Where various things, including half-naked Chris Evans, are on fire.

Three things today, people! I would firstly like to point out my kind of old brand spankin' new tab called Off the Shelf. If you would kindly tab over you will find a list of books that I have read and, down at the bottom, a cover of the book I am currently reading. And you can fully expect a commentary on the book I'm reading at this moment. [When I say commentary I mean rant.]

Today while I was having my yearly checkup at the doctor's office I was reminded of my first experience giving blood at school. As you know, if you've ever given blood, it takes awhile for them to get all the blood they need from you. However, I started to grow impatient when I noticed it was taking a little bit longer to get my blood. That's when the irrational side of my brain came out to play. As I lay there looking at the ceiling I all but convinced myself that I had been forgotten. Panic began to set in as I imagined what would soon happen. Eventually all of my blood would be emptied from my body and I would, obviously, die. I know, this is ridiculous. First, the bags aren't big enough to allow this to happen. And, second, they probably wouldn't forget someone. But I couldn't help thinking it. Have you guys ever thought this? Or is there some other irrational fear/experience that you have? Sometimes you just can't help but think of disastrous things that could happen. I will not allow this to keep me from giving blood again.

And, finally, Lex has bestowed upon me and four others an award. It is perhaps my favorite because it's called the Blog on Fire Award. And I am a pyromaniac born from a pyromaniac family. So this makes me happy. I feel slightly undeserving to do my lack of posts lately, but hey, it's summer. There's my excuse. I know I've done the 5 things about me do-dad a couple times, but bear with me.

1. I have a slight addiction to googling things. For example, I just googled the expression 'bear with me.' Apparently, 'bear with me' means a request for forbearance or patience. 'Bare with me' would be an invitation to undress.
2. I have a tan. I HAVE A TAN! And it's not fake.
3. My confirmation name is Cecilia after St. Cecilia the patron of music.
4. I love all things Mario Brothers and Nintendo. [Hence the new banner.]
5. In order to prevent my fear from becoming real, hoarding, I have taken a step in the opposite direction. My name is Kate and I am a compulsive cleaner. [I just googled compulsive. So I guess that makes me a compulsive googler, also.]

 I will grant this honor to the following:

allyson kate

Free to Dance

Imagine Me Complexly

Vicoria's World

Life As I Know It

"Bare with me?"

Oooooops.

Oh haaaaaaaay! Well this place looks slightly familiar. I didn't intend on taking a break at all. None whatsoever. But. However. Here we are. It sort of happened like this:

• "I'll just catch up on things tomorrow."
• The next day: "You know, I'm kind of tired today. Tomorrow, definitely."
• The next next day: "A couple days that's it, I swear."
• A week later: "Ah shit. Okay, tomorrow. Yep, for sure."
• A couple weeks later: "I am a terrible person."
• Today: "Get the eff over it."

And here we are. I apologize immensely. I'm hoping sure you guys understand. I have this terrible problem with procrastination. Speaking of which I have four different essays to write for my college applications... Tomorrow. I will get right on that. For sure. Definitely. Yes.

Sadly, tomorrow also happens to be my last day of baby sitting. Sadface. I will admit I was looking forward to this day for the past couple weeks. But now that I'm practically on top of it, I'm kind of sad. I mean, I've been hanging out with this kid four days a week, all summer long. As corny as it sounds, I really will miss him. I've never really had a baby sitting job before, but I do know enough to know how lucky I got. He listens to everything I say, does whatever I ask him to, and never acts like a brat. Plus he is just the sweetest thing in the world.

And, of course, school starts next Thursday. Senior year starts next Thursday. Yikes, I really don't feel old enough. But then again I do. Now I'm off to try and catch up on all the different blogs I'm following. This might take a while. (The next blog will not be twenty-one days from now. It will be up within a week.) (If you are following my tumblr or twitter you would have known that I am still alive. Links over in the side bar.)

Day 17

A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.

This would be a picture of a Billiken. For those who don't know, which is probably most you, the Billiken is Saint Louis University's mascot. You may be thinking to yourself, what the hell is a Billiken? Don't worry, I thought the same exact thing. He started out as a kind of good luck charm in the early 1900s. If you bought one it would bring you luck, but if someone gave one to you, you had better luck. I think it was more of a Japanese thing, than American. But SLU supposedly chose him as the mascot because it's said he resembles coach John R. Bender [I would be slightly insulted if I were him].

I recently went down to St. Louis with my parents for a campus tour of SLU. And I have to say, as of right now, SLU is probably my top choice for college. It's completely different from all the other colleges I've looked at. Most of them are in towns similar to the one I live in, which isn't that big. Originally, that's what I wanted, to go to a small college in a town like my own. But now I'm not so sure. It would be totally different from what I'm used to if I went to college in St. Louis or Indianapolis. SLU is definitely the biggest, it has 8,000 undergraduates and 5,000 graduates. This seems kind of intimidating to me, but I think I could handle it. While it is a 2 hour drive from my hometown, I do have family that I'm close to living in St. Louis. The campus was big, to be expected, but it was gorgeous and didn't seem as overwhelming as I thought it would be. Most importantly, is the accounting program, I could get my masters in 5 years! The shorter I have to be in college, the better. But we'll see how it all works out. I've still got to get through applying and my senior year.

Nerdin' it up, Harry Potter style.

In honor of the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2, I thought I would share my dad's Father's Day present with you guys.

