Cliff GIF's

It's become more and more clear to me this week that I have serious authority issues. I also HATE doing anything involving computers with the computer-illiterate around. I'm going to KILL the next person who says, "Well so-and-so has that on their website, how come I can't have that too?"

If SO-AND-SO had a gif of them jumping off a cliff on their website would you want to do that too?! Jeez!

Computer work is a skill set, like anything else. If a computer person tells you it can't be done, then it can't be done, okay? Don't try and ask a thousand times why, don't make suggestions based on the absolutely nothing you know about the incident, just take your answer and go.

Honestly that's not fair. Sometimes the people who ask me to do things are perfectly capable, intelligent people....just, sometimes, they seem to think I'm God. Just because this thing or that thing exists on the internet, doesn't mean that I, the internet guru NON-code-monkey can do it. It's annoying and frustrating to have to explain over and over and over again how much you CAN'T do whatever it is they're asking. Not only is it dull and repetitive, but it's also upsetting on a personal level. Don't you think if I could do it, I would? Do you think I just sit here all day and think of ways to tell you 'no'? Trust me, I wish I could pull off some of that cool stuff other websites have!

I just can't, that's all. I'm sorry.

Never Enough Bluegrass

All I wanted was a Nickel Creek Pandora playlist :( But it keeps giving me unwanted Jesus music. Meh.

Some Thoughts on Finals Week

Many things come to mind this week as I study my butt off for finals. Not the least of which are listed here.

"I'm so stressed about this final. I could be fine in this class except for this dumb teacher. If he hadn't given me a bad grade on that last assignment...he took off ten whole points because I turned it in late! And now I have to take the final. How dumb is that?"
So what you're saying is....you didn't do your work on time, turned it in late, and are mad because you got points taken off? This is college, be glad he even let you turn it in late! Most teachers would tell you to grow up and you should have turned it in on time! So shut your mouth and take the final like a big girl.

"Does anyone know how to do this thing in Word? Anybody?"
"No." "Nope, sorry." "Do what?" "No..."
"I'm gonna fail if I can't figure this out."
....
"Seriously y'all. This paper's due in two hours and I can't do it."
....
"Come on! I know ONE of you has to know how to do this!"
Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine. Also, guilt-tripping a room full of stressed out college kids who actually did prepare for their finals isn't going to earn you help. It's going to earn you ridicule, starting from my corner of the room.

"Guys, can you be quiet?! I was up all night studying because I haven't gone to class in like a month and now I really need to focus!"
It's two in the afternoon. If you were up all night, sorry. If you didn't go to class, sorry. If you think I'm going to treat my office like a library in the middle of the day (normal daylight hours?) because you didn't get your precious beauty sleep, think again.

Neediness is no more attractive in education than it is in a relationship. Once or twice, yeah, your friends will understand that you need help on this assignment or that project. However, if 3/4 of my interaction with you is you calling me away from what I'm doing to show you how to do something for the tenth time, then you're not going to be my favorite person. Especially if what you want my help with is a) common sense or b) something you would have learned in class if you had just paid attention. It's kinda like being the guy with the pickup truck when all your friends are moving. You like to help, but sometimes you have to remind people that you do in fact have a life that doesn't revolve around THEM.

And last but not least a word to the wise....

This is college, not kindergarten. If you think your teacher is going to bend over backwards to help you pass their class that you never go to and don't care about, then you've got another thing coming. This teacher has better and more important things to do than hold your hand like a five-year-old. If you were lazy all semester, deal with it. I'm lazy, I've been in trouble at finals time so I know what it feels like. But it's still your responsibility and no one else's. Learn how to handle yourself when things go bad, without whining to other people to change your grade, fix your schedule, write your paper, etc. Grow up and DEAL.

Girly Confessions

Okay, so girly confession time. I have developed a crush.
I know what you're thinking! Severus. What about Sev? Aren't I madly in love with him?
Yes.....but some things can't be helped.

It all started when I got a new job. It was one of those "you're the new kid on the block" scenarios, and he happened to be the guy who had to train me. Sure, he picked on me with everyone else, but for some reason when it came from him it felt more like 'boys are mean to you because they like you'. There was a huge difference between him and his twin brother, who also works there. They pick on me in completely different ways. I'M NOT IMAGINING IT.

There are only 3 girls in this place, and considering it's a live-in job, it's almost like growing up with seven brothers. Seven brothers and three tomboy sisters. Tough house. It's fun though, never boring at all.

