I still love popsicles, too.

Studying for classes you are not interested in is one of the most horrible things in a young collegiate life, and I can't wait to graduate in a month and never have to do it again!

I mean, I really do like learning. I can't wait to get started on my thesis, because editing the footage I have been receiving from my interview subjects is a type of school work I can really get behind. It's going to be fun for me to watch people talking about about something both they and myself are passionate about, and then find ways to mold and sculpt that footage into an interesting and (hopefully) moving documentary.

Studying the rise of early French cinema, on the other hand, is neither fun nor is it moving, and I'm going to keep complaining about it until after my midterm is over tomorrow.

In a sad attempt to pretend that my test is not in fact tomorrow, and that I don't have 30+ vocab words to learn, I am going to answer some more questions! Because anything is better than googling "Napoléon vu par Abel Gance (1927)". Seriously. That's the next term on my list. I took JAPANESE. What is this garbage?

Do you still like Draco and Ginny together and have you ever liked Harry and Hermione together?
I'll admit it; in my life, before there was wizard rock, I was very, very into fanfiction. And my favorite pairing was Draco/Ginny. WHAT. Before you judge me, just think about it. After reading probably 100+ D/G-centric works of fanfic, I can tell you that there are so many ways these characters can get together in a plausible, exciting fashion. And I liked redeemed!Draco and evil!Ginny quite equally. Also, this was the first thing I ever took part in where I made close internet/fandom friends (on the site www.Portkey.org). That being said, I was friends with people who liked Harry/Hermione (because Ginny with Draco leaves Harry wanting for a girlfriend) but never really bought into the pairing myself.

What ever happened to your Draco Malfoy Series (I think it was like DLA)?
Yes, that's what we called it. xD We... stopped working on it. But we wrote tons and tons and tons of little scenes and I love to go back and read them, because it was a fun project, and I know WAY more about the Slytherin students of Hogwarts than any one person should know.

You have a very strange dimple in your chin, were you aware of this?
I like my chin dimple. I got it from my mom. She has the exact same one.

Aren't you a little old for emoticons?
Are you kidding me? I wasn't aware emoticons were lumped up there with training wheels and popsicles. Hell, I still love popsicles too.

Favorite Bender?
This is in regard to Avatar: The Last Airbender. I think Earth Bending would be the most useful/powerful (I mean seriously, having power over the Earth itself?), but I myself think I would most enjoy Water Bending. It just looks so graceful and can be used for so many purposes other than fighting. Air Bending is nice too, especially Aang's little air ball he rides around on, but obviously (as they've touched on in the show numerous times) Fire Bending seems more like a curse than a gift.

What did it feel like getting your tattoo?
Everyone I talked to scared me into thinking it would hurt so much that I was scared silly. When I actually got it, it didn't hurt nearly as badly as I anticipated. It wasn't fun by any stretch of the word, or very pleasant, but it was bearable. Also, my tattoo is really little so it only took about two minutes. :)
You know those pens they sell that require a battery and they vibrate when you write with them? Imagine a little tiny needle being in the tip of it, and that's what it felt like to me.

Last google search: "The Assassination of the Duke of Guise (1908)"
Chipotle burritos: 9

Sounds like there are crickets in the room.

Today I was sitting in my two-hour senior research symposium (which sounds all big and official but is really one of the most laid-back classes I have ever taken) and during a lull, one girl said, "It sounds like there are crickets in the room."

We'd all noticed it, because it DID sound like there were crickets in the room.

This guy who was sitting next to the first girl, who actually goes by "T-Bone" and openly talks about his sex-life and recreational drug use in class (it's a class on love; anything goes) said, "I don't think it's the crickets I have in my backpack, let me check" and lifts the bag up to his ear. "Nope!" he said, setting it back on the floor.

We all chuckle, because 1. why would he have crickets in his backpack and 2. why would there be crickets in our academic classroom at all, but then he got a confused look on his face. "What?" he asked, looking back at all of us. "I think my crickets are too hot to be making that much noise."

THEN HE PULLS A CLEAR PLASTIC BAG FULL OF CRICKETS OUT OF HIS BACKPACK.

He actually had crickets. Literally every single person in the class thought he was just being sarcastic and making fun of the girl for asserting something silly during class, but no. He was being dead serious. We were rolling with laughter for at least five minutes.

Also, the cricket noises WERE coming from his bag, obviously. He was getting defensive about his "well-behaved" crickets, but WHERE ELSE WOULD IT BE COMING FROM? Oh, maybe it was the crickets in MY bag. Or the professor's bag. That makes sense. xD

So for the rest of class, any time it got quiet enough to hear them chirping away in his bag, we all burst into laughter. Needless to say, we didn't get quite as much done as our professor may have hoped today. Also, we made him put his backpack in the hall.

Sometimes I feel like I have to really pull to find things to write about in this blog, and other times they just fall right into my lap. Today, my life was a sitcom.


Now I have a midterm to study for that I am absolutely unprepared for, and food to eat. Because one poptart is just not a sufficient amount of food to have eaten by five o'clock in the evening.

