Steve Jobs

Apple has always had a strong presence in my life, from the time I was a wee thing playing Oregon Trail to my university computer science class this afternoon. I come from a family of Apple aficionados and I'm sure they were just as saddened by today's news as I was. The scope of what Steve Jobs accomplished in his life is truly amazing and I'm so very glad our lifetimes overlapped.

Update

Greetings, cyberspace. I've neglected this blog for quite a bit and decided it'd be nice to update again. Hopefully said updates will be somewhat regular.

I'm preparing to go away to college soon (yikes, I know) and have acquired a much-coveted red stapler for this purpose. It's pretty divine, and I'm looking forward to sharing a desk with it in the near future.

In other news, I got four vaccines the other day. My arms are still somewhat sore, but it's nothing too bad. My family and I just finished rewatching the entire Star Wars saga for the umpteenth time. It was a multi-night endeavor and smashing good fun, as always. I've also been watching a lot of Star Trek lately since it's now readily available via instant play. I'm mostly watching the original series (as opposed to TNG), but only because I haven't seen a lot of the original episodes. With TNG, on the other hand, I've seen the majority if not all of the episodes multiple times. I still love them to pieces, though, and thoroughly enjoy rewatching them.

I'll keep this post short since I haven't the time to do a proper one at the moment. I just wanted to say hello, let you know I haven't migrated to Mars (yet), or abandoned the blogosphere. Until next time, then!

Acontecimientos

Hey there. I hope everyone had a nice November 26th, whether you celebrated Thanksgiving or otherwise. I've made three major accomplishments since my last post, namely:

(a) I finished Season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I've been wanting to see forever. I've heard so much about it, and I found that I liked it. I look forward to eventually watching the other seasons. For the record, Willow and Giles are currently my favorite characters and Buffy's mother reminds me of Susan Saradon (in a good way). It's pretty ironic that Anthony Head (Giles) is a magic geek in Buffy but abhors magic in Merlin, in which he's King Uther. (Have I mentioned that Netflix will have the second season of Merlin in January? Shibby!)

(b) I finally found the time over the long weekend to finish reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. It had an excellent ending, which-- in light of the first two endings-- was very satisfying. Although Stieg Larsson regrettably isn't around to continue the series, this was as good a spot to stop, as far as the unresolved bits go. I love reading :)

(c) I submitted a college application! I feel pretty accomplished. Hopefully, I'll get accepted somewhere. If not, I'll probably swim to the UK. I actually want to do that either way. The next step, I suppose, is to commence the quest for financial aid. Ehh, those seas are vast.

Anyway, that's the scoop at the moment. It's been awfully cold out lately. I can't believe it's almost December. Where did 2010 go? That's the topic of another blog. Right now, English and science homework are a-callin'. Hasta lugeo, interwebs.

Deathly Hallows Ahead

Hello, blogsie. I've been messing with my blog design lately, trying to find something that looks nice, isn't blatantly stock, and is pleasant to read. The design as of now isn't fantastic, but it'll do for the time being.

Any guesses as to what I'll be doing this Friday? Yes, going to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I in all its 2 hours 26 minutes of epic glory is the correct answer! Now that I officially have my ticket, I feel like I can fully allow my enthusiasm to go wild. I have high expectations (as I do with every Potter film). Even if it's on the lousy side, I'll probably be content to moan about it until Part II comes out next year. I sort of have a love-hate relationship with many of the HP films. I still remember being disillusioned when I saw Sorcerer's Stone as a wee munchkin. When Hagrid said, "Harry, you're the boy who lived," I seriously thought the entire movie would pause and announce that chapter title and all the subsequent ones. This was before I came to the realization that movie adaptations of books actually, you know, cut quite a bit most of the time, and were not the meticulous word-for-word renditions I had envisioned them to be. All the same, I was still bummed Peeves never got to make an appearance. I'm excited for Deathly Hallow all the same.

What else (if anything) is going on besides HP, then? I've actually been, and continue to be, exceptionally busy. College applications are due at the end of the month, and I still have to come up with a personal statement. Super fun, right? I'm hoping to get it done this weekend so I don't have to stress about it over Thanksgiving. In addition, the homework monster has been especially beastly lately. Pfft, I actually should be doing homework instead of blogging right now, but oh well.

This afternoon, I was very excited to find the Twitter feeds of both LeVar Burton and Brent Spiner! Now, I have to take a paragraph to describe the impact these two have had on my life. Anyone who knows me knows that reading is possibly my favorite thing to do. When I was a kid, I used to love this fantastic show called The Reading Rainbow. LeVar Burton was the host, and I still remember some of the books and poems on the show. It was truly a magical program and I'm always thankful for its existence. When I got a little older, I met Burton again on Star Trek: TNG as Geordi La Forge. At this time, Brent Spiner also came into my life by means of Data, who remains my favorite android to this day. Geordi and Data were friends, too, and they were always my favorite characters. Seriously, I was the little kid who had an immense crush on Data and spent her school lunchtimes recounting TNG episodes to my friends. Anyway, I now follow both of them on Twitter. It's such a nice feeling when good things from your past pop up to say hello.

