A Little Bit of Geekery

Well guys, guess what. Today was both E3 and WWDC. Playstation and Apple announcements all in one day. My tech-obsessed and nerdy self really can't handle much more excitement.

Let's face it, I game all the time. In fact, I'm usually gaming when I should be doing probably anything else. Like, say, writing, or keeping my blog up to date. (I feel the shame.) I've been so excited for any whiff of news about PS4 since rumors first surfaced that a new console would be out soon.

All the months of being teased and tempted with blogger speculation and general whispers finally culminated in tonight—Finally, we know what PS4 will look like. Now if only I could get my hands on one right this second...

And the games! Oh, the games that will be coming out soon, not only for PS4 but also on PS3. I really can't even... There's simply not enough time in my day for all the play I want to do.

Yeah, I'm pretty stoked.

I'm 50% excited about PS4, 50% distracted by the Watch_Dogs ad in the background.*

And then Apple, you sly dog, announcing iOS 7 at WWDC this year.

If you guys have followed my blog for awhile, and a lot of you have (THANK YOU, you folks are fantastic), then you know I love Apple. Any and all things Apple. It's what I grew up using. The only kind of computer I've ever owned. And when they hit the cell phone market? Well, all my days of switching SIM cards when I got sick of whatever phone I currently used were over. From the second I picked up the original iPhone, I was hooked.

But okay, I admit, some of the new phones out there that aren't iPhones have been starting to look pretty nifty. The thing is, like I said, all I use is Mac. iPhone seamlessly moves between my iMac and my MacBook Pro, and everything is where it should be, and my calendars sync, and my iTunes—well, you get the idea.

And it's just like Apple to announce something that completely obliterates any piquing interest in any other kind of phone just as that little tickle of stagnation hits. See, upgrading from iPhone 4 to iPhone 5 didn't feel like much of a change as far as the operating system. But iOS 7 look to be a serious reimagining of iPhone's OS. And I honestly love everything about it. At least as far as I can tell from this video.

Now if only I could get a solid release date for iOS 7. Then my tech-brain would be satisfied.

As it stands, I'll be content eagerly waiting on both counts!

*Copyright, all rights reserved to Sony. No infringement intended.

Up for Apple

Is anybody else still awake?

I admit, I took a bit of a nap between midnight and one, because work was hectic today and I was exhausted. But now I'm obsessively refreshing two different web pages, both for the same reason.

That can only mean one thing...

It's iPhone 5 pre-order day!

And yes, I am sitting up in bed, quivering with excitement, Visa clutched anxiously in hand as I spend some time debating, last minute, whether or to pre-order from Apple's website, or AT&T's.

Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. Repeat.

 I am really, really excited about this phone. Okay, to be fair, I get really excited for most Apple products. What can I say? I'm a brand fan. But I've been anticipating iPhone 5 since last year, when the iPhone 4S rolled out. I waited on upgrading then, even though I really wanted to play with Siri, and now it's paying off—no pesky hassles with AT&T and two-year contracts not-yet-ready to be upgraded.

I'm thinking I'm going to go for the 64gb White/Silver phone. I think it looks slick, modern, and classy.

*UPDATE*

iPhone 5 is now available to pre-order! And I am pretty sure it could not have gone smoother.

iPhone 5, soon you shall be mine!

Oddly enough, while Apple's website (and AT&T's website) sat useless, still not taking pre-orders, the Apple Store App on my iPhone 4 was up and running almost the second it was supposed to.

As you can see, I ordered the White & Silver 64gb iPhone 5. And I managed to not accidentally knock myself off of the several-times-grandfathered-in Unlimited Data plan.

So all in all, this late-night/early-morning was worth it! My shiny new phone should be headed my way sometime on the 21st, and I'm sure I don't have to tell you that you can expect and unboxing post in the near future, with a review post to follow!

Any of you guys trying to pre-ordered iPhone 5 tonight, too—Good luck! :D

Moving Forward and Leaving Behind

This has been my whole day.

This is my official last night in my apartment at College Station—this is the last post I'll write here in my cute little apartment. Yes, even with bare walls and boxes stacked on boxes, when I look around I still see my cute little apartment.

It's funny, it takes so long to make a place feel like your own. Then, in a matter of hours, it's all stripped bare again like you were never there.

