I've never done this before, and I've never really been big on "new year's resolutions". However, I have been extremely unhappy for a long time and I believe the only thing that really keeps a person going is having something to look forward to. With that said, here are a few things I think I can manage to do this year. They are listed in no particular order.


Write everyday. Even if it's just one sentence. Add something to any story everyday.

Read more books. I managed to read 15 whole books and the introduction to The Complete Sherlock Holmes in 2012. Most of these were children's and young adult novels. I think that number is nothing to be proud of. I want to read more!

Go back to school. I don't care what program it is or where it is. I don't care if it's even one class. I must continue my education.

Finish my first novel. I just mean here that I write the whole story through to the end. This doesn't mean it's finished and ready for others to read. I will have to edit it. I already know that. I just want to get it done.

Find and settle into a good job. A job that I like enough. A job that doesn't make me want to call out and sleep all day. A job that keeps me happy, satisfied, and busy.

Get more active. I hate the gym. I won't buy another membership. If I just start walking everyday, everyday, then I'd be happy.

Stop eating so much junk food. I have cravings, but this doesn't excuse how much I just sit and eat. I do it mostly when I'm bored, or out of habit. I need to make myself more disciplined.

I'm going to make this a sticky post so I can see it often.

New fall tv shows TRAILERS!!!! :D :D :D :D

I'm usually the last to know things, so you may have already seen these.

Oh my God, you guys.

Angelina is my queeeeeeeen. She's amazing and I love her.

READ.

You may already know this, but one of things I do which takes up most of my time is bring my sister to and from work. It's about a twenty minute drive, 75% of which is on the highway. Gas is expensive so I usually drop her off and then stay nearby instead of driving all the way back to Bridgeport. During the week, I usually go to my mom's. My stepdad isn't there during the week, and I don't have to buy something to sit there. Sometimes I clean or do errands for my mom. On the weekends, however, my stepdad doesn't work, so I do not go to my mom's. My sister works virtually every Saturday and Sunday, and I'll spend these days in either Panera Bread or Barnes & Noble. There's free wifi. I buy a coffee. If I get really hungry I'll buy a sandwich.

So anyway, in B&N this guy named Lucas works there. He used to also work in my sister's Marshalls and they're friends. He and I will talk a little (It's friendly, not flirty. I actually think he's gay.), and even moreso when my sister is there. I was in the middle of uploading something last night (more on that later) so I called my sister to walk over to B&N so I could finish. When she came over, it was about 10pm. Lucas came out to talk to her and he mentioned how badly they need to hire someone. Both my sister and I perked up at that because I obviously really need a job. He said everything is on the website, so I immediately googled it and started doing the application. They showed two poisitions - one for the cafe area (where Lucas works) and one for the bookstore proper. I applied for both, and they even had a section asking if an employee referred you and what's their name. For some reason I feel like having an employee's name like that will really give me points or something.

For a long, long time I've wanted to work in a bookstore. I know it's about stocking shelves instead of reading books, but still... A certain kind of person is attracted to books and coffee shops, I think.





In other news, I've been accepted as a trial capper at ~grande_caps. I LOVE Grande Caps so much. They're my favorite place to go for caps. I've been using them for a long time, and the only other place I probably use just as much is Home of the Nutty, and they've been kind of been...off lately. I don't know what's going on with them. But Grande consistently updates and I love their website.

I've thought about capping movies and shows for people for years - ever since I first learned to autocap. But I was daunted by the idea of trying to become prominent. Like, who was going to see my caps? Would anyone even pay attention? I've been capping for myself, mostly for gifs, so capping isn't new to me. But the process for Grande is new to me and I feel like such a n00b, if I can use that ten-year-old term. I've already capped and uploaded Django and I think it came out nicely. I think I know what I'm doing now. ^_^

Waiting for everything to cap and upload yesterday, I made a few icons for ~20inspirations. I actually really like them, but I bet everyone else will find them hideous. XP I kind of want to post them here and ask for concrit, but I don't know if that's allowed...?





