My ideal version of an impressive resume

(yes, this is a random post, but I like to imagine that the following resume is gold in some alternate universe...the thought makes me happy)

_________________________________________________________

Emily [last name]...................................[phone number]
Trinity University................................May 2013 (hopefully)
Majors.......................................Religion/English
Minor......................................................Music

GPA.......................To me, grades aren't as important as what you really learn at the end of the semester


Past jobs:

Editor

• Edited articles

Gym supervisor

• Told children to not run with a clear, commanding tone

Lifeguard

• Used lifeguard skills
• Got really tan during months of lifeguarding (tan is completely gone now, of course)

Other notable positions/achievements

• "Master" archer and sneak in Skyrim; "Adept" mage
• Two-time line leader in third grade
• Co-CEO of my dorm room, along with my roommate
• Pokemon Master
• Has read the entire Harry Potter series, as well as the Game of Thrones series, and the Series of Unfortunate Events
• Has had two wisdom teeth removed

Marketable skills:

• Lifeguard skills (currently dormant)
• Able to analyze most pieces of music or English literature
• Can name the composer of any movie
• I can type a lot of WPM
• Conversational Elvish
• Microsoft Office
• Can paint my own nails on my left hand
• Can work office swivel chairs

__________________________________________

That time of year

So it's that time of year again. What do I mean by "that time of year"?  Here are some pointers that may help articulate what I mean:

• When you slowly begin to understand that the magical "break" or the "free time" you've been waiting for all semester is probably not going to happen
• Note: for anybody reading this who doesn't go to Trinity, we are currently on the tail end of Fall Break, which consists of having one Friday off of class. I should also add that Friday is generally the day people have the fewest classes, if any.
• I also want to mention that I have been incredibly busy both days, with school things that I just didn't have time for during the week. 
• When you remember that you own a playstation and haven't played it for weeks
• When you realize that despite all the same beginning-of-semester resolutions, you are still the same student you were last year
• When you finally stop worrying about midterms, only to begin thinking about finals, and how much they can change your average
• When you pull the first all-nighter of the semester
• When you get sick and go to class anyway because you just can't miss that lesson
• When your ideal night of fun involves staying home with some fruit and a movie and getting eight hours of sleep, and the prospect of staying up past midnight is somewhat off-putting

In short, it has become that time of year where I am staying ahead of all the work I have to do by a hair. My excuse for writing blog posts when I have other things to do is that I have to keep writing for fun, as any writing I have to do for classes is strictly analytical, and English professors generally don't appreciate memes and videos of cats in my essays. Maybe it's a reflection of my writing skills that I sometimes think they would actually enhance what I have to say.....for example, which comes across more vividly to you readers?

It is that time of year where I am perpetually sleepy. 

Or:

Look at this kitten to understand how I am feeling:

The point is, my essays could really benefit from outside sources that aren't directly related to the subject matter. Wait. No. That's not my point. My point is that blog posts serve as my outlet for all that excess desire for fun that I need to get rid of. Also I've recently discovered how fun it is to post GIFs, in case you can't tell.

Although, I have to admit that I have recently been running out of blog post ideas. Maybe that is also a symptom of That Time of Year? Several times, I've resorted to googling blog post ideas, but I haven't found anything particularly interesting, or something that lasts more than one post (every site I find says that all your blog posts should have a continuous theme, but I haven't found a theme I really want to stick with yet). But I do want to force myself to keep writing outside of class.
(on that note, does anybody have any post ideas?)

This has been a rambling post, but I will attribute it to That Time of Year. To end, I will close with a piece from the 25th Anniversary Symphony of The Legend of Zelda. (In case the whole world doesn't already know, I'm going to interview the composer next weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I'm studying my Zelda music as preparation-- this is the best kind of homework.)

Seven Ways to Procrastinate

There are two things inspiring this week's post.

• I found myself browsing Imgur last night, and after reaching pictures I'd already seen, I was trying to think of other websites to waste my time on, and was horrified when I couldn't come up with anything. Facebook was too boring, and...well, what else is there? I don't have a pintrest account. I wasn't sure what to browse on youtube (no matter what cat video you send me, I promise I've already seen it). 

•  I had no idea what to write about today, but I knew I wanted to write something, so I googled "blog ideas," and this one list came up that included a "Seven ways to..." kind of post. I'm not really sure what I'm an authority on. Really not much. But I'm a fantastic procrastinator, and goddammit, I'm going to write about it.

Seven Ways to Procrastinate

1. Write a blog post. I almost wrote a post on how I've completed all of my homework up to this point, but I couldn't stop laughing long enough to get any words out. 
   GIFSoup
2. Play a video game. This is an obvious one. Don't have a console? No problem. That's what sites like www.vizzed.com and www.addictinggames.com are for. Also, this game. It's pretty cool. 
3. Read a book, knit/crochet, color a coloring book. You can tell yourself you're being productive if you do this one, because of course reading isn't a waste of time! It's good to read! And knitting/crocheting is productive because you're making something. And let's be honest, who doesn't like to color? If you raise your hand, you haven't colored in too long. Or maybe you haven't bought the coloring book that's right for you. In any case, this is kind of the Overachiever Procrastinator trophy requirement. I'll be honest; I kind of look down on people who claim to procrastinate when they're actually doing something semi-productive. Lame.
4. Find a sudden tv show addiction. I myself have recently become invested in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  This is one of those things that gives you the illusion that you're being productive, because you're making your way through a season (or a series, in my case) of something you haven't seen before. That's always a nice illusion. 
5. Start doing your work around your friends. One of my favorite places to do homework is in the music lounge on campus, because that's where all the fun music students go to socialize. If you get more than a page of anything written/read/accomplished, I will give you permission to name my first cat. 
6. While typing papers, keep a stream of youtube videos open on your laptop. Make sure that you constantly have something playing, preferably with words.  It's really helps.
7. Okay I'm getting bored, so I'll get to this one later. 

Since apparently I've been posting music videos more and more frequently with my posts, I'll keep to that tradition (because I like it), and post one for today. This one was a recommendation from my lovely sister. Happy Monday!