Also my talented and attractive boyfriend's new album "Erase This" is available for presale today, so if you're into music that is easy on the ears made by people who are easy on the eyes, you should go check it out.

I know it's quite early on in the series, but what's your opinion- David Tennant or Matt Smith?
I think the way that Doctor Who is set up, with regeneration being a driving force in keeping the show going, lends itself to not having to choose between different Doctors. Matt Smith is still the Doctor, and I like the choices he's making with the character. Especially in the scene with young Amelia Pond when he's trying all the different foods and spitting them out. I loved David Tennant, but I am not going to let that love stop me from growing to love this new Doctor.

Did you hear anything from ANTM?
Not yet! They said it would be possible that they don't even contact the winners until a week before the move-in day, so I've got my fingers crossed still.

Book Banning?/Censorship?
I remember in 6th grade we did this unit on fantasy books. I was in the group that read "Dealing With Dragons" by Patricia Wrede, but another group in our class read some book that apparently had a pretty steamy little love scene in it. The kids giggled, made jokes, and the rest of us were jealous that we didn't choose that book, but nothing bad happened to any of the kids who read that book. There were no lasting negative implications on their lives, it didn't encourage them to go have sex at age 12, and we even sat down in class and had a discussion about the function of romance in literature. I feel like if every book that might cause a child to giggle a little bit was removed from libraries, we'd be missing out on not only some great literature, but an opportunity to talk to young children about maturity and the topics themselves that we'd be censoring from them.
Obviously as a writer and fairly liberal human being, I don't think we should be taking any books out of circulation. I do understand that some books can promote things that aren't appropriate for schools, which is fine, but that's not the case often with the books that are banned from schools. Often books are banned because adults/parents/staff do not understand the themes the writer was trying to explore, and that's what makes me sad.

What is your favorite (non-alcoholic) drink?
I really like apple juice. And those tall/skinny Cascade something-or-other drinks; I can never remember what they're called.

Last google search: "dealing with dragons"
Chipotle burritos: 9

The stupidest figure ever.

Sometimes graduation can't come fast enough, and sometimes I really do like school.

I have this professor named Philip - he taught my madness/insanity class last quarter and he's teaching my love/attraction class this quarter - and he's one of those teachers who really just GETS it. If you've ever been a student, I think you know what I mean. For instance - he hates using handouts because he doesn't like the things he says to become "law". He begrudgingly gave us a handout/grading rubric for our research paper proposals only because we begged him and told him we needed a little more direction.

But he also just says things sometimes that are so, so funny. The other day we were sitting in class, and some of the classrooms at UW are on the older side. Like, they have chalkboards rather than white boards. So he turns around to write some things we were taking about on the board, and sees something already scrawled there in white chalk. It looks like a giant upside down check mark.

He says, "This is the stupidest figure I've ever seen drawn on a chalkboard." Then he wipes it off with his arm, turns around, and mumbles "Anyone can be a teacher."

We have no idea what that figure meant to the class who used that room before us. We have no idea if there was more and it had just already been erased. But he just says things like that, all the time, and I find it to be hilarious.

In other news, I posted a video on my channel yesterday asking people how they found out about "italktosnakes" and what made them stay subscribed. There are 2,000+ comments now and I have done my best to read as many as I can, but I just wanted to share a few standouts because I thought they were humorous.

First of all, my little brother responded:
"How I found your youtube channel... well first your parents had you, then five years later, me. We spent many years growing up just across the hall from each other, sharing good times and bad. You told me about brotherhood 2.0 after probably 13-14 years after my birth and I watched the first year of their videos in literally 2 and a half days. Then I found your channel and subscribed."

Then I particularly liked this response:
"1 i found you through a drunken typo
2 stayed because you are an awesome vlogger"

And this response just put my whole life in a different perspective than I've ever thought about before:
"I have stayed because... well, you're my favorite youtuber. You're genuine, spunky, interesting, funny. You are a talented musician. You're the kind of girl who, from the outside, has a perfect life. You're like a storybook character, but the last chapter never comes."

Am I a storybook character? Do more people feel that way when they watch people's videos on YouTube? I guess posting videos is kind of like posting new chapters of a book, even though I had never looked at it from that point of view before.
I LOVE to read, so I definitely understand the sadness in setting down your favorite book and knowing that those characters will never be real again in any new way. I guess subscribing to people on YouTube is kind of like reading a book series that will never end. Unless they stop vlogging.

I'll answer a few of the questions I got last time in this post, and I'll answer the rest in my next one.

What would your patronus be?
Probably an adorable little kitten. Or a giraffe. How terrifying would it be to see a giant galloping glowy giraffe coming toward you?

Favorite book you read as a child?
Babysitter's Club was my life. Goosebumps were a close, close second.

What is so fantastic about Chipotle?
Chicken burrito with pinto beans, medium salsa, sour cream, cheese and lettuce. That's what.
I don't even know why I love it so much. I started going because there was a Chipotle really close to where I used to work, and before long I was going every single week because it was fast, good, relatively cheap, and was better than going to Taco Bell or something. Then when I found out that not only fellow wizard-rockers love Chipotle as much as I do, but Hayley did as well - that's when it became a "thing".

