iblog

Alcohol

2011-03-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

So I've been 21 for 5 months now.

It's so weird being able to go buy alcohol whenever I want, but I dislike the experience of checking out at a store with alcohol.

I dislike it so much that I usually buy a lot at once so I don't have to keep coming back. Which is silly because then I look like a raging alcoholic with a cart full of beer.

Anyway, the weird thing I guess about being 21 is that you have alcohol just lying around your house a lot. Like it's just there. I mean you may touch it like once a week, or just have it there to bring to other people's houses to party. Either way sometimes weird irrational things happen.

Like today. I get home from a morning of work and I'm like 'oh it would be nice to have a mikes hard later with dinner.' So I go to 7-11 (my favorite place to buy alcohol because small stores and not a lot of people to call you out on being an alcoholic). I buy two six packs of mikes because hey, I like to stock up so that awkward experience doesn't happen to often. I mean I still feel like I'm not allowed to buy alcohol. Maybe it's because I look so young and the cashiers always eye my i.d. for like 20 seconds before they hand it back to me.

Anyway, I get home and I think I better start on my take home final for quantitative reasoning that's due Friday. I open up my computer files, go to the kitchen and try to find something to drink. So I open a mikes.

WAIT, WTF.

Did I seriously just open a mikes to drink WHILE I do a FINAL TEST. What the hell? This is something that never would have occurred to me to even do when I was 20 years old. Who just DRINKS while they're doing HOMEWORK?

It's like opening up a mikes on your break at work...what?

So I'm just standing there with my open mikes like 'crap I can't just dump it out now or put it back in the fridge it will lose all it's bubbly.' So I just drink it.

Which doesn't make me drunk or anything, but I feel a little HAPPIER now about doing my final. Which isn't right. I should feel totally miserable about doing a final. Misery makes one concentrate more on the task at hand. But do I have a more clear mind now? Absolutely not. So basically I'm a moron.

Now I'm just going to take a nap. Wake up in an hour. Then start my final.

Now I feel like an alcoholic....after all that effort I went through to look like one.

-Holly

Update

2011-03-10T16:02:00.000-08:00

I have a blog? Oh shit yeah I do.

ME: Come to my blogspot her is the URL
RANDOM PERSON: You haven't updated since October.
ME: So?
RANDOM PERSON: It's March.
ME: Ahhh.

So here I am updating away.

Things you need to know that I've been doing?

Nothing. You need to know nothing. I'm sure you have your own shit going on that is infinitely more important to you than knowing what's going on with me.

Am I going to tell you what's been going on with me anyway?
Of course I am. Oh and some of what is to come.

Here is a list:
Work
Classes
Final exams
Graduation
Marianas Trench next Saturday Road Trip
Hank Green in Portland Road Trip
Buying lots of books
Reading lots of books
Thinking about studying for exams
Not studying for exams
Going to the bars
Being 21
Growing my nails out
biting my nails
not biting my nails
Being partner with youtube for WeReadBooks
Rejection from being partnered with youtube for Hollishillis (2 times now)
Battlestar Galactica
Hating the show Caprica
Tudors
Buffy
Contemplating going to vidcon

That's all.

-Holly

Catch up

2010-10-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

Is it really true that I haven't updated this blog in 2 months? I am a sad person.

I would just talk about how busy I've been and blah, blah, blah. But I tried to complain to someone today about how busy I am and they just told me about how their taking five classes, working full time, and paying rent, car, phone bill etc.

So yes...that made me feel lame.

Basically eight things have been going on. Let's list them.

1. I went to San Francisco and saw something corporate live. It was INCREDIBLE.

2. I started classes. One class on Monday's from 1-330 and another online. Really really easy classes but SERIOUSLY a lot of stupid stupid work.

3. I finally got a job! It's at a cool book, video, game, music store. First they put me on register for 3 weeks which is soooo boring. BUT THEN last week they put in in the BOOKS section. THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF BOOKS! I just stock them and put them away, and help people find them and work in the children's book and it was so cool.

4. Tomorrow is my 3 year anniversary with my lovely boyfriend Jesse!

5. I'm going to Mexico for an anniversary vacation with Jesse in two weeks!

6. In three weeks I will be 21 years old.

7. I will be graduating with my masters in useless communications in June 2011

8. and last and most importantly I will be applying to get ANOTHER masters degree in Library Science in Fall 2011 so I can be a accredited librarian.

How have you been blog readers?

-Holly

Life is awesome.

BEDA fail and San Francisco

2010-08-22T00:32:00.000-07:00

I was going to finish and blog every day in August, but really, I'm so important and I just don't have time.

Okay that's a total lie. There has been plenty of time for blogging lately I just haven't been...in the mood.

But I am now! And hey, I made it about half way through August blogging so go me!

So last you heard I had an interview with Borders Book store and they said they'd call me back. Well...they didn't. They didn't want to hire someone like me who has an English Literature degree and can work 6/7 days a week for them, and who LOVES LOVES books.

WTF?

I know right? Super disappointed. I think I just loved books too much and it blew stupid Shae's mind. He had a stupid name anyway. SO TAKE THAT SHAE! I don't want to work at your stupid bookstore.

Then I decided to reapply for the gagillionth time to Hastings bookstore where my friend Roxy works. I applied on Wednesday night and guess what? They called me Thursday for an interview. So I went on Thursday. I think it went well, better than my borders interview at least. And the guy interviewing me loves my friend who works there. He said he'd let me know Monday. During the interview he asked if I had any plans anytime soon and I basically said I have no life and I'm not going anywhere.

Well that might be a problem. See, I love this band...you MAY have heard of them. They're called SOMETHING CORPORATE. They're amazing basically. I saw them once when I was 15 (almost 6 years ago...I feel so old). Anyway, they're having a Reunion tour and me and my friend Kellie JUST found out about it today. well the closest they're coming to our town is San Francisco. Which is only...16 hours away. Okay...that's pretty far. But we're still kind of young and we still love that band and heck this might be the ONLY time we EVER get to see them live EVER again.

So what do we do? We IMMEDIATELY head over to the all night diner on Monroe. We order a hot chocolate and a strawberry lemonade and we decide on a napkin how we're going to go to San Francisco on a $75 budget THIS TUESDAY NIGHT. And surprisingly we found out how. Kellie, Jack (her boyfriend), Corrina and I are going to leave Monday at 3pm, drive to San Francisco and arrive Tuesday morning at 7am. Then we'll get a motel, sleep till 1pm and then tour San Fran for a bit. Then at 7pm SOMETHING CORPORATE! The show will be over at 11pm. Then we go back to motel and sleep till 7am. Then we drive home and get back WEDNESDAY NIGHT at 11pm.

This is all fine and well and the gas cost split between us plus a concert ticket is only $75ish each. The only problem is...the job.

What if he calls on Monday offers me the job and asks me to start Tuesday? I TOLD HIM ALREADY I COULD START RIGHT AWAY AND I HAD NO PLANS. I'm just NERVOUS. I don't want to start a job out bad. I mean, I NEVER do anything this spontaneous. THIS IS VERY SPONTANEOUS. My best hope would be if he calls and offers me the job and asks if I can start on Thursday. I just CANNOT miss SOMETHING CORPORATE LIVE for the LAST TIME EVER. It's only two days. I have to just hope hope hope that he doesn't want me to start right away.

Either way we'll be heading to San Francisco on Monday...in one day...I love spontaneous things!

-Holly

BEDA DAY 12

2010-08-12T23:26:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to pretend that my interview at Borders went really well.

But basically it went down like this:

I walked into Borders at 2:25 just to make sure I was on time. I was told to ask for a guy who's name I wasn't exactly sure of. See I knew it was a guy, but on the phone it sounded like he said his name was either SHANE or SHAY.

I was confuzzled.

So I went to a guy working basically said: "Hi is Shayyyne available."

In which I basically got really quiet after the letters 'sha'.

He only looked confused for a moment before sending me over to the cafe.

There I met a guy named Shae. Yes, SHAE. He was...not enthusiastic about having to do what I assumed was ANOTHER interview and I guess I couldn't blame him.

I thought the interview would have been very standard 'what would you do in this situation' type thing. However, I just ended up talking about how much a love books and what books I'm excited for and if a customer came up to me I gave a scenario of how I'd recommend Mockingjay to them for reading.

After that point he looked at me fairly blankly and stated: "Well I've never heard such an enthusiastic reply before"

Awkward. I think I nerded out about books a little TOO much. But to be fair it was for a job at a bookstore.

I'll find out if I get a follow up interview in a few days.

-Holly

BEDA Day 11

2010-08-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

I landed an interview at Borders book store tomorrow at 2:30.

I'm not very nervous except in that I know they're interviewing A LOT of people because the enconomy is shit. I will be very upset if I don't get this job because it will be the 4th job I've interviewed for that I'm over qualified for that I haven't gotten.

I hate having this college degree sometimes because I feel like people don't hire me for minimum wage jobs because they know I don't plan on staying there forever or whatever.

But if I got the job at Borders I could definitely see myself keeping it AT LEAST for a year if not more. I don't know. I just hate this job seraching. I hope I get the job.

-Holly

BEDA Day 10

2010-08-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

THESIS WORK IS SOOO HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE.
AND IT'S FREAKING ME OUT.
THE END.

-Holly

BEDA Day 9

2010-08-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

Finally finished a thesis book today. That's 1/4 done. Tomorrow I plan on finishing book number 2 and then Wednesday #3 and Thursday the last one. Then this Monday I can really start writing the darn thing.

It's all very stressful.

Sadface.

-Holly

BEDA Day 8

2010-08-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

Today was my annual family BBQ.

So much fun per usual.

We made a TON of water balloons and had water ballon launcher fights. It was a blast. We do it annualy in August it's a pretty good time. There was a live band, tons of food, badmitton, shooting, croquet, etc. An all around fun time.

-Holly

BEDA day 7

2010-08-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

I finally made a vlog today after months of not doing so. Felt good to edit again.

Went to a minor league baseball game and watched a decent fireworks show afterwards.

Now I'm watching Deadwood for the first time ever. Interesting enough so far.

-Holly

BEDA Day 6

2010-08-06T23:56:00.000-07:00

So far a great weekend.

So Thursday night I went to my friend Alicia's Boyfriend's new place. That sounds complicated. Well his name is Nick and he has a few roommates that I know. Anyway, we all headed over there around 11pm. It was a pretty good time. We played fooz ball and drank margaritas. I reiterated to everyone around 2am about why Breaking Dawn should not be made into a movie. This involved slurring the plot to everyone which basically went something like this:

"And then...the he like...he BREAKS the placenta with his teeth to like...free this vamp human baby and then this 17 year old werewolf is like I LOVE THAT BABY"

Anyway around 3 I dragged myself home, and then I slept until 1pm.

At 3:30 I went over to my friend Cassie's place and we ordered bread sticks and attempted for the gazillion time to beat Super Mario Brothers Wii. WE JUST COULDN'T BEAT THE LAST CASTLE!!! There are no save points and played entirely through without breaks it's about a 9 minute level. Sometimes we'd get so close to the end and then die and we'd have to start all the way over. VERY frustrating. Well it was getting to 7:30 and we needed to leave so we decided one more time through and then suddenly WE BEAT IT.

I've never been so thrilled about beating a video game.

Then we rushed out the door because we were late for a concert at stage 54. So we came a bit late but still saw the important artists. Carey Brothers (no, not THE Carey brothers, this poor guys name IS Carey Brothers) who is an amazing artist who has appeared in The Last Kiss soundtrack and Garden State. Then the main act who I have waited a LONG time to see GREG LASWELL. He was so fantastic and I just love his voice. The performance was great and all the bands were funny and had a good time. Afterwards I got a picture with Greg Laswell and as you can tell I'm completely star struck:

It was a great Thursday night/Friday morning and a great Friday night.

-Holly

BEDA DAY 5

2010-08-05T20:58:00.001-07:00

Oh yes. Today I read a lot of thesis stuff.

I read this cool article on feminism and warcraft, and also another great one on war in real life and war in WOW. I love my thesis topic.

I have got a crazy cool weekend planned starting tonight.

Party.

-Holly

BEDA DAY 4

2010-08-04T19:27:00.001-07:00

SUCCESS!

I've officially started my thesis. By that I mean I've opened a book on the thesis subject.

Have I even said what my thesis is yet?

Well, I'm researching/arguing the idea that Online Gaming (Particularly MMORPG games, like World of Warcraft) can inadvertently benefit the players in real life.

Awesome, right? I'm not an online gamer myself, but I'm very intrigued by it considering I know a lot of people in and out of my family who play. I don't play because I know that if I started I wouldn't be able to stop (and that's scary considering my brother sits in my Mother's house all day and plays WOW non stop...he's 23). So as I was observing other people playing these games I began to wonder what the draw was, what made it so addictive, and why were so many people playing it! WOW alone as 8.5 million players worldwide. So we have 8.5 million people dedicating most of their time and energy into this game right? We have to wonder if they're taking anything away from the game.

For instance, from talking to my brother I've heard a lot about social interaction in the game and how those who are socially outcasted in real life have a chance to be social in the gaming world. This in turn can help their social behavior outside of the game if they choose.

Also, guilds are a fantastic representation of communities and cultures. To be in a guild you have to go through a rigorous interview process to see if you fit with the beliefs and customs (but most important raiding time frame) of the guild. The process can take weeks and you need to fill out at least 2 applications. Sounds familiar, right? That's because it's similar to interviewing for a job. Is it possible that this interview process for WOW is actually HELPFUL for when a player is interviewing for a job in real life?

In one book I'm reading now, the guy who wrote it has a PhD and he is in a guild called Truants which consists of himself and other PhDs and advanced graduate students who don't only play MMORPGs, they study them. This guys also argues that WOW is so intriguing because it's a perfect simulacrum of a capitalistic society where if you work hard you will be rewarded. Real life doesn't aw lays work out this way, so the pull for some people is that the ideological capitalist system works in WOW and is also recognizable as to what should be.

Now I'm geeking out here so let's take a step back and just say my thesis is about social benefits of playing World of Warcraft. In a nut shell.

It's sort of kind of VERY AWESOME.

So BEDA day 4? On BEDA day 4 I started my thesis work. Go me.

-Holly

BEDA Day 3

2010-08-03T20:10:00.000-07:00

I'm am officially done with the first and last summer class I will ever take. It wasn't very hard...just time consuming. I mean, out of all the kinds of maths you might have to take in your schooling career, Statistics isn't so bad. It's just BORING.

I took my last quiz today though, and grades should be up in a few weeks. It was an online class so at least I didn't have to get up early every morning during summer.

Today I opened a thesis book and looked at the table of contents. Then I set it down and free played Lego Harry Potter on Wii.

Then I spent the rest of the day finding funny memes. Like these two:

Booze Cats
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boozecats

And

High Expectations Asian Father
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/high-expectations-asian-father

The Internet is made of people. And people are funny.

Well I'm getting more and more screwed by the day when it comes to this thesis. My Life.

-Holly

BEDA Day 2

2010-08-02T18:31:00.000-07:00

Ah Monday's. Monday's are horrible to most of the population, but I find that Summer Monday's are great.

That is until I realized it is AUGUST. Which I should have realized yesterday but I was having too good of a time. See the thing about it being August IS THAT I HAVE TO FINISH MY LITERATURE REVIEW AND METHODS SECTION OF MY MASTERS THESIS BY SEPTEMBER 6TH!

...and I haven't worked on it all summer like I said I would...

Me in June
Good self "Hey Holly, you need to start your thesis."
Bad self "Back up yo, it's June. Classes just ended. I'm tired. Give me June to relax and read for fun, and just hang out."
Good self "I guess that's okay."

Me in July
Good self "You should really start the literature review at least."
Bad self "I know, I ordered some books for the lit review so I can work on it soon."
Good self "Soon as in now?"
Bad self "Soon as in whenever I'm done reading for fun."

Me now (and after happily finishing 17 books that I read for fun)
Good self "Done with that lit review yet?"
Bad self "Not yet"
Good self "How far are you into it"
Bad self "I haven't started."
Good self "You haven't started."
Bad self "Nope...but I still have...oh my God...I ONLY HAVE 35 DAYS LEFT!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Present time

So as I'm writing this blog I'm cooking pasta and waiting for Jeopardy to start and thinking not so calmly: "WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!?!?!"

-Holly

BEDA Day 1

2010-08-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

Oh My God is it AUGUST?!

I'm super excited that I'm doing BEDA (Blog Every Day in August) which formerly was called BEDA (Blog Every Day in April), but hey, I'm flexible.

So today I woke up at 1pm, which is just typical of a weekend. I pushed my boyfriend (Jesse) in the face and he woke up at 1:01 pm. We watched the first episode ever of Pushing Daisy's which we enjoyed immensely.

Then we drove up to Bed, Bath, and Beyond because WOW, there is this amazing thing that looks like this:

Amazing Thing

Okay it's not called 'amazing thing', it's actually a head scratcher. DON'T LOOK AT ME ALL SKEPTICAL LIKE THAT, It's actually incredible. Buy one. They're cheap, and wow they are amazing.

Then we walked across the way to World Market where we bought a pack of seasonal beer.

Then we drove a bit further to my boyfriend's parents house and gave the beer to his brother (who...likes beer?) and the head scratcher to his parents. His mother loved it, and his father refused to try it in front of people, but I know later on he's going to try it and love it.

His dad made us yummy Hawaiian burgers, and we watched the new episode of Furturama which was hilarious.

After that, we went to the new FroYo place called FroYoEarth, and I had red velvet, strawberry, pistatico, regular froyo which was...WOW. Amazing.

Then we headed back to Jesse's place and rented Hot Tub Time Machine (which had its moments of hilarity), and finished season 2 of True Blood (which is THEBESTSHOWEVER).

Yay for day 1 of BEDA!

-Holly

Statistics: Being excused for rudeness since its invention

2010-07-02T12:08:00.000-07:00

So I'm taking this Summer statistic course online, right?

Well I'm paging through the book today and the author is trying to explain what z scores are. Well he shows this graph, and the graph is supposed to display the "attractiveness" of a sample of men at a University.

So the author picks three dudes out of the sample who's names are Slug, Binky, and Biff. Slug has a low score, which means people do not find him attractive. Which is nice, right?

So the author decides to explain how we as researchers would explain Slug's score to Slug:

"What would we say to Slug? 'Bad news, Slug. Your score places you far below average in attractiveness. What's worse, down in the tail, the height of the curve above your score indicates a low frequency, so not many men received this low score. Also, the proportion of the area under the curve at your score is small, so the relative frequency- the proportion of all men receive your score- is low. Finally, Slug, your percentile is low, so a small percentage score below you while a large percentage scored above you. So Slug, scores such as yours are relatively infrequent, and few scores are lower than yours."

What a highly analytical way to tell someone that they're never going to get laid.

-Holly

The Ridiculous Formalities of Higher Education

2010-05-16T15:25:00.000-07:00

So in 3 weeks I'll have completed my first year of grad school. If all else goes smoothly in a year and 3 weeks I'll have my Master of Science in Communications. Remember my first day of graduate school? Oh yes I believe in my blog it went something like this, and I quote:

"They all use big words and smarty pants theories I've never even heard of before. Even the Professors. Do you know anything about the "Dreyfus model for skill acquisition" or "Neo-Aristotelian rhetorical criticism" or "Double Hermeneutics"? ME EITHER! There is a list like this of 60 terms all just as weird and confusing that I have to memorize (and their definitions) by the end of the quarter."

This tiny freak out went on and on until my head nearly exploded with worry. Turns out that I do now know what neo-Aristotelian rhetorical criticism is AND hermeneutics. Turns out these are fairly simple terms and it also turns out that they are basically totally useless, at least as far as giving them big words are. I mean instead of saying hermeneutics you could just say interpretation. I mean really? Do we have to call it that big word?

Apparently we do, because higher education is all about looking and acting as pretentious as you possibly can.

AND THIS IS HOW EVERYONE FOOLS YOU!

You think everyone is smarter and better and grand because they use big words and have amazing theories and they read big name people but REALLY it's just a bunch of memorizing and learning how to sputter things out at the right moment. It's one BIG JOKE.