Fall Semester

So it's that time of year again where a new school year is beginning, and I'm looking forward to my classes, and then the first day goes by and the second day and I'm looking forward to the weekend, and then I realize I need to take another class this semester if I want to graduate by May, and then I take on a few jobs to make money for gas and the occasional off-campus dinner, and then I come down with a case of faux enthusiasm during which volunteer for too many things, half of which I might follow through with, and I'm left wondering where all my video game time went.

But seriously, I do think this will be a good semester. I started my first teaching practicum where I go to schools and work with middle and high school students, which is very exciting. I felt lucky to have such a good first day of class-- I was actually able to help some of the students with their English questions, which made me feel pretty cool. I never thought the day would come where I feel validated by successfully defining "simile."

And in case, god forbid, I'm getting too over-confident in the English department, the practicum is balanced by my course on Chaucer. After spending two and a half hours reading about ten pages of The Canterbury Tales, I realized several things:

1. I love reading textbooks
2. I love reading scholarly essays, provided they were written in the last hundred years
3. I love reading James Joyce, Thomas Pynchon, Gertrude Stein, and all of those pretentious authors who choose to write in modern English (barely) (except for the part where they write in other languages, but at least I can skip those parts with the excuse that they are not English and therefore I am not obliged to read them, unlike Chaucer, who wrote at a time when spelling was arbitrary and jokes about the Black Plague were fashionable)
1. But don't hold me to that-- I'm not really going to pick up Joyce or Pynchon or Stein and read them. I don't love them that much.
2. Please don't hold me to that
4. I have no idea how to spell "Canterbury"

And if Chaucer wasn't humbling enough, I'm taking Music Theory III (for fun) two years late. I have never been the oldest person in a class before, but now I know that feeling, and I kind of want to start a club. "Delayed Seniors" or something. But I do enjoy theory.  Along with history, it's one of the two aspects of music that I don't think I will grow tired of anytime soon. 

Oh, well. Here's to the beginning of the year. 

Since I like video games, video game music, and Skyrim these days, I'm going to close this post by posting a Skyrim piece that I've really been enjoying. 

In which I am too busy with classes, job hunting, skyrim, a dysfunctional laptop, scheduling conflicts, and the like to update this blog

I have had three or four posts planned in my head the last few weeks, but I just haven't actually gotten them down into a blog yet. It will happen, my friends! It will happen!

Some thoughts re: Chick fil a news

Yes, I am going to post about the Chick-fil-a thing going on. I did not originally intend to, but after reading various articles, facebook posts, mocking pictures on both sides, etc, I've decided I want to. There are some things about this debate that have been bothering me a lot, and I want to address them. And yes, I do have a strong opinion when it comes to LGBT rights, so this post will come across as "biased" (although what isn't?), but I want to make it clear that I think there are two separate issues regarding this whole thing, and I want to address the second. I'm not going to write about gay rights, as there are many articles and youtube videos all over that say what I think about that, and I don't have much to add what they have to say; instead I want to write about a second issue that has come up regarding the recent news with Chick-fil-a, and I think seems to be largely ignored in this whole debate.

Many of the responses I've been reading includes phrase that people are tossing around, regarding those being denied their "first amendment rights." I have trouble seeing what all this stuff with Dan Cathy has to do with the first amendment, which is the right to free speech. The way I see it, people (or maybe it's just me) are getting more upset over where a fraction of the money spent at Chick-fil-a actually goes, which is to their philanthropy, the WinShape foundation. There is nothing illegal about what they do, and it is Cathy's choice to donate to the organization he sees fit. However, as I personally do not agree with many of WinShape's views and actions, most notably their strong stance on "traditional" marriage, I do not want to spend my money at Chick-fil-a knowing that a portion of it, however small, goes to that organization. (not to mention the large amount of money that WinShape has donated to other organizations such as Focus on the Family, and the Family Research Council, which are, if anything, far more vocal on their views of "family life" than WinShape). And quite frankly, if someone chooses not to spend their money at Chick fil a simply based on the company's statement, or even be vocal in response to his views, then that is also their choice, just as it is Cathy's choice to make a statement in the first place. 


(I would like to add that Cathy's relationship with this foundation is nothing new; the only thing has has caused a stir recently is the combination of Henson's withdrawal of the Muppets toys and connections from Chick fil a, the response of Chick fil a to that withdrawal, and the letter from the mayor of Chicago). 

In making this decision to not buy from Chick-fil-a, I am not trying to say that Dan Cathy is wrong in voicing his opinion, regardless of whether or not I agree with it. We all have the right to do the same, which is a wonderful (and powerful) right. But just as Cathy is allowed to choose where he donates the profits of his company, I am allowed to choose where I spend my money. The whole "first amendment rights" argument I've been seeing annoys me for that reason. People tend to throw the phrase around to validate their opinion, or invalidate those who argue with them (he's being denied his first amendment rights because he is under attack), but my decision (I can't speak for everyone) is not the result of Cathy saying what he believes, but of where some of my money goes. And I can't feel good about giving my money to organizations like WinShape and Focus on the Family when I disagree with their statements so strongly. Whether or not they are wrong for doing so, I retain my right to choose where I buy food.

Again, I'm not really going to get into the subject of gay marriage. I am glad that Chick fil a does not discriminate based on sexual orientation when they hire; I do respect them for that. I could write paragraphs delving into Biblical arguments explaining why I believe using religion to argue against homosexuality is kind of silly (throwing out the standard Leviticus passages about pigskin, stoning, and rape, or Paul's views on women), but I'm not going to. I could also argue about civil rights, and genetics, or choices (rather, lack thereof), but I also won't do that. That is kind of irrelevant to this post. If anybody wants to hear my arguments, they're welcome to send me a message, and I will write them back with much more than they asked for. I would add that I genuinely respect all religions, and even would consider myself a Christian, just as much as I would consider myself someone who believes in the power of questioning. But in all honesty, I think that those who would agree with me would already be agreeing with me before reading what I have to say, while those who would initially disagree would not be swayed by what I have to say, because it would not be anything that they have not heard before, and I don't think I have the eloquence to write it very persuasively. I'm not one for debate.