It's bittersweet, moving out of this place. It's been a fantastic place to live while going to school down here. Bright, cheerful, and just the right size for a girl and her dog. But now that I've graduated, it's time to move on. Even though I know it's time to go, I'm still not happy about it. I've always had a hard time with change—even small changes make me anxious. Honestly, even positive changes make me uncomfortable, at least for a little while. I'm such a creature of habit, which I'm sure is the reason. But, at any rate, all this change has been hard for me.

My life, in boxes.

It's not just leaving this apartment—I've been so busy lately making a lot of changes, I'm kind of on overload. My inner self wants to curl up in a familiar place with familiar people and familiar things and rest, but that hasn't been in the cards lately.

Don't get me wrong, it's not all bad. In fact, actually, it's basically all good! The only "not good" would be my ability to handle change.


Still, it's all been positive. I'm the stick in the mud letting my mind linger on things, wallow in nostalgia, and wish that things could stay the same.

Art, off the wall.

It's funny how moving forward goes hand in hand with leaving behind. You can't really move forward without leaving something behind, and you definitely can't leave something behind unless you're moving forward. I guess it's all in how you look at life, and the things it throws your way. Me, I have a tendency to dwell on the Leaving Behind part. It's easier for me, because I already know about all that. That is, I know exactly what I'm leaving behind, whereas the "what's ahead" is such a mystery. What will it be like? Will I like it?

But I'm really trying to focus on the Moving Forward, and the excitement and anticipation of what comes next.

I have so much still ahead, and so many experiences on the horizon that are worth looking forward to. And no matter how scary the changes are, what kind of a life do you have if you sit stagnating because you're too afraid to step outside of your comfort zone and embrace life's possibilities?

My view right this second,
but with a trendy Instagram filter.

I know from experience that when you let yourself get too comfortable—no matter how easy it is—one day you wake up and realize you're stuck in a rut, unhappy, and wondering how life managed to slip by so fast.

So, to sum up this random introspective post—Goodbye, College Station! You've been good to me, Texas A&M has been great to me, and I'll miss you. But this is only the start, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Even if I am nervous about what "next" might be.

Let the games begin!

I know I can't be the only one out there super excited for the film release of The Hunger Games this week!

I've read all the books, I've been following the news on Twitter and Facebook. But mostly, I've been listening to the unofficial score—The HG Music Project.

Guys, I know I told you about this before, but there's new news. Now you can download the album from iTunes and Amazon! It's a great way to get pumped for the movie, plus support a couple of crazy talented guys; the composers. Both studied film scoring at NYU, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that they're great.

Check out their Facebook page—"The Hunger Games Music Project". Search "HG Music Project" on iTunes or Amazon and preview the tunes! You won't regret it.

I try not to do too much promoting, product pushing, etc., but one of the composers just so happens to be my best friend. But I promise, I'm not just biased. I'm just giving you the opportunity to become a fan before the rest of the world does. ;)

Who else will be at the midnight showing of The Hunger Games? Are you dressing up? Are you going with a group? Let me know in the comments! I can't wait to hear what you guys think of the movie (or the book!)!

Hello Hotlanta

I have finally finished going through all my pictures from my trip to Atlanta. It's pretty normal for it to take me forever to go through pictures, usually for two reasons. One, I take a lot of pictures—sometimes I have to work up the energy to import and sort through all of them. And two, going through vacation pictures too soon after vacation makes me wistful and sad that I'm not still wherever I was in all the pictures.

The downside of waiting too long to get my act together is I start having to try to remember what days I did which things. But honestly, I'm not going into specifics. I'm just excited to finally be sharing the pictures with you guys!

So here we go.

I was, of course, really excited to go. I'd been planning the trip for months ahead of time—Naturally I waited until the last minute to pack. That's when my dog started getting the idea that something was up. He's a smart little dude, and I'm sure once he realized I was exhibiting all of the signs of a person soon to head out the door, he decided to start telling me how much he didn't want me to go. He followed me around while I packed, shivering and looking sad, and when that didn't work, he tried to sneak himself in my luggage.

Seriously.

My hopeful little stowaway.

I love my dog. He's so precious. But sadly he couldn't make the trip with me. (Spoiler alert—he lived through my almost-two-week absence just fine, but was super excited to see me when I got back).