I was thinking this crush thing wasn't going to go anywhere, but then something happened. I went off to run an errand for the dad of the house, and while I was gone....there was a terrible accident. Our father figure was killed, sending the whole house into our weird, tough-kid version of grief. I got pulled into a weird revenge mission thing with my crush's twin brother, but we got lucky and my crush stopped us before we did anything stupid. He reminded us how our father wouldn't want us to be acting badly, it made us just like the scum who killed him. But he was so nice about it, I didn't really know what to do.

He's a bit of a brute, but a kind one. The gentle-giant kind of person. Not wonderfully smart or intelligent, but he's got some serious street smarts. It's charming in a weird way.

Now for the complicated part. When I was tasked with cleaning out house father's quarters, I found some documents that confused me. I'm the new kid, the untrained, the pretty-much-useless. But for some crazy reason, he named me to be his successor. Not in charge of day-to-day affairs, but it's an advisory position of real respect. What the hell was he thinking? But I checked it with his closest advisor and he confirmed it. I don't understand.

That's only semi-relevant though. Back to the important part....

I can't keep living in a house with and working with someone I have a crush on. I can't leave the job, it's everything to me now. Especially with that promotion. So what do I do?

Well there's only one thing TO do, Nova. Go to Riften, pick up an Amulet of Mara, finish the Questline and ask him to marry you. Duh. Surely a member of the Circle and the Harbinger can marry without too much complication.

Off to Riften!

#SkyrimObsession

Accomplishments

Accompaniment: "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues", Eels

There's nothing quite like feeling really accomplished for doing absolutely nothing. I'm an expert at it, really. Take today for example. I was up until 4:00am last night playing Skyrim. Why? To finish that one quest I really wanted to get done before Thanksgiving break. Was it real life? No. Did it really matter that much? No. Was there any reason at all not to go to sleep and finish the quest tomorrow? No. But I did it anyway, I feel good about it.

I tried to go to sleep, but I was too awake. Plus the fact that Merry and Pippin are nocturnal....they started making some strange noises about 4:15, and I had to get up and check on them. Apparently Pippin has been dragging his teeth along the plastic base of his cage, which says to me that he needs a different chew toy. All rats need chew toys, and I have some wooden fruit-flavored chews for my babies, but they don't seem to like them much. Now I know for sure. Time to change that. Feeling accomplished for making a decision, I refilled their water bottle and crawled back into bed.

2 hours later, my alarm goes off. After five minutes of 'sleep-in-haze', I get up. Usually Frost is up before me for our 8am astronomy class, but today she wasn't. This is not surprising nor a big deal- our teacher doesn't take attendance, and all of her lectures are featured online for the super-lazy. Generally Frost and I try to make it to class, but if we feel extremely miserable upon waking up, we don't bother. But for some reason I felt accomplished for getting up and going to class, despite the conditions of the morning being too much for my dearest Frosty. Like I said, feeling good about nothing. I didn't learn much of anything in astronomy today that I hadn't learned in 7th grade science, and with class hosted online, there's nothing to be proud of. Frost certainly didn't fail or do less than me by not going to class, she just opted for more sleep. I do the same most days. And yet I feel accomplished for no apparent reason.

Sometimes feeling accomplished for nothing just makes you feel good. You know? Almost like, hey, I needed to do something right today and there it was. I finished a quest. I made a decision. I went to class.

Some days it's just about the little things :D

Really, Dude?

I'm starting to believe there's nothing worse than a smart-ass who fails at being one. I feel like it's one of those things you have to be good at to attempt. That stated, I'm not the best, so I don't have much room to talk....but generally, I know when to stop. Like, when the whole room starts staring at you with "Really, dude?" faces because whatever you just said a) makes no sense, or b) just insulted half the room. Or maybe even c) No one likes you or cares what you think, so the idea that you're making jokes and trying to be funny with us isn't going to fly no matter how good you are. We're just tired of you.

Over the last few years, I've discovered this same problem cropping up everywhere. I know a bunch of people who do this, and every time it comes up, it makes me wonder...."Do I do that?"

I know I do sometimes. I try to make jokes and instantly realize that I've failed miserably. If I'm lucky, I can laugh it off and just say, "Oh, hey, that joke just sucked. Oops. Anyway, change of subject?" But is that where it ends for other people? Do they roll their eyes at each other when I leave the room, and lightly comment about being unable to understand just how I could be so clueless as to not realize how much I'm not liked? In essence...do they do what I do?