What are the most awkward positions you've been in, or experiences you've had?
I went to a college party once, that was pretty awkward. Also, I only tend to feel awkward in situations if there are other people making the situation feel awkward. If I can tell someone does not want me to be somewhere, that is the worst. On that note, I always thought meeting fans would be really awkward, but for the most part it's surprisingly not. Most of you are really awesome, normal, down to earth people with similar interests to me, so getting to meet you is really fun and rewarding.
That being said, I once met a girl who was so nervous she was shaking and had to make someone else talk for her. THAT was awkward.

What languages do you speak/want to learn?
I took Japanese for 4 years, which I really, really enjoyed. I wouldn't mind brushing up.

What is your earliest childhood memory?
I vaguely remember riding a little plastic Big Bird car into a operating room when I got my tonsils out - but I was only 2 at the time, so I'm not sure. I doubt I'd have that vivid memory of a specific detail though, if the memory wasn't real.


Last google search: Save The Children
Chipotle burritos: 9

Stylish AND protected! How great!

I honestly don't even know why I bothered asserting this month was going to be BAMF. I really thought, back on April 1st, that this month was going to be different. I really did, blog readers. But. We're already 24 days and only 7 blog posts in - that's not even 1 post every 3 days. So I apologize for being lazy and unmotivated to write, but only a little.

I am T-minus 49 days to graduation. Which means I am less than 49 days away from presenting and turning in my senior thesis project to a group of academic advisers and peers, and I have only just barely started. My research symposium is on Love & Attraction, so our thesis projects are required to stem out of that. Naturally, since I live in the Internet, I am doing my project on Otherness - the people who willingly choose to enter into long distance relationships and cultivate those relationships through social media such as YouTube (and how there is a stigma around that lifestyle choice if you're anyone BUT those of us who live like this). Utilizing YouTube and my friends for legit research, +10 points!

Anyway, I'm in a focus group/2 credit course for people doing nontraditional projects (ie. I want to make a video rather than write a stuffy old paper) and today was the "kick in the pants" "get going or you will suffer" day, so my head is full of ideas and methods of action, and eventually I might even solicit a few questions for you guys to answer if you wouldn't mind helping me out. I just haven't figured out exactly what I am doing yet.

Anyway, in non-boring, non-school related news, I am going to my friend Mallory's wedding tomorrow. This will be the first wedding I have attended of someone I met on YouTube, so that's pretty exciting. I'm carpooling with Kayley and am looking forward to it a lot.

Oh, haha. There is this piece of paper sitting here beside me on my desk that I wanted to tell you guys about. When I was flying home from Kansas City on Sunday, I was browsing through SkyMall and laughing at all the ridiculous items for sale.. when I found literally the best thing I have ever seen offered in this silly magazine.

"Sling Couture Fashion Face Mask".

The description says: "An FDA approved fashion facial mask for H1N1 offers the same protection as traditional masks against germs, bacteria and airborne pathogens that cause the flu, and changes a normally unsightly medical mask into a beautiful fashion statement! Sling Couture allows users to be stylish and protected when traveling. Available in 11 luxurious fabrics."

...right, because everyone wants to walk around with a disco ball over their mouth.

What do you think, guys? Is this going to be the next big fashion statement? Do you want to be stylish AND protected?

I'm falling behind in my TV shows, so I am going to go catch up on Gossip Girl now. I've been watching the new Doctor Who season as well, and am really enjoying Matt Smith and Karen Gillan; especially their chemistry together. Have any of you been watching?

To motivate me to update this more often, you guys should leave me some questions about random things you'd either like to know about me or would like my opinion on. I promise I wont let it sit for weeks and weeks like I do on Formspring. Haha.

Last google search: "bear cub being scared by a lion"
Chipotle burritos: 9

Hallows and Horcruxes 3

This past weekend I was in Kansas for the annual Hallows and Horcruxes Ball.

As usual, the whole weekend was a complete blast. I honestly can't tell you many things that are more fun than getting flown to Kansas in the middle of April to see all your friends; in the mean time getting to stay in a hotel together and play a big, exciting show for a couple hundred loyal fans. It's like all of the best parts of a conference without the stress of the conference itself.

So the trip rocked. Eia and I left at a disgusting hour on Friday morning; Shuttle Express picked us up around 4:50 to take us to the airport, where we slept through our entire first flight to Vegas. In Vegas, we had an hour and a half layover, so we decided to cram everything you'd do on a trip to Vegas in that one short span of time. There are slot machines right in the airport so I taught Eia how to gamble (she lost $20 - I only lost $10) and then we sat at a combination Pizza Hut and Cocktail Lounge and had drinks at the equivalent to 9 AM Seattle time. It had orange juice in it. So it was kind of like a breakfast drink. What.