I also do not think that my not eating at Chick-fil-a will change anything. I dislike the word "boycott" for what I'm doing here, because it implies that I believe this will cause a change. I don't think it will-- not from my part, anyway. I never ate there much in the first place, anyway, although I do like their chicken. So why am I not eating their food? Put simply, I just can't feel good about myself if I'm donating (however marginally) to a cause I absolutely do not support, and there really isn't much more to it than that.

Elegy for my Phone

You were a good phone;

You were not perfect,

But you were mine.

You sometimes froze

Or I could not unlock you,

And you had scrapes on your corners

From all the times I dropped you.

Sometimes you would accidentally call people

Or send nonsensical texts from inside my purse

Even though you had a touchpad--

I thought that was so silly.

But you were my phone. 

You knew my entire internet history,

You knew that I had a Pokedex on my phone,

Knew the songs I listened to, 

And which ones I liked the most.

You knew that I loved Mahler

And the soundtrack to Kingdom Hearts,

And that I had a separate playlist for when guests were in the car

So I would seem more normal.

You knew that I was determined to beat Cut the Rope, 

That I had little interest in Angry Birds,

And I liked the Spanish explorer from Temple Run. 

You knew I liked taking pictures of cats. 

You saw all of my texts and all of my emails,

Endured my habit of repeatedly pressing the "hold" button

So your screen would turn on and off,

And made a quacking noise for your ringtone. 

But you were taken from me,

So I wiped your memory

With iCloud

And now you don't remember me.

You were my phone.

**********************************************

RIP Emily's Phone (June 2011-June 2012)

Melkor, Belkor, and the Two Carrots

(taken and edited from a draft of the unpublished The Even More Lost Tales, by J. R. R. Tolkien)

In the time when the Children of Iluvatar were just beginning to wake on the shores of Cuivienen, Melkor was imprisoned in the Halls of Mandos, and after three hundred and ninety four years he grew hungry, so he sang into existence with his own music a beautiful garden, so that many vegetables might grow to be cooked  into a Magnificent Soup, a Soup that would surpass all other soups ever cooked by the Valar, a Soup that not a single Ainur could ever imagine, a Soup that would fill even the most infinite stomachs. This garden Melkor named Belkor, which means Garden of Dark Vegetables, and he grew peppers of the most delectable variety that the finest grocer in Tuna could not refuse, tomatoes brighter and rosier than the fires of Aule, and squash for which Feanor offered two of his own shining Silmarils only to be refused by Melkor; even the great Manwe could never produce a single crop that brimmed with as much life as Melkor's peas or corn or transcendent cauliflower which caused the Valar to weep with envy.

Most precious of all to Melkor were two carrots that he grew with his powerful songs, melodies very much unlike those of his brethren while still beautiful in their own right, but he remained ignorant that his own vegetables could never have been possible but for the first creation of the omnipotent Eru, without whom there could be no Melkor to sing a single leaf into existence, and this ignorance continually placed Melkor under a dark shadow that even his beautiful vegetables could not save him from. Melkor loved these two carrots, and they were called Helkor and Gelkor, and also Finmelkor and Melkorfin, and also Denethor and Denethor, but to the Noldori they were known simply as Anduilenywen, which means Two Carrots. Melkor saw these carrots and understood that they would make his soup surpass all previous culinary endeavors by any being on Arda, and his eyes gleamed with pride and also jealousy, as he feared deeply that Namo would leave his cold throne in the Halls of Mandos in order that he might take the two carrots for himself.


But it was not Mandos who first found these two carrots, but his brother Lorien, who came upon Belkor after a lengthy, wandering stroll around Valinor, and found his own stomach making music louder than the thunders of Manwe and more disconcerting than the striking of Aule's hammer by his strong right arm, shaping the stones into living Noldor, and Lorien looked for something that he might satisfy his vast appetite. Melkor happened to choose this time to take a great nap, which was called Telkor, which means Dark Nap. And thus, as Lorien strode down the endless Halls of Mandos, he beheld the two carrots, Helkor and Gelkor, planted side by side, in the dark soil that was filled with Melkor's despair and his love of creation, and he took the two carrots and ate them, and lo, his eyes indeed glistened with wonder, and a fire in his heart awoke the moment the carrots passed his lips, and he wept at the beauty he had just eaten.

Immediately, a powerful force seized Lorien's body and his eyes turned red and he tore all the vegetables out of Melkor's garden in a wild frenzy, fleeing from the Halls of his brother, and Valinor, past the Tol Eressea, over Belegaer, across Eriador, and through the Misty Mountains, and over the in a fit of exhaustion collapsed upon the ground, dropping all of his vegetables, and there a mighty forest grew named Lothlorien meaning "dreamflower" because Lorien fell asleep upon lying down on this ground because he was full and also because he is the god of sleep and dreams, and he had a dream about eating more carrots.

Melkor woke from his nap and cried out upon seeing his pulchritudinous garden destroyed, and beat his breast and tore his hair, and vowed revenge on his brothers and sisters for the Magnificent Soup that would now never be made.

