is Friday and then it's a long weekend! Hooray Independence!

Also, watch this video. It's so freakin' adorable. [Link to YouTube].

So, pull out your Red, White, & Blue for the weekend! Bring on the Par-Tay!

--R.

Edit: Okay so I noticed that A- This photo does tessellate downwards and B- The main focal point of the photo is hidden by the post background. Grumblegrumblegrumble. That will change...soon.