Lastly, I LOVE AUDIOBOOKS. I finished The Call of the Wild and started Moby Dick. YES, MOBY DICK; OR THE WHALE. I'm excited. I'm a nerd. I actually read with my eyes the Narnia book The Silver Chair, so I've read 9 books so far this year. My tentative goal was two books per month. I think I'm doing well. ^_^

IRON MAN 3! I'M SEEING IT TUESDAY! ASDFGHJKLASDFGHJKL!! How did I become so excited for comic book movies?

I finished Anna Karenina! I have to say I'm very proud of myself for finishing such a big book. It's very dense. I don't think I would have done it so quickly without the audiobook. (Seriously, librivox.org. Bookmark it.) I managed to finish it in 25 days, whereas I read For Whom the Bell Tolls in nine months. :/ I really do enjoy classic literature, but it's heavy, you know?

Anyway, I'm going to watch Joe Wright's Anna Karenina again soon. Also, Iron Man 3 comes out this weekend so I will be seeing that next week on $5 Tuesday! ^_^

Now I'm reading a YA book called His Majesty's Dragon. I don't remember where I heard about it. I've only read 15 pages and it's kind of dull, but sometimes the beginnings of books aren't that interesting because the reader is just being introduced to everything.

I made some icons for ~theiconquest, and my favorite icon from the set is probably this one:

Just because it's a MPGIS reference and I thought I was so clever. XP

Today I'm at my mom's and I'm going to do cleaning after I check my friends list.

I sometimes try to not post gifsets here because *I KNOW* it's not Tumblr, but this is great:







sauce

THE TSWIZZLE ONE SLAYS ME.

I don't have much to talk about. I'm pretty boring. So I thought I would talk about my shows!











I've yet to begin season three of the Borgias. :p

I'm a nerd, so I find this really cool. What happens to a wet cloth when you try to wring it out in space?

VIVE LA FRANCE.



I think bobble-head dolls are really adorable, and I was looking through the, like, ~official~ website just now and I REALLY want these ones:

Yes, oddly enough, Beauty and the Beast and Silence of the Lambs are two of my favorite films of all time. Each doll is about $10. Maybe I'll buy one next week...



I had my interview and I think it went well. I knew I was going to interview with a girl named Chaz, and when I got there this dude was like, 'Hey I'm the district manager and I just happen to be here today so I'm going to sit in.' That was fine, but he was very serious and intimidating. Chaz was really nice and we got along well. I think if it was just me and her, I would say the interview went great, but the DM made me feel nervous and awkward. They told me I was the very first interview they've had and they're going to be interviewing people all week. They will call for a second interview in a week (if they want one) but I should call them if I don't hear from them. So I shall do that.

YOU GUUUYS.

I GOT AN INTERVIEW!

DGKNDGKLNSAAMFSNAl l;LM

It's for Rue 21, which is the place that I kind of screwed up on the application, so I really didn't expect them to call me. It's tomorrow at 3pm. I have to do laundry. I haven't had a job interview in a long time since I worked for Walgreens for almost six years.

I'm nervous and excited!

OOOHHH I keep forgetting to post this...

Apparently, P!ATD is opening for Fall Out Boy. I know, like, two of their songs. I'm obviously not a *fan* of theirs. I never got into their music because they always came off, to me, like they were trying to rip off FOB since their lead singer (Brandon?) sounds so similar to Patrick.

But I do like the two songs I kind of know and want to know more of their music. If you're a Panic fan, can you tell me what you think are the best songs and/or the ones you think I should start listening to? I have until September, so I could probably memorize many songs by then. ^_^ Thank you!

OMG YOU GUYS.

I just discovered this site: mp3million.com

They have an astonishing catalogue of music and every track is only 9 cents. I swear to God, this is amazing, my mind is blown. I'm officially done with iTunes.