Some Stuff, The Philosophy of Cockroaches, and I Am 21

It seems that yet another long month has slipped by without my noticing and taken away my opportunity to keep my blog from being regular. Several things have happened in the last month :

me : Final Fantasy music:: tweenage girls : Justin Bieber

• Most importantly, I achieved the magical age of twenty one where I can order wine and beers, looking sociable, while keeping a hip flask of virgin diet coke on my person at all times so I can secretly be drinking something that I actually enjoy
• I am no longer a junior at Trinity University, but a senior
• I got two jobs, one babysitting for a nearby family in the early mornings and late afternoons, and another working at Sky High, a trampoline gym near my house, during the day
• I discovered a Final Fantasy Concert going on in Dallas on June 15, but alas, I will be out of town, so I swear to god I will buy anyone a ticket if they promise they will go and write me a full report.
• I turned twenty one, and cried at the end of Happy Feet 2 on my birthday. (no, I wasn't drunk-- it was just really sweet that all the penguins and the sea elephants and the shrimp things were working together)
• I got a top comment on imgur, and another comment that currently has over 300 points. I'm becoming a powerful, powerful force on the internet. Tomorrow I may be the ruler. Fear me. 
• I've been reading cheap fantasy novels and Entertainment Weekly (DARKKNIGHTDARKKNIGHTDARKKNIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!) while accumulating some decent books that I plan on reading this summer, including:
• The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. LeGuin (no, I have not read this yet, yes, I know I need to)
• Complete Letters of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (I've read condensed versions, but I want more!!)
• The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, Umberto Eco
• This interesting Mozart biography I found by someone who seems legitimate-- the title of the biography is, get this, Mozart
• Some Neal Stephenson books that I haven't yet tackled; his books are kind of demanding, but hilariously worth it. I highly recommend him for anybody who is interested in science/adventure/history/parallel universes/religion/literary references/math/sci-fi/complicated things/satire/finishing a book and needing to go back and reading it again because you have no clue what just happened. Hmm, that didn't sound as enticing as it did in my head. But he's worth a try for anybody who likes...reading. 

I simply don't understand how you could possibly have no interest in what this guy has to say. 

Most of my posts have had themes or anecdotes or some sort of point to them (or something so beyond nerdy that I simply can't come up with an excuse other than...no, there is just no excuse for liking Pokemon at my age)

(which is now twenty one, by the way)

(I had to throw that in there again-- feel free to send me congratulatory drinks, preferably virgin pina coladas or diet cokes)

(or the occasional martini)

Preferably with this glass

Anyway, what I was saying was that I find that those blog posts revolving around specific stories are the most rewarding for me to write, and believe it or not, I actually had a story in mind when I began writing this post, but sadly, I couldn't help giving an update on my life because I so enjoy talking about myself (especially on my own blog). 

But I'll get to the point: my story about this weekend when I slept over at a friend's house, and while staying up chatting at two in the morning, we saw a cockroach crawl out of the vent and fly around the room. I shrieked and flew out of the room faster than any cockroach, as did my friend, who managed to find some hidden adrenaline-induced speed despite the hard cast on her broken-in-several-places foot. I have never seen someone limp so quickly. We considered going into the room and killing the cockroach, but despite the fact that one glimpse into the room proved that the poor cockroach was in its death throes, barely able to stand and falling onto its back every few steps, we both refused to enter the room. Instead, we shut all the doors, turned off the light switches that were close enough to the doors that we did not have to set one foot-- broken or otherwise-- into the room, and collected books to stack in front of all the doors through which the cockroach might possibly escape. 

In the morning, the cockroach was dead. (I was going to google pictures for this story, but I just couldn't bring myself to look at those disgusting creatures any more than real life forces me to. Nope nope nope. Instead, take a moment to appreciate this picture of a kitty cat and a kitten.)

After all, what would the internet be without kitten pictures?

But this got me thinking about why we are so afraid of cockroaches. I still don't get it. They don't hurt you. I guess they're kind of big, but so are grasshoppers, and most of us aren't very afraid of those. They can fly, but so can moths. In fact, I originally thought the flying cockroach was a moth, and wasn't bothered at all until I saw it land. People sometimes say it's because they've been around for an unnaturally long time, but so have beetles or slugs. I'm speaking from the perspective of someone whose first reaction upon seeing a cockroach involves climbing up the highest thing I can find in any given room, and screaming when I realize that the cockroach can climb, too, so believe me when I say I'm not judging anybody. I just find it kind of funny. 

And that's this month's intellectual thinking crossed off my to-do list. 

To summarize, the point of this post is that cockroaches are people too, even if I hate them so much that even thinking about them makes me want to move to Antarctica and live in a secluded igloo for the rest of my life. Actually, never mind, they're not people. And also I am twenty one. 

I'll close with a Final Fantasy piece because, you know, that's cool. I don't even bother calling it my guilty pleasure music anymore, because that implies that there is some guilt/shame involved. I have no shame. Here is Aerith's Theme from Final Fantasy VII. 

<3

Why Avatar: The Last Airbender is a good show

(no spoilers in this post, because I want people who don't watch Avatar to read this, so I can possibly try and convince them of this show's excellence)

With this recent sequel-series to Avatar now airing on tv (The Legend of Korra), I thought it would be an opportune time to chat about why Avatar (the original series) is such a great show in the first place. For people who are unfamiliar with this, it's completely unrelated to James Cameron's Avatar movie that came out last year (or was it two years ago).

And for god's sake DO NOT see the M. Night Shyamalan live action movie called "The Last Airbender"-- it is a god-awful movie in so many ways that it would take the entire internet to count them. And if you have seen it, pretend like you haven't. Don't even talk about it. It's embarrassing.








So I will point out three things about the show that I think make it so wonderful, and maybe somebody will decide to try it out. Here is a site where you can watch the episodes for free (scroll down until you see the list of episodes-- the first one is called "The Boy in the Iceberg"); you'll usually have to get through an ad before it starts.

Like Titanic, except nobody will crash into this iceberg.
They just walk into it.

1. The first thing I would like to mention about this show is the plot. Where a lot of tv shows go wrong is the lack of direction they have after one or two seasons. This show has a clear direction from the two-part pilot episode, finishes the third season in a way that you could only assume the writers had been going there from the very beginning.

Here is a brief description of the world that this show takes place in:

There are four groups of people, each representing a certain element: the Fire Nation, the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, and the Air Temples. There are certain people in each nation who have the power of "bending" an element (according to the nation they're in); they have the ability to control their specific element, to varying degrees. Bending is farily common among people, but not everybody has this ability. Each generation has one "avatar," who is the only person with the ability to bend all four elements; once the avatar dies, a new one is reborn. Other than the avatar, however, any one person can only control one element, and it always is based on the nation that they are born into.

It's even color-coded!