The worst part of all this is the part where I know for a fact it makes me a bad person. I wouldn't want to be treated that way, but I continue to do it to some people. Granted, "Everyone hates you go away" is very hard to say diplomatically. Getting rid of people you don't like is easier said than done. If I have to deal with my people, they have to deal with theirs. If theirs includes me, then whatever.

So there's that thought for the day.

Hard Day's Night (Warning: Personal Drama, Read At Own Risk)

When I made this blog, I swore it wasn't going to be a 'rant and rave' blog. I'm still sticking to that. Today's going to be the real test of whether or not I am capable of telling people how I feel without ranting or raving like a psycho. Here goes nothing.

A bunch of my good friends live in a house together. There are five of them- two couples and a single girl. One of the couple girls, Ivy, and the single girl, Kat, happen to have been best friends for a couple years now. Last year they shared a 2-bedroom apartment before they moved into the 5-person house. This past week, I've heard a lot that Kat was/is unhappy with the people she lives with. Things have been turning up missing, and found in her room, but she can't explain it. She's being accused of stealing, but there is no evidence pointing for her. The evidence against her doesn't make any sense. Anyway, not really the point- this conflict in the house became a conflict between Kat and Ivy. Me and my roommate Frost are both good friends with the pair, so we offered to step in and try to mediate between them and see if we could work it out. We just wanted to help.

At first, it worked. We brought Kat, Ivy, Ivy's beau, and two of Kat's good friends over to our house for dinner/snacks and to chat. Kat was uneasy at first, but we got her to stay. She and Ivy hashed it out, and everything was fine....until they got on the subject of one particular problem. I'm going to try not to get anyone in trouble by airing their personal details, but let's just say that Kat saw a certain situation differently than anyone else in the room did. She explained why it was a problem and none of us understood. We tried to figure out how to express it differently, to see if we could find a level playing field, but it got out of hand quickly. In trying to tell us why the conversation was at a standstill/couldn't make progress, Kat managed to insult every single person in the room. From what I hear she didn't intend it that way, it just got phrased badly, but it happened (again, accident) to be a real soft spot for Frost. So Kat was upset because no one could understand her and she seemed to feel like we didn't want to help. Frost was upset because she was insulted. It just got so out of hand, so fast.....

I never intended for Kat to feel like we didn't want to help her. But what was I going to say? "Oh sorry you just screwed up and hurt my feelings, let me just forget that and pretend it didn't happen because you're more important than me"? It was just so frustrating. When you say something you don't mean, I feel like the answer should be to apologize. That's what Frost did. She was extremely upset, but she still apologized for her reaction. I guess Kat just didn't want to hear it, because she ran off crying. I went after her, couldn't find her anywhere. Asked multiple people if they'd seen/heard from her, asked people to tell me if they found her- I was insulted, but I wasn't THAT insulted. I'm still a decent human, I'm not a villain.

I couldn't find Kat anywhere. By now, Frost, Ivy and I are all verging on tears. Kat's two friends she brought with her couldn't find words to say. The next thing I knew, Kat had been rescued and the story going around was that we were all horrible villains who chased her away and ruined her life.

I'm still a little hurt, honestly. Usually I have temper problems, I can't control my rage, but right now I'm just hurt. I don't understand why this happened. I was trying to help, to be her friend. She told me she felt alone, she needed someone to stand with her. I tried, and I had it thrown back in my face. I didn't want to lose friends over this, but I don't know what else to do.

Where did we go wrong? I wanted everyone to be friends and work out their problems, not to cause more problems. Peer mediation is one of the highest-recommended problem-solving techniques in existence. My intentions were good, my methods equally good. So what did I do wrong? Am I not seeing something that everyone else can see? I'm not a villain and neither is Kat, Ivy, or any of us. We're all just trying to make it work with each other, or so I thought. Am I wrong about that?

Do the rules of friendship dictate that I should let it go? I'm a terrible person for holding grudges, but I really feel like this isn't a grudge. If the rumors I hear are true (which is always debatable), then Kat feels bad about what she said to me, but I can't bank on that. If she's sorry, I need to know. But there's nothing to be done about that but sit, and wait. I hate waiting. I'm not going to demand a response from her, that will only make things worse. But I HATE waiting!