Then we took our second flight to the Kansas City Airport where we met up with Jarrod of "Gred and Forge", who was picking up our rental car and driving the three of us out to Manhattan for the show.

It was exciting seeing everyone again when we finally got to our Holiday Inn. I had only been inside for about 30 seconds when Lauren burst out of her hotel room screaming "I'm engaged!", so that was a pretty fun way to start the trip. Before long everyone was crammed into one hotel room, and we'd all changed into the costumes we'd brought for our Lost party. I was Jungle Claire; crazy hair, plaid shirt and all. Jason donned some eyeliner and looked scarily like Richard Alpert, Alex had a pretty sweet jumpsuit for Desmond, Luke was walking around shirtless and pouting for a perfect Sawyer, Ryan had shaved and looked exactly like Jack, his girlfriend Julie was wearing footy pajamas as young Aaron, and Sammy G was wearing black sequins and kept putting her leg up over people's shoulders as the Smoke Monster. And those were just my favorite costumes.

The next day was the show and it was awesome. My band "The Parselmouths" opened, and I was pretty nervous, as it was my first time playing guitar on stage in front of people. But I think it went pretty well! Luke came onstage during our set to do "Lumos Flies", which was hilarious. We had Jarrod come onstage to play Viktor Krum and I could barely stop laughing to sing my parts.


Everyone came onstage for the last song in our set and were just dancing around like crazy, which set the trend for the remainder of the evening. There were points in some band's sets where we were backup dancing with crazy props, having chicken fights on each others shoulders, and building human pyramids. Best show ever.

The only problem with this show is how short the trip is. By the time we've gotten there and started having fun, it's almost time to go home again on Sunday. That next morning we packed up, said our goodbyes, and then Eia and I got to ride to the airport with Lauren and Sarah Wilkes. Lauren and I filmed our 5AG videos in the car and we had a nice goodbye at the airport in Kansas City. Mine and Eia's flights were fairly uneventful, though we did play "The Game of Life" on my iPod Touch in German, which made it way more fun because we never had any idea why we won or lost money so we had to make up the reasons ourselves.

Now I'm home, school is school, and I'm almost late for it. I'll try to post again soon, because as of now, BAMF is failing miserably. Haha.

Edit: I was just informed by a very angry tweet from my friend Erinn Lewis that I forgot to mention her and Aaron Nordyke's Boone and Shannon costumes. I can't believe I left those out - Erinn looked exactly, EXACTLY like Shannon. It was almost spooky. Sorry Erinn. xD

Last google search: "pokemon amigurumi"
Chipotle burritos: 8

The nicest people in the world.

You forget, sometimes, in the sea of crabby, irritable, non-helpful people one experiences in corporate/retail America, that there are actually genuinely nice people scattered in the mix.
That not every trip into a shop or restaurant is going to bring you to someone who hates their job or would prefer not to be finding you new sizes of shirts or serving you your burger.

Sometimes, people are just awesome.

And this is why I love going to the bank.

I know, I know. Going to the bank is an mundane an experience as taking out the garbage or brushing your teeth. And at least brushing your teeth leaves you with minty fresh breath.

But going to the US Bank I only recently discovered is but a 3 minute drive from my house has since made its way up the list of things I quite enjoy doing.

Today I had a check I needed to deposit, and while I was groaning about having to stop at the post office and the grocery store (honestly, how does one girl go through so much milk?) I was thrilled about stopping at the bank.

My favorite part about this bank is the security guard, Steve. He's this larger man with a slightly goofy smile, and his job (aside from general security things) is to open the door for customers. It's not customary for security guards to open the door for people going to the bank. He just does it because he likes to.

The first time I went, I thought he was just being nice. He opened the door, I smiled and said thank you, he smiled back, I got in line. On my way out, he opened it for me again. What a nice man.

The next time I went, Steve was talking to someone and didn't see I was coming in until my hand was already on the door. His eyes widened a little and he made a lunge to get to it before I did, but saw his effort was futile. He actually looked a little disappointed in himself as I let myself in the building. It broke my heart.

So now, I make it a point to hang back and wait until he sees me, nonchalantly giving him time to get to the door before I get there.

Today I noticed he wasn't standing next to the door at all, so I actually pretended I'd left something in my car and walked back, allowing him enough time to finish what he was doing and get back to the door. Maybe that's silly. Maybe most people wouldn't think twice about letting someone open the door for them, when usually the idea is to get in and out of places like the bank as fast as you can. But the smile on Steve's face when he opens the door and asks me how my day has been makes those extra few minutes so, so worth it.

And it's not just Steve! This whole bank is a vortex of niceness, a haven of polite and genuinely happy and helpful people. Literally every employee I've ever seen at this bank either really loves working in banking, really loves their customers, tries to find the good or positive in everything they do, or are fantastic actors.

Either way, today I just couldn't handle it anymore. I was standing in front of the nice bank teller who'd just finished telling me he'd spent his lunch break sitting in the sun at the park and was encouraging me to walk to the rest of my errands rather than driving so I could experience the nice weather we were having as well, and instead of saying, "thanks, see you later," I just said, "You are all so NICE."