Here is where we are when the show begins:

The Fire Nation has started a war with the other three nations, and the Firelord is trying to take over. The avatar, who has been strangely missing for 100 years, has recently been found again, and he is the only one who has the power to stop the Firelord. He is an airbender, so while he is kind of an airbending prodigy, he still has to learn the other three elements before he can confront the Fire Nation, and the Firelord. In the meantime, he is being hunted by the Firelord's son, and not everybody is glad that he is back, after abandoning the world for so long.

The Kyoshi warriors, home of the former avatar. 

As I said, what makes this plot so wonderful is the circular nature of everything. There are almost no loose ends, and each episode has a clear purpose in furthering the plot (or serious character development), and the story itself really keeps you interested. There are no, "Why couldn't he have just..." questions, and if you're one of these kinds of people who (like me) initially feels kind of silly watching a cartoon, you rapidly get over that after a couple episodes. The nature of the show is not childish. And I will also add that it's kind of funny, too. My suitemate last year who would occasionally glance over to see what I was watching would often laugh out loud at some of the scenes.

Appa and Momo! 

2. The character development is wonderful. Again, the few episodes that don't directly advance the plot create a more three-dimensional portrait of the characters, which really adds to the show. Many of the "favorite" episodes have nothing to do with the plot, but instead, focus on certain characters that people love to know more about. You really grow to like the characters more and more as you learn about them. In particular, I would like to point out two episodes in the first season of the series called "The Storm," and "The Blue Spirit"; anybody who wants to test this show should watch it up until these two episodes (Blue Spirit comes right after Storm). If, by the end of these episodes, you have no interest in the series, then this series is not for you. But if you're watching with mild interest, and these episodes pull you in even more, then it has done its job. These are two of the earliest episodes where you really begin to understand that there is much more to everything than you first may think.

The mysterious "Blue Spirit"

We have our main character, Aang:

Silly, dedicated, lovable, and freaking awesome in Avatar state.

As well as the two water tribe siblings who find him, and accompany him on his travels, Sokka and Katara:

If you can't tell by the picture, Sokka provides our comic relief.

And, finally, our wonderful fanfic-magnet Prince Zuko, the primary antagonist we open with:  

Drinking game: sip every time he talks about honor. 

3. The last thing I would like to point out about this show in my quest to convince people of its awesomeness is what I like to see as the "gray morality" of the show. Yes, we have our protagonists and antagonists, and there is a "good" side and a "bad" side. But as the show goes on, you find things on the "good" side that aren't so good, and things on the "bad" side that aren't so bad.  This show proves that you don't need blood and gore to have an incredibly dark side to a story. Not that I'm against blood and gore, but it's refreshing to have a show that is able to achieve multiple dimensions while still following a decent plot. Maybe I shouldn't be saying this if I'm an English major. But the thought and effort put into the nature of the characters and plot to avoid giving the readers any easy answer is striking. I'll mention the episode "The Blue Spirit" again as one that adds a new layer to the show, and possibly even changes what you hope or guess for the outcome. Despite the fact that the show revolves around a monk and a tyrannical overlord, you will find surprisingly little that is black and white. 

Uncle Iroh...how is that for a three-dimensional and character?
(the answer is yes, mostly because he is unquestionably my favorite character)

Hopefully I have convinced somebody to at least try a couple of episodes...it's only three seasons of twenty minute episodes! Click on the first episode, and try it out! Really, though...it is a wonderful series. If you're ever out of things to do on the internet, it's worth your time to check into this. 

The DaVinci Code

So for my Non-Canonical Early Christian Literature class (basically, scripture that did not make it into the Bible), we are ending on a fun note by reading The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown. If you have read the book, you know it is not a very good book. In fact, it's a little bit terrible. It's ridiculously inaccurate, the writing quality is a lacking, and the characters are almost humorously flat. I know Dan Brown jokes are even more dated than Justin Bieber jokes, but bear with me; this is, sadly, my second time reading it, so I beg forgiveness for the fun I'm going to have with this book while I read it.

Reviews:

I'd better check my meds...my pulse seems unusually slow for this book.
Also, I'm glad the Christian Science Monitor likes it. 

Prologue:


So, this old guy is staggering through the Louvre and ripping paintings off the walls. An alarm goes off...I guess he is trying to get someone's attention.

A voice spoke, chillingly close. "Do not move."

(eek, that's scary! *looks over shoulder to make sure nobody is chillingly close to me*)
 

On his hands and knees, the curator froze, turning his head slowly.  Only fifteen feet away, outside the sealed gate, the mountainous silhouette of his attacker stared through the iron bars.

Yeah, I hate it when people are only fifteen feet away from me. I need my personal space, and I have a comfort zone, thank you very much. Okay, the other guy drew a pistol...I guess it's chillinger when the not-so-chillingly close guy has a gun. "Within range" counts as chillingly close when anybody has a gun. Oh, and he has pink eyes.
Anyway, the two guys talk for a while, and the pink-eyed guy shoots the old guy  in the stomach, and then walks away. The old guy gets up as he's dying, staggers around the museum, and does a mysterious "task" before the prologue finishes.

Chapter 1:

Robert Langdon awoke slowly.
He awakes in the Hotel Ritz Paris and has no memory of where he is....BUT WAIT! He's just super sleepy. He then remembers where he is and picks up the ringing phone that woke him up.
He had been asleep only an hour, but he felt like the dead.
Lol, that's ironic because in the other chapter, someone just died! ha ha ha ha....Oh, here is a flyer for a lecture he gave last night...

An Evening with Robert Langdon

Professor of Religious Symbology,

Harvard University

Oooh, he must be very important and smart if he is a professor at Harvard. And his subject sounds very cool...symbology. Does that mean he teaches things about religious symbols? Come to think of it, I have never heard of "symbology" before...let me Wikipedia it. 

Hmmm, "symbology" redirects to symbol. Let me try "symbology (disambiguation)"....hey, that's funny, Wikipedia doesn't have a page on symbology! I wonder why that is.

Now, the guy on the phone really wants Langdon to talk to this guy, insisting it's important....