The flight out was smooth, at least as smooth as flying can be what with baggage check, TSA, wasted time, pat-downs, and boarding. I don't have a whole lot of flying experience under my belt—this trip made my third flight ever. But as far as flying goes, it wasn't half bad. The flight was pretty short, our pilot was funny, and I read the whole time.

Landing was the fun part—walking off of the plane and into a different state. I may not fly much, but that's something that's kind of wild to me every time. I sit down on a plane and step off thousands of miles away. Crazy. Flying is awesome.

We had arrived.

Atlanta.

The view from my hotel room.

Welcome to the Omni Hotel!

We stayed at the Omni Hotel at the CNN Center, which was amazing, I'm not gonna lie. For starters, the room was really nice, and the hotel had a few places to eat and a couple or so bars. And then there was the fact that it was connected to the CNN Center itself, which had a whole food court full of things to do. A Starbucks, for instance. At which I spent a lot of time—or at least made a lot of runs to. That little glorious Starbucks kiosk was on my route to street level almost every day I went out, which made it the perfect place to grab a cup of coffee every morning.

But I digress.

The purpose of my visit to Atlanta was to see an old friend of mine who's recently relocated from Texas to Georgia. So needless to say, I was pretty darn excited. It had been...what, something like a year? Maybe more? You don't know—and obviously I can't remember for sure.

Anyway.

My friend, Heather, was also basically my wheels while I was in Atlanta, as I didn't have a car there. So she was kind enough to tote us around town and drive us to all the things we wanted to see.

Guys, Atlanta has SO much to offer, I didn't come close to seeing it all. And what I did see I'd like to do again. It was so much fun.

We visited the zoo, which was great. The weather was awesome—it pretty much was for the whole trip—so we took our time looking around, taking an insane amount of pictures of the animals. We even took time out for lunch there, completing our zoo experience with a couple of slices of pizza. I love zoos. And I can honestly say I really regret not buying the cute little panda stuffed toy I saw there. Maybe next time.

On our way in!

This pouty gorilla was my favorite, all huffy under his tree.

Panda chows down.

I think maybe my favorite place we went was the High Museum of Art. It was fabulous, and we didn't even have time to walk through the whole thing! But they had a great exhibit of Warhol and Picasso. I absolutely love Andy Warhol, so seeing his work in person was amazing. I took a ton of pictures there, too—I'm always careful to ask about policies on photography before I whip out my camera in these types of places; just a reminder to always check before you snap photos! I took a lot of pictures of Warhol's work, but just to be safe (I'm not sure how the museum feels about pictures of their special exhibits being plastered online) I'm only going to post one from that exhibit. It's my favorite!

LOVE the soup cans.

Inside the museum.

Since I was staying in the CNN Center, I thought it only appropriate that we take their tour as well. And, as luck would have it, we ran into a lovely couple who'd purchased a City Pass but hadn't used it all yet—and one of the things it got us in to (for free!) was the CNN Tour. I was pretty excited. Honestly, I never really watch CNN. I'm more of a Fox girl, but to see their facilities and tour their floors was really awesome. And our tour guide was great. Really personable, chatty, friendly. He told us that the center has the largest freestanding escalator in...I think the world? Possibly just the United States. Don't quote me. But seriously, the escalator was wildly tall. We toured their newsrooms, saw a mock studio—one woman got to read the prompter and give a news cast, which was cool. We saw how they use green screens for weather maps and the like. It was really cool. We even got to see Wolf Blitzer, which was really neat because he's usually out in D.C. and not in Atlanta. We watched him through the glass and saw in person what the rest of the world was seeing on live TV. Pretty rad.

And I'm not even all the way at the bottom at this point.

CNN, y'all.

One of the mock newsrooms.

And another absolute must-see, especially for me—lover of books and writing—was Margaret Mitchell's grave. (She wrote Gone with the Wind, for those of you who have no idea who I'm talking about.) Which turned out to be a little gem of a surprise because it wasn't on the agenda; I honestly didn't know she was buried in Atlanta. But she is! At Oakland Cemetery. Maybe it's weird to call a cemetery beautiful, but this one really was. It had a lot of trees, some really elegant statues and headstones. And for being in the middle of Atlanta, it was very peaceful. It took us a bit of hunting to actually find Margaret Mitchell's headstone—it's not wildly big or extravagant, so it blends in. But eventually we followed the signs and found it. People had left some coins there. I added my own.