My head hurts. I didn't get any sleep last night. I'm absolutely miserable today. If I were a bloodthirsty villain who fed on discord, would I be this upset?

I really just need to take a leaf out of my favorite classic novel. "Wait...and hope."
(points if you identify the novel)

Operation Halloween Muffin

I haven't updated in a bit. That's new. It's a little bit late for this, but here's my Halloween-and-other-things post.

Usually, I'm a HUGE fan of Halloween. This year was the first year in four that I haven't worked at a local haunted house as an actress, and I gotta say I missed it. I did get an offer to work at one in the next town over, but as I don't have a car, arranging rides to get there and all that would have been an insane stressor that I didn't have the mental capacity to handle. So instead I went home.

Halloween fell on a Wednesday this year, which is the one night a week I have to spend at work. Granted I spend a lot of time at work just of my own volition, but Wednesday is PRODUCTION NIGHT YOU BETTER BE THERE OR FACULTY ADVISORS KICK YOUR BUTT TO JUPITER AND BACK. So yeah, going to Halloween parties, trick-or-treating, or any other real celebration was out of the question for us newsies. We brought snacks and drinks and threw a party in the office, but that was it. It was nice.

The weekend before, I went home to visit my mother in middle-class suburbia. Our neighborhood back home is very nice and safe, but the terrain is very up and down. Lots of hills, which makes trick-or-treating with a child on foot not much fun at all. They get tired, cranky, etc. and start whining very early. For several years, the neighborhood policy has been to get all the dads together and take the kids on a trick-or-treating hayride. That way they get to all the houses without losing stamina. They end the night with a bonfire at someone's house, and it's a lovely affair. This year they did the ceremony on the Saturday night before Halloween, while I happened to be home for the weekend. It was cool.

My mom and I had a great weekend. We filled up two boxes for Operation Christmas Child- for those who don't know, OCC is a charity drive funded by Samaritan's Purse every Christmas. They give out shoeboxes that people fill with small or necessary items for children in need at Christmas. You pick an age range (2-4, 5-9, or 10-14) and a gender, and fill the box with items for that child. This year, my mom selected a 10-14 year old girl, and I chose a 5-9 year old boy. We went to several different stores. My little boy got a plastic dragon, an inflatable dinosaur, a slinky, a coloring book with crayons, a gummy centipede toy, a washcloth and bar of soap, a toothbrush, and assorted candy. Hopefully he'll like it, wherever he is. I'd sure like that inflatable dinosaur.

Now I'm in full Christmas mode. Anyone who's ever met me knows that I am absolutely in love with Christmas. I have a Christmas playlist on my iPod that will never be deleted, and I listen to it all year round. Red, green, and silver are in my top five favorite colors. This year, my mom told me that I'll be in charge of all the Christmas holiday preparation. She's a school librarian and will be working down to the wire this year, and since I have almost the whole month of December off, I'll be able to do all of the decorating and a good bit of the cooking. Also my brother Drake and his fiancee are coming to spend Christmas with us, so I get to play hostess for that too. Should be exciting. I'm already researching interesting ways to decorate my Christmas tree. Last year I did a criss-crossed ribbon technique with red ribbon going one way and gold going the other. Not sure what I'm going to do this year. I do think I'm going to find a homemade-ornament idea and ask Drake and his fiancee (let's call her Muffin) help me make them. We used to do it all the time as kids, homemade ornaments are special. Plus I want to have some ornaments from Drake and Muffin together.

Now you want to know why I call her Muffin. It's actually pretty funny- Drake has never been one for pet names. He and I both tend to think they're pretty stupid. Muffin doesn't mind names, but she wanted something Drake would like too. Eventually she stumbled upon 'muffin', and discovered that it was a very versatile pet name. You can use it to be sweet, to be funny, or even to be a smart-ass (which is what Drake and Muffin do most of the time). They use it to laugh at each other, it's great. "What did you do with the cookies?" "You're on a diet, muffin." "You ate them, didn't you." "Yep."

I think that's everything of relevance right now....not particularly entertaining, nor wonderfully articulate, but you know what I'm doing these days. That's something, right?

For the Love of Fuzzies

I showed you one picture of my rats so far in this blog, but I have so many more it's not even funny. Why? Because the same way mothers feel about their children, that's how I feel about my rats. They are my sweet babies, the ones that I'm responsible for and care about. They're not kidding when they say pets make people happy- without my rats, I dunno where I'd be.
This is one of those "more than you ever wanted to know about my life" posts, but it's cute, so bear with me.