Pretty shibby music has come my way lately. I've been listening to some Defiance, Ohio, specifically Share What Ya Got. A number of my friends dig this band, and-- after checking it out-- I now dig it, too. I really need to explore some more folk punk. It's wonderfully refreshing and makes me want to go build a treehouse or hand-make a backpack. Defiance, Ohio also has most, if not all, of their music on their website, which is really awesome. It's good stuff, I tell you. Escúchala. At the more mellow end of the spectrum, I've been swooning to the Zombies' (or as my English teacher would prefer, Zombies's) Odessey and Oracle. If anyone is looking for the definition of euphonic, look no further. This album is absolutely amazing. There is not dull track to be had; from beginning to end, this album is aural excellence. I highly recommend giving it a listen. If you somehow aren't blown away, I think we need to have an intervention. On a different note: every once in a while, I find some sort of musical guilty pleasure, and the band of the season happens to Placebo. Please don't make fun of me; I need me some "Nancy Boy" and "Every You Every Me" once in a while. I was listening to their self-titled album on the ol' Sony Walkman, too, which brought back the '90s in full force. Oh, the nineties... if I were in junior high in the late '90s, I would want Stefan Olsdal and Brian Molko's children. You probably didn't need to know that, but I doubt anyone's still with me at this point and therefore I am shameless. I wonder if there's a word limit on these posts. If there is, it is damn long.

Well, that's about all for now. I actually have more I could blog about, but I'm posting this leviathan as is. Besides, I have a heap of homework still to do. Anyway, I hope you're all well and looking forward to Deathly Hallows. Until next time, then!

October

Normally, I'm too preoccupied to distinguish between the months and they all tend to run together, but this October truly feels like October. It seems as though as soon as the month started the whole aura changed. Suddenly, it feels like autumn. Perhaps it's because we have a fire going and I'm wearing flannel pants. The weather lately has been sublime; I'm fond of the clouds and the wind. Although I don't have a definite favorite season, I do love autumn. It's awfully cozy being all tucked in the corner of the couch blogging when I ought to be revising an essay. It seems like the perfect night to curl up and watch a movie or read. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is sitting beside me as I type, waiting until the next time I read it. I'm trying to pace myself; it is the final Stieg Larsson novel, after all, and he unfortunately isn't around to write anymore. Perhaps I blog more in depth about the Millenium books another day.

As for things I'm currently looking forward to, Deathly Hallows is the obvious pick. I really ought looking into preordering tickets if I want to see it opening day (hopefully at the midnight showing). I'm extremely excited for part one! Also in November: a film is coming out called The King's Speech. It stars Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter, among others, in a period drama about King George VI as he overcomes a speech impediment in a time of national crisis. I believe it'll have a limited release, but hopefully one of the local indie theatres will carry it. It looks excellent. A film about the Howl obscenity trials is also coming out soon, which I'll probably go see with a friend (Was I correct in italicizing the title? Technically the book is called Howl and Other Poems, but I'm not sure if the other poems were drawn under fire, as well. Hmm, perhaps "America" and a few others were. Even if it was just Howl, it'd still be italicized as opposed to quoted due to its length, yes? End grammar nerd rant.) Anyway, hopefully it'll do the topic justice. Well, Kat, is there anything you're looking forward to besides upcoming films? The SAT, of course! Ehh... I was thinking more along the lines of Halloween. I have no idea what I'll actually be doing on Halloween, but I love getting a costume together and seeing other people dressed up. I'm currently weighing the pros and cons of costume ideas, but Halloween is weeks away so I have time. That does seem to be all at the moment. I just wanted to tell dear October that I'm in autumn mode and such. Adieu until next time.

Oh, cock.

I have recently decided that I've found the perfect person to marry: James May. For people (like my brother) who may think this is a little sketchy due to the considerable age gap, fear not; I'll go back in time to sort out that bit. I have very good reasons for thinking he'd be a good person to live with, and I've logically thought out the whole situation. It isn't that I'm madly in love with him or anything; I've merely concluded that he'd be an exceptionally compatible human being to spend my time with. I shall list my reasoning for you in no particular order:

(a) his name is a combination of the names of two other people I love (Brian May & James Burke)

(b) he's soft-spoken and mellow, making him both ideal and endearing

(c) his haircut occasionally reminds me of Oscar Wilde

(d) British

(e) he has a career in journalism

(f) had a house built entirely of Legos

(g) was a choirboy

(h) drives carefully

(i) he's a host on Top Gear

(j) enjoys awesome, geeky things

(k) was fired from Autocar magazine for creating an hidden acrostic message comprised of the first letters of articles (is there a better reason to get sacked?)