Oakland Cemetery.

Peaceful. I loved all the trees.

One of the really elegant tombstones.

Thank you for Gone with the Wind, Mrs. Mitchell.

We also hit up the Georgia Aquarium, which was actually the most expensive thing we did. Go figure. Probably because our ticket price included a 4D movie and a dolphin show. (The dolphin show was totally better than the 4D movie, just sayin'.) The aquarium itself was really cool. A maze of fish tanks, interactive exhibits, seals, penguins. I even got to touch a stingray! They feel slippery and wonderful. I love them. It's hard to take pictures of moving fish in a tank with no flash—but using flash just makes the glass reflect. So I didn't get a ton of great pictures in the aquarium. But that didn't stop a girl from tryin'!

The aquarium. Ta-da!

Me and my new best friend, Mr. Stingray.

I'm not sure what kind of fish this is, but it's pretty!

Sea dragon! I love these guys.

We also hit up another museum, the Fernbank Natural History Museum. My favorite part of this was the dinosaur bones in the atrium. They were pretty rad. Our walkthrough in this museum ended up being interrupted by a fire alarm—false alarm, thank goodness. Ironically enough, we also had a fire alarm go off while we were walking through the High Museum of Art. Apparently Heather and I are just too hot for our own good. (I kid. But seriously.)

A trio of dinosaurs welcoming us to the Fernbank.

Giant atrium dinosaur. :)

T-rex!

Stegosaurus!

All in all, the trip went by way too fast for me, as vacations often do. Atlanta was a really great city, and it sure has a lot to offer. I hope I can go back to Georgia soon—next time I really want to make it down to Savannah!

We visited a couple of other museums and checked out a lot of restaurants, but honestly this post is way out of control in length, so I think I'll do a Part Two of sorts, talk about a couple of other places we went, and then rave about the food we ate. Stay tuned!

Oh, hello there, 2012.

I don't know about you guys, but I simply cannot believe 2011 is over! It was a pretty good year for me, so I'm sad to see it go. Accomplished a lot, had a lot of good times.

I have pretty high hopes for 2012, and I'm starting it off right—with a trip to Atlanta! I am so unbelievably excited. I'm tagging along with my Dad, who's going for a job. It's a vacation I really need, plus a chance to visit a very good friend of mine who moved to Georgia recently! The best part is, I'll be there for practically two weeks.

Like I said, I simply can't wait.

2011 ended in a bit of a whirlwind for me! Between graduation, Christmas, and New Year, it was over before I knew what had happened. Eventually (hopefully soon) I'll borrow Mom's camera and download the pictures she took of my ceremony.

It wasn't near as bad as I'd feared—I was really paranoid I was going to trip. I had also envisioned there being millions of people there. There weren't. It was big, for sure. We had a few thousand students graduating, so once we filed in and got seated, I felt like I'd be there forever. The walk across the stage went by in a flash—My parents said I booked it, but I didn't notice. I was just thinking something along the lines of, "Don't trip, don't trip, don't trip. Take the diploma. Shake his hand. Smile. Don't trip. Don't fall down the steps. Don't trip. Oh, it's over."

It was such a relief, and so gratifying to actually hold my diploma in my hands—that's something A&M does that I really love. You actually DO get handed your for-real diploma when you walk. So as soon as I took the maroon tube and shook President Loftin's hand, I had my diploma.

Then I came back home and realized...it was only a week until Christmas! I feel like I missed out on the whole countdown-to-Christmas build up. I was so focused on graduation that I didn't even realize how close Christmas was. My Christmas was great—I got a million and one things, and everything that I wanted. I have pictures of Christmas morning to go through, too, and I still may write up a separate post for Christmas. Because really, it deserves it's own post!

Our tree! Overflowing with gifts! <3

New Year snuck up on me, too. But I spent it quietly at home with my parents watching movies, which was lovely.

I should probably start writing down my resolutions—I have some, but so far they're just ideas, and not yet on paper. I'd intended to write up a post about that, too. I suppose I still could, I'd just have to nix "Not procrastinate" off of the resolution list. You know, for posterity's sake.