So now I have a first chair committee who is pretty great and all and I'm doing a thesis on World of Warcraft. Yeah, that's right WOW. Because apparently getting any kind of degree in communications basically equals you being able to do whatever you want, because hey, we're still trying ot figure out how to define communications. Isn't that wonderful?

Now I'm trying to apply for degree candidacy which is where I fill out this one page form. Sounds easy, right? WRONG.

They have to make it all complicated with their wording and stupidness(oh, wait that's not a word). Basically, I keep getting the sheet sent back and they're like:

"This class shouldn't be listed here, list it somewhere else"

but then my chair is like

"no, that's where it's supposed to be"

and then my department head is like

"no, it's in the right spot but it's 4 credits not 5."

AND OH MY GOD YOU PEOPLE HAVE PHDs IN COMMUNICATION HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER?!?!?! REALLY?!?!??!

Then I e-mail my department head and I ask if my 2nd chair needs to have a doctoral degree. He says no, your 2nd sari can be ANY PROFESSOR YOU WANT, just has to be outside of the comm department. So I think GREAT this will be easy. WRONG. WRONG WRONG WRONG.

Basically I'm on the 5th professor I've e-mailed to be my 2nd and they all have said 'no' spewing stupid bull shit excuses like:

"I'd love to, but I'm too busy"
"I'd love to, but I'm not graduate faculty"
"I'd love to, but I don't have my Phd."
"I'd love to, but I can't be bothered with your petty thesis because I'm a grand smart professor and you're just a stupid grad student, go away peasant."

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Who knew it'd be this hard to form a stupid committee. They should just form one for you, but really that would take WORK and the last thing a professor ever wants to do is inconvenience themselves.

This. Is. Idiotic.

-Holly

Are these questions meant to be answered or are they rhetorical?

2010-04-27T18:34:00.000-07:00

Real questions asked by my real professor in one night of lecture. Don't ask me what the lecture was about...I have no idea.
All text below are things he asked and answered himself...because that's what he does.
........................

How many miles can you travel on horse back?
7 miles per hour if you're going fast..

1865 we made the cable on board a steam ship, and that was sent from telegram in Nova Scotia to...anyone?
Ireland.

Do you know how you fix sub cables that break?
Well, you lay a grip hook along the ocean floor until you run into it. lots of humorous anecdotes about sub cables...but back to the point.

What year was the camera released?
What year, anybody?
1839...shocking shocking.

What got people interested in this in the first place?
It was a bet asking if all four hoofs leave the ground during a horse race?
Yes they do is the answer.

Thorstein Veblen the Norwegian born American sociologist wrote various books on business enterprise. Introduction of wide spread machines were radically transforming human life. Time was changed by machine. In fact, the whole notion of time zones emerged with the railroads.

What is time really?
The way we traditionally measure time.
It's an analog of a hand pointing at the sky as the sun moves.

It's 6:58 here so what time is it in Seattle?
Well it's about 12-15 minutes after that.

What would we do without our computers? What would we do without our jet planes? Do you have any idea how much of your food comes here on a jet plane?

How many bird species can you name by sight? How man sparrows can you differentiate? How many woodpeckers? Species of tree? Obnoxious weeds? We have a lot of interesting weeds. Constellations?

We don't know this stuff right? Because it's not important for us to know.
It's not important for us to yodel.

Why do we import apples from New Zealand here?

Do you know what Kiwi's are actually called?
Something gooseberry NZ made that fruit's name up to make them more appealing to Americans. True fact.

How many times have we actually gone to nuclear war?
More times than I can count.

.......................

Then we watched scenes from 2001: A space Odyssey and I felt like I was on drugs.

And then we watched this insane thing that...I can't even explain it...here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xavier-Renegade_Angel

Welcome to Grad School.

-Holly

(2) And now...an actual conversation

2010-04-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

"How many ibuprofen are you supposed to take if you're in pain?"

"Like one every 3-4 hours, why?"

"I took six."

"That's okay. You can take up to eight a day if spaced out every 3-4 hours. Like I said."

"No. I took six at once."

"Like just now?"

"Yeah."

"WHY?!"

"My knee hurt. I took three then waited 15 minutes and it still hurt so I took three more."

"Are you an idiot?"

"Why what will happen?"

"Probably nothing. Good thing you didn't take like ten. That will frack up your liver."

"Really?"

"Aren't you supposed to be the adult?"

"I never take ibuprofen! How am I supposed to know?"

"Oh I don't know...read the warning labels?"

"Oh."

...................
.....silence.......
...................

"I can't believe you took six ibuprofen at once."

"Shut up!"

-Holly

And now...an acutal conversation

2010-04-23T09:34:00.000-07:00

"How was the Doctor?"

"It was odd...but okay."

"What happened?"

"They filled me full of soda water type stuff and creamy liquid stuff then they rolled me around on a table and took pictures of me."

"Sounds erotic."

Vomit, Coke, and Running

2010-02-25T11:48:00.000-08:00

There is nothing quite like the feeling of trying to hold back vomit. But as I type this blog, I'm doing just that. I'm hoping that if I do need to spew (It's S.P.E.W. RON!) I can make it to the bathroom before I make it to the keyboard.

Basically, in an unfortunate turn of events, yesterday I went to the big special campus to do some big important stuff and I stopped by Taco Bell on the way out. I got my awesome Chicken Burrito ($1.08 at the window please), consumed it, went to class, came home, and slept. All was well until I woke up this morning feeling like sick. So now...I'm just trying to get over my hatred of throwing up in order to get past what I've come to believe is food poisoning. Will this stop me from going to Taco bell ever again? Absolutely not. I can't not afford to go to Taco Bell...plus it's good...well the first five bites are super good AND WORTH IT. Excuse me...

*pukes*

Anyway, let me tell you a story about Cocoa-Cola and running. Trust me I will get to my point. Basically, when I went to the University of Washington I had this awesome job at a newsstand. I got paid very well, had awesome hours, and the work was super easy. Plus, I got to stock stuff a lot...and I really like stocking. But that's beside the point. We sold newspapers (duh), candy, pencils, coffee, and lots of soda. We went through so many Coke products, I ended up breaking down a shit ton of cardboard boxes and bottle boxes. I always ended up amazed by how much we went through. It was then that I realized there were codes on the canned boxes and the bottle boxes. Codes for MyCokeRewards.com.

So like any good employee I asked my manager if I could steal the codes and he said basically that he didn't give a shit, and that I should stop bothering him with stupid questions.

So I signed up for an account and started entering in codes through text message at work. By the end of my year and a half end stint at UW, I had over 1,000 points. The next step was to pick out my "rewards". Since you have to have over 200,000 points to get anything cool, I picked out a coke sling bag, which can hold 2 canned cokes and keep them cool. Basically, it was a waste of time and texting points in for almost 2 years.

Then I found out I had 200 points left over. It turned out I could get a magazine subscription for a year. So I looked at my choices: Oprah, Better Home and Living, or Fitness. None of these interested me. So with no other good choices I picked Fitness. It's been over a year since I've done this...and I'm still receiving Fitness magazine for free. I have NO IDEA WHY. But every time I get it in the mail, I scan it over and in less than a minute, it ends up in the trash.

I Don't Make These Things Up

Anyway, lately I've been finding more and more people who go to the gym, run, workout, do weights, WHATEVER, etc. And I seriously just can't believe it. Do people really workout this much? Are there really people who get up early in the morning and go running, or take time out of their days to "hit the gym"? Am I really this sheltered and lazy from the exercising world?

I always thought it was some elaborate joke that people need to exercise 20 minutes at least 5 days a week. I mean 20 minutes isn't that bad. AT ALL. I could probably do that without whining (even though I'm super out of shape). The part that I always hated about working out/running was the work you had to do after. For girls especially, we have to wash our hair, blow dry it, re-apply make up, straighten it, etc. This seems like a huge pain in the ass to me. My 20 minute work out turns into a 2 hour workout.

Luckily I've been blessed with a small frame and a good metabolism. But, how much longer will this last? Should I start working out too? I certainly don't want to become one of SIXTY-SEVEN PERCENT of adults who are overweight. I mean...ahhhhh! And wouldn't it be nice to walk up a slight incline and not feel like I'm going to die from lack of oxygen for the first time since I quit playing soccer?

Basically, I've been thinking a lot more about starting to run in the mornings, or at LEAST once or twice a week. Or even go for a walk. I mean the most walking I do is to walk to my car in the morning. Okay...and I walk to class from my car...it takes like five minutes. That can't be nearly enough. Boot Camp Harvey would yell in my face.

That Would Make Me Uncomfortable.

The more I think about starting to exercise for internal health reasons...the more lazy I feel. I feel like this blog was a work out in itself. Now I feel like I deserve to go back to bed after working so hard.

*Stares at bed...*

-Holly

Lying

2010-01-19T22:25:00.000-08:00

Okay I might have a problem. There are two times in my life when I can remember ever feeling bad about lying.

1. When I believed God would send a lightning bolt down on me and send me to hell if I lied
and
2. When I thought Santa wouldn't bring me presents if I lied

I haven't believed either of those things would happen to me since I was fourteen years old. This means every time I've lied for the past six years I hardly ever feel any amount of guilt or remorse.

Am I bad person?

I've been thinking a lot about this lately. There are only a few times when I can remember feeling bad about lying after I was fourteen, and it's always been when I lie to people and they have found out I lied.

Okay, I'm typing this out and it's sounding like I'm a complete selfish bitch. This might be true too.

All I know is that I know people who CANNOT tell lies without feeling so much guilt they might explode. Even non-believers in santa and/or some sort of God who feel this way. I was trying to google my problem but no one seemed to have the same one.

I came across people who lied and are seeking advice as to what to do next about it (because they feel bad), compulsive liars, and people who lie just because. I mean, I'm not a pathological liar. I don't tell lies just to tell them, but when I do it's usually for a good reason in my mind and I never ever feel the least bit sorry I did...unless they find out. If I started a support group for people like me would I be the only memeber? Or will there be others? Will we just chat on discussion boards about how we don't care about our support group because we don't care when we lie.

Maybe the fact that I'm typing this out means I care a little and I feel bad that I don't feel bad. But honestly I'll probably only feel bad if people are weirded out/offended by me for not feeling bad about lying.

Okay. After reading all of this...I might be a bad person, and tomorrow I might find out that I have no more friends. But I will say this: I never lie to the people I love and respect. That much is true about me...or am I lying?

-Holly Aka worst human being ever

Is it BEDA yet?

2010-01-12T12:04:00.000-08:00

To be honest, I really miss BEDA. Last year I blogged about the things I liked with every letter of the alphabet. This year I'd like to blog about personal stuff if I can get away with being boring. Mostly I miss the fact that Maureen Johnson has to blog every day too.

So I started classes again. I'm taking this fascinating designing web site's course. I can't wait to learn all about how to do it (once the rest of the class learns how to open "notepad" *rolls eyes*). I've got my two Russian professors again that are married. Igor (karkaroff) and Galina. Last week, Galina had just seen Avatar and she related every example we needed to the movie. She ended with:

"Those blue people are so boring. They don't want all of our cool technology, but I would seriously get bored riding around on dragons all day and living in a tree."

She just says things like that all the time...she's amazing.

Anyway, updating my blog is on my giant to do list. Along with updating both my FF's, working for the public school libraries, and making videos for my channel(s). Not to mention there is that overburdening thing called 'homework' that takes up most of my time.

In other news, LG15 ha continued with a new series called outbreak. At the end of the week Valleygril15 will make an appearance on her channel: www.youtube.com/user/valleygirl15 so if you are a vg15 fan look for that.

I almost died the other day walking down this cement path where I had parked. I literally had to plant my feet on the ground and use my hands to slide myself down the path with the railing in order to not fall backwards and crack my head open. It was that icy. So...I'm glad I'm not dead.

I've been driving a lot lately. Everyday for at least 80 minutes total. I keep listening to AM radio (sick of listening to nickleback on the damn local radio). there are a lot of psychos out there, let's just say that. Everytime I get in a car now to dive I can't help but think of how easy it is to die in a car...moving on?

I'm watching Dexter right now. I'm about half way through season 4. So good. Love that show. And then I'm going to start It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia or The Big Bang Theory or maybe Mad Men. I need to finish Weeds too. I'm still at the beginning of season 4. TV is so good again.

Anyway, better finish these damn sources I need to do for class.

-Holly

An entire decade?

2009-12-31T10:26:00.000-08:00

It took me until today to realize that this is the first time I have remembered very clearly the entire decade. Technically (being born in 1989) I was alive through the 9s but I only have really a good memory of the mid to late 90s. I get on twitter today and the trending topic is #10yearsagoI and I couldn't help but go back and reflect on the decade for me. Feel free to not get bored if you can help it.

2000
Had a new years eve party at my house in California. I was 10 years old and not sure what y2k meant just that my parent's insane friends were scared as hell. I got to stay up till midnight and watch the ball drop for the first time which I thought was super awesome and my Dad made announcements when London and the east coast passed their new years and that all their electronics were still working. He made me stand by the phone so when it was midnight I had the honor of picking it up and saying the dial tone worked. Later in October we moved to Washington State and I vowed to leave it as soon as I turned 18.

2001
6th grade I went from that weird freakish new kid that wore Hawaiian shirts and was from mystical CALIFORNIA to being somewhat popular. I was pretty pleased with this, but honestly didn't really like the popular kids that much, they would have been made fun of in California, let's just say that. They were WASHINGTON cool (an entirely lower level of cool at the time). Razors and Furbies finally became cool in the northwest and I was bored because those were cool like two years ago in fourth grade. Washington was boring me. I hated snow (still do) and my favorite band was LFO/BBMAK/Hoku.

2002
I'd always liked harry Potter but this is when my Harry Potter kick really started. I saw Chamber of Secrets in theatres four times and started a Harry Potter box of all clippings in newspapers and magazines. Any news stories I could get my hands on. I ditched the popular kids and focused on my main love: Harry Potter and Hayden Christiansen in Star Wars (this later AKA NOW is a sickening thought that I even liked that horrible actor, but it began my love of Natalie Portman).

2003
8th grade was horrible. I dropped out of all school sports and focused on club soccer. I was pretty good and made a lot of good friends traveling but I was 14 and my coach was mean so this was also the year I quit club soccer after 10 years of playing soccer.

2004
I entered high school friendless and decided I'd go all Avril Lagvine cause she was kinda cool at the time. I was too poor to afford converse so I got off brand cons and brown cords that I wore constantly and blank tank tops. I thought I was pretty awesome. Start going to shows, make two new great friends that I still have. Played high school softball which I loved and still have my fondest memories there of high school.

2005
THE YEAR OF LEARNING LIFE LESSONS
Boys are complete idiots, drugs are bad, and drinking is probably not a good idea either anymore. Life lesson: Don't pay attention to what boys say, only pay attention to what they do.

2006
Running start AKA I leave high school and get high school credits and college credits while going to community college. I also have a horrible boyfriend that is just...HORRIBLE....and I'm young and dumb so I stay with him because, "Gosh I know he loves me deep down somewhere in there!" I start making youtube videos.

2007
Graduate high school and community college with my high school diploma and A.A degree.
Dump lame boyfriend and pick up awesome new boyfriend.

2008
Go to the University of Washington and manage a long distance relationship successfully. Have a great on campus job and really love my major and the people in it.

2009
Graduate University of Washington with degree in English come home and freak out because I can't find a job. Decide to go to Graduate school and get a degree in Communications...still deciding if this is a good idea or not. But I successfully completed my first and hardest quarter ever...so that's good.

2010
?????????????????????

-Holly

Winter Break

2009-12-27T16:04:00.001-08:00

I finished my first quarter of graduate school successfully. My grades were excellent and even though it was one of the hardest three months of my life I still managed a trip to Calgary, and time with friends. I even made new friends through my grad program who will be in my classes next quarter. I have Igor and Galina (the married Russian professors) again next quarter and they're so quirky and odd I'm almost excited to see them again. I know it's going to be even harder than last quarter though, but I'm up for the challenge. I'm also taking a designing websites course which I'm really excited about. Winter quarter 2010 starts January 6th.

Winter break was fun, still a week of it left. I went to visit my great uncle and aunt in Phoenix for a few days. My uncle Jack loves to hunt so I got to walk around a house surrounded by dead mounted animals. This ranged from a Pumba wart hog to an alligator. Depressing. Then we went to the Phoenix zoo and my Uncle pointed out all the things he's shot. It was kind of like this:

Me: Oh wow! What a cute tiger! Aw it has little babies!

Jack: I shot and killed one of those before.

Me: Oh....wow....

Nevertheless they are good people and they treated us well there.

My room got an upgrade over break. I now have a new PC which I love and a queen size bed in my room. A nice upgrade from my slow as hell lap top and my twin size kid bed I've had since I was 11. I even traded in the fishy sheets for sheets of EGYPTIAN COTTON NA NA NA NA NA NA. If you have no idea what that just was then you need to watch this, especially at 50 seconds in. Wish I could find the real video from the movie but...stupid youtube, you know...

Anyway with the room upgrade, I feel all grown up.

Christmas was a family affair. It was tolerable. I have a large family here and they tend to drive me up the wall a lot, but my cousins are great. We went over and had a huge bon fire at one of their houses that night and played the Bad Santa drinking game. Every time someone wears in that movie you have to drink. You will be GONE after the first 15 minutes. Great movie. It's my me and my Dad's go to Christmas movie next to the original Miracle on 34th street. Yes, I realize these are two completely different movies. But we like them both.

Happy New Year!

-Holly

You're mad at me aren't you?

2009-11-24T00:42:00.000-08:00

C'mon that's hardly fair. I mean you didn't even remember my birthday!!! Jerk. To be honest I've considered updating you almost every day for the past few weeks. There will be times when I'll be in class and annoying girl will go on and on about how much she knows or she'll let our her bark of a laugh and I'll think:

When I get home...this is going in my blog.

But then I'll look at my mountain of homework since finals are next week and I'll feel guilty for neglecting my literature review, my case study, and my mock academic convention presentation.

I've been busy in the real world. And I must say the real world is NOT that much fun. Okay, I lied...it kind of is...for instance...

Super Mario Brothers Wii came out and when I do manage to pull myself out of my homework induced coma I spend time eating mini Mario mushrooms and sledding around in penguin suits.

Oh, and don't be mad but I had my 20th birthday while I was gone. I know a momentous occasion. For I am now in my early 20s, so anything I say or do will not be remembered until I get married. For presents (presents!) I got a Dumbledore's Army messenger bag, and even though I'm a Slytherin, I managed to spin an elaborate story of being a spy in the D.A.

I also experimented with my sexuality. I mean really, I don't even know who that IS!

I also had to catch up on all the great television shows I miss while I'm at night classes during the week. I mean I've got a full plate here. It's hard to catch up on Glee, The Office, 30 Rock, Jimmy Kimmel, V, Flashforward, AND The Vampire Diaries. SERIOUSLY.

I've also been busy spending money I don't have. This is a bad habit. A bad bad habit. For instance I bought the 3rd and 4th books in the vampire diaries series (which is just as amazing as the TV show). And I bought the first book in the Artemis Fowl series. As well as the first three books in the Percy Jackson series (WAY EXCITED ABOUT THIS ONE). I also bought...

anecklacesomeearingsareversableslytherinhoodieatonofbookstacobellcoffeesupermariobrotherswiisomeglovesapairofbootsokayfinetwopairsofboots...

but what's money in exchange for the happiness of consumerism? NOTHING. That's what.

But alas, Thanksgiving break is finally here. I really hate this holiday, I mean it serves no purpose and is painfully historically inaccurate. But who am I to argue with AMERICAN TRADITION??? I'm sure they got SOME facts right? I mean America is perfect after all. I'm sure the Native Americans sat down with the pilgrims and they all celebrated not starving...just before they started killing each other over a misunderstanding when someone asked to "pass the turkey." These things CAN happen.

My father and I are rebelling and plan on putting up our Christmas's tree, ordering pizza, and watching miracle on 34th street (our classic holiday movie just before Bad Santa) instead of doing the traditional feast. I like the way we run the house now a days to say the least.

So basically, I have no excuse for not updating you blog. But I'm doing it now! Right? Anyway, don't forget to send out your Candy Gram's kids.

"FOUR FOR YOU GLENN COCO, YOU GO GLENN COCO!"

5 special points if you can tell me what movie THAT quote is from.

