A little bit of everything....

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that I'm a dreadful correspondant. I can't even remember to write on my blog, let alone write an email or (horrors!) a letter. So, anyone who is reading this and is owed a note of any sort, I'm terribly sorry.

We had a nice laid-back and relaxed Christmas. My grandparents came to stay over Christmas Eve and go to church with us. After church on Christmas day we just hung out around the house.

On Monday we went to see "King Kong" which was just AWESOME. The bugs....eww, the bugs. They didn't scare me, but they sure were disgusting. Andrew loved them, especially the wormy-thing, but he's just a weird little kid. ;o) One of the reviews in the Fort Wayne paper said something about Adrien Brody's character, Jack, being weak and uninteresting and bemoaning the fact that Ann might even consider him over Kong. I had to disagree. Jack was wonderful and he definitely wasn't weak. (The dude went charging off into the jungle BY HIMSELF to save the girl. Stupid, maybe. Weak, no.)

Last night Patrick and I went with Pr. Petersen, Thomas, and Winston to rent skis for the ski trip we're going on next week. I'm so excited! I haven't been skiing for over two years, and I didn't think I'd get to go along this time because of school, but we figured out last night that the timing won't conflict after all. I'll be taking a lesson when we get there, as will my dad.

After we got finished with the skis, Patrick, Thomas, Winston, and I went to a dance lesson. Well, really we got lost on the way there, missed the early lesson, went out for coffee, and made it to the next one. We learned the swing (which Patrick and I already knew) and the cha-cha. The cha-cha is sooo much fun....almost as much fun as the foxtrot, my current favorite dance.

A Huge Sigh of Relief

It was nice getting my first semester of college out of the way, but even nicer is knowing that I got it out of the way and ended up a 4.0 GPA. :oD

This is a HUGE relief, especially in light of the problems I had with my english class/professor. I also get to keep my scholarship, which I had been a little worried about. I'm sure it also feels great to my homeschooling mother... just a reassurance that she didn't (completely) mess me up.

How girlie am I? HA!

Thank you Rachael.
I always knew I was a girlie-girl, but the description given doesn't quite fit. At least, I don't think so.

Hmph. My highly enlightened, collegiate mind tells me that this quiz is founded on antiquated gender-based stereotypes, and that's the problem with the answer. It's faulty at its core.... ;o)

You Are 30% Boyish and 70% Girlish

Even if you're not a girl, you're very feminine. You're in touch with your feelings, and your heart rules you. A bit of a emotional roller coaster, one moment you're up and the next you're down. But no matter what, you try to be as cute and perky as possible.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

Yes I do have a blog. Nice of you to remind me....

I don't *think* I was trying to set a record for how long I could go without getting online, but it was working that way. I think it's been just over a week....and that's just getting online. Forget blogging, of all things!

Finals are OVER, and I think they all went well. Piano did for sure. I got some really great feedback from the professors I played for, and have officially been moved from the 200 level course to the 300 level. Yay! I still have to figure out if I'm keeping the same teacher, or if I'll be taking lessons from Dr. Robertson now.

On Friday, with finals completely over, I decided to keep the stress level up by starting a new project: sewing. I'm working on an apron right now, and thus far the patterns, sewing machine, fabric, needle, thread, and pins are all giving me fits. I'm sure it will all come out fine and I'll enjoy it once I figure out what the heck I'm doing.

On Friday evening we went to a surprise 60th birthday party that my grandpa threw for my grandma. It was held at a nice steakhouse complete with live band and dancing. My little cousins (the little little ones) really got into the dancing part, and they entertained the band. Jessica, her friend Paige, my cousins Chris and Matt, and I danced a little, though it was mostly just goofing off or swaying around in a circle.

My dad got back from his trip to India this evening! We're soooooo glad to have him back home safely. He came bearing gifts (naturally.) My mother got a gorgeous black 9-yard sari with beautiful white and peach flowers embroidered on it. I got two Indian dress/pants outfits. Everything is silk and so comfortable.