Langdon had little doubt. His books on religious paintings and cult symbology had made him a reluctant celebrity in the art world....the stream of self-important historians and art buffs arriving at his door had seemed never-ending.

Poor Langdon! He's so important and famous, but he never asked for this spotlight. Who knew that symbology professors were so in demand? He would have picked a much more boring subject had he known the misfortune symbology would bring him, like murderology or videogameology.

Anyway, after he hangs up with the poor guy who had to wait while Robert was thinking about how important he is, Robert now he looks at himself in the mirror:

The past year had taken a heavy toll on him....his usually sharp blue eys looked hazy and drawn tonight. A dark stubble was shrouding his jaw and dimpled chin. Around his temples, the gray highlights were advancing, making their away deeper into the thicket of coarse black hair. Although his female colleagues insisted that the gray only accentuated his bookish appeal, Langdon knew better.

My god, he's hideous. Even though all the female colleagues swear that the gray "highlights" in his hair look good, Langdon knows better. I'll ignore the gray highlights, since Langdon seems to especially hate those, but let's see what this description looks like:

I can't even look, he's so ugly.

Last month, much to Langdon's embarrassment, Boston Magazine had listed him s one of that city's top ten most intriguing people-- a dubious horror that made him the brunt of endless ribbing by his Harvard colleagues. 

How terrible! What a "dubious horror"! Langdon is sooo embarrassed. And then he is introduced at the lecture in France by the lecturer reading from this article in the magazine:

"Although Professor Langdon might not be considered hunk-handsome like some of our younger awardees, this forty-something academic has more than his share of scholarly allure. His captivating presence is punctuated by an unusually slow, baritone speaking voice, which his female students describe as 'chocolate for the ears.'"

*blinks* Um, okay. So even though this poor guy isn't the usual kind of handsome, he has a kind of scholarly allure and a "chocolate" voice that the ladies can't resist...oh, and here he is also later described as usually wearing a "tweed" jacket. Wait. I've got it! Dimpled chin, graying hair, tweed jacket, bookish appearence, forty-something...

I get it. He was describing a picture of the other guy
to throw off how hot he REALLY is.

Oh yeah, and the chapter ends with the policeman coming to Dan Bro-- I mean, Robert Langdon's door because someone has been murdered, and only the symbologist could possibly figure out who did it.

This weekend was too short

Okay I felt like enough time has passed, and I need to write another blog post so I can keep up with my resolution a few months ago to keep this thing regular. I considered writing a weekend lament (it was so young, and left us too soon), but I couldn't come up with anything. I also considered writing a post about how I despise composers who despise composers (because there are a freaking ton of them), but I'm not sure I know enough about the musical world to write that. I don't know, maybe I'll try sometime. Anyway, I'll write a list of good things and bad things about the weekend.

Bad:

• Too short
• Lots of things to do
• I didn't like the secret ingredient on Iron Chef last night
• I saw Moulin Rouge for the first time and it was sooooooooooooo sad
• I spent all my money at Sam Ash (a music store)
• Missed the series premiere of The Legend of Korra (which is the series sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender-- I guarantee a post coming up soon about why that tv show is a really wonderful tv show)

Good:

• Mu Phi initiation
• Got a lot of things done
• The contestant on Iron Chef won against Jose Garces
• I saw Moulin Rouge for the first time and it was sooooooooooooo good
• I got a ton of cool stuff at Sam Ash, including:
• A recorder
• Pocahontas sheet music
• A U2 piano book
• Stand by Me sheet music
• Bohemian Rhapsody sheet music
• Got the series premiere of Legend of Korra free on iTunes!

Aaaand that was mostly it for my weekend. Now I'm sleepy and I think I'm coming down with something. Here is a picture for today:

 

Cast of characters from Kingdom Hearts
(see how many Disney and/or Final Fantasy characters you can recognize!)

Disappointment

It's been an interesting week, and not the good kind of interesting. One thing that has been bothering me more than I can say is the new "anonymous" gossip forum for Trinity University. For those who don't know, It's a despicable place for people to go and anonymously post anything they want to. I will not link to it here. It's easy enough to find if you're desperate-- all I can say is that it's kind of amazing how uncomfortable in my own university this forum has left me. I know I need to get over it, as it seems much of the campus has (I don't actually know why, but this forum has simply not left the back of my mind since it was started), but I want to write one more "serious" post here on the blog before going back to more lighthearted topics.

First off, if a blog is supposed to be anonymous, it should remain anonymous. That includes the the users as well as the people users are posting about. Some people seem to be under the impression that because this website is like /b/ on 4chan, that makes cyberbullying okay. I don't really see how that works, but even if that somehow did make any sense, there is one key difference between TUGossip and 4chan: when you start talking about a specific person, everybody who is reading the posts knows exactly who the users are talking about. On larger online forums, there is a level of anonymity that any user can take advantage of-- not just the people writing the bullying posts, but the victims, as well. On TUGossip, we see the victims every day, and that takes away the anonymity that some people seem to think is so wonderful about this forum. All the users are anonymous, yes. But not the people discussed.

(Also, /b/ already exists. Why exactly do we need another one?)

Secondly, many users seem to love saying things like "wah wah wah" (verbatim) when someone is upset on the forum. I agree that you should not visit it if it will offend or hurt you (and chances are, if you are a decent person, it will)-- However, that doesn't mean that people don't hear about what goes on-- they do-- and there is really no way to avoid that.

I am not trying to control the internet, nor am I trying to control a group of college students. But I came to Trinity largely because of the atmosphere and the community in addition to the education, and I feel as though I have been slapped in the face and teleported back to middle school. There is no reason for some of the posts I have seen, except to simply target people and take cheap shots. I am simultaneously trying to figure out the reasoning behind it and explain just why, exactly, people feel the need to do this to other students. There are so many arguments for why "wimps" shouldn't visit the place, why it technically should be allowed-- in short, why this forum should be defended. "Because it can exist, it should exist" seems to be the most resounding response.


I see this mysterious, driving hunger that people seem to have for writing searingly malicious things towards specific people, and I don't understand: what is so wrong with compassion?