-Holly

Trouble at the Canadian Border, and A Fun Time in Calgary

2009-11-01T23:13:00.000-08:00

Hi Blog!!! I missed you. The past few weeks I never really had anything to tell you about so I stayed away from you so you wouldn't have to hear about uninteresting things that were happening to me. This can range from reading fanficiton, doing homework, crying about homework, being stressed, planning a road trip, more homework, etc. See this is all very boring.

So I figured I'd just hold out on you till I had a good story to tell. Wanna hear a good story?

Well it started on Thursday night. I came home from night classes and did a final check of my stuff for the road trip to Calgary. There were two purposes to this trip: 1. See my favorite Canadian band Marianas Trench and 2. Get fairly wasted.

Now I don't get wasted often. I enjoy a drink every now and then, but I prefer to do this in a social setting, not in my bedroom alone. This means I AM A LIGHTWEIGHT. Being 5 feet tall does not help this fact.

So on Thursday night I packed a bag and headed over to my cousins. Me, my boyfriend Jesse, and my cousins Nick, Kelly, and Mandi were going to pull of the 8 hour road trip into Canada, there and back, in 2.5 days.

Friday morning we left, and the first three hours of driving were great. We were young, excited, and ready to take on Canada. We stopped at a gas station to buy some beer and wine because it was cheaper to buy in America, then headed to the border.

Here is where things go a little wrong. How about a scene for you?

Canadian border patrol guy (CBP): *asks incessant questions*

Kelly (who is driving): *Gives constant honest answers*

CBP: Any alcohol, drugs, or tobacco in the vehicle?

Kelly: 3 cases of Kokanne, no drugs, no tobacco.

CBP: Any mace or pepper spray?

Kelly: Nope.

Holly: *I didn't pack my mace did I? No...I'm pretty sure I didn't...I didn't...*

CBP: Any weapons?

Kelly: No.

CBP: Please pull forward and park on the side of the building and don't get out of the car.

Holly: Wait! I might have mace in my purse, it's in the back of the car, I can't remember if I packed it or not. I might have.

CBP: It's too late for that.

Kelly: *Drives over to said area*

Holly: What the hell does that mean?

Nick: Does my pocket knife count as a weapon?

Everyone: YES!

Kelly: I think I have Cigarettes.

Mandi: We didn't claim that we had a bottle of wine...is that bad?

Everyone: Probably.

CBP: *shows up and has white gloves on* Driver step out of the vehicle. *checks Kelly for weapons and leads him into an outdoor room with a window to look out of where you can see the vehicle*

CBP: *Does this to each of us until I'm the last person in the car*

CBP: Last girl, step out the vehicle. *I step out of the vehicle*. You're in a world of trouble.

Holly: ...why?

CBP: You didn't claim your mace.

Holly: I don't even know if it's in there. I can't remember if I packed it or not.

CBP: Any weapons on you? Anything in your pockets, your boots?

Holly: ...no...

CBP: Go stand in the room. *I go into the room and he locks us inside*

Jesse: What the hell?

Holly: He said I was "in a world of trouble". What does that mean?

*All of us watch as he grabs the wine, pocket knife, cigarettes, and mace out the vehicle*

Everyone: We are totally F*(@#d

CBP: *Unlocks door* So here is the deal. I found tobacco, alcohol, a pocket knife, and mace that you didn't claim. You all left your rights as U.S. citizens at the border. I have enough here to charge you all and take you to jail and take away your vehicle. You all lied to a federal agent.

Everyone: *Looks of horror*

CBP: But hey, we're practically cousins here. It's hard to remember that this is a foreign country sometimes I mean we all talk the same and basically look the same. So what I'm going to do is let you four go.

Holly: *...isn't there 5 of us....*

CBP: And you *points at me* are going to come with me, you are in a lot of trouble. You guys can hang out in the car and I'm taking her back inside with me to fill out some stuff.

Holly: *Holy S*@# what did I do...!?!?!?!*

Pretty much, the guy had enough to eff us over big time. Even though almost everyone in the car didn't claim something that was considered dangerous, I got screwed because I was the one who SAID something...remember:

"Holly: Wait, I might have mace in my purse, it's in the back of the car, I can't remember if I packed it or not. I might have."

Because I said something AFTER he said he was going to search the car I GOT EFFED! He didn't want to give us a full punishment...more just a reminder, it's not like he could just let us go for free. So my tiny 5 oz bottle of self defense mace (apparently scarier and more dangerous than a 7 inch pocket knife) got me six years of being in the system of the FBI and CIA. Anytime I try to leave the country I will probably get searched.

But as my friendly "cousin" and CBP guy put it: "If you have nothing to hide you'll be fine. You just might want to leave for flights a few minutes earlier than usual. I can tell this was clearly a mistake of forgetting."

Hell yeah it was.

Really not a big deal, but when I was in an interrogation room alone with the guy and he was telling me I had no rights...well I was a little freaked out. You can't tell me you wouldn't be too.

He was a nice guy who knew we were just dumb kids. He basically just wanted us to take Canada more seriously as a "foreign" country. It's hard to think of it that way just because it's not as exotic/different of a place than say if we went to Germany or something. I mean Canada is practically America and America is practically Canada. PRACTICALLY. Minus the way we say about, out, and eh.

After that small discrepancy...we got to Calgary around 9pm, checked into the hotel and 3/5 of us decided to sleep including myself, while the two others just got wasted until 4am and they passed out.

The next morning we went to Boston Pizza for breakfast and I ordered a drink with alcohol in it. This is the second time I've been able to do this legally. The first being in Australia. I was thrilled, it was kind of cool to do something different. A $8 drink though! I will learn on this trip the cost of tiny alcoholic drinks is INSANE.

Afterwards we hung out again at the hotel after driving through downtown a bit (super gorgeous city).

That night was Halloween, Mandi and I dropped the boys off on 17th ave downtown *A prominent bar hopping spot* and went off to our concert.

Needless to say Marianas Trench was worth being on a surveillance list for the next 6years. They were so good! And very talented guys. It was so much fun! The lead singer dressed up as Little Bo Peep and the rest of the band was 'the sheep'. Hilarious.

Afterwards, it was midnight so we went to the bar where the boys were at. Mandi is only 17 so she couldn't go inside which was a huge bummer. Nick was VERY MUCH done drinking (passed out) so we hauled him outside and threw him in the back seat and Mandi drove him back to the hotel.

I then proceeded to follow Kelly and Jesse into the first bar/club I'd ever been in. I had one beer, one tiny rum and coke, and one tiny vodka tonic (a total of $27!!!). I had no idea what to order so I just picked generic things I'd heard people order on TV before and hoped it sounded legitimate.

We got a cool little VIP booth the boys had had for the night. It was so weird being in a club. I wasn't sure how to act, but everyone was so friendly and drunk and in a costume no one really cared. So I just let my inhibitions go and had the time of my life. I even got my *I never ever dance* boyfriend to dance with me. It's amazing the things drunk people will do.

A few hours later Mandi picked us up. Kelly proceeded to yell 'America' out the widow and moon people. Normally this would have infuriated me as being very stereotypical American and really obnoxious and rude. However, I was so drunk I laughed the hardest I'd ever laughed at anything. The Canadians all dressed in costumes hanging out on the street were too drunk to care as well and I even saw a few of them laughing.

It was a great time. Back at the hotel we continued to indulge in the 'fire whiskey'. It was about 5:30am when we finally went to bed. I woke up this morning and almost puked 10 times. I had the worst hang over I've ever had, which only felt mildy better when I indulged in greasy bacon. Worth it? Yes. Worth it again and again. So fun! I love Calgary, everyone was so nice and cool. The city is beautiful was well. Canadians know how to party.

Here are a few things that I always want to remember from his trip:

A drunk man with a smiley face taped to his face and a giant joint taped to it.
'WINDOWS DOWN! WINDOWS DOWN!'
Giant Marshmallows.
Haddaway's 'What is love'
'Is a pocket knife considered a weapon?'
Popped Collar dude
'TREE SWAMP!'
Calgary hitch hikers
'You are in a world of trouble'
Jessica ABLA
'This is hilarious!'
That tall guy who bent low so that us people under 5"3 could see
'I'm sorry I can't finish this song that guy looks like such a douche bag'
Sal's bar
'Richard no!'
Mandi screaming at us for being drunk and having to pick us up, then proceeding to get smashed with us later.
'Did you just burp right in my face?'
Nick hitting on every waitress and getting turned down
'I've never been this drunk before'
High fiving feet

And now I'm home...back to boring life. I have finals coming up in a month and NaNoWriMo all month to keep me PLENTY busy.

-Holly

I'm a gLeek

2009-10-15T11:15:00.000-07:00

Today is me and my boyfriend's 2 year anniversary. What a guy to put up with me for 2whole years eh?

We were going to go some place fancy after I got out of class, and we were gonna spend like $120 on an okay meal. But I'm really not into that kind of thing. I just wanted to come over to his place, have him get the night off, and order a pizza and watch Dexter. See this is why we get along so well.

Last night I accidentally "downloaded" aka didn't click out of on time, this virus that latches onto you computer called Cyber Shield. Oh wow, did it mess up my lap top. I was up with 2:30am trying to fix it. I just finally re set it back 24 hours, but not my macafee security won't work. BAH. My boyfriends coming over in a bit and I'm gonna make him breakfast and he's gonna go through and install a ton of spybot protection and anti-virus stuff.

I took my first test of graduate school yesterday. It went pretty well even though it nearly took us all an hour to finish, we really didn't think it'd be so long with so much writing! Luckily I'm good at that. Anyway, my prof Igor Klygukanov (I call him Igor Karkaroff in my head) was kind of sick so we just briefly discussed what we read and he actually let us go early...like at 8:30! I was so thrilled. I kind of freaked out excitedly in class and this kid was like, "Do you have somewhere to be?" To which I should have replied "Yeah, I'm totally meeting all my cool friends for drinks." But instead I said, "OMG NO! I CAN FINALLY WATCH GLEE ON T.V. TONIGHT!" In which he preceded to call me ridiculous and I said something like whatever, I'm a gLeek.

Last nights episode: amazing. The cover of "Keep holding on" was fantastic! I have a huge hate/love relationship with Sue. Who I hate, but she has the best one liners EVER. "I'm going to ruin you." "I'm going to vomit down your back." AND "I hate to see kids get emotional, unless it's from exhaustion." Also, Terry (Will's wife), her sister is HILARIOUS. You wouldn't think it cause you're too busy hating her, but she's really great. I love her ADD children.

On facebook yesterday I picked 5 people who I would form a team with and help me save the world. I chose:
The Doctor (From Doctor Who)
Hermione Granger (From Harry Potter)
Katniss Everdeen (From The Hunger Games)
Clary and Jace (From The Mortal Instruments)
Arthur Dent (From The Hitchhickers Guide to the Galaxy)

After I complied this list...I realized I'm a HUGE HUGE nerd. And I loved it.

-Holly

COLD

2009-10-06T16:56:00.000-07:00

Is it October already? Wow.

Soon there will be snow all over the damn driveway and I'll be pressing the garage door opener 50 times until it unfreezes and I can get out. Then there will be the massive bulid up outside the garage door that will inevitably take me 30-40 minutes to clear.

While I take out my medieval shovel and work away the layers of cold the neighboors will take out their giant snow blowers and clear the driveway and the mailbox area in less than ten minutes. They will look at me sympathetically, stop for a few seconds and consider snow blowing my driveway because it'd only take them a few minutes and it would be the nice thing to do. Well ever since we stopped mowing and watering our lawn more than twice a year, they've never helped.

Currently I'm also typing with fingerless gloves on because there is not enough money in the world to keep a heater on pre-snow months. Also, I'm on day 3 of recovery from a cold.

Clearly, I feel pretty awful about winter. Well hopefully we have another month or so until the snow hits. Until then...October is going to be a good month for me.

I feel that this is the month I will finally get a job. On the 15th is me and my boyfriend's 2 year anniversary. We're going to this super fancy restaurant which we will feel awkward about because neither of us is into that sort of thing. He took me to Jason Mraz for a gift and I'm taking him to SCARYWOOD on the 17th. It's this theme park normally called Silverwood, but they've transformed it this October to be SCARYWOOD, where everything will be haunted all the roller coasters will be open, and there will be a scary train ride and the rapids will turn into this scary monster thing. It should be fun. And cold...very cold. But fun.

Plans for Canada trip at the end of October are coming together. Me, Mandi, Jesse, Nick, and Kelly are planning to drive up to Calgary and see a show Saturday night (Halloween) and hang out and enjoy the lower drinking age and just have a good time. If we pull off the pricing and the hotel arrangements I'll be thrilled.

Speaking of Halloween (2 sentences ago), I decided to be a ZOMBIE for Halloween. Cool eh? There WILL be pictures. Have you ever heard about the year I was Princess Peach???

Well I was! It's true!

And last year I was peter pan...so I decided to go with something SCARY this year.

Anyway the band I love (Marianas Trench) is playing only in Canada (because they're canadian) and they're playing ON Halloween so it will be a dress up show...cause I said so.

Tonight, I saw ZOMBIELAND. And...HOLY CRAP. AWESOME. So good. All I have to say is: Bill Murray, hell yeah. My friend said I looked a lot like Emma Stone in Zombieland, and I kind of see it, but obviously she's a lot prettier (I mean she's an actress afterall). Anyway, what do you think?

Um, I really need to go write this paper that's due tomorrow on a bunch of stuff I read but didn't comprehend...so yeah...MISSED YOU BLOG!

-Holly

Jason Mraz and My Grandma. Yeah that's right.

2009-09-29T23:16:00.000-07:00

Hello all! I am feeling MUCH better than I was last blog post. I took Megan's advice (thanks) and I talked to a few professors and my head of department and it looks like I won't be going to a mental hospital at the end of the quarter due to a nervous breakdown after all.

Although classes are extremely hard, I know as long as I do my best and stop comparing my intelligence to others I'll be okay. I spent every spare second this weekend doing homework and I have a better grasp on what communications is and what is expected of me in this program.

Anyway, let's NOT talk about school because that's all that has been consuming my thoughts lately.

Friday, my amazing boyfriend took me to see Jason Mraz live for our 2 year anniversary. How cool is that? Jason Mraz is an amazing person (very selfless and cool) and he is a great singer (better live than on track).

However, I was kind of bored with him live, and I hate to say that because I mean it's Jason Mraz FTW. He just played all of his songs in a weird way I'd never heard before. I mean I know you're bored with playing the remedy over and over, but I just want to hear you do the original (IIIII IIIII WON'T I WON'T WORRY MY LIFE A WAY EH EH OH OH NO). Instead he had to do this Rastafarian version that didn't even really work so no one could get into it or sing along. He did this with EVERY SINGLE SONG. Some were better than others but STILL.

He also didn't play these songs that I absolutely love:
Wordplay
Geek in the Pink
Curbside Prophet
Did you get my message
You and I both
Too much food
Mr. Curiosity

I WANTED TO HEAR THESE SOOOO BAD. STILL it was worth it. I finally got to see him live and he is just so damn talented. The best part of the night was when he broke out into a full on opera voice! I KID YOU NOT. He did SO good. It was truly incredible, he really has a voice. Even my boyfriend, who isn't a fan of Mraz, was very impressed.

Afterwards we went back to my boyfriends place and watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit because we do really awesome things like that sometimes. I hadn't seen that movie in so long.

On Saturday I did homework until I drove out to my Grandma's for dinner. Have I told you about my Grandma? Because she is unlike any Grandma you know. For one, she lives in this giant house in the "country" aka a VERY small town about 35 minutes away from the city. She has a barn and cool pond and a ton of trees and land. It's really a cool place where I've spent a lot of my childhood.

Now with this picture of her house in mind you're probably expecting her to be the kind that bakes homemade cookies (wrong she bakes homemade bread), and slips you $1 bills and tells you not to spend it all in one place. Not quite

Well try a Grandma who cooks amazing food from all over the world, and slips you plane tickets for trips to places like (for some reason blogger wanted these to be huge...sorry):

England

France

Australia

D.C.

and

Chicago!

and when she's not in a foreign country with you she's in a foreign country by herself exploring all there is to see in the world. She just got back from Pakistan and is planning a trip to the Mediterranean (for the 3rd time) next month. She has pictures all over her house of her riding camels around the desert with pyramids in the background, and skydiving, well you get the picture. She's pretty much the coolest. So that was Saturday night.

Then on Sunday I went out to my boyfriend's parents house for dinner with his parents and his brother's girlfriend. We were told old stories about how my boyfriend's younger brother (who is 21 now) was an unintentional animal hurter when he was little (example: he launched 2 kittens off a spring so they flew in the air and blood came out of their eyes, and he drenched a kitty in a bucket of lighter fluid). No animals died on his behalf, but he sure gave some a scare. He explained himself like this:

"Okay first of all I liked the first 2 kittens and I wanted to have fun with them on the spring launcher just like I did with my beanie babies, and the lighter fluid just happened to be in the bucket which I placed the other cat while I went to go find my mom to show her I found a cat!"

This resulted in a lot of laughter and Josh's girlfriend giving him fake horrified looks. I am so lucky my boyfriend's family is so cool. I love them all.

Anyway, today and tomorrow I'm back to the class that makes me cry. Hoping for better results...

-Holly

This is my personal hell

2009-09-24T23:15:00.000-07:00

I had my first class as a graduate student on Wednesday. I wanted to blog immediately after, but I decided to wait until after my class today just in case it went better and I had something good to talk about.

It did not go better. You know when you walk into a room and right away you can tell that everyone else has something you don't? Let me give you examples of this from my own personal experience over the past two days.

First, everyone in my class is older than me. Now I'm used to this, being 19 and having already earned my B.A. Degree. However, I'd say the median age range in all of my classes is about oh...maybe 27?

Second, they all know each other. They have all attended this specific university before as undergraduates or they've been in the program as a graduate student for awhile now. They have either taken classes with each other before, or have taken classes with the professor before. Oh and they have ALL at least taken one course in communications. No matter how basic.

Third, they all use big words and smarty pants theories I've never even heard of before. Even the Professors. Do you know anything about the "Dreyfus model for skill acquisition" or "Neo-Aristotelian rhetorical criticism" or "Double Hermeneutics"? ME EITHER! There is a list like this of 60 terms all just as weird and confusing that I have to memorize (and their definitions) by the end of the quarter (plus loads more stuff I WON'T go into detail about because you'd be so unbelievable bored and you might faint).

Fourth, they all have thought about their thesis. You know a thesis. That huge thing you have to do at THE END of your graduate career. That thing that all your classes PREPARE you for. Well apparently everyone here is a genius who has already thought about these things (OBVIOUSLY). And the Professors just assume you've thought about it too! In fact they assume you know nearly EVERYTHING about communications cause hey! this is all a review for you right? Right! They also know everything about theory and this philosopher and that writer and what's that? You want them to write their thesis based around "classical genre rhetorical criticism", oh that's no problem. Cause they know these things (DUH EVERYONE DOES). They live and breathe these things. And when one girl says "Oh I'm mostly interested in late structuralism with a slight emphasis on Phronesis." The teacher just jokes, "Oh that's okay WE won't hold that against you!" Because it's a joke! Because they all know what it means and that it's funny and hahah hahahaha hahaha ahhahahhaha. WONDERFUL.

I have to come up with a thesis in a specific field of communication by Wednesday (never mind that I don't know ANY fields of communication because all my professors just assume everyone knows). Plus a MOUNTAIN of reading and homework that I hardly understand. I won't go into details because you might die if I do.

Basically: Bad mood.

Basically: I cried all over my Dad when I got home.

Basically: Not even blast o butter popcorn and Doctor Who made me feel better.

Basically: Welcome to Grad school.

Basically: FML

-Holly

Waking up late...too late

2009-09-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

I have GOT to set a better sleep schedule for myself. I was up last night till 1 reading dramione fan fiction (you caught me). I slept wonderfully. Usually I get woken up sometime during the wee hours, then go back to bed. However, I was fortunate enough to get a full nights sleep without being woken up until my body was fully ready. Unfortunately, my body wasn't ready to wake up until 1:58 pm.

