karatetentacles

So. I'm surprised I haven't gotten some backlash yet.

I'm a different person than I was this time last year. I have friends. I'm going to parties -- with alcohol and weed and crazy antics. I'm not on skype ever. I've been out of my house every night this summer. I'm happy, I'm a teenager, I'm living life. I'm fawning over a boy notorious for being a ladies' man. I listen to Ke$ha, Jay-Z, Asher Roth.

That doesn't change the fact that I'm still a nerd, though. I was up at 6AM the other morning talking about the show Recess. I make references to Friends. I still listen to my DFTBA Records artists. I hung out with Darci and completely dorked out over this really AWESOME stuff.

And look! Of all things, I'm BLOGGING.

I'm doing stuff I've never done before. But I'm still, at heart, the same. I'm a dork, I'm weird, I'm a nerd. The biggest thing I'm excited for is the fact that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes out on my birthday. My 18th birthday!! And there are 409 days until LeakyCon 2011.

I'm done worrying about school, newspaper, the FreeLancer, student council, AP tests... it's over. I can swim. I can tan. I can, after a year of hard work, finally relax.

QT 32-oz drinks: 6
Bought: 11

Do you tend to speed when you drive?
I'm terrified of everything also i don't drive yet

Does your temper flare a lot?
nah i keep it under wraps pretty well

Do you get emotional easily?
not too much. i cry sometimes but emotions don't get the better of us westhoffs. we don't have emotions.

Which shoe goes on first?
Left

Are you lazy?
Haha.

Name one thing you do that people always tell you about:
umm. sing. poorly.

Are you superstitious?
not really.

Do you get bored with relationships quickly?
yes, actually, that accurately describes everything.

Can you sleep without blankets covering you?
right now i have no blankets.

What do you sleep in?
a bed?

YOUR ABCs

A - is for the last person that made you ANGRY: ummm I don't remember.

B - is for BEER you prefer: nonexistent beer B)

C - is for do you have a CAT?: a horrible thing

D - is for can you DANCE?: B)

E - is for do you have your EARS pierced?: nope

F - is for your best FRIEND: at this point? probably Alysabeth.

G - is for did you ever watch GUTS on Nickelodeon?: of course!!!!

H - is for the last person who HUGGED you?: honestly probably Mr. Nickels. I don't hug a lot.

I - is for close your eyes.. what IMAGE do you see?: me sleeping.

J - is for have you ever been to JAIL?: haahha no.

K - is for when is the last time you flew a KITE?: let's go fly a kite up to the highest height.

L - is for your first LOVE: Patrick, preschool, possibly imaginary.

M - is for the last piece of MAIL you got: a bunch of valentine's cards from BLAZE love you girl

N - is for do you remember NERF guns?: still have some B)

O - is for do you OWN a car?: yes; can't drive it, but own it.

P - is for your favorite PAST TIME: internet?

Q - is for do you like peace & QUIET: sometimes. mostly yes. I like to sleep.

R - is for do you like the color RED?: one of my favorites, actually.

S - is for how many hours of SLEEP you need to function?: 12.

T - is for what TIME is it?: 11:04.

U - is for what is UNDER your bed?: a bunch of clothes that could probably fit my sisters now.

V - is for what you did last VALENTINES day: ummmm i don't even remember. homework

W - is for do you drink a lot of WATER?: no, I'm a carbonated beverage girl.

X - is for have you ever had an X-RAY?: yeah, I broke my arm when I was 5 or something.

Y - is for the last person you YELLED at?: Alysabeth. but not angry yell. just... we yell.

Z - is for have you ever watched ZORRO?: I think with my cousins one time.

RANDOM

Who do you wish you could hang out with right now?: brody

Name one thing you absolutely can not stand: bad teeth

Where do you spend most of your time?: in bed/alysabeth's car

Have you ever hit a squirrel when you were driving?: no )':

Did your car ever break down?: no

What is the longest amount of time you’ve been awake?: 12 hours. lol no I've made it 24 I think one time. Then I slept for the next 30 hours.

What would you do if you found out the world was ending in one week?: it's been one week since you looked at me, cocked your head to the side and said I'm angry

Do scary movies make you paranoid when you watch them alone?: I don't watch scary movies ever.

Name one thing you’ve lied about recently: umm I told alysabeth i didn't give brody my phone number when really i did.

What is the worst movie you’ve ever seen?: HAPPY FEET GODDAMMIT.

Who was the first person to ever give you flowers?: my dad :')

he's lost his will to think, to care
the world is fine from his "down there"
and Hell already is frozen, see?
what good does it do to rise?

he's lost his will to live, to be
the world is fine from his canopy
he's already paid for heaven's share
what good does it do to prolong demise?

the two, they meet in purgatory
without a way to tell his story
one goes up, the other down
they obey without a single sound

repent, repent, oh God forgive he
he loves his mom, oh God, he's sorry
he works and works: repent, repent
and soon he shall be Heaven sent

Yeah I figure I should blog about it.

The thing is, I can't decide how I feel about it. I've been looking at reviews that rate the book poorly to see if I'm offended or if I agree. The unfortunate thing is WG,WG's readers are mostly made up of John Green's loyal fans, would say they loved Twilight if John Green wrote it.