His hosts in India gave him a Buddha as a gift, and my parents are still trying to decide what to do with it. It's the cutest thing, if you can forget for a moment that it's an idol....

He also brought a few german newspapers he picked up while stopping over in Frankfurt. Wonder of wonders, I can actually READ them!!!That was so exciting.

Most amazing of all....My father bought toe-rings for my mother and I. My father, who almost had a cardiac event when I first bought one for myself.....wow. ;o)

Ah yes... I remember it well....

Being forced to post again. Good thing my mother is so bossy. Without her I would probably forget I even have a blog! ;o)

Perhaps sometime I'll actually write something....

"It's totally random!
If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE UP AND FICTIONAL memory of you and me. It can be anything you want--good or bad--BUT IT HAS TO BE FAKE. When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people DON'T ACTUALLY remember about you."

What Princess Am I?

I've been Belle since I was 5 years old. I would have been really shocked if I'd gotten anyone else. :oP

Which Disney Princess Are You? Belle You are bookish but incredibly pretty. Belle was first seen in Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Catching Up

I have gone from a TTLB ranking of "Flippery Fish" to "Multicellular Microorganism." How humiliating.

Thanksgiving was nice. The food was wonderful. Shopping was fun. It was nice to see everybody, especially my "cousin" Jessica, who practically lived with us last year. I hadn't seen her in months.

My mother and I saw Pride and Prejudice yesterday. As a Jane Austen fanatic and someone who has seen every movie version of every book, I was a tiny bit worried. I still have nightmares stemming from the modernized-mormonized version of P&P that came out a few years ago....

...I'm satisfied. I wasn't the only person who walked out of the theater grinning like an idiot, which is a pretty good measurement of just how satisfying it was.The theater was about half-full (better than it was for one of my other favorite period-flicks, Vanity Faire) and everyone in there seemed to GET the movie. They all laughed...or giggled... in the right spots.

Mr. Bingley was adorable. He was like a cute, confused puppy. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett were much more low-key than in the A&E version, but still hilarious. Jane was lovely and gentle and soft and calm and sooo....Jane-ish.

Keira Knightly was a great Elizabeth and I think she captured Elizabeth's "quicksilver temper" really well. My mother thinks that she must have watched the A&E version several times before she got the part because in some of her facial expressions and intonations, especially in the parts that were really word-for-word from the book, she looked or sounded a lot like Jennifer Ehle (the other Elizabeth.)

I was really worried when I saw the pictures of Matthew MacFayden, who plays Darcy. The pictures I found made him look like some watery-eyed, weak-chinned rat boy. Yeah. I was scared. But everything is alright now. He's a nice Darcy. And his eyes aren't watery. They're fine. :o)

Like yelling "Fire" in a crowded theater

Today has been one of those interesting days.

Our furnace wasn't working earlier, which explains why I was so blasted cold all morning. We had a guy come out and fix that, so it's working fine now.

It's kind of a gross day, so the family decided to take my dad to see Harry Potter this afternoon. We drove over to the theater, got our popcorn, and were getting settled with about 30 minutes to go until the start of the movie.... and the fire alarm went off. These brilliant white lights started flashing around our very dark theater and a robotic voice told us to make our way to the nearest exit. So, the entire contents of an 18-Screen theater gathered outside in the cold and slush, many people wishing they had remembered their coats (*cough*Andrew.)

The employees were very nice, and gave 2 free passes to everyone waiting outside, even the people who hadn't even been at the movies to begin with. ("Free passes? Sure I was at...uh...that new movie...yeah.") After 20 minutes or so the all clear was given and everyone piled back inside, expecting everything to pick back up where it left off. We got refills on our very cold popcorn and had just gotten resettled when we found out that all movies were cancelled until this evening.

Everyone files back outside. Moaning and complaining. (Well, not us. We were cracking up.) My mother went to the ticket counter to switch our tickets to a later showing and, rather than just switch them over, they refunded our original tickets AND gave us 6 more free tickets for one of the evening showings. So, all together we scored 18 free movie tickets....24 if you count the 6 for the cancelled showing.