Believing that I would never sleep that late, I did not set an alarm as I should have. Once I felt awake enough, I grabbed my cell phone from under my pillow to see what time it was. Surely I had enough time for a quick work out and a shower still. Upon seeing the time, I quickly fell onto the floor, shoved on the same outfit I wore yesterday, grabbed a to-go cup of coffee, and got in the car. At this point I had 50 minutes to drive 45 minutes to a building I'd never been before on a campus I'd hardly am familiar with.

I got there around 2:50 and had 10 minutes to find this building I'd never heard of. After a quick look at some campus maps I found the building and walked in. I needed to go to the 2nd floor. Upon entry I saw that on the 1st floor I could get my picture taken for my new student ID. The downtown campus (only 15min away) is the one I'll be attending for classes and they don't have a student ID office there. This place closed at 5 so I wanted to make sure I got in to get a picture before they closed so I wouldn't have to drive all the way out there again. Besides, showing up early/on time to silly things like "orientation" makes you look too eager and freshman like. This was a graduate student orientation after all.

I ended up taking one of the worst pictures of my life (which is now permanently etched onto an ID card I'll have for the next 2-3 years) considering I still had bed head and never bothered to look in a mirror that afternoon. I ran upstairs to this orientation about 10 minutes late and ended up gaining annoyed looks from everyone in the room. Not to mention the only seat still open was in the very front. After an awkward pause from the speaker and several annoyed grunts from people as I pushed my way past to the front, orientation began. It turned out that the speaker I int erupted was the head of the graduate committee (you know the one which determines if your thesis is good enough to graduate) so it was nice to know that him and I got off to a good start.

It was all standard stuff in which we learned important numbers and people to talk to. We also learned that the average age in the room was 28 (I'm only 19 so that felt weird). Around 4:30, after receiving my flu kit, library information, and business cards, my stomach told my brain that I hadn't ate anything yet and I was starving. Although the orientation was supposed to stop at 5, it went until about 5:20.

On the way out I realized there were cookies and punch that I missed on the way in. I must have looked like a real A**hole when I lunged for these, grabbed 2 cookies and had a full cup of punch, then refilled it on the way out. Then, I forgot where I parked so I spent 20 minutes walking around the campus in search of my vehicle looking like a complete moron.

On the way home I got a call from this new movie theatre that's opening next week. I applied for a job as a joke a few weeks ago because I knew I'd never get the job. See, I worked in a movie theatre for two years, it was my first job. Pretty much I got fired from that for not a particularly FAIR reason, but nevertheless I got fired. I figured this theater would call my old theatre and ask why I left and they'd say I was fired. Naturally you can see why I assumed I'd never get this job. However, it turns out that they want an interview and since I'm poor and have no money I said "Why not?! It's not like I planned on never working at a movie theatre again!!!!!!!!!!!!" Except I did. Oh well, the economy is so bad and I SO need a job.

So my interview is next Thursday, my first class for grad school is tomorrow night and minus the whole "sleeping till 2pm" thing that I need to fix soon, things are looking up.

I'm also planning an insanely cool road trip at the end of October to Canada to see one of my favorite band Mariana's Trench. They're Canadian (obviously) so they don't play shows in America but I live 2 hours from the border so I'm going to drive the eight hours to Calgary for the weekend with some friends. It should be fun. Plus the drinking age in Canada is 19, so what's not to love about a weekend away?

-Holly

Short Blog

2009-09-17T16:54:00.000-07:00

I began writing this blog at 4:55pm while I eat my breakfast, which consists of Cheerios. I was afraid once classes start (on the 23rd) this ritual of waking up sometime after noon will be over. However, upon closer look at my schedule I discovered I have all night classes, which absoltely thrills me. This will become a regular event then and I am very pleased with this prospect.

I started watching Vampire Diaries last week. I very much like it. It's a little cheesy but I give it props for being completely based on this book series called Vampire Diaries that came out in the 90s. Makes it more original and I give it more credit, that even thoguh it is kinda similar to Twilight it's story line DID come first so.

I also read and finished The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins in 2 days. They were amazing. It's the first book in a long time I haven't been able to put down or stop thinking about. I suggest you all read it.

Thanks to Maureen Johnson, I can't stop singing the combination pizza hut and taco bell song and it's annoying everyone around me. Job well done, I say, since I believe it was her intention in the first place.

Short blog, but I will make up for it later.

-Holly

Portals and Weddings

2009-09-12T21:31:00.001-07:00

Twitter is down. And rather than read my school books ahead of time (which I really should do because they make absolutely NO sense to me), I decided to write in my blog.

Last night I went over to my boyfriends apartment to find him playing his x box. He was playing this character who had a gun that shot holes in the wall.

Me: Oh my god are you shooting portals out of that gun?!?!
Him: Yeah you make portals and try to escape these computers with lasers by being sneaky with your portal making.
Me: Sounds like a bit of a puzzle game, what's it called?
Him: Portal.

For some reason I found this hilarious. The entire game is just him shooting portals out of a gun and it's called portal. I mean at least the game description fits the title.

I got up bright and early today (11 AM, yes I'm pathetic) and put on this fancy dress I bought yesterday at Macy's. I put some tiny braids in my hair, kissed my sleeping boyfriend on the forehead, and drove away to pick up my friend Roxy. We were going to a wedding!

We thought that rather than drag our boyfriends along we'd just go together since we both knew the bride and they didn't.

Like all good procrastinators we left a bit early to drive to Target and get a wedding gift. We printed out a wedding registry and quickly scanned for items that hadn't been bought yet, and were under $20.

Roxy: Ooo look we can get them a shower curtain, it's only $19!
Me: Perfect!

We headed to the bath isle.

Me: Found it!
Roxy: Cool, oh we should get the little plastic thing that goes inside the shower for them, it's on their list and it's only $6.99.
Me: Well, alright.
Roxy: Oh! And they asked for shower rings too! We can't get them a curtain without shower rings.
Me: Yeah I guess that would be weird.

So we bought all three.

Roxy: We didn't bring anything to wrap it with.
Me: Crap you're right...um we could just buy a bag?
Roxy: No! Look they have magical BOXES! They're only .99 cents!
Me: Oh that is magical! Okay, now all we need is a card now.

We left the store $60 more poor than we were before. Expensive shower stuff apparently. We proceeded to wrap the gift and sign the card on the back of the trunk. Then we realized that the box WOULD NOT fit everything inside. So, Roxy ran back inside to get a bag.

We then left the bag in the car to go to Bath and Body Works to make ourselves smell good for the wedding and to put on some of their make up. Everything is better when it's free.

We both hadn't ate yet so we went into Safeway to grab Lunchables which I hadn't had since I was a kid. I made my cracker, cheese, turkey, cracker sandwiches and shoved them down my throat then drove quickly to the wedding.

The wedding itself was really pretty. I saw a ton of old friends which was a lot of fun. There were these two WAY creepy guys who kept dancing up on me and Roxy and Roxy finally just told them to f*** off cause they were creepy as hell. They reminded me distinctly of those guys from Night at the Roxbury. Funny...but creepy.

Thursday I went to the oral surgeon and he said the antibiotics I'd been taking for my infection post-wisdom teeth removal have worked and I'm all better now. That is such a relief, but seriously, it took an entire month for me to fully recover. Madness.

Despite the 7 books I listed last time as *in progress of reading* I went out and spent $30 on The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. I feel bad...well okay not really...but I really didn't NEED them quite yet. I just felt like I did...a lot.

Anyway, my feet hurt from dancing, and my wallet hurts from just about everything I paid for today. Ah well, what's money for friends sake?

-Holly

Life 'N stuff (I'm such a poet)

2009-09-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

I FINALLY BOUGHT A CAR!

Hello, blog. Sorry it's been so long, but so much has happened! Okay, not really but let's start with my new car.

First of all it's not new. It's a 2001 Pontiac Grand Am. BUT it only has 75,000 miles on it and it only cost me $5,600 which is great because that means NO CAR PAYMENTS! Which is heavenly to someone who only works once every two weeks.

That's right, I finally started working at the college football games. I made the best mistake ever of wearing blue on the first day when the home team is red and the opposing team was blue. I don't pay much attention to football, I just sell people water. It took me two days to recover from slugging around a huge box of bottled water, and marching up and down metal bleachers screaming at anyone who listened that I indeed had bottled water and it was in fact iced cold and only $3.

At the end of the day I got $30 in cash, which isn't enough to buy a wedding present, but enough to buy gas for the next 2 weeks until I work the next home game.

Saturday, my friend from high school is getting married. I haven't bought a gift yet, but the wedding doesn't start until 3pm so I assume I can just take care of that small problem earlier in the day. Thank you for credit cards. What's $40 more charged to my card when I've racked up $12,000 in debt for student loans?

I'm currently trying to read:
The Hobbit
Making social science matter
No one belongs here more than you
The scandal of the season
Mein kampf
Theorizing communication
Then we came to the end

2/7 of those are school books. I'll let you figure out which ones they are.

I've got a dress for the wedding that is currently residing in SLC, UT which I need here on my doorstep by 12pm Saturday.
I've got 2 threadless t-shirts on the way (which I'm thrilled about)
And I've just received new boots that I ordered online in the mail today (YAY!)
There is something magical about Fed-Ex and UPS when they just deliver big boxes of goodies for you and you can track their progress online. It's better than Santa!

I did officially receive my letter of acceptance into the Master of Science in Communications program (by the way). Classes start on the 23rd, they're all night classes (so I get to sleep in...YES!), and they're at the downtown campus so instead of a 40 minute commute I only have to drive 15 minutes.

I still have no solid income but...
Things are coming together.

-Holly

A bit of Portland and A New Blog

2009-08-27T16:47:00.001-07:00

Did I tell you all that I went dirt biking in Portland? For the first time ever? And I didn't die?

Me, not dying.

Portland is land full of magical things.

Like food booths open from 8:30-3am full of deep fried things like deep fried peanut butter and chocolate chip pie. And double fried french fries. My body is still recovering from the deep fried goodness.

And if you're ever in Portland you Must go to Powell's books. It's a giant book store that takes up a full city block. EVERY BOOK EVER IMAGINABLE RESIDES INSIDE. With color coded sections and 3 floors full of love.

So yesterday I was bored and browsing fanfiction.net and I could NOT stop laughing at some of the story lines that people come up with. Now I'm all for creativity and you've got to start somewhere if you want to be a writer. No one just wakes up and writes an incredible story. It takes practice, which makes not perfect...but better. So I didn't judge too harshly as some of these people might be just starting out in the writing department. BUT STILL, some story lines were just TOO much for me.

So in honor of the worlds most amazingly bad story lines of fan fiction I have started a new blog as a side project in which each post I will list 10 of my most favorite (awesomely bad) story descriptions from a book/movie/TVshow fanfiction with your favorite characters.

My first one is harry potter draco/hermione. Now this will change. I might to harry potter again but with different characters. I also will do twilight/gossip girl/lord of the rings/ mortal instruments etc. Pretty much I will definitely mix it up and try and give you a taste of it all.

If you're interested ,at all here is the link:
http://thecreationsoffanfiction.blogspot.com

Today, I ran into a friend from middle school which was surprisingly cool. Usually I cringe when these things happen. But she was very friendly and I really kind of missed her. Then I found out my Dad sells product to the coffee shop she works at and they interact all the time but she had no idea it was MY Dad. So weird. Anyway, reading today, shopping today. Oh! and watching Doctor Who today. Have I mentioned I JUST got into that show. It's amazing the things that I miss out on.

-Holly

The...unknown?

2009-08-25T14:49:00.000-07:00

There is nothing worse than the unknown. I swear no one would fear death if we just KNEW what happens to us when our body stops functioning and our minds go blank.

Then again, if we knew what death had in store for us and it was say, sitting in a basement tied to a chair watching re-runs of Gray's Anattomy I could apprecaite the fear in knowing that.

Holly, why are you talking about death?

Reader, I have no idea. I was trying to go somewhere with this...somewhere with the unknown and oh yeah I just remembered.

Today, I had my real graduate studies final interview process thing. It was scary. I had met the guy once before, he is VERY Irish and he has these weird looking eyes that are small and the right one moves in different directions than the left (and oh my god if he is reading this I am so sorry) but he's a nice guy. So why was I nervous? Well I guess it was the unknown. What questions would he ask me? Was he going to like my answers? Could I give good answers?

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. I slid through the interview with no problems, and at the end he was just kind of like, "Well it's not official yet but I'm going to reccomend to the grad office that you get in, you seem like a perfect candidate."

I said: "Excellent."

What I wanted to say: "Um, Did you even look at my GRE scores? They were horrible. Also, where in Ireland are you from cause I'm writing a novel about a place in Ireland and I could really use a first persons account. Also, and I'm sorry if this offends you, but why are your eyes like that? Do you like rugby?"

Anyway, The point of this blog was the unknown. I was scared of this interview because I wasn't sure what to expect, how it was going to go, and what I had to say and act and do.

I have this problem where I look ahead TOO much. I'm always waiting for the next road block in my life to pop up so I can get to it and worry about it WAY before I have to. I want to KNOW the UNKNOWN before it becomes KNOWN. This causes me great amounts of stress so it's my biggest flaw I think, and my strength too cause it allows me to get things done the second they are capable of being done.

So anyway, here is some stuff I feel like saying in one sentece:
I got into grad school (almost officially, yay!).
I went to Portland.
The Columbia River is beautiful.
I saw the Washington stone henge and the U.K. Stonehenge
I pet a dog named Ned.
I pet 8 dogs with several different names who slobbered all over me.
I ate a deep fried pie (still recovering).
I went to Silverwood twice.
I saw Inglorious Basterds.
I am obsessed with dailybooth ( www.dailybooth.com/hollishillis ).
I still have no car.
I have 12,000 to pay off in student loans, this number will increase very soon.
My phone won't charge on it's own unless I hold the charger into the phone.
My toes bother me.
I re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the 3rd time yesterday.
I hate it that you can't pump your own gas in Oregon.
I need to make a valleygirl15/wereadbooks/hollishillis/thetwihardest video.
I am now obsesed with the tv show Eureka (thanks to patti).
I just spend a years worth of coke rewards on a drawing to go to Hawaii for 5 days.

These are just some of the things I've done...I will do...I think about...idunno...but they are definately not the UNKNOWN. Not anymore.

-Holly

Wisdom Teeth Removal

2009-08-15T09:44:00.000-07:00

Ow...OW...OWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!
Let's start from the beginning shall we?

Thursday night I went INTO bed at 11:30...didn't sleep till 1:30...woke up at 4:30...woke up at 7:30...alarm went off at 8:30 Friday morning. A night full of crappy sleep. I was too tired to really care about getting my teeth removed, and more excited to be put BACK to sleep at this point.

9AM, 20 minutes before removal. Clearly I'm thrilled.

I started to get nervous once we got there. They put this scary plastic hospital thing on my wrist. It all felt very serious. I hugged my Dad like a little girl then headed on into the back room.

A lady came in and put some round sticky things on me to monitor my breathing. One on the left side of my chest one on the right side and one on my lower right stomach. She put a metal thing on my pointer finger, and 2 tubes in my nose which flowed in extra oxygen and dried it out uncomfortably. Then she left. It was kind of awkward because she didn't really tell me what all that stuff was for I just kind of guessed.

Then the needle lady came in. My heart rate beeping increased. I don't really have a fear of needles, and they don't bother me that badly, but who exactly WANTS to have a needle put in them: I don't. I asked if she was used to that, her coming in and people's heart rate elevating. She laughed and said she liked to think it was because she was attractive. I laughed because that was awkward for me to hear.

Anyway she put this blue band above my right arm and she stuck the needle in. Easy peasy. She hooked up the needle to a bag full of sugar and water. It apparently helped me hydrate since I couldn't eat or drink the night before. It also was used to mix the medicine with. She took the needle out and placed a tube in its place and said I was all set.

Then the dentist man and two dentist women came in and introduced themselves. After that it went something like this:

Me: Did you bring the good stuff?
Him: Yep we'll get you back to sleep here in just a second.
*I watched him inject the pack with anesthetic.*
Me: Do you guys always laugh at this part...when people just fall asleep suddenly?
Woman #1: My favorite part is when we wake people up.
Me: Haha oh.
*I watched the medicine flow down the tube and into my arm*
Woman #2: Now Holly, tell me when you start to get sleepy.
Me: Okay.
Me 5 seconds later: *the room starts to spin and I suddenly feel more tired than I ever have in my entire life* Oh my god what the fuck is this?
SLEEP.

Yeah I was informed later I actually said that before I fell asleep. I seriously remember nothing until I woke up in my bed an hour and half after the medicine got to me.

I was hallucinating so bad...but it was awesome, my favorite part of the entire experience so far. The only thing I remember *and I thought I was dreaming this until my dad confirmed it actually happened* is that I was in a room facing a wall trying not to fall over and this girl next to me kept trying to leave the room and my Dad and another lady were trying to stop her. And I remember falling over on my Dad in the car ride home and he almost hit these three girls.

What happened is they woke me up and took me to a recovery room. Then I was in there with this girl and her mom and my dad. I was so out of it and my dad had to keep pushing my back so I wouldn't fall over on my face. And apparently the girl next to me kept trying to escape *she was also recovering from anesthetic*. Then we got in the car and I kept hallucinating that there were these three creepy triplet girls and my Dad kept almost hitting them! Then I was falling over on him while he was driving and he had to stop twice and put me in the back seat so I would stop hitting the wheel. I asked him to call my boyfriend twice, which he did. Then we got home and my Dad asked if I could walk up the stairs.

Me: Yeah, I'm not retarded *I said this VERY slurred*

Then he got out to open the door and I passed out. So he carried me up the stairs like a baby. I woke up and once I realized I was in my bed I heard the TV in the other room and I remembered I had to call Jesse. So I called Jesse *my boyfriend* twice apparently and he told me he was coming over, my dad already called him. Then I called my cousin Mandi and that meany put me on speaker phone I was slurring everywhere. Her whole family was making fun of me. Then I called my brother. Then my dad heard me talking on the phone then he took the phone away.

Then I slept. When I woke up all the good happy feelings were gone and I felt horrible. I looked a bit like this:

Gauze in my mouth, swallowing my own blood, and face throbbing.

Me: MEDS! MEDS! MEDS!
Jesse: Your dad left to go get some.
ME: MEEEEEEEDS!!!!! I NEED MEDS! WHAT IS ON MY ARM!!!

Band-Aid where they put the IV in and my patient bracelet.

Then I fell back to sleep.
I woke up only to find that Jesse left for a bit while I slept and my Dad was back. I couldn't take pain meds till I ate something. I was mad cause I wasn't hungry just in pain. I didn't feel like eating chocolate pudding and my blood.

So I choked down a smoothie and swallowed a pill. Then Jesse came back over and me and him and my Dad watched Sling Blade *good movie*. I felt like I was going to throw up 4 times because of the meds, but didn't thankfully. Then I choked down a yogurt around 10:30 so I could take one last pain pill before bed. Jesse helped me change my gauze and helped me swish salt water in my mouth to help fight infection. Then he tucked me in and didn't leave till I fell asleep. BEST BOYFRIEND EVER!

I woke up today after a nice pain med induced sleep. My face is SO sore and my jaw is inflamed but most my bleeding has stopped. Mostly, I'm just in pain. I took my anti-inflammatory pill. I have to eat to take my pain meds and I'm not ready to eat yet. I just feel awful.

Dad made me a smoothie...but I'm using it to keep my face from hurting.

Let's hope things get better tomorrow...
-Holly

My Deepest Darkest Secret! Okay...kind of...

2009-08-11T13:05:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy. Like soooo busy. Like I'm so busy and cool I haven't been able to update my blog.

Holly, what have you been doing that has been keeping you from your blog, you ask.
Good question.

Okay, well...okay well honestly I haven't been THAT busy. And by THAT busy I mean for the past 3 days I reverted back to my famous 8th grade habit of...well...okay...of reading harrypotterdramionefanfiction.

JEEZ. HAPPY! THAT IS WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING.
I can't help it. I have this secret yearning for a softer side to the oh so sexy Draco. And I can't help but fantasise that Hermione and Draco were a Romeo and Juliet story only with a happy ending.

So I've been re-reading all of my favorite completed dramione fan fictions that I haven't read in years. And I'm becoming slightly obsessed by this. It's consumed my every thoughts. No more of this comparing men to Edward Cullen (that was so 3 years ago). Now I keep comparing men on TV and in real life to my fictional fan-fictional Draco Malfoy.