Most of the bitching comes from David's lack of capitalization or the fact that the two Wills weren't "changed" drastically after their meetings. Neither of these things bothered me. I didn't like David's lack of capitalization because his will didn't care about jack shit, which bothered me.

I sort of wish there was more collaboration in writing the chapters. Instead of just two writers writing their own stories, I would have liked to see more interconnected motifs or symbols or something. There was no glue holding the two Wills together until they met, and then their glue was Tiny. It felt sort of half-assed to me. It's not that they met and became best friends forever. It's not that they met and never spoke to each other again. They met, and then knew that the other existed, and that was pretty much it. It was so... lame. And every so often John and David would use the same word here or there, which just made it feel awkward. It felt like two separate pieces of fabric loosely tied together that didn't really go together and the attaching string was falling out.

The other thing: people say they hated Tiny. I can't say I cared. I didn't care about Will or will or Jane or Gideon or Maura -- I didn't care about any of them. No one was very compelling, or interesting, or different. I could describe them all in less than 10 words. Maybe I'm sick of John's constant use of the dubious narrator (Pudge, Colin, Quentin...); maybe I just don't care about the character whose main description was "big and gay."

I also hate hate hate both narrations use of the "Big Realization." The reader is supposed to be the realizer. If the narrator realizes what the reader is supposed to, it just makes it look like the writer doesn't respect his reader's intelligence to figure it out. Other things I hate: dream sequences. Writing about writing. Overuse of exclamation points. Not that any of that is relevant, but still.

To summarize: I didn't like it all that much. Not horrible, fun to read, but not the best thing ever. Not that anyone cares.

aaaaaaaaaaah gross I think I just got bird poop on the bottom of my laptop. I hate the environmental ed room.

booklist:
1. Huck Finn -- Mark Twain
2. A Farewell To Arms -- Ernest Hemmingway
3. The Great Gatsby -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. Scarlet Fever -- Maureen Johnson
5. The Raw Shark Texts -- Steven Hall
6. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao -- Junot Díaz
7. Paper Towns -- John Green
8. High Fidelity -- Nick Hornby
9. The Time Traveler's Wife -- Audrey Niffeneger
10. About a Boy -- Nick Hornby

currently reading:
cold mountain (for class) -- charles frazier
rejoice -- mcsweeney's
new american voices 2009 (YES STILL OK)

soon:
will grayson will grayson

obsessed with:
the upkeep of effyeahnerdfighters
The Oatmeal
logging into arka's gmail LOL JK! I'd never invade his privacy like that.
Disney crap

movies to watch:
Monsters, Inc.
Mean Girls
High School "Don't Judge Me" Musical

PS:
does this remind anyone else of Cory? Love ya man.

1. Huck Finn -- Mark Twain
2. A Farewell To Arms -- Ernest Hemmingway
3. The Great Gatsby -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. Scarlet Fever -- Maureen Johnson
5. The Raw Shark Texts -- Steven Hall
6. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao -- Junot Díaz
7. Paper Towns -- John Green
8. High Fidelity -- Nick Hornby
9. The Time Traveler's Wife -- Audrey Niffeneger

currently reading:
about a boy -- nick hornby
rejoice -- mcsweeney's
new american voices 2009 (I know: still.)

up next:
the frog king -- adam davies
will grayson, will grayson -- john green
giraffes? giraffes! -- dr. and mr. doris hagis-on-whey

----------

This time last year, I was busting my ass in Pulsinelli's class.

This time last year, I started to realize the true meaning of books and literature and reading and writing.

This time last year, I was doing BEDA, full-fledged.

Aww, this time last year Al Pal started following me on twitter and reading my blog and became my friend. Love ya, buddy.

Aww, this time last year omegle was a big thing! How precious.

April was a big month for me last year. I'm glad BEDA was around to document it. This year, not so much. I've been sleeping a lot, due to stress, etc.

So this blog isn't about you, Reader. It's about me. And seeing how I've grown and changed and all that. Which is true for everything I do: vlogs, writings, whatever. I mean, it's not a diary, because it's not always about my mushy gushy feelings or any of that. I'm not as open as I'd like to be on the internet, but I'm not as closed off, either.

I don't know. I need to do my homework more.

1. Huck Finn -- Mark Twain
2. A Farewell To Arms -- Ernest Hemmingway
3. The Great Gatsby -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. Scarlet Fever -- Maureen Johnson
5. The Raw Shark Texts -- Steven Hall
6. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao -- Junot Díaz
7. Paper Towns -- John Green
8. High Fidelity -- Nick Hornby

currently reading:
the time traveler's wife -- audrey niffenegger
new american voices 2009 (I know: still.)

up next:
about a boy -- nick hornby
the frog king -- adam davies
will grayson, will grayson -- john green
giraffes? giraffes! -- dr. and mr. doris hagis-on-whey

Also:
I'm doing VEDA, sort of. I'm doing 30-second book reviews in them, so stay tuned.
http://youtube.com/ktentacles