"What?" he asked me, slightly taken a back. The correct response here in the scheme of general bank interactions is the bland, "have a nice day!" before turning around and leaving. Not today, Buzz.

"Everyone who works here! You're just so nice. Especially that guy," I said, pointing to Steve.

He smiled warmly at me, thanked me for the compliment, and said they were a big family. All these bank people, of different ethnicity and age and background. I felt like I dropped into some parallel universe or something.

As I was leaving I repeated my compliment to Steve whose face lit up, and I noticed a little extra spring in his step as he opened the door for me to leave. He thanked me about three different times for what I'd said, and as I was leaving, I just felt baffled. Surely other people have noticed the unnatural pleasantness of this particular branch of US Bank. Surely people have said something to them before. I hope I'm not the first one to thank them for making my banking experience once of my favorite parts of my day.

Last google search: "buzz lightyear"
Chipotle burritos: 8

Auditioning for America's Next Top Model

I cannot even begin to tell you how crazy my day has been.

If you follow me on twitter, you may have seen the slew of twitpics I was sending in all morning - I guess I just felt like I was at that audition in part because of the encouragement (and demand) of a lot of you, so I felt like giving you rather frequent updates on how I was doing.

Last night I drove with my friends Liz and Bekah down to Vancouver, WA, where we were going to stay with my uncle, so as to cut our commute time down to 20 minutes, from the 3 hours it would have taken us to get to the Lloyd Center from Seattle. We arrived around 9, which was too early for even for people knowing they had to wake up at 6 AM, so we flipped through the channels and ended up watching an episode of "1000 Ways to Die" on Spike TV, which is a show that is hilarious and sad and gruesome all at the same time.

The next morning (which would be today) we were groggy and tired, but Bekah and I put on our audition outfits (which were just skinny jeans and tank tops - Bekah had heels but I'd opted for flats, a decision I went back and forth on appreciating and regretting all day), said goodbye to my uncle, and whizzed out the door. We found the Lloyd Center in no time, and arrived exactly 2 hours before the casting call was starting. Even being that early, we were still about 30th in line.


This is when things started to get out of control. We assumed we'd just wait in line, turn in our application packets, be asked a few questions on camera, and head out. We were so, so wrong.

So first, we sat on the floor and did absolutely nothing for about an hour and a half. From 8:00 to 9:30, we just killed time, chatted, met the girls in front of us and behind us in line, and watched the minutes tick by on our phones.

Then, around 9:30, some people from the contest in matching CW t-shirts started coming by and handing out these green wristbands with numbers on them so we knew where we were in line and who was a contestant.

Then more people came by and double checked with us that we had two different forms of ID - a drivers license and a passport, birth certificate, Social Security card, whatever. At this point, some girls starts panicking, but Bekah and I were prepared. We had our passports. Everything was still going fine.

But THEN, more people came by to double check that we had our photos. Photos? Nobody told us we needed photos. We started asking the other people in line, "did you see anything online about bringing three photos?" "No, I totally read the fine print, didn't you?" "Yeah I did, I didn't see anything about that!"

But even then, I was thinking, worst case scenario - I had my laptop in the car; Liz does stock photography with both Bekah and I all the time, so we have a huge assortment of pictures to choose from - we could just pop some on a USB drive, take them to a photo store (we were in a mall) and print them out quickly before our turn in line.

But THEN, the t-shirted people came back to inform us that one of the photos needed to be a full body bathing suit photo.

I don't know about you, but I don't just have a collection of photos of myself in a bathing suit floating around anywhere. Especially not posed ones. In fact, the only photo I can think of that I have with me in a bathing suit is this one:


...and I don't think they anticipated casting Jack Skellington's sister Kristina for this Cycle of ANTM. Just not good.

So luckily, luckily, Bekah was more prepared than I was, and brought her bikini to the casting call. And we're about the same size. So this is what we did.

1. Made Liz hold our spot in line.
2. Borrowed the digital camera of the very nice girl in front of us in line.
3. Ran to the bathroom.
4. Took turns going in one of the stalls, took off all our clothes, and put on the bathing suit.
5. Came out of the stall, in a public bathroom, and posed against the blank wall in the bathing suit. In front of everyone else in the bathroom.
6. Snapped two of the worst pictures of ourselves we'd ever seen.
7. Got dressed again.
8. Ran to the copy center.
9. Printed the pictures.
10. Ran back to the line where Liz was getting nearer and nearer to the front.

Already, the weirdest morning ever. Luckily, we weren't the only girls doing this, as literally 80% of the girls had shown up without photos because it was not made apparent at all on the website that we needed them.

That wasn't the end, though. Once we got back in line, we thought we were ready, but Liz informed us that NOW we needed a photocopy of our IDs. Seriously. So we ran off again in search of the only copy machine in the whole mall, where the line was out the door with frantic girls holding their ID impatiently in their hands. It took about 20 minutes but we got the ID copied, ran back to the line (this was a serious workout, all the running we had to do) and were right at the very front of the line when we got back. We were sweaty, we were flustered, but we had everything we needed, and after seeing some heartbroken girls going home (a combination of being under 5'7" and disqualified for it, or not having 2 forms of ID) we knew getting this far was already a major accomplishment.