You know the one who was always misunderstood, the one who's father and mother never cared about him, so he lashed out at others. Or maybe the one who always loved Hermione but could never tell her or be with her so he lashed out at her. Or the one who saved Hermione from all of her problems (and those problems can rank from Harry and Ron suddenly ignoring her to some great intense mental disorder). Or the Draco and Hermione who were friends growing up but didn't know it then finally realized it in their 6th year. Or the Draco and Hermione who become head boy and girl and have to learn to get along in shared dormitories (which never was mentioned at all in the books that hb and hg get shared dorms but props to whoever came up with it because it's the most overly used plot line out there). OR the Draco who is a veela/unicorn/centaur/vampire and he can't NOT stay away from the suddenly HOT GOTH Hermione. You know that one...

Anyway that is what I've been doing. MARVELOUS Maggie http://marvelousmaggie.blogspot.com has tweeted a request that I update my blog so I have. I have divulged to you my deepest secret of love for dramione fan fiction. You can all thank Maggie for that.

As far as Grad school goes I have turned in my application materials in full. Now I just have to wait for the school to receive them, then I will have my official interview and if that goes well then I get in! Fingers crossed because my GRE didn't go well and now I'm really nervous!

Take care all!

-Holly

I don't think I'll ever escape schooling

2009-08-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

Remember the temp job? Where I'll be handing out beer to drunk college kids at their football games. That might be more permanent.

"But Holly, you said it would be so temporary it's not even funny, what are you trying to say?"

Hold on anxius reader. What I'm trying to say that...hold on let me back up a bit otherwise this won't make sense.

*Graduation day of High School* June 2007
Dad: Now you can go finish up getting that AA degree!
Me:hm.

*Graduation day of Associate Degree* December 2007
Dad: Now you can go get that BA degree!
Me: hm.

*Graduation day of Bachelor Degree*
Dad: Now you can go get that Graduate Degree!
Me: I think I'm done Dad.
Dad: We'll see how you feel about that once you can't find a job.

*August 1, 2009*
Me: There are no jobs.
Dad: Time to consider that Grad Degree.
Me: Maybe, I just don't want to be in more debt.
Dad: Well if you went to the local college and lived at home you'd be saving me $10,000.
Me: Yeah dorm costs killed us when I went away to college to get my BA.
Dad: And the local college has $2,000 less expense a quarter than your last college did.
Me: What are you getting at?
*Did some calculations in head*
Dad: Well if you're up for it, I'd be willing to give you a free ride for your grad degree at the local college. Since the job market sucks you might as well slave away getting a degree than selling beer to college kids. Now YOU can be the drunk college kid who gets beer sold to!
Me: I'm only 19.
Dad: And you can have you grad degree by the time you're 21! THEN be a drunk graduate degree graduate! WHAT SAY YOU!
Me: I SAY YOU BRIBE ME WELL!

*HUZZAH!*

So I will be working on campus *if I get in to grad school...applying currently* with a job that is normally embarrassing but since I'm going to school it hardly is! This could be good. I think the only thing holding me back was money, and since my dad wants to pay for it...why not let him? Shoot!

However, I'm finding the application process EXTREMELY HARD. I'll post more on THAT later thought...

-Holly

A Temp Job

2009-07-30T11:00:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last 20 minutes trying to open my e-mail. Yahoo is pissing me off as I can see the mail and who it is from but I cannot open and read it. IT IS TANTALIZING. (E-mail finally just opened).

The said e-mail is a job offer...a part time job offer...a lowest of the lows offer...but I am so desperate I'll take it at this point.

The county here usually recieves about 150 applicants for the annual fair. This year they recieved over 500. That shows you how desperate the unemployed people of this city are. I am one of them.

I will be putting my BA in English to good use working a concession stand at college football games from AUG-NOV. Woe is me. Does my situation remind you of Adventureland? It reminds me of it. I'm the poor loser in the movie who forgoes a trip to Europe because of the recession and ends up working at a carny booth.

I was up till 2am last night reseraching once more the most lovely location for this fantasy series I'm working on. It's an island off the coast of Ireland. I'm so excited about it. It has a great history which I'm trying to find out if I can legally incorporate and tweak a bit. I have no idea where to start looking for that information though.

I've been doing a lot of research for this book series but not a lot of actual writing. I need to start writing some interactions. Even if it's not used, just so I can get to know my characters better. Right now they're just fuzzy outlines in my head waiting to become 3D.

I'm going to down the rest of this coffee, get dressed, then try to find a nice writing spot to get to work! Since I have no job for a bit...this is my work...I'm just not getting paid...yet!

-Holly

Summer Stuff

2009-07-29T22:30:00.000-07:00

Jumping Off Bridges

2009-07-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

Cassie: Want to go swimming?
Holly: Wherez?
Cassie: The bridge.
Holly: Is it safe?
Cassie: Yeah I jumped off it yesterday.
Holly: Eep...k.
Cassie: Haha I'm coming to pick you up.

She picked me up in her space ship car. I call her car "the space ship car" simply because she bought it because she thought it looked like a space ship, and it does.

As we were pulling out of my driveway I realized someone was behind me in the seat. It was Mikey, Cassie's new boyfriend. I had never hung out with both of them at once before so I knew it'd be an awkward/interesting time.

After a fifteen minute drive south through the wheat fields of the palouse we entered a forest region which opened up into a decent sized river. The road went over a bridge, but we parked before we crossed it.

The three of us got out and there were some other college aged kids there already jumping...really it wasn't that high. But the idea of jumping into the murky unknown was slightly frightening me.

Mikey jumped right away, and Cassie and I decided to take a lower route down to the water to jump off the tiny rocks.

The water had that icky warm feeling on top but when you stuck your feet down there was a chilling cold.

I had been to this place once before and watched my older cousins jump off.

We swam around the water...sat on the mossy rocks half way in the water and watched the minnows eat the algae off our legs.

"The Minnows keeps trying to swim in between my boobs."
"Name it, it will feel more personal."
"Herman. Herman keeps trying to swim in between my boobs."

Cassie and I both attempted to jump off the bridge but we chickened out. Tomorrow I'm gonna try and go back there with my cousin and take pictures jumping off. Maybe I will do it, and I'll post them tomorrow or something.

We headed back to Cassie's parents house after. We sat in the basement and Mikey painted a rocket that they wanted to launch off later. I painted a flower pot which read "Hallows Not Horcruxes".

I played extreme speed with Cassie and then we opened a lame board game which dealt with trying to race 5 different colored pigs across a track. It was really weird.

Cassie's dad made us spicy chicken bocca burgers. They were so good!

Then we watched ghost shows on TV. We laughed at how unbelievable the whole thing was.

Mikey ended up being a fairly cool guy and the three of us seemed to hang out well together.

It was a good day.

-Holly

Summer

2009-07-22T21:58:00.000-07:00

Oh my graduated life. Still no job. Still no car. STILL trying to convince myself this is okay for now, and that I can indeed survive a little longer. It's not like I haven't looked. No one is hiring in this stupid town.

But last blog was all about this whiny Holly. Let's bring out a happier side shall we?

Last week I was in Denver to help out my Aunt and her family. Her husband was in the hospital with a flesh eating bacteria thing and that was crappy, so I was down there to babysit the kids and such. The kids...well let's just say they make me lose all desire to EVER have children. But Denver was a cool city. I don't think I could live there but it was way cool to walk around and I loved their history museum. I am a museum freak.

Since I've been back I haven't done much. Cleaned a bunch, the house is mess and about a trillion things are broken including: my light in my room, my dryer (have been hanging all washed clothes till they dry luckily it's 90 degrees here constantly), the garbage disposal, the TV, and plenty others. All things above I have survived without and it's been fine. I guess as long as the Internet doesn't stop working things will be okay.

I've been writing some more too. Researching Ireland, in particular Mayo county on the upper west coast. I want to set a fantasy novel there. I have good small details plotted out but I really need to get to know and develop my main character more. I feel like I hardly know her. Like if she went outside for a day what would she wear? I have no idea. All things to figure out. After all if people don't like your main character...well...chances are they won't like your book.

Oh! I saw harry potter at midnight. It was a great movie...but a downer as far as plot holes go. I'm really curious to see how they fix THOSE huge gaping holes for the 7th movie. Tom Felton's acting was incredible though. He blew me away I didn't know he was that good. And who knew Dan was a such a comedian with the Felix Felicies potion?

Tomorrow going to the lake.

Still want to travel...more than just to the lake...

And I'm back to the Holly from last blog post...Forgive me, I'll stop here...

-Holly

The Future

2009-06-30T18:45:00.001-07:00

I'm having some issues.
I'm feeling very boring right now.
Since I was 3 years old I've been going to some kind of school. It's all I know. Go to school have a summer off...go back. I was in this mode for so long I graduated college way earlier than most people do. I've been in some kind of learning education mode for 15 years. And now for the first time I'm not in that mode anymore. I don't know how to react or what to do with myself. Where do I go from here?
I have no car.
I have no job.
I'm a recent college graduated and I'm only 19.
I'm not sure what I'm doing with myself or my life.
If someone asked me:
What do you want to do with your life...if you could do anything?
I guess I'd say I wanted to write books and travel.
So what now? Do I just go do that? I envy people that have the means to go out and just hop on a plane and go somewhere.
I wish I could do that.
I guess I'm just trying to figure out what I do once I'm doing with my education. I think the problem is I don't want to be done. But don't get me wrong here...I have no real strong desire to go back to college for a graduate degree either.
At times like this I think it's important to keep one of my favorite quotes in mind:
I Never Let My Schooling, Interfere With My Education
So now I think it's time to take my schooling and go out into the world and get myself some education.
Where do I start...

I Graduated From College

2009-06-24T16:52:00.000-07:00

...and now I have to get a job...

Vancouver, B.C., Canada

2009-06-06T16:34:00.000-07:00

So last weekend I went to Canada for the first time. It was way fun and Vancouver is the most wonderful city. So here is some pictures.

Lily pads!

A pretty little...thing?

A pond...
Our first stop was the Botanical Gardens which are Gorgeous. There is a maze and tons of mini lakes and wonderful gardens. I loved it. There was even a tiny waterfall and a glass house. They were ginormous.

I'm Short!

I made us take a picture on the scary rocking suspension bride and almost dropped the camera...not one of my better moments

The Capilano Suspension Bridge!
Then we went to the Capilano suspension bridge. Which was this really cool rain forest adventure. There was a large swaying suspension bridge, then several mini ones across the way high up in the tress. It was really cool.

The view at the bottom by the ocean...Vancouver is in the distance.

Me and my boy and the lighthouse

The Lighthouse
The last place we went was The Lighthouse park. It was a hike to get there through all these amazing tall evergreens. Then we hit some rocks and hiked down to the shore. There we climbed the big boulder half in the sand half in the water...it was gorgeous. Some locals were jumping off the rocks and into the water...we would of joined had we had an extra pair of clothes to cross back into the U.S. with. Boarder patrol people are so suspicious.

Anyway Vancouver was amazingly beautiful. I want to go back very soon. That was Saturday, but on Friday we saw Taking Back Sunday live which was incredible. It was definitely something I needed to do before I died. Then on Sunday we saw UP! Which was really cute. It definitely made me cry.

This week is finals week. I'm writing a huge research paper right now and Wednesday I have my test and then I'm done. On Saturday I have Graduation....then I'm headed home...wow. I can't believe I'm graduating from college at 19. It blows my mind. Well back to finals.

<3

The Demon King

2009-05-22T21:06:00.000-07:00

Hi, Holly. I loved your reviews of the Heir series. I have a new series coming out in the fall, beginning with The Demon King October 13. I wondered if you might be willing to review that. If you would like, I can have an ARC sent to you, but will need your snail mail address.

Best, Cinda Williams Chima
www.cindachima.com
The Demon King 10.13.09

Um....YES....YES YES I WOULD. VERY MUCH SO!!!!!

My Boyfriend is TUFF

2009-05-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

My boyfriend is TOUGH

Okay so he didn't get in a fight or anything...he's too much of a softy...I like that about him =]
He was at a bar show and someone elbowed him in the face. It's pretty GHASTLY though. His eye lid is all swollen now and black and blue. Poor guy.

I have senioritis BAD guys...I've skipped so many classes this past week and I decided to not read an entire novel. Urgh. I'm bad. So so bad. I'm trying hard to get back on track.

My boyfriend comes to visit the last week in may for THE LAST TIME! Then I will be graduating from college and no more long distance! So excited.

To celebrate he's taking me to CANADA! Vancouver to be specific which coincidentally is only 2 hours away from Seattle and I've never been. I'm so lame. I'm legal to drink there though which is kind of cool. I'm gonna order an authentic mojito! Anyone ever been to Vancouver?

God I have to do homework.

-Holly

Epic Wedding Fail

2009-05-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

Me and My Cousin Mandi, Bridesmaids

Remind me to never get married until I'm 25 okay?
People are getting married now entirely too young. I went to my cousins wedding this weekend. It was all very...last minute. There was a ton of my family present, and I dragged my boyfriend along to witness the events. They were...intersting. Oh family.

The First of Many Dumb Things I Did as a Teenager

2009-05-03T20:50:00.001-07:00

I haven't seen my boyfriend in 20 days. AND I STILL HAVE 5 MORE TO GO UNTIL I CAN SEE HIM AGAIN!
Long distance is HARD.
Only a month left of it though thank god.

Okay so I'm 19 right now and in November I'm going to be 20 and I'll no longer be a teenager and that is SO WEIRD. I kind of think I will still think of myself as a teenager until I'm maybe 30. Or you know...forever...

Anyway this got me reflecting on some stupid things I did as a teenager. See my 17 year old cousin mandi called me at 2am last night screaming about how she was on the freeway and her drunk boyfriend was driving his friends car and she was drunk and she lost her keys and left the car in another state and she stole his moms wine and her parents kept calling her and she didn't know what to do. First I was like...why are you calling me I'm five hours away and second I was like excuse me YOU'RE DOING WHAT????? I'm very protective of my little cousin...even if she can be a complete IDIOT sometimes. She's normally not THIS bad. I think last night was her rock bottom...she's grounded anyway now...for awhile...

So it reminded me of my teenage stupidity. I guess it all started one night at my friend Grace's house.

See Grace had some family problems...so she lived in an apartment with her older sister Heather. Heather was awesome. She liked to buy us alcohol (we automatically liked her). Anyway Heather had a date and she bought us a bunch of hard liquor and wine coolers and she let us have the place. So we invited a few people over. Grace's older brother Johnny, his friend Joey. Our friends Mitch, Levi, Larissa, and like..five more people...or ten. I can't remember.

I was fifteen and I had never drank before. This would be my first night (not my last stupid night, but my first). I was nervous. I remember my first drink was a Mike's Hard Lemonade and it tasted FANTASTIC. We played drinking games. I had one...then two...then a Smirnoff...then three Smirnoff's...then some coke and rum...then some vodka shots AND THAT'S WHEN IT ALL WENT WRONG! I MIXED ALCOHOL! Novice mistake.

I was drunk. I was very drunk. And I had my cell phone. Which is bad. Because I started drunk dialing people. Including my parents. Luckily they didn't pick up that night...but they got my message in the morning. GO ME! We laugh about it now...my Dad says I blatantly told them everything that was going on and that I was drunk and I loved them very much and told them not to worry. Haha. Ohhhh....anyway....

People left. It was 2am and I was wasted. I wasn't ready for the night to be over. Neither was Grace, or Johnny, or Joey, and when Heather got home she wasn't ready for it to be over either. So we went out! I was fifteen and I was hanging out with older people and I was drunk for the first time in my life and I thought I was cool. I really thought I was a bad ass. I smoked my first cigarette (and last) that night too. I remember thinking I was so cool as we wandered over to the local park and I was flicking the cigarette ashes on the sidewalk. I flicked the filter too hard and it came off and I was so drunk I didn't notice or care. I started sucking in raw tobacco. I coughed. I puked. I laughed. So we went back to the apartment.

I smoked some more on the balcony. I started lighting matches off the roof and letting them fall...something I found incredibly fascinating. So did everyone else for awhile. They went back inside to drink more and I kept doing it until I saw a glow emit from a bush below. I had started a fire.

I ran inside and grabbed glasses of alchol..which fueled the fire more. Then some more sober people came and threw water on it...thankfully it stopped. I was laughing so hard. Everyone had drunk more and I had as well and we all started laughing. We were so retarded.

Heather was sober. So we decided to go to an all night 24 hour diner. I ate so many pancakes. I'm surprised they served us because I was practically falling over myself and I ended up making out with Johnny all night which was SO WRONG because he was 19 or something and I was only 15 but I thought I was so cool. The boys left after awhile and I sobered up and Grace and I say on the roof of Heathers car while she was on the phone fighting with her boyfriend for an hour. We sat on the roof and put in The All American Rejects and blasted it in the parking lot and I chain smoked about eight cigarettes. Then I puked all over the bushes in the back lot.

Then we drove to Sunset Cliff and watched the sun rise.

I went to bed at 8am. At 830am my parents called me and told me they were going to come pick me up. NOW. I threw up all over the floor. Heather was pissed. Grace was too tired to get up. My parents came. I puked in the car. I was grounded until the end of the school year (it was only January at the time). My dad made me clean the bathroom and the kitchen when I got home ( I couldn't go to bed). I finally slept at 3pm and I didn't wake up until 1pm the next day.

I have not drank that much since. First and last time. I drink now but not heavily ever and I never smoke. Lesson learned Daddy. Thank you for punishing me severely.

So my cousin will survive. She deserves her punishment (did I mention she stole a boat and road around it on the lake for 20 minutes?). I guess what I'm trying to say is that my teenage years were a time when I learned a lot. More than I ever have. I learned to not trust teenage boys...hardly ever. I learned to stay far away from cigarettes. I learned to turn my phone off and make a friend hide it before we start drinking. And of course more important lessons.

I look back now on that night and I'm laughing a lot while I'm typing. We were so young and so stupid and we thought we were so cool. I'll always remember that night. Just as I'm sure my cousin will always remember last night too.

Oh the stupid things we do.

-Holly

I drop poundage

2009-05-01T13:19:00.000-07:00

Okay so today is Friday (yay) and I know BEDA is over but it's a huge habit now to update and check my blogger. I can't help it!

So after my last class today me and a few friends decided we'd go to our giant gym on campus because we'd never been. It was fun! There's tons to do, swimming, cycling, elliptical, weights, racket ball, you name it! IT'S SO BIG! I really had no idea.

Well anyway to get only slightly off track here (trust me I'll tie it all back together) a month or so ago i made a YouTube video of me lip syncing the entire new All-American Rejects album in under a minute(which is amazing by the way...the album not the video). A few people were saying that I'd lost weight and I was like huh? WHEN? WHERE? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? I seriously thought I looked the same. I certainly haven't been dieting (or exercising as you can see from above I've never even been to our college gym).

BACK ON TRACK!

So today I went to the gym, we played racket ball and it was fun and afterwards we were in the locker room and I was like OH A SCALE! So I stepped on: turns out since October I've lost 25 lbs. Once again I asked myself: HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? I seriously have no idea.

My only guess is that my campus is huge and I walk everywhere. I walk probably an hour everyday just to get to classes and get around campus. Also, I've been eating salad a lot more because we have an incredible salad bar here on campus and I seriously think it's my second love. Those are the only things I can think of as to why this might be.

BUT: I still eat pizza twice a week and chocolate EVERY SINGLE DAY. So this is all very weird to me. I'm pretty shocked honestly. I mean I can kind of see now that I did lose a little weight. My stomach is flatter and my thighs don't bulge in shorts, but I would attribute that to maybe a 5lb lossage...NOT A 25LB lossage?!??!?! I'm not sure how this happened but I thought I'd share. It's not everyday I'm stupid and wake up 8 months later to find I've lost a shit ton of weight.

-Holly

P.S. I gotta go to goddamn work now =]

The Letter Z

2009-04-30T17:48:00.000-07:00

Zodiac Signs
I'm a sucker for these. I don't necessarily BELIEVE in them but I still check my horoscope every day and I check in the back of magazines. They're just fun entertainment. I'm a Scorpio, what are you?

Guys I can't believe I blogged for 30 day. I'm all blogged out. Completely exhausted I'll tell you that. What an experience though. I seriously can't believe I blogged every day in April. Just wow. Wow. BEDA buddies you rule!

