hungry

I'm sorry, girls, but I don't know anything about banned books!

But I googled a list of banned book and realized that probably everything I've read has been at some point banned, at least in some places. The ones we read in school too, which is kinda funny to me.

I'm keeping it short this time because I have other things to do and not too much internet time.


But yeah, nanowrimo-themed blog next week? My head's empty but I want to write something + I have nothing better to do here (except for my german course which starts in november)!

Lots of love!
Alda

Banned Books Week

I love discussing banned books, especially because I think the banning of books is ridiculous, and that it's counter-productive. Banning a book is the best way to ensure that millions of people will read that book. Funny how most of the books that have been banned and/or challenged throughout history are now required reading in many high schools. The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbord, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and many, many more have been challenged, and yet they're books that most people know of.

I will never understand why people lobby to ban books. Many that are challenged are books that help us understand our society or the society of the past. Sure, there's racist terminology in To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but people were racist back then. They used those kinds of words, and there's no use trying to change it. Is it that hard to face the truth?

As for my favorite banned books, I really loved Go Ask Alice, which has been frequently challenged for its graphic portrayals of drug use, and for its language. I've also noticed that in the recent years, Looking for Alaska has been challenged a lot by high schools because of the sex scenes, teenage drinking/smoking, and language. Both of these books are amazing and well written, and people just need to get over themselves.

As for my life outside of books, I wrote a 5-page paper this morning on minimal sleep. It's my punishment for procrastinating, I guess. I'm also heading to Gainesville next weekend to hang out with my aforementioned ex-boyfriend, Corey, and to see my friend Sarah and catch up, since I haven't seen her since our high school graduation. So I should have an interesting blog post in two weeks. I'm also moving into my apartment this weekend! (And by "moving in" I mean moving my clothes upstairs into my new bedroom)

Hope everyone's week is awesome!

Banned Books and Beatty

OK, opinion time. I know that I wanted to keep this blog light, and I still do, but the occasional opinionated spree on some issue is healthy I think. Especially since Marwa has come back to us and suggested it. ~♥

Banned Book Week. I haven't been interested in banned books since I was a kid, the sexy nature of a book that some one thought was "dangerous" was appealing to my adolescent self. But now I see more people talking out against banned books than I see books banned and I can't help feeling, at the most distaste and at the least disinterest in the whole event. It feels more like people looking for a cause to speak out about to create a stir and flaunt their indignation, and not people who believe in a cause in order to change their circumstance. That is just my experience, however.

My favorite banned book has always been Fahrenheit 451. It's one of my all time favorite books. Every time I see a new edition of it I have to read it, for one reason and on reason only: Captain Beatty, my favorite character in the book (and possibly out of any book). Every new edition has a different forward and afterward, in which there is often insight into the character Beatty that confirms what I thought about his character.

What I love about Beatty is the uniqueness of his character in the world he lives in. In case you have never read Fahrenheit 451, it is a novel that takes place in a world where books are illegal and firemen burn books instead of putting out fires. Captain Beatty is the fire chief and a loyal book burner, but it is also implied that he is the most well read character in the book. In one of the afterwards Ray Bradbury, the author, mentions a scene that he imagined years after writing the book of the protagonist going to Beatty's house and finding it full of books.

There are only a few characters that seem to break the status quo. The protagonist, the young woman he meets, and the men who are forming an human library are amongst them. And despite believing in the order of his world, Beatty isn't in the status quo either. That beatty believes in the book burning and not just accepts it sets him apart. He has been in a world of books, has read them, enjoyed them well enough to memorized passages, and still decided that book burning was OK. He is the true opponent to the idea that book burning is detrimental to society,one of the central themes of the books.

Which is why I find him so fascinating. He challenges my ideas and is wonderfully complex. He reminds us that those who think differently than us are not as dumb or thick headed or cold hearted as we want them to be. It is just that their experiences have brought them to different conclusions. Everyone's reality is different, but it is reality. And when two opposing realities cross there is no right and wrong; only a winner, a loser, triumph and bitterness.

Which is why I have trouble with absolutes and witch hunts claiming to be the righteous, when they are only trying to enforce their reality over someone elses. So, Banned Book Week, we've had some good times. I'm not a fan of censorship, you're not a fan of censorship and we'll always have that. Thank you for encouraging Fahrenheit 451 to be required reading in schools across the entire country. But in the foreseeable future, we just don't see eye to eye.