Sometimes being inconvenienced is a wonderful thing.

I feel sorry for the employees of the theater. They lost a lot of time and money today because someone pulled a stupid prank. I think they performed very well, considering the circumstances and managed to keep the very cold and impatient crowd relatively calm. Besides that, a bunch of them had to run around outside in their short-sleeved uniforms! Brrrrrr....

One-two-three, one-two-three....

My parents, Patrick, and I had our first ballroom dance lesson last night and I am completely in love with it.
Our instructor, Miss Anthony, started us with the basic waltz and swing steps, and then added some turns...that would be the part where the girl gets to spin around and hope her partner doesn't lose her. (Ok, I admit, my partner was not the one at fault when we were practicing turns. Miss Anthony accused me of trying to run away.)

I couldn't stop dancing around last night after we got home. That's not really a new thing for me, though. I dance around all the time. What is new is that my dancing actually had a recognizable form and wasn't just limbs flailing.

My mother made me do it!

I've been tagged by my mother to do this. Maybe someday I'll actually write something with some substance. :o)


Seven things to do before I die:
1. Get married (starting with the basics :o))
2. have some kids
3. learn to play the violin
4. live in Germany
5. paint something beautiful
6. dance ballet
7. visit England



Seven things I cannot do:
1. fall asleep without reading
2. cook without a very detailed recipe
3. stand on my tip-toes (working on this...)
4. talk easily with people I don't know well
5. date anyone from TX (my brothers would kill both of us, and that wouldn't be very nice, would it??)
6. wear yellow
7. do a spanish accent

(personalizing this one...)
Seven things that (may) attract me to (some potential future) Hubby:
1. sense of humor
2. eyes
3. hair
4. brains
5. lutheran
6. singing ability (can't have tone-deaf children)
7. athletic ability
(hope I don't come off sounding too frivolous there... ;o))

Seven things I say most often
1. Mama!
2. I'm just checking my email real quick....
3. whoa.
4. dude.
5. ja klar!!!
6. I'm hungry....
7. what should I wear?


Seven books or authors you love:
1. Jane Austen
2. Edith Wharton
3. C.S. Lewis
4. P.G.Wodehouse
5. Tolkien
6. The Scarlet Pimpernel
7. one of those crazy Russian dudes....they're all tied


Seven movies you watch over and over again:
1. Pride & Prejudice
2. The Philadelphia Story
3. Much Ado About Nothing
4. Return of the King
5. Sense and Sensibility
6. Finding Neverland
7. Cool Runnings


Seven people I want to join in, too:
1. Rachael
2. Katie
3. Rachel
4. Bean
5. Naomi
6.
7.

What Classic Movie Am I?

What a crock! This is so not me....

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Thank you, mother.

Please Pass the Caffeine

My mother, my brothers and I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last night. Yes, we are insane.

The FIRST (and most necessary) stop was at Starbucks, where my very favorite brother, Patrick, treated everyone to some much needed caffeine. We waited in line for almost two hours before they let us into the auditorium, where we waited another two hours before the show. We all had books along, so no one got too bored....Except for Andrew, who is always bored.

(Spoiler alert! If you haven't read the book and don't know what happens....uh, read at your own risk.)

The movie itself was fantastic. It didn't seem as intense as it had been made out to be, and was actually more humerous that the others. At least, it seemed so to me. There was a LOT more Fred and George (Yay!!!) and the way this director handled Snape was much more humorous and sympathetic. And, of course, Malfoy the Bouncing Ferret was just priceless......

I admit, I cried when poor Cedric died. *sniffle* I'm just blaming it on the fact that it was getting close to 3:00 in the morning....

The biggest problem I had with it was that they left out Ludo Bagman. I can see why....introducing yet another new character, all of the extra time his scenes would take up.... But, I still would have liked to see him in the movie.

We're going to see it again with my dad sometime soon. I'm sure I'll enjoy it even more the second time around.