 Yes, you are looking at a Lego replica of the Burrow. I saw it at Wal-Mart and just knew I had to get it for him. I wish I could show you guys all the details on the inside. All the little cabinets open and have things in them, there's a pig in the pen, the chimney actually does work (well it flips the little Lego characters to the other side, still impressive). There's just so many neat little tricks.

I could go on and on and on about the Harry Potter series. I saw the first movie in the second grade and decided to read the first book. From that point I was hooked for life. My dad was drawn in, too. It's one of the things that's made us have such a close relationship. My mom goes to see the movies with us, but she's not a die-hard fan like we are. Because I was so young when I first started reading the books, I've literally grown up with Harry Potter. I know there are tons of people out there like me. It's really kind of bittersweet this all coming to an end my senior year of high school. The outside world is becoming glaringly real to me, I'm growing up. I'm not ready for it to end, but I am. 

I'm so grateful to have had such a wonderful childhood full of magic, Hagrid, grindylows, and so much more. Harry Potter has been, and always will be, my weakness. I'll always tear up when I hear that music start up (you know what I'm talking about). Whenever I read or simply look at books 5-7 I'll have sudden flashbacks to my dad and I at the midnight releasings. Especially the one where we got home at 1 am and left for Colorado 7 hours later. And I'll always be willing to discuss in minute details every plot twist and character at the drop of a hat.

I'll leave y'all with a couple links you should seriously check out if you're a Harry Potter nerd. Which means you might have already seem them. Nonetheless. This video literally had me bawling like a baby. God knows what I'll be like when I go see the actual movie tonight. And this is just a wrock (wizard rock) music video. There is a ton more Harry Potter stuff on my Tumblr, so if you're interested the links over in the side bar. Hope you enjoy!

Day 16

A picture of someone who inspires you.

I was scared of this day because I wasn't sure who I was going to chose. Should I chose Emma Watson, simply because of how talented, determined, smart, etc she is? Or should I chose my grandmother because of how strong and spunky she is? There were so many different ways I could have gone with this. But when I heard about Dame Maggie Smith's story I knew instantly I was going to chose her. For those who don't know, or realize, who Dame Maggie Smith is, she's the actress who portrays Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies. I was perusing my tumblr feed a couple days ago when a post caught my eye. In it I saw something about Dame Maggie Smith and breast cancer [whaaaa?]. Apparently she filmed Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince mid-treatment for breast cancer. “I was hairless. I had no problem getting the wig on. I was like a boiled egg." If that's not inspiring, I don't know what is. I find it hard not to look up to someone who survives on pure dedication and will power. [Here's an article from 2009 where she talks about it.]

A (Not So) Textual Love Affair

Have you ever gotten this text "hey:)"? I have, on many different occasions. Who am I kidding, more like once. I absolutely despise these kinds of texts. They're very vague. It could mean: Hey, I like you but I'm too scared to actually tell you so I'm just going to send you a smile. Or it could mean: Hey, I'm just trying to show you how special you are, opposed to every other girl I text, by not only texting you, but smiling. However, I choose to interpret it to mean: Hey, I'm not very creative and can't start a conversation; therefore, I'm going to fake it and force you to be the creative one. Admittedly, there are probably hundreds of different interpretations. But any way you do it basically comes down to one thing: laziness. I feel like if someone really does like you they should put the work in to show it. Or if they're a player, they should get some new moves, because eventually it's going to get old.

Who does this in real life?!

You may be one of those people who actually like getting this text. And that's nothing against you. Yeah right. Besides the whole laziness factor, I think my dislike of this text stems from my hatred of emoticons. I just don't like them. Especially the winky face, it makes a simple text suddenly seem so dirty. The only thing I want making me feel dirty is Leonardo DiCaprio. However, if you decide to go with typing out the emoticon [happyface, winkyface, sadface, etc.] I find that entirely acceptable. Mostly because I like irony, partly because you can get creative. [Poopface, crapface, shitface, fu---- You get the point.]

Most of the time I won't bother to grace the texter with a response. I can already tell that the conversation's going to be a riveting one:

• Him: hey:)
• Me: Hey!
• Him: Sup?
• Me: Oh not much, just planning my revenge on the Sith for taking away the beauty that was Anakin Skywalker. You?
• Him: oh cool nm playing cod
• Me: Really, because I heard that video games kill your brain cells.
• Him: lol sweet i wish some1 wuld make me a sammie ;)
• Me: angryface
• Him: lol it wuz a joke lol so wuts new

And then I don't respond because I hate it when someone a) makes that dumb "ooooh you're a girl, you should be in the kitchen making sandwiches and getting me some Natty's!" joke, b) has something else they want to talk about but expects you to just know and start talking about, and c) uses abbreviations when it would be much more simpler just to SPELL THE DAMN WORD OUT. Oh, and I have an extreme hatred for "lol." [But who doesn't nowadays?] I kid you not, I've had pretty much this exact conversation before. With multiple guys. Texting has taken the standard pick up line [Hey girl, are you from Tennessee 'cause you're the only ten I see!] to a whole new level. In fact, I think I prefer a lame pick up line to a "hey:)" text.

Aaaand now that you know my texting pet peeves... I guess this is why I really don't like to text all that much. I know it's a lot to ask for someone to be creative and original while texting, but seriously? It just seems a little ridiculous to be texting different people when you're having the same conversation with every single one. Got any pet peeves about texting? It only seems fair to ask you to rant since I just went on a big ole ranting rampage.


Peace out cub scout!