At any rate, I really have to wrap up this post now. As usual, I've managed to put things off to the last minute so now what I need to be doing is packing my suitcase—I'm actually headed to the airport tomorrow for that Atlanta trip I just mentioned.

I can tell you that one of my resolutions is to stop going so long between posts, so keep an eye out! And, as always, thanks so much for reading!

Oh! And I got new glasses. :D

An Almost Alumni

By this time next week, I will officially be a Texas A&M University graduate.

Guys, holy cow.

I...don't even know what to do with myself. I'm this crazy mix of emotions. Predominately happy and sad. Happy because, well, it's about freaking time! Sad because I've enjoyed my time at A&M and in some ways I'm not exactly ready for it to end. And then there's the nervousness. Because in a few hours less than a week, I will be walking across the stage in front of thousands of people. And I'm really terrified that I'm going to trip.

So there's that.

But I'd say I'm mostly excited. I graduate at 9 a.m. December 17th, so I'll be getting up pretty early that day. That's okay, though—I have big, fantastic plans to drop by Starbucks before I go, so I should be caffeined-up and ready to rock the cap and gown.

And since I can't mail you, my lovely followers, my graduation announcement, I thought I'd post a picture of it.

The front!

The inside!

Ordering announcements was an adventure in and of itself. Way too many options for me to process, and way too many extras to add. And way too much money to spend. I managed to keep it right at $100, but still. Good grief. That's a lot of money for just 30 announcements. Even including the envelopes, seals, return address labels, and such. Fortunately I won't have to do this again. Unless I go to grad school. But I am choosing not to think about that yet.

All that's really left to do is order the diploma frame. And, you know, do the whole walking thing. Then I can finally stop stressing about it.

Yep, then I can just start stressing about the whole rest of my life.

But I've got plenty of time for that.

I've been spending a lot of my time thinking about graduation day, worrying about it, mulling it over. In the end, I've decided that instead of completely freaking out about the ominous "What's Next?", I'm instead going to take some time to just enjoy being done. Just being proud of what I accomplished.

Plus, Christmas is coming up. And Christmas is my favorite holiday. So I'm really intending to focus on fun, family, and happiness.

I should have a couple of new things coming up for you guys—I'll be posting some more of my writing. I've had a couple of people express interest in reading what I wrote for the Gross Out assignment in my workshop. I also plan to post what I wrote for my final, which is basically a parody of a final. So that should be fun.

Stay tuned, and as always, thanks so much for following my blog, guys!

An Evening with Stephen King

Tonight I had the wonderful privilege to attend An Evening with Stephen King—hosted by A Real Bookstore. Many of you may already know that Stephen King is basically my idol. So I'm sure you can imagine just how thrilling this was for me.

But just in case you can't, I thought I'd relive the experience here for you guys. Also, I have pictures to share.

I found out about this event last month—completely by accident. I'm ashamed to say I had no idea the wildly talented Mr. King would be in the area at all. I knew his new book (11/22/63) was coming out soon, but it never occurred to me to check and see what kind of a book tour there would be.

Turns out, it was a really small tour. I got lucky. He came to Dallas—twice. Once at the Majestic Theater, and the second time, the one I went to, at McKinney North High School.

I'm not exactly sure why A Real Bookstore picked the high school as the venue, but I'll tell you this—it was actually a really great place for this. It seated about a thousand. And rest assured, it was a full house. We were allowed in the parking lot at 4 (after school let out). Which, in this case, was great. Because since no one could park before 4, there was absolutely no rush to get there before 4. Otherwise I would have felt the need to camp out by the door as soon as the sun rose. Anyway, I got there a little past four—traffic, of course—but we only had to stand in line outside until 5. Then we were allowed in.

I have to say, it was really awesome to be able to sit and wait instead of stand and wait. Because the actual event didn't begin until 7.

I also have to say, I'm really glad I picked up my ticket the day before because the will-call line didn't move at all until we were practically being let inside.

Seating was first come, first served. Another reason I insisted on being right on time, or as close to it as I could manage. I ended up getting a pretty darn good seat, if I do say so myself. Not quite in the front row, which I would have loved. But still close to the front. And I got a free A Real Bookstore tote bag in my seat. Another plus!

My ticket! And my free bag!