Elves and Hobbits in Indiana

We went down to Indianapolis with a group of homeschooling friends yesterday to see the Lord of the Rings movie exhibition. The exhibit has travelled around the world, and the last stop was the Indiana State Museum.

We got to see a bunch of the props and costumes from the movies, as well as interactive demonstrations of some of the technology. There was a laser-scanner that would take a digital map of your face and render it in stone (not real stone, just on the screen.) There was a motion-capture "studio." My personal favorite was the part explaining how they managed the size differences of the characters. I had read about it and seen the documentaries, but nothing expresses it like this :



My little brother comes up to my chin, or thereabouts. He loves the picture where he's bigger.

There was a wall where you could be measured to see what race you belong to (men, elves, dwarves, hobbits, orcs.) I was either a short girl elf or a tall boy goblin. I'll take being an elf. Patrick was "a human....possibly."

I loved seeing the costumes up close, especially the elves. (Silk velvet, crystal beading....) The swords were awesome. It's one thing to watch the documentaries about the props and hear how intricate they are, and how much effort was put into everything, but when you see it all up close it's fantastic.

There was some really cool stuff at the gift shop too, but it was all pretty expensive. There were elven cloaks for $900 (or hobbity scarves for $300.) I skipped those. I did almost buy a life-size cardboard cut-out of Aragorn for my bedroom door....too bad there was no good way to get it home.

This could be an Olympic sport...

Thank you Rachael--

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6.9
Mind:	5.7
Body:	8
Spirit:	8.8
Friends/Family:	5.9
Love:	2.1
Finance:	6.6
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

I really cannot help but wonder how on earth they got those numbers from my answers....

Conquest!

Also from my mother....

You will take over Iceland using only a tiara Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

How'd they know I'm royal?????

(BTW:Not sure how well the type on the graphic shows up....if you can't see it, it predicts that I will take over Iceland using only a tiara. :o))

Avoiding School-work....

....yes, it's true. I'm taking a break from writing papers about death and dying to BLOG.

I'm taking this from my mother's blog--

1. What's the best live concert you've ever attended?

Josh Groban was fantastic (and I am such a girl)

2. Which band/artist have you seen the most times live?

Well, since I've never seen the same artist more than once, there's a 4 or 5 way tie going on...Jewel, Josh Groban, Loggins and Messina....

3. What's your favorite Madonna song (and I don't want a lame answer like "I don't really like Madonna" -- everyone has to like at least one of her songs for some reason or another)?

Vogue, I suppose

4. If you could learn any musical instrument and be a pro at it overnight, which one would you choose?

I should say the organ, since I'm supposed to be able to play it anyway, but I ADORE the violin

5. Which decade (including our current decade) has the best music?

one of those decades back when Bach was alive :o)

6. Have you ever met any famous musicians? If so, who?

I haven't met any that are famous....yet

7. What is the first song that comes to mind when you think about the following periods in your life: Age 13, 16, 19, 21, 24? What I mean by this question is to pick a song that best symbolizes you or your life at that age. Don't think hard about it -- the idea is to give the first song that pops in your head for whatever reason.

13: Truly, Madly, Deeply by Savage Garden
16: How You Remind Me by Nickleback
19: Bless the Broken Road by Rascal Flatts
21: so sorry....can't see into the future
24: ditto

8. What is the best soundtrack of all time?
movie soundtrack- Return of the King
Musical soundtrack- My Fair Lady

9. What is one song that you love that many people might be surprised to know?
there are so many! ;o) I'm going to cheat and list a few.... Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne, The Wall by Pink Floyd, Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, and Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Leppard

10. What's your favorite song that only has numbers in the title? (i.e. if there was a song called "101" or "One hundred and one," this would be valid. Also, I'll allow the word "the" and any words that indicate durations, such as minutes, hours, days, months, years, etc.).

1999

11. What do you think is the most overused or annoying word that too many people include in their songs?

Baby (except in the song "Baby Baby")

12. What's your favorite Christmas song (traditional or contemporary)?

traditional- Of the Father's Love Begotten and What Child is This
contemporary- White Christmas (it's Bing!)