I have always, always, always had two animals at home: Fish and cats. My mom is a diehard cat lady, and my dad likes maintaining a fish tank. Never knew why, but I loved it too. When I moved to college, I never anticipated how hard it was going to be leaving my pets behind. At first I didn't really notice...but it slowly came to me that I'd never lived without pets before. I didn't know how to do it. What was I supposed to do when I wanted cuddles? I couldn't just be responsible for me, it was too weird. Unfortunately, I lived in a dorm room, so I had to make do with fish and potted cacti for two years.

Pippin comes over to say hello during playtime!

This year, I moved out of the dorms and into my own apartment with one of my friends, and was planning to save up to pay the pet deposit for a kitten.....but what would I do with it when I went home for the holidays? Mom's cats wouldn't tolerate a newcomer, and finding a kitty-sitter is harder than you think. No, I couldn't do that to a poor innocent furball. Don't get a pet if you can go all the way, I say. Look a few years ahead before you adopt. To me, that few years was looking pretty bleak and petless.

Then I remembered something my best friend used to say before she moved to another town for a fancy art school degree- her favorite musician/artist, Emilie Autumn, has rats. Now I'll be honest with you guys, I really don't have much respect for Emilie Autumn. I like one of her early albums quite a lot, but when all of her material started turning to subjects like suicide, insanity, and mental delusion, I stopped listening. Best Friend and I have had many debates on the subject, but we always come out at a stalemate. ANYWAY, the important part is, I remembered the rats. I looked them up on Google, and found that they were the perfect solution to my problem. They were cute, adorable, smart, loyal, low-maintenance, and I could take them home in a cage and keep them in my room when I needed to. It was perfect.

Merry, chillin' in his cage.

The day I went to PetSmart and bought my fuzzies was one of the happiest days of my life thusfar. I huddled with my roommate outside the aquarium of dumbo rats (which I had decided were definitely the cutest), trying to decide which one to pick. Most of them all looked the same- hooded rats, with white bodies and brown or black hoods. How was I going to pick?
"Oooh, look there's a light one! He looks sweet, you should get him!"
I had no idea how right my roommate was, but I went with it. He did look a bit cuter than the others with his white body and very pale tan hood, so I asked the saleslady to hand me that one. He was so soft, much softer than any rat I'd held previously. He was a keeper.
Next I went looking for the other rats, all of whom had tumbled inside their igloo to hide from my searching hands. Only one was brave enough to jump forward and sniff at my fingers. I decided he had some gumption, and he became my second rat. He was white with a black hood, like most of the others, but he seemed to have a winning personality. In the car I gave them the names I'd been brainstorming about all week: the light one became Merry, the dark one, Pippin. Perfect.

Since that day, I have never, ever even slightly regretted my decision. My rats are as sweet and loving as any puppy, and they make me so happy. They're not like the rumors I've heard of gerbils and guinea pigs- they have some real personalities.

 

Pippin helping daddy (Severus) play video games!

When you have two or more rats of the same gender, they figure out their own hierarchy. In my rat cage, Pippin is definitely the dominant rat, the 'older brother' so to speak. He's braver, and much more willing to try new things. Right now he's learning how to answer to his name, as well as how to "stand up" on his hind legs on command. It's his first real trick (the first being that both rats know exactly what "gimme kisses" means).

I've tried a myriad of treats with them, and I must say, my rats are spoiled rotten. Only 20% of their diet is supposed to be treats, but I can't help it. They're so sweet! Still, my version of 'treats' are pieces of celery, carrots, and apples (apples are their favorite). The only non-produce treat I give them are mango-apricot flavored yogurt chips, and those are generally rewards when teaching tricks.

 

Merry on the couch!

Merry is definitely my sweet little baby brother rat. He's the first one to come to the cage door when I open it because he tends to stay on the first floor (they have a three-level cage). He's a scaredy-rat, always hiding from things that bother him, but he's too sweet to bite or anything. The only way you can tell if he's truly distressed is if he starts shrieking. 

He's got the most interesting set of sound effects, Merry does. He does a lot of what rat-owners call 'peeping'- it's shorter than a squeak, and is usually done several times in succession. Several times? Merry can do it for five minutes straight. It sounds like he's just having a conversation with the cage wall. He never does it when Pippin's nearby, strangely enough. Merry also grinds his teeth a lot, which is like the rat equivalent of purring.