I love music. I love discovering new music. Yes, I am a downloader/pirate of music. This has only ever been because I want to hear new music, but if I don't like it, I just spent $15+ on an album that I will never listen to again. Going through mp3million.com, I haven't seen an album for more than $2. NOT EVEN $2. Like, I think the most expensive one I've seen is $1.76, and most of them are under a dollar.

Right now, I have 280 tracks in my 'cart' and the total cost is $20.27. This is RIDICULOUS.

Why so many? Well, I first went through and added all the albums I love but haven't had the money to officially buy. And now I'm going back and forth between new music I've heard of, previewing the album to see if I want it, and then searching for albums I do like and want to own. They're just not on my 'favorites' list.

Actually, I've now decided to stop adding stuff because I didn't want to go over $15. XP I'll remove a few things and come back and buy things again another time.

I can't tell you how relieved I am that they managed to catch the Boston Marathon Bomber alive.

I've been staying up late - really late - for the past several days only because I can't sleep. Because of this, I have been on top of stuff going in as it's happening because of the internet. What happened several times is that I saw a post on Tumblr, so I went and looked at trending topics on Twitter, and then I found myself a livestream of MSNBC right here. I'm really impressed with this livestream. It looks like the page was created three years ago, but if you just load the page and wait thirty seconds, the stream comes on and rarely stops/skips/buffers.

Anyway, so all this week I have been watching live reports of Boston, Waco, and Boston again. I was honestly terrified, and when they decided to shut everything down in the Boston area, I didn't think twice. I kind of just figured that they're going to do what they need to do to catch the guy. For a while I thought he got away, but when it was announced that he was caught, I was so shocked and happy. I mean, I think it shows that our police force and FBI and whatever else was on this case know what they're doing in the middle of crisis. I applaud them.

I hope everyone is safe, and everyone you know is safe and well.

In the aftermath, though, now that things are settling down because we caught him, we're going to start to look at what it took to catch him. I came across this article which talks about a few things. I haven't read the entire thing yet. But basically, are we okay with the police (I'm just going to say 'police', but I'm talking about feds and whoever else gets involved with these things) riding into our neighborhoods and telling us to stay in our houses for an indefinite period of time? In this case, yes, I would be. I wouldn't want to leave my house anyway. This was a crisis and was solved incredibly well. But where will this demonstration of power lead? If the police think there is some kind of criminal/terrorist - one not so sensationalized, perhaps one we don't even know exists - would it be okay for them to come into our neighborhood and tell us to stay put?

I really don't know. At one point does it become a police state? I am glad that the police did what they did because it led to the capture of the bomber. But where will such actions take us?

I feel so sad about many differently things going on in the country right now.

Obviously, the majority of the Senate deciding to do nothing about gun control is a real shock. I thought they would do something small. Something that would be so small it would piss everybody off, but at the same time have people saying, 'At least it's something.' But to do absolutely nothing? I've watched several pieces centered on the families of the victims of the Newton Massacre, and I was sobbing a few days ago. This is too much and I literally cannot wrap my head around the fact that our Senate has decided to do nothing.

The bombings in Boston were terrifying. I watched those videos and was filled with terror. This was an attack of some sort, and therefore it's kind of different from everything else in this post. It was shocking and senseless and something no regular person could have prepared him or herself for. I can't imagine being there.

The fire and explosion of the plant in Texas was also shocking and terrifying. I watched this video that is quite disturbing and one of the most frightening things I have ever seen. I believe this plant wasn't monitored correctly and that's why it exploded.

Over the past several weeks, Republicans in state senates across the country have been doing their best to take away women's rights protected by the Constitution. It is in there, because of Roe v Wade, that an abortion is legal and women have a right to get one. She doesn't have to explain herself to anyone. It has nothing to do with anyone's religions. It is a right that we have in this country. In places like North Dakota and Mississippi, the senates have decided to spend time and money arguing about the issue. Like, they're trying to decide if women should have the right to get an abortion. Okay, everyone, it is already in the Constitution. You can't do anything about it in your little state senate. You are literally wasting tax payer's money for absolutely no reason. Stop. Additionally, because of pressure and violence and threats and whatever else, there are at least four states that have one clinic offering abortions in the entire state. I believe it's North Dakota, Alabama, Mississippi, and Nebraska. I would be wrong. There could be more states. But I know there are at least four. The people who want to close these clinics threaten and injure the people operating them. Doctors have even been killed. This doesn't make sense to me. 'Let's kill people to stop some women from getting abortions.' ONE clinic in an ENTIRE state will do an abortion, so women have to travel somewhere around four hours or so in some cases. This enrages me. Attitudes towards women in general of late have been pushing my buttons.