13. Personal experiences aside, on an objective level (keep in mind that answering this question will automatically turn it into a subjective one, so even though I say "personal experiences aside," I know what your answer means -- hehe I'm tricky), what is the best song to have playing in the background while you are making out...or dare I say...having sex? I'll allow you to skip this question for any of the following three reasons only: 1) you don't make out, 2) you don't have sex, or 3) you have never had any kind of music playing in the background while engaging in either of these activities...EVER.

I have no experience here so there is no answer

14. If you had your own band, what would you name it?

Dude....I already have a band. The Fiery Nomads (we sound like the Beetles, but with more personality.) ;o)

15. Singer that you really like and that many people might not have ever heard of, and give a link (if available) to their website.

I don't think I have one (I'm so entrenched in pop culture.....there's no escape!!!)

I...Hate...SAUERKRAUT

Yes, I do. And my mother thinks I'm nuts.

And I think that this is just a vicious rumor. There is no redeeming value in sauerkraut.

Vampire

This is the sort of school work I like.

For this weekend, my German professor assigned the class two essays (naturliche, in Deutsch!) That is normally bearable, but not fun. This weekend it's fun.

Because Halloween is coming, we're supposed to write an essay on vampires, why they drink blood, and how long they can "live." Also, we're supposed to add our own ending to a story we have been reading in class, about a little vampire who mistakes a kitchen bench for a coffin and comes home from the fleamarket with a family.

I really should know better than to write anything while listening to music with my mother. She was playing Queen, so that poor little vampire ended up getting kinda drunk on red wine and singing Bohemian Rhapsody....That's before the family took him to Las Vegas, where he now has a very successful show.

Despair Inc.

I remember going to my mother's real estate office when I was little, and seeing the motivational posters all over the walls. Even at age 8 I thought they were lame.

I love this site.

My personal favorite (at the moment) is, "Wishes."

Written Off Again

I did something this afternoon that I've never done before. I emailed a radio show.

I was in the computer lab for my english class, working on things completely unrelated to English (unless you count the fact that they're written in English.) There was a big screen up at the front of the room, connected to the prof's computer, and on that screen I could see that he was typing up a diatribe against Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and FoxNews. Apparently, those three entities are responsible for producing a "vulnerable" and "easily scammed" public. Also, college student who listen to Rush or Hannity or watch FoxNews are utterly incapable of logic, will "get nothing out of their college education," and are destined for failure in the real world. Gee, I sure am glad I know all of that now. (If I'm not getting anything out of my education anyway, can we just skip the whole research paper thing?)

So, in between witless assignments, I emailed Sean Hannity, just to let him know what an awful thing he was doing to Americans in general, and college students in particular. Shame on him.

Now, I don't necessarily agree with Rush or Hannity all of the time, but I do listen to their shows. I also like to think that I have a functioning brain. Heck, even my wonky prof. seems to recognize that I have a functioning brain, and I certainly haven't left him in doubt on my political positions. Am I the exception to his very wide rule, or is something just not connecting?

Goin' Wild!

I feel so rebellious right now. I completely skipped all three of my classes today! I guess the fact that I have a bad cold-verging on laryngitis has something to do with it, but I like to think I'm just a free-spirit who couldn't take being cooped up in an institution any longer....

Or not.

I've had a wonderful, self-pampering evening. I spent 3 hours curled up, drinking tea, and watching the Gilmore Girls DVDs I got from Netflix. Tonight, after LOST of course, my mother and I are going to watch Sin City. I dunno, but I think Gilmore Girls and Sin City should make an interesting juxtaposition.

And now for something completely different....
YesterdayI had some really great feedback from my piano teacher. I was originally placed into a 200 level piano course, mostly 'cause I completely flubbed my audition (memory, coordination, people-skills, control over tear-ducts....all disappeared.) The GOOD news is that my teacher has decided that that incident was a fluke, that I do have talent, and she's going to work on getting me moved into the 300 level course. That means an extra credit for me. (Gooooood.) It also means that if for some strange reason I should decide to switch my major to music, I could.

