Monday, April 26, 2010

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

23 comments:

Dani said...

I've never thought about the storybook thing either, but that really, really makes a lot of sense. wow.

Pat Taylor said...

I'm taking Japanese in university right now and am studying abroad in like 30 days. You should brush up and go on the trip with us!

elfarmy17 said...

You totally are like a storybook character. And from the outside, you kinda do have a perfect life. You make awesome music for a living, have great friends, are successful, and have an awesome boyfriend who is really sweet and writes songs about you, for crying out loud. And they aren't even awkward.

Kai said...

I get the storybook character thing, like an unending story that we don't have to face the fact when we close the book that it will never happen, because it has!
Never thought about it like that though.

Alex Dahlberry said...

Yes, I do think that you are like a storybook character from an outside view, but more real. Like a REALLY well-written one.
All I know about your life is what you choose to tell us, just like an author chooses what to say.
Although this may be weird, my friends and I will discuss your life, as we would discuss the events in a book. Using Lauren and Matt as an example, when my friends and I found out they got engaged, we were jumping up and down with excitement, bringing it up in conversation quite often, as we did when Harry and Ginny got together in the sixth book.

And also, your life seems pretty perfect from the outside, and as John Green once said, people like to read about who they wish they could be or be with.

So yeah. Youtubers and bloggers are like books that don't end and are less thought out. :P

Is that weird for you?


-alex

appletrain said...

that storybook analogy is SPOT ON.

i would very much believe your big bird dentist memory is true. i SWEAR i can remember something from when i was 1 but that has to be impossible right? when i told my mum she was like, actually, that's quite possible. so. you never know. memory is amazing <3

Maggie said...

Your blogs are kind of like chapters in a book as well. I'd actually thought of that analogy, though I'd never applied it to YouTube. But it makes sense, and perhaps it is a reason why I love YouTube so much. It is really a rather inexplicable feeling for me.

On the subject of awkwardity, I feel like I wouldn't know what to say to you if I met you. It's like this: I know a LOT more about you than you know about me. And I think it is helpful to have a more equal amount of knowledge when speaking to someone new. Know what I mean? Hopefully. =/

usernamessuckfully said...

reading your blog is kinda a like a story i mean i dont know you personally but i can log on and see what your doing in life and its cool kinda stalkerish but when im bored i pretty much read peoples blogs i also read hayley's blog too

Sparks-of-Magic said...

Totally agree with the storybook character comment. And when you think about it, we read and live vicariously through characters in books all the time, but actually watching a storybook character makes it so much easier to live vicariously in that fashion.

We're all storybook characters, you're just one of the few that is actually sharing the story.

Marissa said...

You would remember it that vividly even if it weren't real. When I was four, I had a dream that we went to a circus in the sky and I believed it actually happened. The road went up into the clouds and everything, and ended with that big blue and white tent. I was convinced that the circus was in the sky until I was 7.

Aly said...

Thanks for answering my question! :D
And I've never thought of you as a story book character- you always seemed too real I guess xD

Rebecca said...

I hope I wasn't the girl was super awkward, though I am and I did have my friend talk to you first before meeting you (ford fiesta event) xP sorrry for being awkward.

Elisabeth said...

The thing about subscribing to Youtubers is that because you don't know them, you know only what they post. So you don't see them when they're sad, tired, angsty, because people generally make videos when they're more cheerful (or they act cheerful for the video, I don't know).

Often it's easy to believe that you have perfect lives, because all I see is the good part. Sometimes I have to remind myself that, just like me, you probably have bad hair days, and pimples in annoyingly obvious positions, and arguments with friends, and days where you stay home and study all day, and days where you just want to stay in bed and forget about the world.

But we don't see that from the outside.

janitorbud said...

That person's response is just amazing. It's like they read my mind. I guess it is really true.

meaghanlittle said...

I always say my patronus would be a giraffe toooo!! That literally made my day.

I love your blog and I hope you're enjoying the rest of the semester. And yes you're life is like a fairytale. But I'm going to guess it's not because there would be a lot of people hating you.

Ben Cracknell said...

I have this memory of me sitting on my father's knee, and him telling me that, "It's going to be okay." I was crying and my sister was there, too, and we were all looking out of the window. I asked my sister and mother about what it was, and they told me it was from the day my mother and father got divorced, and because it was so tragic for me, it had been burned into my brain. I was only 23 months when that happened.

RhianonLives said...

Is there any chance that the "upside down check mark" was a ^?
It would look like a check mark for someone who's not familiar with languages like portuguese, french, some types of arabic languages..., because I guess in the USA you guys are used to english and spanish, maybe german?, and the ^ (I don't know the name in english, sorry xD) isn't used in those languages...
It's a good accent! Without the ^, in portuguese, you wouldn't be able to say almond, or, uhm, whore. True story.

ladyinlondon said...

First, Babysitter's Club FTW :)
I reread them when I went home the other day, like the loser I am!!

Second, do you remember at SITC the person who told you they didn't know who you were, but they knew who the Five Awesome Guys were?!! :p

I can't remember how I found you. But I stick around because you're amazing, and I love you :)

Miss you lots xxx

Melody said...

I know what that commenter means by the storybook aspect of YouTube. I mean, it's real life in video form, but at the same time it has plot to it, and most of all, it's entertaining.
Actually, YouTube has kind of been slipping its way into some of the fictional things my friend and I are writing together...? Like some of the characters have friends they met through YouTube, or they go to Nerdfighter gatherings, or things like that.

By the way, I laughed ridiculously hard at the idea of a Patronus giraffe. You have no idea.

Caliowin said...

Erm... what is a check mark?

Am I stupid not to know this? or is something like the difference between exclamation mark (UK) and exclamation point (US)

Caliowin said...

zomg I just googled 'check mark'. In england its called a 'tick'. Is that why in america when they read off a list they say 'check' if they've completed that task? woah mind blown!

I guess it makes sense, as we say 'tick' when reading a list.

Still reeling from this revelation!!! Find it so weird that you don't say things like 'I got it right, I got a tick'

Zoe K~! said...

Save The Children is AWESOME. I'm glad you googled it. Yep.... UM....
Here's a question...
Have you ever Harry Potter Role Played? If so, how/when?

Anonymous said...

Any news from ANTM?