I could go on about my distaste of censorship, but I'll spare you (my state is trying to ban Ethnic Studies classes, just FYI, so it's a hot topic here).

Also: I have no idea what I'm going to write for NaNoWriMo! We can make "ideas for NaNoWriMo" the theme for next weeks blogs.

Not an actual post, just a question

It's banned books week, so do you want to make our posts this week literary themed? I'm going to talk about my favorite books that have been banned, and what I think about book censorship, I hope you guys will at least make a mention of your favorite frequently banned book. Also, this year's most frequently banned book was Tango Makes Three.

germany pt. II

My first days were really hard, but after the 4th day everything got better. I've been here for 8 days now and things are getting easier, but we started off on the wrong foot. 

Today was easy, but my host-dad's mom is here so I didn't even have to take the kids to school/pick them up and they were with here. I just took the older one to a birthday party down town but nothing more (and a bit cleaning, but that didn't take long). Because his mom is here we speak more spanish than usually, because they're from Chile. It's so weird, when I came here I could speak a bit spanish and no german, now I can speak a bit german but I don't know where my spanish is hiding. Annoying? Yes.

I'm even thinking a bit about leaving this christmas, going home and then head to Spain to study spanish for a couple of months. School is more me than this au pair thing, but this is okay, it's not bad and it's really nice to get away from everything.

Speaking of ex-boyfriends... I think it's always going to be on a grey-area to befriend them, even though they were að huge part of your life. Now I'm speaking to my ex, we have each other blocked on facebook so we can't look at each other's profiles but two weeks ago we met up (we broke up 2 years ago, we were each others "first love") just to clarify things before I went to Germany because we kind of left things in the air and the last time we met we had this HUGE fight, that was last September I think. I checked his facebook profile (I can't, but I can do it on another account) and saw a pic of him and his girlfriend together and I wanted to cry. I don't really like him that way, but I care for him a lot and it's so hard seeing him sharing what we shared with someone else.

But I think you can't compare two loves, like if I ever find someone else that I "love" I won't compare it to the other one. I hope he doesn't see this new girlfriend as someone better (she probably is, I was depressed and kind of weird/crazy the whole relationship so at that time I didn't make a very good gf) but someone new, it's not the same love, it's a whole different love.


I'm sorry that my writing now is such a mess, it's kind of without a context and back-and-forth speaking! :(

PS. NaNoWriMo coming up! What are you guys going to write about (those who'll take part)? I have no idea what to write, but I want to take part anyways.

I almost forgot that it was Thursday

Well, to start off: MARWA! You've returned! We've missed you.

Okay, now that I've got that out of the way, this week has been...eh, interesting. Quarter exams were today, and I did less than stellar on my two most important ones. I got a 65% on my Bio exam, and a 50% on chemistry. I can blame this on the fact that I didn't study as well as I should have, though. Especially when it comes to chemistry. I didn't take my time on the test because I wanted to get out of there and go eat some pizza.

I have learned from my mistakes. Hopefully.

Also, I may or may not be going to Gainesville on Saturday to visit my ex-boyfriend that I mentioned last week. He's having a party and asked if I wanted to go along, and I'm still iffy about the idea but will probably end up going anyway. My roommate suggested asking him to come to Tampa instead of me going to see him, since we're apparently having a party for our friend's birthday. But we'll see how that goes after this weekend is over. Also, all of the parties. I'm such a stereotypical college kid now.

Other than that, life is pretty normal. I found an apartment, guys! It just so happens to be the one I've been crashing at for the past month. The third girl who lives here, Chloe, is moving out at the end of the month and I'll be moving into her room. So now I actually have to pay rent.

I hope you all have had more awesome weeks than I have. :)

I FORGOT! Also, Hetalia

Hello Wednesday, how do you do? Soooo, I forgot to blog on Monday. :/ I feel crappy about it. I have been busy with school, government mandated deadlines, and getting back into two fandoms (True Blood and Hetalia).

Holy crap, it's Marwa! Now that you bring it up, I could really use a donut maker in my life too. Mmm, freshly made donuts.I just thought of Homer Simpson. Mmmm, donuts~

So, lately I have been getting back into old fandoms. I've decided to get back into True Blood. I'm only on the beginning of the third season, so if you watch it don't spoil it for me please. I know that the third season just ended.