The world isn't a perfect place, as I am learning all the time, but I don't really see that as a justification for perpetuating hate. Most of the posts on the forum are harmful-- more than a couple of students have been seriously, genuinely hurt by them-- and for some strange reason, that isn't enough for anybody to stop defending the forum. Instead, it's the students' fault for not having a thicker skin that protects them from cyberbullying, thus justifying the original posts. But I have yet to find a reason for those.

Does there have to be a reason for everything? No. And apparently that answer is enough to justify simple cruelty. I can't argue with that. If that is someone's mindset, I can't change it. But I can be disappointed. I really am surprised at how incredibly disappointed this week has left me.

No, I don't expect the internet to be both intelligent and compassionate, but I guess I did expect something more along the lines of that from Trinity.

Some thoughts on the Greek Life update

I've been thinking about making a post like this for a while now, despite my perpetual fear of causing controversy. Most of my previous blog posts have been on "safe" topics, if not "lighter." After the email we got today temporarily suspending several Greek sororities and fraternities, and seeing a bunch of angry posts on facebook in response, I did want to write my thoughts and post them, because for once I find that I really want people to know what I am thinking.

(For anyone wanting to read about what has happened, here is an article in the Trinitonian)

I would like to start by making it clear that I have nothing against Greek Life on principle, and I actually know relatively little about what goes on-- I see posts and pictures on facebook, get emails from the Dean, see ads in LeeRoy about various charity events. One of my best friends at Trinity is heavily involved in her sorority, and I know it means a lot to her. I am glad she has a group of sisters that are there for her, and I've seen them come together during difficult times. I really do think that is so amazing, and I would never want to take something like that away.

However. Dean Tuttle wrote in his email:

"Some of the issues considered involved hazing, alcohol use and abuse, sexually exploitative behavior, sexual harassment, coercive behavior, and threats..."

"Hazing" can mean a lot of things, and so while I assume he wouldn't take such drastic measures for a relatively minor incident, I can put this aside for now, as someone who has no clue what, exactly, that entails. Alcohol use and abuse-- again, while it may have been more than normal (hence "abuse"), I will ignore this. The rest of the issues are unacceptable, and I have trouble seeing why people would defend themselves against this. This is not to say that I think every member of the accused Greek Life has participated in this-- I would actually like to make it clear that I do not think that is the case. But if something like this was going on in any organization I belonged to, I would want to spend a significant amount of time trying to figure out what has been going on, and what my group stands for, instead of simply arguing against the accusations. If there is ONE shred of doubt that their organization has not been responsible in any way for sexually harassing a member, or threatening them, then they need to work to try and fix that. I do not blame a whole organization for the acts of a few people, but if anyone who did not actively participate in the events described in the Dean's email are ignoring this issue in their attempt to exonerate themselves, then I do blame them for that.

Here is where I see it as being a big deal:

The victims of the actions above, as well as the people who reported them-- what are they going through right now? What did they go through that made them feel as though they had to report it? I have great difficulty seeing someone report events unless they felt so uncomfortable in their environment that they had no other choice, and that is a problem. The line in Dean Tuttle's email that made me angry was this:

"Retaliation against any individual involved in the investigation is strictly prohibited and will result in a doubling of the sanctions imposed upon the group involved."

If someone is so upset and so uncomfortable that they felt as though they had to report something, knowing the position they were putting themselves into, how are they feeling now? And we have to get an email ordering us not to retaliate against them? We are in college, not middle school. These are supposed to be the best years of our lives, not the worst. And yet someone is being punished for doing something that they saw was either right or necessary for their own health, physical or mental.

AND-- after all that-- the issue that everybody seems to be furious about is the suspension of recognition? If these events are as heinous as they sound, as the rumors have hinted, then I'm sorry: I know these fraternities and sororities mean a whole lot to the people in them, and I know it's unfair to punish a group for the actions of certain people. But what makes me more upset is the treatment that it sounds like some of these people went through, which is now being placed second, in the minds of some students, to the re-recognition of various Greek Life groups.

I have to say-- my heart goes out to the people who have been hurt in this far more than for the groups that got hurt. Despite suspending recognition, the sisters and brothers are still sisters and brothers-- nothing changes that. But if Dean Tuttle is actually genuinely concerned about "retaliation" towards certain individuals over their discomfort with certain practices, then I genuinely hope they too have brothers and sisters that will be there for them.

Yale and cake

It seems as though I've let this blog slip away from me yet again. I'm going to be away for a large portion of this weekend, so I will force myself to write something now, no matter what it's about. Here goes:

First, I would like to congratulate my little sister on getting accepted to Yale University. That is such a major accomplishment, and she has worked so hard for this. I genuinely don't know anybody who is more versatile than she is-- she is an amazing artist, a great basketball player, and very talented at any subject she wants to tackle in school. Here is one of the drawings from her portfolio:

You can clearly see why her acceptance letter  wasn't too much of a surprise :)

On a very unrelated note I've also began watching this show on the Food Network called Sweet Genius. It's kind of a stupid show-- overly dramatic, no wildly impressive dessert creations, and the contestants are always ridiculously obnoxious. It seems like there has to be at least one person per episode with an accent that's so heavy that they have to have subtitles on the bottom. The judge (Ron Ben-Israel) also seems to favor all the French people. One of the current contestants is something of a hipster, and keeps making all of these "deep" comments, which I find absolutely hysterical. I'm currently watching a French contestant with a heavy accent make a traditional French cake for the judge, who is also French. Nice.

Anyway, the point is that all the desserts, no matter how good or bad the contestants are, look absolutely delicious. On a related note, my birthday is coming up (well, in two months, but whatever), and I've been thinking about what my ideal kind of cake would be. Not for my birthday, but just in general (birthdays make me think about cake).

I discovered a Minas Tirith cake recently:

Is it ethical to eat the White Tree of Gondor? 

Btw, If you're a LOTR fan or a bibliophile, you should visit my favorite forum, theonering.net. You will not find a more wonderful and and open-minded online community.