-Holly

The Letter Y

2009-04-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

Youtube
Oh youtube. Even though you aren't the same as you were back in the summer of 2006 I still love you. I got into youtube because of lonelygirl15. I swear to God. I was online and I was like youtube what's that...so I went there and I found Lonelygirl15's first video. She was a lonely girl, just like me! I thought we had so much in common. I got a youtube account so I could leave comments and see if she wanted to be my friend...and then there was a cult after her...and she was home schooled...and realllly weird....and I kept thinking...wow maybe we don't have that much in common eh? Youtube brought us all nerdfighters together, and THAT is the real importance here. Anyway then I made videos and the rest is history I guess =]

YA books
Love them. Love them. Love them. WANT TO WRITE THEM.

Um just got back from my midterm...I totally aced it. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!
Now I have to go to work....NOOOOO!!!!!!

-Holly

The Letter X

2009-04-28T18:23:00.000-07:00

Xiu Xiu
It may seem like I'm being a perv and just showing you two people in a bathtub because I couldn't think of anything that started with the letter x. WRONG! The two people above eating cheesecake in a bathtub is the band all Xiu Xiu. Go. Listen. To. Them. They make beautiful music.

Xbox Live
Um...I'm totally one of those freaks with a headset that yells at the tv while playing xbox live. I get REALLY into it...and I'm not even that big on video games. There is just something about yelling in english at a boy in japan speaking japaneese (also yelling). We have no idea what we're saying but...we're totally battling. There is just something about that feeling!

STUDYING FOR MIDTERM NOW!

The Letter W

2009-04-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

Wii
I thought the N64 would be the only console I'd ever love...and then came the wii. I can, will AND HAVE spent several HOURS playing this thing. Mario Kart is fantastic, as well as Mario Galaxy and well...ANY Mario game. I love Mario stuff. Oh and Zelda is great too!

Warped Tour
I go to warped tour every year. For those unfamiliar with it, it's sponsored by Vans and it's a huge music festal that travels along the US all summer long. When it stops in Washington State it stops at The Gorge Amphitheatre. Which as you can see in the picture...IS GORGEOUS. We're really lucky to get such a beautiful place for an all day concert.

The Letter V

2009-04-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

Vacations
Vacations are wonderful. I wish my life was a vacation. I consider a vacation leaving your town and not doing anything. Or you can leave your town and go all out, be a tourist, go crazy! Either way vacations are much needed...for all.

Vitamin Water
YUMMY! I'm so happy they came out with 10 cal vitamin water now too. It's so yummy and there are sooo many flavors! I like the pink and the triple x a lot.

Studying for a midterm today, tomorrow, and tuesday. Shoot me.

-Holly

The Letter U

2009-04-25T10:48:00.000-07:00

Urban Dictionary
Who DIDN'T look up the meaning of superman? Who DIDN'T find it filthy? I did! Urban dictionary...without you I'd be lost.

Soooo this weekend is just filled with homework. I've got 3 novels to finish and a bunch of readings, because I'm trying to get all my homework that is due this week, done this weekend so I can study for my midterm monday tuesday and wednesday. Le sigh. So much work. And I have actual work today. So this will be a craptastic day. OH! and my phone charger broke so I have to go invest money in that now...crud.

-Holly

The Letter T

2009-04-24T13:28:00.000-07:00

Twilight
Ah no matter how many movies are made, no matter how man fans become screaming freaks, I will always love this book. I'll never forget the summer of 2007 when I picked up a copy in the book store and stayed up all night reading it dreaming of my Edward Cullen. Robert Pattinson was SO NOT involved and is STILL NOT involved in this fantasy. I like men/vampires who bathe thank you very much.

Tetris
Addictive.

Trapeze School
Best Wishes Maureen!!!! =D

The Letter S

2009-04-23T16:59:00.000-07:00

Starbucks
This picture pretty much explains it all. Living in Seattle doesn't help this addiction either...there is one on every block...sometimes two.

Smirnoff
Oh the flavors! No mixing needed. Just pour it and take a shot. Or savor your flavored vodka bottle. Smirnoff is one of my favorite brands of liqueurs.

Sand
"I believe the sand beneath my toes, the beach gives a feeling an early feeling I believe in" -Third Eye Blind
Oh the sand. I just love warm sand and sinking my toes in it. It's the best feeling.

Sudoku
This is the funnest game ever. I have books full of old finished sudoku. I'm getting pretty good at it actually. I was awful at first.

The Letter R

2009-04-22T17:01:00.000-07:00

Rain
"You are the smell before rain, you are the blood in my veins" -Brand New
Rain is soooo pretty. Everything feels so clean before during and after rain. And the SMELL! It's incredible. Everything feels so alive and fresh. Seattle is rain central so I can't complain even though I do love me some sun every once in awhile.

Red Bull
Taurine. Taurine. And lots of Tuarine. Red Bull is disgusting and wonderful at the same time. The taste is revolting yet addictive. I love thee Red Bull

Ravenclaw
Oh Ravenclaw. A nerdfighters true house. Although I must admit I'm true Slytherin, a rebel at heart. But my personality of bookishness defiantly relates more to Ravenclaw. Honestly, if I could, I'd be a Slytherclaw.

The Letter Q

2009-04-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

Everyone always dreads this letter when engaging in some kind of full alphabet thing. I don't know why. Sure I only found 2 things but SO WHAT!?!

Quiznos
Mmm Mmm Good. INDEED! Such yummy and cheap toasted subs. Way better than Subway. Did you notice every one of my letters there is something about food. Go me.

Quotes
I LOVE QUOTES. I love air quotes, movie quotes, lyrics quotes, famous quotes. I'm always amazed by the incredible things that come out of people's mouths.

-Holly

The Letter P

2009-04-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

Pac Man
I STILL can spend hours playing this game. Pac Man is the machine I B-line for the second I step food in an arcade. A classic game. It's on my phone too =]

Pizza
Pizza is a delicious childhood and adulthood meal! Pizza is so yummy. I just love pepperoni. My favorite pizza places are Pagliacci's here in Seattle and Eagle Boys in Australia. Sooooo good.

Pistachio
Ohhh yummy. These little nuts are so tasty. They're good spicy, plain, and especially in ICE CREAM form. I love going to Baskin Robbins and getting the Pistachio almond and at the store I get Pistachio Pistachio from Ben and Jerry. You'd think a nut wouldn't be very good in any form but...well....not form. I mean they don't make cashew ice cream. But Pistachio pulls it off!

-Holly

The Letter O

2009-04-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

Today I need to:
-Go to Rite Aid and get a razor because I'm becoming increasingly aware it is becoming shorts season and I'm very unprepared.
-Go to Crossroads and see if they want to buy my old clothes...then shop there...because it's probably the best used clothing store I've ever been to.
-Buy gold nail polish...because I really want some.
-Pay my credit card bill =[
-Go to work
-Write a paper on Wordsworth
-Finish reading Lions Blood.
-Try not to lose it

Odette
When I was 8 we moved my Grandpa after his wife died. While everyone was carrying heavy boxes I had to tag a long cause no one could babysit me. My Grandpa owned two movies: Forrest Gump and The Swan Princess. I have no idea why he only owned these two movies but as I was too young to understand the gump, I watched The Swan Princess over and over and over and over until I memorized it. I love the beginning song and my favorite quote "You should write a book, 'How to offend women in ten syllables or less'". Great movie. Anyway I used to pretend I was Princess Odette and I'd go in the back yard and spin around in the grass and pretend I was turning into a swan. Go Odette.

Osmosis Jones
Ahhh I haven't seen this movie in forever, but it's sooooo funny. I love it so much. It's hilarious and awesome. I need to see it again, and if you've never seen it you need to see it NOW.

Oatmeal Cookies
Oh my god there is nothing like Oatmeal cookies. Especially with Cinnamon or chocolate chips. BUT NO RAISINS. Urgh, I need that shirt from Threadless that says "stupid raisins stay out of my cookies!" It's me in ever sense of the shirt.

-Holly

The Letter N

2009-04-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

Nerdfighters
Nerds who fight, usually against popular people. Nerdfighters ARE made of awesome. they never forget to be awesome. They like to read and write and learn and be nerds and THAT is cool. Nerdfighters are made of awesome. Indeed!

Neville Longbottom
Oh Neville. The underdog who comes back at the ends and kicks some ass! From a scared little first year to a voldemort kicking butt 7th year. Neville is a nerd girls dream.

Netflix
I love netflix. I'm obsessed. I love starting new TV shows with it and just getting disc after disc. That's how I got into Heroes (before it started sucking) and weeds which I absolutely adore. Netflix is great!

-Holly

The Letter M

2009-04-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

Mix Tapes
Even though no one really makes mix tapes on TAPES anymore...a mix tape is so romantic. Boys: you really really should give a girl a thoughtful mix tape. Make a booklet with it with the lyrics and highlight the ones that remind you of her. She'll love it. I love them! They're so much more romantic than a dinner out or a fancy gift. So meaningful...IF you do it right!

M&Ms
Oh m&ms are God. They're so good. They have dark, regular, dark peanut, peanut, almond, and peanut butter...the still need a white chocolate.

Mermaids
Ooo I love Mermaids. The Little Mermaid is obviously my favorite since I was a kid. I always used to pretend that I was a mermaid when I took swim lessons. I'd put my legs together and flippity flappity then I'd come up to the surface...stick my butt in the air and then come back down. Cause...she did that....SHE DID! Okay!

The Letter L

2009-04-16T17:09:00.000-07:00

Luna Lovegood
It's really actually fair that I devote the letter l entirely to Luna Lovegood. First of all she has two L's in her name. Second of all....she's my hero. I love her soooo much. She's so wonderfully complex. I love how she's funny and absurd but at the same time she says the deepest things sometimes. Just when you think she's not paying attention to a word you're saying she comes up with something so philosophical and wonderful you're just stunned. Luna Lovegood. You. Are. My. Hero.

-Holly

2009-04-15T18:23:00.000-07:00

Today I am Sick. I almost forgot to blog today and then it magically popped into my head! The Letter L was supposed to be today but that will be tomorrow because the letter L is the one I'm pretty excited about and it deserves my FULL attention. So tomorrow back to the alphabet. Today....rest! REST REST REST!

The Letter K

2009-04-14T17:23:00.000-07:00

Knotts Berry Farm
This theme park is so awesome. I use to go here all the time when I was a kid. My favorite time to go was on Halloween when they transformed the entire park to KNOTTS SCARY FARM! It's so fun. Everything is haunted and there's people everywhere trying to scare you. The rides are so fun to. Roller coasters, water parks, fun games, and even just like carny rides. Fun Fun Fun.

Kayaking
Ooo I love kayaking. I love it on calm waters. I'm not an extreme kayaker however. I do not want to take my kayak down a waterfall thank you for much. Or white water kayak. But it's good arm exercise and it's easy and fun on simple rivers and lakes. Very relaxing and fun.

Am I this boring? I can only think of two cool things that start with the letter k???? I must be. Help me someone. LET ME KNOW ALL THE KOOL THINGS I MISSED!!!!

-Holly

The Letter J

2009-04-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

Josh Pyke
Mmm this guy is the epitome of aussie hotness. He plays such wonderful music. If you haven't heard any of his stuff, go on youtube and search him and maybe listen to Middle of the Hill or Buttons. My favorites. He has a new album I haven't heard yet...but now I'm in the mood to do so so excuse me while I go to itunes, eat the rest of this pie slice, and listen to it...(an hour later)...WHAT A FANTASTIC NEW ALBUM!!!! I love it. Now I will listen to it some more while I finish the letter J.

Jeopardy
I watch Jeopardy every weeknight. I just love it. Alex Trebeck is becoming senile though. He just gets more long winded and annoying every time I watch. But I just love jeopardy. Make you feel all smart when you get one right and it's really fun to play against others. Celebrity jeopardy is actually EASIER than kid jeopardy so if you're not good a jeopardy tune in for celebrity jeopardy. Don't you just also love how SNL use to do those celebrity jeopardy parodies with alex trebek rivaling sean connery. Hahah sooooo funny (the Penis mighter...no no that says the PEN is mighter you idiot...and you wagered....suck it trebek.)

J.K. Rowling
Myyyyy hero (next to MJ of course) I think this woman is a genius in fact I know she is. WHO COMES UP WITH THIS FANTASTIC HARRY POTTER WORLD AND ISN'T A GENIUS?!?!?! Not to mention she's very pretty. I'm impressed that she ever came up something so complex and wonderful at one of the lowest parts in her life. She's definitely an inspiration.

Pie was good. GO LISTEN TO JOSH PYKE NOW!!!

-Holly

The Letter I

2009-04-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

Ice Cream
Ice cream is fantastic. It's one of the best desserts. At cold stone I always get that Birthday Cake Remix, Maggie moo's I get the red velvet cake, Baskin Robbins I get the pistachio almond. SO SO GOOD!!! I always get haggen daz and ben and jerry pints. I'm seriously surprised I'm not overweight. I really really should be. I eat so much ice cream it's ridiculous.

Internet
Um do I even have to explain this one??? Internet is my life. I can't imagine life without it. Maybe I'd be more tan because I spend all my time indoors on a computer screen now. Favorite websites: blogger, nerdfigher ning, maureen ning, twitter, youtube, hotmail, livejournal, myspace, facebook, digg, etc. The Internet is fantastic.

i
Alright what I mean by "i" is apple products. You know how they put i in front of everything. idream, ihome, itunes, ipod, itouch, iphone, isleep, etc. I've never owned an apple laptop or computer however, I'm strictly pc on that. But I love ipods and itunes and all that junk. HUGE fan.

Italy
Italy is so romantic. I want to go so bad! There are so many historical amazing things to see. Plus the coast lines are sooo gorgeous. There is so much to see and plus...gelato! My fate was sealed to go to Italy some day when I read Girl At Sea and I never ever looked back. I find myself on Google Earth sometimes just hanging out in Italy. Looking at street views and everything. It so beautiful.

-Holly

ACHEY BREAKY HEART

2009-04-09T21:09:00.000-07:00

Last day of break. Still blogging...just not blogging letters. Will be back tomorrow with the letter I!!! Any suggestions on what to talk about leave those suggestions BEEEELOWWWW...

Going to see Adventureland today!!!!!!!!

p.s. why do I have this urge to see the hannah montana movie. I don't even watch the show?? ...I just...DO?

HELP

Gimme A Break Gimme A Break

2009-04-09T21:08:00.001-07:00

Taking a break from the letters....My boyfriend is IN town! So my 100% undividd attention goes to HIM. Sorry blog world. But does this count as a blog? I hope so. Today I watched Matlida...it was...awesome.

The Letter H

2009-04-09T17:41:00.000-07:00

I'm quite fond of the letter H, mostly because my name starts with H and that makes me a tiny bit biased.

Hiking
There is nothing I love more when the weather is nice outside and you're in the mood for hiking. Hiking is so much fun and it's such a great way to get exercise and enjoy nature. And not in a weird wordy Wordsworth way. In a fun nice exhilarating way. Hiking my favorite thing to do in the summer when you can't go swimming.

Happiness
Don't you just love happiness? I'm taking a women writers class on emotion ad everyday we have to go around in the circle and say how we feel that day and why. NO ONE ever says they're feeling happy. And that's just sad. Even I don't do it. It's always stress or tired or something. It's really too bad that a lot of people don't take the time anymore to be happy about their lives. I hope that you reader are happy. And if you are not I hope you find this upcoming weekend a good time to reflect on all the good things in you're life.

Hanson
I LOVE HANSON! I remember when I first heard them I was maybe eight years old. My Dad told me to come into the living room and look on the TV. He said there was an all girl sister band on TV and they played instruments and sang. It turned out they were an all boy brother bad in the end. But they all had long blond pretty wavy hair. The first instinct is usually to think GIRL. Okay they had that cliche song that was totally 90s: MmmBop! But after their first album they got a little more serious and did some really good acoustic things. If you get a chance you should listen to a song of theirs that came out in 2004 called Penny and Me. It's fantastic. Weirdly they're all married and have kids now which is a little freaky but cool at the same time. Go Hanson.

Harry Potter
Um...what can I say about Harry potter....? It's my entire life. I love it more than most anything. I obsess over it. I own several different t-shirts and key chains. Harry potter books are so wonderful I cant' even believe it exists sometimes. It makes me that happy. Even after all the books are over I still love it and read them all the time. I know it's something that I'm going to FORCE my children to read when they're old enough (and once I have kids...). My dad thought my obsession with Harry Potter would fade eventually. But I've been going strong for 11 years. My obsession hasn't faded a bit.

Tell reader, what else is awesome that starts with the letter H?
-Holly

The Letter G

2009-04-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

ARREEE YOOOUUU REAAADDDYYY!!?!?!?!??!?!

I give you...The Letter G...

Gay Rights
I'm 100% for Gay Rights. Homosexuals are human beings and have the right to marry and have all the benefits that go along with it. I hate the argument that "gay marriage will lead to animal and human marriages or even object and human marriages ". That is so stupid. It's about HUMAN BEINGS. HUMAN RIGHTS. I still can't believe it's taken us this long to support gay people and their rights. But I'm glad we're getting there. 3/50 states have legal gay marriages. Let's make it 5...then 10...then 20 and all 50. Someday in my lifetime I hope.

Greg Laswell
This man has the sexiest voice. He's a guitar player and singer and he has recorded some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. If you get a chance listen to his song, "Comes and Goes (in waves)". I feel in love the second I heard the first string of the guitar.

Girl Scout Cookies
Um...I'm obsessed with THIN MINTS && SAMOAS! They are heavenly. I wish I could just go buy girl scout cookies in the store. I hate it that it's seasonal and I have to go hunt down a little girl scout. And they are HARD to find. But it's always worth it. These cookies are faaaaantastic.

Graduating
I LOVE GRADUATING. What a feeling of accomplishment. I remember my first graduation ceremony in 5th grade. Me and my 2 friends decided to sing Vitamin C's song graduation. We had only heard it on the radio so each time it came on we'd try to remember and write down all the lyrics. None of us could afford the CD. So the day of graduation came and we sang the song with some very wrong lyrics and no background music. This was before that thing called the Internet and Google where you can find lyrics to a song or download the track in 5 min or less. It was embarrassing to say the least. And after the ceremony...as a graduation present...my mom gave me the CD. I didn't want it by that point. I can't wait to graduate college in June. I'm super excited and super nervous all at the same time!

Grass
Um my favorite thing to do in the summer is just go to the park and lay in the grass. It make it even more picture perfect if you can wear a white cotton dress and you happen to be surrounded by those little yellow flowers or those little flowery things that are white and you blow on the them and make a wish. I'm a grass lover. I just love to lay in it and be outside. I love the color green, and just being surrounded by it. That's why I really really think I'd love Ireland.

I gotta go read some Wordsworth poetry now...yuck...
Hope you enjoyed the letter G!

-Holly

The Letter F

2009-04-07T16:55:00.000-07:00

So my school is doing this nation wide thing called Human vs Zombie tag. I played last quarter but opted out this quarter because fearing for my life got old. It was fun while it lasted but I just wasn't' that into getting socks thrown at my head and being told to "RUN HUMAN RUN!" when I had a 30lb back pack on and was wearing sandals. It was certainly an experience though.

Anyway the point is today I was hanging out on the lawn in front of the HUB enjoying the nice weather when I heard, "GET HIM NOW!" I was started put down my book and watched a 6 person epic battle. 4 zombies vs 2 humans. The zombies won. It was fun to watch but it was nice to know I didn't have to look left and right and fear for my life as I was relaxing and reading.

Anyway....onto the letter F.

F THE WORLD!

Fantasy
This picture is from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. I loved this movie even though I know everyone hated it. Maybe it's because I'm really biased as I love Natalie Portman with a passion that is not gay in anyway. She's just awesome. Anyway Fantasy is largely considered a literary genre and so I will talk about it as so. This picture is on a different planet of Padmes and it's so gorgeous. There's this fantastic architecture and giant animals that roam on these grassy hills and large waterfalls. That is what I see when I close my eyes and picture fantasy. However, it can be anything dealing with magic (HARRY POTTER), or anything out of the or diary and into the realm of fantastic. Fantasy is defiantly a favorite genre and a fantasy world is one in which I would love to live.