I sat next to a couple of friendly people (who had also come solo), which was awesome—I had brought my iPad along, expecting to be bored out of my mind while waiting, but instead I had some very pleasant conversations and got to talk about favorite King novels, how early I started reading his work (somewhere around 5th grade), and how excited we were to be there.

While we waited, a brass trio played jazz for us. And then the McKinney High Jazz Band played some songs. They were actually really good! And I was super surprised at how fast those two hours went by. A Real Bookstore had also put together a slideshow of Stephen King trivia and fun-facts (most of which the woman next to me knew!). There was even an official Twitter hash tag for the event!

The jazz trio. :)

I was all set with not one but two cameras (and my iPhone), and had triple-checked to make sure the flash wouldn't fire—the only condition of photography; it was allowed as long as we didn't use flash. But then I discovered that the red-eye light was also not okay. I panicked a little bit, thinking I wouldn't be able to figure out how in the world to cover up the thing.

Guys, I even went so far as to put bandaids over it (which actually worked pretty well). But then I decided I'd actually look in my camera settings and...voila! I figured out how to turn it off. On my Canon. My Nikon, I'm sad to say, was not so lucky. So it stayed in my purse the whole time.

And I gotta say, my Canon did a bang-up job. It was an excellent sidekick for the evening. And a trooper. Because, believe it or not, I took a whopping 260 pictures during the event. But I learned a long time ago, take a ton of pictures—if you do, you WILL get some good ones. Better safe than sorry. That's my philosophy.

The King!

The whole thing was a blast. Stephen (yes, we're on first name basis) looked so comfortable up there on stage—he owned it. And guys, he's funny. Seriously funny. It was sort of like seeing a stand-up comedy routine. He cracked jokes, poked fun, and was all around delightful and charming. He told stories about people mistaking him for Spielberg and Coppola, and about his experiences in Dallas while he was researching 11/22/63.

If you want to know what11/22/63 is about, here's a summary.

On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? Stephen King’s heart-stoppingly dramatic new novel is about a man who travels back in time to prevent the JFK assassination—a thousand page tour de force.*

And hearing him talk about writing was a dream come true for me. As an aspiring author who can't wait to be published, I couldn't ask for advice or wisdom from a better person—especially considering King is a huge influence for me. I mean, I learned to embrace the beauty of a well-placed sentence fragment from this man. The best advice of the night, at least for me personally, was this: And I'm sad I must paraphrase, but still: "If you're someone who wants to write, you needn't worry about the business side of things. Just get your words on paper. Words on paper, words on paper. The rest will follow." Again, that's a paraphrase. But the basic idea is there.

Words on paper. Words on paper. Words on paper.

Yes, this is my new mantra.

He talked for a little while, shared stories, and was met with generous applause and laughter. Then he read a short section of his book, which was highly enjoyable. He's got a good voice to give a reading; not boring or monotone or unengaged? something like that? And the excerpt really got me excited to read the book.

During the reading.

After the reading, he did a Q&A. I wish I'd really sat down and thought of a good question to submit, because after I got in the car to head back I thought of a million I wish I'd asked. But he was such a good sport and he answered all the questions asked of him, and was genuinely appreciative of the response he got from the audience for the evening.

He also talked about some upcoming books—another in the Dark Tower series,

All in all, it lasted a little over an hour. It was the first time I'd ever seen Stephen King in "real life", I suppose you'd say. And it was great. I always worry that people I idolize will be...disappointing in reality. But Stephen is anything but a disappointment.

He is a charismatic, charming man. Brilliant. Overflowing with ideas, creativity, and he is truly passionate about writing. He loves what he does—at one point in the evening, he said doing events like this were always a little uncomfortable for him because he feels he's meant to be in a room by himself writing stories.

I love the way he puts it—he's made to write stories. Not to get published, be famous, make millions. But to write stories.

Listening to a question.

This man is such an incredible inspiration to me, and I am absolutely thrilled to have had the chance to see him in person, and in a fairly intimate setting. One thousand people is a lot, but being as close as I was, it didn't feel like a huge venue.

And I walked away with a whole new appreciation for the man who's practically always been my favorite author.

I'm sad to report that I did not get an autographed copy of the book (250 autographed copies were mixed in with the 1,000 that were handed out to us). But the woman sitting next to me did! (Congratulations!)