And a tangela cake:

Not my favorite Pokemon, but any Pokemon in cake form is more than acceptable

And a butterfly cake:

Prettyyyyyyyyy

As the judge just said on Sweet Genius: "I cannot wait anymore. I must 'ave my cake."

Mozart McDonald Mondays

I have not yet written an explanation of the title of this blog. It might be kind of obvious. I'm not sure what the exact number of times I've mentioned either classical music or dark chocolate is on here, but I'm sure it's enough to write a very small book, provided that I'm not actually looking to get it published by anyone who actually knows anything about music or chocolate.

One of my best friends from high school and I used to have this tradition for bad days. The philosophy of this is basically that any bad day is a Monday, regardless of where exactly in the week it was. If at the end of the day, you are just ready for it to be over, it is a Monday. 

The origin of the "Mozart McDonald" section is a little more specific. We were lucky to have the professor of piano (Jon Kimura Parker) from Rice University visit our school, and at one point, he played a piece for us that I really love (the second movement of Mozart's 21 piano concerto, for anybody who cares). I told him that he had just played one of my favorite pieces, and the next day when he came back to our school, he gave me a CD of his performance the piece, which was (and still is) one of my favorite recordings. And, if you listen to the piece, you can hear how it is a wonderful way to end bad days. It is just great. So, I was driving around town with my friend, listening to this piece, and I noticed a bag of caramels on her floor.

Now, I will preface this story by saying this blog could easily have been named "Mozart and Caramel." I love caramels. They're delicious. And there was an entire bag in front of me. And I was having a bad day for some reason, so I proceeded to open the bag and my friend and we ate those caramels as if we had a personal vendetta against them, stuffing the empty wrappers into the drink holders. After a while, we got thirsty, so we found a nearby fast food place which happened to be a McDonalds, where we both got drinks, and pulled into a parking lot to get them situated. Here we encountered a problem, because with all of the caramel wrappers stuffed into the drink holders, we couldn't fit our McDonald cups into them. 

It was at this point where we had a moment. 

Those moments where you look up, exchange a look, and suddenly realize how ridiculous you are being. 

We can't fit the McDonald drinks into our car because of the sheer magnitude of leftover caramel wrappers from the last twenty minutes, and we are listening to Mozart.

These moments don't happen often, and they are always over something completely silly, but they somehow make your whole day perfect. Outsiders don't understand your moments. When you are having one of your moments, it is YOUR moment. While you read this post, think about the last time you had one of those days and it somehow ended with you falling over laughing, or with you suddenly feeling randomly happy for no ostensible reason. If you were with a friend, perhaps the friend felt it as well, but it is something that is very difficult to explain to anybody else, at least in detail.

That was how that day ended for me, and where a Mozart McDonald Monday (or M3 for short) comes from. It's one of those days that seems to go wrong in every way, and then all of a sudden, you find your moment in something small and ridiculous, and everything suddenly becomes okay and laughable or insignificant. Because in the end, it's just one day.

And in the meantime, there is no shortage of Mozart. Or chocolate.

Rejections

Today, I got a rejection letter in my email for a paid summer internship that I'd really been hoping for, and it was kind of a downer. It's never fun to read those emails. They're always so awkward and depressing and they're not very good for your self-esteem. There is kind of a formula to them that goes something like this (featuring my own translations as represented in italics/parentheses):


Dear Emily 
(that's his/her name, right? Anyone? *checks file* Okay, right, Emily),


Thank you for submitting your application to this program.
(Actually, reading these applications kind of sucks because there are so many !*$&@ applications, but it would be kind of awkward to begin the email like that) 


Unfortunately, we are not able to offer you a position for this summer. 
(well, yes, we are technically able to, but we just decided not to)


We really wanted to accept your application, but we had so many applications this year, 
(as opposed to all the other years, when we get the exact number of applicants as positions we have) 


and unfortunately, we can't choose all the applicants.
(well, not yours, anyway. Unfortunately.)


I hope you understand how difficult this was for us. 
(we know this email must be upsetting to you, but honestly, think of how hard this is on us)


We wish you the very best, and hope you have a wonderful weekend. 
(no, really...the amount of sleep I get tonight will depend on how awesome you're feeling right now) 


Sincerely,
Random Name With Pretentious Email Signature Showing You How Important They Are
(Remember Me? The One You Submitted Your Application To? Back when you had hope for this job? Lol)




While rejection letters are never fun, I wrote up a sample rejection letter containing themes I would like to start seeing more frequently in the near future :


******************************************************

"Dear Emily aka "Frosty" (lol, your Mu Phi jersey nickname cracks me up every time! It totally fits you),


Your application was so great-- I actually chuckled at the part where you told the joke about the Orc and the moogle walking into the bar, and I was very much persuaded after reading your argument on why every work day should include a two hour ice cream break. What rhetoric! I wish I had come up with that idea, myself! I will also be the first to admit to shedding a tear over the heartwarming story about how you took the money given to you in your great-grandmother's will and donated all of it to the children's hospital, and how the eight year old orphan patient in the hospital wrote you a letter saying that you were her hero because of how many lives you saved due to your selfless and caring donation. 


The problem is, you're actually too good to work for us. We don't deserve everything we believe you can offer, which is why, instead of accepting you, we forwarded your application to ten other big companies who are desperately seeking someone with a breadth of knowledge and abilities as wide as yours. I of course put in my own recommendation along with the application, which I hope you don't mind. I don't want it to tarnish your application because my writing is so bad in comparison to yours, but I was also so genuinely moved by the beauty of your perfect application was that I could not let it slip through my fingers without saying something. 


If you never need money, let me know and I will literally just give it to you because you're so amazing.
Your humble servant,
The Person Who Was Incredibly Honored To Read This Outstanding Application


P.S.You will receive a batch of cookies in the mail by tomorrow-- I just baked them. Attaching a picture of them in advance; if you don't like the look of them, let me know, and I will immediately bake another batch and run to your house and wait for the first batch to arrive so I can whisk it away and replace it with the new batch before you know it."

******************************************************