Friends
NOT GAY CHET AND RYAN! A good example of some good friend (who aren't dating). Sorry I watch too much The Soup. If you watched it...you might know why I find this so funny. Anyway, friends are awesome. Good friends are even better. People to pick you up when you're feeling down, people who you can always call, and who are always there to listen. I only have to two REAL friends but I like it that way. Keeps things more personal and real =]

Frindle
This book is so cool. It's about this geeky red haired freckled kid who decides to be COOL! He takes a ball point pen and comes to school and simply refuses to call it anything but a frindle. People become obsessed with this idea and suddenly the kid is really cool. AND EVERYONE WANTS A FRINDLE! What a marketing genius. I'm going to start calling giant overstuffed backpacks: Katunies. Yeah I made that up. I always have to carry around this giant overstuffed backpack and it sucks. It's not my fault I have a zillion books! Maybe if I called my cool backpack Katunies everyone would want one! That really is the moral of the story.

Food Network
http://hollishillis.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-affair-with-food-network.html
Please see previous blog on my obsession with the Food Network.

Fall Out Boy
Okay I know Fall Out Boy is really cool now but do YOU recognize the boys above as the same boys in the Fall Out Boy that is mass publicized now? I do. This is the Fall Out Boy I fell in LOVE with. I remember hearing their first album An Evening Out With Your Girlfriend and just melting. Patrick has the most amazing pop punk voice I've ever heard. I remember wearing this shirt that they don't make anymore saying: Fall Out Boy Is For Lovers-Soft Core Chicago. I remember thinking they were so cool because the names of their songs were so long and had nothing ot do with the lyrics and they were so clever. My favorites are:
I've Got A Dark Alley And A Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth (Summer Song)
Get Busy Living Or Get Busy Dying ( Do Your Part TO Save The Scene And Stop Going To Shows)
I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me
Just so damn clever and funny. I love them. And I don't mind that they've gotten really popular. Usually stuff like that bothers me. Yeah it's annoying that I won't be able to see them ever again in a venue that fits 200 and only 20 people show up and we just dance and sing and they interact with us and we all scream the lyrics. I've got that memory at least. The only thing that really bothers me is the huge change in Pete Wentz since they became famous. He just looks like an asshole now. Like he's too cool for anyone. I just don't get it. He was always such a plain down to Earth guy from what I've observed and as soon as From Under the Cork Tree came out he just went all...well you've seen him...it's weird. But regardless unlike most bands who stop trying after a lot of success (aka money) Fall Out Boy is still putting out albums that sound just as good and fun as all the previous ones. And as long as that continues I won't complain a bit. I love Fall Out Boy.

I hope you all had a good day!

-Holly

The Letter E

2009-04-05T16:38:00.000-07:00

Hello All! How was your Monday?

Mondays are awful aren't they? Mine wasn't SO bad though. I only had one class and then I went to work afterwards. Work was...a different story.

So it's been nice out weather wise lately and I decided instead of always wearing my sweats and big hoodies I'd dress nice today. So I put on this really cute black tank top, gold flats, a pearl necklace, dark skinny jeans, and I even straightened my hair a bit which is saying something. I just wanted to feel a little pretty. And I did. Until a dirty old man came up to me at work:

"Hey there beautiful!"
"Um...hello."
"Say there precious can ya get me that drink?"
"Uh...what one?"
"That Izze Izz I thing. That I thing."
"What flavor?"
"Oh cute thing, how about that dark colored one?"
*I mumble things under breath feeling dirty that this 80% homeless man is hitting on me and being really forward and creepy*
"Aw sweetheart thanks, could you open the top? You gotta bottle opener?"
"It's a twist cap."
"A TWIST CAP! Whadya mean cutie? Alcohol never comes in twists."
"It's not an alcoholic beverage sir. It's a soda. In a bottle."
"HAAAAAAAA OH PUDDIN NO WONDER IT WAS SO CHEAP!"
"Could you not call me that?"
"Lighten up beautiful. Just twist that cap and I'll be on my way! You gotta tip jar?"
*I twist off cap feeling gross*
"There's a small tip jar in front."
*I better get at least a dollar*
"Ah I see it. Thanks for being such a sexy little thing!"
He walks off and I hold back vomit.

SO THE LAST TIME I WEAR ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN. It wasn't even a revealing outfit it was so simple and I thought classy but apparently I looked like a whore.
The best part? I get a 20 cent tip after being verbally molested. Hot.
Anyway let's forget my day since it sucked and move on to....!

THE LETTER E!

Eiffel Tower
Holla Eiffel Tower! This picture is sooo old. From 2005. Me and my cousin Mandi. We were both in our awkward phases. The Eiffel Tower is the coolest piece of architecture I've ever seen. During the day it really is a piece of brown metal though. But at night! Oh at night! They light it up! You can see it for miles and the lights flash on and off. It's spectacular. We climbed up it at night and I was so scared. The wind was at full force that night and I could FEEL the tower sway. I immediately asked for the lift back down. But it was breathtaking.

England
This in London! I love England! Granted I've only been to York, London, and Liverpool but I loved every second of it. The English are for the most part really friendly and kind. I enjoyed York so much and all its historical sights. And London was just breathtaking. I think I spent most of my time with my mouth hanging open. I visited the York Dungeon twice and the London Dungeon....four times. I loved it! England you rock!

Eggs
Eggs are a necessity. I just love them, and I love them any kind of way you make them. Poached, fried, scrambled, sunny side up, hard boiled, deviled, etc. Eggs are so cool because 1. they're cheap and 2. you can do SO MUCH with them! You'll never get bored! Plus if you don't feel like eating them you can dye them for Easter (or for fun) and you can also draw on them and make them little children that you carry everywhere until your brother thinks it's funny to take it away and smash little Gwendolin eggy on the ground and leave you crying outside for 30 minutes in the dark.....not that that happened to me.

Elephant the movie
Ooo this move! It's so haunting. Gus Van Sant is an incredible director. This film is fantastic. All the music in it is Beethoven. There are these long real time scene shots, which I love, where the camera follows one person around and they walk and interact with people and walk some more and it's all in real time and it's all done in one shot. I LOVE THAT. This movie is kind of a window into Columbine. It never says so directly but it does deal with a school shooting and the two boys who decide to do it. It's very chilling. It will make you think about it FOR DAYS.

Earth
Um who doesn't love the Earth? There is like a one in zillion chance that the Earth should be around today. It's amazing that it is and even more amazing that it is able to sustain human life on it. The Earth is so cool. It's beautiful inside and out (awww how sweet). I love the Earth. Anyone who doesn't should be sent outside of the Earth and see how they take it.

So that was the letter E. Booyah! See you all tomorrow.

-Holly

The Letter D

2009-04-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

Hello all. Today it was 70 degrees with no clouds. I'm in shock. I'm wearing a mini skirt because quite frankly it's unpredictable when the rain will start pouring down in Seattle. I'm taking full advantage of this situation.

The Letter D...was hard. REALLY HARD. I mean what is so great about D? DEATH? I CAN'T TALK ABOUT HOW GREAT DEATH IS!!! EVERYONE HATES DEATH!

As I type this I only have 3 things that are cool that start with the letter D. But I hope as I go...more just POP magically into my head.

Shall we begin?

Draco Malfoy

Um Draco Malofy is a sexy sexy boy. That tousled blond hair, the sexy school uniform all messy and out of place, and of course who doesn't love the tortured look!??! He such a bad boy. Haha. Yes he's whiny, spoiled, arrogant, cowardly, and all of those other awful qualities...but he's pretty to look at still. So if you just Silenco him...well...he's perfect.

Daria

Eek! I loved this show! It aired on MTV in the 90s. It was about this teenage girl Daria who had no tone in her voice except sarcasm. Her family consisted of a bunch of idiots (I LOVED QUINN THOUGH). Her high school teachers were hilariously insane. It was fantastic show. Daria and her friend Jane only watched this show called Sick Sad World. Really sad when they cancelled it. They showed repeats on The-N for awhile but then stopped sadly.

Degrassi
Speaking of The-N: DEGRASSI! Well technically Degrassi: The Next Generation. It's a Canadian TV show that first aired in the 80s. Then they came out with the next generation which was with the students from the 80s, children. It was so good. I loved it, watched every episode. I liked Emma and Craig the best. Craig was another misunderstood abused kid. I mean THESE KIDS HAD ISSUES. They all did. The worst stuff always happened to them. But it's a drama and that's what made it interesting. I'm not sure what's going on with that show now. I think they all graduated so they brought some other kids in and it's a new generation but they all bore me so I stopped watching.

Dead Like ME
This was a fantastic show which sadly got cancelled after 2 seasons. It's about a young girl, Georgiana (George) who dies after a fiery toilet seat is dropped from outter space and falls on her face. Then she becomes a Grim Reaper! The grim reapers she is partnered with are HILARIOUS. They all have such personality and Rube the leader is absolutely fantastic. The best part of this show is the swearing. They all swear and it's so unexpected and hilarious it's awesome. But the show is a dark comedy revolving around death. George has to live in the same town and reap there where her family is and she watches them from a distance to see how they deal with her death.

So this blog on D turned into a blog on TV shows. COOL! I'm not a big TV watcher but recently TV has come out with some good stuff. GO TV!

Usually I talk about my day in a few sentences before the "letter" blog starts. However, today I'll save that for last. Today this happened to me:

I'm not sure how to deal with this except be frightened and avoid that stall at all possible costs. I don't care how famous the Jonas Brothers are...I DO NOT want them staring at me while I pee.

And so ends another successful day of blogging. Guys I know I forgot some AWESOME stuff that starts with the letter D so make me feel stupid and TELL ME!

-Holly

The Letter C

2009-04-04T11:36:00.001-07:00

Before we get to the letter c, today the weirdest thing happened to me.

I was walking into Starbucks to get an iced tea (I was going to read the book I have to read for class "The Female Man", don't ask it's weird) and I walk in the door and hear "HOLY EFF IT'S HOLLY" and I'm like huh? I don't have any friends here? What's going on! And it's this kid Branden I worked with at AMC like 2 years ago. It was so weird. But it was nice to know someone for once!

Oh and spring has hit Seattle, after 2 days of straight rain we've reached 60 degrees and I'm digging it.

So last night I was lying in bed thinking about the letter c. WHAT SHOULD I TALK ABOUT!? During that time I came up with this list...and so comes

The Letter C!

Clary Fray

Short, red haired, spunky, and fifteen. Clary Fray is my ultimate heroine. She's so badass. I mean she makes up steele symbols, she's got angels blood, and she saves the land of the shadow hunters. The best part about her is that she somehow always ends up making out with her brother when she doesn't know it's him. TWICE! TWICE! Given, one of them ends up not being her brother...but she thought he was for awhile. This poor girl. The series IS called The Mortal Instruments, but all three books start with the letter 'C' so I can lump the series into this category. I LOVE IT. READ IT PLEASE. It's amazing.

Chocolate

I'm a chocolate snob. Dark, milk, and white. I love expensive foreign chocolates. Chocolate. Is. God. It's one thing that I firmly believe in that has to be consumed at least once a day. Some people get cranky when they don't get their coffee, I get cranky when I don't get my daily chocolate fix. Dove is by far the richest most creamiest chocolate. They need to come out with a white chocolate in my opinion however. Then there's luscious lindor. Creamy cadbury. I just love chocolate. You have a place in my heart if you give me chocolate. My boyfriend gives me LOTS of chocolate. What a keeper.

Camping

So last night when I was thinking of chocolate as a good C, I started thinking about Smores. Then I thought it was too bad Smores started with a C because I really want to talk about it. Then I thought, Smores...remind me of camping...which I love...and camping starts with a C! PERFECT. Now I choose the above picture of a Smore because it has come to my attention that a lot of people in Europe do not know what a Smore is...and that's just too bad. Smores are the reason I go camping. There is nothing like setting up a tent, starting a fire (or watching others do it), roasting hot dogs, eating them, and then the anticipation of Smore making! You put the marshmellow on a stick, stick it over the fire till it's golden brown (personally I like them burnt...I'm weird), you get two graham crackers and a piece of chocolate and make a Smores sandwich. The most deliciously metly thing I've ever tasted. This is why camping is awesome.

Castles

When I went to Europe for two weeks I cannot count the amount of castles we looked at. Each castle we saw however, I remember distinctly pretending it was Hogwarts. Me and my cousin would run around in it and leave the main tour group trying to find secret passage ways and pretending the coolest room was the Gryffindor common room. And so I show the picture of Hogwarts. Castles are so pretty. Who DOESN'T want to live in a castle? I wish I did. For sure.

Chelsey Handler

I LOVE THIS B*(@#! Only she in all her glory can get away with saying ANYTHING. She also happens to make it hilarious. No one can get offended if she says it. And trust me, she tells it like it is. She has a fantastically great show on E! called Chelsey Lately, she's written two books, she's done stand up comedy, and she has the best assistant in the world, little Chuy. Gotta love this girl.

Cereal

I don't know about you, readers, but I could eat cereal for every meal of every day. There are so many different kinds YOU'D NEVER GET BORED. There is nothing like waking up to an empty house on Saturday morning, getting a large cake mixing bowl, filling it up with sugary cereal, pouring milk over it, sitting down, and watching cartoons. Me and my brother were famous for this. That is until TV decided to get rid of loony toons and the TV gained a lot of suck. But cereal is still sooo good. I love me some classic Cheerios, Honey Bunches of Oats, Cocoa Puffs, Wheaties, Rice Krispie Treats, Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Fruity pebbles, Apple Jacks, etc!

Cats

I am a cat person. I used to convince myself that I wasn't because cat people have a reputation of being snobby boring weirdos. But I just love little kitties! The above picture is of my last cat I had, Thomas. Thomas had this weird thing that if you touched or pet where the start of his tail was he would go NUTS. He had this odd habit of thrusting his butt in the air and purring ferociously. It was kind of scary, like he was having a heart attack. He always looked like he was stoned too. He was quite the cuddler though. <3>

Crying

"I'm not saying I don't cry but in between I laugh and I realize how silly it is to take anything too seriously. Plus, I look forward to a good cry. It feels pretty good." Word, Sam. Word. You said it all.

Cheer

Every December I look forward to Maureen Johnson's Cheer! She gives out books, prizes, and letters! Cheer is something that comes up mostly around Christmas time, but really you can give cheer any time of the year. In fact I encourage it!

So for today, go out and give some cheer. Do it! You know what brings cheer to people? COMMENTS! So I urge you to go on the ning, and give out at least 5 comments to bloggers today. People work hard on their blogs, and there is nothing better than the sweet victory of recognition for that hard work.

Happy Saturday! See you all tomorrow.

BEDA DAY 4=COMPLETE!

-Holly

The Letter B

2009-04-02T23:07:00.000-07:00

The Alphabet is back and it's in full swing! But before we get started let's talk for 3-4 sentences about my day.

Today I bought a black dress for my cousins wedding. I'm a bridesmaid and she's a little insane and she wants us all to wear black dresses. I grabbed about seven different ones and went into the back room to try them on. The girl actually asked me:

"Are you going to a funeral?"

"No, a wedding for a very confused young girl who feels the need to go crazy and get married to a guy she just met."

And with that I went to try them on. I ended up choosing the only one that wasn't hideous. It's okay right?

I mean its got a cute bow?

And now...

The Letter B!

Boy Meets World

When I was in fifth grade there was this thing called TGIF on T.V. It was an event let me tell you. The best teenage shows on television lined up all in a row for you to watch on Friday night. The one that really made it happen was Boy Meets World. Today, still one of the best shows, I watch repeats anytime they're on. Who doesn't love Cory and Topanga!? And who DIDN'T thing Shawn was a hottie!? This show was fantastic. I'm always reminded of Mr. Feeny, and Eric going "Feeny! Fe fe FEENY!" Amazing.

Ben Lerner

Okay before I started college I thought of poetry as strictly Shakespeare because that was ALL I WAS TAUGHT. Then I started some creative writing classes and wow. Just wow. There are so many cool poets in this world! WHO ARE ACTUALLY ALIVE! AND AROUND MY AGE! I was astounded. And through this discover I found my favorite poet ever: Ben Lerner. He's so damn edgy I just love it. I've written two papers on him and both of his books are fantastic. Want a taste? Here are my favorite lines from a few different poems in his book The Lichtenberg Figures:

"The Chicken is a little dry and/or you've ruined my life."

"You are the first and last indigenous Nintendo."

"I've swallowed a bottle of aspirin. I'm a doctor. I'm leaving you. I love you. Fuck you. I'll change."

"I wish all difficult poems were profound. Honk if you wish all difficult poems were profound."

"I really don't want to do this over the phone. But I also never want to see you again. So I paid Ben Lerner to write you this poem in a language that was easy to understand."

Anyway, Ben Lerner's entry is already way too long and it's unfair to the other 'B's' so forgive me, I just love him so much. He's HIGHLY recommended (by me). =]

Brand New

Apparently Brand New is famous now. Or apparently they are on my floor in my dorm. Everyone seems to love them suddenly because of their newest album The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me, and they heard the song "Jesus Christ", and now they're famous. I don't know how or when this happened but I've been IN LOVE with Brand New (or Br& New as I always used to write on my desk) since 9th grade. I followed their feud with Taking Back Sunday. I wore the shirt "Mic's are for signing not swinging" at least 4 times a week (it was kind of gross). Anyway, they're fantastic. All three of their albums are completely different. The first, Your Favorite Weapon, is VERY VERY much pop punk. Their second, Deja Entendu, is more mellow but sooo sooo unique and just wonderful. Jesse Lacey is an amazing lyricist. Their last album is like nothing I've ever heard before. They're such an original fantastic band.

Bath and Body Works

Why would anyone be ashamed of loving this store? Every winter...I stock up on Winter Candy Apple their seasonal scent and every spring I stock up on Sun Ripped Berry. They have the most fantastic scents. And in body spray, lotion, shower gel, body cream, etc. etc. I could go on and on. They're fantastic and I just love going in there and loading up on smelly stuff!

Beauty and the Beast

There is a picture for this below but it's also a picture for the next thing I talk about and I'll explain that in a second. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie. I AM BELLE. My cousins and I picked which Disney Princesses we are and I was always Belle. I love her. We've both got brown hair and brown eyes. We both love to read. We both talk to inanimate objects. Oh yeah. Me and Belle are tight.

BOOKS!

Okay the picture above is from Beauty and the Beast. This is my favorite part in the movie. The girl doesn't want you be hot, give her flowers, and chocolates. SHE WANTS BOOKS. And LOTS of them. So what does the beast do? He gives her a fucking library. THIS IS SO DAMN ROMANTIC I WANT TO DIE. This library is my dream. I want this so bad. It's beautiful. And so huge! I want it! And so we come to books. Books are awesome. There is nothing wrong with books. People who don't like books are people who I don't like. All the world ever needs is books. They're entertaining, fun, and you learn so much from each one you read. I love books...

BEDA

Lastly, BEDA! How could I forget BEDA. Blogging is a fantastic way for people to express themselves. I love blogging. I love reading blogs. I love it that now there is AN ENTIRE MONTH dedicated to blogging! Nerdfighters unite. This idea is fantastic, Maureen. And I've been doing it for 3 days. Haven't given up yet!

Anyway that was the letter B. What are you favorite things that start with the letter B? Let me know!

See you tomorrow!

-Holly

The Letter 'A'

2009-04-02T16:51:00.000-07:00

Okay so I'm kind of cheating BETA. Yes, I'm still making blogs everyday in April. But I'm taking a bit of an easy way out. Over the next 26 days I will tell you all the awesome things that start with each letter of the alphabet. Why?

1. because it's easy

2. because it's fun

3. because it gives me 26 days of material

4. because my life is boring and I can't talk about it for 30 days. I'd bore you all to tears.

And so I give you....

The Letter A!

And first up is....

ABBA

Okay seriously...who doesn't like ABBA? Okay, quite a few people I know don't...but you cannot deny the truth that they are DAMN catchy. I can get ABBA stuck in peoples heads no matter who they are. All I have to do is start whispering, "Take a chance, take chance, take a ch-ch-chance." My boyfriend hates it when I do this...because it gets stuck in his head all day. Then he goes to his work which is full of manly men and he's singing ABBA under his breath. Then he gets made fun of. But ABBA is sexy (see above picture), so to like ABBA is even sexier.