But that's okay, because the experience itself was the true treasure for me. And I really enjoyed sharing it with you guys!


*Excerpt from Amazon's book description.

30 Crazy Days

Happy November, folks! Halloween has come and gone, and do you know what that means? It's National Novel Writing Month again! (Or NaNoWriMo, for those of you who've heard of this before!)

What is National Novel Writing Month? Well. It's this crazy thing some of us who like to write do. It takes up the whole month of November—all 30 days. And in 30 days, we aim to write 50,000 words. A novel!

It's a lot of fun. It may sound impossible to write so much in a mere 30 days, but I'm here to tell you it IS possible! I'm a NaNo veteran and I've made it to the finish line on more than one occasion!

The idea of National Novel Writing Month is to just write your novel—don't edit, don't think too hard about it. Just let the words come. And come. And come. There's plenty of time to rewrite and change and add and take away in December. Look at it this way—you can't edit anything if you don't write anything to begin with!

Are any of you guys taking on NaNoWriMo this year? I am!

Considered it, but decided against it because you don't have a plan or plot outlined? Reconsider! I don't have a plan or plot outlined, either. And if you'd like a Writing Buddy, feel free to add me over at NaNoWriMo.org!

It's free to sign up, and there is absolutely no penalty if you don't reach 50k. There's no way to LOSE at NaNoWriMo. And even if you only write 5,000 words, that's 5,000 you didn't have before!

Interested? Head over to NaNoWriMo's website and learn more! You can also check them out on Twitter and Facebook! And be sure to stockpile lots of coffee and snacks—there will likely be late nights of writing furiously involved.

NaNoWriMo starts today, but don't worry—there's still plenty of time to get started!

So, who's joining in this year? If you are—do you have a plan? Or are you winging it like me?

Aggie Ring Day!

If you've been keeping up with my blog, then you undoubtedly have heard me mention that I'd be getting my Aggie ring soon (It finally happened!) and you've probably heard it mentioned on more than one occasion.

I've been meaning to type up this post for awhile now. I did, after all, get my ring on September 16th. I know, I'm a tad behind schedule. A lot of this is my fault. I've been so lazy. It's shameful. But, on the other hand, I did leave for a week long trip to Colorado shortly after Ring Day (But that's a post for another time. Honest!) so things did get a bit hectic for awhile there.

Anyway, I've finally got my pictures sorted through, and I'm super excited to share them with you guys!

So, without further ado, my Ring Day!

My parents drove down the morning of, and it was really exciting when they showed up! I wanted to be over to the Alumni Center early, so we headed over shortly after they arrived. And, true to form, the first placed I stopped on the way was Starbucks. Because I don't like to start my day when I'm absent my coffee.

Me and Dad at Starbucks.
Mom's behind the camera. :)

That was our only stop on the way—after Starbucks, we headed straight to the Alumni Center. Well. Straight to the parking garage. Then we walked a few blocks. THEN we were at the Alumni Center. But it was a nice walk; the way was pleasant. Not too hot, which was a miracle—the past several days down here in College Station had been in the upper 90s. And it was fun to walk with my parents on campus. I got to point out some of the places I see all the time.

Like this!

Our usual bookstore is getting a remodel.
So it's taken up residence here in the Coliseum.

Since I managed to score a spot in the first round of ring pick-ups, it wasn't very busy when we got there. We even managed to get a spot indoors, in the air conditioning. Winning! Inside was much more crowded than outside. Full of anxious Aggies eager to finally slip that Aggie Ring on their finger.

Our Yell Leaders (we don't have cheerleaders) up on the balcony.
We had a quick Yell Practice about five minutes before the first pick up!

Pick up areas were split off into three sections, by alphabet. My line happened to be right by the door we walked in. So convenient! We took our place in line—well, I did. And my parents stood with me!—and counted down the minutes. We were only about half an hour early. Just early enough to get a good spot in line without a super long wait.