They measured me when it got to be my turn and the guy chuckled; I am well over 5'7". He sent me to get my paperwork checked, and then I was sent to stand outside the casting room. It only took a few minutes before they called my name, and before I knew it, I was sitting down with a really friendly guy who was going to be my audition coach. He asked me if I'd ever been interviewed like this before. I said yes and no, yes because I've been interviewed quite a few times but no because it was never this sort of high stress situation where I am really trying to "sell myself". I flashed back to my interview with Max&Jason for Current TV at the Fiesta Movement celebration - this felt completely different.

Then my time was up - he led me over to have my photo taken a few times, and before I knew it, I was standing in front of a microphone. I don't actually know how much I am supposed to divulge about what goes on in the audition (they kept the types of questions we'd be asked under wraps until we got into the casting room) so I'll just say they asked me a few questions, made me show them my runway walk (hahaha I'd never practiced a runway walk before in my life so I can only imagine how that went) and then they told me I'd nailed it and that they liked me. I mean, maybe they tell everyone that (they seemed like really nice guys) but it made me feel good about the audition.

The whole experience, even if nothing comes of it, was really fun. Bekah and I had a blast all day (her audition went well too - she actually ended up taking her heels off for her runway walk because they told her to do what was comfortable, so I don't feel badly about wearing flats anymore) so we don't regret driving all the way down to Portland for a long shot. It makes a great story, and I think putting yourself out there in ways that could be really scary like this (I mean come on, any audition is a little scary) is hugely character-building and can only help you in the future for job interviews or anything that needs this sort of driven confidence. So I am pleased with my experience.

And who knows! Maybe I'll get a call in the next month. I have no idea when they're contacting finalists, but the move-in day is in May, so I'll at least know by then. :)

Also, I met Kris, Alan Lastufka's girlfriend, while I was there. She surprised me by showing up (since she lives near the mall we were at) and it was lovely getting to meet and chat with her. There were also these two girls ahead of me in line who, after our separate auditions were over, came over to me and admitted that they watch my videos and couldn't believe we were so close to each other in line. So that was fun. We took a picture. I joked about how we may be potential housemates soon. It was a lovely day.


So there you have it, Internet. Ask and you shall receive. I auditioned for America's Next Top Model. Cross your fingers. But if I don't get it, that's okay too. I just wanted to have the experience.


Oh! They gave the contestants these little goody bags, and most of the stuff inside was lame (like "$10 off a haircut! ... if you buy a color too") but there was one cool thing: a gift certificate for $5 at a nail salon. $5 doesn't buy you much at a nail salon, so Bekah and I spent it on nail polish. Just to be clear, I am nothing like Hayley or Kayley when it comes to my fingernails. I honestly haven't painted my nails since my senior prom in high school, which was almost 4 years ago. So as a joke with myself, I bought solid black and solid white. It made me chuckle, thinking about all their "Purple Moonlight Sonata" or whatever the heck they wear.

Last Google Search: "alt tab on mac" (because I am a n00b)
Chipotle burritos: 8

The Gods of Makeup.

I had the weirdest dream last night.
Okay, I guess it wasn't really a dream, since the weird part happened while I was half awake, but it was in that half sleep-half awake stage, so I'm calling it a dream.

So anyway, I went to bed really late last night. Like 3:30. So you can imagine why, when I woke up at 7:05, I was pretty disoriented. After 3 1/2 hours of sleep, for some reason, my groggy brain told me that the red digital 7:05 staring back at me meant I was level 705 and my character (in this virtual dream game I was playing?) no longer needed sleep. I remember being so upset, because I was really, really tired, and I grappled with this for what felt like a half hour but in actuality was probably only a minute or so.

Then, finally, consciousness started to settle over me and I remembered how clocks worked. I remembered my alarm was set for 10 AM so I went back to sleep. xD


My class was canceled today! So I've been trying to get as much stuff done as I possibly can this morning. So far I've gotten myself caught up on emails (going out of town for a few days is just torture on my inbox - I don't understand how they can just pile up like that in a few days. I don't remember who it was, but someone on twitter said recently "your email inbox is a to-do list other people make for you" and that is so true) and I also worked on editing a video I am posting on my channel next Tuesday. I am pretty excited about it, and think that many of you will like it.

My friends Liz and Bekah are coming over today, and we're hopping in my car to drive down to Portland. My uncle lives outside of Portland, so we're staying with him tonight, getting up disgustingly early, and going to the America's Next Top Model casting call.