The other fandom (really the only fandom, because just watching a show isn't fandom) I've been getting back into is Axis Powers Hetalia. Now, you gals know that I am all about Television shows, but there was a time when I was really into web comics. Hetalia came later. Hetalia is a Japanese web comic that got an English language following when it was translated by a Livejournal community, of which I was a reader. It's a comic about personified nations and it's good for a laugh and a brief history lesson.

For example, these characters are (from top to bottom) Germany, Iceland, and the USA. The Iceland one is just a character design, so it's different from the others, but it's official art.

I was really into Hetalia around two to three years ago. Since then it has grown to from a web comic to a short animations that you could see on your phone to a full anime production with seasons and an English dub done by a professional studio. I've never disliked the comics or the animations, it's the fandom that made me lose taste for it.

Now, if you don't know what a fandom is, let me tell you (it is suitably nerdy). A fandom consists of fan works and discussion done by fans of a franchise. For instance, the Harry Potter fandom is over a decade old, with it's on fanfiction tropes, fanart depictions of the characters, cosplayers, bands, etc.

Hetalia's fandom consisted of an international community and some very talented and educated people. I once read part of a very long fanfiction about the relationship between Russia and the US (it was a love story) that used primary documents to determine the events. It was impressive, like Master Thesis impressive. But since the comic deals with personified countries, there was a fair share of wank. To be fair, some of authors were downright insulting to read. When a teenager is channeling their troubles into characters that personify countries of which people who occupy said countries read the story, some people are going to be offended. But when the fandom started to be about neither history nor laughs, it was just pseudo enlightened fans full of bitterness. It started affecting me and the way I saw people in certain countries so I stopped. Suggestion is a powerful thing sometimes.

Though recently I have started watching the anime version of it. I even read a few fanfics, but I'm still cautious. I love the fanart slide shows and RPG's on Youtube. I just finished Hetaoni and it is great stuff. I'm glad that I can enjoy Hetalia again. I guess with enough time, anything can be likable again.

OHAI DER or AVAST!

Why hello! Long time no blog and all that. Yes, I know it isn't Wednesday, but we all know how bad I am at remembering to post on Wednesdays, so I decided to post now before I remembered. Let's all just pretend it's Wednesday for like 5 minutes, K? Alrighty then.

First of all, an apology. I haven't posted in... a long time, sorry about that. I've had some things going on. School starting, autoimmune disease, the usual. But still, not a really good excuse considering this takes about 5 minutes a week. Anyway, my life is pretty boring on the whole, so rather than talk about me, I'm going to talk about awesome things.

Let's start out with a 6 year old being awesome. Am I the only one who totally wanted to be an archaeologist when I was 6? My inner 6 year old is SO INCREDIBLY JEALOUS. I don't really know what more to say about that, it speaks for itself. That 6 year old is doing her thing, being a total badass, enough said.

On another topic, I've been feeling like there's something missing in my life for a while. I'd lie awake wondering what it is that could fill this gaping abyss in my soul. Finally, today, it came to me. I saw this, and immediately knew. MY LIFE HAS BEEN LACKING IN SO MANY WAYS. Why yes, I do enjoy the liberal use of the caps lock key, why do you ask? But really, I can't think of a good reason why I don't have a donut maker. It's a travesty really.

I just realized there is another travesty occurring, and I have no good excuse for it. Today is apparently Talk Like a Pirate Day, and this whole post is completely bereft of peg legs, talking parrots, and has entirely too many landlubbers. I am ashamed. Wait! There we go. The title of this post is now sufficiently pirate-themed. In other words, my work here is done, so I'll talk to you all again next week. If I remember.

PS: I can totally give you a bunch of really good reasons why "I forgot" is totally a legitimate excuse in this case. Really, I swear.

GERMANIO

First (of hopefully many) blogs from Germany! Everything's fine.

Yesterday I arrived, after a almost 4 hour flight, having had to wake up at 4.30 in the morning I was exhausted. I went with Roberto (who's from Chile) to Frankfurt to check some store and then "home" to Mainz, which is about half an hour from Frankfurt.

My emotional journey the first 12 hour was... crazy. Honestly, I thought about getting a ticket back to Iceland already, I was terrified. Mostly because of the language - I don't speak German and frankly I don't even understand it that well, I get the context but not much more than that.  They spoke a lot of German to me and the only thing I said was "ja" and "okay." Honestly felt like the biggest idiot of all time.

After I got my sleep and woke up this morning I already felt relieved. I went down and Roberto was there, he's amazing. Dagmar is too and the kids are lovely so far. He showed me around and spoke Spanish to me the whole time, which is very good for me because I understand Spanish and I can make myself understandable, unlike German which I know one and one word and basic sentence making.