I was in Barnes & Noble and saw this:

This is crazy! There was just behind-the-scenes released/leaked (not sure which) and she already has a doll! I'm... mildly excited.

I'm all over lots of stuff lately. I cannot wait for 'The Great Gatsby', which comes out next month. Today I watched the trailer for 'Catching Fire' and it looks GREAT.

I am watching SO many tv shows, and just a year or so ago I was watching just a few, and most of them I would wait until they were available on DVD. Now I'm watching Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Borgias, Once Upon A Time, Bates Motel, and Hannibal. And then True Blood, Newsroom, and Dexter will be coming back soon. TOO MUCH. I know I should be focusing on other things. But these shows are so good.

Television in general is incredible. Yeah, there are some bad shows on the air (mostly the reality shows), but overall television has never been so...EPIC than it is now. It used to be sitcoms and soaps. That was really it. Maybe a handful of dramas were around twenty-or-so years ago, but they certainly didn't have much of a budget. The shows on the air - the good ones that I'm referring to - are created with just as much dedication as good movies are. Real acting, real writing, real set design. It is incredible. Sometimes I feel like I'm watching only to be able to go and fangirl all over Tumblr or whatever, but when I think about it, I think I really would watch these shows no matter how busy I was - even if I waited for them to be released on DVD. I love the stories. There is so much in them. In my opinion, they're just as good as movies, and actually even better than most movies put out recently.

On the other hand, I sometimes think I watch too much in general. I should read and write more. I am steadily reading, and I'm about 300 pages into Anna Karenina. I am reading some of it every night. It's a monster. *shrugs*

Today I've watched Game of Thrones. (HOLY SHIT.) I still need to watch Mad Men, Borgias (two episodes), Iron Man 2, and A Royal Affair. The last is a Danish movie I wanted to see anyway because Alicia Vikander is in it, BUT THEN I realized Mads Mikkelson is in it as well, so watching it is a necessity.

Also, about the television, I also think about the fact that there so many shows I still want to get into, ON TOP of all the ones I'm already watching. Off the top of my head: Sherlock, Doctor Who, Supernatural, and a ton of other ones. I have links in my sidebar to lists if you're interested.

I'm currently reading Anna Karenina, and you know it's a HUGE book. The copy I have is 950 pages. I am enjoying it, but sometimes I'm reading it and it's hard for me to keep my concentration focused. I decided to try to find an audiobook to listen to while I read. I did find one on YouTube, and it was uploaded by this website called Librivox. It has a staggering amount of free audiobooks which you can download. The reason they're free is because Librivox only records books that are in the public domain, and it has volunteers reading the books. For example, in Anna Karenina, there's often a different person reading every chapter. I thought other people may find this website useful. ^_^

I am so excited about this concert! (I'm sorry I posted so many 'ermahgerd' pictures. I changed it down to four.) It's not until September so my excitement will probably go back and forth. I've already pre-ordered their album on iTunes (also Vampire Weekend's album). I just can't believe I got the pit because tickets went on a presale on the 2nd, and then the general admission on the 6th. WHY ARE THEY AVAILABLE? Whatever. I'm kind of thinking about staying in a hotel for the night because I love hotels. And also I don't want to drive so far so late at night.

In other news... I've been thinking about Hannibal every day. THEY ARE RE-AIRING THE PILOT TONIGHT SO YOU SHOULD WATCH IT. I made this gif set where I used the song 'Sympathy for the Devil'. It's just so perfect!

[clicky]

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