A Rather Egotistical Game

Following Rachael and Rachel and Katie's lead:

The instructions from Rachael's blog (which actually came from Pr. Kinnaman's blog):
Type "(your name) needs" (with the quotes) into a Google search; cut-and-paste the first 10 responses that work. Just pull the answers right out of the excerpt Google shows you, don't click the link and search around. The only rule is that each one has to start with "(your name) needs."

Bethany needs to send the information to other places (2 times)
Bethany needs a parent or parents who will love her
unconditionally and who are able to set limits and appropriate boundaries.
Bethany needs prayer for many areas.
Bethany needs an adult.
Bethany needs help today before a brother and sister from Colombia are split up
forever.
Bethany needs somebody who can spare just ½ day a week (Mon-Sat) putting shop
items onto the online auction site, Ebay. (2 times)
Bethany needs your help!
Bethany needs a school bus, a 72 passenger yellow school bus.
Bethany needs extra hands.
Bethany needs to work on her fashion sense.

...and because they were too funny (or scary) to not note:

Bethany needs to hack her hair and lose a little more weight.
Bethany needs to finally accept the universe-saving commission.
Bethany needs to be improved for safety reasons.
Bethany needs your help.
Bethany needs to glue herself to the power plant (would anyone like to venture a guess as to what on earth that means???)
Bethany needs to find a brain somewhere.

Last, but not least, my personal favorite:

Bethany needs money for the movement. riots can be expensive.

Buh-bye, Bigfoot

I had to write an essay critiquing the "Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization" website for my English class. I actually wrote it back in early Sept., but part of the assignment was that, after reviewing it with the prof., I had to revise it. I just finished up my revision and am SO glad to be done with Bigfoot. If I ever see another Bigfoot documentary I may croak.

Thank goodness I don't live in or near Bigfoot, Wisconsin. That would be too much.

Next up, a 6-8 page paper on the Lowell Mil girls, due in two weeks..... Thank goodness I find that topic at least SOMEWHAT interesting, and I don't think I'll be throwing out any of my books on the subject when I'm finished.

Cause I Like Wasting Time

One of my current favorite time-wasters is the Kaleidescope Painter.

I also like this one. My mom discovered it recently....unfortunately it's on the Lifetime TV website. *gag*

Politics Quiz

I took the OkCupid politics test and came out solidly libertarian (not surprising.)

I would post the graphic thing, but it came out really weird.The colors were messed up, and even though it said "Libertarian" across the top, it showed me being down partying with the totalitarians. Go figure...

Be prepared....

I am soooooo fed up with my english class.

Our discussion topic today was file sharing and illegal downloads. The first part of the argument presented by most of the class is that it doesn't matter since illegal downloads only hurt the rich. You're ONLY taking something from the big-time record execs. who roll around in their limos, so it doesn't matter. It'll just level out the playing field more.

The second part was as long as what you're downloading illegally is small, it doesn't really matter. It only matters if its something big like a movie. ..... So, is the $.2 pencil I was wanting to chuck at the prof. not as much my property as the expensive shoe I was wanting to smack him with?

I did try to argue about it. Unfortunately nothing seemed to register. As far as I can tell, I was speaking Portugese. They just sort of smiled indulgently and went on with their discussion. They could have patted me on the head while they were at it. "Good Bethany. I have no idea what you just said, but you have a very nice voice."

Now I have to write 6 papers this week, and I'm just not feeling like putting in any energy towords something that IRKS me as much as this class does.

I have my own blog!

Yes, I already have a blog to post on, but for some reason posting on the HT blog makes me sooo nervous. Like if I say anything stupid (likely) it'll be out there for everybody to see.

I had the hardest time thinking upa name for this. Since I started school, Patrick has usurped all of my titles. I am no longer the Kitchen Wench or the Laundry Elf, but he is. Well, maybe not a Kitchen *Wench* but you get the idea.

Hopefully I can post more later. Right now I'm rushing out the door for a piano lesson and then some classes (German and English.)