I've got the feeling that it's going to be a hard few weeks, just adapting and getting to know everything but after that it's going to be a good year! Looking forward to it.

Reconnecting, and why it's best to forgive and move on.

If we can't find any bloggers on the ning, we can always check Tumblr. Effyeahnerdfighters may post something for us. Maybe. But there's a few useful ways of finding nerdfighters on Tumblr, so we can use that if we can't find any on the Ning. It's too bad YourPants is down again.
So, going into the fourth week of classes, already. I have my first chemistry exam next week, and my first paper for English Composition is due next week. I'm so glad this is the only intensive writing course I have to take, because I hate writing. I'm a biomedical science major, so if I do anything, it's a lab report. And those are easy to write.

So. This weekend I decided to attempt a friendship with my ex-boyfriend, Corey. I messaged him over Facebook, and we actually started talking again. Once I assured him that I was completely over him (or at least over him enough to not want to date him ever again), he lightened up and it almost feels like we never stopped talking. This happens every time, though, so I don't know how long this will last, if it does at all. Though he added me back as a friend on Facebook, so I guess that's a good sign. It's been a horrible 11 months since our break up, but he's one of those people I just want in my life because of what we've been through together and because of the bond we share, even though we aren't dating anymore. He can read me like an open book, and he's the only person I can't lie to. I just didn't know how to go on without him in my life to some degree.

I hope this works out. He's a great friend, and he's one of the few guys I know that I can be really, really nerdy around. We may not be best friends, and we'll never be lovers again unless we're both really, really drunk, but there's room for us to grow and heal. And I think we need that. It's like we're finally writing the final chapter of our relationship and beginning a new one for our friendship.

Also, he inspires metaphors. All the time.

Karena: 9/11 always brings back horrible memories for me. I lived about 20 miles from NYC when it happened, and I didn't learn about what happened until I got home from school that day, since the administration was afraid that some of the students had relatives working in the towers. I was so afraid that year. I was nine years old, and I had no idea what was happening and, to this day, 9/11 is still a source of nightmares.

Alda: I look forward to your first blog post from Germany! My grandparents are from Stuttgart and Hamburg. Also, I may have found a place. The third roommate in my best friend's apartment is looking to move out and offered to sublease her room to me, so I may have a place! I've been staying here for a month already, anyway, and I do love this apartment, so fingers crossed that this works out.

Storms, 9/11, and Fashion Week

YourPants is still down. Maybe we can ask for new bloggers on the Ning.

So today I was awoken by thunder, a dull thud that stretched like an airplane flying above. There is nothing strange about thunder storms, tis the season after all, but for the last couple of weeks the storms only happened in the evenings. Never the mornings.

Now, I'm not afraid of thunder, lightning, or storms in general. But this morning I wanted nothing to do with either. The night before I had watched so much coverage of 9/11 for the ten year anniversary, reliving the experience to my fascinated horror, and was freshly reminded of my own mortality. With that still lingering in my mind, combined with the freak and deadly weather that has happened this year, I was scared. Shaking under the covers, eyes closed shut, teeth grinding scared.

I did not want to drive to class. I did not want to leave my house. I did not want to leave my bed. Luckily the storm passed and I was back to normal. The sky is still overcast so there will probably be a storm tonight, the norm.

I...just want to say...I just need to say that in the event of my sudden death that I love my family to an unbearable degree and I love my friends with fierce loyalty. You meant the world to me. And blog on my G-bloggers. DFTBA.

Sooooooo New York Fashion Week is happening right now. I'm such a girl sometimes and I love it. :D The Mercedes-Benz tent is doing a live stream on Youtube and much awesome was had. My favorite collection so far has been Charlotte Ronson.

Alda: Good luck on your new life! You must tell us how Germany is. In my planning class I found out that there are a lot of German tourists in my State. Turns out they like the whole "wild west" thing. I've never met a German that I didn't like (though admittedly few) so I'm sure that you will meet some great friends!

Stephanie: Awww, what a cute kitty. Your classes have such simple names which is totally convenient. When a friend asks what class I just came from I have to say something like "Economics of information and the Internet". UGH. At least I have two "Intro to..." classes. What are you majoring in? Also, sorry to say, but TA's don't get much better.

last blog in Iceland

I agree with Karena, lets find new bloggers who will actually blog. Your Pants is down now (or at least I can't access it on my computer), sooo solutions? I think we're only three left here.