Right under that maroon and white balloon arch.
That's where my Aggie Ring is. :)

Once they called the first pick up time (2:00, if you were curious!), things actually went surprisingly fast. Props to A&M for figuring out a way to organize such a huge event. Over 3,500 Aggies got their rings on that day, and pick up times were in 15 minute increments; from 2:00 to 7:00. I walked under the arch, and in the room we were again split up by alphabet. I stood in line behind a group of people, not quite sure which line they were in, and then Dad figured out that they were in the line next to where I needed to be—no one was in my line! So I stepped right up, presented my student I.D. and driver's license, and my Ring Day ticket, then signed my name and TA-DA!

I'm presented with my Aggie Ring! WHOOP!

Putting it on for the first time! :D

After finally getting my ring (isn't it GORGEOUS!) we headed outside. I had a coupon for one free professional photograph at my choice of a few 'landmarks' around the Alumni Center. I chose one of my favorite statues; two replica Aggie Rings.

This is the picture Mom took of me getting my picture taken. :)

And that was that! I had my Aggie Ring! FINALLY. And it was so awesome to get to have my parents down, even though they could only stay for one night. We went to dinner at Ninfa's to celebrate. Because their enchiladas are to die for, and they have fantastic margaritas, too!

The professional photo has reached my house—I haven't seen it yet. I haven't had a chance to go home yet! But Mom says it looks good. So here's hopin'!

And I'm already developing a tan-line where I wear my ring. Because I wear it pretty much all the time. I just take it off to sleep. :)

It feels really great to finally have what's come to be, to me at least, a symbol of all I've accomplished. Just looking at it reminds me of all the hard work I've done, and all the hours I've put in, and the effort I've put forth. It's all worth it. So worth it. And I'm so proud! I'm glad I finally got to share this experience with you guys. :)

Rut Vs. Groove

Have you ever wondered what exactly the difference is between a rut and a groove? I have. I figure, a groove is something comfortable, familiar, positive even—a habit or schedule you're happy with. A rut can be comfortable, definitely familiar, but the way I see it, people aren't always happy to be stuck in a rut. They've much rather get in a groove.

Or maybe that's just me.

At any rate, the past couple of weeks have found me struggling to get back in my groove and not stuck in a rut. It isn't exactly working out so far. Basically I've been reliving the day where I'm going to get the groove thing going. Only it's turning out to be more of a rut. I've been spending my days being generally unproductive, and each day I think, 'Tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day I'll get out of the rut and into the groove.'

As you may have guessed, I'm definitely in more of a rut than a groove.

But at least I'm working on it, right?

I've got some free time on my hands this semester, which makes it really easy to get sucked in to kicking back on the couch and doing absolutely nothing. (Or playing video games*, if you must know.) So the challenge for me is to use my time wisely instead of wasting it. So I've been really trying to focus on writing. I want to make a real habit of it, a daily thing. And not just a sentence or to. Typing out emails and text messages just don't cut it. They aren't making me a better writer. The things that will better my writing? Writing, of course. And reading.

And honestly, I can think of way worse ways to spend my off time. I mean, I love writing. And I love reading. So really, I'm not sure what this rut I'm in is all about. Expect maybe a general laziness on my part.

But anyway.

September. How is it already September? That December graduation date is sneaking up on me—It'll be here before you know it. I'm not sure how I feel about that. But at least September is a good month. For a couple of reasons.

In just a little over a week, I'll finally be getting my Aggie Ring! (WHOOP!)

I'm super stoked for this, you guys. I mean, I'm really freaking excited. And happy. And my parents are coming, and we're all going to be excited and happy together. So there's that.

And toward the end of this month, I'll be taking a trip to Colorado with my parents. My cousin is getting married. Well, she's getting married in Hawaii. But they live in Colorado, and that's where they're having their reception. The best part? I mean, besides the visiting Colorado part? Since I only have one class this semester, I'll be able to be gone for like a week and still only miss one class day.

Excellent.

No 100s! No 100s!!!

But perhaps the most exciting development in my life right now is that Texas has finally decided to calm down on the heat wave. Why, just the other day I took a trip to Starbucks and sipped my coffee outside. OUTSIDE. A miracle. The forecast for the week down here may be full of 90s, but that's much better than the triple digit misery we'd been having!

I may be a bit premature, but I don't even care—Fall is in the air, you guys. I can feel it.

I love Fall.



*specifically, one video game. Dead Island. Which I recently acquired. And boy, I do love killing zombies... What? No, I'm not ridiculous... Okay, maybe a little ridiculous...