Albus Dumbledore

I chose the Potter Puppet Pals picture of Dumbledore because...it's my favorite Dumbledore! I mean when I think Albus Dumbledore I think "Naked time!" and not because I'm a perv...you can blame Neil Cicierega. Anyway, Albus Wulfric Percival Brian Dumbledore is awesome. The coolest professor ever. I know we all got frustrated by him, just as Harry did (JUST TELL HIM HE'S THE CHOSEN ONE ALREADY!) but Harry did a good job of calming us down...by breaking everything in Dumbledore's office. Poor Albus had a hard childhood and a hopeless love. He spent the entirety of his life trying to make up for his past and helping to defeat evil. He defeated and imprisoned the only person he'd ever loved for the good of wizard kind. He firmly believes to see the good in everyone, something we wish we all could do. What a guy.

Amanda Bynes

I....LOVE Amanda Bynes. I love her movies, I love her, and I just think she's fantastic. I've been watching her since her "All That" days when she put her hair up in pig tails and played the not so nice Ashley: "Thaaaaaaat's Me!" And then the ever amazing "The Amanda Show", which first introduced us to Drake and Josh, dancing lobsters, and the ever famous Penelope, "I'm Penelope, Amanda's number one fan please." Amazing. Once she was done with Nickelodeon she had a cool TV show on the WB called "What I Like About You". Then she made some movies, which I love. I can't explain why, yes they're cheesy, yes she plays the same character in all of them...but I LOVE IT. Sydney White, What A Girl Wants, and She's The Man (based on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, nerdfighter much?). I don't care what anyone says...I love her.

Amaretto

In its alcohol form, or in it's non alcoholic flavor form...amaretto is so fantastic. It's my favorite flavoring for coffee, liqueur, and syrup. It's just...fantastic. If there isn't amaretto anywhere, pistachio and almond flavorings are just as good but not QUITE as good as amaretto itself. And who could forget the best Brand New song ever...Soco Amaretto Lime =]

Andes mints

These little mints...are fantastic. They're chocolate covered with a thin layer of green mint on the inside. You get them mostly after you eat at Olive Garden. Fantastic. I have a hard time finding them anywhere else but if I do see them I make sure to stock up! They make Andes Mint's shakes now and brownies: recipe's online! I swear!

Australia

Australia is the most fantastic country/continent. It has EVERYTHING. Big cities, rainforest's, tropical places, beaches, rainy places, sunny places, snowy places, the great barrier reef, the great Australian bight, surfing, the outback, mountains, and you can even ski in Australia. IT HAS EVERYTHING. I loved it. I love it. I'm in love with it. I want to live there for at least a bit sometime in my life. It's a fantastic place and I didn't get to see nearly enough of it when I was there.

Authors

My heroes. The people I wish I could be. The people I hope one day to be.

So that's the letter A. What are you favorite things that start with the letter A. I know I forgot some good ones so make me feel stupid and tell me! I mean...I forgot Awesome. AWESOME.

Will be back tomorrow.

-Holly

Spring Quarter 09

2009-04-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

So Monday was the first day of my last quarter of college.

All my life I was told to go to college, so I did. And I love learning, and my major (English), and I graduate in June so I'm pretty excited about the entire thing.

All my life, I was also told how awesome my last quarter of college will be.

"Holly, your last quarter of college is so awesome. You find your major, you take all the classes you like, you're relaxing now that it's almost over, and the best part is that everyone will want to hire you!"

LIES! SO MANY LIES!

No one wants to hire me. No one wants to hire anyone in this economy but especially an English major.

We're not in high demand.

All 18 of my books

But I like the classes I'm taking. They're all really interesting....just A LOT of work.

The first day of the quarter I was walking up this incline on my way to class and it felt like someone took a baseball bat and threw it at my heel. I thought I might have re-fractured it but it turns out (as I went to the doctor today) my heel muscles are VERY inflamed.

So my options according to my doctor (who looked like Matthew Mcconaughey)?

1. "Looks like your heel is inflamed. You can do physical therapy with us for a month and we can get it back to its full health."

2. "Looks like your heel is inflamed. What we can do is this new procedure where we take a bunch of blood from your arm and insert it in your heel. What this does is *big words and doctor speak* and it will get all better after we do that five times."

3. "Looks like your heel is inflamed. Take 2 alleve twice a day, wear these funky yellow heel pads, and do these at home exercises on this sheet here."

As much as I REALLY REALLY wanted to transfer blood from my shoulder to my heel, I chose option three.

Creepy flappy Heel Pads That I can Scare Little Children With

I'm just glad my bones aren't fractured.

See when I was a kid my Mom coached my soccer team. I ended up getting really sharp pains in my heel and I told her it hurt a lot and she told me to keep running because she liked to make us run at practice (she wasn't a favorite coach and everyone kind of...disliked that...and me). My Mom thought I was making excuses and my teammates thought I was being a whiny baby because my Mom was the coach. I ended up screaming that she take me to the doctor and TA-DA! My heel was fractured. This is the start of a long running dislike for the woman that I call mother, but that is a very different and very sad story that I will not get into now because this is a HAPPY BLOG!

A Happy BEDA!

So this was my first blog of April. Tomorrow I will talk about the letter 'A' and it will be HILARIOUS! No...I have no idea. It might be good or it might be awful...but stay tuned if you wish! And if you're doing BEDA leave a comment and let me know so I can follow your blog around and leave cool comments about how cool it was. Cool.

-Holly =]

BEDA=Blabble Endlessly During April

2009-03-31T17:33:00.000-07:00

I commit myself. I will try this insane idea. If Maureen can do it, so can I. If you all can do it...so can I. I will find something semi-interesting to blab about every day in April.
My blog will also be on Maureen Johnson's Ning. http://maureenjohnson.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?user=xfgjrzwz7gzm

-Holly

My Affair With The Food Network

2009-02-11T11:28:00.000-08:00

The Food Network has completely consumed my life.

Before I get into why I love this channel and the specific shows within them, I'd like to make a plea to the Travel Channel to please give Man Vs. Food over to the Food Network. The reason this show is incredible is not only the food that is eaten but also the host, Adam Richman.

NOT this Adam Richman

THIS Adam Richman

He travels around the U.S. (which I guess makes it a travel show apparently) finding the best food imaginable and usually in the episode enters some contest the restaurant has (ex: eat this entire ginormous meat pizza and win a t-shirt) and he usually wins and gets his picture on the wall or something to that effect. And whilst he does this who doesn't love the restaurant guests chanting endlessly: MAN VS FOOD, MAN VS FOOD!

Anyway, each episode he is in a new city. For details on the show, and the food and cities he visits go here: http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Man_v_Food/Food_Locations

But seriously! Why put this show on the travel channel, I mean he doesn't leave the United States, so he's not exactly a world traveler and the shows main focus is on food anyway. So please Travel Channel, give it up. I get sad when I have to leave The Food Network to travel the whole 2 channels down to the Travel Channel (which mostly sucks). I'd like to be able to just stay on The Food Network, okay?

God I'm being awfully American today. Anyway, moving on to the why I love The Food Network.

First up!

ACE OF CAKES

I LOVE THIS SHOW. I stumbled upon it on the perfect day for a Harry Potter fan like me. For the Order of the Phoenix premiere in LA they actually made a Hogwarts Castle replica cake and it was incredible. Even Dan Radcliffe thought so, in his cameo.

Duff and Daniel

The Incredible Hogwarts Cake

Yes that is actually a cake. Anyway, the actual cake shop is located in Baltimore, and is called Charm City Cakes. The chef there is Chef Duff, who is hilarious, hip, and awesome. They make the most amazing cakes, and all of this friends work there, and they're all so funny and you can tell they really love what they do. It's a fantastic show!

ASK AIDA

Now the host of this show is Aida Mollenkamp...and she is guilty....

Of being hot!

And she also knows a lot about cooking. There was an amazing chocolate episode where she made this incredible looking Mexican chocolate and double chocolate tort cake. I salivated...A LOT. Now while she cooks these things, say the theme of the day is chocolate again, she answers chocolate questions from....viewers like you! How exciting. Now the guy that reads the e-mails while Aidia cooks, is Noah Starr, who is guilty as well...

of being annoying

But not annoying enough to kill of the show, considering he mostly just sits there. Therefore, Ask Aidia for the win!

CHOPPED
This show is great if you want new recipe ideas. It's a challenge between four chef's who take surprise ingredients in a basket and make these fantastic three course meals in a timed period. After each course, judges "chop" a contestant who's course wasn't so hot. In the end there is one chef standing and they will $10,000! How cool. Go Food Network.

DINERS, DRIVE-INS, AND DIVES
Guy Fieri is the host of this show and a picture will be provided later for reasons you have yet to discover. I like Guy Fieri. I think he's fun and eccentric and he knows a lot about food. In this show he drives around in his sexy red convertible to, "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives". If you don't know what a diner is it's like a 1940s drive in type thing. Burgers, fries, and shakes. Classic American food. Not to mention those cool drive-ins like Sonic has, but without the crappy fast food. This is a great show.

EMERIL LIVE

BAM! ...That is all =]

FOOD DETECTIVES

This show reminds me of myth busters but better because instead of general questions, there's food questions and mysteries are SOLVED! Like what is the best way to cure bad breath, can you drink a gallon of milk in an hour, does turkey really make you sleepy, and all of life's super important mysteries solved! Plus there is a great host:

Ted Allen

Way cooler than Tim Allen...moving on....

GOOD EATS
The host of this show is Alton Brown.

This is him in a semi-normal state

And again...in his usual odd state of being which I enjoy immensely

Now I love this show and I HATE super scripted shows. This show is extremely scripted but I think Alton Brown pulls it off brilliantly. He's s nerdy and that is something I can relate to. The show also does a great job of of giving you the history of the food item Alton is showing us that day, as well as amazing ways to prepare and cook it yourself.

TOP CHEF

Based upon the Japanese cult sensation, Iron Chef America carries on the legend of Kitchen Stadium and the famed "secret ingredient." Each week, world-class chefs battle the legendary Iron Chefs of America. My favorite being Bobby Flay!

ULTIMATE RECIPE SHOWDOWN

This show features cooks from across America, who brin gout delicious competition. The series features six categories: Comfort Food, Burgers, Cakes, Hot and Spicy, Desserts, or Hometown Favorites. Each week, the judges crown an "ultimate" winner who receives $25,000 and the chance to have his or her recipe featured nationwide at T.G.I. Friday's® restaurants.

UNWRAPPED

This show is kind of like How It's Made but with stuff that is way more interesting...like food. They take you behind the scenes of restaurants, food factories, etc. Marc Summers is a decent host "as he explores the test kitchens and the secrets behind lunch box treats, soda pop, movie candy, and more. Unwrapped – the show for everyone who's ever worn a pair of wax lips." Sounds good, and it's extremely interesting.

ANYTHING WITH RACHEL RAY

There's just not much to say about Rachel Ray besides that's shes cute, tiny, and an incredible cook! Who DOESN'T love her?

THE HOT AUSTRALIAN GUY'S SHOW

Idunno exactly what his show is called because the entire time he cooks I get lost in his accent.

And now on to my beef with The Food Network:

GUY'S HAIR
Although I love guy and his quirky little drive through show, I can't stand his hair. It's actually really frightening and loud. I know you can't do anything about this dear food network, but please consider it.

THE INFAMOUS HAIR

BAREFOOT CONTESSA. No No No. Not only is this an awful name for a cooking show but I hate this woman. I really do. I hate the way she explains things, and I hate the way she cooks, and I hate the stupid frickin scriptedness of the whole damn show. She's always cooking something for someone else and it's always some old cooking friend or her "husband" it makes me want to eat baby food. There is something too about the way she talks like a whisper and it just freaks me out.

PAULA'S HOME COOKING, PAULA'S BEST DISHES, PAUL'S PARTY

Meet your host:Paula Dean

Scary huh?

This woman talks more about her dogs than food. And when she gets to talking about the food it's all deep fried, southern comfort bullshit. The entire premise of these show is, "I'm southern, I cook okay, but mostly I make jokes that aren't funny unless you were raised in Mississippi which coincidentally is the state with the highest obesity rate (not counting the children) Now let's make some effing fried chicken."

MAN VS GRILL. You will never ever never ever never ever ever ever be Adam Richman, Mr. host man. See? I don't even know your name but your show sucks. Again it's too scripted and awkward. Plus the food that is made, never looks very good which is a huge downer for the people trying to watch and us thee your recipes. Also, please stop bringing non talented children onto your show to show off their "skills". They are not cute, they are just precocious.

SO Travel Network...stop trying to be the Food Network in your own little sneaky way...give us Adam Richman! So I guess besides the small flaws in you my dearest Food Network..keep up the good work.

Now you'll have to excuse me....there is some yumminess going on in Kitchen Stadium.

-Holly

Winter Break

2008-12-04T19:41:00.001-08:00

Only 5 more days till this happens everyday.
I need to pass my antropology biology exam or it's another quarter of uni for me.
Really studying hard.
Plus I need to re-write my short story. CRAP!
I hate finals!

2008-10-02T21:23:00.000-07:00

10:28
[Comment From Hollshillis] For Biden's closing argument he needs to break it down and sing "take a chance on me"
10:28
Maureen: YES! Now that is good thinking!

My life is complete. Maureen Johnson thinks I have good thinking. YES!

P.s. I want to kill all the freshman in my hall for being loud and never having any homework so they can do whatever the hell they want and not be considerate of the few of us who actually have a crap load of homework to do and need quiet.

I feel so old and anal.

School!

2008-09-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

So the first day of the new quarter was yesterday. Mondays and Wednesdays are particularly awful this quarter. I have 4 5 credit classes this quarter. However, Tuesdays and Thursdays I only have to go to 2 early classes then I get 3 hours of rest before work at 125. So it's not all that bad. I have tons of homework and a particularly evil nazi english teacher but eh. I love my creative writing class.

One thing I'm ovelry sick of is having people on the first day of classes who go up to the professor and ask if they have any extra SYLABUSESES. WTF IS THAT? It's Sylabi!!!!!!

Anyway that's my mini rant. I had a lot of things to rant about but this one seemed the least harmless and if I posted them all you'd all hate my blog and never read it again.

My single dorm room is amazing. It's so nice to get out of classes and know I can just sleep, do homework, or walk around in my underwear. It's comforting. haha.

Things I'd like to do before marriage and kids:

Travel Europe

Work at Auntie's Bookstore

Go to Graduate School

Go to Canada

See Third Eye Blind live

Write a finished novel

Go BACK to Australia

Meet Maureen Johnson

I'll think of more later...What do YOU want to do?

Holy Updates, Batman!

2008-09-11T23:56:00.001-07:00

DISNEYLAND!

Speaking of Batman, I'm super thrilled to have heard that Johnny Depp will be playing the next Batman villain: The Riddler! Ooo so excited. But on to the updates.

Currently I'm lounging on the couch watch a really interesting show called "The Principals Office" with my kitty Thomas. I like to think that Thomas likes when I blog in his company but honestly I think he has a thing for laptops with the way he rubs up on them like he's in a club.

This reminds me I really need to go buy a can of air, that one uses to clean electronics. Thomas excessive rubbing on my laptop has caused a very large amount of hair to be stuck under the keys and this makes it hard to press some. Particularly Q.

Moving on. Classes start in 10 days. But more importantly Heroes starts in 8 days. I'm very excited for this new season of Heroes. During the writers strike I managed to go to my online instant view of Netflix and watch both season becoming an avid fan (who doesn't love Milo)!

I'd talk about school but that would bore the 3 people that read this blog (possibly 2). Maybe I will next week, when I'm actually there and I can relay to you in my best experienced words how awful it is going. Until then =]

What Does Your Sleep Says About You?

2008-09-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon an interesting BBC article today, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3112170.stm

I found that I am a Freefaller Sleeper. I found this interesting.

Freefall: Lying on your front with your hands around the pillow, and your head turned to one side. Often gregarious and brash people, but can be nervy and thin-skinned underneath, and don't like criticism, or extreme situations.

This assumed I enjoy the company of others, which I do 80% of the time. Also that I'm brash which I am NOT! I like to think that I am, because being spontaneous and exciting is always a good quality to have. However, for the most part I over analyze EVERYTHING. From important issues to the best route to walk or drive to the store. I like to know what I'm doing each day and where I will be and who I will be with. I have a planner devoted to this type of thing. I thrive on it. I'm a freak about it. I am thin skinned and take offense pretty easily unfortunately, a quality I wish to separate myself from but can't. Extreme situations and criticism scare me. Even constructive criticism I have a hard time taking.

And lookey here, I over analyzed the article. Go me.

Which one are you guys?

If I were a vampire

2008-08-28T23:40:00.000-07:00

I had this amazing thought. If I were a vampire like Edward Cullen I would NOT going around falling in love with girls like Bella. I would fight! Like in important wars and stuff. Since Edward's been "alive" since 1901 how come he never entered WWI WWII or Vietnam? WHAT GIVES EDWARD? With the ability to dodge fire, ammo, gas, gernades why WOULDNT YOU? Plus if he was into eating humans he could just feed off the dead bodies of enemy soldiers he killed. No one would be any wiser. If politic wars arent your think what about rawanda and dafur? I would have and still would totally go in there and free the people! c'mon edward cullen if you're out there do something important!!!Does the eating enemy soldiers thing creep you out? okay minus that part...

Finally, I do something interesting

2008-07-25T00:24:00.001-07:00

My cousin Mandi is finally back in town and we just had the most awesome day ever. I very much missed her. We went slip N sliding' on a Sponge Bob slide that was made for 12 year olds it was so much fun (for more details see youtube vlog).

Tomorrow I'm going to the Theme Park. They have this new roller coaster out which is supposed to be INSANE and I LOVE LOVE LOVE roller coasters. In 10th grade I wrote a paper on how much I loved them, I got a D. But that's besides the point.

There's no food here. I haven't ate since breakfast. Me hungry.

I finished reading Devilish. It was VERY good. I would like to re-read Catcher and the Rye for blurbing book club but quite frankly I have no idea where my copy went! Wtf world!?

So I'll just stick to that WWI book I was talking about and maybe actually finish The Amber Spyglass.

Anyway, this weekend I'm off to have a life for once so enjoy your summer weekend!

The Dark Knight and Not Having a Life

2008-07-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

First off I just saw The Dark Knight. It was spectacular. Heath Ledgers performance was amazing and perfect as the joker. It is so sad that he died, he's done so many great things already and I know he would have continued to do more. Anyway, I hear it's the biggest blockbuster possibly of all time and that's very exciting. I highly recommend everyone to see it.

So I'm home for the summer. Usually I spend Sep-Jun in Seattle for school. It's nice to be home but things are a little weird around the house. Not having Mom around is weird, but I must admit, it's a lot quieter.

We also had to put our dog, Lady down last week. She was in a lot of pain and we couldn't even take her for walks her bag legs were so bad. It's been hard but it's also nice not to have to hear her barking at nothing 24/7.

My cat Thomas has disappeared for good. This has to be the saddest change yet. Sadder than my parents divorce and my dogs murder. Because Thomas isn't dead, he just found a better owner. He came in last Thursday and slept with me but his coat was all brushed and pretty. All his matts were gone. So someone has been grooming him. Not to mention the skinniest cat in the world has gotten fatter, so someone has been feeding him as well. Apparently since my mother lost Oscar (my other cat) when she moved, Thomas has decided we're not good enough to live with anymore. He's probably right.

Despite enjoying the quietness of the house I find it lonely most of the time. Dad's always gone on business and my brother is hardly around and if he is around he's up to no good. He was growing marijuana in our backyard for awhile there till my dad found out. We really need to kick him out. He's such a waste of space.

The one good thing about being back for the summer is Jesse. It's so nice to spend time with him almost everyday. It really makes all of this bearable. We're headed down to California August 15th to go visit my Mom (unfortunately, I'm still very angry with her) but at least he'll be with me and we can just go to the beach and hang out instead of dealing with her crap.

I think that's enough of my depressing talk eh? If you made it this far good for you! Really. I'd like to post a new video sometime soon, which will probably be up Monday. No word as to what this will be about though. I think I will ponder this and clean my room (which is filthy)

-Holly