Last days have been busy and I have too many plans for next 6 days. I hate having too many plans and no space to do nothing. I also have a cold that isn't going anywhere unless I rest. But I also want to meet my friends and I can't seem to balance those two things. My eyes are watery, I don't want to eat and I have a headache. I don't have time for this, I have so many things to do before I leave (which is in 6 days, my next blog will be from Mainz, Germany!).




Anyways, Karena, I've always wanted a calligraphy pen and learn how to use it, it's so cool.
Stephanie, your parents' kitten looks super cute. I want a cat, they're so funny. I hope you'll find a place to stay soon :).

It's nice to finally have some free time (and not have a dead laptop).

I've been slacking lately about blogging, I know.

So, life at USF has been amazing! I'm taking four classes this semester (six if you count the labs as separate classes), and it doesn't seem like it's that much work. It's the third week of school, and I hope it stays this way. I'm enjoying my classes (except for my chemistry lab, but my teacher's aide is horrible.) I've been staying with my friend, Ashley, though I may move in with another friend for a while until I find my own place, which could take a couple more weeks. :/

I don't really know what else to say. My life doesn't really change week to week here. On Thursdays, I have Composition 2 in the morning, and then Biology and European History in the afternoon. I'm just sort of sitting around right now, waiting for 2:00 to come around so I can go to biology.

Also, the doors to the Interdisciplinary Science building on campus make the TARDIS sound when they're opened. (I figured I'd share).

I shall leave you with a picture of me and my parents' new kitten.

Lost Track of Time

I almost missed it! But I'm determined to post today! Hopefully we'll have more posts this week. I think that we seriously need to find a replacement for Sarah and probably Marwa too. I don't know where to look though. Is YourPants still down?

My life seems so much slower than both of yours right now, what with Stephanie starting University in a new city and Alda moving to freakin' Germany in a couple of weeks.

Yesterday I got a calligraphy pen. I got a gift certificate for the pen from my boss from my summer internship. I was planning on using my certificate on Thursday when I went downtown for the ribbon cutting of a new parking garage, but the store was moving to a new city and the day I found out was their last day! Luckily the store was locally owned and I was able to call the owner to set up an appointment to buy the pen. I love good service! ^_^

I got three new CDs today from a closing Borders (a large bookstore chain). And they were dirt cheap because my friend had a gift certificate and she paid for most of it (I bought her sweets to make up for it). One of them is a jazz version of Disney songs. The version of "Chim Chim Cher-ee" is hypnotic and "Gaston" is crazy!

Now, one thing about me is that I grew up listening to jazz, and it is because of that that I have never liked it. A lot of my dislike for jazz has to do with association to bitter sibling rivalry, but I care not at all. Sometimes I really do like jazz songs and it's always difficult for me to admit it. So I won't say that I like my new CD, but it's not exactly terrible. ;)

BTW Stephanie, have you found an apartment yet?

monday, friday, monday, friday..

The weirdest thing ever: Saying goodbye to everybody. Meeting people downtown and saying "yeah, I probably won't see you for another year or so!"

I have a nervous feeling in my stomach that's bugging me. I kind of feel like I'm running away... Which is true, in a way. I feel like I'm leaving my best friend alone, I don't think she approves (but of course, she's happy for me) - I'll miss her.

Arghh...

On the other hand, I went to lunch with my a friend of mine who's also going to Germany to be an Au Pair, but in different city.

Yesterday I took my last (or maybe...) Thursday-partying, which is very popular in Iceland (is it in USA too?). My friends and I went to dinner and we got coctails and beer afterwards on the restaurant, three of us ordered shots and we accidentally got wrong shots and the waitress was about to spill them in the sink and she just said "well.. it's Thursday, you can just have them free and I'll get you the right shots" so we got free shots, which was amazing! Then my friends who bought 2,8 liters of beer and there were actually 2 flies (no kidding, we didn't stop the 'waiter, there's a fly in my soup' jokes) in the beer, so we got free another *insert word* of beer! Which was amazing. Then we asked for a specific song because I'm leaving for Germany in 2 weeks and they brought me ice cream and said "have a nice trip" which was so lovely! I had amazing time. Then we went downtown to dance our asses off (still don't know how that works, my ass is still in it's right place).

Next time I'll write it will be my last Friday in Iceland for a while, jikes.
Until next time! Hope I'll read more than one blog post next week :))
Alda