 

Pippin says peek-a-boo from his maze made of coke boxes!

Severus and I have really grown quite close since we adopted the rats. I say we- they're technically mine, but he loves them and cares for them as much as I do. He didn't question it too much when I said I wanted rats, and he's been supportive since day one. In fact, the rats love him just as much as they do me (which is weird for rats, they usually pick one human to focus on). Pippin is Sev's little buddy, they are a bonded pair. Merry is mine, good lil mama's boy. It's adorable.

Tonight I had the fuzzies out playing on the bed when Sev got home from work. Pippin dropped his piece of celery and raced to the edge of the bed to say hello. When Sev didn't acknowledge him immediately, he scampered up and down the edge of the bed, waiting for daddy to notice him. It was so sweet.  

 

The fuzzies love to play video games. Skyrim is their favorite.

My babies are what keep me sane. They're smart enough to love me and snuggle with me, and so devoted to me it's hilarious. They've been climbing all over as I type up this post, I keep having to turn capslock off and erase the signs of Rats on Keyboard Syndrome. In fact, when let loose in a huge room like the living room of a house, they still come back to me every ten minutes or so to remind me that they are there and that they love me. Occasionally they bring me treasures from under the couch, which is always fun. 

My babies are my life. They're like the children I want to have someday, except I have them now. They don't have to speak to tell me how they feel, we just understand each other most of the time. Who wouldn't love that?

To anyone considering future pets, I really do recommend rats. They're tough little buggers, so they'll do well with kids. They also handle high levels of attention really well, so if you have a kid who wants a pet he can cuddle, there you go. That said.......

I love my fuzzies.

Merry and Pippin love having their cage door open, even if they can't get out. It's like opening a window!

Me and My Desk: A Love Affair

Accompaniment: "Hear Me" by Imagine Dragons

Ah, my desk. As I've explained before, I work for the school newspaper at my university. I'm the Web Editor. I get paid to play around on the internet! Exciting, no?
I've had this job for four semesters, but this semester....something strange seems to be happening. Prior to this semester, I used to hang out in one of the student hangout spots on campus with a myriad of fellow nerds and gamers. We played Magic the Gathering between classes, browse Tumblr and play Minecraft on our laptops, or just sit around and chat. It was an all-day affair every day, starting around 9 in the morning and ending around 7pm. An endless variety show, when one person left another came in. It was almost never boring, and never ever quiet. It was my sanctuary, the place I went to feel comfortable. All of my friends were there.

This semester the newspaper staff changed a bit. Where previously I was the youngest, the newest, and the most indimidated, I am now the second-oldest editor in the office. Yeah, seriously. Most of the other staff doesn't get picked for editor until junior year, so they're constantly changing. The skills for my job are so specific and so different from everyone else in the office that I'll be holding it for a while.
These people who were once acquaintances are now practically family. We use the office as our second home! My desk computer is ten times faster than my laptop on campus internet, and the use of the inter-departmental server makes getting my homework and assignments done much easier. Now that I'm heavily into my Mass Media classes, I also need the more advanced software my desk computer provides.

Thanks to my desk being such a pleasant place to work, I almost never go back to see my gamer friends anymore.....it's sad, really. Some of them I miss, others not so much. Some days I tell myself that I'm a horrible friend for ditching like that. Some days I just tell myself that this is part of growing up, not wanting to be with the same people day in and day out. But isn't that what I'm doing by hiding out at work? I only have about nine coworkers, and I see them all day.....isn't it the same?

I don't know if I could leave my desk at this point without breaking its heart. The poor thing's gotten used to all this attention. And why not, I ask myself? Why not shower my desk with love and affection? It a wonderful desk. You know, I first fell in love with it when I started my job at the newspaper. It belonged to the Features editor then, who wound up being one of my best friends. I didn't have a desk, I just worked on my laptop or on one of the random freebie computers along the office walls. When my friend got a promotion and moved to the editor-in-chief's desk, I realized that somehow we had more desks than before. They asked if I wanted one, and I claimed the old features desk. Now it's the Web desk. It's made of dark wood, and is very sturdy and old-fashioned. The two drawers on the left-hand side are full of snacks and papers I don't want to lose, and the small center drawer holds all of my pens, trinkets, and sticky notes. The top right drawer is my coloring drawer, filled with coloring pages and crayons. Under that is my Assistant Web Editor's drawer, and below hers is the drawer claimed by the former multimedia editor, who stepped down last semester and is now assistant multimedia. On top of my beautiful desk sits my computer, angled into the left corner to provide me with a broader view of the room on my right side. To my left is a wall, coated with posters, checklists, coloring pages, and reminders. Next to my computer sit my little desk decorations: a miniature sand castle aquarium toy, a take-apart Marie Antoinette figurine (complete with removable head), a lime-green squishy duck that lights up, a bottle of lotion, and a flower vase filled with ketchup packets.