Yep. I'm actually doing it. I'm bringing my camera, too, so hopefully I'll have a video of that experience up for you guys relatively soon. I'm kind of nervous, actually, because I don't know what they're going to have me do. Probably just ask me some questions on camera, I'm assuming. I think I'll be pretty good at that. Also, I don't know what to wear. Maybe I need to flip through some old ANTM judging panels and see what the girls wore to those. xD

Also, if by some miraculous stroke of good fortune I DO get chosen, they're filming in May-July. That directly conflicts with finishing college and summer tour. So.... if it's all right with you guys, I'm mostly doing this for fun. But I will definitely find a way to make it happen if the Gods of Makeup reach down and scoop me up, dumping me into a house with 12 other girls in LA.

So wish me luck! The casting call is tomorrow morning! I'll be sleepy!

Last Google search: "power chords"
Chipotle burritos: 8

Let's Watch Back to the Future!

Okay, I'll admit it. BAMF isn't going so well. BUT - I was down in LA since Sunday, and it was one of those jam-packed trips where I had 3 days to spend a considerable amount of time with both Luke and Emma, film 2 music videos, record stuff for a song for Luke, watch Lost, watch the new Doctor Who, go to Disneyland, and so on. So I was busy writing blog posts in my head and knowing I'd make it up to you guys when I get back. Which I am. So that's what I'm doing. Hello.

So, I'm thinking that after April is over, I am going to change the BAMF acronym to mean "Blog Altogether More Frequently", because that's just a good idea. So we'll see how long that lasts.

This paragraph was written a few days ago:

I am in LA! Emma (the one who basically took care of me when things were kind of crummy last summer in London) is here visiting, so I took the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone - see a good friend who is generally half a planet away from me, and see the boyfriend. I am so lucky the flight from SeaTac to LAX is so short. Most people would probably be annoyed that they have to take a flight to see their boyfriend, but after two flights to the UK and back… this is no big deal.

And this is me typing in my living room right now:

Last night my brother Nick picked me up from the airport around 11pm, which was nice of him, as it was a school night for him. When we got home, I intended to just grab my keys, the rather large tub of hummus in the fridge that my mom bought for me, and drive home to Seattle, but we got a little distracted. First I showed him this video that I helped The Oceanic 6 guys with when I was down in LA (it's a Lost reaction video/song where I aided in writing a few lines in Japanese since it was a DDR inspired J-Pop song). But then, my brother told me to "sit down", because he knows I hadn't actually tried chat roulette yet and thought I needed the experience at least once, especially after being in Hank's video.

The very first thing that popped up on the screen was a big floppy penis. My brother threw his hand over the screen and said "don't look!" Then we both laughed as he said, "what a great first time." Then we nexted through about seven or eight people who looked like losers before stopping on this woman who was wearing an incredibly tiny tank top and lounging on her bed in a suggestion fashion. To be funny, Nick typed in, "hey sexy."

Instead of replying, she made a motion with her hand and then her boyfriend's face appeared on the screen. We cracked up, said "oh crap!" and hit next again.

Finally, we got to someone who asked if they could draw us. We said "sure" and sat as still as we could for about 5-10 minutes. The person was not a very good artist, but it was better than any of the other people we'd run into up 'til that point so we sat it out. They thanked us, afterward, because apparently hardly anyone ever lets them finish.

After that, I drove home. Justin was waiting at the door when I pulled up, and taunted me saying he would have helped me bring my stuff in, but it was raining. What a gentleman.

We have this game we play when we're sitting in the living room together (which is fairly often, even though I am a full time student and he has a full time job - since I quite enjoy skipping class and he quite enjoys missing work). It's called the "Let's Watch Back To The Future" game.

The rules of this game are as follows:
1. We want to watch Back to the Future.
2. We turn on the TV and look through what's on at that given moment.
3. Generally, Back to the Future is playing on SOME channel.
4. We say "YES!", high five, and watch Back to the Future from whatever point it's at on TV.

Amazingly, this game has at least a 75% success rate. I'd assume this would also work with Harry Potter movies, or the TV show Friends.

While I had a really good time in LA, it's kind of nice to be back to my regular schedule. Get up, do work (ie. homework, video-making, stuff for the HPA, blogging, etc.), go to class, come home, watch Avatar: The Last Airbender with Justin, talk to Luke, get more work done, eat lots of hummus and laughing cow cheese. I lived a charmed life.

Also, you can only buy the new ALL CAPS t-shirt until Saturday! Then it's gone FOREVER! (Unless you come see us on tour this summer.)

Alright. This is probably one of the most disjointed blog post I've ever written, as I wrote it in about 5 different sittings over 3 different days. But there you go. BAMF.

Last Google search: "we rule friend add bug" (Out of context this sounds really weird, but let me explain: my friend Ariana got me hooked on this new game for the iPhone/iPod Touch called "We Rule", and I am having trouble adding friends, so I was searching help forums to see if there is a bug. xD)
Chipotle burritos: 8

Drowning.. Asphyxiated.

Okay, I've been convinced.

Apparently you all think it would be way, way better if I called this month Blog in April More Frequently, so I hearby kickoff BAMF. Let's go.

Last night I went to the Muse concert at the Key Arena in Seattle. I realized I hadn't actually been to the Key Arena since I was younger and the Seattle Super Sonics still existed. And also, this is the Arena in which they do Disney on Ice, and Eia and I lamented a little bit about missing it.