(l) hosts neat science-related shows on BBC

(m) is generally adorkable

Do you see this alphabet of logical reasons for loving him? Personally, I think these are all fine qualities to look for when searching out a partner. For those still sketched out, you haven't much to worry about, as our lives don't seem likely to intersect or intertwine anytime soon. Perhaps we'll be soulmates in the next life. I may, however, swim to the UK anyway.

I like men, but in a gay way.

Hey-ho, blogsie! Oy, I fail as a blogger. Shame on me! I honestly think about updating often, but I somehow never get around to it. At least I update it every once in a while. The previous post seems so old; I actually just watched a recorded episode of Project Runway. It's on episode seven or eight or something, but enough about that. School has once again commenced, and so far it's going well. My classes are interesting and meaningful, which is a huge motivator to really apply myself. In addition, I'm so far sticking with my plan to live a more balanced life. Needless to say, I'm pretty proud of myself, especially after the bottomless homework monster of last year. Anyway, life currently keeps me rather busy but generally content.

Bloggish life-updates aside, allow me to tell you about one of my new favorite things: a webcomic called Khaos! For those of you who read my blog (heh, who am I kidding?) or who have fallen victim to my oral ranting, you may have heard of Boy Meets Boy, a webcomic near and dear to my heart. Pretty much, BMB = love. After I finished it, I never thought I'd find a webcomic I liked nearly as much. One serendipitous day, whilst roaming the interweb, I came across Khaos Komix. I devoured all of them in a twenty-four hour time span, which in retrospect was probably not the best choice (I ought to have paced myself), but it made for a webcomic session of epic proportions. What is this Khaos you speak of, you may ask, and why is it so awesome? Khaos is basically one grand plot divided into different stories that center around a character that tells things from zir point of view. While all of the stories inevitably intertwine, each story offers new insight into previously mentioned characters and situations. It may sound as if the same story is essentially being told over and over, but all of the stories have totally different beginnings and each advances the master story in some way.

It's time for a new paragraph. Nobody likes the never ending text block. Anyway, as I was saying: Khaos. The characters are excellent! Although Tom is my favorite, I get so into all of them and love them so much. They've all got their own backgrounds and quirks and families... so much love! By now you probably get the idea that I'm a huge fan of Khaos. I ought to mention Khaos is queer, exponentially so. In fact, it's almost as queer as an Anne Rice's vampires. If this somehow upsets you, buzz off; sucks to your ass-mar for being closed-minded. Moving on... Unlike BMB, Khaos is still being made! Tab Kimpton, the lovely creator, is a pretty talented person. In addition to writing and illustrating two webcomics, Tab is a skilled maker of cosplay costumes. Yay for Tab! Before I leave the link: although there's nothing really explicit (illustration-wise) in the main comics, a touch of reader discretion may be advised. Okay, let's do this thing! Here's the link!

Also, I feel after this exceptionally lengthy ode to Khaos, I feel that BMB needs some loving. I looked back on my post urging people to check out BMB, and it's pitifully weak, especially in light of this current post. Seriously, I do it no. justice. at. all. I have a feeling that everyone, including my cat, would glare at me if I launched into a BMB-themed rant. I have volumes to say about it, and I truly love it so very much. As awesome as Khaos is, Boy Meets Boy still holds a special place in my heart. Firsts always tend to do that, yeah? Well, BMB was the first webcomic I became an avid fan of. I'll refrain from going into detail, but honestly, do give it a read. I'll leave you another shibby link, this time without a nifty button because I was having html trouble and am too tired to fix it. It is a cute button either way.

Now, seeing as this post is already horrendously long, I thought it wouldn't hurt to tag on another little bit. Perhaps this is why no one reads my blog? Yeah....

For those still with me (if you've seriously read all of this, please comment so that I can find you and genuflect madly; you rock and deserve recognition), I found a few serendipitous connections between these two webcomics.

1) In BMB, Mik and Harley's landlady's name is Tabitha, although she's frequently referred to as Tab. Tab also happens to be the creator of Khaos.

2) Tabitha's beau refers to her as Moonbeam, which is the middle name of Charlie in Khaos.

3) My favorite characters in both comics-- Cyanide in BMB and Tom in Khaos-- both live in households that speak Spanish and English. It's fun to see if I can translate the Spanish bits.

Okay, I swear I'm finished! I need to learn how to limit my rather obnoxiously long blog ranting. Ah well. Until next time! Adieu!