I love my desk so much. This office is so quiet and peaceful, and on the occasions when it gets loud, it's worth stopping to listen to. Unlike my old hangout spot, it's not so large that everything echoes five times, bombarding my poor ears with an overload of sound. We have walls here, not giant windows that reflect the sun painfully no matter where said sun happens to be. I'm safe here with my flourescent lighting.

Why would I ever leave?

At least that's what I tell myself.

An Intro to ME

Hi! I'm Nova. I'm a junior in college studying Mass Media and Theatre. I want to be a top-rate camerawoman. I work for the school newspaper as the Web Editor, and I am a massive nerd. As in Magic the Gathering, Joss Whedon, Harry Potter, Portal variety nerd.

This is my boyfriend, I call him Severus. Why? Because we met at a Harry Potter Cosplay Tea Party and he played Snape to my Tonks. Yes we're weird. Sev is also a junior and Mass Media major, minoring in Music. He wants to be an audio recording artist.

THESE ARE OUR BABIES. The lighter one on the top is Merry, the darker one below him is Pippin. They are both hooded dumbo rats, and they're brothers. Absolute sweethearts. These guys make my LIFE! You'll probably see a lot about them here.

My Obsessions: DISNEY, CHRISTMAS, pirates, MUSIC, Harry Potter, ABC's Castle, BBC's Merlin, Big Bang Theory, Tamora Pierce novels, THE INTERNET, etc.

That's about all you need to know. Eventually you'll meet the other characters in my tale- Sev's roommate Phurios, my roommate Frost, Frost's boyfriend Lu....they'll all show up. For now, we work with this.

I wish I had something really interesting to blog about today, but not much has happened. I got up, went to Broadcast Writing class, got some lunch at ChikFilA, and I've been hanging out at work all afternoon listening to Christmas music. It finally got cold here. I live in a practically subtropical region where fall and winter last about a month combined, and summer's like living under a magnifying glass. Now I plan to go home and get to work on a few art projects for school- building a white drafting model for Technical Theatre and putting together a commercial storyboard for Broadcast Writing. I might spend a couple extra dollars and get fancy coffee instead of soda for the afternoon, who knows?

Blogging. Yeah.

Heck yeah I'm starting a blog.

This is my inspirational song, for motivation and stuff.

BLOGGING. YEAH.

Plus a lil Iron Man just for fun.

Hello and Welcome.

Welcome to Mental Supernova.

I'm your host. If you know me personally and know my name, lovely. Let's leave it out of here for the sake of anyone who stumbles across my blog via Google search, mkay? No stalkers for me or my friends! If you don't know me, then just call me Nova. This is my third blog, though only two are active. One is irrelevant, as it's a music critique I write for the local college campus newspaper. The other is an old trash pile of angry rants, raves, and complete insanity. I designed it to be the place I could vent about all of the things that annoy me without inflicting that rage on the people I care about....but it didn't quite work. Blew up in my face a few times, so it no longer exists. This is my second try, hopefully my saving grace. I want to be able to bring people into my world, have them see as I see, if only to better understand why I am the way I am. That sounds really obnoxious and pretentious so let me try again. I want you people to know why I'm insane! I want you to know why I can't form a sentence without six tangents in it, I want for me to make sense. Even though I don't.

So here it is! Mental Supernova. Why the name, pray tell?

supernova (s 'pər-nō'və) Pronunciation Key

Plural supernovae  (s 'pər-nō'vē) or supernovas

A massive star that undergoes a sudden, extreme increase in brightness across the electromagnetic spectrum, followed by a more gradual decrease lasting from several days to several months.

This is what I feel happens in my head. All the time. I get really worked up about things...then I calm...then I get SERIOUSLY WORKED UP....then I calm down....then I just die for a while....then I get FLIPPIN CRAZY again....

Get it?

So there's that.

And here's my blog.