But MUSE. Muse was awesome. Last time I saw them, they were playing 107.7's Deck the Hall Ball, so while they were amazing and they were headlining the show, they were just a band on a stage. A perfect opportunity to be right in the middle of the floor crowd and trying to get as close as possible to the stage, actually, which is what my friend Liz and I did.

THIS time, however, they had a multi-thousand dollar budget and turned their show into a pulchritudinous array of lasers, haze, and these three giant columns with screens on them that they utilized in different ways for literally every song. My favorite part of the whole show was when they used the middle column to look like a tank of water with a man swimming and struggling inside for the most literal translation of "Time is Running Out" I've ever seen. I was really concerned about whether or not he was going to make it through the song. He did not. He drown.

Also, there were a few songs where they just went laser-crazy, which was awesome because in Seattle we have a laser dome and one of my favorite shows was Laser Muse. So this was like Laser Muse.... only better, since they were actually there.


So anyway, we were sitting in the stands for this show, which I think was the best place to be. Yes, there was a whole mass of GA people on the floor, jumping and dancing and pumping their fists, but from where we were sitting, we had a perfect view of the show as a whole package. I was really happy with the whole experience.

Also, Matt Bellamy had this piano with light-up keys, and each key was affiliated with a lightbulb up on the top of the piano.. so when he'd play, you had a visual of the bulbs lighting up as he hit their respective key. So it looked really really awesome when he was playing arpeggios vs. when he was playing chords and it was so fun to watch. MUSIC IS AWESOME.

Oh! And, I tweeted about being at Muse, and someone who follows me said she was there too, in section 106. I was in section 104, so I tweeted back saying I was wearing a pink sweater and standing up. A few moments later..


We weren't very far away from each other, so we waved from our respective seats. That was fun. :)

I had a blast at Muse. I know people wanted me to do a write up last time I saw them, and I never did, so I hope this makes up for that.

Today I am going home for Easter, and I think I'm going with my parents and my uncle to the casino? We'll see. Either way, we're having Easter brunch tomorrow morning and I am excited for that.

Last Google search: "Asphyxiated" (I was checking the spelling xD)
Chipotle burritos: 8

Blog More Frequently in April

So I was going to do Blog Every Day in April... actually, no, that's a downright lie. What actually happened is that yesterday I saw Hayley was doing BEDA again, and I thought for one fleeting second, "Hey! What! If she's doing it then I have to do it, and somehow do it better than her, because everything we do is a competition," but then I shrugged it off. This quarter I am doing an internship and working on my senior thesis, and believe me, that is enough obligation for me for the month of April. So I'll be doing BEDA in August with Maureen.

But anyway, I've decided to, at the very least, do "Blog More Frequently in April". So, thus kicks off the start of BMFA.

Let me give a short update on the reasons I haven't been blogging:

1. I'm still doing the Lost blog, You Blog, Everybody.

2. The new ALL CAPS album came out last Sunday, and thus, Luke was up here visiting for my Spring Break. (And we have a new t-shirt available!)

3. We spent all week making two music videos for our songs World of Warcraft Ruined My Life and Don't Unplug Me.

4. I started school again.

5. I've been watching Avatar: the Last Airbender with my roommate pretty much every day because it's really good and we're addicted to it.

Anyway, now that I have completely link-spammed you guys, here is how school is going. Since I came to you all for advice on picking my classes, and you're probably curious how it's playing out.

The film class sucks. And I'm blaming you.

Haha. Okay, I wont entirely blame you. I just.. I mean.. if you were to go out on a limb and guess what one might do in a French Film class... what would you say? Watch films, of course, Kristina. Duh.

No, dear blog readers. We are not, in fact, watching many films at all. This class is mostly for French or Cinema majors (in fact, the "8" people the class was advertised for just meant they'd only allow 8 people to take it for Comparative Lit credit), so our little professor who has a thick accent (and says things like "dee-bate" for debate) stands at the front of the room and walks us through the history of French cinema for 2 hours, 3 days a week. The other day we spent a whole hour learning the french terms for "extreme close up", "medium long shot", etc.

Worst. Class. Ever. So thanks a LOT. Ha.

But the rest of my classes are going well, and I signed up for a focus group meant for people doing non-traditional thesis projects (I plan on doing a video) and that's pretty exciting.

Tonight I am going to see Muse in concert again with a bunch of my friends, this weekend is Easter with the fam, and Sunday I am going to LA (again xD) to hang with Luke and to see Emma, whom is visiting from London. I am very, very excited to see her, as we haven't seen each other since The Dreaded Summer 2009.

Okay, you know how you can have a Google Search bar in your toolbar, and whatever the last thing you searched for is just chillin' up there, unless you delete it (which I usually don't)?
I always crack up whenever I happen to look up there and see what the last thing I searched for was, so for now on, I am going to share it with you in this blog.

Last Google search: "bear cub being scared by a lion"
Chipotle burritos: 8